Partners Play! (2 vs 2)

[a_noble_kaz]

So one summer, my brother and I were playing OP while camping with a couple of friends of ours. We had taught them to play the game some months earlier and we were all fairly familiar with the rules. Well, it happened that all the women were off at the lake with the kids and left the four men alone at camp. We sat down at our card table with our cards and began to discuss who would play whom first, and a jovial sort of argument ensued. At one point I believe it was my brother Josh who first spoke up and said, "Why don't we all play?". Well from there, things got a little crazy. I must say that over the course of the trip we had many arguments, spats, disagreements, and I'm sure at one point we all swore to never play the game again, but by the end of it we had fleshed out partners play. So, without further ado, I give you Partners OverPower!

About Deckbuilding

You logically cannot use any duplicate heroes in partners play. If your partner has Iron Man, no Iron Man: OA for you!

You cannot have a Battlesite in the traditional sense, but rather your Homebase doubles as your battlesite for it has new, unique properties (but more on that later). Build your team using normal deckbuilding rules, and you also gain the Location Card's inherent ability if you meet the requirements.

We do allow for the use of Any Characters, though with the new function of the Homebase/Battlesite they aren't strictly necessary.

You may put in Events in your deck. Be wary of your partner's team too when using them. Also, four Events in one hand is a level of chaos not yet seen in our circle! But hey, why not?

About Events

Play them as normal.

About Discard

All normal discarding rules apply, except reserve. See below.

About Placing

Placing is where many components to partners play come together. Since you cannot see your partner's hand (he's sitting across from you, spades style), placing is the only way to show your partner parts of your hand so he can get a feel for how the battle will go. The trade-off is as always that the more you place the more your opponent(s) see, but here you have the advantage of also showing your partner. Now it is very important to place as many power cards and offensive specials as you can, for that is the only way for your partner to have access to them (more on that later). As far as the battlesite is concerned, you may not place any cards to your own battlesite at any time. That's right, no Activators here! Instead, you may place non-code-duplicate specials to your partner's Battlesite during the placing phase! This includes the reserve, for you are taking a gamble placing them there because your reserve is still the only hero that can use them (more on why later). The advantage is it makes your specials Any Character specials for you partner, but only for your partner. So if you place Cyclops' Battle Savvy on your partner's Battlesite, it becomes an Any Character avoid he can play at any time, but he may only avoid attacks on his frontline with it. If you place Jubilee's Distracting Burst, however, it becomes an avoid for both frontlines, the advantage to placing it is circumstantial however, since placing it does not change the function of the card. It should be noted that if you place Battle Savvy to your partner's Battlesite and he neglects to use it, if you draw it again the next battle you must discard it as a duplicate.

About Venture

We simply doubled the venture cards necessary to win, being fourteen, and you can venture up to four with no penalty. Why double it, you ask, when all the same rules apply? Simple. When looking at your hand, your partner (who has all 14 venture cards) asks you, "How strong is your hand?" and you say, "I could go two, easily" to which your partner replies "Well I only have one, so let's venture three." Given the uncertainty of a hand not our own, but important to your success nonetheless, we allow the ability to venture three cards at a time, something not possible with only seven cards. It makes the games last a bit longer as well, it seems, and with no one sitting out waiting to play, what's the hurry?

About Play

Determine who is to go first using your favorite method, and arrange the seating so your partner is across from you. Sequence of play should always be you, your opponent to your left, your partner, your opponent to your right, you.

Attack With a Power Card

Normal rules apply here, you may attack either the opponent to your left or right, and their Battlesite if you should so choose.

Attack With a Special Card

Normal and custom rules here. You may attack either opponent, or their Battlesite. A note on "Opponent" targeted attacks: as a rule, if it is not a OPD you must pick which opponent to target and the effects of the special only affect the chosen opponent. Example: if you play Scarlet Witch's Improbability Hex HL, you must choose with opponent to target. However, OPD attacks affect BOTH opponents and both must follow conditions of the special. Example: if you play Mr Sinister's Inside Information BZ, the opponent to your left AND right must each reveal their hand and play open handed! Example: if you play Colossus' Siberian Strength OC, you may choose to target one opponent or both, but no more then three cards must be discarded TOTAL.

Attack with an Ally Card

Normal and custom rules. If you play an Ally Card, you may choose to follow up with a special of your own, placed or in hand, or of your opponents, but only if it's placed.  Example: you play a 5e3e Ally card on your opponent to your left, and your partner has XSE tactics placed; you request that he play that card on an opponent of his choosing, and he may only follow up with a card placed to Bishop that does not require a teammate (i.e. basically a power card, teamwork and double shot may not be played). If your partner also has Team Coordination placed, you may request he play it, but he may not follow-up with any attacks from his frontline. Remember that if you play an Ally card and your partner denies you you must play a special of your own. Also, if you play an Ally and your partner follows up, this counts as your turn and play passes to your left.

Attack With a Universe: Teamwork Card

Now here we arrive to the real meat and potatoes of partners play! Teamwork cards are easily the best aspect that most utilizes your partner, aside from the Battlesite. You may play a teamwork card and either A follow up with your own power card placed or in hand or B request a power card your partner has placed. Example: you play a 7e i/f teamwork on your opponent to your left; you follow up with a fighting power card on the same opponent, and ask your partner for the intellect power card he has placed to Bishop to play on your opponent to your right. Note that you are not limited to one opponent per Teamwork card.

Attack With a Tactic: Double Shot Card

Provided your partner's hero meets the requirements AND has a corresponding power card placed, you may utilize your partner's frontline for play Double Shot cards.

About Defensive Actions

At any time, you may request that your partner assist you in defense of a given attack. There are, however, certain rules that apply.
The easiest way to explain this is your and your partner's frontline share a sort of Four Freedoms Plaza type shift ability from partner to partner. Example: your opponent attacks your Cyclops with a 6e power card; you ask your partner, "Can you defend that?". Your partner may A play a power card that defeats it from his hand or placed to any of HIS frontline or B play a special card that defeats it. Note: a "personal avoid" may never be used to defend your partner's frontline unless you can shift it to the hero associated to it. Example: you have Battle Savvy placed to Cyclops; your opponent attacks your partner's frontline, and he requests help; you may only use Battle Savvy in defense of your partner if he can shift the attack to Cyclops (e.g. if your opponent attacks your partner's Omega Red, he may play Sacrificial Lamb to move the card to Cyclops, who may then use Battle Savvy to defeat it). However, any avoid with the word "teammate" may be used to defend your or your partner's frontline. A negate may be used to defeat any special played on you or your partner, provided your partner requests your assistance.

Passing

At any time one partner may pass using normal passing conditions. This does not require that the other partner pass as well. Example: you have a power card and two defensive specials placed but have no cards in you hand. You pass. Your opponent to your left takes his turn as normal, attacking your frontline. You then play one of your defensive specials to defeat it. Your partner, who has a few cards still, chooses to take a turn. He attacks the opponent to your left and succeeds. Play passes to your opponent on your right who chooses to attack your frontline. You cannot defend it so you request assistance. Your partner agrees, defends the card, and at this point you choose to pass once more (at your partner's insistence).

Conceding

Both players do not need to pass before conceding. Consider the scenario above. Having a power card and two defensive specials placed does not always mean it is safe to pass. Instead you insist on conceding. Play does not continue, discards to normal piles, and on the next battle play continues to your opponent to your left.

KO a Hero

Normal cumulative and spectrum KO apply (excepting IA of course).

KO a Battlesite

You may choose to defend your Battlesite with a special your partner has paced there for you, and Battlesites are KO with 30 cumulative points. In the event that a Battlesite is KO, you lose the inherent ability granted you, and all cards placed to it are moved to your partner's defeated heroes pile.

About the Reserve

In the event that you have less then three frontline heroes, your partner may choose to pass you his reserve hero, complete with any cards placed to his reserve, and any cards passed to your battlesite!

Final Thoughts

The key to partners play is communication, teamwork cards, effective placing, teamwork cards, and finally effective use of teamwork cards! Use common sense as different circumstances come up (that's how we resolved most disagreements). If you have any questions post them here and I'll answer them to the best of my ability. We've been playing partners for about a year and a half now, so I've seen most scenarios that spark controversy! Enjoy!

[gameplan.exe]

I wanted to clarify a couple of points for my brother, here.
-
In the "Attack with an Ally Card" -
That should read that you may follow up your own Ally Card attack with your parthner's special card (if it's placed).
-
Also, to clarify the defensive properties... When playing Partners OverPower, the 4Freedoms Plaza is a great comparison, but I want to specify that you can only do this for your partner, not yourself.  For example, if some one attacks my Gambit with a 7, and I also have Cable on my own team, Cable cannot defend Gambit with his 7e Powercard.  If my Partner has Cyclops, though, his Cyclops can defend my Gambit.  So, it's not quite the same.
-
Also, to clarify about teammate avoids... These are excellent cards to pass to your Partner's Homebase/Battlesite.  This explains why: If I draw Cable's "Cover Fire", it's useful to defend my own Gambit and Jubilee, (as per usual), but also all 3 of my Partner's Front Line (since they are teammates of Cable), but still not useful to defend Cable himself (as per usual).  However, if I give it to my Partner to place under his HB/BS, it then becomes playable by Any Character on his side.  So, then, if my Cable is attacked (or anyone else on my side), His Cyclops can use it to defend us.  But if his Cyclops is attacked, any of his other Front Line characters may also use it to defend eachother.  This makes teammate avoids better than any personal avoids, when playing Partners.  (when I have Cable in, I only use Cover Fires and no Body Slides at all).

[BigBadHarve]

I'm still a little hazy on how you play your battlesite -

Tell me if I have this right - You don't allow traditional battlesites. Your partner's homebase (as opposed to Battlesite) is now a site. You may place 1 special to your partner's homebase that he may use to defend himself, or if applicable your team?  And the Homebase is now killable?

-BBH

[a_noble_kaz]

the homebase acts as your battlesite, and yes it is killable. You'd have to explain to your partner why you're using up valuable attacks that don't count for venture, though!

Here is an example:

I use Danger Room and build a team of Ice Man, Bishop, Gambit, and Rogue. I get the IA for Danger Room, but I place the card on my frontline.
My partner has X-Mansion with Cable, Prof X, Cyclops, and Jean Grey, so he gets he IA and places it on his frontline. During the placing phase, I opt to give my partner Hail Storm, Ice Armor, Absorb Energy, and Draw Enemy Fire (note that all these cards have a different code) and he gives me Battle Savvy, Obliterate Object, and Psychic Shield. During the course of battle we may use the cards our partner has placed on our battlesite to attack or defend as normal, without the need of Activators. And while your Battlesite may be KO, keep in mind that you, your battlesite itself, or your partner may defend it, so it's not always wise to attack a battlesite.

[Nostalgic]

Random Observations/ Questions...

This is interesting.  I'm sure there are a number of interesting senarios that could arise.  First let's say the player are A, B, C, and D where A and C are partners and B and D are partners.  If player A concedes could player D play an card preventing that concession even though it was technically B's turn?

It seems there is no  point to using a traditional battlesite (none of your characters on the card) since you won't get the IA and don't get activators for the characters listed.  I understand with the ability to place character specials on your partner's homebase/battlesite you don't really need activators. (Essentially your partner's characters act as activators by letting you use their specials)  I guess my question is can use that ability with a 'generic'/ 'any tournament legal team' homebases? Also if the homebase is KO'd (obviously impossible in 'regular' overpower) I suppose your team looses the IA right?

Do you put all 14 missions in one pile controlled by one teammate, or keep them separate? Related to this I was wondering if you ever tried playing where if one partner concedes, the other may keep fighting.  So if my partner ventured 1 mission and I ventured 2, I can still attempt to win the venture 'alone'?

Have you guys tried drawing a slightly larger hand? Say 10 cards instead of 8.  It seems to me perhaps there should be a hirer minimum deck requirment as well.  (80-100 cards?)

If someone concedes and both opposing players have cards that allow an attack after conceding, can both play a card or only one of them?

Do cards like Professor X's BG special  'Telepathic Coordination' affect you and your partner?

[a_noble_kaz]

"This is interesting.  I'm sure there are a number of interesting senarios that could arise.  First let's say the player are A, B, C, and D where A and C are partners and B and D are partners.  If player A concedes could player D play an card preventing that concession even though it was technically B's turn?"

If player A concedes and his opponent D plays Spiderman's Taunt, then yes players A and C may not concede the battle. This falls under the house rules that One Per Deck specials affect either your entire team or your opponent's entire team (depending, of course, on the special).

"It seems there is no  point to using a traditional battlesite (none of your characters on the card) since you won't get the IA and don't get activators for the characters listed.  I understand with the ability to place character specials on your partner's homebase/battlesite you don't really need activators. (Essentially your partner's characters act as activators by letting you use their specials)  I guess my question is can use that ability with a 'generic'/ 'any tournament legal team' homebases? Also if the homebase is KO'd (obviously impossible in 'regular' overpower) I suppose your team looses the IA right?"

The way we play, you build your team using the Location Card as a Homebase, and if you do so you also gain the IA. The catch is you place it on your frontline as a Battlesite for your partner to place for you. But it is absolutely worth using an actual homebase, depending on the IA. For instance, if I build a team around Danger Room (say Ice Man, Bishop, Beast, and Rogue), I gain the IA, and my partner places cards there for me. As for using the Any Team homebase, it is still worth using, even though you don't get a great IA from it. It is critical to have a battlesite of some kind for your partner to place specials for you. I've built many teams using Marvel Manhattan with success in partners play. And yes, if your Homebase/Battlesite is KO you lose the IA. We figure this is a nice balance to the ability to place specials there on the fly.

"Do you put all 14 missions in one pile controlled by one teammate, or keep them separate? Related to this I was wondering if you ever tried playing where if one partner concedes, the other may keep fighting.  So if my partner ventured 1 mission and I ventured 2, I can still attempt to win the venture 'alone'?"

One teammate controls all 14 cards, but more to keep things organized than anything. And yes there was an instance where I passed and my brother had a strong enough hand to keep playing for two turns before we conceded. So yes you can always try to win a battle alone while your partner is actively passing, but concession is a mutual and encompassing decision. Another reason for keeping the ventures together is you win and lose as a team. I don't "concede" while my partner keeps playing, I merely pass until he chooses to concede. On that note, one strategy discovered early on in our playtesting was concentrating all attacks on one side in an effort to KO one opponent completely. To counter this we amended the "hero passing" rule to come in to effect any time the two partner's frontlines are imbalanced.
Example: I have been targeted by both opponents and in a single battle am reduced to one frontline hero while my partner has all four heroes still. He may choose to pass me two heroes to even our frontlines, or he may pass me only his reserve, or we may decide to attempt to continue as is.

On a special note, I was once defeated entirely from a partners game while my partner still had two heroes and our opponents each had two heroes left as well. Usually at a circumstance like this we call the game (it is incredibly difficult to win 8 cards to 16 each draw), and perforce it became a de facto third win condition. Well my partner seemed to like his odds anyway and attempted to play two to one! He didn't end up winning, but we all appreciated his gusto.

"Have you guys tried drawing a slightly larger hand? Say 10 cards instead of 8.  It seems to me perhaps there should be a hirer minimum deck requirment as well.  (80-100 cards?)"

We've used the Pym Particles Artifact in a partners play game. It was fun, but other than that we have never increased the draw number. What with altering the balance so much by adding two extra decks into play, adding more cards to each hand just never came up. Remember, with a partner on your team it's almost like having 16 cards a hand...

"If someone concedes and both opposing players have cards that allow an attack after conceding, can both play a card or only one of them? Do cards like Professor X's BG special  'Telepathic Coordination' affect you and your partner?"

Circumstantial, but if bother players have an attack that can be made after concession, only one may be made. Remember that your partner is considered part of your hand, and as a team you can only make one such play. Consider a scenario in which you had Wolverine's Rage special and Onslaught's Dark Thoughts special. Even though both allow an attack after concession, you may only make one attack. Since your partner is a part of your "hand", in a situation like this you could collectively make one attack after concession. And yes Professor X's Telepathic Coordination would affect both sides of the board as it is a One Per Deck. Ice Man's Snow Blind, however, would only affect one side.

Thanks for the response! Get some partners games going people!

[drdeath25]

This all seems very confusing... but i am intrigued by the idea of 4 player overpower. I'll have to read this more later before i weigh in with my 2 cents.

By the way, I noticed you guys are in Redding, CA. If you guys ever find yourself in the east bay (specifically Berkeley), I would be willling to play some rounds with few of you guys, and teach you the way overpower is really played ;-) (or you can teach me how you play this 2vs2 game)

I''ll have more  of an opinion on this 2vs2 game later when i have a chance to think over different scenarios.

[a_noble_kaz]

funny you should mention that. me and my brother are trying to make a three day trip to the bay for the last Giants-Padres series of the season on Oct.1-3, so if we're able to do it we should totally hook up and game.

[BigBadHarve]

Thanks for the response! Get some partners games going people!

Yeah, easier said than done, I'm afriad. I have 1 and 1/2 regular playing partners. Which is why we know our 3 player rules work, because we've been able to test them. Alas, finding a fourth player is not likely.

I've heard of some people who play the 4 players, both players on each time are side by side. Have you guys tried it that way, as opposed to 'Spades' format? I'm curious as to what your findings might have been.

-BBH

[a_noble_kaz]

we haven't tried the side-by-side approach. if not only for familiarity (we play a lot of spades and pinochle too) then also for the alternating turns. Consider A, B, C, D where A is South, B is West, C is North, D is East. We have no firm structure as to whom you may attack, so if I'm player A, I can attack West or East, or pass, or concede, and if I concede on my turn, play passes to the West on the next battle. Seems simpler to alternate, no? Let's not forget that you are not necessarily privy to your partner's hand. You only know what he has for certain by what he places and what you assume he has left (placing is very important in partners!). If you try to talk about your hand to your partner, we consider that the same as "board talk" in spades or pinochle, which is strictly taboo. In a side-by-side scenario it'd be that much easier to peek at your partner's hand. Example: last night my partner had an AL placed, and I had Alien Symbiote in my hand. I (A/South) had conceded for us the last hand, so B lead off with an attack against my partner C, which C successfully defended. C takes his turn next and promptly plays his AL, making Alien Symbiote dead in my hand. If we were able to communicate it could have been avoided, or if we played side-by-side he might have seen it, but we figure alternating turns adds a little depth to the gameplay.

[BigBadHarve]

we haven't tried the side-by-side approach. if not only for familiarity (we play a lot of spades and pinochle too) then also for the alternating turns. Consider A, B, C, D where A is South, B is West, C is North, D is East. We have no firm structure as to whom you may attack, so if I'm player A, I can attack West or East, or pass, or concede, and if I concede on my turn, play passes to the West on the next battle. Seems simpler to alternate, no? Let's not forget that you are not necessarily privy to your partner's hand. You only know what he has for certain by what he places and what you assume he has left (placing is very important in partners!). If you try to talk about your hand to your partner, we consider that the same as "board talk" in spades or pinochle, which is strictly taboo. In a side-by-side scenario it'd be that much easier to peek at your partner's hand. Example: last night my partner had an AL placed, and I had Alien Symbiote in my hand. I (A/South) had conceded for us the last hand, so B lead off with an attack against my partner C, which C successfully defended. C takes his turn next and promptly plays his AL, making Alien Symbiote dead in my hand. If we were able to communicate it could have been avoided, or if we played side-by-side he might have seen it, but we figure alternating turns adds a little depth to the gameplay.

I am thinking of a side-by-side approach, in which all players only draw 6, but you're allowed to reveal your hand to your partner and discuss the plan.

I'm curious to see if it would work. The idea being that your team and your partner's constitute a single front line. On your team's turn either player could initiate the action. Team works, allies, Double shots etc. anything that combines, could used with your partner, but it's still the entire action for the team. You would also share your venture pile, but of course you could discuss how much you would venture as a team.

Overall, I think I prefer the 'spades' approach, pretty much for the reasons you outline, but it's worth exploring. I shall mull it over.

-BBH

[a_noble_kaz]

I am thinking of a side-by-side approach, in which all players only draw 6, but you're allowed to reveal your hand to your partner and discuss the plan.

I'm curious to see if it would work. The idea being that your team and your partner's constitute a single front line. On your team's turn either player could initiate the action. Team works, allies, Double shots etc. anything that combines, could used with your partner, but it's still the entire action for the team. You would also share your venture pile, but of course you could discuss how much you would venture as a team.

We do consider each frontline as single frontline in some regards. And with the alternating turns concept we can still "initiate the action", but this way each player feels like he has control over his team's destiny. Or not! It could be that playing side-by-side would be practically the same. But the best way I can describe partners op to you is for you to try a partners game for yourself. Many of the rulings and decisions we came by happened naturally and logically. You may find that some of our rules stink for you and yours and alter them! For example, way back when we first tried a partners game, I killed one of my brothers frontline, and his reserve hero in the next battle so he was outnumbered on his frontline. Well, at this point he pointed to his partner and said, "Pass me Human Torch to my frontline" (Human Torch was his partner's reserve hero). I objected immediately and told him it was ridiculous to "pass" heroes back and forth across the battlefield! Well, in the end we all (me somewhat begrudgingly) agreed to give it a try. Well after all this time (a year now) passing heroes feels as natural as defending with a power card!

By the way do you have three other people you could talk into playing partners op?

[Nostalgic]

Let's not forget that you are not necessarily privy to your partner's hand. You only know what he has for certain by what he places and what you assume he has left (placing is very important in partners!). If you try to talk about your hand to your partner, we consider that the same as "board talk" in spades or pinochle, which is strictly taboo.

I like the spades format.  That was why I asked could they player who was not next in turn order play a card to prevent an opponent from conceding.  As we call it in spades "eating around the board".   (Your response and logic was fine for allowing that.)  Besides, something that affects both teammates, like an opponent conceding, should be able to be defended by either teammate.  

In your earlier posts you mentioned a number of instances where you can get your partners input and allowing more 'board talk' than would be in spades.  For instance, you mentioned when playing an ally card you could ask your partner to play the special, but if they decline you can just use your own follow special.  I thought it might make since that if you request a follow up and your partner declines you should lose the follow up.  Or perhaps in the case of teamwork cards lose the bonuses for the additional attacks. (Sort of the opposite of coordination) It may have only a minor impact on the game either way.

Now a few questions/clarifications...

If  you place cards to your partner's battlesite that belong to your reserve character, the only possibility of using them are if you pass the reserve to your partner or if the reserve comes to the front line?
It seems you could add more cards to the reserve character to your deck since they could potentially be placed on your partner's battlesite.  

Concerning event cards, since your using two missions, I'm assuming you can use event cards of both missions in your teams' decks as long as you don't mix the events in one partner's deck. Correct?

It seems partner follow up attacks can only be launched by cards placed to your partner's characters, but partner shift defensive actions can be cards placed or in hand.  Any particular reasons why.  I'm just curious what your playtesting found out.  Though to some extent it already makes sense, on the defensive side because one partner could be 'double-teamed' otherwise.  

What percentage of games end do to all 4 of one partner's characters being KO'd, and what percentage are due to 14 missions being won/lost?

How many cards are usually in your decks?

How often do you end up in the power pack?

That's all for now.  

[a_noble_kaz]

Hey, thanks a lot for the reply! I was hoping this topic would get some more responses.

In your earlier posts you mentioned a number of instances where you can get your partners input and allowing more 'board talk' than would be in spades.  For instance, you mentioned when playing an ally card you could ask your partner to play the special, but if they decline you can just use your own follow special.  I thought it might make since that if you request a follow up and your partner declines you should lose the follow up.  Or perhaps in the case of teamwork cards lose the bonuses for the additional attacks. (Sort of the opposite of coordination) It may have only a minor impact on the game either way.

You know it's interesting that you should mention "board talk" and it's similarities to spades and potential ramifications. I personally was always of the opinion that if you requested something and were denied by your partner, whatever action you made/requested was dead. So yes, if you played an Ally and asked for a special from your partner and he denies you, your Ally should be dead. But look at it this way: we don't want you to be able to "accidentally" play Ally cards with no follow up, using your partner as an excuse (are you familiar with the Infield Fly Rule in baseball?). Also, if you play an Ally and are looking for a special from your partner it means A you have a special you don't necessarily want to play yet or B you don't have a special to play. This doesn't come up as often as you'd think, esp. because in Partners you place offensive specials and power cards like crazy for your partner to play TW and Ally with. Heres something that came up a lot in the beginning: your opponent attacks you with a TW card, and you ask your partner to "confuse" it. The way we play, if you ask for defense help and your partner denies you, you still have the opportunity to defend yourself. Well, I originally wanted it to be riskier to ask for help. I thought that if you asked your partner to "confuse" a TW and he couldn't, you got hit by that first attack (this would consider your request for help as a defensive action in and of itself, and being a failed action, the TW card itself would hit you, and you would be allowed to defend the subsequent attacks). Now, writing this out it seems perfectly logical, but in practice my friends thought it a bit too convoluted and unnecessarily punishing when we were only trying to encourage teamwork twixt you and your partner. As a way of compromising these two ideas, we did decide you were only allowed to defend your partner if help was requested. You'd be surprised how often, in the heat of battle, your partner will forget he has help!

If  you place cards to your partner's battlesite that belong to your reserve character, the only possibility of using them are if you pass the reserve to your partner or if the reserve comes to the front line?
It seems you could add more cards to the reserve character to your deck since they could potentially be placed on your partner's battlesite.

You can place cards from your reserve to your partners battlesite, yes. But as a way to prevent someone from stacking their deck with like six specials for their reserve and placing them to their partner, we decided you can only place one special from your reserve to a battlesite. Typically, I'll shoot my partner my reserve hero's AS and put an AG or some other cool OPD under the reserve hero for when/if I pass my reserve hero to him. Now this doesn't mean my partner has to wait to have my reserve to play a special from my reserve placed to his battlesite. It sounds sort of complicated but in practice you mostly just get to play Clobberin' Time early.

Concerning event cards, since your using two missions, I'm assuming you can use event cards of both missions in your teams' decks as long as you don't mix the events in one partner's deck. Correct?

Yes! The more the merrier! I have Infestation Incident and my partner has, say, Separation Anxiety. So I control all 14 Mission cards, but we each have our own Events shuffled up. The trick, of course, is to help you and your partner without helping either of your opponents! Yeah it gets kind of crazy. Also, we've yet to see four Events played in the same hand...

It seems partner follow up attacks can only be launched by cards placed to your partner's characters, but partner shift defensive actions can be cards placed or in hand.  Any particular reasons why.  I'm just curious what your playtesting found out.  Though to some extent it already makes sense, on the defensive side because one partner could be 'double-teamed' otherwise.

Well, the thought here is to tip your hand to your partner. Offensively, you want your partner to know what you have as much as possible, so placing up attack specials and power cards are beneficial for the purposes of sharing information. As a way of encouraging this, being able to defend with cards placed or in hand just sorta evolved naturally. Now, like I said earlier, I always maintained that there should be some kind of restrictions... but it's not like we play for money, ya know?

What percentage of games end do to all 4 of one partner's characters being KO'd, and what percentage are due to 14 missions being won/lost?

In the past, I would say that more games were won due to KO than Venture. Lately, however, I have been making an effort to Venture up more often. In partners for whatever reason we always ventured conservatively in the past, even though we had seen as much as 60 points of venture played by one team! So I would say that it's about even now, but before we had a feel for gauging our partner's hand it was more KO victories.

How many cards are usually in your decks?

51-65, but usually in the 50s, I think. Boy, back when I first started playing, I remember putting like 80-90 cards in a deck! Anyway, partners doesn't really have an impact of deck size, so I usually build my decks to be able to stand alone, then take them in to a partners game. Now granted, some decks happen to make great partners teams *cough*Fantastic Four*cough*

How often do you end up in the power pack?

Hard to say. In partners it doesn't seem to happen too often, but I might only think that because of how rare it is for you and your partner to get to the power pack at the same time. Also, I'm nor sure that I've seen a team in partners play without an 8stat hero somewhere... lol!

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to respond! Seriously, the best way to figure this stuff out is to give it a try! Get a partners game going!

[a_noble_kaz]

me and my buddies have a weekly OP night of Fridays, and this week I'm going to try and record one of our games and post it on YouTube. Would you guys be interested in seeing how we do it? I'm sure that if you saw it in action you would understand it better and might just try it yourself (provided you can garner enough players!)