4 Player Team games

[unti]

Our Gaming group wants to try some 4 player team games (2vs2). we already tried a 'normal' version, flipping strat and schemes then building crew in the team with two masters and we ruled the teammembers minions as friendly. Now there are some very overpowered combinations out there so the game was dominatet by one team.

To solve that problem we thought about some kind of draft or bann modus. That is why i ask for your experience with these kind of games, have you played 2vs 2 games? How did you play? Standard gg2018 or story encounter? How big was the map you played on?

Thanks for your help in advance.

[Tokapondora]

I've played 2v2 games but they're never treated as serious games and every time two people got teamed up half the fun was in trying to find the most broken and ridiculous combinations between their preferred factions. Keep it to 25~30SS+a master per person, shared rarity/no double masters and don't expect balance, is all I can say. The game is really not designed to have masters have each other's back but it's hilarious when you get to put all those what-if scenarios in action. Don't try to force it into some sort of "balance" and just see how far you can push the envelope. If you want a fair match there's normal games.

[Sol_Sorrowsong]

4 player henchman hardcore sounds fun too

[Aegnor]

What we do in my group is 'blind' list building.

We draw schemes and strats. Then each player make 2 lists, both 25ss, one lead by a master and the other by an henchman. Only after you roll for the teams and each team choose which of its player will play the master and the henchman. For example we roll teams to be A-C and B-D. Then A will play his master list and C his henchman one, or A play his henchman and C his master.

This way you avoid too silly combos.

The other way around is too make it very clear to everyone that you can do any mix so the goal is to find the most broken synergies.

[Dogmantra]

There's the official tag team format in the Alternate Tournament Formats document, copy pasted here:

Tag Team is a tournament version of Malifaux in which two players play as a team. This format is good for groups
who are looking for something different in terms of list building, as combining two lists is always interesting. Also,
coordinating with another player adds a whole new dimension to the game. This format may be good for new
players if they can be teamed up with a veteran willing to help them along.

Restrictions

• Each player must have a teammate, and each team is considered a single entity for tournament standings (players win or lose as a team).
• Each player assembles a legal 25 Soulstone Crew. One teammate must assemble a Crew led by a Henchman while the other must assemble a Crew led by a Master (note: in this case a Master may be selected to lead a 25 Soulstone Crew). Then the teammates combine their Crews. While each individual 25 Soulstone Crew must be legal, the combined Crew may break the normal hiring rules. (For example, when selecting their 25 Soulstone Crew, a player may only select one copy of a Rare 1 model. But if each teammate selects the same Rare 1 model, then the team as a whole may have two copies of the model when they combine their Crews. Similarly, the two Crews do not even need to be from the same Faction).
• All models on a team’s combined Crew are considered friendly to each other, although they will be controlled by the member of the team which hired them.
• The Soulstone Pool of the combined Crew is considered to be equal to the Cache of the Master plus the Cache of the Henchman who were chosen to lead the individual 25 Soulstone Crews. This may bring the Pool over the usual limit of 7. The size of the Crew’s Soulstone Pool cannot be higher than this combined Cache; any Soulstones above this amount are discarded.
• Each team shares a deck, but each player has a hand of 4 cards (instead of the usual 6) which may only be used for the Actions/Abilities and for Cheating Fate with the models belonging to their original Crew.
• Teams flip for initiative and alternate Activating models as if each team were a single player. However, each player has complete control over the models which they selected for their original 25 Soulstone Crew in all aspects including Cheating Fate and using Soulstones. When it is a team’s turn to Activate a model, they must choose which player’s model they are Activating.
• Each team shares a Soulstone Pool, so players must discuss using Soulstones with their teammate carefully!
• The Master is considered the Crew’s Leader for all Strategy and Scheme purposes
• Teammates may show each other their hands without revealing them to the opposing team. However, all other communication must be public and in view/hearing range of the opposing team (and in a language they can understand).

 

[iamfanboy]

"And in a language they understand..." I can't be the only one who snickered at that. I remember over twenty years ago hearing two people tabletalking in Klingon at a Battletech Grand Melee. Didn't help them any, they just got ganged up on by everyone else.

More seriously.

In the fiction, we do see situations where multiple Masters team up, and there ARE lots of other games that have 'upscaled' play sizes not necessarily BALANCED, but still endorsed. X-Wing has Epic (which is honestly more like a real wargame than the regular size!), Warmachine has its multiple Warcaster sized games, and one of my fondest wargaming memories is a lost weekend spent on ONE Battletech battalion-on-battalion game. If you've never played BT, the game pretty much tops out at 8-10 miniatures on a side, and we had close to fifty in each force!

Something like, "60 Soulstones, can hire a Master at 15ss cost" and label probably Von Schill and the Viks as mercenaries. Or maybe 75 Soulstones.

[Argentbadger]

I would suggest to run with the 25SS crews each and embrace the madness.  My experience was that there are a lot of ways to skin the cat here so you might find some surprises compared to what you're expecting to be the 'best'.  The most horrible I heard of was Viks plus Tara for a fully loaded Vik of Blood bomb at the end of turn 1, but I didn't play that year.

I did take part in a doubles tournament a while ago (actually a couple of years it seems!) and wrote about the experience here.  I think that the main changes from the rules mentioned above by Dogmantra was that different factions counted as neither friendly nor enemy when mixed in a team and that teams shared a single control hand.