Better Mission Design

This popped up recently via a discussion in one of my local gaming groups.  It is not necessarily a totally new concept, but it is getting some airplay. Two guys at Torrent of Fire are proposing a different approach to countering the various popular powerbuilds, and other changes resulting from Stronghold and Escalation.  We have already had a fair amount of discussion along these lines, especially here in "GW releases it, players police it!", but I thought I would throw this out in a new thread as it seems like a worthwhile idea, and something that doesn't necessarily apply just to tournaments.

[Torrent of Fire] "Better Mission Design: A More Proactive Direction for Tournament Fairness"
http://www.thedarkcity.net/t8333-gw-releases-it-players-police-it

The basic concept is designing new, or modified, missions that give both players a fair chance of winning by being able to play to their own army's strengths, rather than simply trying to react to the other guy's powerbuild.  And to do so throughout the entire game instead of just at the end.  So it comes down to who is the better player with their army, instead of who has the better army?

It does not focus on banning certain units or fortifications, or limiting their number, etc.  It avoids that approach altogether.

Two early examples are an an objective-based game and a KP-based game.  In the objective one, each player might be given a choice at the start of the game whether or not their primary victory points will be based on who is holding the objectives at the end of the game, or on who holds them at the end of each turn?

In the KP game, you might get a choice for your primary victory points being based on the number of units you kill, vs. the number of points what you kill is worth.

The ToF guys are looking to gather a pool of experienced TO's to create a catalogue of tested missions based on this concept, and they are putting out ideas to be playtested.  I am certainly no power-gamer, but I like to play whatever I feel like rather than whatever I should in order to win, so long as I have an enjoyable game.  I have also run one tournament and helped with a couple of others.  It definitely seems to be a good idea to me and other local players and TO's like the sound of it.

So, what do you think?

I think it's a good idea in principle but it might still need to be combined with some restrictions on what is 'legal' in tournaments as I don't see any real way to design missions that, for example, deal with the issues that D-Weapons create.

I like the idea in theory but I agree with Count Adhemar on D-weapons. Honestly, thats my largest concern with 40k these days since that to me should be Apoc only. Thus I feel the D weapon in 40k needs the nerf bat to something more reasonable (S10,AP2,ignores cover, etc) or otherwise those units that have them banned.

However, looking beyond D weapons I like the idea of new mission concepts.

Fisrt: I usualy play 1k-1.5k games(and smaler) so for enemy to have model with D weapon can be problematic to have enything else... Im not concerned.
Second: 40k as game wasnt and isnt desiged ant mean to be tournament game. Its like trying to make chicken fly like falcon.

I think they can take this somewhere. We just have to see how it pans out.

Been getting a lot of discussion on other forums. One play tester has really been enjoying it, but it isn't ready for prime time yet...shows a lot of promise.

I don't think she has had to deal with the d weaponn issues yet though

Hi all. In preparation for a doubles tournament, I have been using Tau alongside my sons Ultramarines. Believe me you, I really miss the speed of my DE but "Desperate Allies" is too troublesome for our co-op playmaking to work. Having said that, Tau have some incredibly good deployment options that could be epic in a DE Archon's bloody hands.
The past 4 games I have been open-minded, accepting the challenge from the local IG armoured company power-gamer as he brandished his Xmas prezzie super-heavy. I have won once and lost 3 times against this D-weapon toting behemoth. I have blown it up twice and this is very, very rewarding in itself. Yes, it is utterly ridiculous to have this stuff in a game and there is no way it will see the light of day in a tournament. But when you haywire that 700 point stuff to the ground with 9 pt models and wipe the smile off a powergamer, you realise that sometimes, the game does achieve balance.