I am running a league that will sometimes utilize the mission scenarios. The idea would be that players pick 2 scenarios each and then randomly chose from those scenarios and then roll of for which faction they would play. The players would have the opportunity to build their list prior to the match knowing which mission and side they are playing.

My question is...has anyone run into missions that give one side too much of an advantage? I would not like the most important dice roll be for which side to play and would like to avoid these missions.

Cheers

I've played a lot of them and thought they were pretty well balanced. Don't get me wrong, neither side had an easy win. You had to play smart, as always, but the ship that the scenario was drawn from I felt had a slight edge simply by being new. The opponent didn't always have a good grasp on abilities, movement etc.

Good question, but I think the main problem with scenarios is a majority of them have pre-selected ships and pilots. Unless everyone has every $30-$40 pack (large ships/ aces/ most wanted) they will not have the ships needed to play all of the mission scenarios. not to mention many ships (mainly the small ships) don't have scenarios specific to their ships. Also the core set missions are mainly for starters and have a really low point set up.

You could have the players bring in their own mission scenarios they want to play. So someone that want's to play the Falcon will bring in their falcon scenario.

Or you could as part of preparation use the mission control mission builder the FFG has and make ups some balanced missions.

The scenarios also don't always have 100 pts, so that can also be tough. There was a thread or two before about making up some different scenarios to try to balance it out. Some scenarios reward you with putting all your points into a ship that's hard to kill. Others can punish you for doing that. It can be hard to find scenarios that are balanced enough for all types of lists.

I haven't looked at the scenarios in the latest starter set and I haven't looked at the scenarios in the old one in a long while. I've been meaning to try them out.

There are a few scenarios that just talking 4 TLT Y-wings would be pretty unbalanced.

The scenario's aren't all balanced. But in a campaign with random scenarios / random on attack and defence (with dice, charts and a list this is easily doable) then should be ok - because war is not balanced.

My favourite example is the random warbands from fantasy 3rd ed / 40k1st with realms of chaos etc.

You could have some really unbalanced matchups, but that's ok. They were fun.

I do think random scenarios is better than "pick one". If you pick one, you are going to pick the one that best reflects your list that you brought. From what I understand, Armada does something similar. You pick 3 missions for your list and your opponent does the same. You end up using one of those lists that clearly favors one list. You end up seeing only certain missions ever being used as the optimal lists and optimal missions are sorted out.

Random missions means you will have to build an All Comers list. You can't tailor your list for a specific mission. I can see it being whomever gets their mission picked can basically win due to that scenario being so favorable to them.

Random, with you having a pool of ships and working with what you got is both more realistic (to a certain degree) and more challenging.

It also pushes towards balanced lists.

Corran and falcon are TERRIBLE at defense missions.

They are also terrible at kill before it gets off of the board missions.

They are good for 100/100 dogfights.

Are you looking for asymmetric battles (each side has different objectives?), or symmetric missions designed for tournament play?

As far as choosing which missions you play in your league, I recommend choosing which missions will be played well ahead of time and sending all players the missions or making them available for the players to read ahead of time. That should allow players to build lists with the missions in mind and give them a degree of control over how much they build their lists with the intent of winning on objectives, or with a more traditional strategy.

There are quite a few missions out there that are compatible or designed for tournament-style play; all 100pts, simple objectives, with an emphasis on balance (usually this means symmetrical scenarios).

J Rhea ran a league or tournament a while back that used a set of missions that he published on Mission Control. They're well-written and standardized for easy tournament play. The missions are all relatively straightforward and I think they're all symmetrical (both sides have the same objectives), so they should be very well-balanced. I'll link them below:

Bombing Run: Deathmatch with extra points for killing targets on the table. Targets are especially vulnerable to missiles and torpedoes.

Divide and Conquer: Deathmatch with area control.

Escort Duty: Deathmatch. Extra points for escorting a ship off the enemy table edge.

Minefield: Deathmatch with exploding mines.

Recon Patrol: Deathmatch. 6 satellite tokens are on the table which can be captured for points.

Squad Leader: Deathmatch. Each player designates one squad leader who can augment other ships with 'order tokens'. Extra points for killing a squad leader.

I wrote a few missions myself that were intended for tournament play. Like J Rhea's missions these are also symmetrical and should be relatively well-balanced. I'll also link them below:

Satellite Control - area control mission

Dogfight - deathmatch with special deployment rules

The Jump Point - King of the hill style mission

Vendetta - Deathmatch with extra points for killing a specific enemy pilot.

Fleet Engagement - deathmatch with off-board fire support for each side

There are also a lot of asymmetric missions out there; I've been compiling a large library on mission control of such missions. You can either search around with my author name, or if you're interested in a specific point range/ mission type i can make more specific recommendations. For your situation I'd recommend going with symmetric missions, but if you're looking for asymmetry I can also cover you.

Dang....reached my quota for liking posts. I'm just too agreeable.

Haha; I hear ya.

I should archive this reply and use it as a form answer for this kind of question

Oohh....got one back!

@Babaganoosh. Exactly what i was looking for. Yes, the players will know what mission they will play and what faction ahead of time so that they can build their list accordingly. My feeling was that missions that come with the pack will favor the pack's ship but was not sure. The symmetrical missions listed above are perfect! thank you.

@Babaganoosh. Exactly what i was looking for. Yes, the players will know what mission they will play and what faction ahead of time so that they can build their list accordingly. My feeling was that missions that come with the pack will favor the pack's ship but was not sure. The symmetrical missions listed above are perfect! thank you.

Great! Glad I could help.