My Favorite Wargame Cards – A Look at Individual Cards from My Favorite Games – Card #51: A New Painting for Graf Spee from The Hunt from Salt & Pepper Games

With this 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 #51: A New Painting for Graf Spee 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 each has a tough time doing what they have to do. But, if they manage their cards wisely, using them as effectively as possible, they can successfully either evade their pursuer or catch their prey.

In The Hunt, the German player is trying to hunt down shipping while staying hidden from the searching British. And the British are trying desperately to find the Graf Spee and then sink her to the bottom of the South Atlantic. This situation is really a challenge for both players and creates some fantastic tension. With today’s card, A New Painting for Graf Spee, we will take a look at a trick that the German’s have up their sleeve to foil a successful Search attempt by the British player. In players’ decks are special Reaction Cards. These cards are intended to be played as a response to your opponent’s play and have some very powerful abilities. A New Painting for Graf Spee is such a Reaction Card where the German player can play it as a response to a successful Search by the British player to simply make that search unsuccessful. I know that these type of cards are very powerful, and that the process for Search is a challenge as it requires that you roll a modified 5+ on a 6-sided die, but there is something very satisfying about playing this card from your hand to foil a successful attempt. It does require the German player to show reserve and not use the card for its 4 Ops Points as it must sit in their hand taking up an important card slot. Once played, the card is removed from the game so its effects can only be used once, which is a good thing I think.

The final point that I want to make about the card is that after its play, the German player has to place the German oil tanker and supply vessel called the Altmark adjacent to the Graf Spee. You will notice the icon at the bottom of that counter is a Hint Marker that will aid the British in future Search attempts by giving a DRM. So, while the card allows the pocket battleship to escape this time, the presence of the Altmark will greatly aid in any future Search attempts until the Graf Spee can slip away undetected and move to another location.

The Admiral Graf Spee changed its color scheme multiple times during its 1939 raiding cruise to confuse the British Royal Navy and evade their searches as it trolled the waters of the South Atlantic looking for shipping targets. In addition to paint, the crew also used canvas and wood to change the ship’s appearance and fool enemy observers.

One such disguise attempt included the crew painting a white, wavy pattern on the ship’s hull to make it appear as if it were traveling at a different speed than it actually was. The ship’s camouflage also evolved over its patrol. Initially, the upper works had patches of varying dark gray over the standard lighter gray paint. Before the Battle of the River Plate, this was changed to a broader, darker striped pattern.

In addition to paint, the crew attempted to change the ship’s silhouette by temporarily erecting a fake second funnel and a dummy forward main gun turret out of canvas and wood. This was part of a larger deception strategy to disguise the pocket battleship as a different type of vessel.

The overall strategy was to keep the British guessing about the number and identity of German raiders present in the South Atlantic. These camouflage efforts were effective for a time, allowing the Graf Spee to sink a total of nine merchant ships before it was eventually cornered and scuttled in Montevideo, Uruguay.