Welcome to our Overview of Vienna Connection!

In our overview you will find a spoiler-free description of the game along with details of the components and game play.  Our Game Overviews strive to be informative and impartial.  If you are interested in our opinion check out our review: Vienna Connection Review

The Game – Vienna Connection

Have you ever wanted to be a spy? Do you have dreams of stopping the enemies of the state and saving the world? If so, Portal Games has a new game for you!

In Vienna Connection, it’s 1977, you are a member of the elite SAD team that has been assigned to several countries in Europe and you mission is to save the world. Over the course of four interconnected missions, you and your team must find out what is going on in this Cold War setting, including your Allied countries and the Soviet KGB. By following leads, you go deeper and deeper into the mystery. Are you up for the challenge?

Game Components

If you have played any of Portal Games Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game series, Vienna Connection will be instantly recognizable to you. It has a lot of the same basic comments but with a few twists in how it plays.

• 1 Lead Deck with 71 lead cards (not to be looked at until you are told to)
• 1 Stack of Top Secret Files with 100 pages (Do not look at this either… you’ve been warned)
• 4 envelopes (one for each mission in the story)
• 15 Tokens – 5 Money, 3 Local Press, 3 Criminal Underworld, and 4 Foreign Intelligence Representative tokens
• 8 Mission sheets. 2 copies of each of the 4 missions (so you can replay the story)
• 1 Rulebook

Setup

To setup, you need to take out the Mission 1 envelope, the stack of Vienna Connection Lead Cards, the stack of Top Secret Files, the enclosed pad of mission sheets, and wooden tokens. It also helps to have a notebook and pen close by, as the game is full of things that are helpful if you write them down. DO NOT look at the envelope, the Cards or the Secret Files. These all get revealed over the course of the game.

You will also need access to the internet and you will need to create a free account on the Antares Databasesite or download the Vienna Connection App from the Apple App Store or Google Play. Once you have that load the Vienna Connection desktop.

Once you have this all laid out you are ready to play.

Game Play

In Vienna Connection, like any good spy, you will be following leads that come from multiple sources, the cards, the files and the computer. Your role is to try to unravel the mystery of each mission. For each mission the objective is different. The missions need to be played in order as the outcome of one mission can effect the next mission. To start the first mission (and we promise there will be no spoilers here), open the Mission 1 envelope and read the Mission briefing. At the end of the mission briefing, you will be told to add a number of tokens (of different types) to add to your pool for this mission. You will also add tokens for each associate in the envelope. Then lay out the Operations cards for this mission and the code card.

On the Mission Briefing, at the end, there is a set of initial Leads. Leads are always in the same format. #(number) – Zone (Color) and Description (what the lead is). These represent the cards in the Lead deck. Each card has a number with the Zone on it and a “level of exposure”. Each mission sheet has the corresponding zones (White, Blue, Yellow and Red) and the amount of exposure you can take in that Zone. Whenever you go to a particular Zone you cross out the corresponding number of exposures for that action in that Zone on the mission sheet. Each mission has a different number of exposures allowed in each zone.

The game is about following these leads. Following a lead means, pulling the appropriate card from the deck, recording how much exposure you get by crossing off the mission sheet. If you use all your allowed exposure in a Zone but still want to follow a lead there, you start to mark off additional spots in the “Man in Black” section. Once you reach the end of the “Man in Black” exposure, your activities have become too obvious you your enemies and the mission must end. Then you have to submit your final report to your CIA bosses.

You will not be able to follow every lead! That is why it is important to read and understand the leads you have revealed and use the information and connections you uncover make the right decision on how to move forward. There are multiple ways to investigate the mission, so if you do happen to miss something critical, there’s a good chance it will appear as part of another lead.

Some lead cards also have additional tasks for you to complete. Some have codes to decrypt using your mission specific code card from the mission envelope. Others allow you to flip over the lead card and will ask you to remember a detail from the front of the card – spies have to be observant. If you get it right, great! If not, you have to mark off one exposure in the “Man in Black” section. Often, the card will have a file symbol followed by a number (or you may have to decrypt a code to get that number). This symbol is referencing the stack of files you have. Each page is numbered and a number can appear on multiple pages (meaning its a file with multiple pages) If this happens, pull out all file pages and read through them. These could be newspaper articles, maps, calendars, and other useful information you’ve discovered.

Transcripts

One type of file that is especially important are the transcripts. These may have a Headphones icon at the top. If so, go into your computer or the App and click on Audio Recordings and type in the file number. You will then hear the recording in the native language and use it to further your investigation. Sometimes the inflection on the characters voices is important along with other clues.

Puzzle Fragments

Another thing you will find on lead cards and files are puzzle fragments. This consists of 2 pieces of information. Colored shapes with numbers and dots with letters. First, you need to count the dots plus any letters to get the total number of characters in the word this represents. Then you go to the Vienna Connection App and click “Puzzles” and scroll through the mission puzzles until you find the puzzle with the same number of characters. Once there, put in the characters into the corresponding space and adjust the numbers in the shapes (via a toggle). Then hit save. If you did this right, you will have saved it correctly. If not, you’ll be told to mark off one “Man in Black” space.

These puzzle fragments are the game’s way for you to tell the app what important piece of evidence you found and filling these in has a direct impact on your Final Report at the end of the mission

Operations Cards

At any time during the game you can choose to run one of your Operations. These Operations cards are inside the mission envelope. Do not look at the backside of these cards until you have executed the mission. The front of the card describes the Operation, how many tokens (aka Resources) you need to spend and what type of Resources are needed (Required – must use and Allowed – choose from). Some operations end well, others not so much, so be careful to choose wisely.

Game Ending

Once you have filled up your Mission Tracker and have run out of spaces on the Man in Black section, the game ends. You can complete any additional Operations that are left, if you have enough tokens and you are free to review all the evidence you’ve gathered. Now time to submit your final report.

Final Report

In the Final Report , the game will tell you what you were able to uncover based on the puzzle fragments and audio recordings you uncovered. Then the game will ask you to choose two recommendations from a list of five or six. These are recommendations are advice you give to your superiors on how to proceed. Once you have submitted these, the game will tell you the outcome of your recommendations. You will be instructed to record information in the mission Log. The Mission Log is carried with you as the campaign progresses. Occasionally in later missions you wil reach a point where the game will say “If the team wrote down…XXX” you will get some additional things you can do or not do as the case may be.

End of a Mission

All that is left to do is to pack away the components you took out for this mission back into the mission envelope. If you want to continue with the next mission go ahead and grab that envelope and do the setup again. Just remember every lead card and file you have already revealed are now available to be looked at in further missions.

Campaign End

Once you reach the end of Mission 4, you have reached the end of the campaign. Hopefully you have successfully completed you missions as spies for SAD and saved the world…