The following article from Jeff Horger is an introduction to Seas of Thunder, one of the games that will be available for pre-order on the GMT P500 list later this week. Enjoy! -Rachel
What exactly is Seas of Thunder and why did Chuck Maher, Neal Cebulskie, and I feel the need to create it? I cannot speak for Chuck and Neal but first and foremost for me, I have always wanted to experience a moderately compact rules-wise game that let me really see the global difficulties of fighting World War II on the high seas and not limited to a single front by the edge of the map.
Over the years I have played War at Sea, Victory in the Pacific, the Avalanche “Plan Games”, Bismarck, Jutland, Submarine, Silent Hunter, and many, many other games focused on conflicts at sea. A number of those games I truly enjoyed for their approach or their combat system, but most of them have been consigned to the trade or sale pile. My problem is that I always want to know what goes on beyond the edges of the map. Where do the reinforcements come from? Why are they available? If the battle is going on in the North Atlantic, what is happening in the South Atlantic at that time? The Indian Ocean? The Pacific? Is my victory in the Mediterranean really that important or am I losing everywhere else? Games with enclosed borders that lead to other places always give me a sense of being boxed in. I always know that just a day’s sailing from where the board ends is a whole new vista and new battles to fight. So my goal Seas of Thunder was to make a playable game that covers the entire war from the early days of the raiders in 1939, to the entry of the Italians, the U-Boat offensives, Pearl Harbor, the fall of Italy, the turning of the tide and finally the endgame. There would be no boundaries and no space beyond the map.
I understand ‘playable’ is unique to each person. The campaign game is 25 turns with an average of about 2 hours per turn, so at least 50 hours and to be honest, it’s probably closer to 60 since the middle turns with every nation at close to full power can be 4 hours a piece with just two players. Because of the length of the campaign game, we decided create scenarios that will break the game into seven bite-sized chunks. These scenarios are completely modular and self-contained. Over the next few weeks and months, I will dive into all things scenario-related and explain the ins and outs of all the different options and challenges. Players can play one scenario or multiple in succession with Scenario 1 taking only about three hours to complete after setup. I also encourage playing in teams, especially once Japan gets involved and the Pacific becomes every bit as contested as the Atlantic. Having multiple players on a side allows players to fight multiple battles at the same time and it’s the battles that can devour the time in this game.
We could have made the battles simpler, but we found the system so engaging and interesting that we could not find a good and satisfying alternative. So we settled on a combat flow chart that is extremely easy to follow and makes for unique interactions depending on the classes of ships present in the fight. Aircraft can cover the fleet from enemy air, strike at range, or patrol for the deadly submarines. Destroyers will try to hunt the subs before they can wreak their havoc. Raiders will lurk on the periphery. Wolfpacks will pick and choose valuable targets. Minelayers will attempt to bring the mighty to their knees while the minesweepers will try to protect them. And when all else is settled, the big guns will Thunder across the Seas. You can rest assured, there will be an article covering just the entirety of the Combat system and how it all interlocks.
While all this is well and good, you had to know that it is a priority of mine to make sure that the game was competitive. I’m not interested in recreating history; I want players to be able to re-write it and explore it. It is our opinion that the game is pretty balanced between players of comparable experience. We do understand that early plays will net fairly wild variations in the score since the choices are so wide open it is easy to make a wrong turn and fall off the cliff. This is another great use of the scenario system, you don’t need to play for a month to bring your mistakes to an end. If you have made a mistake, it can be corrected in the next play. One of the key goals we will have here on Inside GMT is to provide players with a primer of what to do and what not to do for each nation in each scenario. If you are interested in gaining an inside look at how to play, we are happy to provide you with some pointers.
I hope this brief introduction whets your appetite for Seas of Thunder. Look for me or Chuck or Neal to be back here frequently in the next few months to provide more insight and updates on the game and the various scenarios.
Next Up: The Flow of Combat
Author: Jeff Horger
Sounds really interesting. Looking forward to reading more in future articles.
I’ll be watching this one. ???
I am very curious rergarding this game. What will the map look like and the movement?
You got me at WWII at sea…
I’m curious as to how battles come about because this is often related to what is happening on land.
Peter – The point values of the areas change and reflect the hot spots and land combat focuses during the war. These high point areas tend to draw in ships for a fight. We decided from the very start that we would have no ground impact from our actions in the game but to follow a linear line of the history of the war itself direct our scoring areas. We do intend to have future expansions where players can set their own alternate timeline of the war and thus change the scoring zones with the side-play of event cards. But this is a long way off and will depend on the reception of the game. It was more than we wanted for the base game.
Thank you for doing this. I love the concept and have pre-ordered….that map though….
Game has arrived. Looking forward to study and prep.