The Agents

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I backed The Agents Kickstarter campaign back in 2013. The game arrived some time in 2014 if I recall correctly. I believe there was an "upgrade" as well, which apparently I have, still in shrink.

But I never played it.

I'm now going through a solo game carefully to teach myself the rules. So far, I some questions:

  1. What are the Command cards for? There is nothing in the rules about Command cards. (These are in the Ml II rules which I downloaded, and may still be in the shrink wrap set.)

  2. What happens if someone gets a starting hand which they can't play? For example, all Free Agents, which cannot be played unless their command applies to a faction. (Mk II rules apparently allow drawing cards from the top of the deck until playable cards are drawn.)

At this point, I was able to more or less play it through, ending up with scores 58 to 39. I still have a lot more questions.

But there is definitely a real game, potentially a very good game indeed.

My plans are to play it a couple more times, then put it into rotation with one of my usual opponents.

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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.