One of the things that years of wargaming has taught me is that complexity does not always equal realism. In fact, it is usually the more elegant but subtle rules which give a game it's realism. Something as simple as changing the turn ordering can have a huge impact.
Complexity doesn't equal realism, but simplicity can limit detail.As for turn ordering, I much prefer GURPS' sequencing. In TFT, everyone one the same side moves and then other side, with engagement rules stopping people from moving so they can wait to get hit later when everyone gets their attacks. This results in having to tell people who want to run away, etc, that they "need to disengage first" and so on, and large fights tend to have fairly static lines of engaged people hacking away.
In GURPS both sides' moves are mixed up - everyone moves in order of speed, and they move and take their action at once, and no engagement rules are needed. The result is more freedom of action and more dynamic fights. Going back to TFT, TFT feels much more artificially restrictive.
PvK ===== Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com. Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body "unsubscribe tft"