From: Doug Murphy Subject: Silent War replays This is one of the few playtest kits I have that I actually get out again and play...this is a solitaire game of the US sub campaign in the Pacific during WW2 that was done by Brien Miller of GamesUSA but hasn't seen the light of day. In this version, it could either be played as a recreation of the entire war (with EVERY American sub) from the perspective of ComSubPac, or, my preference, a recreation of individual sub patrols. I appreciate its replay value and its quick play. Here's a recount of last evening's sojourns.... March 1942, War Period 1 USS Snapper is set to embark from Pearl. Roll on the Ultra Table yields Bonins and Marianas as Ultra areas (get positive drms and ship draws there. But we're off to the Marshalls first, just one sea area away from Pearl. The sub "patrol moves" to the Marshalls. I make a Transit Event Check which yields no effect. I roll on the Area Activity chart for the Marshalls, yielding a color Red. Then roll on the Contact Table, yielding Task Forces, then on the Engagement Table cross referencing Red and TF and blind draw an assortment of Japanese ship counters flag-side-up from the four cups. I place them down on the Attack table. Pick TDC counters equal to the sub's Tactical Rating, place them next to a number of ship counters but flip only half of 'em (no radar on Snapper). I reveal the targets next to the flipped TDC counters and allocate my entireAttack value to an 9 ton CA. But I stop because I flipped a Combat Event chit. I roll on the combat events table -- get a Perfect Setup -- all TDC values are negative for this round. Yeehah! Then add Attack value + torp. value (the MK 14 Torp Value is a negative 1 at this point in the war) and subtract target defense number + revealed ASW number (any ships in this column on the Attack table with an ASW number -- in this case unfortunately two). Now roll my d10 but get higher than the previous result. Drat! A miss. Now for the inevitable Counterattack. ASW value of 2 + number of red "boxes" for this War Period + area and the War Period ASW modifier and subtract sub defense number for an unexpected Lost At Sea result. Boy, that was fast. More later. Doug Murphy From: Doug Murphy Subject: More Silent War What the heck...I can put off work a tad longer. The early war "replays" are hard to stomach because a combination of a lousy Torp Value and low Attack factors (esp. for the S class and odd-balls like Argonaut) make it practically impossible to accomplish anything, and I want to sink ships! So on to May 1943...War Period 3 and USS Scorpion. Ultra reveals Sea of Japan and Yellow Sea...let's go there. I patrol move Hawaii -- North Pacific -- Bonins -- East China Sea to Yellow Sea with no negative Transit Events. But in the Yellow Sea, I get Return to Base...Argh! Something must be wrong with the sub. Move back to Pearl yielding no other Transit Events. That was a waste. Next, took USS Cod in December 1943 (War Period 4). Ultra yields Sea of Japan, Yellow Sea and East China Sea. Patrol-moved Hawaii, North Pac, Bonins, East China Sea...a good route because of the low probability at this point in the war for a nasty Transit Event. Let's go hunting. I roll Large Convoys on the Contact Table. Draw ships from the cups according to the Engagement Table. Pick TDCs equal to the Sub's Tactical Rating. Flip ships equal to the TR (good radar). Lotsa juicy targets. Place and flip TDCs. Add the attack and subtract the defense numbers. Finally a good Torp. modifier. Roll a hit! Check the attack results table for a 15K tonner. She's sunk. Another flag for the conning tower. Counterattack yields no effect. Check on the Torpedo Loadout Table. Out of torpedos. Drat! There was only a 10% chance of that...Back to Pearl (uneventful). Lastly, it's January 1944, let's take Cod again. Ultra yield Aleutians, Empire waters (around Japan) and Kuriles. Let's go there. Hawaii-Aleuts- Kuriles. No bad events. Oh, I'm taking Cpt. Reich (a Super Skipper with a plus 3 modifier) this time. Enagement yields TF. Hmmm. Lotsa ship chits. Reveals many naval ships here -- among them 2 BB s, a 40K tonner and Yamato -- let's go after her - - though her defense strength is so massive, it'll take a miracle to hit her, let alone sink her. Yup, add up and subtract and roll everything to no avail. Counterattack is weak (only 1 Defense Factor in this column) but I roll poorly and am Spotted (a bad modifer). I survive the Torpedo Loadout. I elect to Reattack, this time the 40K BB (defense factor of 9). The rolls go well. I hit her. Need a nine or ten to sink her though. Here goes. Success! Maybe Nagato or Mutsu goes under. glub glub. Counterattack is feeble. I roll poorly on Torpedo Loadout. Home we go. After setup, these three scenarios took about an hour. Mucho fun. I'll try again tonight I think. Doug Murphy From: Doug Murphy Subject: Re: More Silent War -Reply >>> Dave Townsend 03/05/98 09:32am >>> The system sounds interesting but it doesn't sound like there's much decision making going on. A bit B-17-ish, is it? I suppose it's irrelevant since it's never going to get published. :-( Your point well taken, although I'd aver you have more control over your "destiny" than in B17 and "outcomes" are greater than the limited "suprises" from that game -- what aircraft is attacking where and what damage is mounting. Let me look at it from the point 'o view you suggested of 'decisions' -- first you decide who you want to be (what boat -- from literally every available US boat that ever appeared in theater); where you want to go and how you want to get there (what route). When you draw TDC chits, you decide where you want to put them (next to what Japanese ship chits) so you can see what you might attack. Next, you get to "allocate" your attack value -- all on one target, spread amongst a few. You decide after Counterattack is complete (and assuming you survive Torp. Loadout) whether to Reattack and whom....I like the surprises of Transit Events...and in the ship chit draws, you may pick Shokaku, a lowly 1K tn merchant or you may pick an H6 seaplane which immediately attacks you. There's also a (very) few Diligent escorts -- DD s which counterattack ferociously. I gotta admit, it's addictive. Doug Murphy From: Markus Stumptner Subject: Re: More Silent War >I suppose it's irrelevant since it's never going to get published. :-( Well, if they were really sure they would never publish it, they should simply release it as a DTP game and let us off the hook! I haven't quite given up hope yet. While GamesUSA has merged with Avalanche, the GamesUSA part seems to be suffering from the usual real world intrusions (working for money, and stuff like that) so common in smaller game companies which seem to have slowed down their releases to a crawl. Perhaps we'll still be seeing Eylau this year (or the next?), and then who knows... Great replays, Doug! Markus From: Doug Murphy Subject: Re: More Silent War -Reply Thanks Marcus. And I agree, while Silent War looks dead and smells dead, it may not be dead. Brien Miller did some great work on the map and counters -- the systems are interesting. The sticking point, and it's a big one, is SW doesn't seem to know what it wants to be -- a big picture view of the entire war / parts 'o it or a mission-level look. I consider both to be a real bargain, but I can see GamesUSA's point about the potential market. I was going over the "progression" of playtest reports and it certainly seemed to be a positive experience for those involved. The map covers the entire Pacific and is a tad big for DTP (though come to think on it, it's certainly not bigger than the two maps for Rob Markham's Messines design.). I can say genuinely Silent War is like no other game I've seen for both topic (a heckuva more "broad" than tactical games like Submarine) and approach. Doug Murphy From: Doug Murphy Subject: More Silent War I'm sorry if you're sick of hearing of this, but I had an interesting time last eve that leads me to plan to conduct not just a single patrol for a boat but a whole series...late war though, so I can actually sink something. And I want to try to Wolfpack rules for use w/ multiple subs. First off there's a roll I can make each turn on a War Events Table that I was foregoing that has some interesting effects...sub bases activate or inactivate, Tender counters (they're all included too) like Canopus can move from one place to another...and certain missions are called for -- plane guard and barrier patrols, for example, that add some more nice chrome. I took Blowfish through a series of missions in January 1945, with a +2 Super Skipper counter. Found some DRMs I forgot to apply for Transit Events that made them more deadly or rather, more common -- add a DRM for ea. area travelled through, add one if in Empire waters (immediately around Japan), add one if spotted, etc. Made for a whole series of Spotted or Return to Base results. Then theres a dr I need to make if I RTB to determine if the sub was damaged and needed repair. Also, as each turn is about a week, I discovered instead of just moving out to operational radius limit, attacking and then returning, I can move half that radi ea. turn for a long patrol. For counterattacks, I was doing the Revealed ASW slightly wrong. For determining the defense factor vs. a ship, I should've counted only the ASW numbers on counters revealed in a particular column. For determining counterattacks, I was to count ALL revealed ASW numbers on the whole display. Makes it more effective to be sure. In a whole series of missions, I made some dumb decisions about what to target and who to avoid (for some obscure reason, I went after 1K ton merchants in a column with a high revealed ASW...) so didn't accomplish much. On only one occasion did I sink anything -- 2 AO (15K and 9K tons). Doug Murphy