Atlantic Storm Admiral's Edition First Look

[David Heath]

After France fell in 1940, Germany escalated its attacks on merchant convoys that carried war goods across the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans to Great Britain and Russia. Hitler sent U-boats, bombers, and warships against these supply lines hoping to strangle the Allies at sea. However, by the end of 1943 Allied navies had defeated Hitler’s fleet, and his U-boat “wolf packs” were the hunted instead of the hunters.

Atlantic Storm: Admiral’s Edition is the revised version of Ben Knight’s competitive strategy card game Atlantic Storm that recreates the tension and surprise experienced by Allied and Axis sailors during the Battle of the Atlantic from August 1940 through December 1943.

Players fight a battle for each convoy, and each player joins either side in the battle by playing Allied or Axis force cards from his hand. The battle winners keep the convoy and enemy forces as spoils of war. Plenty of table talk makes the game exciting as players negotiate to win the most spoils.

Admiral’s Edition Features

• Tarot-sized force cards
• Added more convoys, and five ways to build Convoy Deck for variety of play
• Revised and added new events and force cards
• Increased chance of fighting each round
• More instances of claiming “fate” against victims
• Special rules for solitaire play
• Regular, team, and chronological versions

 

[BathrobeDave]

Hi all!

I'm incredibly excited that this game is coming back. I was introduced to the Avalon Hill original many moons ago by my now father in-law. No trip to his house was complete without a game of Atlantic storm and I've been looking for years to find a copy of the game for myself that is moderately priced. It was searching once again this week that led me to a post on a gamer forum about LnL rebooting the game.

I did have a few questions based on the first look post.

1. You mentioned additional cargo ships and additional fate encounters in the admiral's edition. Do these additional encounters stay true to the historical accuracy of the original game?

2. What benefits did you find to using tarot sized cards as opposed to the size used in the original game? Have any play testers complained about it feeling awkward?

3. If you're looking for any play testers let me know! Between my father in-law and me I'm sure we could provide a wealth of feedback.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ben Knight]

Hello, readers! I am the designer of Atlantic Storm, and I’d like to provide a little background about the upcoming new edition. The game was first published in 1998 when I was a staff designer at Avalon Hill. In July 2016, I was running the annual Atlantic Storm tournament at World Boardgaming Championships when David Heath introduced himself. He was a new player to the game, and he liked that it still had a core of enthusiastic fans. I briefly described my vision for a new edition, and he explained how Lock ‘n Load could help me realize that vision. So here we are!

I began the re-design by writing down my goals for a new edition. These goals were the basis for my decision-making during the process:

• Don’t deviate too far from the original gameplay
• Correct the factual mistakes
• Make bonus cards easier to play
• Add more instances of fate
• Reduce playing time
• Revise events so a player never loses a turn
• Revise the Force Deck and make it more balanced at start
• Expand and revise the Convoy Deck
• Create rules for solitaire play
• Give the game a fresh look

Feel free to ask about any of those re-design goals, and I’ll explain my approach in more detail. In the meantime, I may post some entries about them even if you don’t ask. Also, if you have never seen the original game, I will happily talk about how it plays.

 

[Ben Knight]

Hi, Dave. I'm glad you and your father-in-law have enjoyed the original game. Yes, it has been out of print for many years.

1. You mentioned additional cargo ships and additional fate encounters in the admiral's edition. Do these additional encounters stay true to the historical accuracy of the original game?

2. What benefits did you find to using tarot sized cards as opposed to the size used in the original game? Have any play testers complained about it feeling awkward?

3. If you're looking for any play testers let me know! Between my father in-law and me I'm sure we could provide a wealth of feedback

1. Yes, all instances of fate in the game are based on historical incidents. Likewise, all forces and convoys are historical. There is so much good material in recorded history that I didn't feel any need to add alternate-history forces to the game.

2. We're still modifying the look of the cards (and the examples provided in David's first post are actually early drafts, not final), but the force cards have so much information on them that it fits better on tarot sized cards. The convoy cards will be normal sized so the two decks have different dimensions. We believe the large size will appeal to many players but, you're right, we can't expect it to please everyone.

 

[Pierre E Massar]

Hello,
As many of us are waiting with bated breath, when is the release date of this very interesting updated game?? With WBC rapidly approaching, I was personally hoping to possibly play it there. Thank you