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SPECTRE: The Board Game (Spring 2022)
Modiphius Entertainment invites aspiring villains to compete to become Number 1 of the Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion (otherwise known as SPECTRE) in the upcoming board game of the same name. Prevent 007 from foiling your plans as you battle for control of Intel, Secret Plans, and, of course, gold.
In SPECTRE: The Board Game, which launches in the Spring 2022, players take on the role of one of the many iconic villains from the James Bond film franchise, competing with each other to become SPECTRE’s Number One.
Are you simply in the game to acquire gold bullion, or are your aspirations more philosophical, safe in the knowledge that the world would be better off with you running it? Each villain has their own plot inspired by films such as Dr. No (1962) and Diamonds Are Forever (1971), driving them along the path to becoming SPECTRE’s Number One. No matter how hard you try, 007 is always there, waiting to disrupt your plans and reveal your secrets.
SPECTRE: The Board Game features iconic weapons, locations, and characters from the James Bond films. Players will be able to assemble devices, spy on their opponents, blackmail their rivals in order to build their own criminal empire, and strategically deploy their agents around the globe to infiltrate key installations. Players will need to work behind the scenes to develop their nefarious plots and become 007’s biggest threat!
Designed by Kaedama, a team of award-winning French game designers consisting of Antoine Bauza, Corentin Lebrat, Ludovic Maublanc, Théo Rivière and the Modiphius design team consisting of Stefano Guerriero, Javier Angeriz-Caburrasi and Juan Echenique, SPECTRE: The Board Game is designed for 2-4 players, ages 10 and above.
“The James Bond film franchise is beyond iconic,” said Chris Birch, co-founder at Modiphius Entertainment. “While most fans put themselves in the role of the hero, this game puts players in the shoes of Bond villains instead. If you haven’t met the villainous Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Rosa Klebb, and Raoul Silva before, the game will guide you through their exquisite evil expertise and how to employ them against 007.”
So grab your Persian cat, call your favorite henchman as you prepare your newest monologue — it’s time to get down to business and start building that moon base and world-destroying megalaser!
SPECTRE: The Board Game will be coming to retail in Spring 2022, with a pre-order available later this year!
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Comments
Because everything James Bond related is getting delayed, for many reasons.
But surely Christmas would be the right time to release such product.
SPECTRE: The Board Game - Development Blog 1
https://modiphius.net/blogs/news/spectre-the-board-game-development-blog-1
Going to the bank right now to give my pound of flesh.
On a side note, I found a James Bond Bingo in my local bookshop.
SPECTRE: The Board Game - Development Blog 2
https://modiphius.net/blogs/news/spectre-the-board-game-development-blog-2
SPECTRE: The Board Game is now available for pre-order with shipping expected for August 2022.
UK: https://modiphius.us/products/spectre-the-board-game
US: https://modiphius.net/products/spectre-the-board-game
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2890337/initial-thoughts-after-2-sessions
Not flattering, unfortunately, and it's hard to argue that it's vastly overpriced at £50. I'm a big board game fan but I'll give this a miss until it's in discount stores for a much lower price tag.
I love board games but the price is steep. And famous fiction doesn't necessarily adapt well into a board game or a role playing game.
Just the fact that they have Donals Pleasance as Blofeld and not Christoph Waltz is already pretty good, in my book ^^
Oh and reading through the material on the Modiphius page, I found a description of a funny little game mechanic:
I picked this up, as it was on sale here for $48 U.S. (the suggested retail price is $60 U.S.). It appears it is available for preorder from the publisher for those outside the U.S., and is listed as £50 GBP.
I have yet to play a game of this with a full group, but I did a dummy two-player game solo to see how it worked. I will say the rules have various vague areas that are basically left up to interpretation of the players. But it does seem like it can still be fun.
On the Bond fan side of things...there are no missions in the game from any Moore, Dalton, or Brosnan films. I assume this is because SPECTRE was really not featured in any of those films, but then it's very odd that Kristatos from FYEO is one of the playable villains - the other villains included are Silva, Blofeld (YOLT version), Rosa Klebb, and Largo. I think about half the mission cards in the game (8 or 9 of the 18, I believe) are from Daniel Craig's movies...and No Time to Die is not in the mission deck, either. So half of the possible missions you can play in a game of this are from CR, QoS, SF, and Spectre.
Another kind of head-scratcher is that the box lists this as a game that can be played in 20-45 minutes. I have no idea how that would be possible. My dummy game took me almost 2 hours. Granted, it was the first time I "played" the game, but even so, you have to attempt to complete 7 missions in the game, and each mission/round has 7 steps to it. I would say this game is at least a 45-60 minute game, and will be longer if you are playing a full 4-player game.
I need more time with this, and to do an actual playthrough, but my initial impressions are mixed on this one. I'm happy to see a Bond board game like this out there, but a few missteps may be holding it back. And I am also not sure how this game would really appeal to non-Bond fans, especially with it's relatively high price tag and confusing and somewhat incomplete rules.
You're welcome!
The interesting thing is that the game mechanics themselves are not all that confusing or challenging - at the heart of it, this is a simple, straightforward area control/worker placement game with some bidding/bluffing. The bigger issue is that the rule book leaves some pretty important details up in the air, and forces players to interpret and determine what they actually mean.
For example, one of the mission failure penalties is "Name plaque abilities don't apply". This is left vague, in terms of how long the abilities don't apply. Is it just for one round? For the rest of the game? It's not made clear.
That is interesting, must look a bit more daunting than it actually is once you get down to it. The inconsistency in the rules and the amount of time it takes to finish a game that you mentioned sound like the only issues here.
In the first round of the first game you play, the process seems a bit much. But once you play successive rounds after that, it becomes very clear and you kind of move pretty efficiently and can come up with a plan on what to do. Still, each step does take a bit of consideration, and the bidding phase makes you really think. That's why I don't think you can get this one done in 20 minutes...you need some time to figure out how to plot and plan you turns.
Precisely. I later ran a 4-player dummy game, and it took less time to play than the 2-player game as I was familiar with the rules and mechanics.
But it still took something like 75 minutes to play. And this was with just me, one person who was aware of every player's situation and secret plans, so I would have an idea of how each player should take their turn.
My pleasure! I am hoping to get a legit 4-player game of this together later this week. I can provide additional info after that play session, should anything else of interest come up. None of the others are as fanatical about Bond as I am, so it will be interesting to see how non-Bond fans enjoy the game.