Apparently GW are releasing a new edition of Lost Patrol in 2016. I know no more than you guys about this (presumably) revised version, and though I will be writing a review and some commentary when I get a copy, I will not be compiling a FAQ for it.
This page deals with all the rules questions that you might have about the first edition of Lost Patrol. Please read the questions and answers below to see if your query has already been answered. If not, feel free to ask in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
If you have any questions on the game rules, or if you see a post on a forum somewhere that does, then please direct them here so that I can deal with them all in a single document. That way questions get answered consistently and everyone gets the benefit 🙂
To keep things tidy, comments and questions will be deleted from this page once they have been addressed in the FAQ.
Quirkworthy 
In a game, that is supposed to be biased in favor of one side, where do you stop with the difficulty, to not make it truly “broken” (meaning – not fun) for the other side? Rules that result in Scout’s player winning 1 game in 10? 1 in 20?
If it’s not “chances for either side to win are 50%”, than where it stops being fun for the handicapped side?
An excellent question. I couldn’t tell you in numbers.
My aim with Lost Patrol was to balance it so that in an average game the Scout’s objective was just out of reach. In most games you will almost get to the end of the deck of tiles (where the objective lies), or it will be laid out but you’ll die within sight of it.
The Scout player usually feels like victory was so nearly in his grasp that he’d like another try. This time he’ll do it…
If it was a lot harder then it would look completely unattainable, and if you get your tactics badly wrong or have terrible luck then it is. Conversely though, a little luck and sound tactics can win for the Scouts. And the victory is all the sweeter for being so hard won.
Hi!
Yesterday I found a copy of the game. It looks excellent! I haven’t tried it yet, but I have two questions:
First: how do you play with 4 players (as it says in the box)? Do you recommend dividing the Scouts? Then why it’s not an “up to 6 players” game (one for every Scout and one for the Jungle)?
Aand second: I know that you intended to make for a difficult game for the marine player and I find it very interesting, but do you have any opinion about how this change affects the game? I always appreciate very much your explanations about game mechanics and I’m interested in your thoughts about this modification on your rules.
Thank you very much!
It was always intended to be a 2 player game. Saying 4 players on the front of the box is an error. That said, there’s no reason a multi-player variant couldn’t be contrived 😉
I’ve not tried playing the variant suggested so I can’t really comment. I tend to play LP, like most games, in fits and starts, so I’ll give it a go the next time I’m playing.
During the Lurker-Action-Phase 3 actions are allowed. What is a similar action in particular?
Means building a Lurker Stack to build just one Lurker Stack and the action is over, or am I allowed to build several Stacks at several open ends of the Jungle-paths?
The same questions applies for the other two possible actions:
– Am I allowed to reinforce just one existing Lurker Stack or more of them. Is it possible to reinforce the same Lurker Stack two times using one Action-Point or do I have to use 2 APs on it or isn´t it allowed at all to reinforce the same Lurker Stack mor then once per round?
– Are different Lurker Stacks eligible to be moved for one AP or can more than one be moved.
Hope I´ve expressed my questions understandable halfway 😉
Something I’m sure you’ll get asked quite a bit in the near future….
It’s strongly rumored (even said to be announced by GW in some places) of a new edition of Lost Patrol coming from GW this year. Did you have any input on the new game? If not, would there be any changes that you hope would be done to the game?
Honestly I missed out on finding a copy of it and have never played it, so I’m hopeful for the new edition!
We played a 3 player variant of lost patrol last Saturday using a slightly modified version of your old rules (as opposed to the 2016 version), and we had a blast. One change we felt compelled to make was to give the lurker 4 actions. Even then, smart play by the scouts saw them comfortably win all 4 games we played. The addition of the sniper is a nice touch, but the sergeant’s special ability tends to be more valuable than the other 2 specialists. One change I’m contemplating for next time is to allow the lurker to pick up 2 tiles, pick the one he wants to use, and put the other at the bottom of the pile. In case you were wondering, we keep the drop pod tile separate, it can only be placed when all other tiles are either placed or part of the discard pile of jungle that could no longer be seen.