Game of Drones társasjáték

Angol leírás

The high-pitched whine of an incoming FPV drone has become the modernday equivalent of the Stuka siren from the Second World War. From out of a clear blue sky, a drone appears, traveling so fast that it nearly outpaces the noise of its electric motors. When Russian soldiers first hear an FPV drone diving to attack, they have mere seconds to live.

Game of Drones is a solitaire wargame about Ukraine’s front line Drone Teams. It is set in Summer 2024. In other words, it is about current events rather than history. Game of Drones™ is a Trademark of Thomas Van Hare & Historic Wings.

The game depicts the experience of commanding a Drone Team. You are in charge of a four-person team of both men and women consisting of a Drone Pilot, the role you play as the team commander; a Navigator, who guides FPV drones and drone bombers to their targets; a Sapper, who is an explosives expert; and a Driver, who also provides security and offers general support to the unit.

You will name your Drone Team and each of its members. You will organize your operations, equip your team, and deploy to the Zero Line (or "Contact Line"). You will coordinate with the Brigade Commander of the unit to which you are assigned. You will perform reconnaissance and artillery direction with Reconnaissance Drones, deep strike with your Drone Bombers, and conduct attack missions with your FPV Drones as you remotely fly them into targets as seen through VR goggles.

You may encounter Russian Drone Teams, who will hunt you even as you hunt them. You may be discovered and targeted by Russian artillery, Grad rockets, and even FAB-500 aviation bombs.

Your Drone Team will deploy into combat for three months. In each month, different challenges will emerge. These will closely mirror the evolving situation of the war during the time depicted in the game – from June through August 2024. In the final month, your Drone Team will deploy to support Ukraine’s invasion of Kursk.

Every effort has been made to make this game as realistic as possible. Multiple unclassified sources were reviewed. Extensive research into open-source material was done. Interviews with drone pilots and team members were accomplished. Their collected experiences form the heart of this game. It provides an accurate, true-to-life experience of what it means to command a Drone Team in Ukraine today.

Game of Drones is a narrative-style wargame. For those unfamiliar with this form of a game, it means that the experiences you create while playing the game are so realistic that you can keep a narrative diary of your successes, failures, trials, and tribulations. Writing the narrative forms the core of your wargaming experience. Yet for those who do not wish to write, the game can be played without keeping a narrative diary. It is not a "roll and write" game, but a full-featured wargame in book form.

You will learn about the war in Ukraine (and in Russia). You will recognize the hardships, challenges, and risks faced by Drone Teams while carrying out their duties. You will learn what it means to take risks – and suffer the consequences of bad decisions.

You will encounter Russian tanks – ranging from T-90s and T-80s to T-72s and T-64s, as well as the infamous (notoriously bad) “Shed Tanks”. You will encounter towed artillery, self-propelled artillery, rocket artillery (Grads), mortar teams, Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) like BMPs, Armored Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) like BTRs and MT-LBs, specialist equipment and air defense vehicles, and logistics and support vehicles like KamAZ trucks, UAZ "Bukhanka" ("Loaf") vans, motorcycle infantry, and Chinese-made golf carts loaded with Russian troops.

Victory requires you to operate aggressively and boldly. You will fly Reconnaissance quadcopters and Baba Yaga drones as bombers. You will conduct pinpoint attacks with FPV drones. To accomplish your missions, you must fly into the teeth of the enemy’s Electronic Warfare (EW) networks and intense jamming.

You will face Russian drones too. They will relentlessly hunt you – if you don’t kill them first. You will be subjected to artillery fire, Grad rockets, tank fire, infantry assault, and – in the worst case – FAB-500 glide bombs dropped from Russian fighter bomber jets.

You must survive. Along the way, you mission is to destroy as many Russians as you can and make it through a three-month deployment during Summer 2024. Only then can you return home for some rest and recuperation before heading out on your next deployment. Good luck!

—description from the designer