V-Sabotage, (previously titled V-Commandos and changed for what I believe were copyright issues,) is a World War 2 stealth action game for 1-4 players.
I have only played this game solo, although the rules for multiple players is identical, so other than openly coordinating your actions, I imagine the game really plays pretty much the same.
Either way, this is a super fun little game where stealth is the name of the game. Until it isn't. See, the whole point of the game is to have your Commandos, (all with different abilities and starting equipment,) stealthily traverse the map tiles of each mission, all while killing off nazis and avoiding detection until they can complete their objectives. The objectives themselves are varied thematically, but almost identical in execution. For this sort of game it truly doesn't matter; all of the objectives are denoted with plain objective tokens, and whether you're spending your Commando's action points to pick up 'documents' or disable turret guns, they generally just serve the function of forcing movement into certain areas and eating up available actions for a turn.
This matters because ideally, you want to complete as much of the mission as possible under the shadow of stealth. Being spotted by an enemy means not only taking casualties from enemy fire, but also the sounding of the alarm, which effectively doubles how many enemies can spawn each turn.
If this sounds bad, it's because it is. A fully healthy Commando can easily be mowed down in a single turn, and without the use of a first aid, will die the following turn. However, for all the danger that being spotted presents, the game also often forces you to be spotted. Stealth checks are all dice rolls, and randomized events can be either beneficial or detrimental; you can only plan so far ahead before the jig is up. Similarly, moving onto large tiles will automatically get your Commandos spotted, thus raising the alarm. (With one Commando being the exception.) At times, moving onto these tiles is optional, and there are many times where the player if forced to weigh the options and take a bit of a risk. Do they try and run through a large tile and get spotted with the hopes that they can regain their concealment, or do they take the stealthy way around, and spend extra turns going the long way? Other times, objectives are placed in these open tiles, and so raising the alarm is inevitable. Do you choose to go in guns blazing while the enemy's numbers are low? Or do you plant explosives carefully to hopefully take out large swaths at once, even if it means waiting and slowly filling up the board with enemies?
Generally, you're playing a balancing act of trying to stay as stealthy as long as possible before things go tits up and you need to high-tail it to the nearest exit, guns blazing. How long and how far you can get while being stealthy comes down to a bit of strategy, a bit of resource management, (items and action points,) and a bit of luck. Speaking of items, you randomly gain new equipment after killing Nazis. These dropped items range anywhere from new weapons to Nazi uniforms to straight up sticks of dynamite and grenades. Just be careful not to draw the Spotted token, as any other enemies on the same tile as their fallen comrade will automatically spot you.
It can be slightly annoying at times starting out a mission and being spotted on the first turn due to a bad dice roll or unlucky event turning up, but it never fully feels insurmountable. Luckily, the base game also can also be played a series of standalone missions, (which generally take about half an hour to an hour complete,) or strung together in three-or-four-missions-at-a-time scenarios, (which conveniently display the average time they will take to complete,) ranging from about 30 minutes on the extreme low end to 2.5 to 3 hours or so. This means that even a bit of bad luck resulting in a loss never really feels too bad; you can wipe the board and set up the same or a different mission again in about five minutes and have another go at it.
All in all, I absolutely love this game. As someone who's not really into historical or realistic wargames, this hit the sweet spot for me. It's tactical, but also a little push-your-luck sometimes, with many of the mechanics relying on dice rolls. It plays more like an action war movie than anything else. It's short enough to actually play a few missions in a sitting if you want. (The Ghosts expansion adds a more traditional 'campaign' style game mode.)
Overall, I can't recommend this game enough. It's pretty addictive and it's relatively low play time, (and setup and tear-down time,) means you can easily play a mission or even two in an hour, hour and a half.
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