U-Boat (wargame)
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 | |
| Publishers | Tabletop Games |
|---|---|
| Publication | 1977 |
| Genres | WWII Naval |
U-Boat is a board wargame published by Tabletop Games in 1977 that simulates a convoy crossing the Atlantic in 1942 at the height of the Battle of the Atlantic.
Gameplay
U-Boat is a board wargame for 2 players in which one player controls an Allied convoy and its escorts and the other player controls a pack of German U-boats. Although the game has counters to represent ships and submarines, it does not have a map. Like the Avalon Hill game Jutland (1967), players use any flat surface and measure the distance between counters[1] using a tape measure. Critic Martin Campion noted "preferably metric."[2]
Each game lasts ten turns, and begins with the Allied convoy (six cargo ships and two tankers defended by three corvettes and one frigate) entering the playing surface from one edge. Three German submarines enter the playing surface from the other edges. Each turn, the convoy player must write movement orders for the corvettes and frigate. (The convoy follows a predetermined zigzag.)[1]
The game then becomes one of submarines firing spreads of torpedoes, while the corvettes and frigate try to pinpoint the location of submarines using Asdic, and then drop depth charges on suspected locations.[1]
Victory conditions
The German player receives victory points for sinking Allied ships and loses points for submarines that are destroyed. A positive score is a German victory, a negative score is an Allied victory.[1]