RULEBOOK treachery – to ensure their side emerges Introduction victorious. “There is nothing wrong with Welcome to the covert world of spies, change, if it is in the right assassins, and proxy wars. direction.” Welcome to the Cold War. – Winston Churchill The end of World War II has brought The Object of the Struggle chaos and confusion to the nations of In each game turn, which represents the world as two new global superpow- one year of conflict, a single country or ers – the USA and USSR – each seek the event (represented by an Objective Card) upper hand. becomes the focus of a covert ideological clash between the USA and USSR. Each In Cold War: CIA vs. KGB, two players, player sends an undercover agent (an each controlling a side of this worldwide Agent Card) to spearhead his activities, conflict, send agents to attempt to “per- infiltrating and manipulating the locals suade” foreign governments to embrace (Group Cards) to gain the upper hand in the “proper” ideologies. These shadowy that struggle. By prevailing, players claim operatives will resort to any means the Objective Cards, which provide them necessary – dirty tricks, devious ploys, with victory points. The first player to ac- underhanded machinations, and outright cumulate 100 victory points wins the game. Game Components 12 Agent Cards (6 CIA, 6 KGB) 2 Domination Tokens (1 CIA, 1 KGB) These cards represent the agents the super- These tokens are used to mark which powers utilize to achieve their goals. superpower has achieved influence over the objective. 21 Objective Cards (15 nations, 6 events) 1 Balance Token These cards represent the nations or The possessor of this token determines events the superpowers are attempting to which superpower must make the first move dominate. in the attempt to dominate the objective. 2 Score Cards (1 CIA, 1 KGB) and 2 Score 24 Group Cards (6 military, 6 economic, 6 Markers media, 6 political) These cards and markers are used to track These cards represent the local assets the how well each superpower is doing in the superpowers use to achieve their goals. Cold War. 1 Rulebook (this booklet) 2 Agent Cards and places them in a stack, Setup facedown, in front of himself to form his Follow the steps below to set up the game: HEADQUARTERS. Both sides are equal, but if 1. Create Objective Deck: Shuffle the both players want the same one, choose Objective Cards and place them facedown randomly. in the center of the table to form the 4. Take Player Components: Each player Objective deck. takes his corresponding domination token 2. Create Group Deck: Shuffle the Group (blue for the CIA, red for the KGB), score Cards and place them facedown in the cen- card, and score marker. One player places ter of the table to form the Group deck. the balance token adjacent to the Objec- tive deck. 3. Select Side: Each player takes either the six CIA Agent Cards or the six KGB 5. Begin the Game. SETUP DIAGRAM GEORGE BORIS CIA Player KGB Player C C *52836 *52836 *52836 *52836 B A F +21'85$6 +21'85$6 F +21'85$6 D D E A OBJECTIVE DECK C HEADQUARTERS E BALANCE TOKEN B GROUP DECK D DOMINATION TOKEN F SCORE CARD AND MARKER 3 Game Turns 1. Determine Objective Each game turn is divided into six phases: 2. Assign Balance Token 1. Briefing 3. Shuffle Group Deck 2. Planning Determine Objective 3. Influence Struggle Flip the top card of the Objective deck faceup (leaving it on top of the Objective 4. Cease-fire deck). This card is the object of conflict for the game turn and is simply called the “ob- 5. Debriefing jective.” Each objective is worth from 5 to 6. Détente 20 victory points, depending on the card. Each phase is completed by both players Most Objective Cards represent nations that before the next phase begins. Each phase the superpowers seek to control, but some is described in detail in the sections that are event cards, which represent other follow. arenas in which the USA and USSR fight for domination. After the Détente Phase, the game turn is over and a new one begins, starting with Event cards give the players who win them the Briefing Phase. Players continue resolv- the option to use special abilities. See ing turns until one player reaches 100 or “Event Card Special Abilities” on page 14 more victory points (see “Winning the for more information. Game” on page 14). Assign Balance Token Phase 1: Briefing The player with the lowest victory point score takes the balance token. If there’s a The Briefing Phase of each game turn sets tie, the player who lost last turn’s Cease-fire the table for that year’s struggle. There are Phase takes it. If both players caused civil three steps to each Briefing Phase, which disorder last turn, the balance token re- are as follows: mains with its current owner (see page 11). 4 On the first turn of the game, the balance OBJECTIVE CARDS token is assigned randomly. The player who has the balance token Nation Card chooses which player goes first in the Influence Struggle Phase. 1 2 Shuffle Group Deck One player shuffles the Group Card discard 4 pile back into the Group deck. This step is skipped on the first game turn, as no groups 3 have been discarded yet. 6 Note: If either player successfully used his Analyst Agent Card in the previous game Event Card turn, he then looks at the top three cards of the Group deck and replaces them in the order of his choice (see page 13). 1 2 Example: Boris and George reveal their first objective, flipping “Cuba” faceup from the 4 top of the Objective deck. They randomly determine that George will start with the 3 balance token. They don’t need to shuffle 5 the Group deck, since this is the first turn. 6 Phase 2: Planning 1 NAME 4 STABILITY In the Planning Phase, each player secretly 2 BIAS ICONS 5 SPECIAL ABILITY chooses one of his agents to send into the field and fight for the game turn’s objec- 3 POPULATION 6 VICTORY POINTS tive. The Agent Card each player chooses ICONS becomes his Agent X for the remainder 5 of the game turn. Each player places his Agent X facedown on the table in front of AGENT CARDS himself, separate from his headquarters. A player can choose any of the agents in 1 his headquarters as his Agent X. However, agents who were sent on leave in the previous game turn (because they were in 2 the field last turn, for example) are not at 3 headquarters and can’t be chosen as Agent X (see page 14). Likewise, agents who’ve been terminated (due to the Assassin’s agenda or because they caused civil disor- der) are no longer in play and also can’t be chosen (see page 13). 1 NAME 2 INITIATIVE 3 AGENDA Note: If a player successfully used his as his Agent X, placing it facedown in front Double Agent’s agenda in the previous of himself. turn, he may be allowed to see the iden- tity of his opponent’s Agent X before he Phase 3: Influence Struggle chooses his own Agent X (see page 12). During the Influence Struggle Phase, each Once each player has chosen his Agent player draws Group Cards one at a time, X for the turn, agents on leave return to which contribute to his Influence total. Each their respective headquarters, ready for player tries to accumulate an Influence total assignment in future game turns. as close as possible to the objective’s Stabil- ity score, but without exceeding it (see the Example: George decides to play aggres- Objective Cards diagram on page 5). sively, choosing his Assassin Agent Card as his Agent X. He places that card facedown Each player must also try to see through in front of himself. Boris opts for a more his opponent’s actions, because the identity devious plan, choosing his Master Spy of each player’s Agent X may later tip the 6 struggle’s outcome in a surprising direction. Is your opponent trying to lose on pur- GROUP CARDS pose, because his Master Spy will turn the 3 tables? Or is he just trying to fool you into thinking that? The player with the balance token decides 2 which player goes first. On each player’s turn to act, he must choose one of these three options: 1 • Recruit a group, by drawing the top card 4 from the Group deck and placing it faceup in front of himself. 1 NAME 2 INFLUENCE • Activate a group, by using the power de- 3 FACTION 4 POWER scribed on one of the Group Cards already in front of himself. • Pass, by doing nothing for the moment. A player who has no Group Cards in front of himself must always choose the “recruit a group” option. He may not activate a group READY STATE MOBILIZED STATE (obviously) or pass. Recruit a Group a mobilized one is turned on its side. To recruit a group, a player takes the top When ready groups are mobilized, they’re card from the Group deck and places it turned sideways to the horizontal position. faceup in front of himself. When mobilized groups are readied, they’re A group on the table in front of a player turned back to the vertical. Newly drawn can be in one of two states: READY or MOBI- groups always begin in the ready state.