Wow, this looks really good. Can't wait to see it played. :)

@ZillaBlitz

2 жыл бұрын

I was surprised that a mission is so short, as I was initially thinking a career might be too long for KZread. But with short missions, a career might work really well. :)

Gregory Smith has some great narrative solitaire wargames. If I remember correctly, that patrol map originally appeared in Silent Victory (US Submarines), and was received well to warrant inclusion in this reprint. Thanks for the unboxing!

@ZillaBlitz

2 жыл бұрын

Ah, that makes sense, thanks for the background info on the map. I didn't realize it came from Silent Victory. I think the map adds quite a bit of flavor, to see where the u-boat is on the map, for sure.

Now we're talking! Great series and great challenge with the kind of narrative that we love so much. Briliant choice! (although I've not played this particular one in the series).

@ZillaBlitz

2 жыл бұрын

I'm excited to give this a shot. I watched one of your earlier vides on one of the sister games, and it looks really fun to play. :)

Ohhhh yeah! Been looking forward to seeing you do a video on this and a series. I have always loved U-boats and even the old PC games Silent Hunter 3 and a few autobiographies of Doenitz and also the U-boat War of the Atlantic. Going to LOVE this series!

@ZillaBlitz

2 жыл бұрын

I’m looking forward to this as well. Going to try a couple practice missions to get the rules down and then should be ready to go. I remember Silent Hunter, yes. I don’t think I ever got to play it but it certainly looked fun.

This looks a lot of fun. Looking forward to the play through!

@ZillaBlitz

2 жыл бұрын

I’m excited, yes, I think the short missions will work well for a mini-series. :)

Hi Zilla, hope you are well. I've got a copy of this, which I've played a few times - I'd definitely like to see you play through it. For historical background, I'd recommend the 2-volume work by Clay Blair "Hitler's U-Boat War", which appropriately enough has the first part called The Hunters and the second called The Hunted. As one of your other commenters mentioned, there is a game in this series that covers the US submarine war in the Pacific, called Silent Victory.

@ZillaBlitz

2 жыл бұрын

I'm excited to give it a shot, and thanks for the book recommendations! I've added them (it) to my Amazon list. They sound excellent. I also might have to finally watch the full version (10 hours?) of Das Boot. :) ~ I have Silent Victory as well, just because I, um, wanted the whole set (with Beneath the Med). I'm curious to see how different each of the games plays out. :)

@ZillaBlitz

2 жыл бұрын

Wow, those are each 1,000-page books! That's some serious U-boat coverage. :)

@user-ml2ei9cs3o

7 ай бұрын

well I dplained-want it for Christmas. Bill S.

Start with the Hunter's or silent victory the pacific war cousin. Hunted can be brutal as the anti-submarine equipment gets better and better and better.

@charleslatora5750

2 жыл бұрын

My first Hunted cruise; a third of the way through; hedgehogs sent me to the bottom. Don't forget the fourth child in the series Beneath the Med.

@ZillaBlitz

2 жыл бұрын

I hear you, for sure. The Hunted must be several levels more challenging than the Hunted. I'm hopeful we can survive a mission with The Hunters. With The Hunted, we'd probably get blown up in the pen before we embark. :)

I honestly gotta say since this is not as… visually pleasing to me as Shores of Tripoli was, I‘m having a harder time getting into it. Just looking at the rule book alone made me feel exhausted 😂 I really miss my coloured ship meeples. BUT I will still watch this and see if I can get into it through the gameplay, since I do like rolling dice and winning combat 🤣

@ZillaBlitz

2 жыл бұрын

This is an interesting observation that's got me thinking quite a bit. But yes, you're totally correct, for sure. Shores of Tripoli emphasizes a visual design to draw a person into the game. The Hunters really doesn't emphasize that aspect of game design at all. I think this game is more akin to the experience of reading a book, where the action happens almost exclusively in the player's imagination. That makes me think about how to approach a video series of this game, too. I did notice that there are some visually improved player aids for the game on Board Game Geek, so I'm going to poke about there and see what I might find to improve the visual element of the video series. Good points, thanks for sharing!

@DragonsAteOurName

2 жыл бұрын

@@ZillaBlitz I think this comes down to personal preference. You give me a colourful booklet with all the game instructions I can read 80 pages, you give me something like this that is mostly fine print and my visual brain is just like 'booooorin', but I guess that has more to do with me, than actual quality

@ZillaBlitz

2 жыл бұрын

I do think your point is important. The link between visual appeal and engagement in learning is strong. And... I also think there is pretty high tolerance in this genre of games for massive rulebooks with gobs of text. I know of one recent game that has a 500-page rulebook, and if you want to see something really crazy, Google "Campaign for North Africa game", a game so immense and complicated that no one is ever known to have finished it. (It shows up in an episode of Big Bang Theory too.)

@DragonsAteOurName

2 жыл бұрын

@@ZillaBlitz Oooof! I guess there is such a thing as going too far. And that Campaign for North Africa sounds insane. Why would you ever design something like this? Also, how long did it take to design???

@vaele723

2 жыл бұрын

@@DragonsAteOurName Richard Berg didn't actually playtest at all, if I remember correctly, as it was more of an academic exercise than a playable system. Still, they published the "game", despite the absurdity of it all, being its SPI; a company known for putting out experimental titles during the 70s. As for your observation, it is valid. But you get used to it. These wargaming companies (especially GMT and MMP) focus more on game design and functionality than anything else (not that you can't have both usability and aesthetics, they just don't go out of their way to put the latter into forefront), and the community don't really mind. This has the unfortunate side-effect of the genre looking inaccessible to the average bystander (which it isn't, but the practice is not helping).

Curious to know, have you checked out U-Boot by Phalanx?

@ZillaBlitz

Жыл бұрын

I'd not heard of that one, no, but I just took a look now. Wow, that looks like quite the deep adventure. :) Have you played it?

@KNXVEGAS

Жыл бұрын

@@ZillaBlitz yes, two partial playthroughs. One was with four players, the other solitaire. It’s fun, but a lot to manage in solitaire. The app worked well.

@ZillaBlitz

Жыл бұрын

Interesting! It looks like players are fairly split, with some saying it's the best thing ever and others a bit taken by the details of play. Seems a bit challenging to solo, you think? I'm not sure I'd be likely to find other intrepid voyagers to give that one a try. :)

@KNXVEGAS

Жыл бұрын

@@ZillaBlitz Yes, in solitaire I certainly found it to be a lot to manage. I found the rules pretty comprehendible and well-presented. In group of 4 it was a blast. Yes, I found 3 to play at a local game store on a Saturday, which is a rare alignment indeed. The game structure and play made for a fun, immersive experience, and it challenged the whole group in interesting ways. Plus, the models are cool. As an aside, I was pleased to see that you have A Most Fearful Sacrifice on your radar.

@ZillaBlitz

Жыл бұрын

@@KNXVEGAS That did seem like the ideal way to play, with 3 to 4 people willing to lean into the experience. Envious! Not only do I have A Most Fearful Sacrifice on my radar, it's on my shelf now too. Still haven't had a chance to open it up and explore yet, but soon I hope. :)