Compass GamesRaiders of The Deep U-Boats of The Great War 1914-18 CPA 1062

The player "becomes" a German or Austrian sub skipper and tries to sink or capture as many British-French-Italian-American merchant ships as possible and also survive the war. Many individual choices and action. Also highly informative about the state of weapons and technology at this point in history.

I'm not in a position to judge, as this is the kind of game designed for experienced war game players. The rule book is bewildering, as the instructions are not chronological; Parts are described in the first part of the instructions without much introduction as to how they will be used during a game. I would recommend having an inexperienced player sit down with the rules writer and try to put together a game, with the writer advising as they go along. What say you?

Plays easily and it can get pretty intense as your missions build.

Raiders of the Deep is a solitaire boardgame that simulates being in command of of a U-boat of either the Imperial German Navy, or Austro-Hungarian Navy of the First World War. Although based on the game system developed for the WW2 sub game The Hunters, there are many differences between the two.Submarine warfare in 1914-18 was vastly different from that of 1939-45. World War One subs carried far fewer torpedoes than their WW2 descendants. This meant saving the precious few torpedoes for high value targets, and conducting most combat via surface gun and boarding actions. Much more emphasis was also placed on minelaying, and there are numerous boats in the game dedicated to just that. Enemy minefields and submarine nets were perhaps a greater threat than the Allied destroyers, which lacked active SONAR (it had not been invented yet).WW1 submariners also had to contend with carbon monoxide asphyxiation from the gasoline and kerosene engines many of these early subs had. There were also no wolfpacks, and anti-sub aircraft were in their infancy. So the game plays very differently from The Hunters.I find this to be an excellent game, and own both it, The Hunters, and also Silent Victory. For anyone trying to make an informed board game purchase, please be advised that the individual advising people to play a free ONLINE version of a different game , likely does not own Raiders of the Deep or any of the other games mentioned in his so-called "review", and his comments should be taken with a very large grain of salt..

I started playing war games in the early 1970s with Avalon Hill games. I do not know if it is the best war game I have ever played, but it is the most fun, and it is the game from which I have learned the most history, by far. As some of the other, more favorable reviews have stated, this game is not simply a clone of others that are set in World War Two. The dynamics, the technologies, the strategies, and the game play are quite different. Limited torpedoes, many torpedoes that "hit" actually turn out to be duds, and thus, depending on the class of the sub, many or even most of the merchant ships are either be taken by boarding parties or sunk by boarding parties. Likewise, subs have relative difficulty diving (it takes a long time), and are threatened more often by ramming attacks than by depth charges or planes. Each merchant ship, for each month of the war, is listed by name and weight. Biographies of German and Austrian submarine commanders are included -- and one may play a German campaign or an Austrian campaign. Action in numerous theaters of operation -- the Baltic, the Black Sea, the Adriatic, the Mediterranean, the English Channel -- and with degrees of variations of the rules depending on the theater. I have never learned so much history by playing a war game. Highly recommended!

Highly recommended and well worth the money for anyone interested in World War I submarine warfare. Also has high replay value.And no, this isn't an overpriced clone of The Hunters game. It covers a completely different time period, plus gameplay tactics are different. It also contains a much larger enemy ship list, many more U-boat types to command, and more areas to patrol than The Hunters.

It's true, this game is just way overpriced. In fact, it's not even necessary if you own The Hunters or Silent Victory. Raiders of the Deep is basically an exact clone of The Hunters. And the best part is that you can get The Hunters for free, yes, FREE, off the ZunTzu gaming platform online. Who needs to spend a hundred bucks on this game when you can get the same gaming experience for free online? Case closed.