Along with our contest, we are looking at implementing 6 player gameplay. I wanted to expand on this topic as I respect the opinion of serious TOI players who have much more experience with the game function than me.

Here’s the rundown of the setup, and how I imagine it would work. ANY suggestions would be helpful and I am very flexible so you’ll have to answer your own questions.

Goals of this thread:

1) Have 6 players in a game with 3 per team.
2) All have something to do other than just stand there.
3) Discover pro’s and con’s of each theorized setup based upon other players game experience.

Keep in mind that this game scenario is a double blind or “Back to back” game setup. There are two exact copies of the game where each team cannot see the other team’s setup. Only spotted units will be revealed and opponent’s locations will be placed/moved by the referee.

Setup one:
-3 players per team.
-All players physically on their respective side of the table.
-One team player with most TOI experience is the Corps commander and the other two, division commanders.
-Corps Commander operates all command points and strategy cards. He plays 6 per turn as per normal 4 player rules as he see's fit.
-Division commanders may build and arm squads, move and control squads as normal making best use of cards being played by the Corp Commander.

-Corps Commander gives orders to the division commanders and implements his overall strategy.

Goals:
-Streamline gameplay and make it faster with 6 players.
-The commander helps with specifics of gameplay since he has more experience.

Setup two
-3 players per team.
-One team player with most TOI experience is the Corps commander and the other two, division commanders.
-Corps Commander operates all command points and strategy cards. He plays 6 per turn as per normal 4 player rules.
-Division commanders (2 per team) on their respective sides of the board.
-Corps Commander updates division commanders movement on the enemy board and makes the spotted or non-spotted decisions as approved by the referee. He may then give the appropriate commanders cards from his deck for them to use as they see fit.
-There will be no communication from the corps commander to the division commanders in regards to enemy unit’s locations.
-Division commanders may build and arm squads, move and control squads as normal making best use of cards being played by the Corp Commander.

Goals:
-Relive pressure in the ref
-Make the corps commander’s strategy more important with exact knowledge of the enemies location, but limits him from revealing positions.

Any other ideas are welcome! Thanks!

Tide of iron is a great game for such a scenario, as the rules clearly support such a setup. The complexity of such a game comes from the double blind setup. I guess you know more about this than any of us, but you do need three setups and a judge.

My experience in a 4 player game, is that the two players tend to play as one anyway. I think its a nice way of playing tide of iron as it becomes slightly more social, and talking to a friendly commandar about tactics is fun. However it does add some time (talking takes time) and especially if the players are not very triggerhappy. Then it tends to be alot of talking between each move. Needless to say, the double blind scenario is going to take even more time.

My guess is that 4h would go fast extremly fast. But tide of iron rules are simple and should fit such a setup nicely.

But, double-blind scenarios sounds extremly interesting. It would be interesting to see how concealed units play in a double blind scenario Can I request an after battle report? If using good rules, having a good scenario, it would giving the community alot.

Your idea sounds interesting but also confusing for a one off game. I suggest 3 groups, 2 infantry and one armor. Each player plays one group. In the field the higher level commanders would give an order to take that hill then the lower level would execute the way they see fit. Considering the small scope of a TOI game having a higher level officer micro manage the battle would get tedious I think.

Scott

Full report coming up!