/pic5669260.png)
1960. Cold War is upon the world. In the dark shadows, agencies are gathering intelligence on financial institutions, political figures, military installations, and top-secret technology advancements. However, where one agency thinks they exclusive access on intel, leaks within the network cause information to spill around the world. Which agency will be able to gather enough intel on their high profile targets and at what costs? Who will have built the best Shadow Network?
Shadow Network is a worker placement style game where players are deploying their agents around the globe collecting fragments of intel. These fragments are then promoted to an actionable state that can be used against a high profile target and earning player's influence — the currency in the game. As the players gather intel from a city, intel is also leaked to other cities thereby potentially helping other agencies. Additional agents can be deployed but at a cost. Furthermore, handlers can assist with exchanging intel thereby giving the agency the leg up. At end of four rounds of play, agencies will bribe their high profile targets for more influence. In the end the player with the most influence is the winner.
-description from publisher
- Artwork is cool and thematically on-point
- Dual interactive and personal puzzle components
- Minimal downtime
- Playable with different player counts
- spy/intelligence gathering
- 1960s Cold War
- personal puzzle challenges on own boards; interactive main board
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- black_market — Visit the black market to recruit more agents and obtain extra resources.
- contract_fulfillment — Complete contracts to gain points and discard unfulfillable contracts.
- Contracts — Complete contracts to gain points and discard unfulfillable contracts.
- conversion_puzzle — Convert intel pieces into full briefcases in a specific order to maximize benefits.
- Influence Points — Influence is the currency used along with victory points.
- influence_points — Influence is the currency used along with victory points.
- personal_board_puzzles — Each player has a personal puzzle on their own board to solve.
- Resource Management — Managing resources and converting intel into briefcases and points.
- round_based_progression — Game progresses through rounds; after four rounds the highest influence wins.
- Worker Placement — Players place their agent on the main board to gain resources.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's 1960s cold war deploy your secret agents around the world
- gather intelligence to complete missions and be the best intel agency
- the artwork is so cool
- cold war conspiracy style suits the theme
- almost no downtime
- shadow network is about to be launched on kickstarter