I know there are many threads on what to buy with or after the core set but reading through I have not seen anywhere that says what to buy to balance the two sides.Im thinking of picking this up but is there one or two expansions that would balance it up for instance could I just get the medium walkers for each side or spec ops for both sides or indeed just play the core set and see if I think its unbalanced.The terrian tile set comes with the blue thunder campaign can you play this with the armies from the core set or do you need extra expansions and if so what ones.

As im buying this for myself and my family to play i dont want the other players being put off by in balance and everyone wanting to be the axis because there good for range so if like i said buying one expansion would do the job then that would be great.I can see myself buying more in the future and have a list of must have gear on it from previous forums.

Thanks in advance

Trumpet

Replacing the Hammers with Tank Busters and Death Dealers with Grim Reapers would probably be all you need to make the Revised Core Set more balanced.

Oh, and regarding Operation Blue Thunder, one issue may be that those missions are supposed to be for 250 - 300 points of units on each side. The Revised Core Set gives you something like 130 points on each side. Not sure how big of deal that would be in actual play, though.

The other thing is that Operation Blue Thunder has some missions where the objective is something like "get at least one unit to this space to win".

The Allied infantry with Move 2 and JUMP (which didn't exist when Blue Thunder was originally released) make those missions very easy to win for the Allies.

I think there is a guy who post a video on youtrube talking about what kind of expansion you can get to start off.

Getting Grimreaper is a good idea to balance out the range for allies a bit. For Axis if you can get the zombie to give them some close combat support.

After that you can get the medium walkers for both side. After that its up to you on how many point of army you want. But those should keep it going for a bit. Until you figure out everybody's preference. Then you get more.

I purchased the revised set around the holidays and just recently got around to painting and getting it on the table. Great game! Really surpassed my expectations. Has been very exciting and love the manageable time required to play. I am primarily a family gamer as well and chiefly play this with my 8 y/o son. I have (over-zealously) purchased most expansion sets in my excitement to keep this thing I have with my son going. I also paint them as a hobby when the kids are in bed (I’m very new at this, but learning…)

Regarding expanding:

- I think the above poster is referencing the "macowargamer" YouTube video. It is worth watching. He has a great channel that makes me witch I had more time and money. But, I stress this, it is not definitive. There is no "best way".

- You are on the right track by identifying the distinction (mainly the range of the Axis). A number of sites/blogs show you the cards of the expansion sets. Find one interesting to you that will compensate. Close combat for Axis (Zombies or Gorillas, etc). Ranged weapons for Allies (I do like the often recommended Grim Reapers and their aesthetic is a natural complement to fight alongside the Hammers. Red Devils work as well, nice contrast to Heavy Laser Grens with their phaser weapons. We grabbed the expansion with Markus and Ozz-117 which are natural fits for new heroes to go with Gorillas and Grim Reapers. We choose Gorillas over Zombies solely because my son found them more interesting. Just adding those two squads and two heroes to the entire revised core balanced things quite a bit for us. (Damage resilience is tougher to overcome for Allies, use your jumps and movement to the fullest.) Red Devils for Allies and Battle Grenadiers for Axis closed the infantry armor class divide (A British kill squad and 5 man axis laser grenadiers would have done the same if that appealed to me more).

- I like some imbalance in my scenarios. I like to give my son a slightly more powerful force and scenario to favor his capabilities. A natural handicap that allows me a more fun game to compensate for the adult problem solving and predictive analysis advantage.

- My above recs for expansion keep the game a slugfest, which appeals to us right now. We wanted a little "more of the same" in terms of gamelplay. Other sets bring in new rules. I also suggest you consider rules you want to introduce that might appeal to your family. The command squads (Boss/Kommandotrupp) add mechanics, medics, and artillery observers. They add a lot of depth which may be good or bad initially (overly complex for beginners/young players?). If you want the artillery, you'll want med walkers. Spec Ops introduce snipers and also have low point cost forward observers to help with artillery.

I don't think you can go wrong by picking what your family thinks is the most appealing next set. I do personally recommend getting similar/complimentary units at the same time (as opposed to an Axis heavy walker and Allies Spec Ops squad).

Wow. First i thought I was reading a May 23rd thread, not March 23rd. So my comments are quite late indeed. I am apparently publishing in black font and small type as well.

Ignore me, I'll return to lurking…

The guy on youtube you probably mean, cals himself marcowar. He's got a few video's that are very informative.

Thanks for the advice, since posting originally I have the rcs,seelowe,medium walkers spec ops gorillas zombies grim reapers tank busters Red Devils kill squad heavy recon squad command squads laser grenadiers much as you suggested,great game