LogFAQs > #934589589

28. Captain Sonar (2016)

Category: Team vs Team
Genres: Real-time, hidden movement, player combat
Rules complexity (0 to 7): 4
Game length: 20-30 minutes
Experience: 5-10 games over 3-5 sessions (2016-2018) with 6-8 players
Previous ranks: NR (2016), 24/80 (2018)

Summary - Two teams. Each team represents a submarine crew on a grid-shaped map, trying to sink the other's sub. However, the teams don't know the others' location. The Captain of each team is responsible for directing the sub's movement "North! East!" which charges the sub's weaponry. The Radio Operator listens to the Captain of the opposing team and tracks the other sub's movements to make educated guesses. Charged weapons can be fired at any time to any spot within range. There are two other roles: a First Mate, who does much of the management, and an Engineer, who manages the breakages that cause the subs to resurface (and give info to the opposing team).

Design - There are very few games cooler than Captain Sonar. A giant divider physically blocks one side of the table from the other, which actually insulates you with your crew. The teamwork is vital because it goes in real time; if one person tried to handle multiple roles (other than arguably Captain + First Mate), you'd have a high likelihood of breaking a rule and dealing damage to your own sub. The tension is high because health is low; the game is entirely played as mutual cat-and-mouse.

A lot of fiddliness surrounds the game, which aids thematically, creates roles for involvement, and gives info to the opposing team, which is vital. A sub's motion is restricted by several things, which allow the Radio Operator to zero in: the map has natural barriers, so navigating those causes you to leave a telltale track; a sub can never double back on its tail before it resurfaces; the ship breaks down, so you need to resurface; and of course you can ping your opponent's sub to gain information (though of course, this requires charging your weapons). You can specifically try to locate your opponent's sector (i.e., the box they're in), or you can request "Captain, Sonar!" in which case the opposing captain must play "one truth and one lie" in providing info - a row and/or a column and/or a sector. This scattering of the brain is excellent, like a mix-up card appearing in Jungle Speed.

Experience - My first play of Captain Sonar, at a meetup, was sublime. Playing as captain with an experienced player who enjoyed being first mate, it was incredibly evocative of actually being submerged and having to trust people around me. Round and round we meant, with communications coming in from the left about our systems (both breakages and charging), from the right about where we thought the enemy sub was, and from across the table questioning our location...

Like Specter Ops, though, I've never really had another session with quite that same level of immersion. Have had a lot of fun (and a few duds), but that level of immersion might have been as much the player as the game. Nonetheless, Captain Sonar definitely always feels like an event, and an achievement just to have gotten to the table. It's adrenaline-pumping and exciting... except those times when the Captains have quieter voices.

Future - Unfortunately, it's hard to envision when Captain Sonar will next hit the table, because eight is the ideal count, and it's hard to get that number of players together for this game anytime soon. Nonetheless, if the ideal circumstances arise again, there are few games I'd rather play over it, if only to see if that magic can be recaptured.
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yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness