Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare

Edición en inglés.

The time: late evening
The date: 17 February 1864
The Place: Breach Inlet, South Carolina

Standing in the submarine’s forward hatch, Lieutenant George E. Dixon pulled his cap down and tightened up his oilskin watch coat. The February sea cut through to his bones. This was the third night he ventured from behind Battery Marshall on Sullivan’s Island, and his seven-man crew was grumpy from having had no luck spotting, let alone attacking even one of the Yankee warships blockading Charleston harbor.

Dixon fingered the dented $20 gold piece in his trouser pocket. It was a gift from Queenie, his sweetheart, a keepsake that already earned its place aboard ship. A few months earlier at a wooded tangle of a place called Shiloh, the coin stopped a minie ball from shattering his leg. The dent reminded him how fickle fate and fortune are in this war, and it reminded him of home. He had that coin engraved “Shiloh April 6th, 1862. My life Preserver” and added his initials “G.E.D.”, so sure was he of the coin’s power.

Well, tonight that power was napping. Frustrated and cold, Dixon took one last look to the southeast through his telescope. The weather wasn’t likely to improve and he hoped that this would be the night he and the crew of the “CSS Hunley” would strike a blow against the Yankee blockade.

Here now… was that a light?
There!
And once again, low and to the south-southeast. A light!

He rapped the coin against the hull to startle the men. “Look sharp,” he muttered. Then, in a voice low and tense, he said “Look sharp and prepare to crank!”

Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare is a solitaire board game that casts the player in the role of inventor/entrepreneur in mid-19th century America. The game is set during a historical moment when the business environment has gotten rather dynamic – it is the tumultuous landscape of the American Civil War. The player’s task is to design, build, and put to use a submarine during that war.

Infernal Machine can be played either in scenario form or campaign. In a campaign, you can choose the city or port where the project’s machine shop will be located. Since construction materials and labor costs money, your role as entrepreneur comes into play as you seek out Investors to join your team; their cash will provide the funds that help your Fishboat take shape. As Inventor, your design gives form and substance to the size and shape of your submarine, and to its capabilities. Will it carry a snorkel? Will its prow be an armored ram? Will it have dive planes? Will it push a spar torpedo? Will it be powered by the muscle strength of a crew cranking the propeller or will you install a boiler engine?

To bring blueprints to life, you will need to hire Mechanics, whose engineering expertise keeps the machine’s construction on schedule. Once assembly is complete, your Mechanics can join the crew, using their repair capability to keep the machinery and the vessel running smoothly. Journeymen can also lend a hand on the shop floor and inside the Fishboat, while Sailors bring nautical know-how as well as sheer brawn.

COMPONENTS
    Three Countersheets
    117 Small-size Cards
    49 Regular-size Cards
    One Wooden Block
    41 Wooden Cubes
    Two Mission Boards
    One Tactical Board
    One Gauges Board
    Two Historical Submarines Displays
    Three Playeraids
    Five Booklets
    Three Dice