Caveat: I'm not saying anyone else has to do this. I'm not saying anyone else even *should* do this. I'm just saying this would make the game more interesting for me personally. Still, input is welcome (Also If you're looking for a more rigorous, mathematical system, there's a promising one under construction over here: http://lustria-online.com/threads/army-balancing-aos-warscrolls.16460/ ) Anyway, if/when I play my first AoS game, I think I will propose these house rules for balance: Rule 1: Your army may consist of models in any combination, not exceeding 100 Models or 100 Wounds, whichever you hit first. [More Restrictive Alternative to Rule 1: Your army (including both what you deploy during Set-Up and what you hold in reserve at that time) may consist of models in any combination, not exceeding 100 Models or 100 Wounds, whichever you hit first.]* * This is to compensate for summoning spells like our Slann now have, and to make summoning more predictable. Rule 2: Your army must consist entirely of models from one of the four Grand Alliances: Order, Chaos, Death, Destruction. [More Restrictive Alternative to Rule 2: Your army must consist entirely of models from one of the four Grand Alliances: Order, Chaos, Death, Destruction. Further, your army may not consist of models from more than two different Warscroll Compendiums.]** ** This is to compensate for Death only having access to two Compendiums. Also to prevent a witch elf from riding into battle atop a carnosaur, atop a steam tank. Rule 3: You may take each named character only once. Rule 4: Please agree on battlefield and territory size and dimensions before setting up terrain. [Really, this could take up a whole forum on its own.] -- Positives: Quick and easy to implement, simple to remember, life moves on. Also, easy to adjust to accommodate game speed or in-house narrative. Negatives: Utterly arbitrary and unauthoritative, based on my own personal preferences, creates new barrier to interfacing with new partners. Also, probably does not take into account the actual strengths and weaknesses of each model. Will 11 units of 3 Ripperdactyls obliterate anything in their path? Will a deathstar of 100 Saurus Warriors win every time? Will eight carnousars, who instantly get to use the Sudden Death rules, always prevail? I really don't know, and I can't even guess. Further, the "Grand Alliances" are mildly ludicrous: Witch Elves + Carnosaurs + Empire Steam Tanks = roflcopter. Ramble: How bloody hard would it have been to fit something this quick/dirty into the formal rules. Sheesh.
Promising. Awwwww. Thanks. Maybe the LotC* strategy is to get the player base to build some balancing system from the ground up: playtesting, math analysis, all freely done. *Lords of the Citadel
Evil Manipulator Voice: "Why just have our customers buy our products, when we can make them design them too!!" [But seriously - the advertisement industry does this with social media already. All those "share your experience," or #HashtagOurProduct campaigns just ooze cheap/free advertisement generation. So while I suspect you jest, you may not be too far off the mark!]