Anyone here play it before? It looks interesting, anyone have anything to say good or bad about it? TIA

Haven't played it, but here're the BGG entry: boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/24742

I think it's a great two-player game that's quite portable too. The gameplay is akin to playing Blackjack, but there's more to it than that.

I picked this up in my last game order. I've played a learning game against myself, but haven't tried teaching it to anyone else yet. I've been playing Schotten-Totten, Caesar & Cleopatra, and The Battle for Hill 218, as my two-player games, so I'm looking forward to adding this to the mix. I may get a chance to play the first teaching game tomorrow, as Thursday is my two-player game day. I'm curious to see how the mechanism of lower population for higher stability cards and higher population for lower stability cards work out.

The game seems interesting. I haven't taught it to my wife yet because I'm still trying to understand the rules. At the moment I'm trying to understand why anyone would play either the "Nuclear Escalation" or the "Live Benefit" card. If I understnad the special ability "objective" cards correctly, you discard the card when you use it, so you can't get the points for gaining the objective during the "debriefing" phase. What's more, the VPs for the discarded card are *deducted* from your score, so why would I discard the "Live Benefit" card to gain a group card that won't help because there's no longer an objective to win VPs for? I must be missing something because that appears counterproductive.

You seem very confused... so much so that I can't even figure out exactly where the problem lies. I'll walk through an example with Nuclear Escalation and maybe that will answer your questions.

Nuclear Escalation is the objective. Let's say I win it. I place it to the side next to me and I get 5 points. Next objective is Libya. We're fighting over that and you have a perfect total of 11. That'll be hard to beat! I manage to get a prefect 11 too. Aha! But wait, two of your groups are Military so it looks like you'd even win anyway. On my turn, I play my Nuclear Escalation. I lose the 5 points it gave me, but you have to discard all of your Military groups. So much for your prefect total! I've lost 5 points, but I'm pretty confident about gaining 15 now.

Trump said:

Exactly right. You only play the them when they will advance yor score or keep the other player from winning the game on that turn.

Well, I had to play Caesar and Cleopatra first, but then I was able to get started on teaching it to my two-player playing partner. We only had time to play for 3 objectives, but he was slowly getting the interplay of the cards. I'm really liking it, even though I was basically playing both sides of the table today. I can't wait until I actually have an opponent to outwit.

This is one of those little gems of a game that I recommend unreservedly. It's based on Blackjack, but it adds many other elements that give it a more complex strategic feel. The theme is excellent and the execution is as well. I just find it one of the most fun games that FFG publishes, quick to play and easy to teach if you know Blackjack, and most people do.

I've been mildly interested in this game for quite some time. This thread is causing me to give the game a more serious look.

This is an excellent two player game. Its easy to learn and has quite a bit of decision making and tension. It takes a few plays to before it really 'clicks' but once it does its really a lot of fun.

Crazytalk is exactly right. It takes a few plays for everything to gel, but it's a heckuva game once it does. There are some painstaking decisions that pop up, and it's always fun to watch that person totally lose control and cause civil disorder.

IMO it's an AWESOME travel game. I can't tell you the number of times I've played while stuck in an airport bar waiting for my flight. It's replaced Times Square as my prefered carry on game. I can usually play a game in 10 minutes tops.

hahnarama said:

I'd agree that this would be an ideal travel game. It takes up very little space. But 10 minutes tops? No way. I'm sorry, but I can't believe you can complete a game routinely in 10 minutes. Hell, I can hardly believe it could be done even once in that time without blatantly disregarding all strategy and just trying to go through the motions.

im gonna be ordering this game in a week it looks fun

It is an amazing card game. I have a dear friend of mine who is a mad competition poker player. He and I played game after game in one straight run. He was absolutely rapt with the psych and tapping abilities of the cards.

For a two player card game you cannot go wrong with this one. I've played quite a number of times and the intensity of the psych favourably compares with Battlestar Galactica. When you win, it feels intense!

I would agree that this game is a great two player game. My wife picked up on it quick and is really enjoying the simple yet intriguing gameplay.

insanepenguin02 said:

True! It's very interesting to see how much tactics there is in such a simple game as this.

Yeah awesome game. I quite like the background but I don't think that it is important that you do. My girlfriend and I play it regularly, her as the CIA and me as the KGB. Now if only I can learn how to use the Master Spy properly.....

It's deceptive - at first glance it seems simple and fairly luck based, but after a few plays you start to see the depth of play available; A coworker and I usually play at lunchtime and we've had a few plays that hinged on using card abilities in a certain order but it was enough to swing the turn one way or another - in particular we had one turn in which I was using the Master Spy, and I had to play as if I wanted to win but on the last draw most my cards were unused, so I was able to play a combination of actions which forced my opponent into winning, which gave me the win for that turn. It was after that game that we really started to see the potential in the gameplay.

YUKI.N> said:

im with you. this game does sound like fun.

Cold War: CIA vs. KGB is one of the best Silver Line games FFG makes. Lots of opportunity for "strategery," back-stabbing, double-dealing, etc. Easy to learn but has lots of delicious twists and turns. I highly recommend it.