Disclaimer: I had a small participation in the final game development stage, by translating the rules into Portuguese.
Championships slowly are resuming, awakening from an off-season hibernation. Teams are now back on the field. The referee whistles. The ball rolls over the grass. Coaches gesticulate. Players run, jump, pass, dribble, shoot, defend. As for the spectators ... they are still at home. These are the possible conditions, in June 2020.
But even if you cannot yet take your place at the stadium, you can now bring the stadium into your home!
Such is the purpose of Counter-Attack, a game designed and launched in 2019, before time has stopped, and which arrives directly from Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital, just a few dozen miles from Glasgow, home of the eternal rivals, Celtic and Rangers.
A game designed by Colin Webster, a football (soccer) fan, and admittedly intended above all for football fans. And it could not have been otherwise, when the intention is to simulate a football match between two teams, searching to score goals, during exactly the regular 90 minutes of an official match.
Firstly, teams must be set up, naturally comprising eleven first-team players, goalkeeper included, and five substitutes.
The proposed method for choosing players is based on a combination of randomness and choice: you shuffle the cards; draw the first four face-up; opponents choose players for their teams, one by one, taking turns alternately; this process is repeated until each team has 16 players. A process that recalls, to some extent, the way teams were selected when playing in school or on your neighbourhood!
Nothing will prevent you from opting for different selection procedures, to the taste of each one, and enabling a greater or lesser approach to real teams. After all, this is about fans and football connoisseurs, and the drive to best mimic "your" real life team will be unavoidable.
Then, assuming the role of coach, you must define the starting formation and who sits on the bench, as a tactical or strategic reserve.
There are 46 different players, in the base game, each represented by a card, holding their name, nationality and the performance level for the main abilities: pace, dribbling, heading, high pass, resilience, shooting and tackling, in what concerns field players. Goalkeepers also have their own aerial and saving abilities.
And here comes the critical role of the coach: to define a strategy, depending on the players available, and on what he knows about the opposing players. After all, this is a game with no hidden information.
It is therefore a matter of combining individual characteristics of each player, defining a play attitude, balanced towards the offense or the defense, defining a tactical system, 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 4-5-1, and keeping the options open with those sitting on the bench.
It is time!
Both teams enter the pitch.
Sides and starting ball possession are drawn.
Greetings exchanged.
The ball awaits on the center spot.
The slots on each side of the board are used to position each team's player cards next to the respective player number, fostering a swift association between player tokens and their specific abilities.
To keep track of players already used at a certain moment within a playing turn, you just move the corresponding cards up or down.
A simple and elegant solution, avoiding the need for other auxiliary tracking elements or additional table space.
A typical issue in team sports’ games is how to represent movement and actions taking place simultaneously, while preventing the process from becoming too complicated, excessively slow, or deeply unrealistic.
In Counter-Attack, the base movement of football players depends only on their speed, as indicated in their individual ability. On the other hand, the movement of teams as a whole, during a turn, takes place in three steps, allowing for almost simultaneously adjustments, in reaction to the opponent team choices: the team holding the ball moves 4 players; then, the opponent team moves 5 players; finally, the first team moves 2 new players, but only up to two hexagons each.
Furthermore, it is possible to attempt a tackle, during an opponent’s movement carrying the ball, to intercept passes or shots, or even to dispute high balls, increasing the range of possible interactions.
Passes come in various shapes and forms, overcoming the 2D frame of the game board: standard pass, first-time, high pass, long ball. And to validate some of the options available in every moment, you will be using a transparent ruler to check their ranges.
Then, there are
specific rules for corners, free kicks and penalties, headers, shots and
first-time shots, goalkeeper’s movement and saves, in short, everything that you
would usually find in a live football match.
Many of the
actions are resolved as a duel between characteristics of the opposing players,
such as dribble and tackle, shot and save, header and the aerial ability of the
goalkeeper, header against header. The base values are combined with a die
result, and can also be further modified by other factors, such as the distance
to the ball trajectory.
It is thus a
simulation that combines players-characters, with an essentially deterministic
movement, and with the result of actions as defined by individual
characteristics and die results. But make no mistake. The use of dice does not
make it a game relying on luck, but one that rather requires a collective
strategy, to better take advantage of individual strengths and mitigate
weaknesses.
And there is more to come!
Yes, there is a referee, with his own unique profile, some more permissive than others. Ready to whistle when a foul is committed, during an unsuccessful disarming attempt, here the fair-play reigns and there are no intentional fouls, and even to book the missing player with a yellow card.
In addition, players may be injured, reducing their ability to move for the rest of the game, and perhaps even leading to a forced substitution.
To further
increase the pressure, and keep the game flowing at a fast pace, hourglasses
come into play, limiting the time for each coach to complete his turn.
No attempt to
stall the show are allowed! There is no time to waste, no sandbagging,
Recommended for
more experienced players, who master well all rules and game processes.
From games to
tournaments and full championships is just a small step, one which few fans
will hesitate to take.
With multi team-kits
available, it is possible to reproduce some of the usual colors that fill-in
the stadiums around the world, helping to create a true championship mode, which
includes the influence of playing at home, injured players to recover between
games, booked players prevented from lining up, and even a transfer market.
And everything
else your imagination may bring into play!
It reminds me the warm feeling of games and experiences of past times, among other hobby fans, during those good long summer holidays, designing and playing for ourselves. But here, with all another layer, a different touch, that of a completely developed, seasoned, produced, and finished game.
This is Counter-Attack, by Rachel and Colin Webster.
