Agents Of S.M.U.S.H.
Agents Of S.M.U.S.H. Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object Of The Game
Agents Of S.M.U.S.H. is an asymmetric card game, meaning each player has different goals. The player controlling Harmony Grace (AKA 'the spy') must make three successful incursions into Dr Baron Von Death's lairs to steal three moon crystals. The SMUSH player wins if either Harmony leaves three clues in unsuccessful incursions, or at the end of the sixth round by default. At this point the death ray is completed and the world is yours.
Components
- 2x Dice (any colour)
- 2x Henchmen tokens (black meeple preferable)
- 2x Resource bonus tokens (blue cubes preferable)
- 1x Stun marker (pale blue disc, or similar)
- 3x Moon crystals (crystals/white cubes) - optional, you can track via Henchmen if you wish
- 3x Clue markers (red cubes recommended) - optional, you can track via Harmony's Resource Tokens if you wish
- 1x Die to track the current round - optional, round number is also equal to played SMUSH cards
Set Up
Split the nine cards among the players. The six diagonally divided Defence cards are given to the SMUSH player, and shuffled. The remaining three cards (split horizontally down the middle by three stripes) are Gadget cards, and form the starting hand of Harmony Grace. Put the two dice in front of Harmony Grace, each showing one pip. These will be used to track her Cool Points (CP). The SMUSH player draws one card. Place the remaining tokens within reach of all players. You are ready to begin.
Round Structure
- The SMUSH player draws one card if there are any left in her deck.
- She then chooses one Defence card from her hand to play face down in front of her. Orientate the face you wish to use facing your opponent. The other side is inactive. (In the final round, simply play your last card.)
- If Henchmen are available, play these now.
- Harmony Grace may play a Gadget card from hand, if she has any remaining (from round 3, it is expected you will have all your Gadgets available). Any face-down Gadgets are flipped face up.
- Now Harmony Grace rotates her Gadgets to select three to be active. These will face her opponent.
- Optionally, Harmony Grace can trigger an incursion. These are described in greater detail later.
- Finally, Harmony Grace receives CP equal to the total base strength of the Gadgets she chose this round that are still face up.
Anatomy of a Card
Gadget
The Gadget card diagram labels its parts as follows:
- Type of Gadget (must match Defence type to use this card in Overcoming it.)
- Base Strength of Gadget
- Bypass or passive effect (not on all cards)
- Bonus or penalty to strength. This applies only if the adjacent, face-up Defence card in the direction of the arrow matches the condition. Face-down cards are considered blank for calculating bonuses/penalties.
- Flip power - these can be used regardless of Defence type.
- Boost strength cost and effect.
- Base Strength & CP received at end of round.
- Inactive Area.
Example cards shown in the diagram:
- Dynamite Gum - 1CP: +2 STRENGTH. Flip: Swap two adjacent cards, keeping their orientations the same. "A flavour-packed explosion..."
- Laser Watch - 1CP: +2 STRENGTH. Flip: Gain 3 CP now. "Don't play with it. You'll go blind."
Defence
The Defence card diagram carries the same kinds of labels: Type of Defence; Base Strength of Defence; Bypass or passive effect (not on all cards); Bonus or penalty to strength (applies only if the adjacent face-up Defence card in the direction of the arrow matches the condition; face-down cards are considered blank for calculating bonuses/penalties); Flip power; Inactive Area. The diagram's annotation on the Inactive Area reads: "On bypass: if you give the spy 2CP, they may not use flip powers for the rest of the turn."
How To Order Cards
Diagram caption: "SMUSH - How To Order Cards." The diagram labels the SMUSH player's end of the line "You"; the labels "Incursions start here and work in" (at the outer end) and "New cards go at outermost position" mark where incursions begin and where new Defence cards are placed.
Incursions
The only way Harmony Grace can win the game is by making successful incursions. To do so, she will use her Gadgets to make it past all the Defences without being seen. Once you trigger an incursion, you may not leave until all Defence cards have been bypassed, or you are almost caught (fail to beat a Defence). You may opt not to spend Cool Points (CP) to break a Defence, however, even if you have sufficient available.
Starting with the outermost card and moving in towards your opponent, incursions work as follows:
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If the Defence card is face down, the SMUSH player flips it face up now, being careful to keep the orientation the same. This is the card being Overcome, for ease of reference.
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Harmony may use any Flip powers. They may only target the card being Overcome, unless otherwise stated.
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Harmony now tries to Overcome the Defence. If she has an appropriate Gadget active (facing towards her opponent), she may select this to use. Gadgets must have the same symbol as the card being Overcome to be used this way. If you can use a Gadget, spend CP to boost its base strength as per the card's text until you equal (or exceed) the card being Overcome. Otherwise it costs 2CP per point of strength on the Defence to Overcome it.
IMPORTANT NOTE: you do not need a Gadget to bypass a Defence.
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If Harmony is successful in equalling the strength of the Defence, that Defence is successfully Bypassed. On Bypass powers trigger now.
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If Harmony cannot (or will not) equal the strength of the card being Overcome, she is almost caught and must withdraw. The incursion ends immediately and the SMUSH player gains a clue. Harmony takes a resource token (the Agency realises that even she needs a bit more help to complete the mission).
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Otherwise, if there are more Defences in the base, move on to the next one and repeat the steps above.
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If there are no more Defences left to Overcome, the incursion is successful. Harmony takes one of the Moon Crystals. Then the SMUSH player receives a Henchman, and may also opt to change a single Defence card's position in her line of Defences, or its orientation, but not both.
There may only be one incursion per round. When it ends, or if it is skipped, Harmony collects CP equal to the base strength value of all her face-up Gadgets (to a maximum of 12), and a new round begins.
Specific Rules (Harmony Grace)
- You may only use one Flip power per incursion.
- You may not use Flip powers outside of incursions.
- Resource tokens count as 1CP to spend in incursions, but are refreshed at the start of each round. When you spend one, put it on the bottom half of a Gadget to indicate it is used. Return to in front of you at round end.
- Never add CP to dice based on resource tokens (they do not provide income each round, rather they can be expended each round).
- You may not change the orientation of a Gadget after you have nominated to begin an incursion. Choose wisely!
Specific Rules (SMUSH)
- Play Defence cards in a line, starting closest to you and moving towards your opponent.
- Face-down cards do not count when calculating strength bonuses or penalties.
- Henchmen can be moved after you have played cards, but before Harmony declares Gadgets.
- Henchmen increase the base strength of a Defence by two, and can stack.
- Remember you may reorder or reorientate a single card in your line of Defences after a successful incursion.
Example Round
It is round 2 of the game. James has already chosen his second Defence card, and played it face down in front of the card he played in round 1. Sarah has also played her Gadget this round, and selected the Catsuit and Hip Dagger to be active (facing James). She cannot use either Stun Gun or Infrared Goggles while they face her, but that's OK, because she can always reconfigure her active Gadgets until an incursion begins. She also has 4CP available. Sarah could decide to end the round now, and collect 2CP (the combined strength of her active Gadgets). However, she must make three successful incursions to win the game, and she's feeling confident that her spread of options will be enough to win the day. She declares that she will make an incursion this turn.
From this point on, her Gadget selection is locked until the incursion is either successful or fails.
Starting with the outermost card from James, he now reveals the Defences that Sarah must Overcome. The first card is Freeze Ray, a type card with a base strength of 2. Because the bonus arrow is pointing at a face-down card, and face-down cards are considered blank, Freeze Ray's strength is not modified during this incursion. Sarah may now choose to match the strength of Freeze Ray. If she will not or cannot, then she would instantly fail and therefore cede a clue to her opponent. She, however, chooses to use her Catsuit (which is of the appropriate type). Catsuit has a base strength of 1, and it costs 1CP to raise its strength by 1. She pays the cost from her CP dice and the incursion can continue.
Example Round (CONT): Freeze Ray has an On Bypass effect, and so before revealing his next card, James could trigger it. Since he must give Sarah 1CP to use Freeze Ray's power (the cost is on the card text, and does not apply to every On Bypass effect), however, this time he chooses not to.
James reveals his next card: a Guard. In future rounds, this is a good position for a Guard to be in, because it will now trigger the bonus strength boost of Freeze Ray, bringing that card's total strength to 4. Once again Sarah must Overcome the Defence to proceed. She can taste the victory, though, and chooses to use the Flip power on Catsuit to save her CP for a later round, immediately Bypassing the Guard. On Bypass powers still trigger, but since Guard's has no valid target, it is ignored.
Having overcome all Defences, Sarah's incursion is a success. She receives a Moon Crystal marker for her trouble, bringing her one-third of the way to winning the game. She also collects 1CP at the round end, because now only Hip Dagger is face up and active, and 1 is the base strength of Hip Dagger.
James, however, doesn't miss out. He now collects one Henchman token, which he can place (even on face-down cards) to increase their strength by two. He may also choose to reorientate one card, changing its active side, or move one card in his Defence column to any other location. With Guard Dog left in his hand, which receives a massive strength boost in front a Guard card, he chooses to relocate his Guard to the foremost position of the line of Defences, ready to give Sarah a surprise in her next incursion.
Game End
The game ends when either a) Harmony steals her third Moon Crystal, b) the SMUSH player gets the third clue about the agent stealing their stuff (and a hit squad is dispatched) or c) the end of the sixth round, if no winner has been decided. In this case the forces of SMUSH are successful.