Unterseeboot

A few months ago my brother sent me a copy of a print and play game, Unterseeboot. This evening I finally got around to printing and playing it.

The game is s simple solitaire game in which you command a U-boat on patrol in the Atlantic, looking to sink as great a tonnage of Allied ships as you can before you get sunk or decide to return to base. Obviously it's fairly random, but there are a few decisions to be made, and at the end of the day it's about how far you're willing to push your luck.

Here's the setup. It's all played on a single A4 sheet. On the right-hand side is the area in which the submarine's resources are tracked - battery power for when it's submerged, how much damage it has taken and how many torpedoes it has left. Along the top are the areas which show if the U-boat has been spotted by aircraft or detected by allied destroyers. And the main area of the board is an abstraction of the patrol area. There are five potential targets along the top, and four possible depths the U-boat can operate at - Surface, Periscope, 100m and 200m. A game ends if the U-boat survives 20 turns, or is destroyed or it voluntarily returns to base.

Away we go on my first patrol. I stayed at periscope depth on the first turn, which uses up battery power, but prevented me from being spotted by aircraft. If you are adjacent to a potential target you roll a D6. On a '1' it's a neutral and is removed. Otherwise the roll represents how many thousand tons the ship is. My first target was a mere 2000 tons, but I went for it anyway.

I sank it, but was detected by the destroyer escort.

Once detected by a destroyer it will attack every turn, with its odds of hitting decreasing the deeper the submarine goes. At 200m the U-boat can evade the destroyer altogether, which loses contact. I decided to dive; I had the battery power to do so.

At 200m the destroyer lost contact.

I came back up to periscope depth, and picked up a 5000 ton merchant ship; a much juicier target. Sadly my torpedo attack missed, but I was detected by the destroyer again, and hit with a depth charge. 

Despite the ongoing attack I had to surface to recharge my batteries. An aircraft spotted me, but I evaded its attack. Sadly I once again failed to sink the enemy merchant ship. The destroyer spots a U-boat on the surface automatically, but its attack missed.

I submerged once more, which meant that the planes could no longer find me. I also spotted another 5000 ton target. However I reckoned I'd be pushing my luck trying to take them both, especially as I took another depth-charge hit that, once again, my damage control parties failed to deal with. Another hit would sink me. However I sank one of them.

At this point I decided that returning to base was my best plan, and once more submerged to 200m in order to avoid the destroyer. Even at that depth I took damage from a depth-charge, but this time my crew actually got their act together and damage control dealt with it.

Having evaded the destroyer, and a final air attack I returned to base, with 7000 tons on Allied shipping sank. Not a total disaster, but not outstanding.

I set up a second game, but didn't take as many notes. In this one I stayed on the surface at the start, and immediately spotted a 6000 ton target. I promptly sank it, but was damaged by the destroyer escort. Submerging I went after the next target, a 4000 ton ship. I sank that too, and then took out a 5000 ton ship as well. I was doing well. Looking to shake off an increasingly irate destroyer I submerged to 200m, but was hit by a depth-charge and damaged again. With one hit left I decided to return to base, but on coming to the surface I spotted yet another 5000 ton Allied ship and couldn't resist one last attack. Unfortunately I failed to sink it with three torpedoes, but was hit and sunk by the destroyer escort. 

I shouldn't have gone for that last ship, but I did sink 15,000 tons during the mission.

I'm not sure how much long-term playability this game has; with less detail than the similar 'B17: Queen of the Skies' I can see that most missions will tend to be samey. The game 'Brown Water Submaries' is also similar, but I feel has  more tension. However I'm glad i prinetd it off, and will certainly play again.