Siberian Manhunt: Deluxe Edition (EN)

From Dangerous Games:

Siberian Manhunt is an asymmetrical hidden movement game for 2 players. Player One takes the role of a U-2 spy plane pilot ("The Fugitive")  who has crashed behind enemy lines in Siberia and must escape across the border into China. The Fugitive must use their wits to navigate the dangerous landscape, survive encounters with predatory animals, and avoid starvation and hypothermia, all while being pursued by the KGB. Do they dare enter towns, risking detection by the local authorities, or will they strike out into the wilds and rely on their wilderness survival skills to stay alive?

Player Two is a Soviet General ("The Government") assigned to capture or kill The Fugitive. At their disposal is the full might of the USSR: KGB officers  and Yakut trackers, the Red Army, aerial searches, road blocks, and propaganda campaigns. But the Soviet government is fickle and not all Russians are loyal communists — and sometimes the hunted is deadlier than the hunter.

Gameplay:

The game is played over multiple rounds until one player wins. Each side spends energy - the currency of the game - to perform actions, but how they obtain energy is different.

The Fugitive gains energy at the start of their turn: 1 if they are in the wilderness and maximum energy if they start in a town. They must also search for food to keep their energy up during their turn and chain together action combos. They spend their energy on various actions, including moving, crafting, searching for items, and interacting with local people and wildlife.

Every move they take is secret, but how far they've travelled is recorded on the Hidden Movement Track. If they can make it to the end the track, The Government will give up the pursuit — a secondary win condition.

The Government's energy is equal to the number of agents they have on the board, incentivizing them to recruit new KGB officers as quickly as possible.

The Soviets spend their energy on moving and searching, attacking or attempting to capture the fugitive, deploying the Red Army, upgrading their KGB officers to powerful Yakut Trackers, or leveraging a variety of government assistance cards. 

At the end of The Government's turn, the season tracker advances — in Siberia, winter is always coming!

Historical Note:

As the Cold War ramped up during the 1950s, the United States Air Force commissioned the development of the Lockheed U-2 spy plane to provide reconnaissance over the Soviet Union. Nicknamed the “Dragon Lady”, the U-2 could fly near the edge of space at 70,000 ft., beyond the known limits of Soviet radar and missiles, while its onboard camera systems snapped high resolution photographs of the ground below.

The plane was notoriously difficult to fly. At 70,000 ft. the margin between its stall speed and never-exceed speed was only 10 knots (19 km/h); breaching either limit would cause the airflow to separate from its wings or tail. Due to the low air density, pilots had to wrestle with the controls to achieve their desired response from the aircraft. The cockpits were cramped and the flights were long, often over 8 hours. Pilots spent that time living in a semi-pressurized space suit, sucking their liquified meals through a tube.

When the Air Force and CIA began U-2 overflights of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the late ‘50s, it was immediately clear that the Soviet radar systems could, in fact, track the U-2. The Soviets issued diplomatic protests over the violations of their airspace, but since their MiG-15s and -17s could not climb to the same altitude, they were unable to intercept the reconnaissance planes.

Then on May 1, 1960, the CIA launched “Operation GRAND SLAM”, an ambitious U-2 flight from Pakistan over western U.S.S.R. to Norway. The pilot was Francis Gary Powers, the most experienced U-2 pilot with over 27 missions under his belt. The Soviets began tracking his plane even before it crossed their border. Four hours into the flight, they launched a barrage of newly-developed surface-to-air missiles (SAM SA-2s) at the U-2. One SA-2 exploded behind the plane at 70,500 ft., badly damaging the aircraft. As the U-2 spiraled from the sky, Powers managed to open the canopy and escape, parachuting safely to the ground. He was picked up almost immediately by Soviet forces. He spent the first 3 months in solitary confinement at Lubyanka Prison being interrogated by the KGB. Then after a 3 day show trail in the Hall of Columns in Moscow, he spent the next 18 months at Vladimir Prison before being released back to the United States in a prisoner exchange. The damaged U-2, the camera, and its film, survived the incident and were thoroughly analyzed by the Soviets.

How would history have played out had the Soviets not immediately captured Powers? Would he have been able to elude the KGB long enough to escape across the border into a neighboring country? Would he have survived in the Soviet wilderness or been drawn to towns and eventually given up to authorities by the locals? A partial answer to this may be found in Louis L’Amour’s classic novel, "Last of the Breed”, a harrowing adventure about a US Air Force test pilot who is captured by the Soviets during the late ‘80s. A Native American and a survivalist, he manages to escape his captors and flee across the unforgiving Siberian wilderness with the KGB in pursuit.

Siberian Manhunt recreates the scenario of a U-2 pilot crash landing in U.S.S.R. and forced to flee on foot into the wilds. Now players have the opportunity to write their own Cold War stories of danger, survival, and escape in the harsh landscape of Siberia.