In what's turning into a bit of a series, I've looked at how to tweak table design for clarity and speed of use during a game. Now I'd like to look at adding impact to text with tables.
The starting point is this block of text:
Tabulating the main block of information gives:
I've also coloured alternate lines but I remain in two minds about colouring the "Zealous" line. On balance it does look slightly better coloured.
Overall, the use of a table gives the information more impact and a much more compact presentation.
This transformation also highlights one of the traps for authors when writing text definitions: the inclusion of related text that really would be better elsewhere. I know all about this trap as I've fallen foul of it many times. In this instance the text is mixing definitions with the justification of a specific application favoured by the author.
The extra text about Confederate troops in 1861-62 is better, and more logically placed, in the very next section just after the table that players use to assign resilience to their troops at the start of the game:
As a fitting finale to this series you can see how the revised tables look in this pdf.
To close I recommend you visit Wargame Vault and get the pdf of "Rebels & Yankees" which is availableas a "pay what you want" download.
1 comment:
Replaced all links to "Quick Play Rules" and "Firepower Games" with links to Nigel's Wargame Vault page. Original sites are dead.
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