Captain Hans lowered his binoculars, his red eyes blazing from vainly trying to pierce the gray mist. He blinked and scanned the horizon again. There he was, the Englishman creeping out of the fog to attempt another futile assault on GRAF SPEE. Under Southern Skies (USS) is a game combining strategic and tactical levels of naval warfare, with the action taking place on the shipping lanes of the South Atlantic. USS can be played solo or as a two player game. In the two player game, however, many players will feel that the German player does not have enough to do, as there is only one German warship. However, the German side is challenging to play in the strategic version. The mechanics of the game start out bearing a resemblance to an earlier SSI game, Pursuit of the Graf Spee. Once you get to the tactical screen, however, there is a big difference.
USS has added a silhouette for both the attacking ship and its target and a radar screen to show the relative positions of the ships in combat. When there is an air raid, the screen shows the planes moving towards the GRAF SPEE silhouette. When the ships sink, the screen shows an explosion in the silhouette of the target. USS also allows players to set the game within a more flexible time frame than the previous, more historically linked game. USS is extremely interesting and challenging to play. However, it has some problems. Many of the game’s problems start in weak documentation. For example, the documentation for the operational commands does not tell German NOT to write the parentheses around the x, y coordinates when the message for Order 5 is given with the x and y in parentheses. In our first game, a German captain spent almost half an hour trying to get the show to do his bidding. A similar misunderstanding arises in the tactical rules. Using the expression in parentheses (Graf Spee only) after command 4.1.3 (Fire Primary and Secondary Weapons) makes it appear that the only weaponry available to the Allied player is their torpedoes.
I was too hesitant to use my primary weapons during my first game because I didn’t think my projectiles could penetrate the armor of the Graf Spee. The parentheses should only follow the 4.1.2 command. A more important problem than documentation is encountered when playing the tactical part of the game. If a ship’s bridge is hit and takes maximum damage, control of the ship is assumed to transfer to the aft tower. However, the program has no command to allow this procedure to be carried out. If the allied player orders the ship to stay on course, it is told that it cannot do so due to the loss of the bridge.
If you try to change course, you won’t be able to either, of course. Unfortunately, the only command that works in this situation is to disconnect. This is a frustrating mistake, as I often prefer to sink than disconnect in tactical battle. The strategic tips on page 14 of the documentation are generally helpful. The German will usually be able to elude the British by avoiding high-density coastal areas. The Allied player should keep in mind, however, that since fuel availability plays an important factor in the game, it is important to patrol the neutral ports. In tactical play, the book is correct in suggesting an aggressive offensive stance. The Ally should follow the tradition suggested by NELSON, but remember to change course at least ten degrees after Graf Spee shoots you. This will make the German captain have to re-aim his weapons. While allowing the Allied player to keep their overall vector aimed at the Graf Spee throughout tactical play.
USS is a fascinating game. As a fan of miniatures, I have always been interested in games that involve “blind play” and USS does a very good job of this (Exception: once the Allied Commodore orders an air strike, the alert German captain will know where the Allied ships are, since the program does not erase positions at that particular point. However, once the Allied Commodore is in that position, it most likely doesn’t matter what the German captain knows about enemy positions) . In fact, the strategic play of USS could serve as a very good referee for a miniature campaign in the South Atlantic. In that case, of course, the letters representing various ships on the strategy screen could also represent task forces. It would certainly save a lot of work on the books by allowing USS to arbitrate the strategic move.
USS has some relatively minor issues like those listed above, but it makes up for them in graphical presentation. As a visiting friend who played the game said: “You really feel like you’re at the ‘Con.’ USS is a versatile, interesting, and challenging game if one is willing to overlook misspellings, an occasional visible line number from the program, and the flaws mentioned above.