From: Greg Nichols Subject: Review of "Damn the Torpedoes!" A quick review of Winsome Games' "Damn the Torpedoes!" by Greg Nichols Components: 1 - 67 card Ships deck 1 - 114 card Action deck 1 - 34pg rules book 1 - six sided die Packaged smartly in a 4"x6" plastic case. Approximate cost is $25. * Overview * This is a two to six player card game loosely based on American Civil War naval combat. A game takes anywhere from 1 1/2 to 3 hours to complete depending on the number of players. The designer John Bohrer has an obvious love for the period as his tiny rules book even includes a one page bibliography. He claims that the profiles of the individual ships on the ship cards are drawn on a 1:1000 scale. Most of the ship cards include information on: ship class, commission date, tonnage, crew size, and top speed. Unfortunately, none of these ship characteristics figure into game play. Each ship has a point value (1-25) which seems randomly applied. In general, CSS ships are worth more points individually but as a group, they are worth less than the total of the USS ships (379pts to 247pts). None of this matters because the game is a free-for-all (each player draws a mixture of CSS and USS ships) and doesn't breakdown over traditional North/South lines. The object of the game is the object of most naval games: sink ships! You do this by firing Ammo cards, ramming, or using some of the special Action cards (i.e. Torpedoes, Submarines etc.). Overall, you need to sink at least 250 points worth of ships by the end of a round to be declared the winner. If more then one player reaches 250 points at the end of a round, then the player with the most points wins. Most games require a minimum of two rounds (usually three) in order for a winner to surface. A round is completed when any player cannot draw up to his required six Action cards at the start of his turn. In the setup, decks are shuffled and each player receives six Action cards and four Ship cards. The Action cards are your concealed hand and are played only during your turn and as the game allows. The Ship cards are laid out in front of you forming a sort of line. The Ship deck is cut in half forming two decks: one known (face up) and one unknown (face down). You can draw from either of these decks when the game situation allows. The sequence of play for each player looks like this: 1) Take a ship (card) if you have no ships. 2) Draw to 6 Action cards. 3) Play 1 or more Additional Ship cards. 4) Attack with your Ellet Rams. 5) Choose one action group to play (8 different groups). 6) Play Commerce Raiders and/or Blockade Runner. The breakdown of the Action card deck is as follows: 35 Rifled Ammo (5-1s, 6-2s, 7-3s, 8-4s, 9-5s) 35 Smoothbore Ammo (9-1s, 8-2s, 7-3s, 6-4s, 5-5s) 10 Torpedo 6 Additional ship 4 Leader 4 Fort/Fortress (values = 12, 24, 48, 96) 3 Blockade Runner 3 Commerce Raider 3 Destroy Your Own Ship 3 Men 3 Submarine 2 Torpedo Boat 2 Immobilize a Ship 1 Commando * Comments * If you've played AH's "Enemy in Sight" then you've played a better naval card game. Card games ought to be at least fast playing and fun. And if you can throw some chrome on them creating slightly historical feel and some interesting strategic choices, then you've really got a winner. This game is fast playing at the expense of being fun. All of the decisions are easy to make. When a game doesn't offer difficult choices then it won't hold the interest of your average gamer for very long. The game is about 95% luck. Certain Action cards like Torpedoes and Submarines require a dice roll with an absurdly high ahistorical success rate (many of these cards will sink ships with a better than 50-50 chance). The designer includes real names and somewhat accurate drawings on many of these cards but anyone can use the CSS H.L. Hunley or the CSS Squib so there is no historical feel to the game. Also, there are no random event cards that affect all players or the drawing player. So again, there is no real flavor for the period or for naval combat for that matter. Is the game balanced? Yes, to the extent that most players feel that they're numerically in the game into the final round. But how can they affect their destiny? Draw better cards and get better dice rolls. While some card games reward intelligent strategic play, this game doesn't even offer it up as a possibility. The components are acceptable. The card stock is not up to the quality of "Up Front" or "Dixie" but is serviceable. The art work is that of an amateur and doesn't really compel a person to sit down and look at the various cards. I like the way he packaged the game which allows for easy carrying to and from work or gaming cons. Overall, this is one of those games that "could have been." It's obvious that Bohrer has a love for the period but not a real grasp as to what it takes to make an exciting, challenging card game.