Agents of SMERSH is live (Agents of Epicness)
Update: Agents of SMERSH: Epic Edition is live on Kickstarter and the campaign will run for 22 days. You may back either the standard or the Collector's edition.
Agents of SMERSH: Epic Edition is a remastered edition of the 2012 cooperative storytelling game Agents of SMERSH. You are playing as an elite government spy trying to save the world from the evil Dr. Lobo and his henchmen. It is launching on Kickstarter today, April 27.
After choosing your character, you will place the standee on their starting location on the world map. Each character has their own stats which determine the number of dice they will be rolling for skill tests. You will also draw two Fate cards that show which cities the spy must go to in order to complete their mission. There are four villains you have to defeat in each mission, each with 3 levels of difficulty that you go through progressively. Once you've beaten their 3rd level, they are eliminated.
On your turn, you first draw 3 Fate cards and place intel tokens in the cities shown on the cards. Then, you take your actions: you can move up to 2 spaces and resolve encounters, or rest and heal up. If you are in a space with an airport, you can fly to any other space with an airport. As the game progresses, airports will be shutting down, making your movement more difficult.
After you move, you check for an encounter in the location you are by reading the corresponding text in the storybook. This often results in you having to pass a skill test by rolling custom dice. Encounters can also lead you to fight one of the villains: these fights are resolved in the same way as skill tests. At the end of your turn, you draw an End of Turn Event card, and follow its instructions.
You can only face Dr. Lobo if you clear up 3 locations on the map. In order to beat him, you will need to have gathered intel tokens from the map or from defeating other villains.
The new edition comes with a 400-page Encounters Book, a 100-page Epic Showdown Book, and all-new artwork.
500 pages? No wonder that box is so thick. Looks pretty cool, though, from what I can see of it. It's going to be expensive, isn't it?
I was looking at Secrets of the Lost Station - Miniatures & Core Game on their Website. The price has been reduced to $350/€290/C$434. There goes your annual (or maybe weekly, depending on your level of affluence) gaming budget in one fell swoop.