Scenario 2 is by far the hardest and most difficult challenge for the Allied player among all of the scenarios presented in the game. Simply put, sacrifices will be made, ships will be lost, and backs will be stabbed. If you are playing a full game through either the campaign game or linked scenarios, you will suffer in this one. The Axis will take the lead and at this point and you will begin the long climb back to parity. However, what if you are just playing scenario 2 and have no intention of linking it with other campaigns? Can you do well? Can you win the game? The answers are probably not and maybe, in that order. No, the odds are stacked against you and having a good showing is almost out of the question. If you are doing well, the Axis player has seriously erred or else the dice have melted due to your luck. However, winning is another matter but it will require some sacrifice and determination and some help from luck.

I am writing this article with the assumption that you, as the Allied player, want to win this scenario, not just survive it as part of a longer game. Survival is an entirely different matter and I will discuss that perhaps in a different article. Suffice to say that the advice I am giving here is definitely not the same as I would give for the campaign game. So let’s look at what you want to happen, what the Axis want to happen, and what you can do about it.

One of the most interesting activities that is performed in Seas of Thunder is the setting of the line for battle. Every time two fleets meet in a Sea Zone, they move to the Combat Sequence Mat and duel it out. Setting the Battle Line requires removing your ships from the board, with the units unseen by your opponent, to the Combat Sequence Mat. Players then put up a screen to shield their mat from the opposition and proceed to place their ships in the boxes they wish for them to be assigned to. When both sides have completed their setup, the screens are removed and combat begins. Today, we will discuss just the ins and outs of setting your AIR units on the battle line. I had originally intended this article to be a sweeping discussion of the entire Battle Line, but as I wrote it, I realized that just the air options would be plenty detailed to make an article of reasonable length. So I will revisit the remainder of the line in at least one future article.

One of the great balancing devices in Seas of Thunder are the Axis raiders and their ability to force the Allies to defend even the most out-of-the-way backwater Sea Zones. The raider’s distant reach and their special abilities force the Allies to play defense across the entire globe. They are hard to hit, hard to catch and hard to stop. Good play with the raiders can go a long way to an Axis victory, especially in the early scenarios. Sloppy play can bring the curtain down on Axis chances quite abruptly and far more severely than their strength seems to warrant. When the seas are populated with massive battleships and carriers full of planes and submarines that can easily bring down said battleships, what makes the lowly armed merchantman kso decisive? Well, the game works hard to keep them alive, but it can be squandered. Knowing what they can accomplish is helpful, but ignoring it can be disastrous. Treating them as fragile treasures can preserve them as a menace throughout the game, but considering them just another tin can will doom them. Raiders have unique options and skill sets that can reap great rewards, but if these are ignored, they become just another weak ship destined for Davy Jones’ Locker.

Seas of Thunder is a game covering the global war on the high seas during World War 2. Scenario 1 covers the period between the start of the war and the invasion of France in 1940 and spans three game turns. France and Britain are pitted against the much smaller German fleet. At first blush, the Allies appear to have an embarrassment of riches that appears to have no end.

This article is not intended to be a fully established unbeatable strategy guide. It is intended to give new players a list of possibilities and some suggestions about what not to do. Players can do everything right and still lose a scenario simply because of dice and more importantly the interactive combat resolution that can allow for an unorthodox strategy to work above its expected value. I will even say that these basic do’s and don’ts can and have been overcome by a bold stroke here and there by the Axis. In general adherence to these rules will keep you in a game but victory over a skilled player will require elements of surprise and luck.

The concept for a combat flow chart is as old as the hills in war gaming. While I don’t think Neal, Chuck or myself broke any new ground on the concept, I think our implementation of the system is quite a pleasant and engrossing experience. One glance at our system should make it clear that we were heavily inspired by the War at Sea and Victory in the Pacific system and I’d like to acknowledge that lineage at this moment. If we hadn’t had those masterpieces to build upon, we might have had a much tougher time creating a stable foundation for our game. You should see as we get into the game however, there are fundamental things that I disagreed with in those original systems and felt the need to either adjust or just plain toss away in Seas of Thunder.

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.