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Game Info
Year
2012
Collection
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Description
A STORYTELLING BOARD GAME SET IN THE 1970s COLD WAR ERA.
SMERSH is a portmanteau of two Russian words that translates to "Death to Spies." It operated as a counter-intelligence agency by the Red Army during the 1940s. Despite having had a large number of paid employees, little was known about the agency until recently when Russia opened their archives.
Agents of SMERSH is a cooperative Storytelling game that pits players as UN Secret Service Spies set in an alternate 1970s timeline against a newly formed and independent SMERSH. Agents of SMERSH includes custom dice to determine success or failure of encounters, and more strategic play from what is typically expected of a Storytelling board game. There are plenty of James Bond gadgets, guns, cars, pop references and detailed artwork - not to mention a touch of humor. The game features the artwork of George Patsouras (The Resistance & Flash Point).
The game is able to accommodate play with either The Encounter Book, which contains over 1500 written encounters with a similar reaction matrix to Tales of the Arabian Nights - or played more simply with only encounter cards with shorter encounters and no matrix. The First Edition (2012) of the game came with the Encounter Cards as standard, and the Encounter Book as an optional add-on (although many copies did actually include the book). The Second Edition (2015) includes the Encounter Book as standard, with the Encounter Cards available to purchase from the publisher.
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 6
This page: 6
Sentiment:
pos 2 ·
mix 1 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 1
Showing 1–6 of 6
Video dyi6OBy828U
3 Minute Board Games Top List at 19:15 sentiment: positive
video_pk 90797 · mention_pk 243007
Click to watch at 19:15 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Captures classic 1960s spy tropes.
- Focuses on storytelling and adventures.
- Fun, silly, over-the-top spy stories.
Cons
- Out of print, likely never to return.
- Mechanically a little all over the place.
Thematic elements
- Espionage Adventure
- 1960s Spy Fiction
- Storytelling
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Adventure game — you play the game to go on adventures
- Storytelling — this storytelling game
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
No quotes stored for this video.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video o3Pwu4xjc4c
slickerdrips Discussion at 1:20:11
video_pk 86381 · mention_pk 223233
Click to watch at 1:20:11 · YouTube ↗
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- the Restriction is supposed to be and when we moved which was a few years ago now it did get to these shelves are it get the games to fit on those shelves I think we did that and maybe had a bit of room to spare but since moving it's yeah there's a lot of extra shelves downstairs
- 300 is the mark of too much and that includes like the shelves of tiny games of the game and the C crazy
- it's size is driving it more than the numbers and as I said it's it's got a it's got to shrink down to mostly this room and there are big gaps but yeah it'll happen
- Mansions is like a cube to itself Eldritch horror is a Quee to itself
- Shadows of Brimstone that's probably the game that's it's probably tied from tied with Marvel United for a game that's taken up the most amount of space
- box size is the issue and that's why like it's so one of them may be um like Imperial like Imperial was a cool idea and a a great train game but like one of the major things it's get it's got against it is that's one whole cax Cube for that game also box size is the issue
- the game is always a favorite I think we've all got a copy of the game it never needs taken anywhere
- My number one wish list for board game arena is more Cooperative games
- I am continuously and constantly in gam castles of burgundy and I'm still no better at it
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video tUVqkRLm770
Board Gaming Ramblings Analysis at 27:21 sentiment: negative
video_pk 84850 · mention_pk 216355
Click to watch at 27:21 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
Negative (culled)
Pros
- Sounds okay
- Thematic adventure game
Cons
- Big
- Not needed
Thematic elements
- Adventure
- Smurf-like world
- Story-driven
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Adventure game — This is like an like an adventure.
- cooperative play — This is a co-op game.
- exploration — You like walk around and stuff happens and you see what's going on and you try to do things.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- So many games and we can't play them all because we're not robots. We have to eat and sleep and do other things as well.
- I really enjoyed the concept of this. It's a co-op game. This we got even before I started going to say hating co-op game, but understanding they weren't for me.
- It sounds okay, but it also big and we don't need it.
- This is actually not sad. It's actually a positive thing getting these out of the house so we can get more games into the...
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video x92cZSjQ3tg
Rob's Tabletop World Discussion at 14:28
video_pk 82224 · mention_pk 206568
Click to watch at 14:28 · YouTube ↗
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Undaunted 2200 which is a very good game. Tactics II, very very good.
- I've got all the Killforths.
- Nemo's War, great game.
- Defenders of the Realm, love that game. Love it.
- I got some BattleTech on painting. Going to start painting again.
- Ogre, great game.
- We're going to be back in business, folks. We're going to be back in business.
- We're going to be back to full strength again. Just like the old days.
- People that want to work with me, great. People that don't want to work with me, great. Don't care.
- Getting hacked, man. It was very It took a lot of wind out of my sails.
- I'll get us there. All right, we got the other cable coming within the next month or so. Uh, they're going to be running that up here, so we're going to have fiber.
- I got 10 videos I got to get done. I got more stuff coming.
- We're turning the old game around.
- I don't think I've ever been this busy. And I'm pretty happy about it.
- We'll come back and uh, next week we'll start we'll start doing nice little short live play. Maybe we'll do uh, Val Petra.
- Everything feels better. You know, everything feels good.
- It is your old pal Earl.
- This has been a long time coming and it's showing the subscriptions have gone up.
- It's been a rough 2 days. But don't worry about it. I'll shake it off. I'll come back stronger than ever.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video nQT-6e_kUDY
Game Night Picks - Pair Of Dice Paradise Discussion at 8:30 sentiment: positive
video_pk 30431 · mention_pk 89616
Click to watch at 8:30 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Provides a strong narrative framework for storytelling
Cons
- Less open-ended than fully improvised storytelling
Thematic elements
- narrative progression with predefined prompts
- Choose Your Own Adventure style storytelling
- structured narrative with narrative prompts
Comparison games
- Tales of Arabian Nights
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Cooperative storytelling with prompts — Players use pre-made narrative prompts to guide story development
- Storytelling — Players use pre-made narrative prompts to guide story development
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I started rooting for that character ... I didn't even care about winning anymore I wanted to see the story play out I wanted to see this character make their Valiant escape
- there's not a clearly defined goal and you know it kind of damaged my enjoyment of the game
- I hate those quote unquote pitch games like fun employed or snake oil not just rifling stories doesn't feel much like a game to me
- everyone was in character and playing their part for about a round round and a half and after a round and a half it just naturally people stopped doing the accents
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video mKwSub2A4QE
3 Minute Board Games Review at 0:10 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 12233 · mention_pk 35723
Click to watch at 0:10 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- strong narrative and gonzo storytelling
- variety of characters with unique strengths
- spy gear and gadgets to discover
- engaging if you enjoy story-driven play
Cons
- endgame showdowns are long and energy-sapping
- simplification from original Smersh may disappoint fans
- heavy reading aloud can slow play
Thematic elements
- spy intrigue with gonzo encounter storytelling
- Global espionage missions across various regions with UN intelligence context
- storybook and encounter-driven narrative
Comparison games
- Tales of the Arabian Nights
- Spectre
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Character progression — players gain advanced skills, health, resolve and unlock secret missions over time
- Dice-based conflict resolution — special dice resolve conflicts with success and failure indicators, can convert failures into successes via spend resolve
- endgame showdowns — final showdowns consist of multiple tests and lengthy narrative blocks
- Narrative Choice — a large narrative book guiding encounters and branching outcomes
- region bonuses and Intel economy — spend Intel to draw gadgets, gain region bonuses dependent on location
- rest action and headquarters regeneration — rest actions restore health and resolve; HQ resting fully restores both
- secret missions and epic encounters — secret missions that may trigger epic multi-challenge encounters with henchmen
- storybook encounter book — a large narrative book guiding encounters and branching outcomes
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- the best thing about this game is its gonzo stories
- the game lives and dies on the encounter book and the wacky adventures inside
- no Mr Bond I expect you to read a novel aloud
- Smersh is heavily inspired by Tales of the Arabian Nights
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–6 of 6