A 2-player game by Matthias Cramer and Engin Kunter

THE HUNT
RULEBOOK
.........................................................................

INDEX

GOAL OF THE GAME........... 2 BRITISH PLAYER TURN....... 10

COMPONENTS................. 3 1. FREIGHT SHIP PHASE..... 10
SETUP...................... 4 2. CARD PLAY PHASE........ 11
CARD ANATOMY............... 5 A. MOVEMENT............... 11
CARD PLAY.................. 6 B. SEARCH AND ATTACK...... 11
VICTORY CONDITIONS......... 7 C. BRITISH INTELLIGENCE... 12
TURN SEQUENCE.............. 7 D. BRITISH STRATEGY TRACK. 13
GERMAN PLAYER TURN......... 8 3. REDRAW CARD PHASE...... 13
1. CARD PLAY PHASE......... 8 BATTLE.................... 14
A. MOVEMENT................ 8 COMMON HISTORICAL NOTES... 15
B. SEARCH AND ATTACK....... 9 BRITISH HISTORICAL NOTES.. 16
C. REPAIRING THE PLANE..... 9 GERMAN HISTORICAL NOTES... 18
D. RESERVE................ 10 CREDITS................... 20
2. REDRAW CARD PHASE...... 10
September 1939: the commander of the Admiral Graf Spee,
Hans Langsdorff, receives the order to sink as many British
freight ships as possible in the South Atlantic. His
objective is to intercept the ships crossing the Atlantic
and prevent supplies from reaching the UK and other
destinations.

For the first months, the plan seems to work: within

a few weeks, Admiral Graf Spee sinks 9 freight
ships and sends almost 50,000 gross register tons
to the seabed. The gigantic loss put the army
command in London Whitehall under pressure. To
best protect the freighters, the Admiralty sends
several hunting groups (3 battleships, 4 aircraft
carriers, and 16 cruisers) to find and destroy
the Admiral Graf Spee.

GOAL OF THE GAME

The Hunt is an asymmetrical duel where one player will assume the leadership of the British
Royal Navy, while the other player will represent the German Kriegsmarine. Each player has
a different goal. To win, the German side must successfully stay hidden from the British
and sink five Freight Ships.

Meanwhile, the British must hunt down and engage the Admiral Graf Spee in a final battle.
The winner of the battle wins the game. Will the Royal Navy be able to take advantage of
their numerical superiority, or will the Kriegsmarine be the ones who, with their cunning
and refined strategy, manage to overthrow their rival?

An exciting battle that will define the outcome of the Second World War.

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 COMPONENTS

1 Game board 36 Cards (18 German

and 18 British)

3 British Force markers 9 Freight Ship 2 German Ship markers

(Forces G, H, and K) markers (Admiral Graf Spee,
and Altmark)

3 Hint markers 2 German markers 6 Damage markers

(yellow discs) (grey discs) (red discs)

1 Bag 2 Player aids 1 Die

* You will also need a sheet of paper and a pencil.

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 SETUP

D G

C
H

G
F 31
F

A B

Markers: Place the German Airplane marker as the first one, place it back into
on the “Ready” space of the Airplane track the bag and redraw until there are two
A and the Reserve marker on the “0” space different starting positions (34 for
of the Reserve track B . Set the Hint and Argentina, 23 for Brazil, 29 for South
Damage markers aside C . Africa, and 06 for England).

Forces: Place all Forces with their side Cards: Each player shuffles their deck and
face-up. Place Force G on hex “06” D . Place draws 5 cards G .
Force H and Force K on the spaces marked
“H“ and “K“ on the Strategy track, E . German Ships: The German player can freely
Historical Variant: Flip all Force markers choose the starting positions of both
to their side. ships. They can pick the same starting
position of a British Freight Ship, if
Freight Ships: Place all 9 Freight Ships they wish. Place the Altmark on the board
in the bag and draw 2 F . If the second while noting the position of the Admiral
Freight Ship has the same starting position Graf Spee on a sheet of paper H .

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 CARD ANATOMY

A Name of the card.

B Action Point (AP) value of the card. Used if the card

is played for Action Points or during the Battle.

C A flag on the side shows that the card Event is only

B A D available on that player’s deck. If a card doesn’t have a
flag, then both players have that event on their deck.

D Event types. There are three type of event cards: Hunt

Events, Battle Events, and Mandatory Events (see page 6).
C
E British Intelligence stripe (British cards only).
F
E F Some cards leave play after the Event is played. This
does not apply after playing the card for Action Points.

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 CARD PLAY

The Hunt is a card-driven game. Cards may be played either for the Event or Action
Points (AP).

A - PLAYING THE CARD AS AN EVENT........................................................

If you play the card as an Event, all effects in the Event

text are executed. The following rules apply to the different
Events:
• Hunt Events can only be played during the Card Play phase.
• Some Hunt Events are Reactions, meaning they can only be
played for their Event during the opponent’s Card Play phase,
or after the opponent plays a Reaction card.
• Battle Events can only take place during the Battle phase.
In the Hunt phase, Battle Event cards can only be played
for their AP.
• Mandatory Events: When you play a card with a Mandatory
Event during the Hunt Phase, you are forced to do the Event.
Follow the instructions on the card. If you play it during
the Battle, the Event is ignored.

IMPORTANT: If the card states “Remove this card

from the game”, it is only removed if the Event
takes place. This does not apply to cards used
for Action Points or if the Event is canceled
by the opponent.

B - PLAYING A CARD FOR ITS ACTION POINTS.................

If you play a card for its Action Points (AP), you can
spend these points for one or more actions. Actions
can be performed in any order, but one action has to
be finished before taking another one. Read page 8 for
German actions, and page 11 for British actions.

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 VICTORY CONDITIONS

There are different ways to achieve victory in The Hunt.

WITH THE FREIGHT SHIPS:

The German player immediately achieves victory if they sink five Freight
Ships.

The British player immediately achieves victory if they successfully

guide five Freight Ships to their destinations (which is unlikely).

WITH A BATTLE
If the British player hunts the German player with a successful search, the Battle will
be activated. The Battle will trigger the end of the game. The player who takes the
least Damage during the Battle is the winner.
Be cautious! Depending on the British Force that participates in the Battle, the Royal
Navy usually has the advantage. The German player should avoid Battle at all times,
unless they have a very strong hand.

WITH THE MONTEVIDEO CARD (HISTORICAL END)

In the 5th duel of the Battle, if the German player plays “Montevideo“ and
the English player plays “Scuttling in Montevideo“, the British player wins
the game. If these cards are played in the first 4 duels of the Battle,
their events don’t take place and only their AP value matters.

TURN SEQUENCE

Starting with the German player, players take turns alternately. The turns of each player
are divided into the following phases, unless a Battle begins (see Battle on page 14):

GERMAN PLAYER TURN BRITISH PLAYER TURN

1. Card play phase 1. Freight Ship phase

2. Redraw card phase 2. Card play phase
3. Redraw phase

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 GERMAN PLAYER TURN

1. CARD PLAY PHASE

Play a card for its Event or use its Action Points (AP) instead to take one or more
actions. This section covers the different actions that the German player may take when
using cards for Action Points, as well as their associated costs.

A. MOVEMENT (COST: 1 , 2 OR 4 AP)

The German player can move the Admiral Graf Spee and/or the Altmark. It costs 1 , 2 , or
4 AP to move a marker for 1, 2, or 3 spaces. Each marker can only be moved once per turn.

Exception: the Admiral Graf Spee may move, conduct a search/attack and then move again.

Instead of moving openly on the board, the German player notes the current position of
the Admiral Graf Spee on a piece of paper. They must tell the British player how many
points they have spent on the action.

Important: The German player is allowed to not conduct the full movement even though
they spent the Action Points. For example, the player can announce they’re spending AP
to move, and then remain in the same space.
Graf Spee
movements
EXAMPLE 1. João plays the “Cat and Mouse
Game” card by using its Action Points. 28, 24,
He decides to spend 2 AP to move. He
announces to the British player that he
will use 2 AP on a move action. The
Graf Spee is currently on hex 28, and he
decides to move to hex 24 because he is
allowed to not conduct the full movement.
João then takes note of the new position.
He still has 1 AP left, so he decides
to move the Altmark one hex. He doesn’t
need to announce it in this case, since
Altmark is always on the board.

Note: Bluffing is very important in this

game, especially for the German player,
who needs to mislead the British player
The Altmark moves normally on the board,
to avoid getting caught.
it may not be attacked and is always safe.

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 GERMAN PLAYER TURN

B. SEARCH AND ATTACK (COST: 2 AP)

If the Admiral Graf Spee is in the same space as a Freight Ship, the German player may
reveal the Admiral Graf Spee’s position and spend 2 AP to search for the Freight Ship.
A die roll of 5+ is a success and sinks the Freight Ship. If the Airplane is on the
“Ready” space , the German player may move it to the “Broken” space to add +2 to
the die roll. The German player may only sink one Freight Ship per Search action. If
there are two Freight Ships on the same space, the German player chooses which one they
want to sink if the search is successful. Only one Search is permitted per turn. The
Altmark cannot perform any searches. It is a supply ship.

EXAMPLE 2. The Admiral Graf Spee is in the same

hex as a Freight Ship (hex 20). João plays the
“Rules of Prize Warfare” card by using its
Action Points. He spends 2 AP to do a search
action, so he reveals himself and places the
Graf Spee tile on the hex 20. Before rolling the
die he decides to use the Airplane, so he moves
it to the Broken state. This gives him a +2 so
he only needs a 3+ to sink the Freight Ship. He
gets a ‘4’. This is a success and he sinks his
first ship. He still needs 4 more to win.

C. REPAIRING THE PLANE (COST: 1 AP)

This action is available for the German player only. The German player can try to repair
the Airplane if “Broken” by rolling the die. If the result of the die roll is higher than
the number of German cards removed from the game so far, the Airplane is repaired and
moves to the “Ready“ space. Otherwise, the Airplane is moved to the “Destroyed” state. A
“Destroyed” Airplane is lost and cannot be repaired. As the game progresses, it will be
more difficult to repair the Airplane as there will be more cards removed from the game.

READY BROKEN DESTROYED EXAMPLE 3. João decides to use the Action Points
of the “Kriegsmarine” card. It’s a bit risky since
he already removed 4 cards during the course of
the game, so he needs a 5+ to repair the Airplane.
He rolls the die and gets a ‘1’. Bad luck! The
Airplane is destroyed and he won’t be able to use
it for the remainder of the game.

9
GERMAN PLAYER TURN

D. RESERVE (VARIABLE COST)

This action is only available for the German player. The German player may store unspent
Action Points in the Reserve. The Reserve cannot store more than 2 Action Points. They may
be used as additional AP in a later turn when playing a card for Action Points.

2. REDRAW CARD PHASE

The German player draws cards from their deck until

EXAMPLE 4. The Admiral Graf Spee
they have 3 cards in their hand. If the Graf Spee is
is one hex away from the Altmark
adjacent to the Altmark (or in the same space), they
at the end of the turn. João has 2
may continue to draw until they have 5 cards in their
cards in his hand. He could refill
hand, or they may stop at 3 cards only, in order to
his hand up to 5 cards, but this
mislead the British player. In any case, the German
will tell the other player he’s in
player must clearly announce how many cards they’re
the same space as, or adjacent to,
holding at the end of the turn. When the deck is
the Altmark. Since he doesn’t want
depleted, shuffle the discarded cards, and build a
to give away any hints, he decides
new one.
to refill only up to 3 cards. So,
he says to his opponent: “I will
refill my hand back to 3 cards”.
BRITISH PLAYER TURN

1. FREIGHT SHIP PHASE

The British Player moves all Freight Ships on the board

1 space each towards their DESTINATION.

If a Freight Ship enters a Destination from

the appropriate hex, denoted by , it Starting Destination
is removed from the board and scored for position
the British player. Destinations may not be
entered from any other hex. The connections
on the board must be followed.

Then, if there are less than two Freight Ships remaining on

the board, take a new one from the bag and place it on its
starting position (34 for Argentina, 23 for Brazil, 29 for
South Africa, and 06 for England).
Freight Ships can share a space with other Freight Ships,
British Forces, or even with the Graf Spee or the Altmark.

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 BRITISH PLAYER TURN

2. CARD PLAY PHASE

Play a card for its Event or use the Action Points (AP) instead to take actions. This
section covers the different actions that the British player may take when using cards
for Action Points, as well as their associated costs.

A. MOVEMENT (COST: 1 , 2 OR 4 AP)

The British player can move one or more Forces. It costs 1 , 2 , or 4 AP to move a
piece for 1, 2, or 3 spaces. Each piece can only be moved once per turn. British Freight
Ships are not counted as Forces and cannot be moved using AP.

EXAMPLE 5. Cecilia plays

“Unreliable Technology”
card for its Action Points.
She decides to spend 4 AP
to move Force G from hex
17 to hex 15.

B. SEARCH AND ATTACK (COST: 1 AP)

A British Force can conduct a search on any space of any of their Forces on the board
for 1 AP. The search is successful with a die roll of 5+. Each Force can only search
once per turn. A success will cause a Battle if the Admiral Graf Spee is located in the
searched space. (see Battle on page 14).

The British player may modify its rolls by using the British Intelligence action (read
more on the next page).

EXAMPLE 6. Cecilia believes Admiral Graf

A
Spee is in space 16. She plays “Harwood’s
intuition” and spends 2 AP to move from
hex 15 to hex 16 ( A ). Then she spends 1 B
AP to do a search. She rolls a 6, which is a
success, but João indicates he is not in the
hex ( B ). Cecilia redraws until she has 5 Graf Spee
cards in her hand and finishes her turn. movements
22
11
BRITISH PLAYER TURN

C. BRITISH INTELLIGENCE (COST: 1 AP)

Most British cards have a stripe at the bottom.
The British player may boost their search actions of the current turn
by spending 1 AP to play an additional card from their hand for its
Intelligence effect. They may play as many Intelligence cards as they Intelligence
wish, spending 1 AP per card. stripe

A will add +1 to the die roll of all searches of the current turn.

A forces the German player to place a Hint marker (see below).

Some cards allow you to use both or only one.

If the German player is forced to place a Hint marker, they must

place it in the same space as, or adjacent to, the Admiral Graf
Spee. Spaces that already contain a Hint marker or the Altmark
are not allowed. Remove the Hint marker once the Graf Spee moves
again.

EXAMPLE 7. Cecilia plays “New Convoy

Routes” for its 5 AP. She spends
2 AP to move from hex 23 to hex 34.
She then spends 1 AP to do a search
in hex 34, but before rolling the
die, she spends the 2 AP remaining
to do a British Intelligence action.
She plays “HMS Cumberland” to force
João to place a Hint marker. He’s on ........................................................
hex 31, so he places a Hint marker
on hex 34. Then, Cecilia plays Graf Spee
“Concentrated Fire” which gives her movements
a +1 in her roll. She rolls and gets 30, 34, 31
a ‘4’, which means a success. Sadly
for her, João is not in that space
so she doesn’t trigger the Battle. João says Graf Spee
is not in Hex 34.
There’s no battle.

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 BRITISH PLAYER TURN

D. BRITISH STRATEGY TRACK (COST: 2 AP)

Once per turn, the British player may advance one Force marker on the Strategy track by
spending 2 AP. If a Force advances past the fourth space, it’s placed on the game board
in space “06”, entering the game.

3. REDRAW CARD PHASE

The British player always redraws until they have 5 cards in their hand. When the draw
deck is depleted, shuffle the discarded cards and build a new one.

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 BATTLE

If the British player manages to engage the Admiral Graf Spee in

Battle, both players immediately draw cards until they have 5 cards
in their hands. The Battle is fought over 5 duels.

In each duel, both players select a card from their hand

in secret, and reveal it simultaneously. The British
Force K grants a +1
player adds the corresponding bonus of any Forces present bonus to the British
in the Battle to their AP value (+0 for Force G, +1 for player battle value.
Force K, and ½ for Force H, if using the standard setup).
This bonus is applied in each of the 5 duels. Then, both
player compare values.

Important: When playing a Battle Event card, the player does not
have to choose between the Event or the Action Points. The Event
happens automatically and the player still gets the AP value.
The side with the lower modified AP value receives one hit and
places one Damage disc on their Battle track - blue track for
the British player, and red track for the German player. In
case of a tie, no side receives a hit. Repeat the process until
you resolve 5 duels. After five rounds, the side with fewer
Damage markers on their Battle track wins the game. Battle tracks
In case of a tie, the British player wins.

EXAMPLE 8. Cecilia performed a successful search

and found the Admiral Graf Spee, triggering the
final Battle.

Both players redraw cards until they have 5 cards in VS

their hands. In the first duel, João plays “Radar
Technology” with a value of 3. The card has a Battle
Event. João will have a +1 in the next two cards he
plays.
3 > 2
Cecilia plays “Concentrated Fire” with a value of 2.
She adds the Force H bonus, so she has 2+½. This is
not enough to beat João’s value. Cecilia receives
one Damage and places one Damage marker on the
British (blue) battle track. Her card has a Battle
Event that allows her to see João’s remaining 4
cards before proceeding to the second duel.

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 COMMON CARDS HISTORICAL NOTES

FAIR WEATHER
In the absence of weather stations outside Scandinavia,
the Germans converted deep-sea trawlers into floating
stations. These stations transmitted coded weather data
and were pursued by the Royal Navy.

THE CAT AND MOUSE GAME

The cat and mouse game symbolizes the constant
chase, continuous attacks, and repeated escapes
that took place at the Battle of the River Plate.

CONCENTRATED FIRE
In the Battle of the River Plate, Langsdorff
concentrated his fire on HMS Exeter, setting it on
fire, destroying most of its guns, and forcing it to
leave for the Falkland Islands.

THAT NEVER HAPPENED

The German Naval Intelligence Division collected
and analyzed information on foreign naval forces,
fleet bases, positioning, battle group composition,
detection, ship location, and technical data.

RULES OF PRIZE WARFARE

The Rights of Capture states that passenger ships
cannot be sunk, crews of merchant ships must be safe
before their ships can be sunk (lifeboats are not
considered a safe place unless they are close to land),
and only warships and merchant ships that are a threat
to the attacker can be sunk without warning.

STORM AT SEA
Rough weather heavily defined the World War II efforts
in the Atlantic.

15
BRITISH CARDS HISTORICAL NOTES

ROYAL NAVY
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare branch of the British
Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the
oldest service branch of the United Kingdom and from the
19th century until World War II was the most powerful
navy in the world and played a key role in establishing
the British Empire as the world’s dominant power.

SIR HENRY HARWOOD

Harwood commanded the squadron of heavy cruisers
HMS Cumberland and HMS Exeter, and light cruisers
HMS Achilles and HMS Ajax, which were deployed in
the South Atlantic to hunt down Admiral Graf Spee.

NEW CONVOY ROUTES

Aware that they could not defeat the Royal Navy, the
Kriegsmarine attempted to impose a blockade of the
United Kingdom, destroying the merchant ships that
supplied them with resources. The British had to
protect these ships and find new supply routes for
food, arms, and oil.

HARWOOD’S INTUITION
Prompted by information that a pocket battleship had
recently sunk a merchant ship in that area, Harwood
contravened an order to head for the West African
coast and decided to patrol the coast of Brazil, thus
surprising Admiral Graf Spee as it searched for new prey.

16
 BRITISH CARDS HISTORICAL NOTES

K AND H FORCES
On October 5th the Admiralty formed eight groups, Forces F, G, H, I, K,
L, M and N to hunt the German cruisers. In December, after the Battle
of the River Plate, Forces K and H were sent to the Uruguayan coast
to prevent the Graf Spee from escaping. The German cruiser remained
in Montevideo harbor, causing a diplomatic dispute with the Uruguayan
authorities who had to decide how long the Graf Spee could remain
moored in the harbor.

SCUTTLING IN MONTEVIDEO
British intelligence services managed to make
the captain of the Graf Spee believe that large
forces were waiting for him outside Montevideo
harbor, so on 17 December, Hans Langsdorff decided
to sink the Graf Spee and escape with his crew to
Argentina. Three days later, Langsdorff wrapped
himself in the battle flag and shot himself.

MILE BY MILE
The theme of this card comes from a quote of Harwood that he
would search the South Atlantic mile by mile if necessary.

UNRELIABLE TECHNOLOGY
The Arado AR 196 was a prototype, which turned out to
be very unreliable. It was used during World War II for
various tasks such as coastal patrol, reconnaissance,
anti-submarine coverage, and as a ground support bomber
on rare occasions.

HMS CUMBERLAND
Heavy cruisers were a type of high speed warship designed to
operate at long range, usually with 8-inch guns. They were
designed between 1915 and 1945, though the term heavy cruiser was
only used from 1930. The Cumberland was one of the ships that was
just a day away from Montevideo when the Graf Spee was sunk.

17
GERMAN CARDS HISTORICAL NOTES

KRIEGSMARINE
The Kriegsmarine was the German navy during World War
II. It consisted of frigates, battleships, pocket
battleships, cruisers and destroyers.

PUNTA DEL ESTE

The Battle of the River Plate was the first naval
battle between British and German forces in World
War II. Admiral Graf Spee faced the light cruisers
HMS Ajax and HMS Achilles and the heavy cruiser
HMS Exeter. A serious strategic error caused the
Graf Spee to suffer heavy damage.

MILITARY ORDER 115.39

Operational Order 115.39 gave the authorization to disrupt
and attack enemy cargo ships with all available means and
to engage enemy naval forces if the main task required it.

HANS LANGSDORFF
Admiral Graf Spee, under the captaincy of Hans
Langsdorff, managed to sink up to nine British cargo
ships in South Atlantic waters, without causing a
single casualty, as they rescued all the sailors from
the attacked ships, placing them on their supply ship
Altmark.

POCKET BATTLESHIPS
Admiral Graf Spee along with the ships Deutschland and Admiral
Scheer were built to circumvent the restrictions of the Treaty
of Versailles. Because of their size, armor, armament, and speed
they were called “pocket battleships”.

18
 GERMAN CARDS HISTORICAL NOTES

NEW PAINTWORK FOR THE GRAF SPEE

Lieutenant Friedrich Wilhem Rasenack writes in October 1939 into the
logbook: “At 08:24, the Altmark is becoming visible. We are surprised
that they turn around, fire smoke and try to flee. They suspected us
to be a British cruiser, the new paint works perfectly.”

THE MYSTERIOUS GRAF SCHEER

Admiral Scheer was one of the Kriegsmarine’s
most active pocket battleships. It bombarded the
city of Almeria during the Spanish Civil War and
participated in commerce raiding operations in the
South Atlantic and Indian Ocean.

MONTEVIDEO
Due to the damage suffered in the Battle of the River
Plate, Admiral Graf Spee withdrew to the port of
Montevideo, where it would have 72 hours to repair the
damage and assist the wounded, established in The Hague
Convention, as it was a neutral port.

THE SECOND FUNNEL

The Graf Spee had a fictitious second funnel to
completely alter her silhouette to confuse Allied cargo
ships as to its true military nature.

MARCONI’S TRANSMITTER
The radio played an important role during World War II
as it was used both to broadcast propaganda messages and
encouragement to the population and to confuse the enemy.

19
CREDITS

GAME DESIGN......... Matthias Cramer & Engin Kunter

ILLUSTRATIONS....................... Albert Monteys
GRAPHIC DESIGN................... João Duarte-Silva
RULEBOOK REVISION.............. Thibault Kervarecht
EDITORIAL DIRECTION.............. Gonzalo Maldonado

©2023 SALT AND PEPPER GAMES, C/ Jorge Juan 42, Madrid 28001, Spain

All rights reserved.

For more information, visit www.saltandpeppergames.es