by Prowler
Thinking a little more about the Jackal, I have come to the conclusion that he could be portrayed as a Neutral, rather than USSR, event. My Jackal event is a mixture of both the fictional and the real-life Jackals.The reasons why the Jackal could be a neutral event are:
- The fictional Jackal in Frederick Forsyth's novel was a mercenary assassin. He would not care whether he was employed by the US or the USSR, as long as he was paid in hard currency. And in advance.
- The most notorious action of the real Jackal (Ilich Ramírez) was to kidnap all the OPEC ministers at their Vienna summit (a USSR event in TS). The fictional Jackal tried to murder De Gaulle (another USSR event).
- Maybe the Jackal is an extreme left character, who wavers between supporting the USSR, and contributing to its downfall (he thinks that the USSR has "turned bourgeois" and has forsaken the revolutionary legacy of Marx and Lenin).
The original variant would be called the "Red Jackal Variant", and this one would be the "Striped Jackal Variant". This variant changes the game less, as ALDRICH AMES REMIX remains in the deck.
TINKER, TAILOR, JACKAL, MOLE - "STRIPED JACKAL" VARIANT
Add the following cards:
DOUBLECROSS Neutral 1, Early War.
Play during opponent's Action Round, after he has announced his intention to play a friendly or neutral card as an Event. The card must be played as Ops instead.
MOLE Neutral 4, Mid War.
Play the Mole card on the table and secretly place another card underneath it ("the agent"). During the Card Draw Phase of each succeeding turn, before the victim player sees his/her own cards, the Mole player sees 2 of victim player's cards. The Mole player may exchange one of the 2 for one card of Mole's hand. Then, the victim player tries to guess the number and colour of "the agent". If the guess is right, discard the Mole and the agent. If the guess is right only in colour or only in number, the Mole player must say what part of the guess was right.
THE JACKAL Neutral 2, Mid War
Play on the table before Phasing player. The Jackal may be used once per turn. When enemy Player plays a card of his own colour in his Action Round, the Jackal rolls 1 die. If roll > Ops value of the card, the card text and number are ignored and the card is played as 1 enemy Ops, and then, enemy player rolls a die. If his roll is equal to or less than the card's printed Ops value, THE JACKAL is removed from the game.
If THE JACKAL has not been used in a whole turn, THE JACKAL is discarded.
(CLARIFICATION: If THE JACKAL's roll is unsucessful, there is no effect and the other player does not roll the die.)