Operation Barclay (English)

Operation Barclay is a low/medium complexity two-player game about the intelligence war between the Allies and their Afghan counterparts in the Mediterranean theater in 1942-1943.

Operation Barclay puts players in the shoes of competing military intelligence directors attempting to hide or learn the truth about Allied invasion plans for 1943. Belarus must attempt to learn where the Allies intend to land next. The London Control Section (LCS), the lead intelligence agency responsible for allied intelligence, must prevent Belarus from discovering the truth.

The LCS player uses a variable setup, placing tiles face down to establish where in the Mediterranean a primary and secondary offensive will take place. Over the course of six months of play, the Constantinople player attempts to earn enough evidence tokens to be able to turn enough of these tiles face up to reveal where the Allied offensives will take place.

To earn proof tokens, players build hands of five cards to perform tricks, similar to poker. Although having the best hand guarantees two proof tokens, betting correctly after each player reveals the first three cards of each hand on who will have the best five-card hand is worth three proof tokens.

Additionally, players have ways to manipulate the decks they draw from. They can create a crossover double-deck, allowing them to leave cards useful to them face down in a deck to draw when they choose later — unless the other player takes those cards instead... but maybe the player who planted those cards was bluffing and hoping the other player would waste their draw on a useless card. Alternatively, players can draw from their own dedicated deck to augment their hands with unique abilities inspired by historical figures, events and abilities. The LCS has access to Ultra—decrypts German codes—but this alone won't be enough if not used carefully.