I've seen some other posts asking about how to make Scouring Sands more challenging. This is the second campaign I've run through it, and given the constraints I put upon myself, it was definitely a challenge!
To add challenge without playing with the PV percentages, I decided on a different kind of commander. Rather than a hardened mercenary, the one in charge was a sales exec. This particular sales exec was a 1980s stock broker, froze himself to escape a degenerative bone disease, and was thawed out in 3150. He immediately put his business acumen to work for Ostmann Industries, and found himself running a traveling demonstration/sales team.
Here are the constraints:
- The only mechs available are Ost mechs. You start with a lance of them (one each), though more can be purchased down the line.
- Vehicles are available, however, they must be picked based on name or some other silly quality, like something an unfamiliar idiot with a business expense card would pick out of a catalogue without reading the description. (Vehicles go on a separate expense account than the mechs, and are easier to write off.)
- If a unit is destroyed, but rolls to salvage, it has to sit the next mission out due to being in the shop. [I started off with my prior campaign's rule of 'if it has taken structural damage, it sits the next mission out,' but I had to ease up on it, as that would have seen me going into several missions with a half strength force.]
- When calculating expenses at the end of each mission, ignore the bit about vehicles only counting as half size. Ostmann Industries techs specialize in mechs, not vehicles!
- When choosing missions, pick the option that an businessman would think would get him the best angle on a deal, not necessarily the best military option.
- The purchasing/mission choice restrictions go away if the commanding officer is KIA in a mission. (The more reasonable subordinate takes over.)
Here was the starting list:
Ostmann Flagship Demonstration Lance
- Ostscout OTT-9S
- Ostol C
- Ostroc OSR-2D
- Ostwar OSR-3M
Armor lance
- Demolisher MkII
- Demolisher MkII
- Behemoth (Refit)
- Behemoth (Refit)
Air Assault Lance
- Balac VTOL (Hybrid)
- Balac VTOL (Hybrid)
- Karnov (BA Stealth)
- Karnov (BA Stealth)
- Achileus Flamer Squad
- Achileus Flamer Squad
Additional purchases
- J Edgar (X-Pulse)
- J Edgar (X-Pulse)
- Balac VTOL (Hybrid)
The missions were overall more challenging due to the lackluster units, as well as paying out the nose for destroyed vehicles and vehicle repairs. I had to skip giving my pilots SP after a couple missions out of sheer lack of funds.
I didn't have enough spare SP to purchase anything until the second to last mission, when I bought the two J. Edgars. Going into the last mission (19 in this case) and purchasing an additional Balac to replace a destroyed one, I was starting off with 400 SP. Finished the campaign with 1300 SP.
As far as unit performance:
The Balacs were the standout units. Maneuver plus high short range damage led to a lot of back shots on the dirty birds. There are a few missions I would have lost if it weren't for them.
The Behemoths were terrible and got destroyed in nearly every mission I brought them on. The Demolishers slightly less so. Both contributed to the very high expenses on account of the repair bills.
I had high hopes for the Karnovs and Achileus squads jumping out of them straight into anti-mech attacks, but they fell flat half of the time due to bad rolls. It was very much a one-shot attempt, since when the Achileus squads were destroyed, the roll to salvage them was pretty high and led to them being lost pretty easily.
Overall, despite (or perhaps because of) the terrible list, it was a lot of fun! It was significantly more tense than my first campaign, despite having a better grasp on how the card system works.
Gameplay-wise, the only fly in the ointment is that I forgot to use the edge abilities very often. Same issue as my last campaign.
So for those of you who want more challenge, use a lot of terrible units! That will test your tactical problem solving.
