Solo/Co-op Games & the “Bad Guy” Dilemma

 “Evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our own table.”

— W. H. Auden

I often grapple with the issue of playing the “bad guys” in historical wargames. Villains in our history have committed heinous atrocities and human rights violations, beyond the death and destruction war brings to soldiers and civilians alike.* I’ve explored the issue before, mostly in the case of using games to engage and teach kids about history or in examining delicate periods or perspectives. It’s all fun and games — literally, at the most basic level — until one takes a deeper look at the context of historical games and reflects on some of the weightier implications...and our involvement in them in the abstracted ways games allow us. In some cases I’ve included follow-up material to help students further consider on the consequences of their game actions (notably cards with historical information about their roles in the attack on Pearl Harbor). Sometimes switching sides can alleviate some of these concerns, with participants playing games or scenarios twice, so each gets a chance to experience the other’s perspective. As I veer more toward solitaire and cooperative games, I’m discovering their very one-sided nature can absolve players of taking the role of the “bad guys” and allow them some guilt-free game experiences...which ultimately might lead to the after-action reflection I feel remains necessary to learn from games.

Cooperative Wargames...for Beginners?

I was talking with someone about historically themed wargames a while back and was asked if there were any cooperative wargames in which players worked together to defeat a common adversary. We were also talking about how to introduce the concept of historical wargaming to kids in fourth through eighth grades, their parents, and interested adults. We both knew the core cooperative board games like Forbidden Island and and Pandemic (oddly relevant in today’s situation). Although I know several very good wargames for solitaire play (and adaptable for group cooperative play), I admitted I couldn’t think of any that were both cooperative and suitable for a beginner audience. So I started looking for suitable solo or coop wargames and, barring that, seeking ones I might modify to fit my parameters of something cooperative for a newcomer audience.

Yuletide Game Reflections

On January 7 we slip past the 12 Days of Christmas and back into the cold, dark, drudgery of the New Year, facing numerous tasks postponed by a month-long holiday preparation and celebration plus the inevitable disappointment when we break our New Year’s Resolutions (a ritual I’ve long since abandoned). It’s easy this time of year to descend into the depths contemplating the misery of reality, to allow the real-world anxieties to wash up over our temporary yet festive bulwark of holiday jubilation. So forgive me if I reflect on the fun game-related bits of this passing yuletide celebration in a futile attempt to prolong the uplifting spirit of the season.

Game Conflict: “Man Against Game”

“Man is the unnatural animal, the rebel child of nature, and more and more does he turn himself against the harsh and fitful hand that reared him.”

– H.G. Wells

Wandering through Target’s toy and game section I couldn’t help but spot a surge of new games from Ravensburger, the German board game and puzzle company. Seems like the company recently started acquiring licenses to produce games based on popular media properties: Disney Villainous, Jurassic Park Danger!, a JAWS game, and Horrified, based on the Universal Studios monster movies...even Star Wars and Harry Potter re-skins of the company’s well-established Labyrinth game (not tied to the Labyrinth film). The ones that sparked my interest – JAWS and Jurassic Park – both seemed to offer opportunities for interesting cooperative gameplay, with players controlling the characters and the game rules determining the actions of the shark or dinosaurs. But when I took a closer look at these, it was clear one player ran the antagonists while the rest got stuck trying to survive.