Board Size

[Naravus]

Which is better for a 35SS game so that neither a close combat crew or a shooting crew have an unfair advantage? 3x3 or 4x4?

I'm aware the rules call for a minimum of 3x3 but as I've already made a 4x4 board, my group just plays on those.

I also feel like having a larger board would make some schemes rather easy to get VP from, an example would be Holdout. However, the same could be said for schemes such as Sabatoge on a 3x3.

Also, what size boards do Wyrd tournaments usually use?

[osoi]

I always use a 3'x3' board even for Brawls, I find the game works well on this size.

If you already have a 4x4 board made just cordon of 6" from all sides or 12" on 2 sides and have that as a space to put your cards, books etc

[Q'iq'el]

4x4 board doesn't just affect the Strategies and Schemes. It also affects some crews and matchups more than others.

Imagine flipping Bog or Forest and then telling the Nicodem player he has another foot of the table he can happily move through at half speed (walk of 1.5~2" across the crew).

4x4 is a good size for larger Brawls, especially multi-player games. I suggest you just use .5ft from each of the table edges as a margin for keeping cards, tokens and such. It's easier to make a 3x3 table out of 4x4 than than vice-versa.

[CannonFodder]

Once you change the size of the table speed becomes too much of a variable. Right now I know ramos & Raspy are slow, and I can't take them on certain strategies, now just adding 6 inches (1/2 extra on 4x4) line in the sand become much harder. Even 4 wlk models trying to do overrun will rethink it. While factions like the dreamer/lilith & colette are in love because they have more to work with.

We tried different variation for internal tournaments, and most had issues. The game is built for a 3x3 board and changes make an impact. Its primarily because its VP based not elimination.

[Adran]

Which is better for a 35SS game so that neither a close combat crew or a shooting crew have an unfair advantage? 3x3 or 4x4?

Just want to say the board size doesn't so much give an advantage to one or other of these since most close combat troops have a threat range of further than the guns range.

It is schemes that will make a difference to. I would suggest 3*3 and use 6 inches a side to store cards and so forth

[Teal]

I'm in the same situation. Our store has a bunch of 4x4 boards, so we either use walls to cordon off a 3x3 and have space for cards, or play on a full 4x4 but give each player 12" (doubled) deployment zones. This works, but the board is still bigger, so taking the extra minute to mark out a smaller board is worth your time.

[Buhallin]

4x4 board doesn't just affect the Strategies and Schemes. It also affects some crews and matchups more than others.

Imagine flipping Bog or Forest and then telling the Nicodem player he has another foot of the table he can happily move through at half speed (walk of 1.5~2" across the crew).

As a side note, remember that you flip for location, special terrain, and strategies before you pick your crew. A rezzer player would be far better off taking Kirai in this case, or just a model selection with movement potential - Belles, Hanged, Shikome, etc.

If all they've got is the one crew, I'd probably reflip it. I made this mistake in a game last week, against a new player - we flipped Forested when I was already planning on using Kirai, and his Lady J had some issues (to say the least).

On the core topic - I've played 50SS Brawls on the standard 3'x3', and had no real issues with space. I think it plays just fine at that size. When I've got a 4'x4' I just throw dice down to make a border (what else are you gonna use em for? ) and cut it back to 3' square.

[goblyn13]

With a 4x4 board, in many single masters games the slow master are at a serious disadvantage (nicodem, Leveticus, rasputina, marcus) while the faster masters (marcus, Lilith, perdita, etc) can become even more in control of the game than you'd think. a fast master on a bigger board can pretty much run the game, especially givne than most guns are range 10" with few exceptions, so this makes it rather difficult to run. Common things that we've done in the past is giving a 12" deployment zone and making for a 6" buffer on the other sides (allowing models falling back to enter the 6" side without being killed)