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Theres no denying it; the last edition of GW's Lost Patrol was a bit of a cock up. Frustrating for the Scouts, boring for the Tyranids and usually over in a few minutes.

Many have offered their own house rules, including a few articles in White Dwarf itself. However, when one compares the new rules to the 1st edition's it becomes clear that its just broken - the Scouts were not up against Genestealers( If Terminators have trouble with them then Scouts ain't got a chance in hell ) but Lurkers - mysterious creatures that are weak on their own but gathered together are able to overwhelm the scouts. Also, the Scouts had more than one dice to roll when it came to shooting...

Okay, down to business. I've come up with house rules for Lost Patrol and also solo play. I've replaced the Genestealers with Hormagaunts as a single box will replace the 12 Genestealers in LP. If you still want to use Genestealers, then thats cool and doesn't affect the following rules in anyway at all, so I shall just refer to them as "Tyranids". There is additional rules for scouts, making more use of their optional weapons.

SOLO PLAY RULES:

Remove the start(clearing) and dropship tiles from the tile deck and put them aside for now. Now remove all six tangleweed tiles from the deck and place them down separately on the table. With the remaining tiles, deal each one in turn to each of the tangleweed tiles so you end up with six small decks. Some of these "tangleweed decks" will have one tile less than others, but thats okay. Now, put these six decks into three pairs, and for each pair, stack one deck on top of the other and then shuffle them. When you have three shuffled decks, stack them into a single stack. Finally, place the dropship tile under the stack. You're ready to play!

When a tangleweed tile is dealt, place an infestation marker on it. This tile will still use tangleweed rules but will also act as a spawning tile for Tyranids. We shall call these tiles "spawning tiles" After removing and placing tiles in a turn, roll a D6 for each present spawing tile...

1-2: Place one Tyranid on the tile.
3-4: Place two Tyranids on the tile.
5-6: Place three Tyranids on the tile.

Special rule: There can be a maximum of three Tyranids on a spawing tile. If your score results in more Tyranids than can be placed then just discard the excess Tyranids.

The spawning tiles cannot produce Tyranids if a Scout is present on the tile. Also, the Scouts cannot remove the infestation marker - its there for good! Normal rules apply for when part of the jungle is removed and the Spawning tiles are removed also.

...once Tyranids have been deployed, they then begin their phase of the turn. Tyranids will move towards the nearest scout, and will always travel as a pack if other Tyranids are present on the same tile.

Special rule: Tyranids cannot occupy the dropship tile.

SCOUT RULES

Suggested rule: Scouts last longer when given a movement value of two tiles in a single action, but this is up to you.

Scout with bolt pistol: Rolls two dice and scores on a 6.
Scout with knife: +1 to assault score. +1 on Tangleweed rolls.
Scout with Shotgun: Rolls two dice and scores on a 6, +1 when shooting at a Tyranid on the next tile.
Scout with Chainsword: +2 to assault score. +1 on Tangleweed rolls.
Scout with Heavy Bolter: Rolls four dice and scores on a 6.



And thats a wrap! These rules are just a melding of both editions and its fortunate that there are as many tangleweed tiles as there are infestation markers. I had initially written the markers off but playing Atari's Gauntlet got me thinking. Shotgun rule was inspired by id's Doom but still feels a little odd so suggestions on that one would be appreciated. I'm considering new Lost Patrol projects that use Tau Stealth Suits( Predator, anyone? ), a variety of Tyranids and The Dreaded Ambull but that last one we shall see...

Anyway. Let us know what you think and what changes you would make.

I never played this board game but it seems that it is a ripoff from this video game also called "Lost Patrol":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy5bOEF14WM

American soldiers survive a heli crash in Vietnam and have to reach the nearest base on foot while moving through enemy territory. Great soundtrack and terrific game overall. I liked to play it back then. But now back to your custom rules. Here are my suggestions:

Tangleweed rolls
A knife provides a bonus of +1 but you should give the chainsword a +2 instead because it is a bigger weapon after all. It is also an iconic weapon of 40K so give it some love.

Shotgun
+1 bonus to shoot Tyranids on next tile? It´s a close ranged weapon, so it wouldn´t make sense to give it a bonus for fighting at a distance. Provide a bonus for fighting on the same tile and give it a bonus to the assault score because it is an assault weapon in 40K.

Bolt pistol
As a pistol it is available for assaults, too. So give it a bonus in that department as well.

Heavy Bolter
Should have a bonus for shooting up bugs on adjacent tiles. It is a heavy weapon after all. Here, see a scene from one of my favourite movies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgzxSr6l9Y4

Sniper rifle & Missile launcher & Frag & Krak grenades & Auspex
Scouts have access to these weapons/wargear as well. Why didn´t you write rules for these too?


Remember that this game is even harder than Space Hulk. I have seen youtube videos of people playing it and they reported never been able to win at this game while playing the Scouts. So they deserve every conceivable help you can think of.

Coming to think of help, why don´t you take a poker deck and write special rules for all the cards. This deck would be used as a random events deck in which one card is drawn per turn by the Scouts player at the beginning of his turns. He can hold as many or as few of these cards in his hand as you would deem necessary. These events should be beneficial to the Scouts player most at the time because the game is already really tough. Here are a few suggestions of mine:


Ace of Spades / He is behind you
Play this card at any time, apply it´s effect and discard it.
Put a model of Sly Marbo on any tile of your choosing and remove all Tyranids & spawn counters on that tile as well. At the end of your turn roll a D8:

1-6: Designate six different directions on your hexagonal tile on which Sly is located before rolling the D8: Move Sly Marbo up to the next adjacent tile. If there is no adjacent tile then remove Sly from the game. If there are Tyranids & spawn counters on the tile to which he just moved to then remove them now as well.
7: Sly stays on the tile.
8: Sly is removed from the game.

Sly Marbo is war incarnate. He can´t be attacked by Tyranids and every Tyranid which ends it´s movement on the same tile as Sly is immediately removed as well. What is Sly Marbo doing on this Emperor forsaken world? Holiday, what else?



Queen of Hearts / Copulating Season
Play this card in any of your turns, apply it´s effect and discard it.
Choose a tile on the board which has either Tyranids on it or a spawn marker. Choose one of two possible effects:

A) The Tyranids can´t move in their next turn.
B) Remove the spawn marker.



Ten of diamonds / Rainfall
Play this card immediately, apply it´s effect and keep it as a reminder beside the gaming board. All shooting at adjacent tiles suffers a malus of 1. Also whenever a Scout or Tyranid or a group consisting of said gaming pieces wants to move to an adjacent tile, which is titled as the destination tile, roll a D6:

1-2: The model(s) are moved to an adjacent tile which is to the left of the destination tile. If there is no such tile than the model(s) are not allowed to move at all.
3-4: The model(s) are moved to the destination tile as planned.
5-6: The model(s) are moved to an adjacent tile which is to right of the destination tile. If there is no such tile than the model(s) are not allowed to move at all.

At the end of your (Scouts) turn, roll a D6: On a 6+ this card is removed from play. Otherwise it stays in play but put a marker on it. At the end of the next turn (Tyranids) roll again a D6 but apply a bonus of 1 for each marker which has been placed on the card. On a 6+ this card is removed from play as usual and otherwise place a marker on it as well.




2 of Clubs / Agent Orange
Play this card at any time, apply it´s effect and discard it.
Exchange a Tangleweed tile with a randomly drawn new tile. This new tile can´t be another Tangleweed tile nor the Spaceship tile. Simply draw another card from the deck. If a Tanglweed or the Spaceship tile is drawn, put it/them back into the deck and shuffle it.




5 of Spades / Contact!
Play this card at any time, apply it´s effect and discard it.
All ranged combat performed by the Scouts in this turn gain a bonus of +3 but the Scouts may not move in the same turn as they have to reload their guns.


I could go on but it is your game after all so if you like this idea you can come up with suitable ideas on your own. Watch this game in the link for inspiration for other encounters/effects.

Some great suggestions there! Theres a lot to be said for your idea of using a regular deck of playing cards.

Although I purchased a box of sniper scouts alongside Lost Patrol, I wanted this rule set to cover the core game and its contents. That being said, White Dwarf released rules for the Sniper box set.

You are welcome. I borrowed the idea with the card deck from Blood Bowl. If a game is lacking in some regard then just spice it up with some nice custom rules. Another thing which occurred to me was the low life expectancy of the Scouts. I just stole this idea from the board game Deathwatch Overkill:

Every Scout gets a card with a name, wargear and special rules (SR). Some SR will turn the corresponding character card by 90° (tap like in MtG) to remind the player that the character used his SR.
SR which are used in the Scout player´s turn are untapped at the BEGINNING of their next turn while SR used in the Tyranid´s player turn are untapped at the END of the Scout player´s next turn. Character cards which are tapped can´t use SR which need to be tapped to function. There may be cards which function a bit differently and in such cases the rules on these cards take precedence.


All Scouts have the following rule as they are Space Marines after all:

Superhuman Physique
Whenever a Scout should be removed as a casualty, leave him in play instead and turn his character card in such a way that the back side is facing up. This card position reminds you that this character is wounded. If a wounded character should be removed from the game as a casualty then he is gone for good. Remove him from the board.
A wounded Scout may opt to use his fast healing metabolism to reverse his present condition in his turn. Doing so however prevents him from participating in any attacks in the same turn. Turn his character card in the starting position to remind you that he is now healthy again.

Healthy
Front of character card is facing up.

Wounded
Back of character card is facing up.


And now to my proposed Scout Team. I got a bit carried away and wrote rules for six guys instead of just five. Coming to think of it, it would be prudent to come up with even more characters to form a team which plays differently every time. Also don´t forget to include synergies between team members so that it doesn´t feel that the squad consists of soldiers who fight only on their own.
I will dub this Team "High Senators of Terra" as all it´s members are descendants from these outstanding individuals of the past:



Sgt. Trump

Designation: Scout (Squad Leader)

Wargear: Golden bolt pistol, chainsword, frag & krak grenades

Special rules: Golden bolt pistol, Perimeter secured

Golden bolt pistol
This heirloom of a handgun confers an absolute accuracy boost to the shooter. Sgt. Trump may reroll each of his shots when using the Golden bolt pistol.

Perimeter secured
At the start of the game, place three Perimeter secured tokens on Sgt. Trumps character card. If Sgt. Trump ends his move with at least two other Scouts on the same tile AND all of them didn´t fight in this turn then he can use this SR by spending one of the tokens. His team members and himself rig the surrounding area of their camp with booby traps. Place a token on that tile as a reminder that it has been booby trapped. These booby traps persist until a Tyranid moves onto that tile. Roll for each Tyranid a D6 which moves into this secured perimeter: On a roll of 4+ it is removed from play. A tile can only hold a single booby trap at a time.



Obama

Designation: Scout (Point man)

Wargear: Bolt pistol, combat knife, frag & krak grenades

Special rules: Merge with shadows, Ranger, Slit your throat

Merge with shadows
Tap
Whenever a Tyranid moves or is spawned to the tile in which the model with this SR is located then the Scout player may opt to use this SR. Roll a D6: On a roll of 3+ this model hides and can´t be attacked by Tyranids until this model moves or attacks. If this model moves or attacks while it uses this SR untap it´s character card.

Ranger
This model may move an extra tile in his movement phase. In addition, it adds a +1 bonus to Tangleweed rolls. Finally, whenever a next tile is drawn from the deck and Obama is not accompanied by other Scouts on his tile then the Scout player may draw three tiles instead, choose one and put the remaining two back on top of the deck in any order he/she deems appropriate.

Slit your throat
This SR can only be used if the same model is currently under the effects of the SR Merge with shadows AND a single Tyranid occupies the same tile at the beginning of the Scout player´s turn. This model may try to assassinate the single Tyranid as follows: Roll a D6: On a roll of 2+ the Tyranid is removed from play. Using this SR ends the effect of Merge with shadows.



Bush

Designation: Scout (Gunner)

Wargear: Heavy bolter, combat knife, frag & krak grenades

Special rules: Overwatch, Suppression Fire

Overwatch
Tap
This SR may only be used in the Tyranid player´s turn if at least one Tyranid moves onto the same tile as the model with this SR. Use the corresponding weapon profile (heavy bolter) immediately against these moving Tyranids and then proceed with the game as normal.

Suppression Fire
Tap
This SR may only be used in the Scout player´s turn and if at least one Tyranid occupies an adjacent tile to the model with this SR. Attack the target(s) with the corresponding weapon profile (heavy bolter) and then roll a D6 for each survivor which remains on that tile: On a roll of 3+ the target has been suppressed and can´t move in the following turn of the Tyranid player. A model which uses this SR can´t move in the same turn.



Clinton

Designation: Scout

Wargear: SM shotgun with solid & scatter shells, frag & krak grenades

Special rules: Dodge, Rapid fire

Dodge
If this model is healthy, it can prevent any wounding hit by rolling a 4+ on a D6.

Rapid fire
This model may fire twice with the corresponding weapon profile (SM shotgun).



Mc Carthy

Designation: Scout (Sniper)

Wargear: Sniper rifle, frag & krak grenades

Special rules: Scoped shot, Trick shot

Scoped shot
This model may fire in the Scout player´s turn at distant targets with the corresponding weapon profile (sniper rifle). Select a Tyranid as a target which is one tile away (e.g.: a tile is between the attacker and the target) from the model using this SR.

Trick shot
If this model removes a Tyranid from play with the corresponding weapon profile (Sniper rifle) then roll a D6: On a 4+ the shot penetrates the victim and may kill further Tyranids in the same tile as the previous target. Roll another attack against the new target and if it is removed from play as well check as described above if the shot shot penetrates again.



Nixon

Designation: Scout (Demolition Expert)

Wargear: Bolt pistol, combat knife, frag & krak grenades

Special rules: BOOM!!!

BOOM!!!
This model may reroll any attacks with the corresponding weapon profile (frag & krak grenades). In addition, Tyranids which enter a secured perimeter (see Sgt. Trump above) are removed from play on a 3+ if this model is on the same tile as Sgt. Trump.

"High Senators of Terra"

The character-based Scouts is another brilliant idea. I should give that a go on Sunday.