You can’t be successful in Checkpoint Charlie missions without your assets, your Secret Intelligence Service agents. These are the people who move around the map, completing mission objectives and avoiding the KGB while you sit back at SIS Berlin Station. In each mission, you’ll typically start with two assets on the map of Berlin, sometimes with the possibility of a third added later. Based on the starting state of the map, and the cards, one of these assets will usually move toward the mission goals while the others act as support – gathering intel, using their special abilities, or even diverting the attention of KGB agents. You have six different assets in Checkpoint Charlie, each with unique abilities that make them well suited for specific roles in a mission. These are fictional assets, not based on any particular SIS agents that were active at the time. Let’s take a look at each of them, and then as a bonus, we’ll also look at three Persons of Interest in Checkpoint Charlie.
All game components shown here are prototypes intended only for playtesting. This is not final artwork.
YOUR ASSETS
JESTER
Jester is the workhorse of the service, your right-hand man. He is ready to draw fire and take the fall, if needed. His played card ability draws the closest KGB agent toward him, which can protect other agents. It may seem counter-intuitive, but this ability can also help keep Jester safe if you know which way he is going to move (or which way the KGB agent will move) and can play this card at just the right time. Jester’s active ability is to become detected in place of another agent, again drawing attention away. Because of these abilities, Jester is best suited to support other assets trying to complete the mission objectives, but his bold disposition means he’s sometimes best positioned to move the mission forward himself.
THE DENTIST
The Dentist is the mother hen of Berlin Station, the cat-herder who knows the best places to hide and the secret ways to the safehouses. As such, she has a +1 detection modifier, which is better than most assets. Her played card ability pulls all other assets toward her, presumably to safer or more advantageous locations. Her active ability makes detected assets undetected in a location she moves into – one of the few ways in the game that a detected asset can become undetected. The Dentist’s better detection save makes her a good candidate for working toward mission objectives, but she is also very effective in a support role, kept back to pull assets out of trouble or toward their next goal. You’ll quickly come to appreciate her utility.
Tradecraft Marker
MAGPIE
Magpie is the closest thing the SIS has to a professional thief. She’s not as good at avoiding detection as the Dentist, but she’s very handy when it comes to interacting with the items in the game – the secret documents as well as the spy radios and disguise kits. Her played effect allows her to move into a neighboring location (as long as that location contains an item), which can be very helpful if the cards in the draw area just aren’t getting her where she needs to go. Her active ability is a bit more subtle. Assets can normally only pick up items when they enter a location and drop them when they leave, but Magpie can basically pick up and drop items whenever she likes. She can be used as a support asset to deliver important items to where they’re needed, but she really shines when she’s working toward mission goals that involve items. Give her a Tradecraft marker to help her avoid detection and send her in.
ATLAS
Atlas is the muscle, actively fighting back against KGB agents. He’s not particularly good at avoiding detection, but that’s not how Atlas operates. He’s better than most other agents at avoiding being compromised once he is detected, which is important because his played effect is to reveal himself and become detected. He works best as a last minute distraction, and his active ability means that when he does pass a compromise save, the KGB Agent that tried to grab him retreats to the other side of the Berlin Wall. He can be effective if you send him toward mission objectives, but don’t be afraid to let him grab a 9mm Luger and use him as a diversion.
THE PAINTER
The Painter is an old hand at this, and arguably your best agent. He’s as good at avoiding detection as the Dentist and can resist being compromised as well as Atlas. In addition, he’s a natural at uncovering intelligence and at counter-surveillance. His played effect is to take a free move to any neighboring location containing an intel cube, grabbing that intel in the process. His active ability is counter-intelligence, meaning any time he avoids detection in a location under surveillance, he removes surveillance from that location. The Painter is bold in pursuing intel and in dodging surveillance and is probably your best asset when it comes to completing mission objectives.
THE DEFECTOR
The Defector is just that, a defector from behind the Iron Curtain. He is not one of your SIS agents and isn’t trained in espionage. As such, he has the worst detection and compromise modifiers of any of your assets, and his active effect means he always fails detection saves when his card is in the draw area. However, he has one of the best played card effects of any asset – he can move one location farther away from the nearest KGB agent. When the Defector is part of a mission, getting him somewhere is probably one of your main mission objectives, so you just have to find a way to support him and make him work. Get his card out of the draw area as fast as possible and hold it until just the right moment. Use agents like The Dentist and Jester to pull him toward his goal or to pull KGB agents away from him.
PERSONS OF INTEREST
Checkpoint Charlie also includes three Persons of Interest (POIs) that move around the map just like your asset tokens, but they don’t have cards and are usually not directly involved in your mission. In fact, they likely know nothing about it! They don’t care about surveillance, intel or KGB Agents. They have no inherent special abilities, and affect the mission only as specified in the mission description. Let’s look at them and the role they play.
MAYOR BRANDT
During the time period of Checkpoint Charlie, the mayor of West Berlin was “Willie” Brandt, a dynamic figure who would soon be Chancellor of Germany. Mayor Brandt advocated for the city in wider discussions about the future of Germany taking place at this time between the Soviets and the Western Allies – the so-called “Berlin Crisis.” Perhaps more importantly, Willie Brandt took it upon himself to bolster morale in this beleaguered city. He often toured the city, talking with its residents, getting a clearer picture of their needs. Mayor Brandt makes an appearance in three Checkpoint Charlie missions. In one, assets can sneak along with his touring entourage, effectively getting a free move. In another, the mayor arrives with more fanfare, disrupting intelligence in the locations he visits. Finally, you can spend intel to lure the mayor out in one of the later missions, using him as cover to pass detection saves.
MILITARY LIAISON TOUR
When the allied powers of World War II, including the Soviet Union, settled down to each occupy their defined sectors of Germany, they assumed they would need a reliable ability to communicate with each other going forward. The agreements worked out between them included the provision that a fixed number of military personnel from each nation would act as liaisons, free to travel through the sectors of the other nations, deliver messages, and get a better picture of their allies’ activities. As rising tensions in Europe and around the world turned allies into Cold War adversaries, this liaison agreement somehow survived. That meant a select group of allied troops had permission to travel freely through East Berlin and all of East Germany. They were essentially sanctioned spies. In Checkpoint Charlie, this group of soldiers traveling in civilian vehicles is represented by the Military Tour POI token. The Military Tour “wanders” through the city in two Checkpoint Charlie missions, and in both cases protects detected assets in the same location from being compromised.
THE SCIENTIST
Of all three POIs, the Scientist is the most directly involved with your assets and your missions. He is a Soviet dissident, a candidate for providing secret information to the West. He takes part in two missions in Checkpoint Charlie. In his first appearance, he is visiting East Berlin and an asset must cross the wall and deliver instructions for how he is to encode and pass information. In his second mission, the KGB has become suspicious and it’s time to pull the Scientist out. An asset must once again cross the wall, and this time escort the Scientist to safety in West Berlin.
CONCLUSION
I hope this gives you some idea of the variations and special skills among your SIS assets and the role Persons of Interest play in Checkpoint Charlie. Check in next time when we talk about the decisions you make while playing Checkpoint Charlie, and we’ll walk through a sample turn.
Author: Russ Brown
