Through tight rules, evocative components, attractive theme and engaging gameplay, Cold War: CIA vs KGB is a light game that provides a delightful and rewarding gaming experience with a nice mix of resource management, luck, bluffing, outwitting and, sometimes, agonizing choices.
It is still a 9/10 for me.
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Introduction
This Review highlights some important aspects of the game and my general opinion of them.
Theme
This game exsudes Cold War. The art in the cards with pictures from the period. The groups representing different forces ready to be manipulated: Generals, Police, Government, TV, Radio, Artists, Bankers, Students,... The gameplay with a mix of uncertainty of the enemy's agenda and management of the available resources.
Components
The components are stunning. They add to the atmosphere of the game. But, most importantly, they show how much the designers and the publisher care about their game and the people playing it.
Agents
This is arguably the mechanism that makes the game tick. This makes the game more than a simple mixture of Blackjack with Magic: The Gathering. The Agent's hidden agenda brings further strategy and psychological elements to the player's choices and the game.
The Director, Master Spy and Assassin look and probably are more powerful than the other agents but there are natural balancing mechanisms within the game that brings a tendency of even utilization.
The Director has a very powerful agenda. Its weakness is that he is so powerful that you don't want to lose it. You will try to avoid a Civil Disorder at all costs and you will end up giving up early on Influence Struggles due to that risk. Also, if you use him every other turn, it could become an easy target for the opposing Assassin.
The Master Spy is one of the most important aspects of the game. The recurring question if your opponent is playing to "lose" escalates the tension level and adds thematic and strategic depth. I would like to point out that the Master Spy still lose if his side causes a Civil Disorder.
The Assassin strong agenda is balanced since it only works in case of victory during the Influence Struggle and he doesn't get to claim the Objective Card.
The Double Agent may not seem as powerful as the previous Agents but in addition to giving you a key edge, the Double Agent's agenda will take place even if you lose the Objective.
The Analyst is another Agent whose agenda takes place even in case of defeat. He is very powerful if you have the Balance Token since you can pretty much choose which cards you and your opponent will recruit.
The Deputy Director is underrated. It is possible that he was just created so the players would never run out of Agents. But, since he is immune to Civil Disorder, you can push very hard during the Influence Struggle increasing your chances of taking the Objective. He has a very interesting relationship with the Assassin. The Assassin will take nothing when beating a Deputy Director (he is not eliminated and the Assassin doesn't claim the objective), but, the Deputy Director has a tendency of causing Civil Disorder and in this case he will give the Assassin the Objective.
Groups
Military Groups are the most powerful and straight forward. Eliminate a threatening opposing group or eliminate one of your own groups to get under the Stability level.
Political Groups are a big threat to your opponent. Mostly due to the risk of stealing key cards. It is rare that you will transfer one of your cards to the enemy.
Economic Groups are great support cards. They allow you to use your Military and Political Groups again or they make opposing groups useless.
They also reveal an aspect of successful playtesting. An Economic Group cannot act on another Economic Group. The reason for this is to avoid a "stalemate" situation. It may not seem much but it is more than it could be said for Condottiere for example.
This is actually a recurring theme for the rules of this game. They have no holes and you get the bonus of elegant touches. For example, if two Analysts are facing each other, only the agenda of the losing Analyst takes place. This is a nice touch sine the Analyst's agenda is more useful for the player who has the Balance Token.
Media Groups are usually used to let you choose if you want to recruit a given Group but it can also be very effective to deny the enemy a card or make him draw a problematic one.
Events
This is one of the most criticized aspects of this game because of the almost pure luck factor.
I enjoy the presence of Events. They bring a new element to the game with their balanced special abilities which effectively cost 5 points.
The impact of the points available by Events in the whole deck is very small. They are only worth 30 points while all the other Objectives are worth 210 points.
The Events increase the value of the Analyst since he can achieve automatic victories.
Even though there is essentially no Influence Struggle, the choice of Agents can still be quite interesting. The Director can give you cheap extra points, the Assassin can get an easy kill for a low point Objective, the Deputy Director may be the obvious choice. The Master Spy is usually not recommended but may complicate a victory that seemed easy by the player who is using the Analyst's Agenda.
One of my favorite Influence Struggle was playing with my wife:
I was using the Analyst's agenda so I placed the higher card on top because I thought she would ask me to draw first (she had the Balance Token). She did ask me to recruit first and I was happy that my plan worked, just to see that she was using her Master Spy and took the Event.
Final Thoughts
I hope some people will find this Review helpful in deciding if this game is for themselves and amuse more veteran players who like to read what other Geeks think of some of their favorite games.
EDIT: Thanks Balsamo, Wilk_1230 and Nordens77 for the pictures.
Last edited on 2008-07-22 17:29:54 CST (Total Number of Edits: 3)
Posted Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:19 pm
