The Resistance: Avalon - Tips & Strategies

When playing as one of the bad guys, remember that the best way to win the game is making the good guys as much confused as you can.
When the first two missions get accomplished, it may seem that the game is pretty much over. But it actually means that the good guys have absolutely no idea of who is who. So take advantage of that, don’t rush the sabotages if you are assigned to the first missions. This way, when they repeat a previous successful formation and watch the third mission fail, they will be completely lost and will probably lose the game.

(Applies to both Resistance and Avalon)

I was discovered as a minion in a recent game because I, without knowing, changed my speech pattern. We were in game 3 of 3 of a single sitting and in the previous two games I was on the blue team. In the final game my buddy called me out for not talking as much and I wasn’t trusted for the rest of the game. I didn’t notice the change myself – so either I was speaking too much while on the blue team, or too little while on the red team.

Key Point – regardless of which team you’re on, keep your speech patterns consistent… especially if playing multiple games in a sitting.

After the Quest team submits their sword cards, have two separate people shuffle the pile under the table. This will completely eliminate any possible card counting. It will also prevent the issue of someone being accused of counting. It is a game that breeds suspicion and accusations, but we need contain it to what the designers had in mind and remove this possible source of cheating.

Crafty cheaters may track the discarded sword cards instead, so make sure that two people also shuffle that pile as well.

If you are using the Percival character, then he knows who Merlin is. A huge benefit of this — assuming the Percival player stays sharp — is that Percival is in a good position to pretend to be Merlin, drawing the attention of the assassin away from the real target.

Of course, if Morgana is in play, that makes Percival’s job a whole lot harder. But that’s the point.

When playing this game, make sure there is one person who can give out directions for the reveal phase in the same manor time after time.

Why?

Some folks have a habit of giving away if they are spies or not (ex. “Ok, so us spies will now open our eyes.”) at the start of the game. This makes is really easy for the other side, and eliminates the fun.

If possible, find a humours way to go through the different reveals, and stick with it. This is an added way to add fun without ruining the game mechanics.

Not sure if this is a house rule or not as I have seen games with and without secret voting. The point is that secret voting (voting on the quest team that is) is not a good idea as you need to see at least some actions taken by other players. The game is secretive enough as it is.

If you find yourself being the assassin keep an eye on the other team, and when one of them flawlessly chooses a team with no “prior knowledge” you’ve found Merlin.