Secret Directive

Designer	Mike P. Lee
Publisher	(Self-Published)
Players	2-4
Playtime	30-60 mins
Suggested Age	12 and up
Additional Info	182388/secret-directive https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/182388/secret-directive/forums/63

You are in control of a country’s secret service agency, with a small team of spies to put to work. Your task is to use Intelligence cards to influence your country into taking wise decisions. The trouble is, enemy spies have infiltrated your country and are influencing it into taking less wise decisions! Develop your culture to make it easier to spot enemy spies, improve science to get access to more elaborate cards, further your military to increase the number of spies at your disposal, or invest in economy to pay for bonus actions, known as Secret Directives.

Aim: There are four different types of Intelligence cards which are used to make progress on 4 corresponding development tracks. The winner of the game is the first player to reach the end of any one of these tracks. As players progress up the tracks, which each have 10 spaces, they also unlock various benefits:

Economy: Increases income of coins. Coins are spent on bonus actions which happen at the end of a round.
Military: Increases number of spies you have. More spies means more actions can be taken in each round.
Science: Makes more cards available. There are three levels of cards, at the beginning of the game, players only have access to the most basic cards.
Culture: Means capturing enemy spies is easier. At the end of a round, players who have developed culture can roll one to three dice to try to capture enemy spies.

In addition to trying to progress on development tracks, players need to build a deck of cards made up of Intelligence cards and Action cards. Cards can be added to their deck through research actions, which allow players to take cards from a shared supply. Most of the time, cards that are played return to that players deck by reshuffling their discard pile. However, playing Intelligence cards into another player’s country removes that card from their deck more permanently, and can also slow their opponents progress on the development tracks.