Whiteout first game and review of sorts

 A while ago I bought Whiteout - The Arctic Survival Miniatures game (solo/cooperative play) by Sally4th.

I built some extra terrain and acquired a few miniatures to fill the gaps in my collection. The game uses cards to randomise encountered terrain, events and equipment. These can be downloaded form the Sally4th website. The book also explains how to use regular playing cards instead of the downloadable cards. I thought it would be fun to design my own cards (via artscow.com). Especially after reading through the rulebook, when I got the idea to play the game in alternative settings like a Jungle or a Desert.

The game is about the exploits of a small party on a mission in the arctic. Due to whiteout conditions they can only see their immediate surroundings (12" x 12" square they are in) and have to explore adjacent squares. Once a character reaches the edge of a square, a terrain card is turned and the type of adjacent terrain is revealed. An encounter card is placed on the square which is revealed when the character enters the revealed terrain. The book describes the use of pre-made terrain tiles. I opted for separate terrain elements. Tiles would take up a lot of space I don't have (Although there is no such thing as too much terrain, there is such a thing as limited storage space). Also, separate terrain items provide more flexibility and opportunities for use in other games.

Lockdown and holidays provided the perfect opportunity for my 2 sons and I to play the game. The book describes how to build your own characters, but for ease of play we opted for the pre-defined soldier characters and added a pre-defined explorer character. Our mission (from the rulebook): to locate the arctic base, where scientists were involved in some classified government business, find out what happened to them after radio contact was lost and evacuate them to an airfield for extraction.

Starting on a square of flat ice in one corner of the table

Supplies were selected from the equipment card deck and carried on man drawn sledges (rules impose  limits to the amount you can carry). 

Son #1 moved to one edge of the square together with the explorer. Son #2 and I moved to the other edge (movement is in order of sanity. Stressed characters move later than relaxed ones).

Movement to one side turned out to be blocked by an imposing ice pressure ridge. Son #1 moved around it and discovered an icebound ship!

Snow effect by: <a href="https://www.freepnglogos.com/images/snow-32888.html">snow transparent snowfall png effect decorative elements png from freepnglogos.com</a>

We decided not to explore the ship but move on ahead to the next square since our explorer found out that movement elsewhere was blocked by a crevasse field (I still have to come up with terrain for that. I'm thinking transparent blue plastic cut in jagged shapes). It is possible to traverse both the crevasse field and the ice pressure ridge, but at risk of losing sanity and/or endurance.

Son #2 pressed on and discovered the arctic base. Unfortunately a pack of very large wolves were prowling between the buildings. 

Wolves can be ignored but then have a negative effect later in the game, so he "chased them away" with a salvo from his assault rifle.

Before trying to enter the main building we moved to the edges to explore the adjacent squares and found a snowcat and an area of thin ice. Back at the base door, it turned out to be locked.

We called the explorer and asked him to pick the lock, using his higher thinking skill. Most actions in the game are resolved by rolling a number of fortune dice against a number of fate dice. Only 5's and 6's count. More fortune than fate is success. Skill status determines the number of fortune dice. Of course skill status goes down when things go awry.

After an unsuccessfull attempt to pick the lock, my son and I tried to bust the door open with our higher work skill. But the door proved sturdy enough to withstand the forces unleashed upon it.

Finally the explorer succeeded in picking the lock and entered the hallway. Inside structures you have to roll 2 dice on the Close Encounter table: the explorer found some supplies. Son #2 now made his way to the messroom. There he found the scientists tied up and guarded by a Bad Guy sentry. Instead of trying to overwhelm the sentry and risk raising the alarm, son #2 decided to sneak towards the scientists and cut them loose. This plan worked (we figured the sentry must have been listening to very loud music on his headphones with his back turned to the scientists, since he didn't hear the assault rifle fire outside and the attempts to break down the door).

While we escorted the scientists outside, son #1 discovered a hill to be used as a vantage point.

On top of the hill son #1 encountered the Overnight Camp card. This triggers a "bookkeeping" moment where endurance and sanity of all characters is gained or lost depending on events that occurred and rations consumed. Having no shelter is also a bad thing. Since our party only brought one man tents, the scientists had to hide in the building they just escaped from....

The night passed and son #1 again climbed the hill only to find a pack of big wolves at the top. 

After dealing with them (having wolves in the area when camping has a negative effect), he could see the surrounding terrain and revealed another ice pressure ridge, an ice field and an isolated hut. Meanwhile the scientists helped start the snowcat and the party moved to the ice field. Son #2 moved towards the isolated hut and encountered another Overnight Camp card.

Breaking camp in the morning

After encountering a Para Drop with extra supplies we moved towards the unrevealed squares, attempting to find the airfield. But first we found another ice pressure ridge with an angry polar bear blocking our path. 

Using his rifle as a club the explorer managed to overcome the polar bear.

We now walked to the next square and found: the airfield! Quickly moving to the centre, son #1 found himself surrounded by a patrol of Bad Guys, led by a boss with a SMG. Son #2 and I rushed to his aid.

The explorer also brought his rifle to bear. Son #2 took out 2 Bad Guys with hand grenades and we succeeded in wiping out the patrol before son #1 succumbed to the hail of fire from the Bad Guys.

We used our radio to call in the extraction helicopter. Everone boarded the helicopter and flew towards safety.

Mission accomplished!

My kids and I really enjoyed the game. Son #2 has already asked when we can play again 😀. The game mechanics to put obstacles and opposition to overcome in your way is well balanced: challenging, but not extremely difficult in our game at least. I also like the randomness of terrain, encounters and equipment provided by the cards. You need only a few miniatures, but a sizeable amount of terrain is required. Arctic terrain can be quite simple to make with some styrofoam and papercraft buildings. Only items like the icebound ship, submarine conning tower, crashed airplane and igloo require more effort and skill. Although I made a passable igloo by covering plastic half dome packaging with sand and spraying it with white paint.

In game terms you need the structures as shelter for overnight camping and as a source of supplies and opportunity for close encounters.

Gameplay is more cinematic than (historically) accurate. The designer did however include real world effects like this sobering rule: killing humans negatively effects a character's state of mind. 

Recommended!

Update 29-07-2022: It seems that Whiteout is no langer available on the Sally4th website.