Raiders of the Deep Solitaire Campaign | Episode 1 | August 1914 | WW1 U-Boat Board Game

[@Beery1962]

Ian Cooper (RotD designer) here. Great patrol! A nail biter - I thought you were in serious trouble a couple of times, but you finally got that ship! This is the first time I've seen the "Reivers of the Sea" mod - it really does work well, and adds a lot to the game. Your enthusiasm for the games you play really shines through in your videos. You have a great channel here, and I wish you all the best with it!

[@wildape3210]

Great game design sir! I hope to get it soon!

[@Beery1962]

@@wildape3210 Thanks, but I must admit the bulk of the game design is Greg Smith's from "The Hunters". I merely adapted his design to model the U-boats, the tactics, and the rather different political situation, of WWI.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks for the kind words and you are selling your efforts short here. You've done a fantastic job with this. The subtle (see what I did there?) enhancements really shine through. :)

[@duncanrae466]

"Sir, a Malachite class freighter was sunk off the coast of scotland this afternoon. To the captains credit he stalled until the escort arrived and bought another day of sailing but the kraut was crafty and pursued undetected until they were able to put two fish in her broadside. Minimal crew survivors, all cargo lost. 700 tons in vessel and goods. We surmise the escort pushed sub deeper toward the atlantic because the same escourt found a U5 class in sub-nets on the west coast of Ireland. The egg heads in logistics are trying to figure out how they got out that far but are coming up empty so far. The escort rammed her but didn't do enough damage to sink her and she got away."

[@ZillaBlitz]

Great summary! I can see that being the start of a solid written AAR. :)

[@coyi51]

That went well, issue everywhere but managed to sink a ship and get home safely, a fine start to you career. Many thanks

[@ZillaBlitz]

Yes, I'll definitely take it. Not a lot of targets out there at this point in the war, so anytime we can sink something on these first few patrols I'll take it. :)

[@Indypackrat]

I don't know what it is about solo war games in submarine warfare but they hit so hard. It's gonna be a fun ride

[@ZillaBlitz]

I think part of it, for me, is the ultimate nature of each encounter. Chances are only one of you is going to walk away alive.

[@cormacfitzgeoffrey2734]

Great writeup - love your enthusiasm!

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks very much. :)

[@thecustardprophet8434]

A pretty eventful initial patrol!

[@ZillaBlitz]

Yeah, it was quiet the first half then everything went all crazy after that. We were lucky on that submarine net. That could have been career ending.

[@YOUPIMatin123]

Your playlist is all over the place

[@ZillaBlitz]

Oh, yeah, you're right. That's weird. Fixed it all up, thanks for pointing it out. :)

[@YOUPIMatin123]

@@ZillaBlitz my absolute pleasure sir - love those series / game

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks!

[@wayneclingman689]

Key is good dice rolls ! Be sure to give the Cat treats

[@ZillaBlitz]

The snake eyes on the first patrol is kind of a bad omen there. :)

[@dansmith7617]

That was a fun and unexpected mission! I really think that fan addition gives even more interest. Definitely worth it. Love these kinds of games. I can see you do have choices like distance from target, follow or not, wait for dark or not etc. Cool! I hope Fritz von Blitz makes it... -Dan

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks! That's definitely one of the fun elements of these games, you just never know which way things will go. Some a great successes, some are catastrophic, and sometimes nothing happens. Really fun game. :)

[@michaelkoznarsky7911]

Nice one Zilla. Happy hunting on your next cruise.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks! Early war is tough, I'm happy with came away with something. :)

[@SoloBattles]

Very cool! Great narrative.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks, I'm happy we finally got that Malachite. :)

[@allynvannoy4743]

Captain, you had me worried during our first patrol. Be aggressive, but try to minimize mistakes. Lt. Allenstein.

[@ZillaBlitz]

It's good that we stared death in the eyes and walked away, but yes, survival will require walking a fine line between boldness and caution. :)

[@scotwilliams803]

We were celebrating our first sinking and the schnapps flowed a little too freely to notice the submarine nets out in the depths. Won’t happen again Commander- 1WO von Williams

[@ZillaBlitz]

It's perfectly okay, 1st Watch Officer. We've taken a good hit from the enemy and the end result is that our crew is now steeled for combat. :)

[@russelllipscombe6614]

Great video. I think it is pronounced Malakite

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks!

[@billcedarheath387]

@@ZillaBlitz He is correct with the pronunciation. It is a type of mineral.

[@jonsmith9518]

Nobody covers these types of games better than you. You turned me on the Hunters series and Save South Vietnam. Some of my fave games. Now I have to get this too. I’d love to see you do Zeppelin Raider. Not sure if it’s on your radar? Looking forward to part 2. Cheers.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks very much, Jon! Yes, Zeppelin Raider is a game I'll be looking at on the channel when the new printing comes out. :)

[@BrianMarcus-nz7cs]

​@@ZillaBlitz first edition maps are nicer,,,, just folded ,,,, U can always mount them a la Avalon hill ,

[@leee.5841]

Like your enthusiasm. :)

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks, it's a fun game. :)

[@wildape3210]

I'm fuming as a Silent War game vet that the Ww1 torpedoes were more effective. Definitely putting RofD on my must buy list. Greg Smith mentioned that the RotD designer is an historical expert on WW1 and helped him with Western Front Ace. I don't doubt that the torpedo effectiveness is accurate, but the Silent War vets know the misery of the dud torpedoes sending many crews to the bottom even after hitting the target. I enjoyed the playthrough! Kudos to the targeting and engineer officers.

[@ZillaBlitz]

It really is remarkable how bad the US torpedoes were at the start of WW2. :)

[@twhanmer]

Oh boy I was worried I wasn't gonna be able to fix it!!!

[@ZillaBlitz]

That's a great thing to get fixed too. Having those not functional can be quite deadly. Nice work, engineer!

[@trekanbelluvitsh]

Eventful first "Feindfahrt" (german for "U-Boat patrol"). It is not that easy to be an Ace... Nice video, good story told. 👍

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks! It started out quiet and then picked up in those last two zones. Although I'd be happy if we could stay out of submarine nets in the future. :)

[@marknelms8694]

Man, I thought I was a dead Doc there for a few minutes!

[@ZillaBlitz]

That ramming was a bit dicey, that's for sure. But good we got our first kill and took our first hits. :)

[@duncanrae466]

Mal uh kite - green mineral

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks! My default Japanese pronunciation failed me. :)

[@g3air3]

nicely done!

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks! Always nice to have a bit of luck too! :)

[@e-4airman124]

fun game

[@ZillaBlitz]

It's all fun and games until a destroyer splits you in half. ;)

[@patrickols]

Pretty difficult first patrol but only because of your mistake of going one extra patrol zone. Enjoy the game, I actually find it more interesting than the WWII version because of the special conditions that was WWI

[@ZillaBlitz]

It was sure helpful not to have depth charges this patrol. We might have been finished if we got depth charged after getting caught in the nets and losing our dive planes.

[@ParkeraNZ]

Nice first patrol with some success, love it! Tbh not sold on the submarine net roll being apart of a patrol zone as an option (It actually took me out of the experience abit) as it makes zero sense! These were used coastally and close to ports etc not in the middle of the Nth Atlantic so maybe imo something the dev should look at changing up?

[@ZillaBlitz]

I'm thinking that maybe the patrol zones include the coastal areas too. So even though the box is in the ocean, perhaps we went up by the coast to see if we could find a target.

[@michaelstearnes1526]

I could be wrong but I believe any freighter 1000 tons or less requires only one damage point to sink.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Hmm. I just checked the rules and counters, but don't seem to see anything that indicates it would be 1 hit point. Any chance you have a rules reference?

[@michaelstearnes1526]

@@ZillaBlitz you are quite correct it's not in the rules for ROtD. My error. However it's to be found in Silent Victory American Subs in the Pacific. A bit of a mental hiccup on my part. Sorry. Many of the Japanese freighters were less than a thousands tons. It should be adaptable to Raiders. Perhaps Ian Cooper could weigh in on this.

[@ZillaBlitz]

@@michaelstearnes1526 No worries at all. These are easy to get the little bits mixed up among the games. :)

[@nordicmaelstrom4714]

Zilla you're pronouncing the ship name wrong its Mala-kite :D sorry had to mention that. Honestly I feel that you place a sub net where they least expect it much like the Spanish inquisition! No one expects it! I like the addition of the mini game to unescorted ships.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Nope, thanks for mentioning it. My default Japanese pronunciation failed me. :) I'm thinking that perhaps the patrol zones include the coastal areas nearby. :)

[@nordicmaelstrom4714]

@@ZillaBlitz You have better temperament than I have Zilla. Id of slammed two torpedoes into the freighter immediately after it refused to surrender. I haven't got time to mess around with thickheaded captains who don't know when they're cooked lol.

[@ZillaBlitz]

@@nordicmaelstrom4714 Yeah, there is a chance if we come close to crossing the line about the Cruiser Rules that we could get called to an inquiry and suffer consequences because of it. If the prize were bigger, maybe I'd push it, but at this point for such a small fish it seemed a bit not worth the risk. We get a big ship that messes with us like that though, and we might just rip it apart. :)

[@nordicmaelstrom4714]

@@ZillaBlitz Id argue before such a board of inquiry that I gave the opposing captain a chance to strike his colors and he refused. I therefore deemed it beneficial to the safety of my crew to torpedo the ship. I do like that mini game that really makes the narrative so much more interesting.

[@earlofdoncaster5018]

Submarine nets defended the mouths of harbours.

[@ZillaBlitz]

Right, so what's it doing way out in the Atlantic? But perhaps we were near the coast?

[@earlofdoncaster5018]

@@ZillaBlitz Near harbours is where de ships at

[@djj0520]

What software do you use to edit your videos? Including the ones where you superimpose yourself talking and the dice/charts? And how do you prop up your camera?

[@ZillaBlitz]

Sure thing... I use Final Cut Pro to edit, but I am hoping to switch to Adobe Premiere this year. To superimpose the dice camera I take a second video just of the dice tower, then drop that over the main video. The charts and stuff are just images dropped on top of the main video. For the camera, I use a custom-made slider system with a fluid head attached and/or a stand with a long swivel arm that I position over the game. At some point I'll have to make a video of the set up, it's a bit tricky to grok with just words. :)

[@nicolascarvacho4998]

Great patrol!

[@ZillaBlitz]

I'll take it, for sure! Not a lot of targets around at the moment, so I'm happy we got one! :)

[@nicolascarvacho4998]

If the entire crew survive its enough sjjsjajaajaja

[@Arrogantq]

I love that my town the capitols name before was Christiania and now boring Oslo 😴🇳🇴like why Oslo sounds bad in our own language… Norway should change it back! Ps I really like your content spes ETs2 and ats :)

[@ZillaBlitz]

I've only known it as Oslo but I can see your point. :) And thanks re: the computer specs. :)

[@Arrogantq]

@@ZillaBlitz when we where under the danish king norways capitol was called Christiana 🫶🏼🇳🇴

[@ZillaBlitz]

I see, thanks! :)

[@user-ne1vx7mj1b]

Mala kite

[@ZillaBlitz]

Thanks!