Web of Spies Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Objective
• Components
• Setup
  • Step 1: Equip Each Agency
  • Step 2: Locate Agents
  • Step 3: Locate Assets
  • Begin the Mission!
• How to Play
  • 1. Actions
    • Move Action
    • Acquire Action
    • Attack Action
    • Card Action
• Ending Your Turn
  • 2. Discard
  • 3. Draw
  • 4. Place New Assets
  • Symbol Key
  • Anatomy of an Asset Card
• Combat
• Alternate Rules
  • Setup Variants
  • End Game and Tie Breaker Variants

Objective

Your goal is to be the last remaining spy agency in the world!

The game ends when any player is eliminated (ie. they have no agents left alive on the board).

The winner is the player who has the most agents still in play.

In the case of a tie, play continues but the danger level is elevated to CODE RED. From this point forward, any agency to lose an agent is eliminated and must remove their remaining agents from the board. Play until only one agency remains. That agency is the winner!

(For alternate rules, see the Alternate Rules section.)

Components

• 28 Spy Cards
• 80 Asset Cards
• 4 Player Mats
• Asset Markers
• City Die
• Region Die
• 20 Pawns (Agents)

Setup

Step 1: Equip Each Agency

Give each player the following supplies:

• 5 Colored Pawns (Agents)
• 1 Matching Player Mat
• 10 Starting Cards (Agency):
  • 7 Spy Cards
  • 1 Black Car
  • 1 False Identity
  • 1 Silenced Pistol

Step 2: Locate Agents

• Roll to determine the starting player; highest roll wins.
• Starting player chooses a city in which to place all 5 of their agents.
• The player to their left now chooses another city in an empty region in which to place their 5 agents. Only 1 player is allowed per region at the start of the game.
• Proceed clockwise until all players have selected a city and placed their agents.

Step 3: Locate Assets

• Shuffle the deck of Assets and place it near the board within easy reach.
• Draw 2 Public Assets and place them face up on the board in the designated slots.
• Draw 1 Secret Asset (do not look at it!) and place it face down in its designated slot.
• Determine the location for each asset by rolling 2 dice: white die denotes a region, and black die denotes a city. Place matching asset markers on the randomly determined cities.

Begin the Mission!

Each player should then:

• Place their Player Mat in the area in front of them.
• Shuffle their 10 Starting Cards and place this deck to the left of their Player Mat.
• Draw 5 cards from their deck to form their starting hand.

Play then begins with the starting player.

How to Play

1. Actions

You may do as many actions on your turn as your cards allow, in any order.

Actions include:

• Moving your agents
• Attacking enemy agents
• Using asset cards for their abilities
• Acquiring asset cards

Each player has their own deck and discard pile. You will cycle through your deck many times in the course of the game, and add new cards to it as your agency grows stronger and more deadly.

When you discard... Place discarded cards face down to preserve secrecy. Use your player mat to keep track of which pile is the discard or draw pile. If you use the special ability of a card, or its attack ability, you must reveal it, but the card is still discarded face down.

Players should arrange their play area with their draw pile, player mat, and discard pile to keep track of their deck and discard pile.

Move Action

Any card may be discarded, face down, to move an agent 1 space (ie. Caracas to Dakar = 1 space).

Acquire Action

Any card may be discarded, face down, to spend towards the cost of Acquiring an asset.

To acquire an asset, you must:

• Have more agents in the asset marker's space than any other player, otherwise the asset is contested and can't be purchased
• Discard cards from your hand equal to the cost of the asset (upper right corner)
• (The Secret Asset, which is face down, always has a cost of 2)
• Look at and place the acquired asset facedown onto your discard pile
• Remove the acquired asset's marker from the board until the end of your turn, when it will be replaced

Attack Action

Use Attack cards against enemies in your space to try and eliminate them (see Combat).

Card Action

Cards may be played for their ability. If a card ever says to "Trash" it for an ability, that means you must permanently remove it from your deck, not discard it.

Ending Your Turn

2. Discard

At the end of your turn, you must discard any cards that you haven't played. Because of this, it's usually best to use all your cards every turn.

3. Draw

Draw cards from your deck until you have a new hand of 5 cards. If your deck is exhausted, reshuffle your discard pile to form a new deck to draw from.

4. Place New Assets

There must always be 3 asset markers and cards on the board at the start of a player's turn; if you have acquired any assets on your turn, you must now replace them.

• Draw a card from the Asset Deck and place it on a slot on the board (always refill empty asset slots from left to right)
• Public Assets are placed face up, while the Secret Asset is placed face down (Don't look at it!)
• Roll the black and white dice to determine the location of the asset marker (white die determines the region, black die determines the city)
• Important: You can never have more than 1 asset marker in a single location on the board. Should you roll a spot that already has an asset marker, re-roll.

Symbol Key

• Attack
• Defend
• Sabotage
• Combat Symbols

Anatomy of an Asset Card

Each asset card shows: Name, Cost, Type, Picture, Combat Symbols, and Special Ability.

Combat

Spies in the same space may attack one another!

To attack you must:

• Have an agent in the target's city
• Play a card displaying the Attack symbol
• Have not already attacked in the target's city (Only 1 Combat is permitted in each city per turn)

The player who initiated the combat is the Attacker and may only use cards which include the Attack symbol. The player being attacked is the Defender, and may only defend with cards which include the Defend symbol.

This is important to remember because it determines the outcome of the combat. If the Attacker is successful in playing an attack card which is not countered, the defending agent is killed. If, however, the Defender is successful and manages to counter all attack cards, then the combat simply ends and neither agent is killed.

Combat Symbols: Surveillance, Information, Violence.

To counter you must:

• Always play a card whose combat symbols match at least one symbol of the card played by your opponent
• This is also true for the Attacker if they wish to respond to the Defender's card and press the attack

For example: the Shotgun is used to attack. The Uzi has at least one matching symbol, so it can be used to Defend. The Silenced Pistol has no matching symbols, so it cannot be used. The American CIA has a matching symbol, but is not a valid Defend card, so cannot be played by the Defender.

Once in Combat, players continue to play cards back and forth in response to each other. They may do so for as long as they counter the last card played by their opponent. For example: Attacker starts with a Flame Thrower attack. Defender dodges with a Helicopter. Attacker pursues with the Egyptian GID, because it's a valid attack card and has a matching combat symbol (Binoculars). Defender counters with Unarmed Combat. Attacker responds using Armed Thugs. If Defender can't counter, they die.

Alternate Rules

WEB OF SPIES is intended to be a flexible system which can support different modes and further expansion. Players are encouraged to try new ways to play, remove cards and add cards of their own design, and create new variants to further enjoy the game. Below you'll find some optional rules to try.

Setup Variants

These affect how spies are placed at the start of the game, or allow your agency to begin the game with additional assets.

• Single Region: Instead of each agency starting in separate regions, all spies start in the same region. Players select a region (either choose one or roll for a random one) and take turns selecting cities in that region, placing all their spies in their chosen city. Spies may not start in the same city. Assets cannot start the game in this region, so if any of them land there, re-roll.
• Scattered: Players go around, each placing a single spy anywhere in the world until all spies are placed. Spies on the board do not affect placement of new spies.
• Fully Loaded: In this variant, deal each player 3 cards from the Asset deck, to go immediately (without being seen) into their starting decks. This can make for an exciting (but perhaps quicker) game!
• Quicker Game: For a shorter game, start with fewer agents (no less than 3 is recommended).

End Game and Tie Breaker Variants

If you decide to use a method other than the CODE RED version mentioned earlier in the rules, be sure to make this clear at the start of the game.

• Elimination: When an agency is eliminated, the player with the most spies left on the board wins. In the case of a tie, continue until another player is eliminated, and the win condition is checked again.
• Total Elimination: Play until only one agency remains! (This could make for a longer game!)
• Trophy Kills: Whenever you kill an enemy agent, take their spy token as a Trophy. When an agency is eliminated, the player with the most trophies is the winner. In the case of a tie, the players who are tied continue but all other agencies are immediately eliminated. Continue checking the win condition each time another agency is eliminated.
• Sudden Death: When an agency is eliminated, you have entered into SUDDEN DEATH. The first agency to pull ahead, either by gaining new agents or killing enemy agents, immediately wins.