A Different Kind of Naval Gaming

The box art….

….and the contents on the back.

I own a variety of naval boardgames, most of which of the ship to ship nature and take place on a gridded playing area - usually hexes but occasionally squares. I also own a couple of strategic level naval games where one is deploying squadrons and fleets etc but with a tactical option when things get up close and personal. These all work perfectly well and I am content to play them when the opportunity permits - which means that most have not seen the light of day for years! At least I still have them though, and that is the main thing, despite being sorely tempted to dispose of some of them on the odd occasion.

Anyways, things have moved along in recent years with the growth of games designed to be played solo and focussing on the decisions that an individual ship’s commander needs to make. And so I acquired a copy of the Compass Games Schnell Boots: Scourge of the English Channel. In this, one takes command of two to four S Boats and conducts a series of operations in the English Channel during 1943/44 in the hope of successfully sinking enemy ships and gaining promotion but in reality hoping to survive a full year. All the missions are at night and encounters can range from single vessels (pretty unlikely) up to convoys with varying levels of escort or even enemy torpedo and gun boats. Aircraft also feature to really add some additional fun, at least if you are the Allies that is. It looks a lot of fun and so I am hoping it will encourage me to finally get my coastal collection painted and on the table. Of particular interest though, was the choice of vessel you get to command. It is either an S100 type S boat or the rather impressively named Projekt B Tragflugelboot - a turbojet powered hydrofoil!

I had never seen nor heard of this piece of bonkers naval engineering so naturally I have asked Mr Manley if he could create a 1:600th 3D printed version!

Believe it or not, there was also a submersible version of this planned. The idea was that it submerged and sit on the surface until an approaching enemy convoy was detected. It would then surface, launch its attack and could then shoot off at speeds in excess of fifty knots! It was nothing if not inventive but this variant never made it off the drawing board.

The second naval game - the Kaiser’s Pirates - is based on commerce raiding during the Great War and uses no map. The game is card based and although designed for two or more players does have a full solo version. The great thing about this type of game is that the table footprint is very compact.

The basic premise of this game is all about sinking merchant ships and avoiding being sunk by enemy AMCs or warships. Fuel is always an issue and so the raiders have to be mindful of this as well attempting to stay as anonymous as possible. Action cards dictate the ebb and flow of the action and points are awarded for the ships sunk - either raiders or merchantmen. I am a huge fan of the subject matter and commerce raiding, in whatever form it takes, has given me many great games over the years. I shall look forward to this one with relish!