Tag Team is a game that surprised me and quickly worked its way into my heart and my top ten! Can Joan of Arc and a team of Fey Folk beat an angry Berserker Bear and Wild Bunch of outlaws? Get shuffling & find out…
Let’s get ready to rumble
Tag Team is a two-player, auto-battler card game from Scorpion Masque. You select two characters each (using a drafting system from two sets of cards) and collect their individual decks. Your aim is simple: destroy your opponent by knocking out one of their team. The “how” is not as simple, as you try to remember your opponent’s cards and outsmart them at every turn…
Enter the arena
The artwork on the box and cards is bright and attractive, almost comic book-like; you can imagine the “pow” and “thwack” explosions above their heads! The components are simple, but well-made; the game doesn’t require piles of counters or plastic miniatures to store somewhere, just the wooden markers for health tracks and individual powers and plastic cubes for strength. The Fight Rules are clear to follow for set up and the Fighters’ Guide tells you each character’s unique abilities and answers many FAQs you will have during game play. All-in-all, it’s a very well thought out and organised game from the word go.
Round one… Fight!!
You start by splitting the drafting deck in half and selecting one character, before swapping piles with the other player and selecting the second half of your team. Collect the decks, player boards and components for both characters (e.g. Milady’s schemes or Mephisto’s double-sided snake token). Remove the start cards (every character has one, which is clearly marked with a star icon and black border) and shuffle the rest together to make your combined deck. Now, the fight begins…
Choose the order of your two start cards and place them face down on the table, with the one you want to start with on top. Both players simultaneously reveal one card at a time and carry out the actions. This could be an attack (strength equal to your number of purple cubes), a block, healing, or something specific to your character (e.g. planting or revealing one of Milady’s schemes). When you are attacked, you take damage equal to the strength, by moving the marker on your health track. Some characters have different mechanisms with this, such as the Wild Bunch stop sign or Maman Brijit’s revive ability after she should be knocked out, so watch out!
After revealing your cards (two in the first round), you take the top three cards from your deck and select one to add to your playing hand (putting the other two back to the bottom of your deck). You choose where to add this card, without changing the order of the others. This is where you need a good memory and tactical play; if you know your opponent has a strong attack card second in their hand, and you’ve just picked up a block card, you want to add it in second place of your hand. What you don’t know, is whether they just added something to the start of their hand now, moving that attack to position three, and rendering your block useless!
When you’re ready, play again as before, with simultaneous reveals. Add cards, then fight. Add cards, then fight. And so on, until one character reaches the KO at the bottom of their health track and it’s game over. This normally takes about fifteen minutes, and you’ll probably set up round two very quickly afterwards…
The big KO
Why are you still reading this? Why haven’t you bought this game already?! I absolutely LOVE this game. When I first saw it on a table at the UKGE, I wasn’t interested and played it for something to do. By the end of that first play through, I was hooked. It immediately went on pre-order, and I started a countdown for release. I will be getting every expansion or new edition they release, and I don’t feel even the slightest bit guilty about it!
I think Tag Team is a game that everyone should try, even if auto-battlers aren’t normally your thing. (I didn’t even know what an auto-battler was before I played this!) It’s quick, fun and very addictive. (I’ve already corrupted one of my best friends, who now owns her own copy and often messages me about games versus her boyfriend!) The characters are quirky and unique; you will definitely find your favourites after a few games. There’s enough variety and luck to make every game different, so replayability is not an issue – it’s great value for money in a small box. It’s my number one game now and I think I need to go and play a round… Who’s with me?
Peaches and Meeples
We are Peaches and Meeples, busy professionals who love to chill out to fun table top games. We love board games, card games, miniatures games, competitive or co-operative. Put some dice in our hands and we are in our happy place.
We are also proud guinea pig parents to two lovely fluffballs of joy.
