Balancing scenarios.

[vince hughes]

Larry,

Balance is also a 'personal' thing.

There are plenty of AAR's on PGHQ that claim 'impossibility' for one side to win and yet .................. They do win. Funnier still, I have seen the same claim made when in fact the side that is being claimed can never win has won MORE times than the other side anyway ?? You would think that before writing down such a claim they would at least investigate previoys results. The fact they have not must make one leary of that person's ideas on how to 'balance' the scenario.

So balance claiming really is in many cases based on one's own experience in that scenario. However, there ARE some scenarios for example that might have a 16:1 win/loss ratio ... In that case, I do not think there is much argument, although it irks me when the person who got that 1 win has not AAR'd it ..... People want to know "How" !

One other problem is that with so many scenarios available, I only ever play a scenario once, meaning that 'balance' considerations are left in the wake of my dust as I move on elsewhere.

My final thought would be that when I also read peoples opinions on what would balance the scenario, I wonder if they have then gone onto play-test the claim. Usually it is just that, a claim and again, based on the scriber's personal experience of the one game with the scenario concerned.

Best way to check a semblance of balance is to look at the win loss ratio of scenarios played around 10 times or more.
5-5, 6-4 of course seem balanced. Even a 7-3 is on the cusp as a win there in the7 column may have been a last gasp one etc. However, 8-2, 9-1 etc then imbalance has to be suspected.