Illuminati: Crime Lords is the latest entry by Steve Jackson Games in the Illuminati family of games. If you are familiar with these games then you’ve already got a pretty good idea of whether or not you will enjoy this game. If you are one of those unfortunate people who have yet to experience the backstabbing fun that is the Illuminati series of card games, I hope I can help you make up your mind.

Let me point out right now that Illuminati: Crime Lords is not an expansion to, nor is it even compatible with previous Illuminati titles. It is a stand-alone game, with mechanics slightly different from its predecessors. Throughout this review I will attempt not to reference the mechanics of other Illuminati games in order to describe those of Illuminati: Crime Lords. Those of you unfamiliar with the Illuminati titles should appreciate this. Apologies to those of you who are knowledgeable about the Illuminati card games and have to filter through all this to discover the differences.

Now, on to answer all the necessary "Review Questions"…

Question #1: What the heck is it?

Well, first I suggest you read the paragraphs above this one, it gives a few clues. Secondly, Illuminati: Crime Lords is a Card game by Steve Jackson Games, where the players take on the role of Crime lords attempting to lead their respective syndicates to domination of the local crime scene. Illuminati: Crime Lords comes packaged in a rectangular box approximately 6¼" x 9¼" x 2" (a size which has become a standard for Steve Jackson Games). Inside the box are 112 cards, a rulebook, two six sided dice and a large number of money and status counters. The counters are die-cut, requiring a lengthy session of sitting and punching them all out of their cardboard stock, not as good as having them all cut for you, but greatly preferable then subjecting a sheet of counters to my mediocre scissors skills. The "status counters" include action tokens, unhappy counters and handy + counters for keeping track of bonus status to cards. I know this all sounds like gibberish right now, but the uses of these will be defined later. Read on! This game is complete out of the box, there is no additional pieces that need be supplied by the players in order to fully enjoy this game.

Question #2: How do I freaking play this thing?

Well let’s start by saying that there are four types of cards you’ll be dealing with in Illuminati: Crime Lords. The first are the Crooks, these are your field agents who make up your power-structure and will do all the hard work of establishing Rackets, recruiting new members and assassinating members of your opponents power structure. The second card type are the Racket cards, rackets are criminal enterprises, from bookies, brothels, money laundering, drug pushing, etc… it is these rackets that bring in the vital cash that keep the operation going. The third type of cards are Special cards, these are all sorts of dirty tricks you can use to gain an upper hand against your opponent. The last card type is the Mob card, there are 8 of these and they are merely used as reference to tell the players of their Mob’s special abilities.

Play begins by randomly dealing one "Mob" card to each player then launches into a card auction of sorts, each player is given an allotment of game cash (or "G’s" in the parlance of the rules) for bidding. Cards are turned over one by one and players are allowed to bid on each card as it comes up. This continues until double the number of players in Rackets come up and triple the number of players in crooks (excess crooks or rackets are reshuffled into the deck after bidding). Specials that come up during bidding are bid for and kept for play during the remainder of the game by the winning bidder. While there are limits to the number of rackets and criminals that can be "in play" after the bidding, these do not have to be distributed evenly between the players (although a player must have at least one criminal in order to play).

After bidding the players arrange their crooks into their mob power structure, picking one of their criminals to be the Boss, and assigning others as lieutenants and even more further down the command chain. It is important to read a criminal’s description during this phase as some criminals only give bonuses to subordinates or superiors. Also it should be noted that criminals on the "outside" of the command structure (those that have no subordinates) are more vulnerable than those that do. Rackets acquired during bidding are placed in an area separate from the criminals and need be in no special formation. It should be noted that at this time one should use the + counters to add bonuses given to Rackets from Crooks in the power structure at this time. Players lastly place the Boss token appropriate to their mob on their selected boss and action tokens on each of their criminals (and those Rackets that can receive action tokens).

Now the first player is determined randomly (although we have added a house rule that works rather well, the player with the most cash remaining after bidding is the first player). The player first collects G’s equal to the income of all his rackets. Then the player must pay his crooks, starting with the Boss first (if the boss doesn’t get his full pay then no other crook does). The pay to crooks is equal to their base "Power" score, bosses receive payment equal to their power, plus the bonus they get for being boss. If crooks are not paid they become "unhappy". This is not good, unhappy crooks can leave your Mob.

After income and payment the player draws cards from the deck. Cards drawn vary depending on how many cards there are in the "uncontrolled area" (an area on the gaming table to place crooks and rackets that are under the control of no particular player. A player always draws at least one card, but if there are fewer than four uncontrolled cards the player must draw until there are four uncontrolled cards. During the draw sequence the player places any crooks or rackets in the uncontrolled area, and keeps any specials.

Next the player spends the action tokens from his crooks and rackets in order to perform various actions. This is the meat and potatoes of the game. The player may attempt to control any Racket or Crook that is face up anywhere on the table, however it is harder to wrest control from a racket or crook that is controlled by another player than one that is uncontrolled. Each Crook has a Power Score and all Crooks and Rackets have a Resistance score. One compares the power of the crook taking the action (to control or "recruit" a racket or crook). After this initial comparison there is a "Showdown", where all players can spend their own G’s to aid or hinder the attempt. After the showdown the player taking the attempt may bump up his chances for success by spending action tokens from the subordinates or superiors of the crook spending their action token. The total power of the crooks spending their action tokens plus any G’s spent to aid in the attempt have the resistance plus any G’s spent to hinder the action subtracted from them. Two six sided dice are rolled in an attempt to get under the final value. If the roll is successful the player takes control of the Racket, or places the crook to their own power structure. If the player has more crooks with action tokens remaining they may continue this process all over again.

Another action a player may take is a "Hit". The hit can only target a crook and if it is successful it removes the targeted crook from play entirely. There are special rules to Hits. Hits can be easier to pull off then controlling actions, but the consequences for both success and failure can be much more severe.

Replacing all of the spent action tokens on their crooks signifies the end of a player’s turn. This is important as some crooks can use their action tokens to aid in the defense of crooks and rackets in a player’s power structure. This is an important strategic note as there is no advantage into saving action tokens during one’s turn, it also put the attacker at a disadvantage as all of your opponents crooks will have action tokens to use, if appropriate.

Play then moves counter clockwise around the table. This continues until one player has control of a number of combined criminals and rackets that are determined by the total number of players. The winner gloats, as appropriate. Games typically last around 2-4 hours (depending on how devious your players are).

Question #3: When will I have the time to play this game?

Well, at 2-4 hours per session it can be hard to carve out a niche. I use it (and games like it) when one too many folks can’t make it to the weekly GURPS session I run.

Question #4: Where should I play this game?

I suggest a large table, or the floor. Keeping one’s crooks in a power structure requires a bit of table space. If you do not have adequate table space, I suggest starting on the floor and keeping it there. Realizing you don’t have enough room on the table and attempting to move mid-game can be quite frustrating.

Question #5: How do I buy this game?

As far as your purchase is concerned, I say SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GAMING SHOP YOU HOCKY PUCK! (apologies to Don Rickles). But, if for some reason they won’t stock it, you can get it at Steve Jackson Games’ Official web store wearhouse23.com.

Question #6: There is NO Question 6!

Let’s be honest here. If you’ve ever played any of the Illuminati games before you will know already if you should buy this game. To you, I should point out that while Illuminati’s focus is on world domination, Illuminati: Crime Lords is focuses on controlling the criminal enterprises of a single city, this can make the game feel less epic than its predecessors. If you are unfamiliar with the Illuminati games I provide the following warning. If you do not like games that encourage deceit, lies and backstabbing do NOT buy Illuminati: Crime Lords (or any other Illuminati title for that matter). If you prefer games that have rules that can be explained in less than a minute, do NOT buy Illuminati: Crime Lords. If you want a well produced game that will give you hours of fun with friends who understand that, "hey it’s just a game!" Then by all means I suggest you buy Illuminati: Crime Lords.

Summary, Recommendation, Wrap Up, Style/Substance, etc…

All in all I likes Illuminati: Crime Lords. It’s good gamin. And if some flatfoot wanna come up and start disagreein’ wit me, I mights have to put ‘im at the bottom of da Patomic inna pair o’ cement galoshes, ya see.

I gives it a 5 fer style (da pictures is pretty) and a 5 fer substance. I gots ta ya see. Da rules pages is well writ and It has dat right mix o’ luck urn stratergerie dats I likes in a game ya see. Dat’s just good gamin’.