You’ll still have opportunities to make changes to your shipping address before fulfilment if you need to, so don't worry about that!
The Submarine Pens
Protected from bombs by rock and thick walls, the Submarine Pens have so far proven impenetrable to Allied air raids. It seems the best way to cause chaos at this military facility would be to get someone inside. That's where Karl Fairburne comes in!
The Submarine Pens map. Art by David Lanza
One of the first things you notice about the map is the raised walkway, an area of elevated terrain that snakes across the board, offering the sniper and defenders excellent mobility and line of sight to the ground below. However, with access only available through a handful of ladders dotted around its perimeter (or the climbing gear, if you bring that loadout card from the expansion) it's not without its risks. Get caught out of position up there and it could spell disaster for either side!
The elevated walkway - a fast route across the map, but easy to get trapped. The tunnels beneath are illuminated by red lights.
When on the ground, these areas of elevated terrain act as a wall cutting the map in two. Getting between them means either climbing over via the ladders or making use of the two tunnels, a unique space for this map that that lies directly beneath the elevated space above.
The defenders can use this to their advantage, blocking access points and patrolling the narrow walkway to force the sniper to take longer routes or risk taking a shot to remove a troublesome guard. Alternatively, leaving areas open can offer the sniper a route that’s too tempting to pass on, giving you the opportunity to quickly move in for the kill.
The map is also punctuated with pillars, large spaces of impassable terrain that block movement and line of sight. As the defender, these can help you block routes and create chokepoints, while the sniper can sneak around them, hoping that the inaccessible space will keep their opponent from moving next to them and spotting their position or increase the movement required to move in to attack.
The impassable pillars - use them to your advantage!
Finally we have the boat, which fans of the video game might recognize from a certain piece of DLC from SniperElite 4. The narrow route across is risky, but whether the defenders can afford to keep someone guarding the boat throughout the game is another matter. Players who have the Eagle'sNest expansion might be tempted to take the Diving Gear as one of their loadout cards, giving them an extra route on and off the boat if needed.
You don't want to get penned in around objective 5...
As the defenders, the Submarine Pens offers plenty of opportunities to block your opponent in and force them to take drastic action in order to complete their objectives in time, but this relies on you having some idea where the sniper is. If you want to give your enemy a taste of their own medicine, a German Sniper positioned on the elevated walkway can be invaluable offering overwatch for the rest of the map.
For the sniper, a well-timed rock throw could be just what you need to get a persistent unit out of your path. Of course, that distraction could just as easily be a ruse to mislead your opponent. If you’re after something a little less subtle, the Tommy Gun is always handy for clearing out crowded areas if you don’t mind the extra risk of giving your position away.
Some of the objective cards for the Submarine Pens. Card art by Ed Savage.
Would you rather be controlling the defending forces or the sniper on this map? Let us know in the comments below!
Many thanks,
Pete & the Rebellion Unplugged team
Pledge Manager, Printing, and a look at the Allies!
over 2 years ago
– Fri, Sep 03, 2021 at 12:57:51 AM
Hey all,
Today we’re taking a closer look at the Allies, one of the modular expansions included in Sniper Elite: Eagle’s Nest. Before we jump into that, we’ve got a couple of important project updates for you.
Printing Update – Final files heading over to the printers
We’re sending the last few files over to the printers this week, which means mass-production of the paper and card components will commence later this month. Mass-production on the miniatures and all other non-printed components is already well underway.
We’ll post another update next week once all the files are with the printers!
Pledge Manager closing 30 September
Thank you everyone for sending in your responses to the surveys. We’ve had over 80% of them in, but for those of you who haven’t responded yet we’ll be locking in your orders at the end of this month (30 September).
To check on your pledge and make any changes, you can head on over to BackerKit using the email address associated with your Kickstarter account. Don't worry, you’ll still have time to make changes to your shipping address before fulfilment if you need to!
The Allies
Now, onto the Allies. These alternate characters each have their own unique abilities and bag compositions, keeping the defenders on their toes and giving the sniper new playstyles to master.
Let’s take a look at them in more detail.
Alternate Karl - Sniper Elite
If you’re looking to blow your opponents away with expert marksmanship, the Karl variant is the character for you. His shot bag is stacked from the get-go, giving you a whopping 7 hit tokens and dropping the number of recoil tokens down to just 1.
This gives him the best starting accuracy of any of the Allies, but that’s not all this alternate Karl brings to the table. If he doesn’t move he can shoot twice in one turn – bad news for any guards who get caught out in the open.
This does all come at a cost though. Whilst his high-powered rifle is great for eliminating threats from a distance, it lacks subtlety when up-close and personal. When firing at targets 2 or fewer spaces away from you, you have to add a noise token to your bag after taking the shot, making future shots more difficult and giving your opponents valuable information.
Jun - Zombie Army 4
Jun brings a little bit of Weird War II to your games of Sniper Elite: The Board Game. Coming over from Zombie Army 4, she’s more familiar with fighting zombies than soldiers, but her Modified Mosin-Nagant seems to work just as well regardless of the target.
Firing electrified bullets, Jun’s rifle has the potential to take out multiple enemies with a single shot as the energy arcs to any units adjacent to the target. Officers who decide to group up their squads when up against this Sniper really are just asking for trouble…
Unsurprisingly, it isn’t all good news for Jun. For each additional unit removed, she must add a noise token to her shot bag instead of a hit/suppression token. Some of those combos might look appealing, but your shot bag could get unmanageable pretty quickly if you aren’t careful!
Roza - Sniper Elite
Another familiar face for Sniper Elite players, Roza is the perfect option for anyone looking to put the emphasis on stealth as they dart across the board towards their objectives. She brings the Delisle Carbine with her, boasting an integrated suppressor that will hopefully keep her opponents guessing as to where she could be.
Her shot bag starts with only 1 noise token, so there’s no chance of giving yourself away in the early game by drawing two noise tokens when you take a shot. The downside is the reduced range – Roza can draw a maximum of 5 tokens when taking a shot. It’s far less likely for the enemy to pinpoint your exact position by you drawing 2 noise tokens, but they’ll have a good idea of the areas you could possibly be in.
Major Eazy - Battle Comics
Major Eazy never really bought into the whole “stealth” idea. He was brought in to do a job, and he’s going to do it his way.
His starting shot bag has 3 Hit, 3 Noise, and 3 Recoil tokens, which at first glance looks pretty hard to work with. However, his unique ability means that Noise tokens also count as Hit tokens when shooting. You’ve got a pretty decent chance of successfully taking out your enemy, even if you’re more likely to give yourself away in the process (it’s gotta be harder to hide from your enemies if you insist on smoking a cigar all the time anyway).
Some advice for the defenders - if Major Eazy is on the battlefield, you're probably going to want to bring the Medic.
Which of the Allies are you most excited to try? Let us know in the comments section below!
Many thanks,
Pete & the Rebellion Unplugged Team
Going Solo in Sniper Elite: The Board Game
almost 3 years ago
– Tue, Aug 03, 2021 at 02:11:06 AM
Hey all,
Hope everyone is having a great week!
Today’s update is one many of you have requested – a look at the solo mode for Sniper Elite, designed by Dávid Turczi and Noralie Lubbers.
When playing with friends, Sniper Elite is a tense game of deduction and deception, with the Sniper trying to outfox their opponents and the Defending Forces trying not to fall for their bluffs.
In the Solo game, the focus changes. You won’t need to trick your opponent, but you will need to carefully plan your turns and anticipate the actions they are most likely to take.
As in the multiplayer game, you’ll secure victory if you complete your 2 objectives before time runs out. The Solo deck acts as the round counter for you, with your automated opponent winning if the deck runs out or if you take two wounds.
Before delving into the mechanics of the solo mode, let’s take a look at the solo board. This is found on the reverse of the round counter, and acts as a dashboard for predicting and influencing the Defenders’ actions
The Solo Board
There are three slots for cards, marked with either one, two, or three chevrons; the first two slots will have a face up card placed on them, while the third will hold a face down card:
The cards on the board dictate the possible actions the Defenders can take, and will be randomly selected by rolling the solo die. This has three sides with a single chevron, two with two chevrons, and a single side with three chevrons, meaning the card to the left is the most likely to be selected and the card to the right is the least.
You have a good idea of how the enemy might act on their turn, but you’re never certain. Allied intelligence can only get you so far.
New Concepts
There are two new concepts that come into play with the Solo game. Firstly, we have the Last Known Sector, or LKS, which relates to the four sectors on each map. Throughout the game there are various actions you and the Defenders will take which will update your LKS. This is the area the enemy thinks you are hiding in, so they are more likely to advance towards these positions in the hope of hunting you down.
The other new concept is Remaining Objectives. When not hunting you down, the Defenders will be attempting to stop you from reaching these crucial locations. As the game progresses, there will be times when you mark off objectives which cannot be your targets this game, either due to a card from the solo deck or after completing or looting an objective. This means the enemy is more likely to be blocking your route to the objectives you are after rather than taking a leisurely stroll at the other side of the map.
The Sniper’s Turn
As the sniper your turn is near identical to the multiplayer game, choosing to move, shoot OR loot OR complete an objective, and optionally using one piece of equipment from your loadout in any order.
When moving, you can still either sneak a single space, or run up to three spaces. However when running, adjacent guards no longer hear a noise. Instead, if you run and remain in the LKS you will get one noise token, while if you run and end your turn outside the LKS you must update it to match your new sector. The guards have pretty keen ears!
When shooting, each noise token you draw will cause the nearest enemy (other than your target) to move one space closer to you. If any Defenders reach your space or an adjacent space this way, it’s bad news. They really don’t like you shooting their squad-mates.
Finally, there are your objectives. After you complete your first objective, a number of things happen. Firstly, you add a noise token from the supply to your shot bag and shuffle the discarded Defender cards into the draw deck, effectively resetting the round counter and giving you more time to complete your second objective.
Next, you mark off any Remaining Objectives within the same sector as the one you just completed – your enemy knows you won’t be heading to any of these. Finally, for each Remaining Objective you will reposition the guard furthest from you onto that space, concentrating their forces in the areas you will be heading to next. Hopefully you can outsmart them again!
The Defender’s Turn
Once you have finished your turn, the Defenders will strike. Roll the solo die and resolve the card in the corresponding slot on the solo board.
Some sample Solo Cards
Each card relays orders to the Defenders. Some relate to the Remaining Objectives, some to the Last Known Sector, and some are general actions the soldiers will take as they attempt to track you down. There are also Assignments, which will reposition units from across the board to the sector you are currently in – just when you think you’ve got the better of them, they charge right back at you!
What happens if a guard does find you? Well, that depends on which action they are taking. Some, such as the “Search” or “Spot” action, will cause you to take one hit if you are within range, while the “Attack” action will deal two. You’ll also want to be wary of staying too close to the enemy – if you finish your turn adjacent to one of the Defenders, or if they move onto you space, that’s another hit coming your way!
When you take a hit, you’ll be adding tokens to your shot back from a stack of Recoil and Noise tokens you created at the start of the game. This is your health – once it is fully depleted you’ll be wounded, and if you run out a second time then you’ll be killed, losing the game. Successful shots against the enemy can allow you to return some of the tokens you have gained as damage back to this stack – panic among the Defenders giving you a moment to focus.
Once you have resolved the Defender’s turn, slide the remaining cards to the left to fill the empty slot and draw a new card into the right-most slot. If the card you resolved was face-down, place the new card face down too – there’s always a nasty surprise ahead.
Variety is the spice of life
Each of the maps in the game has been designed to provide the Sniper and the Defenders with new challenges, rewarding players who can adapt their tactics as the game unfolds. To reflect this in the solo game, each map has a set of unique cards that are shuffled into the solo deck to capture the feel of that specific setting.
This means that depending on which map you play you’ll be facing different threats from your automated opponent. In the Submarine Pens if you are out in the open you could find your position illuminated by the Spotlights, while at the Heavy Water Facility you must be wary of the possibility of Counter Snipers firing from the clifftops. With the Launch Facility, some cards focus the Defenders on the buildings littered around the compound, but out in the open you’ll need to be watch out for Axis marksmen. At the Eagle’s Nest, Hall Patrols keep your enemies moving around the board, closing in on you in the congested corridors and small rooms of the mountain retreat.
With a unique experience from each map, we’re sure that solo players will find plenty to dig their teeth into.
For our next update we’re going to be looking at the Allied Snipers, one of the expansions included in the Eagle’s Nest, so keep an eye out for that!
Many thanks,
Pete & the Rebellion Unplugged team
Exploring the Launch Facility with designer Roger Tankersley
almost 3 years ago
– Fri, Jun 18, 2021 at 01:23:30 AM
Hey all,
Hope you are all having a great week!
We've got something a bit different for this update, with Roger Tankersley joining us to give a fascinating insight into how he created the Launch Facility map with co-designer David Thompson. Enjoy!
***
Karl crouched in the shadows near the warehouse, peeking around crates to the road beyond. He saw the missile research building—and the guard watching the door. “Too hard a shot from here, gotta reposition.” He moved beyond the train cars onto the edge of the road, took aim and fired. The guard dropped but a nearby officer heard the shot. Karl sprinted across the road and headed for the alley leading to the research building back door. Maybe he could get there in time…..
When David and I started designing a hidden-movement board game based on Sniper Elite, we knew the board designs would make or break the game. We thought about hidden movement games that used point-to-point movement to create clear routes between objectives. One of our favorites used a continuous grid system of same-size spaces, allowing more freedom of movement. How could we make Sniper Elite stand-out among these classics?
Right away we wanted the board design to capture shot difficulty and movement speed in the shape and size of the spaces themselves. We wanted to avoid fiddly rules like ‘if moving through a building’ or ‘if shooting around obstacles.’ Pretty quickly we landed on the idea of variable size spaces. Large, open areas with large spaces that let the sniper player take shots from across the map, or cover large distances in only a couple of moves. Small, claustrophobic areas like alleys and building interiors with smaller spaces that slowed movement and made shots more difficult. We built the game around this core design decision.
I like to start with theme and then layer-on mechanics. So like every kid playing with toy soldiers, I grabbed some crayons and a sheet of paper!
The first draft of the Launch Facility board
We wanted to evoke the Peenemünde Army Research center, where V2 rockets were developed and tested. For Sniper Elite we used the research center to get an idea of the types of buildings and objectives we should include and then built a board tailored to hidden movement. We quickly iterated to a slightly different scale—the breakthrough came at a time when all I had was literally the back of an envelope! That general arrangement of buildings can still be seen in the final board design.
Planning out the map on the back of an envelope
We tried adding spaces and objectives using a vector-based design program, but it was very difficult to quickly make changes in shape size and arrangement—look at those gaps! Look at all the diagonal corners! A friend of ours, who happens to be a data scientist, taught us to use a spreadsheet to create groups of cells that became our spaces. One huge advantage was the ease of identifying diagonals and changing spaces to remove them (although sharp-eyed readers will see some stray diagonals in this early version). We could also quickly account for number of moves between objectives, areas with long lines of sight, and cluttered alleyways that slowed movement. We iterated many, many times using this system, making sure we got the board exactly right.
Vectors versus Spreadsheets
Art transforms board spaces into places. David and I delivered a near-final board design with descriptions of all the buildings and features and the artists from the Sniper Elite video games brought it to life. We love all the small details in the missile assembly building, the cluttered interior of the warehouse, and the way that lighting around the buildings evokes the feeling of creeping through the shadows.
Board layout with art references
So how does this design affect gameplay? Playing as the sniper, you should quickly identify your first objective and decide on how to get there. You can move quickly through open lanes, alerting defenders but moving past them and darting into the shadows. Or you can move more slowly to avoid detection and surprise the defenders by accomplishing your first objective—and then you better run! As the defenders, it’s important to spread out and block the main lines of movement, so that you will be alerted when the sniper runs by. At some point you will commit to an objective and collapse your defenders to pin the sniper in. Use the doorways and roadways to restrict movement, and force the sniper to make a mistake. Just be sure not to over-commit. It’s a bad feeling to surround objective 4 only to have the sniper complete objective 5!
The Launch Facility Map
We are really happy with how the boards turned out and can’t wait for players to get their hands on them. David and I think we struck a good balance for all playstyles—whether you want to run-and-gun, shooting all the defenders who get in your way; or creep along slowly in the shadows, increasing the tension as you near the time limit of your tenth move. One hallmark of a good hidden-movement game is the tension of both sides feeling “I can’t possibly win this” and we think we’ve hit that mark with our board design!
***
If you've got any questions about the Launch Facility map, let us know in the comments below!
Many thanks,
Pete & the Rebellion Unplugged team
Specialist Spotlight – the German Sniper
almost 3 years ago
– Thu, Jun 10, 2021 at 03:24:59 AM
Hey all,
Thank you to everyone who has completed their BackerKit surveys – there’s still plenty of time to get them done, but just thought I’d give you a gentle reminder in case it had slipped your mind. You can find more details on BackerKit and Late Pledges from this previous update.
In today’s update we’re taking a look at the German Sniper - one of the Specialist Officers unlocked as a stretch goal during the campaign.
Playing as the German Sniper
What could be better than beating the Sniper at his own game? With the German Sniper, twice per game you’ll be able to delve into the shot bag yourself as you attempt to pick off your enemy from a distance.
For this Specialist, positioning is everything. You’ll want to make the most of the added range, but be wary about leaving yourself out in the open, as line of sight goes both ways. Of course, if you are too cautious you may miss that golden opportunity to take the all-important shot.
As with the Jager, this Specialist gives you the opportunity to land both wounds on your opponent in one turn. How aggressive you want to be with this is up to you – do you save your shots for closer to the end of the game in case the situation is desperate, or will the slightest flicker of movement be enough for you to fire?
When taking a shot, you can draw a maximum of seven shot tokens. Unlike the Allied Sniper, you don’t need to be wary of giving away your position, but your rifle can still jam if you draw a combination of 5 noise and recoil tokens. How risky this is will depend on how your opponent is playing.
The German Sniper miniature from the Deluxe Upgrade Kit
Playing against the German Sniper
As the Allied Sniper, you’ll want to outmanouevre your opposite number as best you can. Staying out of line of sight is likely to be your best bet, but you probably won’t be able to stick to the shadows for the whole game. As your enemies close in around you, it will get harder for you to move undetected, so if you do need to move through your opponent’s line of sight try to make their shot as difficult as possible.
It’s also worth remembering that they are working with the same shot bag as you are – your successes will make the enemy Sniper more powerful, but if you have had to add a lot of Noise tokens to the bag then they won’t pose such a threat.
Does the idea of counter-sniping your opponent appeal to you? Let us know in the comments below!
