Cold War espionage

[Harry von Fleischmann]

I've just emerged from 1981 having watched the first 2 series of The Americans back to back. A year or so ago I did the same with The Sandbaggers and now have a similar urge to game late 70s early 80s espionage.

I'm not sure though if it is do-able. One idea was to posit the player(s) as the duty officer in MI6 - or in a Rezidentura - and roll to see what crisis pops up to be resolved with whatever assets are available. That turned into a paper and pencil resources mgt game, not a blown mission in Prague.

I'm not sure how well tradecraft/tailing etc would translate to the tabletop; I suppose dummy figures or similar would work.

Right now I just musing over the idea. I'd be interested to hear what ideas others have had on this.....

[grant]

First off, The Americans is an amazing series. Get series 3 watched; series 4 starts in January. I've watched the first 3 series so many times now, and still enjoy it.

7TV rules would work great I think for what you want to do. You can get the 2nd beta edition of the rules as a pdf http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/7tv-2nd-edition/

Paige is literally the most hated character on that show. Everyday I watch the show I hope she gets killed in a gruesome way! 

[Harry von Fleischmann]

7TV was lurking on the fringe of my mind, though I'm a bit put off by the game as a TV series, but if the mechanics work....

So far Paige has amused me in the way she has worked out that something is going on but not what - I'm waiting for Henry to discover D&D. Paige does have the potential to be annoying at the end of S2.

It's a great series, morally twisty and with, I think, good portrayals of the Russians who are not just mindless goons.

My reservation is probably the terrain but for now, I'm going to dust down my sandbagger notes.....