Order of introduction: Special X Abilities

[Inxentas]

I have a question regarding Special X Abilities, where X could be Command, Pilot or Formation. I've been listening to some podcasts and have the impression that me and my group are playing "backwards"... in a sense that we included Formation abilities first, have some experience with Pilot abilities (since Formations grant those) and haven't really used Command abilities. No real reason for that aside from our tendency to associate SPA's with RPG characters (an avenue we have yet to explore), and since this game is a "pick the rules you want" type of deal we ended up using Formations first.

To us this feels "balanced" enough as long as everyone is smart enough to include a Battle Lance. But what I would like to know which type of abilities have the most influence on the game, which ones might be most disruptive for a "matched" kind of game. The podcasts gave me the impression it's Formations, but that could just as well be because it potentially introduces a LOT of SPA's on top of (potentially) existing Pilot abilities.

What's your thoughts on these, and in which order would you add them to games when introducing Alpha Strike to new players?

[CarcosanDawn]

I personally love including all 3 in the order you presented.

1) Formation abilities give some "force building guidelines" so it's not totally unstructured chaos that can feel overwhelming for new players. Plus, the SPAs they grant aren't terribly game-breaking, at least in my experience. It also teaches some good important first lessons to learn, like "4x artillery in a lance is worse than 2x artillery and 2x spotters" - since only 50% of the lance gets the Oblique Artillerist rule.

2) SPAs are just Formation Abilities that occur outside of formations. They can be unbalancing, but are rare and make characters (like commanders) feel powerful. I haven't played a unit so far with SPAs and SCAs full-up.

3) SCAs can be the most unbalancing, but also add a ton of tactical depth that can be really fun. The downside of them is they're also scenario dependent, and players can feel like they're suffering a drawback just because the map is too open for example. So experienced players only, probably...

[Normie]

I typically start with formations but those can be a bit much until people are comfortable with bigger games (300 pts and up). I like how they add structure to a force, and that they're thematic. It doesn't hurt the battle lance is one of the best choices. I also think it's a good way to sample a lot of the SPAs. 

SPA's are fun but I think you want new players to have a pretty good understanding of them first. Abilities like combat intuition with other bonuses can give a case of the feel bads pretty quick. I have noticed a couple of tournaments do allow these though so that may change the order depending on what the new players want to do.

As far as SCAs are concerned I don't have a lot of experience with them. We tend to look at tournament packs for missions, and adding Formations or SPAs typically is pretty easy if they aren't already there. The SCA abilities can have some pretty extreme effects though that are hard to fit in. I picked up the hot spots hinterlands book and we're thinking about messing with them in that setting after we hit a certain scale.