Specter Ops
2-5
13+
60+
A Sci-fi stealth-ops board game
The game is designed by Emerson Matsuuchi, with art by Steven Hamilton. A secret agent of A.R.K. has infiltrated a top secret Raxxon facility, attempting to complete three mission objectives before they escape. But they are hunted by genetically modified Raxxon Hunters. Players can chose which side they wish to join.
User Reviews (3)
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Specter Ops
We play a LOT of war games at the house. I mean, they are the go-to games we want to spend our Sunday afternoon playing. Epic battles from history played out on our game table with miniatures and finely crafted movement spanning the greatest battles, the finest officers and the most heroic soldiers. You know the ones I mean… All those epic titles from Avalon Hill and the rest.
But, no… I mean Memoir ’44. You know Memoir! Memoir ’44 is to Wargamers as I’m sure Phase 10 is to you and me. It isn’t a real war game! Heck, it is barely a game at all! But honestly, I love games this style of game. Theme and mechanic nicely woven together so I recognize both and light enough that I will continue to come back or even bring new people to it.
I played about 30 minutes of an epic chit filled wargame once. Hated it! Not that it was a bad game, I wasn’t ready for it! Kinda like the first time I heard the music of Edgard Varese. (YouTube Ionisation for one of his pieces – think Layers of Sound passing thru planes of space and time.) It wasn’t that it wasn’t good, I had nothing to base it on. Nothing to relate it to. No shared experience to take me to the intellectual tools he was using. But spending time with composers of his past and especially those he influenced helped me gain a better understanding and appreciation of his music.
Some of you might like Frank Zappa. Eh. Pop Star hack, I say! Listen to his master, who? Varese. I’m actually not sure who taught me what. frank taught me Edgard, or Varese enlightened my Zappa. Either way… It is I still possible to like Zappa and not Varese as it is possible to like Memoir and not Longest Day.
This is where Specter Ops comes in. We played Scotland Yard last year from the library back when they only games we had were Ticket to Ride and Pirate’s Cove. Probably not the right move. We tried to learn it on our own and frankly, it fell flat. It did find itself here in the house a bit later on our iPads and we liked it well enough, but the point of this run-on review is that it really is a good game if even just a little brother to games I haven’t played yet; Letters from White Chapel or Fury of Dracula.
All that is to say that this might be the perfect game for you. It is for us! It probably won’t have the replay of Memoir in our house, but it is a fantastic slide into the hidden movement genre.
After the game was done, I slid it back on the shelf next to Dead of Winter and thought, hey – I wonder if Raxxon was born out of the Zombie Apocalypse 100 years before that was DoW and their goal was to rid the world of the zombies and create better humans genetically modified to rebuild the race, or… Was it the agents of A.R.K that as they destroyed the security of the System, in a Children of Men scenario gave birth back to the unmodified humans and thus created the mutations of the zombies?
Who ARE the good guys in this game?
What is Specter Ops? In a world, where everything is perfect, humans are genetically engineered to perfection and the world is now at its height of Hegalian perfection, a group of rogue ‘humans’ think the past is better than Man’s push towards a better future. One Agent is sent to destroy a Raxxon facility and is pursued by hunters bent on keeping the status quo. As an Agent, you move through the facility hiding from the hunters. Can you stay hidden ling enough to accomplish your mission and fulfill your part in returning the human race to its former glory or will you be successful in being the hunters and keeping the virus that plagues perfection abated?
The tension is immense! The mechanics are simple. Play this game and determine if Dead of Winter is the Past, or is it our Future. Turn away from Plato’s Cave and except reality! Play this game!
Let me preface my review by saying that I was very excited for Specter Ops. I have been wanting to acquire a hidden movement game for some time, and this looked like the perfect addition to my collection. As soon as it arrived at my local store, I went and picked it up, paying full MSRP. I did so because, despite being a huge fan of the perennial gale of creative destruction, I am a big fan of my local store and the services it provides, and I don’t mind paying $15 extra to support them.
So, I paid $52 soon after release, then went home to break it open. Imagine my disappointment when I opened up the box to find 8 extremely soft plastic miniatures, a few cheap cards, two dozen tokens, and a board. That’s it. Nothing is high quality, except for the board. I was pretty bummed out. For some reason, I thought that everything was going to be a bit cooler and higher quality, and that there would be more components available.
The game itself is fun. It’s a good take on the genre, and it provides for lots of cool abilities that make for dynamic and interesting play. It is also broadly accessible. You don’t need to be a hardcore gamer to enjoy Specter Ops, but you will enjoy it even if you are a bit more serious.
As a hidden movement game, Specter Ops is certainly enjoyable, and the varied character abilities do provide a fresh mechanic that differentiates it from games like Letters From Whitechapel and Fury of Dracula. HOWEVER. I HIGHLY recommend playing Specter Ops with 5 players. At 5 players, one of the hunters is secretly in league with the agent player, adding a betrayal element like Battlestar Galactica. Searching for a hidden foe, while not being able to trust your allies takes this game to 11. Very fun, and a whole new twist on two of my favorite genres!