by David Thompson

(This design diary was written by Roger Tankersley and posted on BGG by co-designer David Thompson)

As the co-designers of Sniper Elite: The Board Game, we wanted to give you a few behind-the-scenes details of how we created the new Operation Krakenexpansion. If you’re a fan of the base game, this expansion gives you two new maps with some interesting movement elements, some new powers and actions for both Karl and the defenders, and adds a little bit more depth to the base experience. Since it is our second expansion we thought players would like to explore “but what if I could do THIS!”

David Thompson and I both knew we didn’t want to just "add more stuff.” We wanted Operation Kraken to push the design in new directions but stay true to what makes Sniper Elite work: tension, stealth, and cat-and-mouse gameplay. We had a basic design question: What can we do differently with the maps that doesn’t break the core movement and shot mechanics?

We also were listening to players who thought the defenders could use some help catching Karl. So we added a couple of actions and….armored cars! More on that later.


What If the Whole Map Was a Ship?

Ships are narrow, multi-level, and very linear. Staying hidden is a huge challenge and so is finding someone who is trying to hide. The map is unique because it depicts all three levels of the ship with only a few connections between levels. As we design we’re constantly asking “what do we want the players to feel on this map?”. We wanted Karl to feel trapped, and we wanted the defenders to feel like they had him trapped!

I’ve always liked the idea of the players affecting movement on the map–on earlier maps the defenders can block routes, but they can never close them off. But on a ship? Defenders would definitely close and secure doors–so we gave them that ability. It leads to some great tactical decisions as the defenders effectively change the shape of the map (at least temporarily).

So how can the sniper player deal with those locked doors? Make your own door! We introduced the ‘Explosive Entrance’ loadout card which allows the sniper player to blow a hole in the wall to serve as a door for the rest of the game. Sometimes though, a stealthy sniper doesn’t want an explosion–so we also introduced ‘Bolt Cutters’ which let them silently open a locked door without the defenders knowing. Both of these loadouts were developed with a lot of testing on the door locking mechanic, as we realized the sniper needed a way to deal with locked doors, but not a way to deal with all the locked doors. Loadout cards gave us a way to do that.


The other interesting thing about the map is moving between levels. Ladders are available to defenders and Karl, and provide connections in just a few places. But that proved a little bit too limiting, allowing the defenders to really shutdown the map. How would someone sneaking through the ship deal with that? Air ducts. We tested those and they work great, giving Karl a way around and forcing the defenders to think “what if he crawled in there…..?”.

The shape of the map also meant we had to change how ‘gather intel’ works–because the squad sectors are spread across multiple levels of the ship. So asking ‘are you in red?’ meant Karl could be on three different levels! To deal with that, we allow the defenders to ask “are you on this level of the ship” regardless of sector color. That decision had a knock on effect: two different squads could ask “are you on this level?” and “are you in this sector?” and that would narrow Karl’s location down to very few spaces–which didn’t work. We had to change the action so that you could ask sector or level, but not both in the same turn. These are the kind of design decisions that can only be made through testing.


The Great Outdoors–But With Armored Cars

After we finished the supercarrier, we wanted the opposite of enclosed, claustrophobic hiding–we wanted an open area where the sniper could really move. All that freedom of movement makes the defender job much harder, so we also wanted to add a way to cover all that ground–and we introduced armored cars to give defenders another way to move around the board. (Also, here’s a plug for ‘Sniper Elite: Escalation’: that expansion allows you to use the cars on the Heavy Water map from Sniper Elite: Eagles Nest expansion).

The Norman Village map is interesting because it started out as…..an assault on a mountain base! As designers, David and I try lots of different things before we get the maps just right–hidden movement games live or die by the maps. So at first the village was a mountain base, and the armored cars were joined by cable cars that connected individual points to enable rapid movement across the map. This image shows a super early version with organic spaces, the cable cars, and even glacier spaces with special movement rules.

In the end it was just too many changes on a single map. We talk a lot about ‘rules grit’: we prefer rules that are generalized and straightforward rather than rules that are very specific, situational, and ‘gritty.’ We knew we wanted a bit more grit in these new maps, since they are designed for players who have played four other maps in the series, so we threw everything on there and then worked backwards! Finding the right balance is tough. So we removed the cable cars and refined the armored cars.


So how did the map change from a mountain assault to a Norman Village? When David and I finished the map we handed it over to our partners, the development team at Rebellion. They tested it extensively and found that the special rules for ice movement also were too gritty. And they had a story idea that revolved around the setting in France. When you compare our prototype map to the final map you can see that the general layout and objectives are there, but the spaces are more regular and the road is extended to replace the glacier. This is a really good example of how design merges with development–the folks at Rebellion are great to work with, and we agree the final design is cleaner and provides extra grit but in just the right amount. (But David and I haven’t forgotten about those cable cars!)

Kraken Unleashed
The name Operation Kraken comes from the fictional Nazi superweapon plot that Karl’s trying to stop in this campaign. We wanted the expansion to feel bigger, a little more cinematic, and a bit more complex than the original game—without losing the streamlined rules that enable the players to face off without constantly reading the rulebook. We’re super happy with how it turned out and we hope fans of the basegame appreciate the changes we made! Happy hunting!