"'Tactics' Card Mechanic: You Like It!" Topic

You were asked – TMP link

Some games allow you to play a "tactics" card during your turn that often allows you to enhance your movement or firepower. Or it may hamper your enemy's plans during their turn. Whether actual cards being played or something similar, would you like to see this mechanic in more miniature games, or should they just stick to the basics of rolling dice?

35% said "I would like to see more games use this mechanic"

16% said "Just stick to rolling dice"

10% said "not a fan of card games or cards in mini games"

To be fair, slightly more gave one of the four negative answers than the single positive one.

I sound like a broken record here. But…
I was playing a card driven game based on Rorke's Drift. I won't mention the game system, since it's designer acts like I sold his daughter to Barbary Pirates on the slightest criticism.

Anyway, I was defending the mealie bag wall. No Zulus we're attacking me. However, a huge unit of Zulus had broken in and were rampaging in my rear. I couldn't turn around, since I lacked the card to "re-deploy". So I drew a new hand every turn and discarded all but those which ALLOWED me to fire. (I needed a card's permission?)
At long last, I drew the coveted Re-deploy card, turned around and fired three volleys "into the brown".
Had I not drawn the proper "tactics" card, which allowed me to TURN AROUND a simple thin red line, I would have been wiped out. The Zulu player couldn't draw the card that allowed him to charge me in the rear. Both the Zulu player and I agreed that it was neither fun nor realistic. But the GM thought it was both.

In my opinion, it's not a mechanism that makes or breaks a game, but how it integrates with the rest of the game play

The game "Saga" for instance allows short term boosts or buffs using a dice mechanism, rather than cards. This becomes the key mechanism of the game, encompassing activation as well as enhancements and forces the player to make tactical decisions, based on how good the Saga dice rolls are

John

John OFM,
Some designers like chaos for chao's sake. I don't.

Wolfhag

The sad thing is that they think they're imposing order on chaos.

How much did you get for his daughter?

John the OFM – The poll didn't ask about systems that require cards to do execute specific orders, only ones that provide bonuses or penalties to specific activities.

I use lots of mechanisms designed around cards for games. I can't think why one would want what you described above.