NEWS FLASH: Global intelligence indicates imminent international safety threats! In response, leading nations convened to combine their top spy agencies' forces into a single elite counter-terrorism Agency Faction [Codename: WATCHDOG], their Agents’ mission -- identify and eliminate all Operative threats to mankind.
In response to this alliance, leading evil Operative organizations agreed to collaborate under a single terrorist umbrella Faction, S.H.A.D.O.W. Their plan -- infiltrate vital international Zones to eliminate Agents for global control. The combat stakes are at an all-time high as both the Agents and the Operatives seek to eliminate each other.
Coming to Kickstarter Early 2017
EVERYTHING EPIC is proud to announce the upcoming release of Agents & Operatives™, the worker placement, social deduction hybrid board game of combative espionage.
This unique combination of popular game mechanics represented in a new refreshing way facilitates an experience of feverishly interactive spy v.s. spy v.s. spy conflict that will compel you to approach this board game both socially and strategically.
In Agents & Operatives, you will be recruited as the leader of a Section of an international clandestine Faction, each possessing their own objectives:
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Agents, members of a new Spy Agency Alliance codenamed Watchdog, was founded by leading nations to protect the world from threats posed by sophisticated Operative terrorist organizations. The Agent’s Prime Directive is to identify and decimate all Operatives.
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Operatives, members of the treacherous Evil Organization only known as S.H.A.D.O.W, are scheming to wrest control of the world away from the international community through ultra-violent means. The Operative’s Prime Directive is to identify and decimate all Agents.
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Mercenaries, independent Soldiers of Fortune, possess varying Prime Directives which change depending upon the number of players, ranging from taking out specific targets to surviving till the end. Some Mercenary objectives are for personal gain (an “independent win condition”) while other objectives may require them to assist or compete against either the Agent or Operative Factions.
Watch the Teaser Video... Click Below
In Agents & Operatives your Mission is clear: seek out and decimate your enemies. It will always be the Agent’s Mission to decimate the Operatives. It will also always be the Operative’s Mission to decimate the Agents. Additionally, in games of 5+ players there will be one or more Mercenary Factions in the game. These Mercenaries have their own personal win conditions, usually to decimate a specific targeted number of other faction sections. They can also be secretly assisting either the Agents or Operatives, yet, if they survive, they’re the true victors.
Decimating your enemies means causing enough damage to your enemy’s collective units, resources, and influence that their Section cannot continue onward as a viable force within the game. However, in keeping with Everything Epic’s preference to avoid player elimination even decimated Sections can still maneuver to assist their Faction to victory.
Danger never has been higher and Trust never lower.
Faction cards contain your Hidden Role, Prime Directives (objectives / win condition), your Faction Team Reveal Ability, and what happens when you've become defunct yet can play onward to assist your Faction!
Of course, attempting to decimate your enemies carries significant risk. In Agents & Operatives players begin the game not knowing which players are in their Faction and who their enemies are (hidden roles). Thus, the game is a “race against time” to uncover “who is who” so you can commence informed combat before your enemies do.
For gameplay you will command Section Units (consisting of two meeples) that are a part of your greater Faction Team. With these Units you will bravely enter a realm of contested Zones where all lines of communication have been deactivated, hence you will not know who is is your ally or enemy at the start of gameplay. The game’s placement design features specialized Locations on the Zone tiles, each possessing valuable resources and powerful abilities. Through strategic Unit placement onto Locations you may activate a Location Ability, which will be beneficial to your Faction and detrimental to your enemies.
Zones have limted location spaces on them where you place your Units to strategically gain the assets and resources you need while putting yourself in place to decimate your enemies!
Location Abilities are diversified and interactive, here’s a few examples:
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obtain vital resources, such as Weapons and Gadgets cards
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deduce who is on your Faction team by obtaining and using Intel Tokens
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obtain additional “Ghost” Units for additional workers to place earlier in the next round
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obtain Drones that have blocking and damaging effects on Zones and Locations
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uncover discarded Weapons that have been refurbished and sold on the Black Market to be returned to the game for use
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heal and protect other players
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negotiate trades that will allow you to swap your Unit with another player’s Unit to take advantage of a desired location twice during the same round
And much… much more!
Intel cards and intel tokens are used to learn the faction of other players in the game. When you use intel tokens strategically, you'll immediately know if someone is friend or foe!
You will control your Section Units to locate and assist your Faction Team over a series of Rounds. Each Round consists of two turns. During a turn you must place a unit onto a Zone Location and then you may activate that Location’s Ability. The multiple turns will compel you to always think ahead about the ramifications of your Unit worker placement. Moreover, the order of your turn per round (first player, last player, middle player) will present different advantages, disadvantages, and strategic perspectives.
Weapons are the first line of offense to help defeat your enemies. Gadgets are the first line of defense as well as the way to do things you normally couldn't do!
After placement of your Unit worker and after you’ve triggered the Location’s ability, you may then take a Hostile Action. Hostile Actions include discarding an intel token to perform an Intel Hack on another player, learning what Faction they’re on or instead you may Attack on another player. Attacking can be either performed in Zone (non-ranged) or between Zones (ranged). Combat can commence using the myriad of deadly Weapons and Gadget Cards in the game, but attack wisely, for you should know what faction your target is on before you attack. Also, players may employ means of defense or evasion to an attack.
Overall, the game features a plethora of replayability and refreshing game mechanics that will make every game unique. Firstly, with multiple Faction Teams, gameplay objectives change per number of players involved. Thus, through the deployment of evolving objectives each game will have a distinct strategy and feel depending on the number of players. Even though it’s always the objective of the Agents and Operatives Factions to decimate each other, the inclusion of Mercenary Factions alters combat objective strategy.
Second, the game’s placement strategy is changeable. The Zone tiles can both be pre-arranged or randomly placed to alter and affect the spatial strategy of the game. Finally, the game also includes the use of a Terror Track, which makes gameplay more inherently dangerous as the game proceed into later rounds.
Another Unique feature within Agents & Operatives is the collective, bold Team Reveal ability, which gives a special power to the very first Faction Team to collectively (and correctly) reveal themselves to all other players.
Agents & Operatives is worker placement at a rapid-fire pace!
The Damage track lets everyone know who's nearly decimated. The Terror Status track keeps the game exciting and adds more damage the later the game goes.
Agents & Operatives presents features that create genre-breaking mechanical combinations that are familiar yet used in new and dynamic ways that will allow gamers of all types, from the Avid Eurogamer to the Ameritrash Thematic gamer, to easily learn and enjoy together. Additionally, the game’s modality adds for high replayability, high strategy, with easy rules entry and low downtime that keeps players engaged and planning their next move; all the while scheming against their enemies at the table.
Depending on the number of players, there will be different objectives so you will be faced with differentiating strategic choices. Players are also empowered to pre-arrange, rearrange, or randomly place Zone tiles. This offers worker placement and combat range customization. Yet, the game remains simple to setup and swift to run.
The core game is 4-8 players with a 60-90 minute playtime and contains 8 Zone tiles with up to 3 unique Locations on each Zone, Faction cards representing Agents, Operatives, and various different Mercenaries. A Weapons, Gadgets, Intel Card deck, Ghost Units, Drones, and the Damage/Terror Track. As the game will be crowdfunded on Kickstarter there are many enticing Stretch Goals for the creation of new unique Zones, Weapon and Gadget Cards, Upgraded Components, Customized Meeples, and even the Premium version of the game which will include fully Painted Custom Meeples!
