With this new My Favorite Wargame Cards Series, I hope to take a look at a specific card from the various wargames that I have played and share how it is used in the game. I am not a strategist and frankly I am not that good at games but I do understand how things should work and be used in games. With that being said, here is the next entry in this series.

Card #5: Unreliable Technology from The Hunt from Salt & Pepper Games

I have played several hidden movement games over the years and enjoyed them all. Some of these titles have included wargames such as They Come Unseen from Osprey Games, Sniper Elite: The Board Game from Rebellion Unplugged and Bomber Command from GMT Games as well as a few board games including Hunt for the Ring from Ares Games. The concept of moving cautiously, attempting to evade pursuers, all while trying to locate and acquire or destroy objectives makes for a very interesting gaming experience. These situations can make for some really tense games that cause your head to ache and your wits to be tested. But they rely on some bluffing as well. Trying to force your opponent to anticipate where they think you should be and then trying not to be there. A really great mechanic in board games but not always easy to pull off and make for a very playable and interesting game. In 2022, we played a new design from Matthias Cramer and Engin Kunter that took this hidden movement concept and put it into a historically based game about the struggle over control of the South Atlantic between the British Royal Navy and the German Kriegsmarine during the early years of World War II called The Hunt from Salt & Pepper Games.

The Hunt is a Card Driven Game where the German player has to attempt to stay hidden while trying to sink merchant shipping as the Royal Navy hunts for them throughout the South Atlantic. The players each have asymmetric actions to use to accomplish their missions and they also have some little aids to assist them as well, such as things like the Airplane found on the Graf Spee that can be used to aid in searching for their quarry.

If the Admiral Graf Spee is in the same space as one of the Freight Ships, the German player may reveal the Admiral Graf Spee’s position and spend 2 AP to attempt to search for the Freight Ship. A die roll of 5+ is a success and sinks the Freight Ship. Rolling a 5+ on 6-sided die is not always the easiest thing to accomplish so the player should be using their Airplane to assist in this effort. It will take them using their Action Points from cards to move the Airplane Marker up on the track but when it is in the Ready space it can be used to aid in the process as they German player may move the marker to the Broken space to add +2 to the die roll. This is a huge benefit for the German player to say the least and will almost spell certain doom for the poor unsuspecting Freight Ships.

But never fear! The Royal Navy has tools at their disposal in their own event cards that can assist in keeping the Graf Spee off balance and less effective. The card Unreliable Technology is such a tool as its play for the event will simply move the German Airplane marker to the Broken space. This means that they cannot get its +2 DRM benefit when they search until their use their Action Points to repair the Airplane. But it also brings the added benefit of preventing the German player from searching on their next turn allowing you to slip away into the darkness of ocean. I normally don’t love cards like this where you can literally easily undo the work of your opponent with one card but in this tight and fast playing game, these type of cards are absolutely necessary to keep the game in balance.

Photo courtesy of BritModeler.com

The Deutschland Class Admiral Graf Spee was a German cruiser commonly referred to as the “pocket battleships” because of their large guns and small size. They were designed to comply with the Treaty of Versailles, which limited the naval power of Germany after World War I. The Admiral Graf Spee was the most advanced and heavily armored of the class, and had a brief but successful career in World War II sinking a total of nine merchant ships in the Atlantic Ocean. However, she was cornered by a British task force at the River Plate, where she fought a fierce but inconclusive battle. She then sailed to Montevideo, where she was scuttled by her own crew to avoid capture.

Located at mid ship of the boat is a single catapult for an Arado Ar 196 scout plane which provided the Graf Spee unique offensive and defensive abilities greatly expanding her tactical options. Ship-launched scout planes flew just like regular air units but lacked munition choices and broad cockpit views. Alongside the typical abilities of strafing, dropping 2 x 50 kg bombs, and capping zones, the Ar 196 model had the added ability to lay down smoke cover. This scout plane was very important to the Graf Spee’s mission and subsequent success in the South Atlantic.

In the next entry in this series, we will take a look at Janissaries from Here I Stand: Wars of the Reformation 1517-1555 from GMT Games.

-Grant