July 1, 1943.
You find yourself at a haphazard base on the northern tip of the island of Rendova in the
Solomons. Your orders? Command a squadron
of up to four PT-boats (MTBs) in support of naval and land operations in the
chain through nightly patrols against the Japanese-held islands to the
northwest. Your missions will range from
landing or evacuating coast-watchers to torpedo-duels with full-strength
destroyers of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Your ultimate goal is to accomplish your missions while keeping the guys
in your squadron alive.
I first made the acquaintance of Joe Carter through
Board Game Geek forums on Greg Smith’s game Silent
Victory, and Ian Smith’s outstanding Raiders
of the Deep. He posted a number of well-designed rule variants for both
games, and we exchanged comments on a variety of topics. Eventually, I learned he had designed a
solitaire game of his own. I congratulated
him on what looked like a good game and he invited me to play-test it prior to
its commercial publication. At first I
had to decline as demands of my job and some homeowner projects were keeping me
very busy. Several weeks later some of
the life-pressure was off and I finally took him up on his offer. After
printing out the rule books and tables and assembling the game components he
provided I was set.
To begin with, there is enough historical detail in
the game that tells me Joe did his homework and knows his subject. One of my favorites is the “malaria roll,”
made before each mission. If you fail
the roll, a member of the crew of the command boat (yours) has come down with
malaria and needs to be replaced at the last minute. If the infected crew member happens to be you, the game is over. This potential mission complication is
historically accurate. In his book At Close Quarters, John D. Bulkeley
relates how malaria took hold among the PT squadrons in the South Pacific,
particularly as the Japanese cut supply lines and malnutrition and exhaustion
set in among the crews. It is one of
many factors in the game that can affect personnel capabilities, and losing an
ace gunner to a mosquito bite can ruin your night by weakening your crew on a
crucial mission. Dysentery is another
tropical pleasure which can rear its debilitating head during a mission, possibly
leaving a crew member “combat ineffective” for the duration.
In my opinion, weather should always be a factor in historical wargaming, particularly in naval warfare
where Precipitation, Wind and Sea State can effect everything from navigation
to detection and gunnery. Devil Boats has a good weather
generation system that is straightforward and accurate in terms of weather’s
effects on a mission, whether it simply reduces detection range or is severe
enough to fragment the squadron formation, leaving you short-handed.
The combat system in DB involves a number of charts and die-rolling, but it is not
cumbersome and once you get the rhythm of it, it rolls along smoothly. The progressive effects of damage to both
targets and your squadron are logical and balanced, and the system works well
for the various types of combat situations you find yourself in.
On any given one-night patrol, you may find yourself
cruising to your target and back encountering nothing stronger than a rain
shower. Other patrols, you end up
wondering if the whole IJN hasn’t been vectored in with orders to take you
down. I like that, because you never
know when leaving the dock what you are going to run into; even a “dull moment”
is never dull, especially when you are sailing into danger in what is, in
essence, an armed, 80-foot Chris Craft.
There are several different kinds of missions in DB, which is also a factor in keeping
life interesting. There is nothing quite
as stimulating as idling your command
boat among coral reefs trying to evac someone while small coastal artillery is
dropping shells around you, or as making a balls-out, before-God-and-everybody torpedo
run at an IJN destroyer. Many of the
missions are just downright hairy, and you begin to understand why William
White’s old book about the boats was titled They
Were Expendable, because you start to feel as though you *are.* And therein
lies the main challenge of the game, because you are taking a rather fragile
combat craft into some insane situations, and the main protection you have is
your speed and your maneuverability; Devil
Boats requires a bit more sense of discretion---a more deft touch---than a
slug-it-out-between-armored-dreadnoughts game.
So, that is the game I have been enjoying over the
last two months or so. It is about to be
offered by Compass Games (link at left), so keep an eye out for its appearance in
the coming months.
