2vs2: passing turn

[exid]

I posted this question in the "alternative play" forum a few days ago... but people seem to be a lot more reactive here (and my first 2vs2 game's coming soon)... So:
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In the rulebook, the chapter about the multi-player game (p. 39) is really minimalist... we had to invent a lot of rules, triyng to follow the spirit of the game...
(does a rules clarification for the 2vs2 game exist?)

On one point, we can't agree: it's about passing turn.
When a player should take an action phase, he can pass "if his opponent has more active creatures in the arena than he has" (p. 8 ), how does it work in 2vs2?
a) Do we compare all creatures of each team (each team beeing "treated as a single player", as noted p. 39)?
b) Do we compare the creatures of the player to the creatures of each opponent separately? and then:
b1) can he pass if he has less creatures then both of his opponents?
b2) can he pass if he has less creature then one of his opponents?

[Zuberi]

I will say that my group personally uses option A, but we also use shared life and shared initiative so option A fits our play style very well. There is currently no rules clarification for multiplayer games, and thus no official answer to your question. We have been promised one soon in an upcoming expansion, but until then that variant isn't fully supported and has a plethora of problems that require house ruling on, such as passing turn. With that said, I think all of the options you have listed are equally valid and keep with the spirit of the game, so it is really up to your game group to decide.

If your group can not agree on a method after putting forth the problem democratically...perhaps you should let fate decide. Rolling a dice or some other method could quickly solve the problem. As long as the method used isn't possibly biased, you should be able to get people to accept leaving it up to chance since all of the options are good ones that make sense.

[Zuberi]

I'll also throw in, that when we play FFA games we use option B2. It's been a long time since we've played a FFA, they aren't that popular with my group, but that is the same rule we came up with when we did play. Our thinking was basically that you shouldn't be forced to use up all of your actions, leaving yourself unable to react to the hordes of an opponent, just because your other opponent decided to use up all of his. The same logic doesn't really apply to team games where both opponents are actually working together, but I figured I'd throw it out there.

[lukard]

Zuberi is correct, AW intends to release comprehensive multiplayer rules with the next expansion.

I foresee issues with all these options. In my humble opinion, I would go with B2 because it seems to be the less problematic. Specially with 2 partners following different strategies (e.g.: one mage goes solo and the other goes swarm).

Cheers,

[krj]

me and my group used same rules as Zuberi (taken from other thread): shared life and shared initiative and option A. everybody likes that solution.

[exid]

Thank you for your no-help!

I think we'll have to play a first game to determine who will choose de rulles for de second game...
I'm looking forward to see the next expansion!

[exid]

I had some more thoughts about the problem... here are my conclusions for the moment:

We'll play 2vs2, with "normal" turn: first team's first player / second team's first player / first team's second player / second team's second player (no shared life, no privat chat, etc.)

With the A option (comparing all creatures of each team to determine the right to pass), a player with a few creatures, whos team-mate has a lot, will be forced to activate all his creatures very soon, and then his team will play only 1/3 of the actions. This seems not good.
With the B1 option (player can pass if he has less creatures than both his opponents), a player with a lot of creatures whos team-mate has very few creatures will be let to play alone for the last actions. This seems not good.

As Lukard expected, the B2 option (player can pass if at least one of his opponent has more creatures) seems to have no big downside.