The Far Seas

About this board game

The Far Seas is a two-player game about hunting German merchant raiders at the start of World War I, with an approximately 180-minute playing time and a map covering the whole world.

One player commands the Allies, seeking to sink the German raiders. The German player takes the opposing role, aiming to attack convoys while avoiding the Allied hunters. This creates a global game of pursuit, evasion, and carefully timed movement.

Movement is driven by a distinctive hidden-information sequence. First, the German player plots their movement. The British player then moves, after which the German player reveals the plotted movement and makes the German moves.

• Players: 2
• Playing time: 180 minutes
• Setting: The start of World War I
• Map: The whole world
• Release year: 1987

The result is a focused naval pursuit in which the German player must balance convoy attacks against the need to remain out of reach, while the Allied player works to locate and destroy the raiders. The alternating plot, move, reveal, and resolve structure gives each decision an important place in the hunt.

The game was later covered by Tactics magazine issue 49 in Japan. That version reportedly used a different developer, possibly the Japanese designer Akira Ishikawa. The Far Seas was also associated with Strategy & Tactics issue 125.