Control From The Shadows In Spymaster

February 17, 2019 by cassn

You are the head of a shadowy intelligence agency, gathering information to direct your network of spies around the world to complete missions and gain power. Use skill and strategy to direct agents, gain power and manipulate the world!

Spymaster is an area control game for 2-6 players which takes place over five rounds. At the beginning of each round, the Spymaster splits the intelligence deck into files. Other players then select, in clockwise order, which files they want, with the spymaster picking last.

This intelligence is then used to move meeples to various locations - both their own meeple and freelance agents - into the correct positions so that they can successfully complete their missions and control their area. At the end of five rounds, the player who has achieved the highest mission value will be declared the winner!

Spymaster sounds like a fun game, however, I think I would have been a bit more interested to see this as a cooperative game, rather than a competitive one - think a bit more along the lines of the lead detective and his officers in Letters From Whitechapel. Still, Calliope Games have produced some of my favourite game titles, including Tsuro, so I'm hopeful that it will be a good game when it is officially released in Summer 2019.

Do you prefer cooperative or competitive games?