Chris Birch
United Kingdom
London
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So this weekend we played 4 player Overlord using the downloaded rules, the Air Pack and two copies of the game.
Rather than the suggested 3 people a side we just played two generals a side, on the Bastogne overlord mission.
The generals each ran a flank consisting of three zones as normal and had access to the 9 cards and would decide between them which to use. So pretty much the same just no CinC to give them cards. They'd both play a card at the same time then draw two new ones.
Now, it was a close match but it really felt like we were just playing two games side by side. Sure I could have sent a couple of units over the border of the two boards but my co-general already had a decent force and his action was down on the other end of his map.
So tell me - have you played missions where the action flowed to and fro across the border or did it also feel like two games side by side?
I love the game (hence the two copies!) but just didn't really see the point of four players so much unless we had victory conditions in the centre that drew forces together in support maybe.
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Mik Svellov
Denmark
Copenhagen N
EU
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The point is - that it enables all four to play the same game.
And you could this just as good with just one copy of the game: each player his own flank, both players share the center section.
To really come to its right, the Overlord version needs a commander handing out commands to at least two other members of his staff, so that he will have some interesting choices of who to give which card.
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brian
United States
Cedar Lake
Indiana
Mourning the end of the Manning era.
Welcome baby brother Toby James, 03/24, 8 lb. 15 oz.
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With 4 players, 2 per side, one player should control teh left and right flanks and the other should be the CinC and also command the Center section.
The CinC still passes out the cards for the turn and the two generals can discuss. It shouldn't feel like two separate games on the same board but a combined coordination of 2 vs. 2.
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Tim Earl
United States
Portage
Michigan
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ColtsFan76 wrote: With 4 players, 2 per side, one player should control teh left and right flanks and the other should be the CinC and also command the Center section.
The CinC still passes out the cards for the turn and the two generals can discuss. It shouldn't feel like two separate games on the same board but a combined coordination of 2 vs. 2.
I finally got to play this way recently (Hedgerow Hell) and it worked well. We all agreed that we'd like to get two more players for next time, but that's not likely.
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Chris Birch
United Kingdom
London
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ColtsFan76 wrote: With 4 players, 2 per side, one player should control teh left and right flanks and the other should be the CinC and also command the Center section.
The CinC still passes out the cards for the turn and the two generals can discuss. It shouldn't feel like two separate games on the same board but a combined coordination of 2 vs. 2.
Thanks guys - it was a fun game and nice for four of us to play - the decision making about which cards to use each was good.
So let me get this straight - you've basically got 6 sections. What you're saying is that one player should be able to play the cards that represent the left and right flanks and the other player controls the cards for the centre and chooses orders to be given to himself or the other general - okay I can see that being more interesting. It simplfies things somewhat as it's essentially one big version of the board rather than two...now, doesn't this mean you could basically play this on a normal board. I mean isn't the whole point of two boards end to end to have two sets of 3 sectors? not just a longer version of the same?
Ok follow me now, in addition to this question has anyone played with 3 boards end to end - basically you keep the 3 players a side - maybe even four with a CinC and the cards dealt out relate to each players 3 sectors. I've got a desert/winter board so am thinking of having one end snowy (heck it's the edge of the moutains or something right?!).
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brian
United States
Cedar Lake
Indiana
Mourning the end of the Manning era.
Welcome baby brother Toby James, 03/24, 8 lb. 15 oz.
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You could play this on a "standard" board in a pinch. But you will typically have less units so less options, so possibly less fun. You can also do this with 3 players if you really want to (or any combination up to the 8). One player controls one side as normal and the otehr split duties as outlined above.
Purpose of Overlord is probably a little of both. One it reflects the longer shallow battles of the operation that gave its name to this format. So it does depict some actual battles while also spreading out to accomodate more players.
You could try 3 boards but it might get a bit ridculous to accomodate. You would need a 9 foot long table just to set it up (or multiple smaller ones). In addition, there are no official scenarios for three. I am not sure if any fan has created one yet.
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