1

t is the 20th century. The century of skyrocketing technological

development and new economic and political relations. The cen-
tury of two World Wars and several revolutions. The century of
changing ideals.
In the 20th century, it became possible for the first time to create a single
world government. You oversee a subdivision in a secret and powerful or-
ganization — the Committee. Its goal is to become that government.
As the head of a subdivision, you deploy an agent network all over the
world and covertly seize the sources of power. To achieve your goals, you
co-opt influential societies, both well-known and secretive.
From political parties and financial groups, to research centers and power
structures, they are all just puppets operated by masterful hands. One
must know how to pull the right strings. Even the Committee itself is just
a stepping stone on your path. However there are other subdivisions in the
Committee, and their leaders are equally capable and ambitious as you.
Remember: there can be only one puppet master in the puppet world!
All your activities are enveloped in secrecy. The world has no idea of your
existence, and it will never know. Even as you become its ruler.

Reality and Fiction Becoming

Deep State is based on an alternative history of our world. Its the World Government
universe includes events that could happen — or, maybe, even have
happened. The majority of us would be unaware of it. The player with the highest number of Influence points at the
end of the game wins. Influence points come from your cards
Please consider everything that happens in the game a product of and from participation in World Domination Projects at Stages
the imagination of its authors. The game is not intended to infringe IV and V.
upon the interests of any country, organization, or person. This is an
anti-utopia in the form of a board game. Treat it as fiction.

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Components
World Domination Projects
4 sheets

Objectives Secondary Objectives

68 cards 35 cards

Covert Operations Treaties

6 cards 46 cards

HOC Project Order

3 tokens

HOC Identity HOC Action deck

1 card 14 cards

Headhunter
1 wooden token

Treaty tokens Supervisor Men of Action expansion

3 tokens: Cosa Nostra, 1 wooden token 18 cards
Yakuza, and Triads

Rules booklets Reference Scoring pad Agents Ghost Agents

Game Rules and Reference Guide 11 cards 48 double-sided 50 wooden meeples 10 tokens
pages in 5 colors
3
Setup
1. TREATIES 2. OBJECTIVES
Shuffle the Treaty deck 1а . The number of players determines the cards in the Objective
deck. In a 5-player game, use all Objective cards. In a 4-player
F irst time playing: Deal 4 Treaty cards to each player face- game, return cards with “5” in the lower-right corner to the
down 1b . game box. In a 3-player game, return cards with “4+” and “5” to
the game box, and in a 2-player game — cards with “3+”, “4+”,
 tandard game: Deal 6 Treaty cards to each player face-down.
S and “5”.
Then each player chooses and discards 2 cards face-down,
keeping 4 cards in their hand 1b . Shuffle the discarded cards Create the Infiltration Zone by placing cards from the top of
back into the Treaty deck. the Objective deck, one by one, face-up in a row next to the
Objective deck. The Infiltration Zone is made of 11 cards in a
 xperienced players: Deal 6 Treaty cards to each player face-
E 5-player game, 9 cards in a 4-player game, and 8 cards in a 2- or
down. Each player chooses 1 Treaty card and hands the rest 3-player game 2a .
to the next player clockwise. Repeat until all Treaty cards are
distributed. Then each player chooses and discards 2 cards If you have revealed a World War card, place it aside and put
face-down, keeping 4 cards in their hand 1b . Shuffle the the next card from the top of the Objective deck in the row.
discarded cards back into the Treaty deck. After creating the Infiltration Zone, shuffle any World War
cards back into the Objective deck. This way, World War cards
The players never show their Treaty cards until they play them. won’t appear in the game before the second round.

3 1a

2b
2a

4
7 6
5a

1b

5b
Setup of a 3-player game
4
The first 3 cards on the left are the beginning of the Infiltra- ment Pool should be located far enough away from the Active
tion Zone and may be Infiltrated by your Agents. In the picture Reserve to avoid confusion.
above, these cards are shown in the orange box. Place the
Objective deck to the right of the Infiltration Zone to mark its
end 2b . Leave free space next to the deck for discarded cards. 6. REMAINING CARDS AND TOKENS
Each player takes 2 Reference cards. Place the remaining tokens
3. WORLD DOMINATION PROJECTS and Secondary Objective cards on any available space of the
table 6 . This is called the general supply.
Put all the 4 World Domination Projects on the table 3 .
You may arrange them in any way you like, however it is
recommended to put the Projects in a row above the Infiltration 7. BEGINNING OF THE GAME
Zone in the following order: DEEP STATE, COMINTERN, UNIFIED
NATIONS, SPYWARE. The player who has most recently read a book or watched a
movie about global conspiracies decides who takes the Supervi-
sor token 7 .
4. COVERT OPERATIONS
In a 5-player game: The first player gets the Supervisor token.
Put the stack of 6 Covert Operation cards near the World The fourth player (clockwise) gets the Headhunter token.
Domination Projects 4 . These cards are never shuffled.
Instead, they are placed face-up in a stack in increasing order The struggle for world domination begins!
of Influence points which are shown in the upper-right corner.
The top card in this stack is Elimination of Obstacles with The Solo Mode rules are explained at the end of the
6 Influence points, while the bottom card is Military Reference Guide (see page 15 in the Reference Guide).
Intervention with 16 Influence points.
The 5-player game has the same rules as a 2–4 player game,
except the Headhunter token is added (see page 7).
5. AGENTS

Gameplay
Each player chooses their color and takes all 10 Agent meeples
of that color.

Each player puts 3 of their Agent meeples in front of them. This A game consists of several rounds. Each round consists of
is the player’s Active Reserve 5a . Agents in the Active Reserve several Action and Takeover Phases that come one after
are available for assignments. another. The Treaty Phase occurs in the end of each round.
After the end of the Treaty Phase, a new round begins.
Put the remaining 7 Agent meeples aside. This is the player’s
Recruitment Pool 5b . Agents in the Recruitment Pool are not
available, but they may be Recruited over time. The Recruit-

5
1. ACTION PHASE Supervisor controls the division heads. The
player under the control of the Supervisor
Starting with the player with the Supervisor token, each player is limited in their activities.
performs one Action.
The player with the Supervisor token
always begins the Action Phase. First, that
2. TAKEOVER PHASE player must Recruit 2 Agents — i.e. take
them from their Recruitment Pool and put into their Active Re-
The players take over Objective cards Infiltrated by their Agents serve. This is not considered an Action. If only 1 Agent remains
and Recall a certain number of the Agents from these cards to in their Recruitment Pool, the player takes that Agent. If no
their Active Reserves. Then, if any Objective cards still remain more Agents remain in their Recruitment pool, the player does
in the Infiltration Zone, a new Action Phase begins (skipping the not take any Agents.
Treaty Phase).
Next, the player with the Supervisor performs one of the two
available Actions:
3. TREATY PHASE
Infiltrate an Objective card; or
The Treaty Phase begins when no more Objective cards remain
in the Infiltration Zone at the end of the Takeover Phase. Each Carry out a Covert Operation.
player may Make one Treaty. Then the players create a new In-
filtration Zone by revealing Objective cards from the top of the After the player with the Supervisor completes their Action,
Objective deck and start another round. every other player in clockwise order performs one of the fol-
lowing Actions:
The game ends when, at the end of the Treaty Phase, the num-
ber of Objective cards in the deck is not enough to create a new Infiltrate an Objective card;
Infiltration Zone. Then Influence points are calculated and the
winner determined. Carry out a Covert Operation;

 Based on the number of cards in the Objective deck, Advance in a Project; or

a 2-player game lasts 5 rounds, while 3–5 player games
last 6 rounds. Recruit an Agent.

You may not perform more than one Action in your turn. Addi-

1. Action Phase tionally, if you have the Supervisor, you have only two Actions
to choose from instead of four, but the good news is you Recruit
2 Agents prior to performing your Action.
During the Action Phase, each player performs exactly one
Action. Then the Takeover Phase begins. If you cannot perform any Action — you do nothing and skip
your turn. However, if you are able to perform an Action — you
At the beginning of each Action Phase, the Supervisor token must. You cannot skip your turn and perform no Action if there
passes to the next player clockwise (except at the beginning of is something you are able to do. In particular, this can happen
the game). The arrival of the Supervisor brings both benefits when you have the Supervisor — you have to Infiltrate an Ob-
and disadvantages. jective card or Carry out a Covert Operation, even if you would
prefer to do neither.
The Supervisor is a specially entrusted Committee member.
He cannot be bribed and his true identity is unknown. The

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ACTION. INFILTRATING OBJECTIVES
You may put more Agents on the Objective card than required if
The primary task of the division head assigned by the you want. This may prevent other players from Over-Infiltrating
Committee is to infiltrate their agents into governmental and this Objective card.
public institutions, as well as get access to key patents and
technologies. If the chosen Objective card has other player’s Agents on it 
You may Over-Infiltrate an Objective card by putting on it at
During your turn, you may use your Action to send your Agents least 1 Agent more than the other player has on the card (in-
to one of the 3 first Objective cards in the Infiltration Zone. To cluding Ghost Agents, see later).
do so, take the required number of Agents from your Active
Reserve and put them on the card you want to Infiltrate. If you have Over-Infiltrated an Objective card, Agents of the
other player are driven out of this card and return to their Ac-
The number of Agents you need depends on the presence or tive Reserve. Also, that player draws 1 card from the top of the
absence of other players’ Agents on the Objective card. Treaty deck to their hand.

If the chosen Objective card has no other players’ Agents on  In 3–5 player games, some important Objective cards
it  Put as many of your Agents on the card as shown at the may be Over-Infiltrated two or even three or four times
bottom of the card. during an Action Phase.

Examples. Infiltration Headhunter (5-Player Game)

Within the ‘Committee’ there is a special
department responsible for the hiring and
training of agents, which are then put at
the disposal of subdivision heads. The
representative of the department is
simply referred to as the ‘Headhunter’.
Example 1. One Agent is sufficient to Infiltrate Authorities.
Governments requires at least 4 Agents for The Headhunter token is used in 5-player
Infiltrating. games only. The first player always has the Supervisor token,
and the fourth player clockwise always has the Headhunter.
At the beginning of each Action Phase the Supervisor passes
to the next clockwise player (who was previously the second
player). At the same time the Headhunter also passes to the
next clockwise player (who was previously the fifth player).
The player with the Headhunter must Recruit 1 Agent
at the beginning of their turn. Unlike the Supervisor, the
Example 2. The Yellow player has put 1 Agent on Headhunter does not limit a player’s Actions in any way.
Authorities. The Green player on their turn
Over-Infiltrates the card by putting 2 Agents
on it.
The Yellow player’s Agent returns to their
Active Reserve, and the Yellow player takes a
Treaty card. The Green player’s Agents remain
on the card.

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 Episode 1. Struggle for Consulates
John has the Supervisor. Therefore,
at the beginning of his turn, he takes
2 Agents from his Recruitment Pool.
With the 3 Agents he already had in
his Active Reserve, John now has
5 Agents.

The following 3 cards are at the

beginning of Infiltration Zone:
Mass Media (1 Agent is required to
Infiltrate it), Consulates (3 Agents),
and Corporations (6 Agents). With his
5 Agents, John may only Infiltrate Agents in John’s
Mass Media or Consulates. Active Reserve.

John chooses to Infiltrate Consulates and

puts 3 Agents on it. To be on the safe side,
he could add the 4th and even the 5th
Agent as well — but John decides not to.
That turns out to be a mistake.

2 Agents remain Alice has The turn passes to Alice. She has 4 Agents.
in John’s Active 4 Agents in her Alice could easily Infiltrate Mass Media —
Reserve. His Action Active Reserve. but she decides to disrupt John’s plans and
Phase is finished. seize Consulates for herself.

Alice deploys all her 4 Agents to

Consulates. 1 extra Agent is enough
to Over-Infiltrate the card. John’s
Agents return to his Active Reserve.
John also immediately draws a
Treaty card from the Treaty deck.

John’s 3 Agents have returned

to his Active Reserve. He drew
a Treaty card.
Alice has Over-Infiltrated
Consulates and now has
4 Agents on this card.

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 BREAKDOWN OF AN OBJECTIVE CARD
1 2 3

1 Card group. Each Objective card

belongs to one of the 6 groups: Mass
Control, Finance, Science, Supreme
Power, Key Connections, and Inner
Circle. Each group has its own unique 4
color and symbol.
2 C
 ard name. There are 18 different
Objective cards in the game.

3 Influence points. Red, yellow and

blue Objective cards in the Mass
Control, Finance, and Science groups 5 6
respectively are worth 1 Influence point at the end of These emblems are required to Advance in World Domina-
the game (e.g. Ruling Parties). Green cards in the Supreme tion Projects and Make some Treaties.
Power group generate Influence points for other
Objective cards you have (e.g. Stock Exchanges). Purple 5 T
 he minimum number of Agents required to Infiltrate the
cards in the Key Connections group are not worth any card (at least 1 Agent for Ruling Parties, at least 4 Agents
Influence points (e.g. Consulates). Grey Inner Circle cards for Stock Exchanges, and at least 3 Agents for Consulates).
have unique rules.
6 T
 he minimum number of players required to include the
4 C
 ard emblems. The following emblems may card in the game.
appear on the right side of Objective cards:
See the Reference Guide for detailed descriptions of all
Objective cards and their groups.

Communists Peacekeepers Spies Special Interest

9
 Ghost Agents
Ghost Agents become available to players through some World  If all players agree to this, you may not put Ghost Agent
Domination Projects and Treaties. They are used only tokens on Objective and Cover Operation cards. Place them in
to Infiltrate Objectives and Carry out Covert Operations. front of you in a well visible place. Because you always send all
your available Ghost Agents to Infiltrate Objectives or Carry out
In the base game, Ghost Agents may be obtained mainly Covert Operations.
through the participation in the COMINTERN Project.
Some expansions to Deep State introduce new possibilities
to obtain Ghost Agents.

One side Reverse side Example 1. You have 2 Ghost Agents, so it is enough for you to
of the token: of the token: put 2 Agent meeples on Universities to Infiltrate it.
1 Ghost Agent 3 Ghost Agents If another player decides to Over-Infiltrate
Universities with your 2 Agent meeples and 2 Ghost
Agents, they would need at least 5 Agents (including
Ghost Agents are your additional Agents. Their tokens are
Ghost Agents if that player has any).
double-sided. One side shows 1 Ghost Agent, the other has
3 Ghost Agents. This was done to save space on the table.
Exchange/flip the tokens as needed.

 ach Ghost Agent equals 1 Agent meeple for the purposes of

E
Infiltrating Objectives and Carrying out Covert Operations only.
When you Infiltrate an Objective card or Carry out a Covert
Operation, you always automatically use all your Ghost
Agents. Ghost Agents cannot be used for anything else.

 t least 1 Agent meeple should be used — you cannot Infiltrate

A
Objectives or Carry out Covert Operations using only Ghost Example 2. Ghost Agents may not Infiltrate an Objective card
Agents. Somebody has to command them on the scene! without at least 1 Agent meeple. In total, there are
3 Agents on Patents — and their number couldn’t be
 host Agents never go to the Recruitment pool. They cannot be
G less than 3 in this particular case!
used as targets for any effects. The player simply has them.

10
ACTION. CARRYING OUT BREAKDOWN OF A COVERT
COVERT OPERATIONS OPERATION CARD
Simmering conflicts always exist between countries and
coalitions. Tensions mount threatening to erupt into flames. All 1
it needs is a spark to ignite.

During your turn, you may use your Action to Carry out one
Covert Operation. To do this, you take the upper card from the
Covert Operation stack, place it in front of you, and put as many
Agents (including Ghost Agents) on it as shown at the bottom
of the card. You may not take the Covert Operation card if you
do not have enough Agents.

The next Covert Operation automatically becomes available.

The next player may Carry it out during their turn. After Car-
rying out the last Covert Operation, Military Intervention, no
more Covert Operations can be Carried out.
2
Unlike Objective cards, Over-Infiltration is not applicable to
Covert Operation cards, so you may not put more Agents than
required. 1 In the upper part of the 2 In the bottom part of
card: Name of the Covert the card: Number of
At the end of the game, each Covert Operation card is worth as Operation card and Agents required to
many Influence points as shown in its upper-right corner. Influence points it is worth Carry out this Covert
at the end of the game. Operation.
 Note that you have only 10 Agent meeples. The same
number of Agents is required for the most expensive Covert Operation cards are always kept face-up
Covert Operation — Military Intervention. Participation in in a stack and sorted by increasing order of Influence
World Domination Projects (see later) reduces the number (the card with the
of your available Agents. As a result, if you don’t have lowest number of
Ghost Agents and/or don’t play the Emissary card from Influence points
the Men of Action mini-expansion, you won’t be able to is on the top).
Carry out the most expensive Covert Operations. Choose There are 6 Covert
wisely what is most important for you! Operation cards in
the game.

ACTION. ADVANCING
IN WORLD DOMINATION PROJECTS
World revolution ravaging dozens of countries for the
sake of high ideals... Underground powers transforming
national leaders into puppets... National alliances deploying
peacekeeping forces for the sake of world peace... Spy rings

11
monitoring every step of each person on the Earth... Enormous Coordinator. This is called Advancement in a Project.
possibilities!
The Advancement in a Project always requires an Action, similar
During your turn, you may use your Action to join the first Stage to an Infiltration of an Objective card or Carrying out a Covert
in a World Domination Project (hereinafter Project) OR level up Operation.
to the next Stage in a Project where you already have a Shady

BREAKDOWN OF A WORLD DOMINATION PROJECT

Each World Domination Project consists of
5 Stages. During the three initial Stages, you
accumulate power. Stage IV manifests the creation
of a force the world cannot ignore. Stage V — the
final one — manifests into world domination.

At the top of the sheet: Project name. This Project

is called UNIFIED NATIONS.

The yellow arrows on the picture show the Ad-

vancement sequence of your Shady Coordinator in
a Project. UNIFIED NATIONS Project consists of the
following Stages: Peace Initiatives I (Stage I) 
Peace Initiatives II (Stage II)  Peace Initiatives III
(Stage III)  Peacekeeping Forces (Stage IV)  UN
Hegemony (Stage V — the final one).

Your Shady Coordinator always joins a Project at

Stage I, then proceeds to Stage II, etc. Each Stage
requires a separate Action. Therefore, it takes
5 Actions to reach Stage V.

At the top of each Stage: Stage name and benefits it gives to you.

For instance, this Stage is called Peace Initiatives III. The symbols in the upper-right corner show the benefit
you receive at this Stage. See the Reference Guide for description of benefits provided by UNIFIED NATIONS.

At the bottom of each Stage:

Requirements that you should meet to Advance your Shady Coordinator to that Stage.

For instance, to level up from Peace Initiatives II to Peace Initiatives III, you should have 2 Peacekeepers
emblems on your cards and send 3 Agents to your Recruitment Pool.

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ADVANCEMENT: JOINING A PROJECT The benefits provided by any Project Stage, including the very
first one, come into effect as soon as your Shady Coordinator
You always join World Domination Projects at Stage I. This is the has Advanced to that Stage. You gain benefits provided only
upper-left Stage on the Project sheet. Its name always includes by the current Project Stage — the one where your Shady
“I”. The bottom of Stage I shows the Requirements that must be Coordinator is (the previous Stages do not count).
met in order to join the Project.
You may not remove the Shady Coordinator from a Project or
To meet the Requirements of Stage I, you usually have to send retreat to the previous Stage.
1 or more Agents from your Active Reserve to your Recruitment
Pool. DEEP STATE Project also requires you to discard certain Ghost Agents may not be used to Advance in Projects.
cards.
You may not Advance in Projects (neither join nor level up)
Upon fulfilling the Requirements, take 1 Agent meeple from when you have the Supervisor.
your Recruitment Pool (not from your Active Reserve) and put it in
the center of Stage I. This Agent becomes your Shady Coordina- See the Reference Guide for detailed descriptions of each World
tor in that Project. Domination Project.

 DVANCEMENT: LEVELING UP
A  Note that participation in several Projects significantly
TO THE NEXT STAGE OF A PROJECT reduces the number of Agents available to you.
Your Shady Coordinator Advances through the Project Stages
in sequence (see ‘Breakdown of a World Domination Project’). You
may not skip Stages or Advance by more than one Stage at ACTION. RECRUITING AN AGENT
once.
Each of them was secretly selected from thousands of
In order to level up to the next Stage, you must meet the Re- candidates. They were interviewed at private security
quirements shown at the bottom of that Stage and then move companies or special divisions of secret services, unaware
your Shady Coordinator. that each of these organizations were just branches of the
Committee. Later, a gray man met with some of these chosen
Starting at Stage II, Project Requirements for leveling up also few and made them a proposal of a lifetime.
include emblems. You should have at least as many emblems as
listed. The exception is the DEEP STATE Project, which requires During your turn, you may use your Action to Recruit 1 Agent —
you to discard certain cards instead. i.e. take an Agent meeple from your Recruitment Pool and put it
in your Active Reserve.
ADVANCEMENT RULES
J oining a Project and leveling up in a Project are collectively You may not perform this Action when you have the Supervisor.
called Advancing in a Project. This is important for under-
standing of some Treaties.  Remember that every time the Supervisor comes to
you, you immediately Recruit 2 Agents (or less if there are
You may participate in any number of the Projects. You will less than 2 Agents in your Recruitment Pool).
need a separate Shady Coordinator (Agent meeple) for each
Project you participate in. You may have only one Shady Coor- The primary ways to add Agents to your Active Reserve
dinator in each Project. are through the Supervisor allowing you to Recruit 2
Agents, through Recruiting 1 Agent as an Action, and
Any number of players may participate in a Project. Their through the Headhunter allowing you to Recruit 1 Agent
Coordinators don’t interfere with each other. in a 5-player game. Some Treaties also make it possible
to Recruit Agents.

13
 Episode 2. Heading toward World Revolution

Example 2. Serge, the Blue player,

meets the Requirements
of Stage IV in COMINTERN
and moves his Shady
Coordinator from Stage III
to Stage IV.

Example 1. Julia, the Green player, sends

2 Agents to her Recruitment
Pool and then puts an Agent
from her Recruitment Pool on
Stage I in COMINTERN as her
Shady Coordinator.

Example 1. Julia, the Green player, Example 2. Serge, the Blue player, decides
decides to join COMINTERN. to level up to Stage IV in COMINTERN.
To meet the Requirements of Stage I There are 3 Communists emblems on his cards (2 emblems
in COMINTERN (shown in the orange on 2 Labor Unions cards and 1 emblem on Anarchists Treaty
circle in the picture), she moves 2 card), so the first part of the Requirements is met. Next, Serge
Agents to her Recruitment Pool. sends 3 Agents to his
Then Julia immediately puts one of Recruitment Pool and
these Agents on The Internation- then moves his Shady
al I as her Shady Coordinator. (In a Coordinator from The
real game, she would put one of the International III to So-
Agents there directly without wasting cialist Camp. Note that
time by moving it to the Recruitment Serge does not discard
Pool). the cards with Commu-
nists emblems.

14
Takeover Phase A
 gents on your Objective cards remain on these cards. You
will Recall 1 Agent per turn from these cards during your next
Takeover Phases.
After each player has performed one Action (or did nothing
because they were unable to perform an Action), the Takeover A
 ll Agents remaining on the Covert Operation card are sent to
Phase begins. It consists of two consecutive steps: the Recruitment Pool. War demands sacrifices!

Step 1. Takeover of Objectives  For the purposes of game effects and final calculation
of Influence points, it does not matter whether any
Step 2. Recall of Agents Agents still remain on an Objective card or not. This card
already belongs to you and you may use it as you wish.

STEP 1. TAKEOVER OF OBJECTIVES However, if you lose an Objective card due to any reason,
all Agents remaining on it go to your Recruitment Pool
This gray man appeared from nowhere. Reportedly, he was (not to your Active Reserve).
referred to the management — but by whom? The man is always
flawlessly tailored, fit, polite, and professional. Since his arrival, If you’ve attached an Inner Circle card to any Objective
everything started to change... card, move all Agents remaining on the Inner Circle card
onto that Objective card (see the Reference Guide for the
If you have Agents on an Objective card in the Infiltration Zone detailed description of Inner Circle cards).
— take this Objective card and put it in front of you. The Objec-
tive has been taken over and is yours from this point on.
WHAT IS NEXT?
Don’t remove your Agent meeples from the taken over Objective
card yet. If there were Ghost Agent tokens on it, remove them. If at least 1 Objective card remains in the Infiltration Zone
The Ghost Agents are available again. — then the next Action Phase begins. Remember to pass the
Supervisor token (and the Headhunter token in a 5-player
If Objective cards remain in the Infiltration Zone, the players game) to the next player clockwise at the beginning of the
bring them together to eliminate gaps between the cards. The Action Phase.
row becomes uninterrupted. In the next Action Phase, the first
3 cards in the Infiltration Zone (or less if less than 3 cards If no more Objective cards remain in the Infiltration Zone
remain in the row) will become available for Infiltration again. — then the Treaty Phase begins. After the end of the Treaty
Phase, the round ends.

STEP 2. RECALL OF AGENTS

The task put before you and your agents is to bring the
organization under the control of the Committee. It takes
time to hire the ‘right’ people and dispense of the unwanted
ones... As work moves forward, more and more agents become
available for new assignments.

Return 1 Agent from each of your Objective cards with Agent(s)

to your Active Reserve. In addition, if you have just Carried out
a Covert Operation — return 1 Agent from this Covert Operation
card to your Active Reserve. This is called Recalling of Agents.
Next...

15
 Episode 3. Ready for New Assignments!
Example 1. Alex has seized Governments. There are 6 Agents on it Alex Recalls 1 Agent from each of these 3 cards and returns
(4 Agents would be enough — but Alex wanted to be these 3 Agents to his Active Reserve.
on the safe side). Also, 2 Agents remain on his Stock
Exchanges card from previous turns, and 1 Agent
remains on Spy Agencies card.

Example 2. Catherine has carried

out Neutralization of a
Political Leader Covert
Operation. She returns one
of the Agents to her Active
Reserve and puts the rest
of them to the Recruitment
Pool.

Treaty Phase them. Such organizations may consent to collaborate with the
Committee out of their own self-interest or… under duress.

The Treaty Phase begins when no more Objective cards remain Starting from the player with the Supervisor, each player may
in the Infiltration Zone at the end of the Takeover Phase. The Make one Treaty. Treaties provide significant benefits during the
Treaty Phase consists of three consecutive steps: game or generate Influence points during the final score count.
The usefulness of each Treaty depends on your strategy.
Step 1. Make Treaties
Y
 ou may choose any Treaty from the cards you have in your
Step 2. Discard extra Treaty cards hand. Keep the Treaty cards you have in your hand secret until
you play them. Other players may only know how many cards
Step 3. Create a new Infiltration Zone •OR• End of Game you have.

Y
 ou may only Make one Treaty during each Treaty Phase (un-
STEP 1. MAKE TREATIES less the Treaty card states otherwise).

It is preferable to work out an agreement with some Y

 ou may only Make a Treaty whose Conditions are fully met.
organizations, rather than trying to use strength against These Conditions are specified at the bottom of each Treaty card.

16
 BREAKDOWN OF A TREATY CARD
1 Treaty name. 1 4
2 Treaty Conditions — what cards, emblems, etc.
you must have (or alternatively, must not have)
to Make that Treaty. Only the presence of the
required cards, emblems, etc. is checked. No
cards are discarded. 3
The Conditions are shown as icons at the
bottom of the Treaty card. The text below
provides an explanation of the icons. 2
3 Treaty effect — description of the Treaty effect.
It is also shown by icons above the text. There
are three effect types: Immediate, Persistent,
and End-of-Game. For your convenience, the 4 T
 reaty benefit is shown in the upper-right corner of the Treaty card.
color of the upper and lower parts of each The Treaty benefit is in effect immediately after making the Treaty.
Treaty card matches its effect type.
At the end of the game, the Treaty
EFFECT WHEN TREATY is worth as many Influence points as
TYPE APPLIED CARD’S COLOR shown on the card.

IMMEDIATE
E.g. Federal Reserve
Treaty effect Dark red with
EFFECT is worth 4 Influence points.
occurs once and a lightning bolt
immediately after
you have made the The Treaty may have a Communists,
Treaty (e.g. Federal Peacekeepers, or Spies emblem. It
Reserve). will help you to Advance in Projects
and Make other Treaties.
PERSISTENT Treaty effect Dark green E.g. Federation of Trade Unions
EFFECT has 1 Communists emblem.
persists for the rest with a locator
of the game (e.g. signal
Yakuza). After Making a Treaty, you
immediately take a Secondary
END- Treaty effect occurs Dark blue Objective card shown.
OF-GAME
once at the end with laurels E.g. after Making the Yakuza Treaty, take
EFFECT
of the game (e.g. a Mass Control Secondary Objective
Federation of Trade card from the general supply.
Unions).

17
 A
 fter Making a Treaty, put that Treaty card on the table in World War Cards
front of you. It remains there until the end of the game. All
players may see it. The 20th century is a century of two World Wars. It is
impossible to control a war involving dozens of countries.
See the Reference Guide for detailed descriptions of the Treaty cards. On the other hand, wartime provides plenty of unique
opportunities.

STEP 2. DISCARD EXTRA TREATY CARDS The Objective deck has 2 World War cards. These are not Objec-
tives. World War cards follow their own rules.
If you have more than 6 Treaty cards in your hand, discard any
extra ones until you have 6 Treaty cards. It is your choice which After the creation of a new Infiltration Zone, that row may
Treaty cards to discard. It does not matter how many Treaties include one or both World War cards. Remove them from
you have already made, only Treaty cards in your hand count. the row and put them near the Objective deck. Then bring
together the Objective cards in a row to eliminate gaps
between them. Don’t add new Objective cards to the row in
STEP 3. CREATE A NEW INFILTRATION ZONE place of the World War cards.

•OR• END OF GAME  Remember that during the Setup, World War cards in
the Infiltration Zone are replaced with other Objective
Create a new Infiltration Zone  The player with the Supervisor cards and shuffled back into the Objective deck.
takes Objective cards one by one from the top of the Objec-
tive deck and puts them face-up in a row. The Infiltration Zone World War cards are in effect during the entire round and are
consists of 11 cards in a 5-player game, 9 cards in a 4-player game, discarded prior to the beginning of the Treaty Phase.
and 8 cards in a 2- or 3-player game (same as the Setup).
W
 hen a World War card is in effect, Project Requirements
Then the Action Phase of the next round begins. Remember that change as follows.
the Supervisor (and the Headhunter in a 5-player game) passes to
the next player clockwise at the beginning of every Action Phase.
Project Requirements
Regular Project
End of Game  If the number of Objective cards remaining in changed as a result
Requirements
the deck is not enough to create a new Infiltration Zone, go to of a World War
the Chapter “World Domination”.

 At the end of the game, 1–2 Objective cards remain Number of Agents
Send 1 more Agent
in the deck (this depends on the number of players). required to be
to your Recruitment
The players are encouraged to use multiple tactics, not sent to the Re-
Pool
just one, because some key cards may remain in the cruitment Pool
deck and never come into play. For instance, you may
decide to collect Objective cards in the Mass Control
group in hopes of getting Governments, which generates Number of Com- 1 less emblem
Influence for each Mass Control card. However, there munists / Peace- is required
is a chance that you will never get Governments. It may keepers / Spies /
be too risky to focus all your efforts on one strategy. Special Interest
Diversify your tactics! emblems required

18
 Example. World War
J oin COMINTERN Project: send 3
Agents to your Recruitment Pool
instead of the two.
 evel up to Stage II: send 4 Agents
L
to your Recruitment Pool (instead
of 3); no Communists emblems are
required (instead of 1).
Level up to Stage III: send 5 Agents World War
(instead of 4) to your Recruitment card is in
Pool; 1 Communists emblem is effect
required (instead of 2). And so on…
With 2 World War cards in game,
4 Agents would be required to join
COMINTERN Project. 5 Agents and no
Communists emblems would be re-
quired to level up to Stage II. 6 Agents
and no Communists emblems would
be required to Advance to Stage III.
5 Agents and 1 Communists emblem
would be required to level up to Stage 2 World War
IV. And finally, 4 Agents and 2 Commu- cards are in
nists emblems would be required to effect
achieve Stage V.

Secondary Objective Cards

During a World War, it is much easier to level up in Projects
because you need less respective emblems. On the other hand,
you must send 1 Agent more to your Recruitment Pool — either
when you join a Project or level up. Secondary Objective cards may be obtained only through Treaties.

If both World War cards come in the same round, their effect
is cumulative.

Therefore, when there are 2 World War cards in play, to

Advance in a Project, you need to send 2 more Agents to your
Recruitment Pool and to have 2 fewer emblems.

Mass Science group Finance group Supreme

Control group 10 cards 10 cards Power group
10 cards 5 cards

19
 Secondary Objective cards are worth zero Influence at the 1 Influence point. These are cards from the Mass Control, Fi-
end of the game. However, they count as Objective cards for nance, and Science groups.
Supreme Power cards and for many Treaties.
2nd. Influence points generated by Governments, Universities,
For instance, Governments is worth 1 Influence point for each card and Stock Exchanges cards.
in the Mass Control group and for each Secondary Objective card of
that group (i.e. for all ‘red’ Objective cards). 3rd. Influence points generated by Crime Syndicates cards.

Some Treaties force you to give an Objective card to another 4th. Influence points generated by Corporations cards.
player. You may give that player a Secondary Objective card of
the respective color, thus, saving a valuable Objective card. 5th. Influence points generated by Inner Circle cards not at-
tached to other Objective cards. In addition, if you play with any
The number of Secondary Objective cards is limited. If no Deep State expansions generating Influence points, enter these
Secondary Objective cards of a particular group remain in the points into this row as well.
general supply, then no one may take a Secondary Objective
card of this group. 6th. Influence points generated by Covert Operation cards.

7th. Influence points from Projects where your Shady Coordi-

World Domination nator(s) has reached Stages IV or V (25 and 50 Influence points
respectively for DEEP STATE and 20 and 40 Influence points for
other Projects).
The penthouse of his skyscraper features huge floor-to-ceiling
windows. He likes to stand near it smoking a cigar and at his
feet, a view of the world — his most recent acquisition.

The game is over when the number of Objective cards

remaining in the deck at the Step 3 of the Treaty Phase is not
enough to create a new Infiltration Zone. The players count
their Influence points.

FINAL SCORE
First, remove all Agents from your Objective cards. Second, dis-
card all Treaty cards remaining in your hand, as only the Treaties
you have made count.

If you have Inner Circle cards not attached to other cards, you
may attach them at the beginning of the calculation of Influ-
ence points.

Use the Scoring pad to calculate the Influence points. Enter

players’ names in the column headings. Then enter the Influ-
ence points by rows, from top to bottom.

1st row. Influence points from Objective cards that are worth

20
 Examples. Influence Generated by Objective Cards
See the Reference Guide for detailed descriptions of Objective ables, Real Estate, Banks, or a Secondary Objective card of that
cards. It is recommended to keep the Reference Guide open and group), each Crime Syndicates would generate 6 Influence points
check with it while reading the examples below. instead of 3. The grand total would be 18 Influence points.
Example 1. Governments and Mass Control Group Example 3. Corporations and Supreme Power Cards
Your cards at the end of the game include these: Your cards at the end of the game include these:

Ruling Parties and both Mass Media belong to Mass Control

Corporations generates 3 Influence points for each other
group and are worth 1 Influence point each — i.e. 3 points in to-
Objective card in the Supreme Power group (including other
tal. Governments brings you 1 Influence point for each Objective
Corporations cards). The total score is 12 Influence points.
card in the Mass Control group, including Secondary Objective
cards, — i.e. 5 points in total. Overall, you receive 8 Influence Example 4. Inner Circle + Universities
points. Your cards at the end of the game include these (Inner Circle is
 Universities and Stock Exchanges generate Influence points in attached to Universities):
a similar way for cards in the Science and Finance groups.
Example 2. Crime Syndicates and Tricolor Sets
Your cards at the end of the game include these:

Patents, Labs, and 3 Researches are worth in total 5 Influence

points. Each of these cards is in the Science group, as well as
your 1 Secondary Objective card. Universities generates 1 Influ-
Ruling Parties, Mass Media, Patents, 2 Labs cards, and Valuables ence for each card belonging to the Science group, while Inner
are worth in total 6 Influence points. Circle increases Influence points generated by Universities by 1.
Unfortunately, only one tricolor set for Crime Syndicates is As a result, Universities generates 2 Influence points for each
available because you have only 1 card belonging to Finance card in the Science group — i.e. 12 points in total. The grand
group. Therefore, each of the 2 Crime Syndicates generates total is 17 Influence points.
3 Influence points — i.e. 6 points in total. The grand total is Inner Circle itself is not worth any Influence points because it is
12 Influence points. attached to Universities. Otherwise, it would be worth 4 Influ-
 If you had 1 more card belonging to Finance group (i.e. Valu- ence points — as shown on it.

21
8th. Influence points shown in the upper-right corner of Treaty The Committee permits you to retain these specialists on a
cards. one-time basis to solve certain issues and settle complicated
situations. If used wisely, they may surpass even your wildest
9th. Influence points from the effects of Treaties made by the expectations!
player. The Scoring pad provides a larger cell here because
sometimes Treaties are worth a lot of Influence points and each You may add the Men of Action expansion starting from your
Treaty requires a separate calculation. second or third game — as soon as the players master the
gameplay basics. It is strictly NOT recommended to include this
Total up the values from rows 1–9 and enter it into the bottom expansion in your very first game, and it is not recommended
line. This is your final score. when playing with novice players.

Setup: Shuffle the Men of Action deck and put it face-down

VICTORY within the players’ reach.

The player with the highest amount of Influence points wins!

OBTAINING MEN OF ACTION CARDS
If players are tied for the highest score, then the player, who
has reached Stage V in any Project, wins. If the players are still Every time you Recruit Agents, you may draw one card from the
tied, the player, who has reached the highest Stage in DEEP top of the Men of Action deck instead.
STATE Project, wins. If there is still a tie between these players,
then they share the victory. It does not matter how many Agents could you Recruit — one
or more. You take instead one Men of Action card and do not
Recruit any Agents.

M en of Action Expansion  The following processes are considered ‘Recruiting’:

You Recruit Agents automatically when you have the Su-
The Committee involves many specialists in various areas. pervisor or the Headhunter at the beginning of your turn
Some of them move in high political circles and may be able in the Action Phase, also when you perform the ‘Recruit
to persuade even the head of the state. Others are skilled in an Agent’ Action, use an effect of a Treaty that allows
different areas requiring straightforward or, alternatively, you to Recruit, and play the Recruiter card from the Men
creative approaches. of Action expansion. Note that Ghost Agents are never
‘Recruited’.

22
 You must draw one Men of Action card when you Recruit
Agents having no Agents in your Recruitment Pool. For in-
stance, this may happen when you have the Supervisor or the
Headhunter.

Y
 ou may use your Action to Recruit an Agent even while
having no Agents in your Recruitment Pool in order to draw
one Men of Action card. This is allowed only when playing
with the Men of Action expansion.

Y
 ou may not have more than 3 Men of Action cards in your
hand. If you take your 4th Men of Action card, you should
discard one of them face-up.

Players don’t show each other their Men of Action cards until
these cards are played. However, others can see how many Credits
cards a player has in their hand. Publisher: CrowD Games
Game Designer: Konstantin Seleznev
If the Men of Action deck runs out, reshuffle the discard pile to Production and Development: Denis Davydov
create a new deck. Graphic Design: Andrey Shestakov
Artist: Alexander Khromov
Layout Designer: Igor Pekhterev
PLAYING MEN OF ACTION CARDS Game Rules: Denis Davydov
Editors: Laura Pickens, Lev Emeliyanov
During your turn, you may play a Men of Action card prior to
Project overseen by: Evgeniy Maslovskiy, Maxim Istomin
performing your Action.
Test Group Leaders: Aleksander Kazantsev, Anton Dem’yanov, Denis Klychkov,
Vladislav Nakrap, Oleg Silukov, Sergey Grafchikov, and Sergey Kaptsov
You may not play more than one Men of Action card per turn
Testers: Aleksander Vatolin, Andrei Balakirev, Anton Infantov, Arseniy Dmitriev,
— unless the card states otherwise (Hitman).
Denis Kokorev, Dmitriy Novozhilov, Dmitriy Trushov, Evgeniya Kokoreva,
Evgeny Sazonov, Galym Muratov, Irina Grafchikova, Kseniya Silukova, Maksim
You may not play a Men of Action card during or after per- Grigor’ev, Maksim Seleznev, Nadezhda Kazantseva, Nadezhda Penkrat, Natalia
forming an Action. Nefedova, Nikita Ashcheulov, Oleg Silukov Sr., Olga Selezneva, Sergei Pritula,
Stanislav Tyurmin, Svetlana Klychkova, Valentina Grigor’eva, Dmitry Bush-
manov, Lyudmila Bushmanova, Andrei Bushmanov, and Dar’ya Bushmanova,
You may play a Men of Action card after Recruiting Agents
and members of Board Games Development Guild (GRaNI) and Moroz Testing
when the Supervisor comes to you. For instance, you are Ground club.
allowed to play the Men of Action card you received in the
Solo Mode Testing: Aleksey Smorodin, Denis Uafin, Yegor Bukhovets, Roman
same turn — this may happen when the Supervisor comes to
Gaffarov, Roman Katsai, and Victoriya Gracheva.
you and you draw a Men of Action card instead of Recruiting.
© CrowD Games, 2020. © Denis Davydov, 2020. All rights reserved.
No part of this product may be reproduced without specific permission.
After playing a Men of Action card, put it in the discard pile Deep State: New World Order, its logo, CrowD Games logo are
face-up near the Men of Action deck. trademarks of CrowD Games. Actual game components may vary from
those shown. E-mail: [email protected]

See the Reference Guide for detailed descriptions of Men of Action This product is a work of fiction. All mentioned names, organizations, places, events,
cards. locales, and incidents are either the products of the authors’ imagination or used in a
fictitious manner. Any resemblance to existing or past organizations, actual persons,
either living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. The game is set in a fictitious
anti-utopia universe resembling our world but following a ‘worst case scenario’.

23
Actions World War
 ou need 1 Agent more and 1 emblem less to Advance in any Project.
Y
Infiltrate an Objective This includes joining a Project and leveling up to its next Stage.
Send Agents from your Active Reserve to I f both World War cards are in play during the same round, you need
one of the first 3 left-most Objective cards in 2 Agents more and 2 emblems less to Advance in any Project.
the Infiltration Zone. You may not Infiltrate
more than 1 Objective card in one turn. There  World War card (or cards) is in effect for 1 round only. Discard any
A
before the beginning of the Treaty phase.
are two options:
An Objective card has no other player’s Agents
on it  Put as many of your Agents on the card
as shown at its bottom, or more if you’d like.
Game Round Takeover Phase
Step 1. Takeover of Objectives  Each
An Objective card has another player’s Agents Action Phase player who has their Agents on an
on it  Over-Infiltrate the card — put at least Pass the Supervisor (and the Head- Objective card in the Infiltration Zone,
1 Agent more than the other player has on the hunter in a 5-player game) to the next takes that card and places it in front
card. The Agents of the other player return to player clockwise. The player with the of them.
their Active Reserve, and that player draws one Supervisor Recruits 2 Agents (if possi- Step 2. Recall of Agents  Each play-
Treaty card. ble) and performs one of two Actions:
er returns 1 Agent from each of their
Infiltrate an Objective card; or Objective and Covert Operation cards
Carry out a Covert Operation to their Active Reserve. After that, any
Carry out a Covert Operation. Agents remaining on Covert Operation
Take the top card from the Covert Operation
stack (if you have enough Agents), place it in Then every other player in clockwise cards are put in their Recruitment Pool.
front of you, and put as many Agents on it as order takes their turn and performs When there are no cards left in the In-
shown at the bottom of the card. one of four Actions: filtration Zone, the Treaty phase begins.
Infiltrate an Objective card; Otherwise, begin a new Action phase.
Advance in a Project
Join a Project  Send as many Agents to your
Carry out a Covert Operation; Treaty Phase
Recruitment Pool as shown at the bottom of Advance in a Project; or Step 1. Each player may Make one
Stage I of a Project. Put 1 Agent from your Recruit an Agent. Treaty if its Conditions are fully met.
Recruitment Pool as Shady Coordinator on
If a player cannot perform any Action, Step 2. Each player discards down to 6
Stage I. Note that DEEP STATE Project requires and in this case only, that player does Treaty cards in their hand, if they have
you to discard Objective cards with the Special nothing and passes the turn. more.
Interest emblems.
In a 5-player game, the player with Step 3. Create a new Infiltration Zone.
Level up in a Project  Move your Shady the Headhunter Recruits 1 Agent (if
Coordinator to the next Stage, if you meet the possible) at the beginning of their 5 players: 11 Objective cards
Requirements of this Stage (shown at the bot- turn. 4 players: 9 Objective cards
tom). You may not skip Stages, and each Stage 2–3 players: 8 Objective cards
requires a separate Action. The Takeover phase begins after each
player has performed one Action or If there are not enough Objective
passed the turn performing no Action. cards to create a full row, the game
Recruit an Agent ends and the players calculate their
Take an Agent from your Recruitment Pool and Influence. The player with the most
put it in your Active Reserve. Influence wins!