Foreword

I first learned of Compass Games' Silent War: The United States' Submarine Campaign Against Imperial Japan, 1941-1945 a couple of years ago, very shortly after I started spending lots of time browsing BGG and other game sites. I imagine that most anyone who's reading these words probably is familiar, at least in passing, with the game. For the completely uninitiated, here's the publisher's synopsis:

Silent War is a solitaire simulation of the United States' Navy submarine war against Imperial Japan in World War Two. You serve as Commander of Submarines, US Pacific Fleet (ComSubPac). Your mission is to deploy your boats with maximum effect to destroy Japanese shipping, while limiting your own submarine losses.

Featured scenarios cover actions ranging from famous short single sub patrols, through small campaigns of about a year of the war, ending with the grand campaign covering the entire Pacific War....