Who doesn’t love a good challenge? One of the things that I love most about Cooperative Games is that, more often than not, they are designed as a challenge. In fact, we often say in our group, a good Cooperative Game must be difficult and if it is too easy then it is not a good one. You see if you win too easily or even on the very first play, the mystique of the game is shattered and you don’t necessarily fear or respect the game as much as you did. Also, its kind of like winning the Super Bowl. Once you have climbed that mountain, the desire and urgency to do it again lessens and your effort and desire suffers. But I also like the element of teamwork in these Cooperative Games. Thinking through the best course of action, providing support to other players, helping them out to help out the group. Always great fun and creates an atmosphere of cooperation. I love a good Cooperative Game and want to share my thoughts on the Best 3 Games with…Cooperative Play!

3. Warfighter Series from Dan Verssen Games

If you know nothing about Warfighter, you need to because it is simply a fantastic solitaire and 2 (or more) player experience that gives lots of tension and decisions about how to attack your enemy and how to traverse difficult terrain to reach your objective before the timer runs out. Warfighter is a tactical card-based game for one to six players, where players will select and equip a squad of soldiers, and then attempt to execute the mission assigned by fighting your way to achieve the objective.

In 2023, we got not one but 2 new entries released in the Warfighter Series including Warfighter WWII North Africa and Mediterranean. We played both of these games entirely cooperatively, which makes for a really nice change from our normal 2-player at each other’s throats wargaming. This system is just FUN! It’s a type of side scrolling, pulpy, run-and-gun romp that elicits the feeling of a 1950’s style comic book.

There’s been several iterations of the system over the years in their own stand alone products, providing you with different theatres, weapons, nationalities, etc. but these 2 new ones gave us a really different experience as we were able to play British (North Africa) and Italian (Mediterranean) troops which was a bit of a change. The game is very much customizable and we have a good time trying to choose our soldiers, their skills, weapons and other equipment to stay within their allotted points for the scenarios. The decisions that players have to make in this game start from the outset and you have to know what your objectives are and the type of things that you might need to take along with the team.

There are also a lot of small pack expansions to add even more scenarios and cards to play with so this game is very much a lifestyle. Is this game an uber realistic historical simulation of the battles fought in these theaters during WWII? No, but that doesn’t matter. Because the game is just that much fun to play and you can really take this one out at anytime as the setup is pretty simple. The best part about the system, and the way that it works with the cards and the different enemies you will face as you move down the board, are the stories that come out of the game. There are moments of heroism, bombastic exploits and exciting risk that you must take. There are also laugh out loud moments as you just can’t seem to get a card you need, or the dice hate you, but the whole experience is just plain fun. Something a lot of other wargames cannot claim.

The cooperative play is fantastic as each player has their own hand of cards and control 1 or 2 members of the squad and make decisions for those two soldiers. But, their cards can be used to assist other soldiers in the squad that are controlled by other players. In the end, you are all working together to attempt to complete the missions successfully. Sometimes, another players’ soldier might be better at certain activities than others, or they have a specific weapon that is useful in the terrain or the enemies that you have currently encountered. This concept of using your cards for another player is what cooperation is all about. Sometimes, you can use assets that the players have to give a certain soldier more activations, DRM’s for those important dice rolls or a reroll when they miss. The way to effectively move through these scenarios is to work together and to not just think about your characters and what you would like to do. I just love how this game forces the players to work together and to forego their own individual plans for the betterment of the squad.

We have played many iterations in the Warfighter Series but here is a smattering of our video reviews for several of the entries:

Here is a link to our full video review of cooperative play for Mediterranean:

Here also is a link to our full video review of cooperative play for North Africa:

Here is a link to our full video review for cooperative play for WWII Pacific:

2. The Red Burnoose: Algeria 1857 from Hit ‘Em With a Shoe Games

The Red Burnoose: Algeria 1857 is a 1-4 player historical cooperative game that deals with the resistance of Fadhma N’Soumer and the Kabyle people in their fight against the invading French armies in the Kabylie region of Algeria in 1857. The name refers to the garb worn by the villagers here and specifically refers to the color of garb worn by Fadhma. The game uses very interesting mechanics such as deck-building to tell the story of villagers working together to defeat the invading French. The players will join forces and play cooperatively to survive as the French advance on their villages, either winning together or losing together. Players will all have a starting deck of cards that make up their available villagers who each have a special ability and function and can be used to perform various actions, such as ambush, gathering resources or mobilizing forces to the Game Board.

When you realize that this game is about ill prepared and trained non-military villagers who are being attacked by the hostile French forces in their villages, it makes you think about their plight. That of defending your home from hostiles and worrying that your children, extended family, friends and neighbors, even your very way of life is under attack and that if you fail you basically consign those loved ones to a life of enslavement and worse even than that death, it really gets to you and makes you feel the feelings that the Berbers would have felt at that time.

As players build their decks and acquire new villagers, they will then be confronted by the advancing French. One of the best aspects of the design that showed the importance and role of the various villagers in the defense and resistance of the villages was the deckbuilding. The cards are named after these roles including Elderly Woman, Woman, Young Woman, Youth, Elderly Man, Young Man, etc. and each has their own abilities and options to help the cause. It might not be on the front line fighting the French but is just as important in preparing and providing food, shelter, medical care and when needed fighting. Players do have the option of placing their cards into other players villages for their use. This is very important as sometimes the French are bearing down on you and you just don’t have the right mix of cards to be able to mount a defense.

I have not played that many games where the focus is on civilians but this game is well designed to evoke those feelings of belonging and purpose as you build your deck and work together to keep the French at bay. And, in the end, losing the game means that your villages are destroyed and more than likely the fabric of your lives, culture, religion and family will be changed forever. This one really highlighted cooperation. Working together is also a very cool and interesting part of the design as you can send aid to your adjacent villages in the form of cards and troops as they are being attacked and maybe your village is not. Just a really great design that I have enjoyed playing.

Here is a link to our review video of the game:

1. Dutch Resistance: Orange Shall Overcome! from Liberation Games

Dutch Resistance: Orange Shall Overcome! is a very interesting historical scenario-based cooperative game about the Dutch Resistance during World War II. The game has five very different highly replayable scenarios, which are not directly connected to each other but focus on different aspects of the resistance and their work in the Netherlands to resist the Nazi occupation. Each scenario has its own goals, special rules, cards, and other elements. The game uses a combination of different mechanics including pick-up and deliver and resource management. The pick-up and deliver aspect includes the players having to guide various refugees to safe houses where they can leave the city, deliver important messages or information, spreading the word to the other resistance cells through delivering coded newspapers and a host of other types of interesting tasks. Resource management sees the players having to collect various supplies, such as rations, key pieces of information, documents and money, and them taking these to specific locations to meet the costs of various tasks. This combination creates a very puzzly feel to the game and requires that players work together to be as efficient as possible when doing these tasks as the clock is ticking and they do not have unlimited time and actions to succeed.

Each player controls a different character that is based on a real resistance fighter. These ten different characters have their own deck of three unique Character Cards, based on what this person did during the war. Each of them provides different utility and some characters are better then others in certain scenarios. Cooperation comes into play as they players have a set amount of actions per player and then also, depending on the Morale level of the resistance. extra actions that can be used by anyone. The best part of the cooperative element to the game was having to decide who would have access to those precious extra actions as well as when they would be used during the turn.

The players also each have their own unique abilities that provide them bonuses in performing certain actions. This might be collecting more information resources than others or being able to utilize specific actions with an extra bonus. Players have to think about their goals for the game, how they are doing on reaching those goals and then how they should act together to cooperate. I loved this game and we have played 3 of the 5 different scenarios each with a unique lean on the resistance. But the cooperative element of the design meant that you were working together and would either win together or lose separately as you bicker and argue over the use of precious actions, resources and abilities. A great example of a very well designed cooperative historical game!

Here is a link to the review video we did for their recent Kickstarter reprint campaign and expansion:

I hope you have enjoyed my look at the best cooperative play games. What games have you played that create a great cooperative play experience?

-Grant