Review

Spy networks and Locations

Stadt der Spione

Estoril 1942

Aim of the game is to set up the best spy network - all players begin with an identical set of six spies and send them to various locations to recruit more experienced spies. To win and to dominate Estoril, you must have completed most missions and command the best team of spies.

The game board for each round of the game is randomly assembled from six location boards in a 2x3 grid. Then six randomly drawn character tiles are placed, face down, on the reward cases on the board for reward tiles. All mission tiles are shuffled and four of them are placed openly as missions for the game, the rest is set aside.

Players start, as already mentioned, with six character tiles and 3-4-6 cubes for 4-3-2 players. Then players in turn place one of their characters plus one of their cubes onto a free placement case on the location tiles, adhering to the placement rules: If you place a character on an outer case and the case is marked with “top secret”, you place the character tile face down; if not, you place it open-faced. Another option is, to place a character from your hand on an inner space. In this case, the new character tile must be adjacent to one of your own character tiles with a cube. Again, you place the tile face-down, if the case is marked with “top secret”, otherwise you place it open-faced. For some locations, symbols indicate special rules.

When all players have placed their characters plus cubes, the six location board tiles are resolved in numerical order of the tiles; this resolving includes making use of character abilities, determining the strongest player on a tile and awarding the reward tile. First, all characters and the reward tile on the current location tile are revealed. Then the character abilities are resolved in order of the Roman numbers on the cases; players can make use of the character abilities, but need not use them.

Character abilities are: Assassin - you determine another player who takes back in hand one of his characters on the current location board. Conspiracy - you look at the top character from the stack and the reward for the location. Nationalism - the character adds 1 strength for each flag of his own nationality on the current or an adjacent location tile, even on a character is controlled by another player or on a reward. Seduction - you choose a character from an adjacent location, even if already resolved, and places it together with its cube, on a free case on the location tile being currently resolved. Diplomacy - you choose of of your or an opposing character on the current or on an adjacent, still unresolved, location tile and mark it with a white cube; the character is, in this round, immune against Assassin or Seduction.

The strongest player wins the reward tile on the location tile and takes it into his hand as a character tile. In case of a tie the tile goes to the player whose character is placed on the case with the lowest number.

In this way, all six location board tiles are resolved; then all players take back their characters from the location boards in Hand. Then you discard character tiles face down from your hand, if you hold more than six tiles, until you have six characters in hand. Discarded character tiles are stacked face down and then revealed simultaneously. Those characters stay with players for victory points and can be checked at any time by any player.

Finally, the rounds counter is advanced and the left neighbor of the current starting player becomes the new starting player.

All following rounds are played in the same way; at the end of the fourth round, victory points are awarded: 1 VP for each discarded character tile in your pile; VP on each character in hand as stated on the card, and victory points for completed missions. A mission is completed when you have the majority of the symbols on a mission tile on characters in your hand.

There are also rules for three variants:

For „Secret Missions“, face-down mission cards are introduced; they are placed between two players and only those two players can look at the mission card between them. At the end of the game, all missions are revealed and all can score all missions.

In the variant „Secret recruiting agenda“, each player is dealt a secret mission and, at the end of the game, scores with symbols on characters in hand and in his discard pile.

In a scoring variant for mission, you score three points if you are in second place for the majority of mission symbols.

Well, behind the agents/spy topic of the game, a not-so-simple position optimization game is hiding, in which you need to achieve the best possible result for your characters from possible positions of characters in combination with character abilities and special rules for the various locations. Of course, you also need some luck with reward characters, but all in all you ponder and combine and hopefully recruit an agent who contributes to the completing of missions. A bit of card memory is necessary, too, even if you can look at the stacks of discarded characters of other players. The rules leave no question unanswered, if if being structured in a somewhat unusual way.

All in all, a nice game among friends, maybe also for families with some gaming experience. The location modules in new arrangements provide variety and the pondering and puzzling is good fun, as it plays, contrary to expectations, rather quickly.

Dagmar de Cassan

Players: 10+

Age: 60+

Time: 45+

Designer: Lara António Sousa, Gil d‘Orey

Artist: Mihajlo Dimitrievski

Price: ca. 27 Euro

Publisher: Heidelberger Spieleverlag 2016

Web: www.heidelbaer.de

Genre: Spies, tile placement

Users: With friends

Version: de

Rules: de en es pl pt

In-game text: no

Comments:

Attractive design

Abstract despite the topic

Unusually structured rules

Plays quickly despite need to consider

Compares to:

Placement game with tile interaction

Other editions:

Mesaboardgames (es, pt), Stronghold Games (en), Rebel (pl)

My rating: 6

Dagmar de Cassan:

A very different placement game in which you need to optimize your position to be the strongest and to acquire interesting characters.

Chance (pink): 1

Tactic (turquoise): 3

Strategy (blue): 1

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 0

Interaction (brown): 3

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0