[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by timbob

I know, I know!

It's the founder of Subsim's (I think) very first "analogue" subsim. A 2 player boardgame he devised - a convoy player, and a submarine player. The submarine was able to move about on the surface (top grid) and underwater (bottom grid), whilst hidden from view of the convoy player, who had to get his ships from one side of the board to the other.

If I recall the article correctly, nobody in his family shared his enthusiasm, complained it had too many rules, and it never got played.

Bingo!! I'm glad people are paying attention
NEAL'S SUBSIM ORIGINAL





About the game:

The rules were simple. Simply overwhelming, that is. In order to make as many facets of the game as realistic as possible, the creator devised an elaborate structure of turn-based conditions and outcomes using dice and cards. The playing board consisted of two sheets of heavy cardboard, 20 inches wide by three feet. The surface of each sheet was marked off in a grid, each grid identified by a letter/number system. One sheet of cardboard had three panels that served as legs, and it stood astride the other creating a two-dimensional playing field. Two players, one a sub skipper and the other an escort commander, competed against each other for oceanic dominance. The game used surface ship and submarine tokens stolen from my Battleship game. The sub
skipper had the option of diving below the surface, which meant he moved his piece to the bottom deck and accessed it from the open side, while the three panels concealed his exact whereabouts from the surface ship player. The escort commander directed the surface ships, usually four merchants and two destroyers, sometimes a battleship as well. Played in turns, this early analog subsim was very dependant on rules.

Congrats to all the winners, I will be announcing the drawings Monday. Thanks for playing the Mystery Subsim Challenge, it has been a lot of fun (and a LOT of work! ).

Good hunting!
Neal

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