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"By Stealth and Sea" is a tactical solitaire or cooperative wargame that takes place during the Battle of the Mediterranean in World War II.
In By Stealth and Sea, you lead elements of an Italian commando frogmen unit called Decima Flottiglia MAS. Under your command, teams of frogmen will pilot manned torpedoes in attacks against the Royal Navy in the heavily guarded harbors of Gibraltar, Algiers, and Alexandria.
By Stealth and Sea’s campaign system features all nine key historic manned torpedo attacks by the Decima Flottiglia MAS against the Royal Navy. During the campaign, you can advance your technology and train your frogmen. But the Royal Navy responds to successful attacks by improving their defenses.
The remarkable accomplishments of the Decima Flottiglia MAS served as a model for other special forces assault units for years after World War II. Will you be able to match these historic results? Or will you succumb to the defenses of the Royal Navy?
Object of the GameYou score points based on the type of naval vessels and support ships you sink. Points scored during a mission can be used to advance your technology and train your operators for future missions. Your goal for the campaign is to meet or exceed the historical accomplishments of the manned torpedo operators of the Decima Flottiglia MAS.
GameplayBy Stealth and Sea is divided into turns. Each turn consists of the following phases:
Fault Check Phase: Check to see if there is a fault.
Manned Torpedo Phase: Each manned torpedo uses two action points.
Harbor Defense Phase: Harbor defenses respond to manned torpedos.
Clean-up Phase: Prepare for the next round.
—description from the publisher
List of ship counters in the gameLink — https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2546719/article/36347007#36...
- Marvelous game
- Great for introducing people to wargaming
- Astounding sense of history
- Tense and riveting gameplay
- Dynamic campaign where frogmen gain experience
- Very accessible rule set, learnable on your own
- Great cooperative experience
- First mission is very hard and historically accurate, may cause initial failure.
- Italian frogmen on missions in the Mediterranean
- World War II
- Dynamic Campaign
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- campaign system — dynamic campaign
- Character progression — your frogman can gain experience, be carried over to the next missions
- cooperative play — It's great as cooperative.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Access and Allies. So, uh, this is this game doesn't really need any introduction, but I've heard so many good things about it. I think it does meet a lot of the qualifications and criteria that we established as a war game and as an introductory war game for this list. Just haven't had time and made time to play it yet. I think it could have a very high spot on the list.
- David Thompson has been on the list a lot. He makes fantastically accessible war games. So, anything that he creates, I think is a candidate for this list.
- John Butterfield is a fantastic designer and this is a area control.
- John Butterfield designed some just amazing stuff.
- This is a game that might not fit into the classic war game category, but I've heard a number of war gamers say that it's definitely a war game with a lot of war game aspects and it fits probably in that subgenre of games, get the pun, where you are playing the role of a plane or a tank or a submarine or a ship and going over a campaign.
- War at Sea, if you're not familiar with it, it's an area based naval game that dates back to the 1970s, maybe 1980s.
- This is a game set in World War II where you take charge of female Russian pilots. This is based in actual history that run various aircraft missions over the German lines during World War II.
- Worthington does a great job with their production values with games.
- What games did I miss? What games on the list do you like and agree with?
References (from this video)
- high accessibility for new players
- strong visual presentation and theme
- depth of strategy builds with play
- covert naval missions and submarine-style engagements
- World War II naval/undersea operations
- mission-based, high-tension stealth action
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Cooperative Game — Supports solo or cooperative play with shared objectives; players can work together or learn by watching/teaching.
- short play sessions — Designed for concise plays that still convey strategic depth; accessible for beginners but with meaningful choice.
- solitaire/cooperative play — Supports solo or cooperative play with shared objectives; players can work together or learn by watching/teaching.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is one of the finest introductory war games I've encountered
- solitaire games are great to play as introductory war games if you play them cooperatively with somebody else
- it's easy to learn, it's got great balance, it's fun to play, the design is elegant, the map is beautiful
- this game is 5th Century BCE; the Persian Empire is trying to take over the Greek city-states
- it's very beginner friendly, you can learn it really fast
- the range and the way the Machine Gun Works and lines of sight and things like that are handled very elegantly
References (from this video)
- Historically grounded campaigns
- Strong, tense tension in missions
- Niche subject matter may limit appeal
- special operations and sabotage at sea
- Italian frogmen in World War II
- tension-filled, mission-based scenarios
- Purple Haze
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- historical mission campaign — scenarios derived from actual missions with tense outcomes
- Scenario / Mission / Campaign Game — scenarios derived from actual missions with tense outcomes
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- D-Day at Omaha Beach is the king of my top soliter war games.
- This is a masterful game that combines all of those genres into amazing storytelling experience that is just so much fun to go through.
- The stories that the game generates are outstanding.