The Agents is a card game where players represent a group of operatives that have gone rogue once their respective espionage agencies have disbanded. The game plays 2-5 players in about 30 minutes, with the game ending when a player earns 50 points. Players earn victory points (IP) by playing agent cards in specific directions that award points to either themselves, or their opponents. Additionally, players earn points by achieving specific layouts in their play area by assigning mission cards.

What’s rather clever about the game is that the orientation of agent cards either can award you points, or provide an action. Choose to gain points and your opponent now has access to that agent’s ability (or vice versa). To gain points you need to have a pair of agents lined up to link two halves of an IP icon shaped as an arrow. Additionally these half arrow icons are either black or white. If the colors match you gain 2 points, and if they are mixed the player earns 1 point.

A player has only two options when playing agent cards in their area. They either form up in one group (faction) to the player on their left, or the player on their right. Additionally each faction can be comprised of only 5 agent cards (7 in a two player game). You can only play cards on factions you share with other players. The agent actions allow cards to be rotated, shifted to other factions, pulled out of a faction (either into your hand or discarded) and manipulating these commands on the agent cards becomes a key part of the gameplay.

Players can also assign up to 2 mission cards per faction. These provide additional points if certain conditions are met in a faction. Once a player has done all their actions victory points (IP) are awarded based on the number and type of arrow icons facing them, and any additional points from assigned missions are also earned.

Playing agent cards becomes a tricky process though. Not only do other players score points on their turn for any pairs of IP icons that are facing them, they also have the option of using an agent command on their turn. If you get a nice layout of IP icons awarding you points each turn, expect your opponents to start activating agents that you set out to muck up the orientation of your shared agents.

Now a while back I gave a shout out for the original kickstarter campaign. After repeated plays I found there were some rough edges to it. So while the Agents was pretty fun, it just wasn’t something that I found to be a homerun at my gaming table. Since then the rules got a revamp and another kickstarter campaign was rolled out. The ‘Mark 2’ rules really make the Agents a much more enjoyable game.

The game now ends when a player reaches 50 points. No longer does it continue until all players get the same number of turns after a player reaches 40 points and this removes a finicky end game condition. In practice I found you actually had to plan on having more than 40 points, as inevitability other players would be able to maximize their layout in that last mad dash during their final turn. You also have much more flexible options for removing agents and missions from your factions, and picking up missions are cheaper. I appreciate the relaxed options for altering your agents and missions and it’s a welcome change from the more rigid turn actions of the first edition.

Likely the biggest change however is that players are no longer required to use an agent’s command action when it’s first played. Now players have the option of not activating the card powers when an agent is added to a faction. It does remove some bite to the game, as before you could really force a player to restructure their faction when you first placed an agent. However I also found this would inadvertently drag out the game as your opponents would sometime agonize how they would apply the command of an agent. With the new rules they have the option to just utilize it as an action later.

This change also bleeds over into special agents. Special agents are the only cards that can be played on other players that are not aligned with your 2 factions. Before it was a chore sometimes figuring out how to apply a command when they were played. Now, the IP points are still awarded immediately the turn they’re played. However the card is not discarded until the command on the agent is activated. This means that other players can keep those command actions for play in a future turn. This small change really adds to the value and decision process of special agents. Do you score the points now and risk an opponent trashing your built up factions on a later turn? Likewise having those special agent powers available may set up a nice mission condition, allowing you to work towards a specific strategy.

The Good – It’s an enjoyable strategy card game with an interesting mechanism for play based on the orientation of your cards. It has a good flow and offers interesting choices of spending victory points to try and get resources in order to score more points on future turns. There are a fair number of expansions out to provide alternate missions, free agents, and other small twists to the game. However even right out of the box there seems to be enough variation in the cards to offer plenty of replay.

The design of the cards is well done. The artwork captures an almost sci-fi feel, and some sweeping action poses that look more out of a comic book rather than what you’d expect for a game revolving around espionage. I like it and the art and design seems to capture that tone of a tug-of-war game where agents are flipping allegiances back and forth.

The Bad – There are a lot of improvements with the second edition rules, however the new rulebook will still have you getting some head scratching questions regarding agent abilities. The game can also depend on a fair bit of luck. If a player gets a good scoring combination set up, they only have to worry about their immediate neighbors mucking it up. If your opponents get a few poor draws with agents that can’t shake up your layout, well you can run away with the victory points making it very hard to catch up. It can be a little frustrating not being able to get a setup that will earn you points, especially as your opponent can trash your layout using agent abilities (or the alternate, not being able to break up an opponent’s efficient faction). While there is certainly an element of strategy to create these layouts, it can also rely on lucky card draws.

The Verdict – The Agents is an enjoyable game. It’s heavy enough to offer challenging choices, with some variety in the cards and play to provide replayability. But not so much that it gets mired down in lengthy turns with lots of intricate working parts that you might see in other board games. The game seems to run just long enough and teeters over that edge of being just a filler game. With fast play and some enjoyable bits of strategy, you’ll certainly want to play a few hands filling up an evening of gaming.

There are rough spots to the game. Some of the actions on the agents and how they resolve can be clunky at times. You can get stuck with poor draws for a few turns which can make catching up all the more difficult. But the faction layouts are very fragile and can be rapidly altered, making that ideal faction placement difficult to set up (and harder to maintain). This facet of play really captures the give and take of agent loyalties which allows for some interesting play.

I don’t feel the Agents is an absolute must have for a collection. However the point-or-action choice of card placement is different and makes it stand out compared to other games. The new version of the rules allow for a more flexible turn options and is a significant improvement over the original version. Additionally the point of entry for the game is low with enough card options that you don’t need to pick up expansions, but they are available if wanted. The player count and play length is just right too. So I would certainly recommend it if looking for a light, strategy card game.

From Artipia Games (and also distributed by Stronghold Games) Among the Stars is a 2-4 player game. The players represent different alien races trying to build the most impressive space station, garnering intergalactic influence at the end of 4 years. As they build onto their space station, added locations award more victory points and the player at the end of 4 years with the most points win.

Among the Stars is a drafting game. Players get an initial hand of 6 cards. They select one and pass the remaining to either the player to the right or left (each game year the direction shifts). Then they play the card, adding it to their space station.

Cards must be placed orthogonally to existing locations (i.e. not diagonally) and are only considered adjacent to those cards. Players must pay for location cards with credits. Additionally some locations require power. So there must be a power plant within two locations and can provide enough energy to build that new section. Each card represents one of six location types (diplomatic, recreation, administration, etc.).

Once built the location typically awards victory points. Some cards have further victory point bonuses if certain conditions are met at the end of the game, such as extra points for each similar card in the station, additional points for being near other location types, the furthest away from the main reactor, etc. This provides interesting play having to account for the spatial layout of your station as you try to get the most points.

Every year you gain credits, however as an action you can discard a card and gain credits instead of adding it to their station. Or if wanting another power reactor, they discard their selected card, paying for a power reactor and placing it within their station.

The reactors themselves provide a limited resource of power. Each reactor has 2 energy cubes. These cubes are discarded when certain locations are added to the station. Further, they can only power locations that are up to two adjacent spots away (remember, a diagonal direction does not count). As many cards that require energy usually provide a good amount of points, it can be a challenge figuring out the optimal layout to provide enough power for expanding your station.

Players continue selecting and playing one card, while passing the rest, until all the cards in players’ hands are played (or discarded for credits or power stations). Then a new year begins and the process is repeated until 4 years are completed.

Among the Stars at its core is a fun game. However there are other game elements which add a lot to the gameplay. Players can randomly select a starting race. Each race has a unique power, providing some special ability they can use during the game. There are also random objective cards equal to the number of players which provide bonus victory points if completed. Being placed face up during setup, each player can look them over and decide if they want to focus on a particular goal to earn those objective cards during the game.

Lastly, there are optional conflict cards which provide an additional type of player turn action. These cards typically award victory points if you have more particular location types within your station compared to another player. At the same time your opponent will also lose points equal to those that you gain. It’s a little way to add some back and forth tension mucking up another player’s victory point totals.

In all, it’s an enjoyable game. The slight hiccup is the two player version which requires dummy hands, but it manages to capture that feel of potentially having key cards drafted from other players. This point is what makes the game. You likely will only be able to get one additional card from the hand you are first dealt. Deciding which is the best draw can be a challenge. You really don’t get a feel for the other cards out there until about halfway into the round, making that decision to focus on a particular location type for your space station early in the game risky (but can be immensely rewarding).

The Good – Among the Stars comes with a lot of parts to the base game. The different player races and objectives offer a some variety, in addition to the location cards. This provides a little randomization in the game that goes beyond the deck of location cards, giving some differing play for each game. There aren’t a lot of rules to burden new players, but it certainly provides a lot opportunities to explore different strategies.

The components are done well with cards having a nice, thick backing. The counters are good cardstock and the energy markers represented as clear cubes are a nice touch. The design of the cards can be a little cluttered when figuring out setup (certain cards are added or dropped depending on the number of players), however for actual play they are easy to read and decipher. The artwork is pleasant and certainly helps capture the theme of adding sections onto a space station.

The Bad – It’s a drafting game and by design it will be difficult to plan too far ahead for future turns, which can be a little frustrating. You start each year with a 6 card deck, so you can only expect to use one other card by the end of that year. You only have 2-3 turns to potentially see what cards you might end up with later. In effect, it’s somewhat of a puzzle game where you simply make the best play you can with a new hand each turn.

Also even though some cards are labeled as conflict cards, you really don’t have much player interaction other than using (or discarding) a card that another player might have wanted. So you can slip into this mindset of just building up your station and ignore everyone else. Put simply, this might not be the most enjoyable game if you are looking for more a back-and-forth play experience.

The two player version is a little lackluster also, relying on dummy hands with your opponent likely discarding cards you’d want to use. If players alternated placing a single card for a dummy station using some simple automatic placement rules, it might be more enjoyable. That way you have to try to also beat a third point total and worry about another station layout, other than just your opponent.

Card resolution is done simultaneously and sometimes this can put a kink in the flow of the game for certain cards. Although there are rules to determine a player order in these cases, it can be a little clunky to resolve.

The Verdict – Among the Stars is solid. As a drafting mechanism type game, it’s especially enjoyable. The play is very streamlined and easy to grasp. Yet there are challenging choices you have to make. While scoring points is paramount, you also have to keep an eye on what your opponents are doing. Sometimes it might mean forgoing adding a juicy location and simply discarding a location for credits, as that same card would bring a ton of points to your opponent.

Another key thing that stands out is the variety of game options. You have the option of playing with and without races, objectives, or conflict cards. You can choose to keep a limit on station size layout and even another small variant for the 2 player game is offered. Along with this you get 8 different races and objectives. And on top of everything are the differing station locations and types, with a plethora of card combos that you can explore. All of these aspects contribute to giving the game some legs with play longevity.

Among the Stars is a great game. The drafting mechanic offers a slight tweak to the myriad of deck building games out there. And it also really captures the theme well of slowly constructing a sprawling space station. With nice components, a low entry bar to learning the rules, and solid gameplay, it’s certainly one to add to your game collection.

To get into the spirit of Halloween I’ve been wanting a horror-themed board game for a while now, something that would capture that feeling of investigation some and have monsters to face off against. I’m a fan of the Lovecraft mythos but the games I’ve seen and played never really captured that feeling well. And face it, trying to get the essence of a person losing their sanity facing incomprehensible horrors isn’t really something that translates into a game mechanism easily.

Digging around I decided to pick up A Touch of Evil from Flying Frog. It’s a game that can handle up to 8 players with a variety of play modes from a winner take all, working in teams, cooperative, to even a solo game. Overall it’a something that seems to scratch the itch of a horror game for me.

Players are monster hunters in the 18th century, trying to rid a colonial town of a terrible supernatural threat. They can choose 1 of 8 characters each with varying characteristics among cunning, spirit, and combat abilities. Additionally, each has a special ability that allows them to bend the rules some. Checks and combat are a simple matter of rolling a number of dice and counting 5 and 6s as successes.

The players face off against one of four creatures, being either a werewolf, vampire, a locust-summoning scarecrow, or a spectral (headless) horseman. Each monster has unique minions and other game effects that can hamper the heroes. Some are rather interesting like the werewolf that can pass on its curse to other players or the spectral horseman that runs to town attacking all in his way, to more basic abilities that just increase their combat proficiency.

The player’s turn is broken down into 2 steps. They roll a die and move that number of spaces. If there is a monster in a space, they must fight to defeat it (or run away if they survive the initial attack). Afterwards the player has several options from investigating an area to hopefully find a powerful artifact, gather up clues, heal, or attempt to gain equipment within the village proper. All currency in the game is based off of investigation tokens. Players gain them by traveling around the woods outside the town or by beating villain minions. As a nice rule, if a player flubs and rolls a 1 for movement, they gain an events card to offset the low roll.

When players have enough allies and items, they can try and beat the monster in a showdown. They attempt to track the creature down to its lair and begin an epic fight trying to whittle down the creature’s wounds and survive. If they fail they are knocked out, returning to the center of town next turn minus some resources.

After each player has a turn, the monster gets to play a mystery card. This may initiate an event like adding one of its minions to the board, or it will undertake a special attack. Additionally the monster may be able to move the shadow track. This is a countdown of sorts. When it reaches zero everyone loses. Additionally the shadow track dictates the investigation cost to find the creature’s lair. Earlier in the game, it’s more expensive while the cost to investigate the lair decreases as the shadow track approaches 0.

For the most part, that is the game. Players try to move around the board and successfully employ their skills with tests of cunning and spirit, or fighting lesser monsters at certain locations. They slowly accumulate special items, or buy equipment in town, gathering up allies until they feel they are powerful enough to fight the main villain. The tweak to this is the village elders.

The game starts with 6 village elders. Players can enlist up to 2 of them to help in the final battle with the monster. Most are immensely helpful, improving the combat abilities of the hero. More importantly, they can also soak up hits. The player has to be careful though as if the village elder is killed, the shadow track will move down. This isn’t as clear cut a choice selecting the village elders however. Each elder has a randomly assigned secret, some are beneficial or don’t significantly alter their abilities, however about a third of the secrets hides that the elders are actually evil. Pick the wrong one and you can suddenly find the monster has another minion in the fight.

To ensure you aren’t selecting an evil village elder, players can pay investigation to see where their heart lies. This information is useful, as opposing players can call out evil village elders during a showdown, allowing them to join the monster in the final battle. This entire portion of the game really makes it for me. You want to spend the time investigating the town elders to seek out potential allies, or find out which ones are best to turn on other player’s if needed.

The Good – What stands out are the variety of play modes for the game. You can play it as a coop (or solo), working as teams, or everyone out for themselves and this variety adds a lot of replay value to the game. It’s a fun experience gathering up resources to fight the monster. Additionally the shadow track an effective clock on ending the game which helps ramp up the tension. When village elders die, not only are the players potentially losing an ally but the shadow track drops down, ever closer to zero. This helps capture that feeling impending doom for the players and pushes them to act quickly.

The components are top notch. The cards are thick and coated in plastic. The counters are made of nice cardstock. There are several well sculpted plastic figures to represent the hero pawns, even an audio track CD is included in the game. The board has an antique map look to the layout of the village and surrounding areas. The card art is done rather differently using actual photographs of costumed characters. There are more hits than misses with the depicted photos and it portrays the gothic horror theme fair enough.

The Bad – The game is roll and move. Even with the event card bonus rule added for rolls of 1, it can be frustrating at times not getting to the location needed due to poor die rolls. The combat and task resolution is a little simplistic, where you simply want to roll as many dice as possible to get more successes. Games with high number of players when not working as teams can drag sometimes. And while there are plenty of heroes to try out, there are a limited number of villains which may not provide enough variety in how they interact with the rest of the game. Additionally the art overall is alright, yet some might find particular cards lackluster as the photographs can be a little campy.

The Verdict – A Touch of Evil is an enjoyable game. What really stands out are the variety of play styles, from a standard coop to a free-for-all where everyone tries to be the hero and take down the monster themselves. I feel what works best for the game is the competitive team mode. For me it captures that feeling of an old 60s-70s Hammer film in a colonial setting. The potentially twisted village elders, the snooping around particular locations, the slow accumulation of equipment and allies until you can have the final big fight against the creature, it all works well as a horror game and is great fun. If you’re looking for a horror board game that isn’t quite stuck in the Cthulhu-theme rut, this is a great one to pick up.