The most challenging and I’m sure the most controversial choice in Seas of Thunder was what to do with the French Fleet. Always remember that in Seas of Thunder, our first nod was always to history, but only if it maintained an interesting game. If the history made the game bad, we worked to change focal points of the game so that the history had less to do with the game’s outcome. That’s why some ocean-going activities have not been covered. Refueling, seaborne invasions, some ports, and a few other things did not make the game. Not because they weren’t important or even crucial to the conflict, but because the game didn’t support or reflect them, at least in the manner we were presenting them.

The French were one such enigma. At the start of the war, the French fleet was large and impressive, new, and strong. French concerns across the globe allowed the French to have the same global reach as the British. When France fell to the Germans in 1940, historically their ships were either interned where they docked or switched to the command of the Vichy government. At this point most of their Vichy fleet greatly reduced activities. Some ships remained active as Free French but most just disappeared from the seas for various reasons, supply not being the least. Finally in late 1942, with an Allied hammer on one side and German anvil on the other, the remaining Vichy fleet was either destroyed bravely or scuttled in place. In the later portion of the war, some French units came back into action and participated with the Allies. How do you handle that mess in a game?

Chuck, Neal, & I tried a few tact’s. We tried to go gamey and have die rolls for units to go Vichy or go French. That was too random. We had a set of Vichy counters (they were black and really attractive) and replaced the Free French ships in the game with the historical losses. This was scrapped when our counter count (that sounds ridiculous if you say it out loud) was too high and cuts had to be made. We had cards for a while that allowed for some interesting Vichy interactions. We had a scuttling table to roll against. None of those misguided notions took hold.

So what did we settle upon? In Scenario 1 the French would be allied with the British in their fight with the German navy. This was a simple choice and one most supported by real world events.

In the second scenario things get tricky. In the first turn, turn four, the French fleet is Allied controlled. When the fleets return to base, possession of the French switches to the Axis player. All of the Free French ships are placed ahead on the turn track on Turn 15, the turn after the Vichy fleet is scuttled. Vichy ships are then returned to Vichy ports consisting of most French ports not on the French Atlantic coasts. Those forward thinkers out there may see the first game issue we had to overcome. Why doesn’t the Allied player just throw the Vichy ships to the wolves and why don’t the Germans just ignore them. After all these contradicting forces seem to be hard at play. The Allied player wants the Axis to get control of as few ships as possible so these ships get thrown into the most contested zones. The Axis player would like to avoid every French ship to prevent the necessity of sinking a ship they may have access to on the very next turn. The answer is indeed a gamey solution, perhaps the most gamey portion of the game. The Allied player gains 1 VP for each Vichy ship that survives to the end of turn 4 and transfers over to the Axis. The Allies are rewarded for not throwing away Vichy ships and the Axis player is penalized for ignoring them.

But now they are Vichy and have a potential to be far more active than they were historically. Don’t fear, we found this out too and after a handful of complicated rules settled on the simplest ones possible. From turns 5 until they revert back on turn 15, the French ships have their movement range reduced to 2 MP’s. Ships in the Far East effectively become stranded in Saigon. Ships in the Mediterranean and African west coasts are limited to only close range sorties. Additionally, the Axis player will receive VP’s for each Vichy ship still in play; either at the end of turn 7 if just playing scenario 2 or at the end of turn 14 if playing the campaign. This limits the fleet’s effectiveness and encourages the Axis player to be judicious in their use, possibly just holding them out of the war altogether. In a sense the Axis player needs to weigh the loss of points if a Vichy ship is sunk in a battle versus the possible VP gain for the controlled sea zone.

Key item number two is that the French have to move before every other fleet in the game. What this means for play is that the French will only be able to stake out a few zones with large amounts of ships. This has the effect of keeping them out of a lot of fights. No Allied player wants to contest a sea zone with ten French ships already there, knowing that after they move, the Axis player can dump a dozen more Italian or German ships into the fray. No, in general where the French go in force they control, and usually without a fight.

On turn 14 the Vichy are scored and then many are scuttled. If just playing scenario 4 (turn 14 concludes that scenario) that ends the game. If you are playing the campaign the non-scuttled Vichy are added to the returning Free French fleets and rejoin the Allies.

We also decided that for simplicity’s sake we would never have two factions of French in play at the same time. When the French surrender, the non-Vichy forces are removed from play for a while. When the Vichy fleet is scuttled at Toulon, they are removed from play and the Free French are returned to play. This allows us to not have to write some difficult and contradictory rules. There will be no turns where French ships will be on both sides. We are aware historically that some Free French sailed in that period. But their limited numbers and missions are simply not of consequence in a game of this scope. Many of the stronger ships were indeed interned and held with Allied forces not convinced of the trustworthiness of their French counterparts. This restriction also allowed us to not even have to figure out rules for French vs French combat or avoidance of the same.

The French fleet in your game will be thrilling and frustrating. They will be the wild card, the twist, the flux in the capacitor that you didn’t expect. Different players will utilize them in vastly different manners. It will begin the game as a bright shiny new toy. But as the game progresses, it will become more and more tarnished until at the end, it is nothing but e but a flimsy shell of what it started out as.

By the way, this is the first article I’ve completed since Seas of Thunder “made the cut” on the P500. That’s a personal record for a game of mine (4 months) and now it is chasing Apocalypse Road for the most pre-orders. So hunt down those silly armored race cars and let’s pass them before it’s all said and done. Seriously, thank you all for buying our games and encouraging Carla & I to share our own unique brand of games with the world.

Previous Article: Seas of Thunder: The Banana Boat Song