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Let's Talk - Team Games
- ChristopherMD
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I'm not sure I count 1vsAll games as the same as Team games. Just doesn't feel right since 1 person is not a team. Also not sure I'd count games with temporary alliances.
Do you like board gaming on a team? What games do you think are best for this?
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- Black Barney
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The only time it actually felt FUN was playing Battlelore with two sets. You put the maps beside each other, divide into teams of 3 and it's fun trying to see 3 commanders on each side agree or ignore each other. When you see cohesion evaporating, then you know which area to attack best.
War of the Ring's team rules always sounded awful to me cuz the system is SO fragile to bad moves. Everyone would fight over who gets to do what with the die rolls and whichever area needs the focus most is the only player that will get to play. No thanks.
When I used to play Scotland Yard I liked watching people gang up on me as Mr. X. Trying to work together, that was cool. One of the Zombie games had that too... Last Night on Earth I think
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- hotseatgames
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Black Barney wrote: i hate it. The most experienced player just tells the other what to do.
This is what I said in the co-op thread, but it's very applicable to competitive team games as well:
me wrote: I would love to find a really great team game that doesn't easily fall down with the coaching problem. I like the feel of succeeding (or even failing) with a team, but I hate being micro-managed. Worse yet, I can sometimes slip into that micro-management mode myself, and wind up being the asshole at the table. I try hard, but it's a character flaw.
That's why I want a coaching-resistant game, where each player is best aware of their own situation and most able to react, without an Overmind telling them what the best course is. Actually, maybe I don't want that, because it sounds like why Shellhead won't play spreadsheet games after being an accountant all day. Too real.
san's not wrong about dice throwing uncertainty in the mix, but even then it's easy to say "well, there's about a 70% chance of it going wrong, so I think you should" and worst case followed by "I told you so". Low-luck (or high information) games are definitely the easiest to overcoach in.
I think the best examples I have of this limited information is in BSG's very arbitrary "no table-talk about your cards" rules, or something like the "megagames" that Jur used to play on and report about, where different operational theaters (on the same side) were in different rooms. Making the best choice in front of you, while not being privy to all the information about the whole state of the game. And yet, making a cohesive and satisfying game out of that...
That's the holy grail co-op to me.
Replace "co-op" in that last line with "team game". Whether it's everyone on one team or multiple teams slugging it out, the dynamic is the important part to me. Being able to replace "Well, this is clearly the best move for you" with "Everyone do the best you can with what you have, I don't know your problems".
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- Sagrilarus
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Wings of Glory and its cousins are excellent team games, and the WWII version even more so because you have to be heads down concentrating, but still keep an eye on your wingman. You can coach, but jeeze,it's about execution and each flyer is on their own more or less.
I love team games and I wish there was more of them. Quartermaster General works.
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- san il defanso
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I'm not a fan of overlord games because quite frankly I don't want to sit through lengthy periods of listening to three other people expertly pick over every ramification and possibility in play before sitting by and watching as everything I achieved on my turn is slowly dismantled. I think the only time it works is in deduction games, Fury of Dracula and Scotland Yard being the best of the bunch.
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Although I haven't played Wings of War, X-Wing works pretty well where you just divide up the fleet a bit. In a similar vein, Heroscape and Summoner Wars both had team rules built-in, even though they ended up being pretty uncommon ways to play, especially in tournaments. I like 2v2 in them better than multiplayer M:tG. Back when Summoner Wars only had 4 factions, I used to play a team game nearly every morning with some kids at work. The turn order and way the board wrapped around (like Defender or a cylindrical board) was pretty clever. It did a good job of not making it feel like two separate 1v1 games despite the way it starts. Nexus Ops has a 2v2 variant that works pretty well too.
So I guess a general rule would be that conflict heavy games where you can split the forces are a fine source to look for solid team games. I could see house-ruling something like Small World if you alternate the seating for the teams.
Going back, there are tons of traditional card games like Pinochle or Bridge that use teams. Maybe people could look to games like that when designing fun filler card games now? Anything German like that from the time when people made stuff like Sticheln?
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Overlords and temporary alliances are both beloved for me but I agree that they aren't the same thing as teams.
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- Jackwraith
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- hotseatgames
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Some good ones:
-Captain Sonar (tops in my opinion)
-Guards of Atlantis
-Gorechosen in 2v2 mode (quite good this way)
-Every social deduction game
-Space Cadets Dice Duel
-Cyclades: Titans at 6 players
-Fire in the Lake
-Pericles
-Fief
-Flick 'Em Up at 4 or more players
-Pit Crew
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- SuperflyPete
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The thing is that they all kind of do the same thing: beat each other up until one side dies. There’s not too many (if any) games where two teams are competing to solve tasks fastest (like pick up and deliver races) or to solve mysteries (A competitive Exit! or Android game) which is unfortunate. Imagine a game like Mage Knight or Runebound which had team specific goals.
They would either be the Alpha’s Delight or really cool, depending on the group.
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- Sagrilarus
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SuperflyTNT wrote: Rush n’ Crush
You know I was just thinking about mentioning Rush 'n Crush when I was reading down this thread and you beat me to it. I think the most interesting part of Rush 'n Crush from a team game perspective is that it's a team game where the publisher chickened out and didn't sell it as a team game! When you read the rules it makes no mention of playing in teams, but the game is much, much better when played in multiple teams of two. The components are all designed to run it as a team game and there's these relics in the rules where you can almost read the missing text, but they just don't come out and say it. It's really weird.
All that said, all you have to do to make it a team game is to play it that way. The natural breakout is to have one member of each team push for a win (i.e., cross the finish line first) while the other runs interference with weaponry. With a short track and multiple laps it makes perfect sense and makes for one hell of a good competition. The trouble-making car can go slow and lay mines, attack from in front with drop bombs and fire, and strafe at other cars from behind as they're lapped, so everything just flows from that.
This game didn't get deleted when I cleaned out my collection because the two or three times I've played it as a team game it's really gotten the group jumping and yelling. Really a good game in teams, kind of mediocre without them.
S.
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