Go Hunting With They Come Unseen A New Submarine Game By Osprey
July 4, 2015 by brennon
If you want to have a pretty authentic submarine commander experience then see what you make of Osprey Publishing's joint venture with retired Royal Navy Officer and submarine commander Andrew Benford. They Come Unseen sounds like a deep tactical experience.
Some more on the game...
"They Come Unseen is an asymmetrical strategy game of bluff and deception that uses two boards, one for action on the surface, seen by both players, and one for movement underwater, only seen by the submarine commanders. The game also comes with specially designed control panels for each of the two to four players to help keep track of vital information such as fuel, ammunition and current cruising depth."
Contents Images Via Board Game Geek
Contents...
- A3 Game Board
- A4 Miniboard for Submarines
- Gamescreen
- 4x Unique Player Control Panels (2 Freighters, 2 Submarines)
- 6x Poker Sized Island Cards
- 7x Wooden Ship/Submarine pieces
- A4 Counter Punch Board
- Rulebook
- History & Tactics Book
I really like the sound of this! I don't think there's ever been a submarine game in the same vein as this so it will be fun to see how this grows and what it looks like inside the box. Asymmetry always rocks in my book too.
If you like the idea of Cold War intrigue and the period itself on the tabletop then I suggest that you check out Twilight Struggle which is another superb iboard game where you're pitting the Americans against the Soviets. It deals with the more political side of things of course but it's a good history lesson too!
Is this a game you'd keep an eye on?
"I don't think there's ever been a submarine game in the same vein as this so it will be fun to see how this grows and what it looks like inside the box..."
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This looks like an absolute marmite game understandably it is a SUBject (see what I did there) that is straight away going to appeal and be one of those yes give me it yesterday or it’s battleships and too much a cat and mickey mouse game. Having grown up with what I heard the other day described as the first cold war??? Apparently we are currently having another, I was not aware the first had officially ended, I know it had a brief period of pleasantries passing each other the milk and sugar to have tea, whist still holding a… Read more »
From 1991 to 20..say,2008 when Putin became what amounts to president for life, the cold war was over. USSR lost, as evident by the fact that there is no more USSR, and it’s succesor, Russian Federation, was a bankrup, africa-level failed state. There was no cold war because there was no one to be at war with. Even now Putin’s Russia is a local power, whose only calling card is the nuke arsenal it held on to.
I’ve never had any luck with Submarine games, Hunt for Red October never worked on my Commodore 64… But this actually looks quite good.
I’ll be looking out for this.
…anyone every try to play ‘Harpoon’ with subs and aircraft?
Did try it once, about 25 years ago. Kind of a nightmare. I was lucky, my Dad had a tennis court in the back yard we were able to use for the scale involved. MUCH easier when then computer-driven version came out. One thing I liked about the game was “what was important” on the ships. In many games you get your ships and immediately check to see what guns and armor you have, Not in Harpoon. You check to see what SENSORS and ECM you have. It was a game less about combat than it was about electronics. 🙂
Tennis courts – for when the game designers consider the ‘tabletop’ part of tabletop war gaming to really be more of an abstract concept or a general motivational goal rather than an actual part of the gaming experience… 🙂
This could be very interesting. Got my eye on this one…
Pre-order a £40 game with that little info?
Box contents from the Osprey site:
1 A3 game board
1 A4 mini board for submarines
1 game screen
4 unique player control panels (2 freighters, 2 submarines)
6 poker sized island cards
7 wooden ship/submarines pieces
1 A4 counter punch board
1 rulebook
1 history and tactics book
interesting but I would need to see game play first.
This looks very tactical and with great depth to it (apologies for the truly awful pun). I will definitely check this (don’t make any ‘it’s on my sonar’ joke’s- your better than that) as part of my first tentative forays into historical war gaming.
If anyone wants to know who is to blame for my entry into historical war gaming, its Oriskany what done it! 😉
Sub games can either be really good or really boring. Naval surface warfare in the 20th century is interesting to game