This is mainly something found in RTSs, but also quite frequent in TBSs.

In strategy games that involve building bases/cities/towns and producing units (i.e. as opposed to tactial ones), in single player campaigns, do you enjoy the occasional levels where you play without a base, with a fixed number of units to achieve your objective. Not sure if there is a name for such levels but I alaways called them "baseless" because you play without a base. Sometimes you get additional units along the way. You know, like the Orc Chogall level in Warcraft 2, or the one where you play Raynor as a marine in Starcraft.

Personally I always loved such levels since they offered a nice change of pace, but I'm now playing HoMM5 where these levels seem to be the norm rather than appearing a few times. It's become annoying because when I play a strategy I expect more of a strategy game; like the previous HoMM games.

You might like the Advance Wars videogames. They have a mix of bases and no bases, and should keep you busy for awhile.

I've always preferred missions with basebuilding tbh. The baseless missions in Starcraft and in Brood war were fine and a nice diversion, but I never liked it when campaigns in RTS games had more than a few of such missions.
The original Age of Empires had a few really horribly designed missions of this type iirc.

The optimal word here is "occasional".

Some RTS, that's all they are, but a classic like StarCraft did a brilliant job of throwing them in every once in a while to shake things up. That is how to make a good RTS.

Depends, sometimes I enjoy it, e.g.
- commando mission in first CnC
- Tanya levels in Red Alert
- starcraft Raynor levels, especially the last one in SC2:WoL
- almost all of them in Warcraft 3, especially the dungeon levels

But sometimes I can't stand them, and the series in which I find them most grating is definitely Age of Empires. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a non-base-building level in AoE.

A game that felt a lot like an rts, but with no base building, and which I thought pulled it off spectacularly is Dawn of War 2. And of course Company of Heroes and Ground Control.

EDIT: One of the best starts to an rts I think I've ever seen starts with a pretty kickass baseless mission: LOTR:Battle for Middle Earth
Unfortunately there is no music in the video for some reason. This one has the music, but also the dude talking over the gameplay.

Lol...first thing that came to my mind when I read your title, were jump'n'run games like "Impossible Mission":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0U6h5mvr9E
;o)

Those games are a nightmare from start to finish.

What about AoE2? I remember enjoying some of them, like the first Atilla mission for example.

You want a true RTS nightmare, try Armies of Exigo. It is literally a WC3 clone but it's very unforgiving, sometimes even unfair.


On topic: I do appreciate "baseless" missions. As they usually provide a welcome change to the standard RTS/TBS formula.
Slightly relevant: I enjoyed the Myth Trilogy a whole lot due to its lack of base building and on most missions you had to make do with the units supplied to you. Reinforcements were rare and plot/mission objective tied. Trully enjoyable RTS.

Sadly not no :P I played AoE2 fairly recently, getting some distance into the Genghis Khan campaign, but I can't remember liking any of the baseless missions.

Same thing with Galactic Battlegrounds. The baseless missions I remember trying were all pretty unpleasant, even more so than AoE2.

The change of pace / tactics can help prolong interest.

Had some of that in the Warzone 2100 campaign, especially in the beginning. And don't the Total Annihilation campaigns do that, at least to some degree? Or maybe it's just very limited base building options.

If only it would release on gog/steam. I've always wanted to try it out, regardless of whether or not it's a W3 clone, which isn't necessarily a bad thing :)

Aye, not at all. Another interesting WC3 clone was War of the Ring, developed by Liquid Entertainment and published by Sierra in 2003. It was based on the books rather than the films, so it stood out from the onslaught of LOTR games of the time.

But yea we're talking licencing hell here. Rather pray for Exigo instead since EA has already tossed a few of their published games in here. I still have working physicals of both games and last time i checked they both work on Win 7 out of the box (literally).
Still, would be nice to have those here.

EDIT: Both of the games mentioned above have a few "baseless" missions :)

In HoMM5 campaigns, while a lot of scenarios have you starting without a base, you almost always capture a city in the first week (in-game time of course).