So, how have people found 3 player games impacting game balance? We played 2 games yesterday, first was Tzeentch/Slaanesh/Khorne with Slaanesh winning due to us not reading the FAQ on his dial advancement condition, but Tzeentch otherwise winning on ruination and victory points. This seemed a fairly even game as Tzeentch and Khorne ganged up to kill as many Slaaneshi cultists as possible- this was quite hard with all the soporific musks and figure control. Tzeentch struggled on dial advancement as he was the only source of magic symbols in the game (but warpstone in Norsca and a wall of Temporal stasis in Kislev helped block off the north)

In our second game we had Khorne/Nurgle/Tzeentch. And with warpstone in Estalia and Brettonia, Khorne could deter the others getting dial advances by stationing blood letters there. But in this game, the others found it impossible to stop a Khorne dialup victory as without Slaanesh to stop Khorne fighting (with his card and KoS) then it was all left down to Tzeentchs teleports and warp shields, which simply were not enough.

I wonder what the ‘fairest’ 3 player game would be- I suspect taking out Khorne might be the best set up- he definitely needs both Slaanesh and Tzeentch to screw him out of dial advancement.

SJE

I haven't played 3 players yet but I'd speculate that some of the less conventional upgrades shine. Also, I would've thought Khorne was the most damaged of the gods in a 3 player game (fewer targets and a round 1 teleport is more likely to ruin his chances if Tzeentch is involved). Old world cards and token placement would seem to be a slightly bigger factor.

Nurgle can definitely outplay Khorne with his jumping, free cultists upgrade.

I think in a Khorne/Slaanesh/Nurgle game, Nurgle would be forced to play this upgrade first despite the strength of the upgraded great unclean one. Nurgle is going to be playing the game balancer as he draws Khorne into Slaanesh who typically holes up. If Nurgle plays it smart, this setup is disastrous for Khorne if he doesn't take a big lead fast. Possibly the worst situation for him to be in. Khorne will want to be shutting off one or the other from getting any upgrades if possible. Pray for a blood frenzy first round and guarantee yourself a dial upgrade or you're in trouble.

Khorne/Nurgle/Tzeentch is going to be less predictable. Tzeentch's chaos cards heavily influence how powerful he is from round to round. A Tzeentch teleport in round 1 could completely shut Khorne down if Nurgle plays the resummoning game intelligently. Tzeentch has a good chance to jump ahead on dial advancements here. After round 1, Khorne has a lot of possible strength. Tzeentch had better be a good player or this setup probably favors Khorne.

Khorne/Slaanesh/Tzeentch - beginning board setup really affects this one. I think Slaanesh has advantages here. He can play offense on Tzeentch while simultaneously being a bad target for Khorne if the map supports it. Neighboring Slaanesh and Tzeentch will favor Slaanesh in the late game. As usual, Tzeentch really needs a teleport in the first round if Khorne is coming his way. I think Khorne needs to recognize Slaanesh as public enemy #1 and hunt him down ASAP if it's possible or Slaanesh could run away with this one easily.

Slaanesh/Nurgle/Tzeentch - I think this setup hurts Slaanesh if any of the 3 do. He lacks the cultists of Tzeentch and the building power of Nurgle. Slaanesh needs to get more offensively-minded. This is the only setup in the game where I think upgraded Daemonettes is something to consider.

Well nowadays, we only play the game with 4 players, since there are better games for three players. Regardlesss which god you take out, an important part of the game is missing. It works, but CitOW is only awesome with 4 players.

Our group has had many 3 player and 4 player games, and in our experience 3 player variants are still balanced. The flavour of the game is changed slightly and each player is well served to slightly alter their development in regards to which upgrades to take and in which order to acquire them, but no one character actually seems to have a predetermined advantage over the others based simply on which of the characters are missing.

Each of the possible 3 player variants have been played more than onceand by no means is it the same character winning the same 3 player variant. Khorne, for example, is not particularly hindered by there being one less opponent to target. Should he wish to win the two dial ticks in a round, he doesn't need to get however many dozen counters, he just needs to get more than the other two players. Hello "Battle Cry"!