Looking at the recently released SeeLowe booklet, I started to get a bit worried about an aspect of the evolution of this game (no, not the bloody point system). I worry that the game may completely move away from its small scale origins.

One of the great things about this game in its basic form was the possibility of playing intense, fun, challenging matches in less than an hour, without really overtaxing yourself. Even if you're tired and don't have a lot of spare time, you can quickly play a scenario from Operation Blue Thunder and feel like you had a very fulfilling experience.

Now, however, I look at the scenarios in both Operation Cyclone and SeeLowe and the game just seems to be getting bigger and bigger, but does that necessarily equal better? In Blue Thunder we had 160 points battles. With Cyclone this grew to between 240 and 300 points. Now SeaLowe goes from 250 to 350. While I certainly see the value of these bigger battles, I don't understand why the game can't retain a healthy mix of big and small scenarios. I only really want to play these bigger battles on occasion, preferring the smaller ones for routine gameplay. Quick and brutal, like the game I fell in love with.

It feels too much like they are trying to force me to buy more and more units. I mean, SeeLowe has a scenario that calls for 350 points worth of exclusively walkers. That's practically two units of every single walker they have! Sure, I like to have all the new units, but more for the sake of variety than for the scale. I'd like to play the same small scenarios with different combinations of units, not just throw everything I have on the table and try to keep track of it all.

All I'm saying is, future expansions should still support the kind of gameplay introduced by the Core Set. There's nothing wrong with the big sprawling epic battles, but please, Dust Tactics, don't stop being small as well.

Remember, it's 'our' game. We can play at whatever points we want. I've played games with just the core set and ive played with every single mini i own.

Yes, I know we can customize any scenario to our tastes. It just worries me a bit that the new expansions seem to be solely focused on larger-scale battles, though.

I totally agree with you, Loopie! While the great epic battles are exciting to watch and play, but I enjoy the small ones the most. It keeps my head from bursting due to the myriad of tactical choices I have to make. One way to play epic battles but yet retain the simplicity of small skirmishes is to have multiplayer teams. Each side can have 2 players, with each player responsible for his/her own front of the battle and his/her own part of the army. This way, I can enjoy the great epic battle while only having to fight on my own front with the small force I have. And occasionally, I can also lend a helping hand to my partner on his/her side of the battle. What fun!

we're digging the escalating battles. @ loophole, where did you see the Seelowe scenarios?

Loop..

i agree...but understand. i also understand..ANY mission can be done at any points level..as long as both players agree..try it..try running through the blue thunder at higher points..see how it changes..

Agreed loopy, its becoming a logistical nightmare keeping track of your activated units and damage and somewhere to put all these cards. Most of my big battles I recruit another couple of players to take half an army, have reverted to using D4 on the models to keep track of damage (pens keep rubbing off as you move cards about) and have reduced the cards to playing card size.

The suggestion of using fewer points in scenarios is ok to a point, but doing so can drastically upset the balance of the game, would be nice to have smaller official scenarios so you have to pick and choose what units to take rather than every thing you have all the time.

Major Mishap said:

Yes Major! You got that spot on! These are my favourite kind of scenarios. My buddy would pick her own units and I would pick mine, with each of us guessing what units the other would pick given the terrain and objective and then choose our own units to specifically counter the opponent's ones. And if we guess wrongly, we would have to live with our mistakes and make the best of what we have chosen. It is those mistakes that make for a good laugh as we both reveal our army list to each other More of such scenarios please.....

Glad to see I'm not alone in this. While surely the scenarios can be played with any number of AP, it would be nice to see more scenarios tailor-made for smaller squirmishes.

I think it is great, you now have three different sizes of scenarios. They have scenarios for whatever size Army you want to play. It didnt make sense to have larger scenarios when the number of units were limited, so it is just makes sense that they start to release them now.

As far as marking damage on the cards, flipping cards over and moving cards around. I don't do any of that, all you need to do is just put a marker (I use one of the small poker chips) on the card that was activated. Since I have multiples of the same walkers 3x pounders, 3x steel rain and 2x all the other ones. I have decals on the walker and a matching decal on the card so I know which unit is which.

Small sceanrios are fun Large scenarios are fun, I am glad they are offering both. I hope we see scenarios that we can download.

blkdymnd said:

The scenarios are in the PDF they've made available for download.

I don't mind the escalating scenarios, I just wish they'd include some smaller ones as well (and I'm not counting that weird final SeeLowe scenario with just a couple of heroes and a command squad).

Loophole Master said:

weird, both devices i downloaded it on only had the 18 page rulebook. would you mind emailing your copy to me at [email protected]?

Haha! I knew it had to have been a mistake when they posted the full scenarios. They have since changed the downloadable PDF to remove the scenarios. Glad I sensed there was something off about it and saved the original PDF to my HD. They have been doing lots of such mistakes lately. The stat card images for the Revised Core Set could originally be viewed in high resolution, which allowed a clear view of the stats. The high-res pic has since been removed.

I'll try to get you the original PDF.

I think it makes sense that as they release more units and boards, they make bigger scenarios. We now have a range of small (160 pt), medium (240 pt) and large scenaries (320 pts?). Yes, the small scenario fans have had nothing to work with as the new expansions fill in medium and large scenarios, but I'm assuming that as more packs are published, they will start balancing campaigns with a mix of small - large ones. I prefer to have a range of them so I can pick quick fights when I don't have alot of time, but can also slug it out for a few hours with a large one too!