Spycraft CCG

Jacob and I gave the SpyCraft CCG a play while at the coast over the weekend. We also played several other games - I'll post some pics shortly - but I wanted to give a few quick comments on this game.

I really wanted to like this, and thought it had some promise after getting a demo at GenCon. Maybe I'm just getting spoiled playing euro-style games and their (generally) clear rules and quick learning curve, but I found this game very confusing to learn and explain. There are certainly great thematic elements to this game and the artwork is good (but not great, especially relative to my favorites: Magic, A Game of Thrones, and 7th Sea). The rules just didn't sit right with me.

I had the hardest time understanding when certain things could be done, what the always-available actions were during certain phases (e.g., you can always do a combat action during any style of mission, but not a transport action). There are also a number of things that can be done by certain factions. My opinion is that once you know the system of the game, you should be able to play it from the cards and not have to remember certain special actions. What if in Magic, if you played black, you could do an automatic Drain Life each turn? That would just be silly.

I'm probably being too hard on the game, and if I sat down with someone who was experienced to explain it to me I would probably grok it much more quickly, but I just don't have the patience. Give me 7th Sea any time...