I think we all agree that 2 player games are really based on who goes first, how the board is set up. My suggestion about how to give similar chances to both player is that the player who decide to make first movement has to play with the distribution of countries that the other player has rejected. 

I will explain it with an example. We are 2 players, Red and Black. Red goes first.

Red can see the board but the provinces will be Neutral (Grey), Player1´s provices (Blue) and Player´s provinces (Green). 

Now Red has to decide what he wants:
1)The best distribution of countries chosing which player he wants to be.
2) Be the first player in attacking (so, Black can decide which distribution of provinces he wants).

I think this way of playing can balance the game .

Of course the colours are not important; I used them to make this post clearer. I hope I got it.       

this could be a fun idea!

in reality, many of the new 2player boards coming online lately have built-in adjustments to make it more fair (eg. more starting units/extra card/extra attack for 2nd player). 

while i disagree in complete replacement, i do think this idea could be added as a scenario to many 2player boards. tho the implementation of such could be difficult for tom.

What I like of suggestions it´s that you say something you would like to be done/made and then you wait until somebody smarter than you do/make it 

On a similar note, you could show the board to both players and have them bid to chose a side.  Each player bids how many units they give to their opponent to pick the side they want, then that bid can be added to the opposing player's turn 1 bonus. The winning bidder goes second.

I like your idea SquintGnome. I change my vote to your proposal!

These are very slick ideas! It's hard to obtain balance. Very few designers succeed, and quite a few say, "I'm okay if 1st player has an edge." (Let's face it, it could add months of playtesting to get it right.)

SG's bidding process could balance almost any board!

SquintGnome wrote:

On a similar note, you could show the board to both players and have them bid to chose a side.  Each player bids how many units they give to their opponent to pick the side they want, then that bid can be added to the opposing player's turn 1 bonus. The winning bidder goes second.

I really like the idea, though I wonder how often both players would make identical bids for the same side.

M57 wrote:

SquintGnome wrote:

On a similar note, you could show the board to both players and have them bid to chose a side.  Each player bids how many units they give to their opponent to pick the side they want, then that bid can be added to the opposing player's turn 1 bonus. The winning bidder goes second.

I really like the idea, though I wonder how often both players would make identical bids for the same side.

The bidding system could be an iterative, auction style with  no ties.  The first player bids, the next player must beat the bid or loses the bid.  This continues until one player stops bidding.  You can bid 0 to start if you like.

Another option is that the winning bidder goes first, so if the positions are even, you will be bidding to go first. 

Anything where you could see all the territories would change the dynamics slightly of foggy maps, because even in a 2-player game when you start you can't necessarily see all the opponent territories.

It's hard to obtain balance. Very few designers succeed, and quite a few say, "I'm okay if 1st player has an edge." (Let's face it, it could add months of playtesting to get it right.)

My goal on most of my new boards is to have a duel scenario only for 2 players.  Make a best guess as to the bonus # of units/cards to give to player 2, and then check back after 50 games and see how often seat 1 has won compared to seat 2.  That gives you some basis for adjustment, although further adjustments get complicated as you would have to track the current breakdown each time you tweak things.

SquintGnome wrote:

M57 wrote:

SquintGnome wrote:

On a similar note, you could show the board to both players and have them bid to chose a side.  Each player bids how many units they give to their opponent to pick the side they want, then that bid can be added to the opposing player's turn 1 bonus. The winning bidder goes second.

I really like the idea, though I wonder how often both players would make identical bids for the same side.

The bidding system could be an iterative, auction style with  no ties.  The first player bids, the next player must beat the bid or loses the bid.  This continues until one player stops bidding.  You can bid 0 to start if you like.

Another option is that the winning bidder goes first, so if the positions are even, you will be bidding to go first. 

 

Brilliant ideas, especially with this last option. Definitely worth trying.