Covert Action
Covert Action Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
- Teams and roles are randomly assigned to players each round – every play is different!
- Players talk to each other and observe until an Agent decides to take a shot.
- If your team's Sniper successfully targets its Mole or another team's Sniper, you win and receive a Plan card.
- Keep playing rounds until someone has each of the four different Plan cards, forming the complete submarine.
Contents
18 Spy cards (3 Snipers, 3 Cleaners, 3 Moles, 6 Bodyguards, and 3 Saboteurs) and 40 Submarine Plan Cards
Setup
The following setup describes a six player, 2-team game. Setup for other numbers of players is described later. Use eight Spy cards in the game:
- Red Team - Red Sniper, Red Cleaner, Red Mole, Red Bodyguard
- Blue Team - Blue Sniper, Blue Cleaner, Blue Mole, Blue Bodyguard
Shuffle the Plan cards and place the deck in the middle of the table.
Dealing Out Roles Each Round
Shuffle the eight Spy cards together, face down so only the backs can be seen. The back of each card shows what team a Spy is on, but not what role he has. Remove one Spy card with a red back and one Spy card with a blue back at random, and place them face down in the middle of the table. Nobody may look at these two cards. Deal out the other six Spy cards, one to each player.
Playing the Round
There are no turns. You must look at your Spy card and cannot show it to anyone else. You may ask the other players questions, you may lie to other players, you may point, nod, wink, or communicate in any way you see fit.
A team is comprised of a number of Agents and a Mole. The Agents are trying to eliminate the team's Mole OR an opposing team's Sniper. The Mole is trying to stop either of these from happening.
- Sniper (Agent): The Sniper is trying to figure out who the Sniper is on the other team, and then shoot him. Alternatively, the Sniper is trying to figure out if there is a Mole who has infiltrated his team, and to shoot that Mole if found. To shoot another player, he points at the player and says "Bang!" This ends the round.
- Bodyguard (Agent): The Bodyguard is trying to help his Sniper locate the other team's Sniper or the Mole that has infiltrated his team. He's also trying to confuse the other team, perhaps making the other team think that he is the Sniper so that the other team's Sniper will mistakenly shoot him. The Bodyguard himself shouldn't shoot another player - else he and his fellow agents will lose!!
- Cleaner (Agent): If the Sniper is not in play during a round (because the card is in the center of the table), the Cleaner acts as the team's Sniper in every respect. If the Sniper is in play, he acts as a Bodyguard in every respect. Of course, this information is hidden, so the Cleaner must figure out through play if his team has a Sniper (and therefore, whether or not he should shoot.).
- Mole: The Mole wants to sabotage his team and help the other teams win, by confusing the players on his team. If possible, the Mole tries to secretly signal the players on an opposing team that he is the Mole, so that their Sniper will know not to shoot him. Note: the Mole is NOT an Agent, and may not shoot anyone!
The End of a Round
When an agent shoots another player (by pointing and saying "Bang!"), the round ends and scoring occurs. Players who receive Plan cards may look at which letters they have at any time, but must keep this information hidden from others.
- If the shooter is a Cleaner check to see if there is a Sniper on his team, if so, he is considered a Bodyguard. If there is no Sniper on his team, he is considered a Sniper.
- If the shooter is a Bodyguard the shot fails.
- If the shooter is a Sniper and he shot an opposing Sniper OR the Mole infiltrating his team, then the shot is a success.
- If the shooter is a Sniper and the target was any other character, the shot fails.
If shooter succeeds, Plan cards are awarded to:
- all Agents on shooter's team
- all Moles on opposing teams
If shooter fails, Plan cards are awarded to:
- the Mole on shooter's team
- all Agents on opposing teams
Setup for Other Numbers of Players
2 Team Setup for Different Numbers of Players
| # of players | Cards in use |
|---|---|
| 4-5 players | Red & Blue Snipers, Red & Blue Cleaners, Red & Blue Moles |
| 6-7 players | Red & Blue Snipers, Red & Blue Cleaners, Red & Blue Moles, Red & Blue Bodyguards |
| 8-9 players | Red & Blue Snipers, Red & Blue Cleaners, Red & Blue Moles, 2 Red & 2 Blue Bodyguards |
3 Team Setup for Different Numbers of Players
| # of players | Cards in use |
|---|---|
| 9-11 players | Green, Red, & Blue Snipers, Green, Red, & Blue Cleaners, Green, Red, & Blue Moles, Green, Red, & Blue Bodyguards |
| 12-14 players | Green, Red & Blue Snipers, Green, Red & Blue Cleaners, Green, Red & Blue Moles, 2 Green, 2 Red, & 2 Blue Bodyguards |
You will always have one to three more Spy cards than players, so each round you will randomly remove some Spy cards before you deal out the cards. If you have one extra, just take out any one card. If you have two, take out two cards that have different backs. If you have three, take out three cards that all have different backs: one red, one blue, one green. Following setup, the rules are identical as described above.
End of Game
If you have acquired at least one each of all four types of Plan cards, you have won the game. If two (or more) players have all four different Plan cards, whichever has the most Plan cards wins. If they tie on the number of Plan cards, they both win.
If nobody announces victory, collect and shuffle all Spy cards and deal out a new round, where the teams and roles will likely be different.
Examples
Example 1: In one round, the six cards dealt out are the Red Sniper, the Red Cleaner, the Red Bodyguard, the Blue Cleaner, the Blue Mole. The Blue Sniper and the Red Mole are the two unused cards sitting face down in the middle of the table for this round.
If the Red Sniper shot the Blue Cleaner, the Red team would win the round, since there is no Blue Sniper in play. All Red Agents each get a Plan card, as does the Blue Mole.
If the Red Sniper shot anyone else, the Blue team would win the round and both the Blue Cleaner and the Blue Bodyguard would get a Plan card. The Blue Mole gets nothing.
If the Blue Cleaner shot the Red Sniper first or if the Blue Cleaner shot the Blue Mole, the Blue team wins the round, and the Blue Agents each get a Plan card.
If the Blue Cleaner shoots anyone else, then the Red team wins the round. All Red Agents and the Blue Mole get Plan cards.
If the Red Cleaner or the Red Bodyguard shot anyone at all, Blue team wins the round and the Blue Agents get Plan Cards.
If the Blue Bodyguard shot anyone at all, Red team would win the round. All Red Agents and the Blue Mole get Plan cards.
Example 2: 9 players – (Red team of Sniper, Cleaner, Mole) (Green Team of Sniper, Cleaner, Mole) (Blue Team Sniper, Mole, Bodyguard) The Green Cleaner shoots the Blue Sniper. Both reveal their cards. The Green Sniper speaks up to say his team loses and all Green backed cards are turned up revealing a Green Mole who takes a Plan card. At this point the game continues. The Blue Bodyguard immediately claims he is the Blue Mole and tells the red team to shoot the other blue player. The Red Sniper fires and shoots the Blue Mole on the Blue team. He has shot incorrectly and the surviving Blue team Agent (the Bodyguard) win a Plan card as does the Red Mole.
Example 3: 12 players – (Red team of Sniper, Cleaner, Mole, Bodyguard) (Green Team of Sniper, Cleaner, Bodyguard, Saboteur) (Blue Team Sniper, Mole, Bodyguard, Saboteur) The Green Saboteur shoots the Green Cleaner. Both reveal their cards. He has shot incorrectly so both players are out of this round and the round continues. Next the Blue Sniper shoots the Red Sniper. He has shot correctly so all Blue Agents win. The Blue Sniper, Saboteur, Bodyguard and the Red Mole all take a Plan card.
Optional Rules
The following rules make for an even wilder version of Covert Action…
Optional Special Character
Saboteur (Agent): The Saboteurs may be substituted in for Bodyguards in any of the setups listed above. The Saboteur's job is to shoot the Sniper on his team. If the Saboteur takes a shot before any Sniper then ONLY he and the person he shot reveal their cards. If he correctly shoots the Sniper on his team, then he alone wins the round (the round ends) and gets a Plan card. If he shoots incorrectly and hits any other character, i.e. the Cleaner, Mole or Bodyguard, then the player who was shot and this Saboteur are out of the rest of the round. In that case, the round is played out as normal without those two players who cannot win a Plan card this round. Should a Sniper shoot the Saboteur on his team, then the Sniper alone gets a Plan card and the round ends. A Saboteur may also act like a regular Bodyguard: In cases where the Saboteur is neither the shooter nor the one shot, scoring is as normal. If a Saboteur is shot by an opposing team's Sniper, it is considered a failed shot, and scoring is as normal.
Alternate 3-Team Play
Standard 3-team Covert Action is identical to the 2-team version - the round ends when one player takes a shot and scoring follows. With this version, multiple shots may be fired during the same round.
When a player makes the first shot, only the Shooter and the Player Shot reveal their cards. If the Shooter shot is a success then the round is over and scoring is the same as above.
If the shot fails, then all cards with the same back as the shooter are revealed and they are out of the round. A Mole revealed in this way immediately receives a Plan card. The round continues for the remaining two teams. When the next shot is fired, then all remaining players reveal their cards and the round is scored as normal.