Swordfish at Taranto & Poor Bloody Infantry – Minden Games Part 1
Swordfish at
Taranto & Poor Bloody Infantry – Minden Games Part 1
Originally this was
going to be two different reviews but the similarities between these two “experience”
games and the fact that Swordfish at Taranto is now listed as Out of Stock, led
me to the decision to do one combined review.
One thing I will
mention now, is that I will not be going into a lot of detail about rules and
tables used in the games. Both of these
games have a lot of tables and charts that are in use as you play. Since some of the components such as the maps
and counters are available online I don’t want to do a disservice to the
publisher and put something out that would result in someone not needing to
actually purchase the rules.
Swordfish at Taranto
Williamson turned and
nodded to his navigator as he began his dive toward the harbor. Jinking to starboard and banking towards two
large warships, he flew 30 feet above the surface, pressing the attack to close
range. They felt the sudden jerk upward
as the torpedo dropped from the plane and the Swordfish began swinging hard to
port and climbing to the safety of the black sky…
Swordfish at Taranto by Minden Games is a small, solitaire,
zip-lock bag game available for about $9.95 in the US and Canada (http://minden_games.homestead.com/). Though as of June 30, 2015 the game is listed
as Out of Stock.
The game was originally part of Panzer Digest #2 which was
published in 2007. It was then
re-released as a zip game in 2012. I
picked it up last year from Minden Games but haven’t had a chance to play it,
until now.
I’m not really sure why I wanted to buy this game. I really know nothing about the attack at
Taranto but for some reason I was intrigued enough to purchase the game. Part of it was that it was a solitaire game
and part was that it was a different publisher and subject matter then I have
played.
The actual attack took place on the night of November 11th
and 12th, 1940. The British
launched Fairey Swordfish aircraft against the Italian ships. While the Italians lost half their capital
ships at once, I have also read that the actual impact on the naval war in the Mediterranean
was negligible. One major influence may
have been the use of aircraft to attack a fleet in harbor. It is felt that the success of this attack
contributed to the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor.
I also like the idea
of a small game that I can play to completion in a short amount of time. I have been gaming for a lot of years
now. I went through a period where I
wanted big, monster games. I wanted
something that would dominate the floor or table for days or weeks. Now that I am married, work full-time, and
have a cat that wants to play too, having something sitting around just isn’t
practical.
Since almost everyone in my area is more into Magic or
Flames of War miniatures than standard wargames, I find myself playing a lot of
solitaire titles. I have always enjoyed
games like B-17, Patton’s Best, and London’s Burning. More recently I have acquired The Hunters and
Picket Duty. I figured that a small
solitaire game would be a nice addition to the collection.
First of all, this game really is small! It comes in a zip lock bag that is approximately
10 inches by 6 inches. The map is about
this size also and the game only has 28 counters (though 3 are blank). It is a great game to play in a small space. It is basically a desktop published
game. The map is on light card and the
counters should really be mounted on something.
If you don’t picking them up could be difficult, though not impossible.
The first thing I did though, despite wanting something
small, was to enlarge the board a bit. I
actually used the photo from Board Game Geek (from the Panzer Digest printing)
and enlarged that. I also scanned the
counters and mounted them on wooden craft tiles from Michaels. Any type of Scrabble type tile would work
though. I did this to have a little big
larger playing area and to have something that I could easily move around as
the game progressed and so that I would have a larger map without it becoming
too large. In the words of Goldilocks, “it
would be just right”.
The game itself poses some interesting questions and
provides the player with a different perspective from most wargames. You are the planner or overall commander for
the operation. Your job is to use the
rule guidelines to put together a plan of attack that will result in the
successful conclusion to your operation.
You will need to decide how many planes are in each wave,
what they are carrying (bombs, flares, or torpedoes), the attack approach, and
the target. Once all of that is done,
the game actually starts. The game
itself is played out by working through the various stages of the attack and
rolling on charts to determine the outcome of events.
One question that I have seen previously about solitaire
games is, “Do I get to make meaningful decisions during the game?” While that statement is a bit ambiguous, I am
guessing that they are asking if they have to do anything important during the
game or are they just along for the ride.
I have often heard complaints about the old Avalon Hill game B-17 –
Queen of the Skies. The criticism is
usually that the game just drives the player along and you really don’t have to
do anything except roll dice. I for one enjoy B-17 so maybe I am the target
audience for a game like that.
Swordfish at Taranto requires a lot of thought in the
planning stages. You need to figure out
all of the various composition of your waves and the targets you will be going
after, before things get rolling. All of
the pilots are individually named but that really plays no part in the
game. Some people may wish to do a “role
playing” type situation though, where you select a pilot to represent you and
if he survives the mission influences your chances to win or lose.
This game reminds me a lot of B-17. While you don’t have to worry about your crew
and the positions of them in the aircraft you are using a lot of charts that
drive the game. Do you have to make a lot of decisions during the game, no. Most decision making will be made in the initial setup steps and that should be about it. The game is about the experience of watching your plan succeed or fail.
At the end of the day, I like this game. The components are nice for a DTP type game, the rules are very well thought out, and the game plays quickly. I admit, a few more decisions during the game might be nice but I had fun getting to the end of the game. To me that is what all of this is about, fun. I don't need a game to be a long, drawn out experience that takes me weeks to play and hours to setup and break down. I want something I enjoy.
If you are looking for a lightweight, fun, solitaire game, and can find it, you may want to pickup Swordfish at Taranto by Minden Games.
Next time - Poor Bloody Infantry. A World War 1 experience game with some similarities to Swordfish at Taranto.
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