Deception: Undercover Allies

Great game, beautiful copy!

We regularly play Avalon and we love it, but this just became our favourite game. It contains all the elements of a great board game in our opinion: zero room for chance, all strategy, each player has an important role and contributes to the game (you can't just have a passive role and surf on other people's skills), endless possibilities (even without the expansion), easy to get started and know exactly what you need to do based on your role. On that last point, it is a very simple game to understand, but very complex in the way it plays out. We are a group of 7 players (from 14 to 48 years old) and we all really enjoy this game. 4 people can play this game and have a great time but I think it is better when you have a group of 6 or 7 players (you have more roles, more possibilities). I highly recommend it! One thing to keep in mind: you can play

goos

Great product. Enjoying it with friends when we have more than 4 players.

To start off, I would like to profess my love of the original version of this game. When I first played this with a group of friends at a Christmas party a few years ago, it blew us all away. It's such an immersive and interactive party game unlike any other. It truly gets your methodical brain going for the good guys, and your game-face and acting abilities going if your'e the bad guys! I can't tell you how many hours upon hours I have played this game, and how many circles of friends I have introduced this to, who all fell in love with it just as I did. That being said! After you play the original game so many times, you do kind of get to boil it down to a science. When you really have a firm grasp of all the different weapons and clues and scenarios, it becomes noticeably favorable for the investigators to narrow down their suspect and eventually deduce what the killer used for his or her crime. Eventually you start implementing house rules and game variants to try to make it harder for the investigators to catch the murderer. IN COMES 'UNDERCOVER ALLIES' TO THE RESCUE!! Wow, what a breath of fresh air! This game adds just the right amount of elements I feel the original needed to keep it fresh, explore new ways to enjoy the game, but also keep the core elements of what made the original so great. Again the new roles add just the right amount of balance that this game needed to make it a much less one-sided game for the good guys. Not only that but because there are more roles to play, more people get a chance to interact with the game in their own unique way, other than just being a standard investigator like everyone else. Also it helps out a lot that they have added a bunch more evidence and weapon cards to the mix. I really feel like they hit the nail on the head with this expansion, as far as ironing out any problems the original may have had. Like I said, they added just enough new elements to keep it fresh, balanced, and unique, while still keeping the core of the game that makes it so much fun. I am truly a big fan of this expansion, and I can't wait to play it again and again with my groups of friends! As far as the physical contents goes, there are a few things to note. One is that the role cards are all crispy clean fresh! Awesome, right?! Well, not so much if the original game you own is weathered and worn down, because now your crispy new expansion roles will be among your worn down original roles, and it might give away who has what if people take notice. An easy fix for this is to get card sleeves for your role cards. As far as packaging your new cards in with your original box, there should be plenty of room for your evidence, weapon, and role cards, but there seem to be a few too many clue tiles. You can still get it to fit int he box, but it's a little cramped, as the tiles will overflow a little bit. I believe the kickstarter box for the expansion is big enough. Bummer for those of us who didn't kickstart it though! It's not a big deal though. Exclusive Kickstarter role** The kickstarter included an extra role that you can easily implement yourself. That is the "Clever Accomplice" which replaces the normal accomplice. The rules for the clever accomplice are the same as the the original accomplice BUT as an extra level of difficulty, the clever accomplice chooses a piece of evidence and a weapon from a DIFFERENT character than the murderer. If these 2 pieces are ever accused of being the murderer by someone, the murderer team automatically wins the game. So the idea is for the clever accomplice to choose 2 things that are very similar to what the murderer has, in order to get people to guess that instead. Pretty sneaky!! Pros: -More Weapons and Evidence cards -More roles make it more fun for larger games -Game Is much more challenging for investigators to win (It's a fair fight now, as opposed to investigators always winning) -One of the best party games ever made Cons: -New role cards give themselves away in an old deck. You'll need card sleeves to hide this -Adds elements that might make it TOO challenging for the investigators, but luckily there are several new way to tone down and adjust the difficulty. -New tiles done quite fit in the box perfectly. Not a big deal though, just a little overflow If you're a fan of the first game, or even if you've never played the first game, you will absolutely LOVE this game. Your friends won't stop talking about how much they love this game. So much more involved than your typical party game. There's just no end to the fun you'll have!!