Buffing the Alien/Chaos Player (or bad idea) ?
Posted: December 7th, 2022, 12:19 pmI admit I'm still a newbie when it comes to playing this game (compared to HeroQuest).* Typically when I play it's me and another player who are equally new to the game but we typically have a veteran player who knows how to play the marines well. Opinions online vary when it comes to "balance" in the game. I realized that when playing I am still in the Zargon "GM" mentality playing as the Chaos player. This game however tries to make the GM a kind of player competitor. I have not yet played the game with all three marine chapters, so it's typically 2 vs 1. I realize with more marine factions the possible points are split between those groups so they have to work together to make sure nobody "loses" (except the Alien/Chaos player). So far each time I've lost (though once it was close to a draw). This is fine for someone who just wants to "get through the campaign" but I don't want it to feel too easy or boring.
Now I know I have the ability to homebrew the game any way I want but I can respect the knowledge of others who know the game better. I also want to have the fun of learning the game the way it was originally intended to be played in 1990-1991. I feel like I give the benefit of the doubt to the space marines all the time. What can I do to make it more challenging without appearing to be cheating to make myself win?
Or would you say that the Alien player just has to find it within himself to play hard to keep things interesting? I know he can send literally all his blips out at once if he wishes and he doesn't have to put them out randomly... he can pick which ones specifically go after which targets... likewise he can hold them back and force the good guys to go looking for them. He can't cheat by stacking the Alien event deck (that's still supposed to be random) and fudging dice rolls are out of the question (no special dice even here, just the ones that came with the game). The Alien has to acknowledge proper LOS (dice rolls resolve disputes in that area). So what can he do? Or is the answer "get good?"
I could also play as a marine myself and watch a master at work to see how it is done...
Any other suggestions you can make?
* Some may remember the videos I did in which I was playing against myself, which is entirely different from playing a competitive game... one person has so much to keep track of (and due to inexperience I made lots of mistakes) and forcing myself to distribute the blip tokens evenly and mix them randomly also takes away the strategy from the bad guy's side.
Now I know I have the ability to homebrew the game any way I want but I can respect the knowledge of others who know the game better. I also want to have the fun of learning the game the way it was originally intended to be played in 1990-1991. I feel like I give the benefit of the doubt to the space marines all the time. What can I do to make it more challenging without appearing to be cheating to make myself win?
Or would you say that the Alien player just has to find it within himself to play hard to keep things interesting? I know he can send literally all his blips out at once if he wishes and he doesn't have to put them out randomly... he can pick which ones specifically go after which targets... likewise he can hold them back and force the good guys to go looking for them. He can't cheat by stacking the Alien event deck (that's still supposed to be random) and fudging dice rolls are out of the question (no special dice even here, just the ones that came with the game). The Alien has to acknowledge proper LOS (dice rolls resolve disputes in that area). So what can he do? Or is the answer "get good?"
I could also play as a marine myself and watch a master at work to see how it is done...Any other suggestions you can make?
* Some may remember the videos I did in which I was playing against myself, which is entirely different from playing a competitive game... one person has so much to keep track of (and due to inexperience I made lots of mistakes) and forcing myself to distribute the blip tokens evenly and mix them randomly also takes away the strategy from the bad guy's side.