Scenarios, more and more of us here have played a many of games and most of us will agree that the scenarios really add to these games. What I am asking is would any of you like to work together on scenarios? I know one of things I hope to add to my games is a way of adding ranks to units and should you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

For starters, I know I can just give out ranks for giggles but what fun is that? If you are going to join any unit of mine, you are going to have to earn your stripes. I have alot of little ideas but if we can get a group of us together, I think we can make a great way to implement ranks which in turn would add more to the game and scenarios (or I need to work harder on my idea).

My only request is that if you post, please have respect for others ideas. Trust me, some of mine (or most of them...LOL) are not worth thier salt but that is mostly because I am not so good on posting them (they come to me like wild horses and just as hard to coral). Also, feel free to post your idea(s). While some may disagree, you may have just the idea others needed to make thiers work.

My nuggets for ranks:

If your unit falls in battle, so does thier rank. Sorry, you can not survive death (and no, this is not just because no one else has...LOL).

Ranks should not be given at the drop of a hat. Yes, I understand that moving across that patch of grass was brave but please, you were heading AWAY from the fight (OK, so maybe a smart move but this will not get you a promotion).

Issues I am having trouble with:

How many scenarios does it take to go up a level? Or would a point base system work better?

What do you get out of each rack that you achive? (Yes, those stripes look great on you but what do they do again?)

OK, soldiers, now it is your turn. Tighten up that head of yours and show your momma that you ARE smarter then you look...

Game on;

-John-

What about something like points? 1 point for finishing a scenario, the games I have played that is a feat in itself. Maybe a couple points for taking out a walker (more if it is a enemy walker) insert laugh. A point or two for killing a squad. Maybe a extra point if you win the scenario.

Then you just figure out what level results in promotion.

You might want to think about special rewards for being a "veteran" unit or having more rank. This could get tricky but it's doable.

Sounds like a good idea but:

Problem 1. I can't see it working as pretty much every game ends up with one army destroyed and possibly one or two survivours for the victors. As soon an a unit survives and goes up a rank, you can bet that next game it will be dead and lose it again.

Problem 2. Balance. You and your mate play a couple of games every week. One player is obviously better/luckier/uses Axis and therefore wins most of the battles. Now, if the above gets even better units as he wins games he will now improve his chances even more making it more difficult, if not impossible, for the other player to win.

Problem 3. Record keeping. The game is fast moving and fun, we/I don't want to be bogged down in keeping detailed notes of what kills what during the game, the system needs to be simple. You could even just give a 'man of the match' award and just promote a unit that both players feel done best during the game, could even be a destroyed loser! For example, in the game I lost, my laser grenadiers and hero were my only remaining unit and had to face an entire 16pt army less 1 unit, at the end of the game it was one grenadier facing off Hot dog with one wound. My grenadier lost initiative and died, but had killed 2 squads a mech and a hero! The Grenadiers should be promoted even if it is postumously You could use this system to keep the sides balanced and one unit of both sides get promoted.

And a bit of positive feedback:

Promotion 1. One way would be to allow a re-roll of a dice once per game (per stripe or whatever) for the unit, could be in attack or cover save. If its a hero the die could even be the initiative roll.

Promotion 2. After so many stripes a unit could get an extra wound or ignore first wound to simulate battle experience in taking cover or maybe extra armour plates/sandbags on the mech. Max one advance for this ability.

my 2 cents .

first i agree with majormishap in that most games are bloodbaths with few survivors .

the idea of earning your stripes sounds like a better idea for a set campaign , where every player has a limited # of official plays per week as part of the campaign . otherwise the die hard players that play several games each week will quickly outpace those players that cant play as much and can discourage them .

additionaly , adding abilities or anything that changes the units in the game would also need to have a points value so that the true value of the armies could be calculated other wise its not really a fair match up to have a 2 point new squad , ves an experienced 2 points squad that hase lots of rerolls and/or other abilities .

a system that promotes the squads and keeps track of the battle results and such also means alot of paperwork and potential confusion , which can slow down the game for all concerned . so if you do try it , try it for a limited amount of your games each week so that there is plenty of open play to just have fun with .

if you are going to do a campaign , i would suggest rather than tracking all or some squads , you track over all progress of the players and apply ranks to them .

this is my outline for a first round of dust campaigns . sadly we havent gotten to start them yet as i dont have a constant enough committed group that will appear every single week without fail , its kinda like herding cats . http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/62621/dt-campaign-version-1

I think the intent here all along was for a campaign between two players. I don’t think anyone was suggesting that you take your promoted units and play other people.

"What do you mean the troops you are deploying are all Generals?"
"I played all last week against a newbie and promoted them all, so I get to re-roll all dice until I eliminate your unit"

"Well fine, mine are tenth level elves and they cast a spell on your Generals and you lost"

With that being said, the fact that it is a blood bath should prevent super units from forming. I think it would be more one or two units maximum that just seem to make it through a game. Record keeping could even be done on the unit card or transferred to paper. If someone has a squad that has a few rank points accumulating then the decision will have to be made do I risk pulling them back, when they get down to a couple units or keep fighting.

I think it would just be a cool way to track how well a squad or walker does in a campaign, if any would even make it through a campaign.

Another option would be to wait for the command squads to come out. Then base the rank on the commander. Start out as a Lieutenant then works his way up.

2nd Lieutenant No Roll
1st Lieutenant Roll one die
Captain Roll two die only pick one
Major Roll three die only pick one
Lieutenant Colonel Roll three die pick two
Colonel Roll four die pick two

What the promotion represents could be based on a 9 sided die roll. The following are examples:

1. Agile
2. Assault
3. All in one
4. Berserk
5. Black Ops
6. Charge
7. Fast
8. Self-Repair
9. Artillery Strike

Zero would be a wasted roll. Whatever you roll and pick is then assigned to a squad or a robot. Giving a tactical advantage for that game, somewhat based on the rank of the Commander.

These would not carry over. You would re-roll each game. I think a win would get you promoted, but if your Commander dies, you start over as a 2nd Lieutenant. How careful will you be with your Command Squad if you make it to Lieutenant Colonel?

Very intresting points and I thank you all for your post. I should have made it clear that this would work only with those that you play this game with on a continued basis and in that of a campaign (otherwise those 10th level elves would kill us all).

Yes, I agree that this will take a little more time and some paperwork but for those of us who play with the same group, this gives us a little more something something to go along with our "Dust Tactics" games.

I never thought about giving the player the rank. My only fear on this is that if we add someone new, they may feel left behind. As stated by Dcal12, this game is a bloodbath and the units fall fast and quick. So while you may have a unit getting better and better in combat, one never knows when the die/dice may not roll as they had hoped (Medic!). Again, as pointed out, this will take a little more time and paperwork.

I really like the ideas being tossed around and once again, thank you, everyone. While some ideas may not strike me as ones I want to use, others have made me take a second look at how this can be done. This is what I was hoping for when I posted this post and this is what makes this worth my time posting...

Game on;

-John-