The Legendary Games began with Marvel and soon the Legendary encounters series began with titles such as Firefly, Aliens and Predator to name a few. One of the most recent is the X-Files.
X-Files adds a unique experience to the Legendary encounters family of games, as besides gathering cards and striking enemies, players work as a team to uncover the secrets hidden by the game before the Syndicates plans come to fruition.
In X-Files, 1-5 players take on the role of FBI agents, who are working to save hunanity from the machinations of the Syindicate to rule and end society as we know it.
Players choose from iconic characters such as Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, or Walter Skinner.
The game is played on the provided custom playmat, which has spaces for the various decks used in the game. The 3 main sections are the Shadows, the Field, and The Bureau.
Each area has a unique set of cards that are laid out per instructions in the rules.
The decks used to play are, the conspiracy deck, Academy deck, strike deck, special agents, belief, doubt, and Evidence.
The conspiracy deck is made up of all the events, enemies, leads, informants and allies. These cards start in the Shadows area and are hidden until a player reveals them by scanning and paying the strike cost.
As more cards are added to the Shadows, cards move until they reach the field and are automatically revealed and take effect.
Scanning cards in the shadows is a vital step needed to unravel the conspiracy and win the game.
The Academy contains all the characters and resources agents use to defeat the conspiracy deck. Cards from the Academy are placed in the Bureau area and are also played face down. Like the conspiracy deck, cards in the Bureau must also be scanned before they can be purchased. One new mechanic in X-Files is that each section of the Bureau provides a bonus whenever a card is gained from that space. Also, the Syndicate has agents that have infiltrated the Academy and will block spaces in the Bureau until they are dealt with.
Belief and doubt cards have effects based on a players charachter. Each charachter has an effect that triggers when drawing a belief or doubt card. Card effects will state when players receive one.
The strike deck, is used for dealing damage to an agent in the strike phase. The special agent deck has 5 special agent cards that are very beneficial for an agent.
Finally the Evidence decks contain vital help to the agents in dealing with the endgame event.
After players choose their charachter and matching Avatar card they gather 12 basic cards, and like any Deck builder, use these to buy better cards improving their deck.
A turn consists of four parts; Conspiracy phase, Action phase, strike phase and Cleanup phase.
On his/her turn a player draws six cards from their personal deck to use for their turn.
In the conspiracy phase, the player draws the top card of the conspiracy deck and plays it in the shadows section of the playmat. These cards do not activate until either scanned or they enter the Field and are automatically revealed.
Next, comes the Action phase where agents play their hand of cards to take actions. These can range from scanning, fighting enemies, or acquiring cards. A player can use all their 6 cards to perform actions and can repeat the same actions.
After the player has taken all their actions, the enemies revealed in the Field attack. For each enemy, the player draws one strike card. Strikes can range from permanent damage or have no effect. If an Avatar is damaged, the player places the strike adjacent to their avatar card. If an Agent ever receives more strikes than their health, they are defeated and all players lose.
The final phase is the clean up where a player places all their cards from their turn into their discard pile, and draws a new hand of 6 to use in their next turn.
The players win if they overcome the conspiracy deck and succeed the endgame scenario.
I was wondering how well the theme of the X-Files could be captured in a game, and this one does it extremely well. The shadow agents hiding in the Academy and the use of secrecy for both the conspiracy and Academy decks create the feeling of the unknown and paranoia very well. This does not feel like the theme was tacked on, it is a major part of the game and the gameplay.
Components wise, Upper Deck delivers a very well made product. The box is able to hold the cards and the provided dividers make sorting a breeze. One thing I really enjoy about the Legendary series, are the custom playmat that come with the game. So many card games offer mats as an add on, but Legendary always provides one.
I really like the way this game plays and feels. I can tell you, this game is a challenge and requires strategy and thought on how to maximize your turn. Having the skill to adapt to whatever is in your hand of cards and use them to their maximum efficiency is critical when playing this game. Making decisions on whether to defeat an enemy or scan the shadows so you dont lose a lead or informant are the kinds of challenges faced in this game.
I believe fans of the X-Files and those who enjoy a deck builder with some unique features will find Legendary Encounters X-Files a great choice.
Paul Darcy has a series of video’s on the game. Here is his introduction video
Written by Ed Carter