The Hunt Review

boardgamequest.com:

We review The Hunt, a two player, asymmetrical war game published by 25th Century Games. In The Hunt, one player controls a German submarine trying to seek freighter ships of the other player.

Entry-level, two-player wargames have recently flooded the market with punchy, meaty titles. From Watergate to the Undaunted series, this once-niche space is turning into a hobby all of its own. With the volume of titles increasing, newer titles are having a tougher time standing out from the crowd.

Can The Hunt do so, or will it sink to the depths of history, forever to be forgotten?

In The Hunt by Matthias Cramer, designer of the aforementioned Watergate, two players will be competing against one another in a tense game of cat-and-mouse. One player plays the British Royal Navy, protecting freight ships as they head towards their destination. The other player plays the German Kriegsmarine whose main purpose is to attack and defeat those freight ships before they can make it to safety.

However, there’s one small wrinkle in this equation: The one German submarine that is used for attacks is not represented on the board; rather, the German player tracks its movements with pencil and paper, making its presence to the British player never fully known.

As the game progresses, players will use the cards in their hand either to activate events or to take more traditional actions base on the card’s point value. The British player’s modus operandi is to find the German submarine by any means necessary. The game ends when the British player discovers the German sub, and the climactic battle takes place. The winner of this battle wins the game.

But in an extra juicy wrinkle, the game can end without a battle ever taking place. If the British player is cunning enough to scare away the German sub for long enough for the freight ships to successfully dock, then the British player wins. However, if the German player is a ruthless huntress and can sink the freight ships before they can