book

Rule
 Willkommen an Bord, Herr Kaleun!

Thank you very much for purchasing U-BOOT The Board Game. When
we started this project, we set ourselves a goal: to create the
first ever tabletop submarine simulator. A game that would let
players experience World War II submarine warfare like no other
game before it. One that would explore various aspects of liv-
ing and fighting at sea, from dwelling inside an iron coffin to
playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with the enemy.

Now, after a lot of hard work and research, we are proud to

present a game that redefines submarine board gaming, featuring
true to life navigation, visual identification of targets, and
many other elements that you probably haven’t seen in a board
game yet. This might seem daunting, but rest assured: the game
comes with everything you need to become a U-boat ace in no
time.

Firstly, a separate Tactical Guide booklet. It lays out the

most important dos and don’ts without getting into unnecessary
detail, so you should quickly get an idea of how to conduct
combat. Secondly, player aids that summarize the most impor-
tant information for each role and, lastly, online videos that
teach you how to play. All of these will help you understand
the basics quickly. Once you do that, the rest will come with
experience.

And the experience that U-BOOT can deliver is truly unique. Ap-
proaching targets without getting detected, lining up perfect
torpedo shots, and sneaking away from the escorts’ counterat-
tack… Or getting pounded by relentless depth charge attacks.
This game has it all and much more, so if you wish to savor it
to the fullest, be serious about your training.
Trust us: it will be worth it.

Artur Salwarowski & Bartosz Pluta

2
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction ���������������������������������������������������������� 4 8. The First Officer ��������������������������������������������� 34

1.1.  Player roles and the goal 8.1. Companion app basics ������������������� 34
of the game ���������������������������������������������� 4 8.2.  The First-Person View (FPV)
1.2.  The companion app ������������������������������� 4 and visual identification ��������� 35
1.3.  Real-time gameplay experience 4
� 8.3. Observers on the Bridge ������������ 35
1.4. Learning how to play ����������������������� 4 8.4.  Other orders featuring app
functionality ������������������������������������� 36
2. Component List ����������������������������������������������������� 4 8.5. Time compression ������������������������������ 36
8.6. First Aid ������������������������������������������������ 37
3. Glossary of U-boat Terms ���������������������������� 9 8.7. Event cards ������������������������������������������ 37
8.8. Wound cards ������������������������������������������ 37
4. Gameplay Overview ������������������������������������������ 11
4.1. The goal of the game ������������������� 11 9. The Navigator ���������������������������������������������������� 38
4.2. Returning to base ��������������������������� 11 9.1. Strategic navigation ������������������� 38
4.3. Game modes ��������������������������������������������� 11 9.1.1. The Distance Ruler ������� 39
9.1.2. The Sextant ������������������������ 39
5. Setting Up the Game ������������������������������������� 12 9.2. Tactical navigation ���������������������� 39
5.1. Choose roles ��������������������������������������� 13 9.2.1. Using the Attack Disk  39
5.2. Prepare game components ��������� 14 9.2.2. Updating
5.3.  Choose game mode the Tactical Map ������������ 40
and difficulty levels ������������������� 15 9.3. Observers on the Bridge ������������ 42
5.4. Read mission briefing ������������������� 15 9.4. Food ������������������������������������������������������������ 43
9.4.1. Meal preparation ������������ 43
6. Core Rules ������������������������������������������������������������ 18 9.4.2. Eating ������������������������������������� 44
6.1. Player responsibilities ������������ 18 9.4.3. Food getting stale ������� 44
6.2. Sailors ���������������������������������������������������� 18
6.3.  Basic gameplay elements: 10.
The Chief Engineer ��������������������������������������� 45
Mobilization 10.1. Engines ���������������������������������������������������� 45
and other orders ������������������������������ 18 10.2. Ballast tanks ������������������������������������� 45
6.4. Mobilization ��������������������������������������� 19 10.3. Repairs and resources ������������������ 45
6.5. Carrying out orders ���������������������� 20 10.3.1. Technical Conditions  46
6.6. Activation ��������������������������������������������� 22 10.3.2. Repairing Technical
6.7. Busy sailors ��������������������������������������� 23 Conditions ������������������������ 46
6.8. The watch system ������������������������������ 23 10.3.3. The Chief
6.9. Health ������������������������������������������������������ 25 Engineer’s cards ��������� 47
6.10. KIA ������������������������������������������������������������ 26 10.3.4. Environmental
6.11. Repairs ���������������������������������������������������� 26 Conditions ������������������������ 48
6.12. Resolving Crew damage ������������������ 27 10.3.5. Dealing with
6.13. Cigarettes ��������������������������������������������� 28 Environmental
6.14. Timing conflicts ��������������������������������� 28 Conditions ������������������������ 48
10.3.6. Hull Breach ���������������������� 49
7. The Captain ��������������������������������������������������������� 29 10.3.7. Sealing
7.1. Commanding the crew ���������������������� 29 a Hull Breach ����������������� 49
7.2. The Order Track ��������������������������������� 29 10.3.8. Other rules related
7.3. The Morale Track ������������������������������ 30 to Hull Breach ��������������� 50
7.4. Exhausted crew ���������������������������������� 31 10.3.9. Access to sections
7.5. Order list ��������������������������������������������� 32 that have been
7.5.1. Maneuvering ������������������������ 32 cut off ��������������������������������� 50
7.5.2. 
Targeting, navigation 10.4. The Technical View ������������������������ 51
and mission intel ��������� 32
7.5.3. Armament ��������������������������������� 32 11. Closing comments ������������������������������������������ 51
7.5.4. 
Safety and crew
management ��������������������������� 33
7.6. Crew Tokens ������������������������������������������ 33
7.7. The Captain’s cards ���������������������� 33

3
 1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. P
layer Roles and the Goal 1.3. Real-time
of the Game Gameplay Experience

U-BOOT The Board Game is a cooperative Because U-BOOT is app-driven and pro-
game for 1-4 players which lets play- ceeds in real time, it is different from
ers take on the roles of officers on a typical board game, as there are no
board a German U-boat during the Second defined player turns. Instead, the pace
World War. of the game is dictated by the companion
app and the Captain’s orders.
Players assume the roles of the Captain,
the First Officer, the Navigator, and The app alerts players to new threats
the Chief Engineer on board a Type VIIC and opportunities, and the Captain co-
U-boat. They coordinate their actions to ordinates the players’ responses. It is
fulfill mission objectives issued to them important to make decisions quickly,
by German U-boat HQ. They are a crew, while not losing sight of objectives or
and they all win or lose together. urgent threats.

1.2. The Companion App 1.4. Learning How to Play

The game requires a free download- Before reading on, you can watch our rules
able companion app. Please visit overview videos at uboottheboardgame.com.
uboottheboardgame.com or your preferred Once you have read and understood the
digital distribution platform (App rules, it is time to prepare for your first
Store, Google Play, or Steam) and search game. If you have already decided who is
for ‘U-BOOT The Board Game’ to download going to play as each role, we suggest the
and install the app on your device. following:

The app is an integral part of U-BOOT • FCirst

aptain - read the Tactical Guide
and you cannot play the game without
it. The app provides real-time gameplay
• tutorial Officer - go through the in-app

featuring dynamic enemy A.I., as well

as many other essential gameplay func-
• Ntack
avigator - learn how to use the At-
Disk, as well as the Strategic
tions. These all constitute a significant and Tactical Maps
part of the experience and are meant to • Cthe
hief Engineer - become familiar with
immerse you even further in the role of Technical Puzzle and the Chief
a U-boat crew. Engineer’s resources

Make sure you download and install the The above steps will prepare each player
app on your device before you continue. to perform their most mission-critical
The app is available for Android, iOS, tasks. After that, a quick explanation
Mac, and Windows PCs. To find out how to of core rules and components will allow
use the app during gameplay, see the everyone to start playing.
First Officer’s rules in section 8.1.

2. COMPONENT LIST
The following list will familiarize you with the box contents of U-BOOT.

The 3D U-boat model

The model is a representation of the Type VIIC U-boat and features all of its most
important sections for the sailors to move about and carry out their duties. Before
your first game, assemble the model as instructed in game setup in section 5.

4
Hull section cards

Captain

6
Section 6

Aft Torpedo Section 8

and E-Motor Room Bridge First Officer

106 108

These cards constitute the Technical View

of the U-boat. They are placed on both
sides of the model to show section names Navigator
and specialization icons indicating where
particular orders are carried out.

Player panels
Chief Engineer

for each sailor, as well as their spe-

cialization icons. The terms ‘Captain’,
‘First Officer’, ‘Navigator’ and ‘Chief
Engineer’ are used throughout the rule-
book to refer to players playing these
roles, but they also appear as individual
Captain
sailors on these crew tiles.

The Ca The Fi The Na The Ch

ptain rst Of vigato ief En
ficer r gineer

ORDER SECTION(S) REQUIREMENTS NOTES ORDER SECTION(S) REQUIREMENTS NOTES ORDER SECTION(S) REQUIREMENTS NOTES ORDER SECTION(S) REQUIREMENTS NOTES

All sailors may move. Confirm the new course with Technical condition:
none Activate the participating Only one repair
Mobilization all sections New
No sailors are activated. Course 3 the Navigator. Assign Max 6x app repair menu
sailors using tokens. may be carried out
Observation 8 If there is at least one busy Environmental condition: per order. If repairing
Repair any +required supply token a technical condition, activate
New Depth observer, then more can join
Functional up to 10 meters under Confirm readiness with the Sectors
Chief
Periscope 3 if activated. Hull Breach: participating sailors
the surface. & Dive/ 3 Engineer, and the depth
with tokens.
Resurface with the Captain.
Activate the sailor one
Allows for locking onto
TDC (torpedo Allows for detecting and tracking additional time to swap New Speed
tokens When surfaced, use diesels
3 torpedo targets if in firing arc
Hydrophone 2 5
targeting) and range. Prepare
enemy vessels. Functional only meal 4 or discard and replace a- token
surfaced in section 5.
under the surface. on the Available Products
pyramid.
Flood Flooding any number of tubes New Speed When submerged, use e-motors
1 and/or 6 Only one sailor per order can 6
Torpedo Tubes requires only one activation. - Map
Reveals your Strategic submerged in section 6.
be activated. He can decipher/
Enigma 2 encipher multiple messages.Sextant
Each 8 position. Functional only
More than one sailor can partic- if the sky is clear. Used when crossing
message requires one activation.
Fire Torpedoes 1 and/or 6 the waterline.
The anti-aircraft gun. Dive /
ipate. Activate a participating
sailor once for each torpedo fired. 3, 5, 6 Make sure that you have
Resurface
Only one sailor per order 20mm
can be gun 8 Can be manned without stopping one sailor in section 5
observation. and another one in section 6.
Reload activated. He can treat multiple
1 or 6 First
Only one torpedo may be reloaded Aid any sailors in his section. Each treat-
a Torpedo per order.
ed sailor requires one activation. Used for changing depth
Always remember to: New Depth 3 under the surface.
Address Allows you to play
3 one captain’s card. 88mm The anti-ship gun. Useful only
gun 7
the Crew • Be aware
of what course the U-boat is following.
against lone, unarmed merchants.
Tokens and enviromental Always remember to:
•
Activate your sailors when they are carrying out orders.
•
Activate sailors without the required specialization icon one additional time. effects • Be aware of what repairs are needed
Always remember to: •
Ensure there are enough observers on duty when sailing on the surface.
most.
Always remember to: •
Get your observers inside before the Captain orders a Dive. Non-hazardous Countermeasure
• Activate sailors when they are carrying
•
Be aware of where the enemy is.
out orders.
• Pay for the orders you issue.
•
Relay all the information from the app to the remaining players.
Mark enemy bearing on the green disk and their course on the white disk. lighting failure
• light bulbs
• Activate sailors without the required
• Activate your sailors when they are carrying out orders.
•
Activate your sailors when they are carrying out orders. •
Prepare a meal once daily.
leak water pump specialization icon one additional time.
• •

First Officer
Activate sailors without the required specialization icon one additional time.
•
Activate sailors without the required specialization icon one additional time. Monitor the Technical View and remind
• Move the token on the Order Track to the left when you hear the watch change
•bell. of what time it is and how much longer it is till the next watch.
Be aware Using the attack disk Plotting a course
Hazardous Countermeasure other players of the threats on board.
• Mobilize the observers and get them inside before you order a Dive.
•
Take a good look at enemy vessels before you report what they are.
electrical
• Plan your repairs and maximize the
• Decrease morale by 2 per each KIA sailor.
•
Make sure an enemy vessel is unarmed before recommending an 88mm gun attack.
U-boat course: 290° 1 Bearing: 40° 2
failure
wire repair crews’ efficiency.
•
Have your helmsmen at the ready in Section 3 whenever possible.
fire • Notify the Captain to decrease or
fire increase morale when environmental
extinguisher
Full order list Torpedo attack conditions affect it.

Maneuvering Armament procedureOptions The watch toxic gas absorbers • Be aware of where your resources are
menu Information located.
changes at: • Be ready for maneuvering, especially
• New Speed • TDC feed
In case of a Hull Breach when sailing on the surface.
• New Course • Flood Tubes 1. Acquire target New Time
• New Depth • Fire Torpedoes 2. Maneuver into approachspeed
position compression
• Dive/Resurface • Reload a Torpedo 3. Calculate intercept vector
Preparing a meal6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1
• 88mm gun
4. Dive to periscope depth Distance: 4 miles 3 Enemy course: 70° 4
Targeting, • 20mm gun Armament

H G F E D C B A
New + = wurst with bread
navigation, (during the day) 6:00 12:00
course
and mission intel Safety and 5. Approach target Repairs + = tinned fish sandwiches

• Assign Observation Crew Management 6. Man battle stations + = scrambled eggs

New
Sectors • Repairs 7. Program the TDC depth
Instruments
+ = ham omelette
• Periscope • First Aid 8. Flood torpedo tube(s)
• Hydrophone • Address the Crew 9. Fire! Target acquisition Observers on the bridge 18:00 00:00 1 mile 1 mile
+ = bangers and mash
1. Decrease morale by one. a) Solved: the Hull Breach b) Not solved: evacuate
• Sextant • Prepare Meal + + 2. Initiate
= casserole
repairs. is sealed. and flood the affected
• Enigma • Mobilize
+ + 3. Solve
= stewthe puzzle and flip section.
it to check the result.
+ + = potato pancakes

Player aid Player aid Player aid Player aid

Player Aids

Four sheets summarizing the orders each

Navigator player is responsible for, as well as
the most important gameplay and setup
information for each role.

Rulebook

The rules booklet that you are reading

right now.
Chief Engineer

Tactical Guide
Each player uses a panel to track their
resources and sailors’ status. A separate booklet con-
taining gameplay advice.
Crew tiles

These tiles are placed on the player

panels. They contain geometrical symbols
e
al Guid
Tactic

5
 88mm gun

This plastic gun should

be mounted on the fore-
deck of the model, right in
front of the conning tower.

20mm gun

This plastic
gun should be mounted on
Sailor Figures the bridge (i.e. the con-
ning tower platform) of
These figures represent the sailors serv- the model, facing back-
ing on the U-boat. Each player controls wards.
a group of 4 figures with bases in a giv-
en color: Event cards

lW
 hite: Captain Cards with
Cook Burns
_________
lB
 lue: First Officer positive and
_____
Dinner
lG
 reen: Navigator negative
Decrease morale
lB
 rown: Chief Engineer by 1. events for
Prevent: the crew.
Please note that each figure has a dif- Activate
the sailor with
ferent base shape from the others in its the icon.

group.
9

Conning tower equipment

Morale cards
This plastic piece
should be mounted in the Cards with
front part of the con- negative ef-
ning tower. fects caused
Dislocated Finger

Assign this card

to a random sailor.
by the de-
: place one teriorating
additional token
when activating this morale of
sailor for repairs.
the crew.
Dislocated Finger

34

Wound cards

Cards with
health prob-
lems which
Minor Burns

might occur
Assign this card when sailors
are exposed
to a random sailor.

to dangerous
Minor Burns situations.
61

6
U-boat marker Merchant marker Escort marker

This marker represents the This marker represents This marker represents an
U-boat on the Tactical Map. a merchant vessel on escort vessel on the Tacti-
the Tactical Map. cal Map.

Enemy marker Convoy marker

Small vessel marker This marker This marker

represents an represents
This marker represents unidentified a convoy on
a small vessel on the enemy on the the Tactical
Tactical Map. Tactical Map. Map.

Plastic order tokens

The Captain’s cards
The captain uses these to-
Cards which kens to pay for orders on
Beer the Captain their player panel.
plays to in-
o ral e
In crease m fluence the Cloth bag
ea ch
by 3, th en
pl a y er acti
va tes crew in var-
r
two of th ei ious ways. A cloth bag to draw crew
sail o rs.
tokens from.

The Chief Engineer’s cards

Cards which the Technical condition tokens

Chief Engineer
plays to boost These tokens mark a  wide variety of
the crew’s repair technical issues to be dealt with. They
skill. are placed on the Technical View by the
Chief Engineer. The front of the token
denotes varying degrees of technical is-
diesel engine • electric motor • 88/20mM
_____
Tools sues, and the back is referred to as an
________
Bearings activation side.

+1
___________________
+2 If there are at least
two sailors in the
repair crew, one of
Only the is
activated with a .
The remaining sailors
them is activated with in the repair crew are
a instead of . activated using .
88 85

Crew tokens Environmental condition tokens

16 tokens, each correspond- These tokens mark environmental effects

ing to one of the sailors’ which may occur (fires, flooding, electri-
base shapes and colors. The cal hazards, etc.) They are placed on
Captain randomly draws from the Technical View by the Chief Engi-
these tokens when various game events af- neer, and may have severe consequences
fect random sailors. if not dealt with quickly.

7
 Health condition tokens

These tokens mark sail-

ors who become sick or
Supply tokens wounded in the line of duty. They have
a ‘wound’ side and a ‘fatigue’ side.
These tokens mark a variety of supplies
and equipment which the Chief Engineer
uses to deal with environmental condi-
tions.

Medical supply tokens

These tokens represent various supplies

which the First Officer uses to treat
sick or wounded sailors.
Toolbox markers
Medkit tokens
These two markers show the locations of
the Chief Engineer’s toolboxes. These tokens help the
First Officer keep track
Technical Puzzle of their remaining medi-
cal supplies.
A puzzle which must be
solved whenever the U-boat KIA tokens
sustains critical struc-
tural damage. Randomly mix These tokens mark sailors who
the pieces before playing. have been killed in action.

Flooded Section Token Cigarette tokens

This token is used to These tokens represent cig-

mark a flooded section of arettes which sailors can
the U-boat. smoke on the Bridge to re-
lax.

Activation tokens Attack Disk

These tokens track how many or- The Navigator uses

ders a particular sailor has this tool to deter-
G

BE
RI N

AR
BEA

ING

taken. Observation tokens and mine the position

technical condition tokens also have of enemy vessels on
ING

BEA
AR

RI N
BE

‘activation’ on their back. the tactical map,

as well as inter-
Observation tokens cept vectors to attack
them. Before your first
The navigator uses these tokens game, assemble the Attack
to mark who is performing ob- Disk as instructed in game setup in sec-
server duty. tion 5.

Provision tokens Distance ruler & pencil

These tokens
represent
the food
supply that The Navigator uses these to plot the
the crew has course on the map. The ruler can also
at their be used to calculate distance covered in
disposal. transit.

8
 360 degree protractor

Used when plotting the U-boat’s course on

the strategic map.

Nur für den Dienstgebrauch!

IDENTIFICATION SHEET
ESCORT VESSEL TYPES:

Angle on the bow: 90 35/145 25/155 15/165 0/180

Strategic Map
Flower-class
corvette
GRT: 1000

Town-class

Identification
destroyer
GRT: 1190

Black Swan-class
sloop

Used by the Naviga- Sheet

GRT: 1250

Tribal-class
destroyer
GRT: 2500

tor to plot courses Illustrious-class

carrier
GRT: 23000

and determine the COASTAL VESSEL TYPES:

A sheet contain-
U-boat’s position. ing enemy vessel
Angle on the bow: 90 35/145 25/155 15/165 0/180

Fishing boat

It consists of two Motor

torpedo boat
silhouettes, used
sheets: one for the Patrol boat
by the First Of-
North Sea and one ficer to identify
for the Atlantic. enemies.

Nur für den Dienstgebrauch!

CAPTAIN’S LOG
Mission title Date
ENIGMA CODE SHEET
Nr. 00001

Captain 1st Officer Navigator Chief Engineer

Date Key Date Key Date Key Date Key
MISSION DETAILS 1940-07-01 XBC 1940-08-22 MIF 1940-10-13 WCZ 1940-12-04 JNZ
1940-07-02 PRA 1940-08-23 LOS 1940-10-14 GEO 1940-12-05 IWF
Date Time Event 1940-07-03 EMJ 1940-08-24 HDA 1940-10-15 YOY 1940-12-06 UMS
1940-07-04 KOB 1940-08-25 FDA 1940-10-16 IIG 1940-12-07 HZL
1940-07-05 JMJ 1940-08-26 ETE 1940-10-17 JJJ 1940-12-08 JPE
1940-07-06 MSF 1940-08-27 URZ 1940-10-18 MYH 1940-12-09 PAK
1940-07-07 CKS 1940-08-28 TTP 1940-10-19 NIK 1940-12-10 LZI
1940-07-08 OTE 1940-08-29 TFO 1940-10-20 ANL 1940-12-11 FZI
1940-07-09 UZP 1940-08-30 BPR 1940-10-21 EAH 1940-12-12 PBE
1940-07-10 XXZ 1940-08-31 IJG 1940-10-22 ENO 1940-12-13 EPO

Enigma code sheet

1940-07-11 JDE 1940-09-01 WGW 1940-10-23 XYS 1940-12-14 TBF
1940-07-12 HUA 1940-09-02 LLL 1940-10-24 WEX 1940-12-15 LKU
1940-07-13 CUF 1940-09-03 OPI 1940-10-25 CXZ 1940-12-16 MOO
1940-07-14 LKD 1940-09-04 IOX 1940-10-26 WUP 1940-12-17 WJN
1940-07-15 WDH 1940-09-05 OSX 1940-10-27 ORK 1940-12-18 LNT
1940-07-16 OAG 1940-09-06 CDA 1940-10-28 TIN 1940-12-19 RUP
1940-07-17 FCK 1940-09-07 ZSB 1940-10-29 NLC 1940-12-20 UFO
1940-07-18 DJB 1940-09-08 LLJ 1940-10-30 BRO 1940-12-21 YCT
1940-07-19 OGH 1940-09-09 ITC 1940-10-31 SWM 1940-12-22 KEN
1940-07-20 YWS 1940-09-10 PJZ 1940-11-01 MBE 1940-12-23 OST

A sheet con-
1940-07-21 IHO 1940-09-11 AZT 1940-11-02 HTB 1940-12-24 BPX
1940-07-22 KBK 1940-09-12 SJW 1940-11-03 ILK 1940-12-25 DMX
1940-07-23 WCS 1940-09-13 ERH 1940-11-04 NNE 1940-12-26 FXF
1940-07-24 IJX 1940-09-14 REA 1940-11-05 LJA 1940-12-27 IDK
1940-07-25 ZOA 1940-09-15 PKE 1940-11-06 HSN 1940-12-28 WOO

taining Enigma
1940-07-26 NSO 1940-09-16 TDM 1940-11-07 UJX 1940-12-29 TSK
1940-07-27 XEY 1940-09-17 RZM 1940-11-08 AKR 1940-12-30 OZF
1940-07-28 IRU 1940-09-18 RJR 1940-11-09 TOB 1940-12-31 MIJ
1940-07-29 MFS 1940-09-19 FIT 1940-11-10 LWF 1941-01-01 ZWZ
1940-07-30 DRM 1940-09-20 LDR 1940-11-11 DDI 1941-01-02 LBG

Captain’s Log Chart codes, used by

1940-07-31 SEY 1940-09-21 JZF 1940-11-12 IOU 1941-01-03 FYX
1940-08-01 MCD 1940-09-22 JHO 1940-11-13 UNB 1941-01-04 UUT
1940-08-02 NKC 1940-09-23 DXH 1940-11-14 OFF 1941-01-05 RIA
1940-08-03 WSY 1940-09-24 AXK 1940-11-15 AEU 1941-01-06 XLY
1940-08-04 NWR 1940-09-25 RGM 1940-11-16 JCC 1941-01-07 KLC

the First Offi-

1940-08-05 NEU 1940-09-26 AWB 1940-11-17 BSZ 1941-01-08 DCL
1940-08-06 BBN 1940-09-27 ENP 1940-11-18 AYL 1941-01-09 EPL
1940-08-07 RAP 1940-09-28 NYK 1940-11-19 PLP 1941-01-10 DAT
1940-08-08 TZO 1940-09-29 KIO 1940-11-20 MND 1941-01-11 NNH
1940-08-09 UYW 1940-09-30 CMB 1940-11-21 ZWO 1941-01-12 YSU
MISSION RESULT TOTAL GRT SUNK: ............... 1940-08-10 SSJ 1940-10-01 CSN 1940-11-22 FKJ 1941-01-13 ZCE

Used by the Captain cer to decipher

Primary objective: Secondary objective(s): 1940-08-11 FPF 1940-10-02 OHF 1940-11-23 UCT 1941-01-14 NAU
1940-08-12 YKL 1940-10-03 UFC 1940-11-24 FLD 1941-01-15 WBJ
.................................. ................................................... fulfilled [ ] unfulfilled [ ]
1940-08-13 XAH 1940-10-04 NPG 1940-11-25 MED 1941-01-16 JSL
................................................... fulfilled [ ] unfulfilled [ ]
1940-08-14 MAL 1940-10-05 EPB 1940-11-26 RAG 1941-01-17 HBX
.................................. 1940-08-15 AUU 1940-10-06 BZC 1940-11-27 WJM 1941-01-18 HWS

to record essential and encipher

................................................... fulfilled [ ] unfulfilled [ ] 1940-08-16 CZB 1940-10-07 EEL 1940-11-28 YKC 1941-01-19 LGK
.................................. 1940-08-17 YBP 1940-10-08 SGN 1940-11-29 FCE 1941-01-20 TCX
................................................... fulfilled [ ] unfulfilled [ ] 1940-08-18 ZBD 1940-10-09 BUA 1940-11-30 WSD 1941-01-21 CGF
1940-08-19 HTD 1940-10-10 TYY 1940-12-01 EHZ 1941-01-22 KEE
.................................. ................................................... fulfilled [ ] unfulfilled [ ]
1940-08-20 MSL 1940-10-11 AAI 1940-12-02 XOI 1941-01-23 HYS

mission information. radio messages.

fulfilled [ ]
unfulfilled [ ] ................................................... fulfilled [ ] unfulfilled [ ]
1940-08-21 GDA 1940-10-12 GYE 1940-12-03 OTT 1941-01-24 CLI
Nr. 00001

____________________________________
IMPORTANT: When you run out of captain’s log or map charts, you can download them
from uboottheboardgame.com.
____________________________________

3. GLOSSARY OF U-BOAT TERMS

Attack Disk ASDIC (active sonar)

The Navigator’s tool is composed of ASDIC was a  device used for locating
three concentric disks and provides and tracking submerged U-boats. It emit-
quick answers regarding enemy position ted a  highly concentrated sound wave
and optimal torpedo attack solutions. which traveled through water, and, upon
hitting an object, bounced back to the
The Attack disk very closely resembles transceiver, giving the operator a rough
authentic tools used by U-boat sailors location and depth of the target.
to calculate targeting data, and mas-
tering its use is absolutely essential Initially, ASDIC lacked precision, but
for the Navigator to be able to perform later models could give a very precise
effectively. reading of a submerged contact. The down-
side of ASDIC was that it could not de-
tect surfaced U-boats. If ASDIC detects

9
you, then you will hear the characteris- the country into submission. GRT refers
tic ‘ping’ of the sound wave hitting the to the amount of cargo (fuel, munitions
U-boat’s hull. etc.) a  merchant vessel could carry.
Merchant vessels were the primary target
Bridge of U-Boat operations.

The bridge of a WWII submarine is the Hydrophone (passive sonar)

open platform at the top of the conning
tower. Observers perform their duties A  device that served as the U-boat’s
here. ears. Whenever the U-boat was sub-
merged, it could use the hydrophone to
Contact hear sound waves traveling through the
water, enabling the operator to calcu-
A detected surface, subsurface or air- late the bearing and distance of enemy
borne unit. vessels by listening to their propeller
sounds. An experienced operator could
Enigma even determine the course and speed of
the vessel.
A  cipher machine used extensively by
German forces during WWII. It encrypted The hydrophone was a primary target
messages according to a ‘daily key’. The acquisition system for the Type VIIC
daily key contained rotor settings which U-Boat. In poor weather conditions it
changed clear text into cipher text. could provide more reliable data than
visual observation.
The three-rotor Enigma code was broken
by Polish cryptanalysts before the sec- TDC (Torpedo Data Computer)
ond world war. Using their method, the
Allied cryptanalysts at Bletchley Park This device, known as the ‘Torpedovor-
were able to break the German four- and halterechner’, served as the torpe-
five-rotor enigma code and even the Ger- do targeting system of the U-boat. The
man Naval Enigma code. That gave the Al- optimal firing solution was calculated
lies an invaluable source of information based on the enemy contact’s bearing,
on U-boat operations. distance, course, and speed.

GRT (gross register tonnage) Section

During WWII, the United Kingdom was The U-boat is divided into eight sec-
heavily reliant on its sea trade routes. tions. Six of them are inside the hull,
German U-boat strategy focused on cut- and the remaining two are outside. Below
ting these supply lines, depriving the is a diagram of how they are numbered
UK of vital cargo in an attempt to starve and where each section is located.

U-BOOT SECTIONS Bridge

8 7 Foredeck

6
Aft Torpedo
5
Diesel
4
Crew’s
3
Control
2
Officers’
1
Bow
and E-motor Engine Quarters Room Quarters Torpedo
Room Room Room

10
 4. GAMEPLAY OVERVIEW

4.1. The goal of the game Your goal is to achieve the best result
possible. If you truly seek fame and
In U-BOOT, players are young German sub- glory, then settling for anything less
mariners who strive for the fame and is not an option!
glory of the greatest U-boat aces. They
must prove themselves by fulfilling 4.2. Returning to base
missions, thus earning victory points
called Renown. Renown is scored by: You can return to base by choosing to do
so in the app menu, as long as the U-boat
• completing mission objectives, is not engaged by the enemy. This ‘fast
• sinking enemy shipping. travel’ option has been included if you
wish to end the game before mission time
Each mission has a  primary objective runs out. You may want to finish a mis-
and one or more secondary objectives. sion early because you are already happy
The primary objective is explained in with the result, or, conversely, abandon
the pre-mission briefing, while second- the mission if all hope of success has
ary objectives will be sent by HQ during been lost.
the course of the mission. Fulfilling the
primary objective enables scoring large When returning to base, all your achieve-
amounts of Renown, while secondary ob- ments during the mission (i.e. the GRT
jectives provide additional scoring op- which you sank and the objectives which
portunities. you fulfilled) are recorded by the app.

The final score can also be vastly im- 4.3. Game modes
proved by sinking encountered enemy
shipping. The amount of Renown scored Single Mission
this way is determined by how much GRT
players sink before the mission ends. Single Mission is the simplest game
mode. You can choose any mission avail-
Ending a mission able in the game and attempt to obtain
the best score you can. Try out differ-
The mission ends when any of the follow- ent tactics, improve your strategy, and
ing happens: find out about new secondary objectives.
Once you feel comfortable playing single
• mission time has run out, missions, it is a  good moment to give
• the U-boat has returned to base, the other game modes a try.
• the U-boat has been destroyed or oth-
erwise lost. In that case, all play- Linked Mission
ers lose the game. This happens when:
• the U-boat is rammed by an enemy ves- Linked Missions are full-scale patrols
sel, taking place over a  couple of weeks.
• the U-boat hits an underwater object As they may be too long for a single
or runs aground in coastal waters, gaming session, they have been divided
• the U-boat sustains enough structural into several missions. Each of them may
damage to be sunk by flooding, be played in Single Mission mode, but
• an enemy attack kills the entire crew. they may also be linked together to give
a complete patrol experience over a few
When the mission ends, the app will cal- gaming sessions.
culate your total Renown and evaluate
your efforts. The possible mission re- The game’s app lets players save the
sults are: game state between sessions, and the
Captain’s log is used to note down all
S - superb D - unsatisfactory the essential in-game information.
A - excellent E - bad
B - good F - mission failed Linked missions are much more demanding
C - decent than single missions, because they re-

11
quire players to survive at sea for much GRT, and your evaluations for each mis-
longer. In return, they deliver a more sion. All missions featuring the linked
complete experience and allow more sea- mission mode will be played in accor-
soned crews to put their skills to a real dance with linked mission rules. On top
test. Some linked missions may require of that, you will need to achieve at
completing the primary objective to ad- least an ‘E’ at the end of a mission to
vance to the next mission. advance to the next one.

Campaign Mode After you complete the campaign, the app

will compute your final campaign score.
The Campaign Mode will take you through If you have sunk enough GRT and per-
all the missions in the game. The app formed well, you may find yourself among
will save your progress between mis- the greatest aces of the U-Bootwaffe!
sions, as well as track your renown,

5. SETTING UP THE GAME

Before your first game, assemble the 3D U-boat model, the Attack Disk
and the Chief Engineer’s player panel as shown in the diagrams below:

12
 4

Follow the steps below to set up the game:

1. Choose roles
2. Prepare game components
3. C
hoose game mode and difficulty
levels
4. Read mission briefing

5.1. Choose roles

When choosing roles, you should consider

the following recommendations:

Please note that the black disk is dou- • Captain – for natural-born leaders
ble-sided. One of its sides has numbers and quick decision-makers.
in red and green, while the other side • First Officer – for players with solid
doesn’t. The side with the numbers is communication and some software skills.
recommended for experienced navigators, • Navigator – for players with good
as it is mostly used on hard difficulty. spatial awareness (or sailing expe-
The side without the numbers is recom- rience).
mended for beginner navigators, as the • Chief Engineer – for players who ex-
additional information could needlessly cel at resource management and pri-
confuse them. Please bear that in mind oritizing.
when assembling your Attack Disk.
If there are fewer than four players,
Place the disks on top of each other as then we recommend:
shown in the diagram (with the largest at
the bottom and the smallest on top). Place • setting all difficulty levels in the
the arrow on top of the three disks. Now, app to easy or medium, especially
thread the connector through the center when learning the game,
and snap it together with its other half. • distributing the roles as follows:
Your Attack Disk is now ready!
3 Players
Attach the depth gauge and engine room
telegraph arms to the Chief Engineer’s One of the players controls the Captain,
player panel as shown in the diagram: as well as the Chief Engineer or the
Navigator.

2 Players

One player controls the Captain and the

Navigator, and the other player controls
the First Officer and the Chief Engineer.

1 Player

One player takes on all four roles.

13
Those recommendations are not mandatory;
as you gain experience, you may distrib-
ute the roles as you wish. The Navigator

For ease of reading and clarity, the • 4Navigator’s
sailor figures with green bases
rules assume that four players are play- • Navigator’s panel
ing the game. The only difference when • Navigator’s crew tile
playing with fewer than four players is • Strategic Mapplayer aid
that all ‘per player’ rules and effects • Attack Disk
should be applied as ‘per role’. • Pencil, 360 protractor,
• and distance ruler
5.2. Prepare game components
• Provision tokens
1. P
lace the 3D model in the middle of the • 12 Observation tokens
table and arrange the section cards on • Uthe
-boat marker, Enemy marker, and
both sides, lining them up with the remaining Tactical Map markers
sections of the model as shown in the • 2 cigarette tokens
setup diagram (pp. 16-17).
2. 
Arrange the player panels as shown in
the setup diagram.
3. Hand out each player’s components: The Chief Engineer

•
4 sailor figures with brown bases
The Captain •
Chief Engineer’s panel
•
Chief Engineer’s crew tile
• 4Captain’s
sailor figures with white bases •
Chief Engineer’s player aid
• Captain’s panel •
Technical condition tokens
• Captain’s crew tile (11 of each color)
• 2 plastic player aid •
Environmental condition tokens
• 3 decks oforder tokens •
Flooded section token
• 16 crew tokens
morale cards •
Supply tokens
• Cloth bag •
Toolbox markers
• Captain’s cards •
Chief Engineer’s cards
• 12 Activation tokens •
Technical puzzle pieces
• Captain’s log sheet •
2 cigarette tokens
• 2 cigarette tokens
•
4. S
huffle and place all card decks as
shown in the setup diagram. Specifi-
The First Officer cally:

• 4First
sailor figures with blue bases • Ddecks,
ivide the morale cards into three
• First Officer’s panel shuffle each separately,
• First Officer’s crew tile and place them in their designated
• DeviceOfficer’s player aid spaces on the Captain’s panel.
• Event cards
running the companion app • Shuffle the event cards and place
• Wound cards them in their designated space on
• Medical supply tokens the First Officer’s panel.
• Health condition tokens • Shuffle each wound card deck sep-
• KIA tokens arately and place each deck near
• 12 Activation tokens the First Officer’s panel.
• Medkit tokens (if campaign • Place the Captain’s cards near the
• /linked mode) Captain’s panel.
• Place the Chief Engineer’s cards
• Identification sheet near the Chief Engineer’s panel.
• Enigma code sheet
• 2 cigarette tokens 5. P
lace all tokens as shown in the setup
diagram. Specifically:

14
 • P(or
lace crew tokens in the cloth bag
Sailor Starting Setup
other opaque container) next to
the Captain’s player panel.
• and
Shuffle all the provision tokens SECTION 4
place them face down on the (Crew’s Quarters)
Navigator’s panel in the Food Sup-
ply box. Next, draw 6 tokens one
by one from the Food Supply to fill
the ‘Available Products’ pyramid
SECTION 3
(The Control Room)
from top to bottom, from left to
right on each row.
• Place all the medical supply to-
kens on the medkit space on the
SECTION 2
(Officers’ Quarters)
First Officer’s panel. If play-
ing in Linked Mission or Campaign
Mode, add one medkit token for
each additional mission you wish
SECTION 1
(The Bow Section)
to play after the first mission.
• Place all the Health Condition
and KIA tokens within reach of the
First Officer.
• Place the supply tokens and tool-
boxes on the Technical View. Place 5.3. C
hoose game mode
one of the toolboxes in section 2, and difficulty levels
and the other in section 4. The
supply tokens are placed however Launch the app on your device and choose
you wish in sections from 1 to 6, the desired game mode and mission. Next,
maximum one token per section. follow the in-app instructions and pro-
• Each player places 2 Cigarette to- ceed to difficulty settings. Each play-
kens near their player panel. er now selects the difficulty level for
their role(s) as they see fit. The app
6. 
Place the sailor figures on the 3D model menu allows each player to choose their
as shown in the sailor starting setup. preferred level, listing all the game-
play differences between them. The app
7. P
lace all the remaining components ac- will also guide each player how to com-
cording to the setup diagram (p. 16- plete their setup. After each player se-
17), using player aids for reference. lects their difficulty level, players can
proceed with the next step.

5.4. Read mission briefing

Read the mission briefing in the app.

It contains everything you need to know
about your mission objectives. Once ev-
eryone is ready, the First Officer can
press the ‘Start Mission’ button.

15
SETUP DIAGRAM

3
6
7

8
9
34
5
36 4
35
1

2
19
37

5 34 35
21
22
20

23 24

10.
Tactical map markers
(plastic and cardboard)
11.
Observation tokens 38
1. 3D model and Hull Section cards 12.
Provision tokens
2. Device running the app 13.
The Navigator’s crew tile
3. Event cards 14.
The Navigator’s panel
4. KIA and health condition tokens 15.
Pencil
5. Activation tokens 16.
Strategic map
6. The First Officer’s crew tile 17.
360 protractor and ruler
7. Wound cards 18.
Attack Disk
8. Medical supply tokens 19.
Cloth bag with crew tokens
9. The First Officer’s panel 20.
The Captain’s cards

16
 10

5
14
13

12
15
11 34 35 17

18

32 17
31
16
27 30
34
25 5 35

29

26 39 33

21.
The Captain’s panel 28
22.
Order tokens
23.
The Captain’s crew tile
33.
Technical Puzzle pieces
24.
Morale cards
34.
Sailor figures
25.
The Chief Engineer’s panel
35.
Cigarette tokens
26.
The Chief Engineer’s crew tile
36.
Enigma code sheet
27.
Technical condition tokens
37.
Identification Sheet
28.
Environmental condition tokens
38.
Captain’s Log Chart
29.
Flooded section token
39.
The Chief Engineer’s cards
30.
Supply tokens
31.
Toolbox (I)
32.
Toolbox (II)

17
 6. CORE RULES

6.1. Player Responsibilities • Unless explicitly stated other-

wise, all game effects apply only
Each player: to the active watch. Please re-
member this when resolving card
• controls four sailor figures in effects.
their own color and may move only • Each sailor has two specializa-
their own figures. tion icons printed in his sailor
• is responsible for carrying out space on the crew tile, and three
orders printed on their player activation spaces on the player
aid. panel. The sailor spaces on the
• may use their sailors to help an- crew tile align with the activa-
other player carry out their order. tion spaces on the player panel.
• Specializations allow sailors to
6.2. Sailors carry out orders more efficiently.
All the specialization icons are
Players move their sailors around the listed beside (p. 19).
U-boat to carry out orders.
6.3. B
asic Gameplay Elements:
• The sailors are represented by Mobilization and other
plastic figures. The figures’ base orders
shapes and colors correspond with
those on the players’ crew tiles. During the game, the Captain issues or-
• Each player controls two watches ders to other players. There are many
of 4 sailors each. Only one watch orders that allow sailors to do vari-
of figures is available to a player ous things, but there is also one order
at a time. This is represented by which allows them to move around the
double-sided crew tiles: one side U-boat.
shows the first watch, and the other
side shows the second watch. That order is called ‘Mobilization.’ It
• For the first watch (beginning is a special order with its own rules,
of the game), the crew tiles are since any number of sailors move to new
placed on the player panels as locations in the U-boat, instead of spe-
shown below. cific sailors doing a  specific task at
• The watch currently on duty is their current location. Regardless, Mo-
called the active watch. The oth- bilization is an order and it is paid
er watch is called the inactive for in the exact same way as all the
watch. other orders.

2nd watch activation spaces

Second watch
(currently
inactive) Sailor spaces

First watch
(CURRENTLY
ACTIVE)

1st watch activation spaces

18
 SPECIALIZATION ICONS • The lower sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
are mutually adjacent in a long row.
The upper sections 7 and 8 are adja-
Meal
Periscope cent to each other. Sections 3 and 8
preparation
are adjacent only when the U-boat is
Address surfaced. While the U-boat is under-
Hydrophone
the crew water, sailors cannot move between
sections 3 and 8.
TDC Enigma
• Orders can never be issued or carried
out during Mobilization. Only after
Reload tubes First aid Mobilization is finished can orders
be issued and carried out again. See
Flood/Fire
Repair ‘ending Mobilization’ for details.
torpedoes
Ballast
• Mobilization also allows the Chief En-
Observation gineer to reposition their resource
tanks tokens (i.e. toolboxes and supplies).
Any sailor moving from or through
Sextant Helm
a section with a resource token may
take it with him and place it in any
20mm gun Engines section he moves into or through.
• Both the Chief Engineer’s and other
80mm gun players’ sailors may move resource
tokens.
• A given sailor can move only one re-
source token per Mobilization.

Hazardous sections
6.4. Mobilization
A section becomes
Mobilization must follow the sequence hazardous when there
below: is a fire, toxic gas, or electrical hazard
token placed in it.
1. P
ay for the order and announce Mobi-
lization. • Sailors may move into, through, and
2. Move sailors. out of hazardous sections.
3. Resolve crew damage (if necessary). • After finishing movement, resolve
4. End Mobilization. crew damage for each hazardous sec-
tion. Sailors who moved into or
• The Captain mobilizes the crew to en- through a hazardous section and all
able players to move their sailors sailors remaining in that section
around the U-boat. after movement has finished are af-
• The Captain must pay for the order fected by its environmental condi-
by moving the order token on the Or- tion effects simultaneously. See
der Track to the right by one space section 6.12. ‘Resolving crew dam-
for each announced Mobilization. This age’ for details.
cost must be paid before players can
move their sailors. Ending Mobilization
• Do not activate the sailors who are
mobilizing. • Once all sailors have finished mov-
• Any number of sailors can be moved ing and resolved crew damage (if
during a single Mobilization. necessary), the Captain must re-
• Sailors can move from any number of ceive a  verbal confirmation from
starting sections to any number of each player.
destination sections which are con- • Once all the players involved have
nected by an unbroken chain of adja- confirmed their readiness, it means
cent sections. Sailors cannot enter the end of the current Mobilization.
or move through flooded sections. See Once that has happened, no sailors
section 10.3.6 ‘Hull Breach’ for de- can move until the Captain announces
tails. another Mobilization.

19
 The sailors are in their starting
positions and the Captain announces
Mobilization to maneuvering stations:
1
‘Crew mobilize! Engines, ballasts,
helm, observers, man your stations!’

The sailors have repositioned in

accordance with the Captain’s orders.
The observers are all on the bridge,
2
the engine and ballast crew, as well
as helmsmen are all in position.
The crew is now ready
to carry out orders.

The Captain then asks: ‘Crew in position?’ and the remaining players confirm with
‘yes sir!’, ‘jawohl, Herr Kaleun!’, or any other way they wish. This is the end of
Mobilization.

6.5. Carrying out orders Track to the right by one space for
each issued order.
Carrying out orders must follow the se- • Each order has requirements which
quence below: must be fulfilled before the order can
be carried out. To fulfill the specif-
1. P
ay for the order and issue the or- ic order requirements, the sailor(s)
der. carrying out the order must:
2. 
Select the order in the app (if nec- - 
be present in the specified sec-
essary). tion(s).
3. C
onfirm verbally whether sailors are - 
collectively match the number of
in position. specialization icons required
4. A
ctivate the sailor(s) carrying out by the order.
the order. • All sailors carrying out an order
5. 
Carry out the order (in the app if must be activated (see section 6.6.
necessary). ‘Activation’ for details). If a sail-
or does not have enough empty activa-
• The Captain must pay for the order by tion spaces, he cannot be activated
moving the order token on the Order and cannot carry out the given order.

20
• Sailors without a required specializa- i.e. ‘First Aid’, ‘Enigma’, ‘Prepare
tion icon may carry out the given or- Meal’, and ‘Fire Torpedoes’.
der, but each such sailor receives one • Players should collectively confirm
additional activation token per acti- their sailors are ready to complete
vation. These sailors count as each the order. If they are, the order
having one icon required by the order. is carried out. If necessary, the
• Some orders allow a sailor to be ac- First Officer executes the order in
tivated more than once per order, the app.

The available orders are listed below:

Maneuvering Armament
REQUIRE- REQUIRE-
ORDER SECTION(S) ORDER SECTION(S)
MENTS MENTS

5 (diesels) or
New Speed TDC 3
6(e-motors)

New Course 3
Flood Tubes 1 and/or 6

Fire
1 and/or 6
New Depth 3 Torpedoes

Reload
1 or 6
a Torpedo

Dive/ 88mm gun 7

3,5,6
Resurface

20mm gun 8

Safety and Targeting, navigation

Crew Management and mission intel
REQUIRE- REQUIRE-
ORDER SECTION(S) ORDER SECTION(S)
MENTS MENTS
depend on
Repairs any * Assign max 6x
repair type
Observation 8
First Aid any Sectors

Address Periscope 3
3
the Crew
Prepare
4 Hydrophone 2
Meal
all
Mobilize none Sextant 8
sections
*
Technical condition: app repair menu
Environmental condition: +required supply token Enigma 2
Hull Breach:

21
 6.6. Activation

• Each time a sailor carries out an or-

der, he is activated. Activation can
also result from card effects.
• To activate a sailor, place an acti-
vation token (or any other token with
its activation side up) in that sail-
or’s empty activation space.
• If a sailor does not have a required
specialization icon for an order,
then he must have space for two acti-
vation tokens.
• A sailor without enough empty activa-
Two helmsman are already in position when tion spaces cannot be activated.
the Captain decides to change course. • A  sailor can never have more than
three activation tokens.
• When placing a token in a sailor’s
activation space, make sure you place
it on the corresponding edge of the
panel (top or bottom edge, for which-
ever watch is currently active) and in
an empty activation space from among
the three activation spaces aligned
with the particular sailor space on
the crew tile.
• If you ever run out of activation
tokens, use suitable substitutes in-
stead.

He pays for the order and issues the or-

der: ‘New course: 330 degrees’.

The First Officer has not yet carried

out an order this watch, so all his ac-
tivation spaces are empty. The Radio-
man has already carried out three or-
ders and cannot carry out any more as
all his activation spaces are taken. The
two helmsmen on the right have performed
one course change, so each of them has
The First Officer activates the sailors a single order token.
carrying out the order.
• Players can remove activation tokens
The First Officer quickly selects the or- from sailors when they rest.
der in the app and sets the given course. • Sailors rest when the watch changes.
The app always asks whether the crew is A watch change occurs at 0600, 1200,
in position. In this case, these are 1800, and 0000.
the First Officer’s sailors, so there • A watch change is indicated by the
is no need to confirm with the other app with a bell sound. See section
players. 6.8. ‘The Watch System’ for details.

22
6.7. Busy Sailors

• Observation and repairing technical

conditions differ from other orders
in that they take place over a longer
time period, and sailors carrying out
these orders are activated using the
corresponding observation or techni-
cal condition tokens instead of reg-
ular activation tokens.
• Observation and technical condition
tokens are double-sided and have an The three sailors with technical condi-
activation icon on their back side. tion tokens are busy, having been ordered
Make sure to flip such tokens to to repair a technical condition. They have
their activation side once the order been activated using the appropriately
in progress has been carried out or colored technical condition tokens.
stopped.
• To activate a sailor for an observa-
tion or Repair order, take the token
corresponding with the order being
carried out, placing it in an acti-
vation space the same way you would
normally place an activation token,
but with the order side up (e.g. if
the sailor is repairing a technical
condition, then place a technical
condition token of the matching color
with the wrench side up in an emp-
ty activation space on the player’s When the sailors finish repairs or move,
panel). This is to show that a given the technical condition tokens are
sailor is busy. flipped to their activation side.
• If a busy sailor moves, he immediate-
ly stops carrying out his order. Flip 6.8. The Watch System
his ‘busy’ token to its activation
side and update the repairs or obser- Changing the watch must follow the se-
vation in the app. quence below:
• A busy sailor may carry out orders in
his current section without flipping 1. Adjust the Order Track.
his ‘busy’ order token to its acti- 2. Resolve crew damage (if necessary).
vation side. However, a  sailor can 3. Manage tokens and flip crew tiles.
never carry out two ‘busy’ orders at 4. Return or remove KIAs (if necessary).
the same time.
• When activating sailors for obser- The watch changes over at 0600, 1200,
vation or repairs, remember to place 1800 and 0000. At those times the active
one additional activation token in watch becomes inactive and vice ver-
an activation space of a  sailor who sa. The app announces the change with
doesn’t have the required specializa- a bell. When players hear this bell:
tion icon in his sailor space.
• If a busy sailor dies or can no lon- • The captain adjusts the Order Track
ger participate in carrying out the by moving the order token to the left
order, update the order information by 3, 4, or 5 spaces, depending on
in the app as soon as possible. the chosen difficulty level. The or-
• Updating order information in the app der token can never go further to the
may result in finishing observation or left than space VIII of the Order
pausing repairs. For details, please Track.
see 8.3. and 9.3. ‘Observers on the • Players resolve crew damage from all
bridge’ and 10.3.2. ‘Repairing tech- hazardous environmental conditions.
nical conditions’. See section 6.12. ‘Resolving crew
damage’ for details.

23
• Each player then discards one acti- • If a sailor has a health condition AND
vation token from each sailor of the the required medical supplies have
active watch. been placed on the health condition
• If a sailor has a busy token in his card, then you can discard one of
space, transfer the busy token to the the health condition tokens resulting
next watch sailor on the opposite from this card instead of an acti-
side of the panel. If you transfer vation token. This health condition
a sailor’s busy token, then do not token is discarded EVEN IF you have
discard an activation token from that already transferred a busy token.
sailor.
• Place the transferred busy token
in an empty activation space of the
sailor’s next-watch counterpart. (the
sailor’s colleague is taking over his
duties).
• Incoming watch sailors who have re-
ceived a transferred token and do not
have the required specialization icon
take an additional activation token.
• If there are not enough empty ac-
tivation spaces or the next-watch
counterpart is KIA, then the sailor
cannot take over and the observation The sailors on the right each have
or Repair order in the app must be a Health Condition, but only one of them
updated as soon as possible. has received the required treatment.

The sailors on the left are carrying out When the other watch takes over, only
repairs, and the sailors on the right sailors who received their required med-
have one activation token each. It is now ications can get rid of health condition
time for the other watch to take over. tokens (one per sailor).

• The First Officer updates the obser-

vation and repair values in the app
if they have changed for any reason
(including when sailors from the in-
coming watch cannot continue orders
due to lack of enough free activation
spaces, or being KIA).
• Flip the crew tile over once you are
done with updating the tokens. The
new watch is now active.
• If any sailors are KIA, sailor figures
may need to be returned to or re-
The technical condition tokens are moved from the 3D model at the end of
transferred to the new watch, while ac- a watch changeover. See section 6.10.
tivation tokens are discarded (maximum ‘KIA’ for details.
one per sailor).

24
OPTIONAL RULE - Simple watch change tion token for each wound, fatigue
and activation symbol on the card and
Players who have chosen easy difficulty place them in the affected sailor’s
may slide their crew tiles instead of activation spaces.
flipping them when changing the watch. • If there are not enough spaces, then
This makes for an easier game with fewer discard enough activation tokens to
Mobilizations necessary. place all tokens listed on the card.
_________________ Wound tokens must be placed first,
followed by fatigue tokens, with ac-
DESIGNER NOTE: the differences in spe- tivation tokens placed last. Any ex-
cialization icon allocation between the cess fatigue and activation tokens
watches mean that the crew has to mo- are ignored and have no effect.
bilize before they can resume duty af- • ‘Busy’ tokens should only be dis-
ter a watch change. Although it might carded if there are no activation
seem like an abstract mechanic, it at- tokens left to discard. If a ‘busy’
tempts to portray the logistics part token is discarded, the sailor stops
of the watch change process with- carrying out the order, and it must
out complicating the rules too much. be updated in the app as quickly as
_________________ possible.

6.9. Health

• Assigning a health condition card to

a sailor indicates that he is sick or
wounded.
• Health condition cards are found
among event cards, morale cards, and
wound cards.
• Health condition cards have an in-
formation bar at the top and bottom.
When a sailor is assigned a health One of the sailors is already fully ac-
condition card, tuck it under the tivated when he becomes wounded and re-
affected sailor’s activation space, ceives the corresponding health condi-
leaving the top or bottom information tion card.
bar visible.
• The information bars list a card’s
effects on a sailor, as well as the
medical supplies required to treat
it. When counting the number of icons,
use only one bar, not both.

The health condition card requires plac-

ing a wound token and a fatigue token,
The bottom bar of a health condition so two of his activation tokens must be
card. removed to make enough space.

• The information bar may contain ac- • Some health condition cards prevent
tivation icons , fatigue icons , a sailor from carrying out a partic-
wound icons , or special effect ular order. Such cards contain that
icons . particular order icon with a prohib-
• When a health condition card is as- itive sign over it.
signed to a sailor, take a corre- • Some health condition cards contain
sponding wound, fatigue or activa- a  icon. Its effect is explained

25
 on the card. This effect is active 6.11. Repairs
for as long as the card is assigned
to a sailor. The U-boat may suffer a variety of mal-
• Health condition tokens remain in ef- functions and damage. The Chief Engineer
fect until they are treated. See sec- manages repairs. There are three catego-
tion 8.6. ‘First Aid’ for details. ries of problems which a ‘Repair’ order
can resolve:
6.10. KIA
Technical Conditions
• If a sailor receives a second wound
token, then he is dead and removed
from the game. Place a KIA token
in one of his activation spaces and
remove his figure from the 3D mod-
el, placing it in the corresponding Technical conditions represent various
sailor space on the crew tile. This components of the U-boat requiring main-
sailor is no longer a part of the tenance or repairs. They will increase
game. in severity with time if left unattend-
• If a KIA sailor’s counterpart is ed. See section 10.3.1. ‘Technical con-
still alive, then when a watch change ditions’ for details.
brings the live counterpart back
into play, return the figure to the Environmental Conditions
3D model in a freely chosen section.
This is done at the end of the watch
change. Do not resolve crew damage
on a sailor returned in this way to
a hazardous section.
• Similarly, when a watch change would Environmental conditions directly in-
bring a KIA sailor back on duty, re- fluence the crew’s health, morale, and
move their figure again. performance. They are placed on the
• Each time a sailor becomes KIA, the Technical View and must be dealt with
Captain must decrease morale by two. using the appropriate supplies. Three
• All sailors in Section 7 and 8 become of them (fire, electrical hazard, and
KIA after the U-boat dives. Morale toxic gas) cause sections to become
cannot decrease by more than six when hazardous and may require players to
that happens. resolve crew damage.

It is the Chief Engineer’s responsibili-

ty to monitor the Technical View and re-
mind other players to resolve crew dam-
age. See section 6.12. ‘Resolving crew
damage’, and section 10.3.4. ‘Environ-
mental conditions’ for details. When the
crew is exhausted, environmental condi-
tions become a deadly threat.

Hull Breaches

A breached hull is the most severe type

of failure on a submarine. The integri-
ty of the pressure hull has been com-
promised and the U-boat is taking on
During a watch change, the oncoming watch water. Each time a hull breach occurs,
has a sailor who is KIA. The player con- a countdown starts in the app; this is
trolling this sailor removes his figure how much time the players have to seal
from the 3D model and puts it on the crew the breach. See section 10.3.6. ‘Hull
tile. Once the watch changes again, this Breach’ for details.
will help the player remember to return
the figure to the 3D model.

26
6.12. Resolving Crew Damage • Resolve crew damage from each token
type per section in the order of your
Crew damage must be resolved when sail- choice. If there are multiple envi-
ors become exposed to environmental ronmental condition tokens of various
conditions or enemy attacks. Sections types in a section, the sailors will
with fire, toxic gas, or electrical haz- be affected multiple times.
ard tokens are called ‘hazardous sec- • If there are multiple environmental
tions’. condition tokens of the same type in
a section, then draw as many crew to-
Resolve crew damage when: kens per affected sailor as there are
tokens of that type (e.g. if there
• A  fire, electrical hazard, or toxic are two ‘fire’ tokens and three sail-
gas environmental condition token is ors, then draw two crew tokens per
placed in a section where there are sailor for a total of six tokens).
any sailors. The section becomes haz- • When resolving crew damage in Sec-
ardous. tion 7 and Section 8, these sections
• Any sailors move into or through are treated as one section (i.e. all
a hazardous section. sailors located outside are affected
• Any sailors are located in a hazard- by crew damage from enemy attacks).
ous section at the end of a Mobili-
zation or when a  watch changeover
begins.
• The app instructs the players to re-
solve crew damage as a result of en-
emy attack.

Resolve crew damage as follows:

• The Captain draws as many crew tokens

as there are sailors in the affected
section.
• If any of the tokens drawn match any of
the sailors there, then those unlucky A Fire token has just been placed in
sailors become wounded. The First Of- Section 5. There are four sailors in
ficer draws and assigns a wound card of that section...
the indicated type for each unlucky ...so the Captain
sailor. Fire causes burns, electrical draws four crew to-
hazard causes electric shock, toxic kens. Unfortunate-
gas causes poisoning, and enemy at- ly, one of the sail-
tacks cause gunshot wounds. ors from Section 5 is
• When resolving crew damage during among them! The fire
a  Mobilization, it is resolved si- has burned the sailor
multaneously for all sailors who with the brown square base.
have moved into or through a  sec-
tion during this Mobilization togeth-
er with sailors who remain in that
section after movement has been com-
pleted. Make sure to include all of
the above sailors when counting the
number of crew tokens to be drawn
when resolving crew damage in that
section. Sailors who have moved out
of a section are not affected by its
environmental conditions.
• Draw and assign wound cards to sail- This sailor receives a wound card from
ors one by one in the order of your the ‘Burns’ deck. The card shows that
choice. Do not reveal a  wound card the player must now place a wound token
before choosing which sailor to as- and an activation token in that sailor’s
sign it to. activation spaces.

27
6.13. Cigarettes • All such pending cards must be re-
solved as quickly as possible once
Each player receives the Captain pauses and is not issuing
2 cigarette tokens orders.
during setup. They can • The First Officer should remind play-
be used to alleviate ers of any pending issues in the app.
crew stress. Regular checks of the last few en-
tries in the app’s information feed
are recommended, especially after
a moment of intense action.
• A player who has at least one of their • If there is any doubt or disagree-
sailors in sections 7 or 8 can dis- ment regarding the timing or order of
card one cigarette token. dealing with pending issues, then the
• This enables up to four sailors (not Captain decides how to resolve it.
necessarily that player’s) in Sec- • Certain player activities (such as
tions 7 and 8 to each discard one plotting the course) are not orders
activation token (but no other token and are completely cost-free. These
type) from their activation spaces. activities may be performed any time.
• Smoking can be done only once per
watch, but players can collectively Making mistakes
discard more than one cigarette to-
ken during that smoking break. Each If you have forgotten to resolve a card,
discarded cigarette token allows up some other game effect, or anything else
to four sailors in Sections 7 and 8 you should have done, then do your best
to each discard one activation token. to correct it. This is not a big deal.
Any excess has no effect. The game runs in real-time and there
• The player discarding a cigarette to- are various things to remember, so it
ken decides which sailors benefit from might happen that you occasionally for-
its effect. get something (especially during your
• A  given sailor may discard only one first games).
activation token during a  smoking
break. If you realize you have omitted some-
• Smoking is not an order, and it is thing, then correct your mistake and
completely cost-free. carry on with the game. As long as you
don’t intentionally cheat, then every-
6.14. Timing Conflicts thing is fine - what matters is that you
enjoy the game.
Due to the real-time nature of the game,
there might be situations where several In any case, follow this principle:
things happen within a close timeframe.
It might also happen that a player is • Always finish carrying out one order
required to draw and resolve cards while or resolving one game effect before
they are preoccupied with more pressing moving on to the next.
issues. Whenever this happens:
If, for example, you get caught off
• Resolving event, morale, and wound guard by an air patrol while changing
cards may be postponed until the Cap- the watch, then you must continue with
tain has stopped issuing orders. The changing the watch, and only after fin-
cards are nonetheless drawn as nor- ishing changing the watch should you re-
mal, but placed face down within easy solve the air patrol (applying its ef-
reach until they can be resolved. fects to the new watch).

____________________________________
DESIGNER NOTE: if you find any part of the game too quick (even on the slowest time
setting), you can always hit the pause button. Overdoing it will hurt the pace and
the mood of the game, but it is up to you to decide.
____________________________________

28
 7. THE CAPTAIN

Playing as the Captain is one of the most demanding tasks in the game. It requires
strategic planning, leadership skills, and at least a basic understanding of WWII
U-boat tactics. The Captain is responsible for commanding the crew, tracking morale,
and executing torpedo attacks. To get started, read the section below on how to issue
orders to fellow players. For a detailed explanation on how to conduct successful
U-boat operations, please consult the Tactical Guide included with the game.

7.1. Commanding the Crew

_________________
DESIGNER NOTE: A more experienced Cap-
The Captain either mobilizes the crew tain can check himself whether every-
or issues other orders. Mobilization body is in position and announce Mobi-
lets the crew move, typically to sec- lization or issue other orders straight
tions where they will fulfil subsequent away. That will speed up the process,
orders. Each captain will have their but also require more attention from
own style and can issue orders however the Captain. Sticking to the above di-
they like. The flowchart below should agram is not mandatory, but it’s a good
help a new Captain determine when to idea to keep it in mind if the Captain
mobilize the crew and when to issue does not have a clear idea of how to
other orders. command the crew.
_________________
7.2. The Order Track
READY TO (Insert order here)?
• The Order Track has 9 spaces, start-
ing with VIII and ending with a blank
YES NO space.
• The Captain pays for an order by mov-
ing the order token to the right on
the Order Track. Each order costs one
ISSUE ORDER MOBILIZE
space on the Order Track.

ACTIVATE CREW
IN POSITION?

YES

Let’s assume that the Captain wishes to

dive the U-Boat. They begin by making
sure the crew is ready:

CAPTAIN: Ready to dive? So far, the Captain has announced Mobi-

CHIEF ENGINEER: Ballast not ready. lization once, and then issued two or-
CAPTAIN: Alright, everybody mobilize. ders.
Diving stations!
(The Chief Engineer repositions his • The order token starts the game in
ballast crew to assume positions in the space VIII of the Order Track. When
Control Room) the order token has reached the final
CAPTAIN: Everybody in position? (blank) space of the Order Track, the
CHIEF ENGINEER: Yes sir! Captain must pay for further orders
CAPTAIN: Alright, dive to periscope on the Morale Track. (See ‘Morale
depth. Track’ below for details).

29
 7.3. The Morale Track

The Morale Track functions like the Or-

der Track and is also marked with an
order token.

• The Morale Track has 12 spaces, start-

ing with XI and ending with a blank
space.
• If there are no more available spaces
on the Order Track, the Captain must
pay for orders on the Morale Track by
The Captain has reached the end of the moving the order token one space to
Order Track, and is now paying for or- the right per order.
ders on the Morale Track. • Morale decreases when the token moves
to the right, and increases when it
• The First Officer should make sure moves to the left.
that the Captain adjusts the Order • Morale can increase or decrease due
Track each time the watch changes to other game effects, not just be-
over. To adjust the order track, the cause of orders. Increase or decrease
Captain moves the order token to the morale when instructed by cards, the
left by the number of spaces deter- app, or the rules.
mined by the chosen difficulty level.
The exact number is given by the app
• When increasing morale, the order to-
ken can never go further to the left
during setup. than space XI of the Morale Track or
affect the Order Track in any way.
• The Captain can use the Order Track • Increase morale by three each time
to pay for orders whenever there are you sink an enemy vessel.
available spaces on the Order Track. • Decrease morale by two for each sail-
If there are none, orders must be or who becomes KIA.
paid for on the Morale Track. • Whenever the order token moves to the
right and goes into or through space
X, VIII, VI, IV, II or the final space
of the Morale Track, the Captain must
draw and resolve a  morale card from
the connected card deck space. This
happens both when the Captain pays for
an order and when the morale has de-
creased due to any other game effect.
• Draw cards from the first deck for
spaces X and VIII, from the second
deck for spaces VI and IV, and from
the third deck for space II and the
final space of the track.
It is 0600 and the Captain has heard • Do not draw morale cards when in-
the bell. The Captain adjusts the Order creasing morale.
Track in accordance with the chosen dif- • If morale decreases so that the order
ficulty level. token moves into or through more than
one space that instructs the Captain
to draw a morale card, then draw an ap-
propriate card for each of the spaces
and resolve them as soon as possible.
• When resolving a morale card, assign
it to a random sailor if instructed
by the card, or resolve its effect
and discard it to the bottom of its
deck. Similarly if a sailor gets rid
of a morale card which was assigned
to him.

30
 Remove the order token from the Morale
Track and press ‘all hands lost’ in the
app menu. The mission is immediately over
and all players lose the game. Please
note that only environmental conditions
and hull breaches can cause this to hap-
pen. Any other game effects affecting
morale (e.g. food, event cards, KIAs,
etc.) DO NOT remove the order token from
the Morale Track, allowing the game to
continue.

The Order token is already in the last

_________________
available space of the Order Track, but DESIGNER NOTE: Thematically, this shows
the Captain still needs to issue an or- that sailors, no matter how well-trained
der. As a result, the morale decreases and unrelenting, may ultimately reach
and the token moves to a space connected a point when they can no longer keep on
to a morale deck below. The Captain must performing their duties. We chose the
draw a card from that morale deck. term ‘morale’ due to its broad mean-
ing, but you could also consider dete-
• Reaching the end of the Morale Track riorating morale to represent ‘combat
may have severe consequences. Once stress’ or ‘exhaustion’. If the Captain
the order token on the Morale Track takes good care of the crew, everything
has reached its final space, the crew should stay fine. If, however, the Cap-
is exhausted. See next paragraph for tain continuously drives them beyond
details. their limits and exposes them to exces-
• If both the token on the Order Track sively stressful situations, they will
and the token on the Morale Track ultimately lose their focus, discipline,
have reached the final (rightmost) or even sanity. Once that has happened,
spaces on their respective tracks, a sudden fire, leak, or any other unex-
the Captain cannot issue orders until pected crisis quickly becomes a  death
at least one space on either of the sentence.
tracks becomes available. _________________
7.4. Exhausted crew

Once the order token reaches the end of

the Morale Track, the crew is exhausted
and on the verge of breaking down. The
Captain may still use the Order Track
(as long as there are available spaces
on it), but using the Morale Track to
pay for orders is no longer possible.

The crew remains exhausted for as long

as the order token remains in the final
space of the Morale Track. This is an ex-
tremely dangerous situation, especially
when under attack. If the U-boat sus-
tains heavy damage which causes an en-
vironmental condition or a hull breach,
an exhausted crew will not be able to
handle the situation. The order token is already in the final
space of the Morale Track. If the U-boat
If an exhausted crew is faced with a new now sustains damage resulting in an en-
environmental condition or hull breach, vironmental condition or hull breach,
they are unable to contain the threat. then there is no further space to move
Despite their struggle, all sailors per- the order token to - it is removed from
ish and the U-boat is sunk. the Morale Track and it is GAME OVER.

31
7.5. Order List New Depth First Officer
and Chief Engineer
All the available orders are detailed Change depth when the U-boat is
below. They have been organized into cat- x2 already underwater. This does not
egories to help you learn more quickly. involve switching between die-
The list is also abbreviated on the Cap- sels and electric motors. To re-
tain’s player aid for quick reference. surface, the Dive/Resurface order
x2 must be used.
• Each order is the responsibility of
one or more players. Their sailors 7.5.2. T
argeting, Navigation
may need to be mobilized before the and Mission Intel
order to be in position.
• The assigned players ensure that the Assign Observation
order is entirely completed before Sectors Navigator
any other activity starts. Sailors in Section 8 start ob-
• The Captain must pay for each order max
6x
servation.
that is issued. This means each time
you extend the periscope, use the hy- Periscope Captain
drophone, etc. While the U-boat is at periscope
• For the purpose of all torpedo-re- depth (within 10 meters of the
lated orders, please bear in mind surface), enter the periscope
that torpedo tubes 1 to 4 are lo- first-person view.
cated in Section 1, while tube 5 is
located in Section 6. Therefore, if Hydrophone First Officer
you wish to fire, flood, or reload the While underwater, engage the hy-
stern torpedo tube to have a shot at drophone.
the enemies behind you, all of the
above orders will have to be carried Sextant Navigator
out in Section 6. The Navigator confirms the U-boat’s
position on the Strategic Map. The
7.5.1. Maneuvering U-boat must be surfaced and the
sky must be clear.
New Speed Chief Engineer
Change the speed of the U-boat. Enigma First Officer
The possible throttle settings The First Officer can send or re-
x2 are: Full Astern, Stop, Slow ceive messages to and from HQ.
Ahead, Half Ahead, and Full
Ahead. 7.5.3. Armament

New Course First Officer TDC Captain

Change course. Discuss each new Program the Torpedo Data Comput-
course with the Navigator if er (open the torpedo attack menu
x2 time permits, or speak directly in the app). The TDC must be pro-
to the First Officer. grammed before launching torpe-
does.
Dive/Resurface First Officer
and Chief Engineer Flood Tubes Captain
Submerge or resurface. This is Flood as many torpedo tubes as
x2 more complex than changing to you like in one order. This or-
a  New Depth when already un- der requires only one activa-
derwater, because this involves tion, regardless of the number
switching propulsion between of tubes being flooded. Tubes
x2 diesels and electric motors. must be flooded before launching
Note that Dive/Resurface and New torpedoes.
Depth have different require-
ments. Fire Torpedoes Captain
x2 More than one sailor may partic-
ipate in this order, and you can
launch as many torpedoes as you

32
 like (including a full salvo from 7.6. Crew Tokens
the four bow tubes and the fifth
tube at the stern). Each torpe- • Crew tokens are used whenever a sail-
do requires a sailor activation. or is to be randomly selected for any
A single sailor may launch more game effect. These include event and
than one torpedo per order if morale card effects, as well as crew
he has enough activation spaces damage resulting from environmental
available. conditions and enemy attacks.
• When a card instructs you to ‘assign
Reload a Torpedo Captain this card to a random sailor’, draw
Reload one new torpedo into an a random crew token and assign the
x3 empty tube (only one per order). card to the sailor whose symbol you
drew.
88mm gun First Officer • When drawing crew tokens, remember
Fire the 88mm deck gun. that card effects cannot be resolved
on KIA sailors. For example, if a mo-
x3
rale or event card would affect a KIA
20mm gun Navigator sailor exclusively, it is discarded
Fire the anti-aircraft gun. without effect (there is no sailor
to resolve the effect on). If a card
x2
targets multiple sailors, non-KIA
7.5.4. Safety and Crew Management sailors are affected as normal.

Repairs Chief Engineer 7.7. The Captain’s Cards

Repair technical and environmen-
tal conditions and Hull Breach- The Captain has
es. Beer a hand of Cap-
o ral e
tain’s cards.
In crease m
First Aid First Officer by 3, th en
ea ch These cards
va tes
Deal with health conditions. pl a y er acti represent spe-
r
two of th ei
sail o rs. cial resources
and abilities to
Address the crew Captain influence the crew
The Captain plays one Captain’s 1 in various ways.
card.
• The Captain can play one card during
Prepare Meal Navigator each ‘Address the crew’ order. The
The Navigator prepares food for order must be paid for and the Cap-
the crew. tain (or another sailor carrying out
this order) must be activated as nor-
Mobilize - all officers mal before applying the card’s ef-
Players can move their sailors fects.
around the U-Boat. They should • Return the card to the box after
get into correct locations to playing it.
fulfill subsequent orders. • The number of cards the Captain re-
ceives during setup depends on the
chosen difficulty level.

_________________
DESIGNER NOTE: Captain’s cards, espe-
cially those improving morale, are much
more effective when paid for on the Or-
der Track than on the Morale Track. Keep
that in mind, so that you can use them
to their fullest!
_________________

33
 8. THE FIRST OFFICER

The First Officer is the Captain’s second in command. The First Officer’s main task is
maintaining the flow of information and interacting with the app to enter orders and
report events. They are also responsible for the helm, the Enigma, the 88mm deck gun,
and keeping the crew healthy by providing first aid. On top of that, the First Officer
is tasked with target identification. A lot of what the First Officer does is connected
with the app, and is explained in detail in the in-app tutorial.
____________________________________
DESIGNER NOTE: it is important that the First Officer goes through the in-app tutorial
at least once before their first game. Learning the app interface and its particular
functions is much easier and more natural when using the device, and so we decided to
move all the app details to the tutorial. Therefore, this rulebook only gives general
information about app functions. To learn details, please use the in-app tutorial.
____________________________________

8.1. Companion App Basics Maneuvering (left)

Main Screen The three buttons on the left are ma-

neuvering options: speed, course, and
The Main Screen has the information feed depth. Each option brings up the neces-
(top), the maneuver buttons (left), tar- sary controls to input new orders.
get acquisition (center), and other op-
tions (right). This is where you will Target acquisition (center)
learn about all the threats and opportu-
nities facing the U-boat. This area becomes very important once
contacts have been detected. The First
Information feed (top) Officer checks contact information: bear-
ing, course, and distance here. All these
This is the most important part of the should be reported to the Navigator.
main screen. The First Officer should al-
ways keep up to date with what’s hap- Other options (right)
pening here. It is the primary source
of information to which the crew must The buttons on the right are for arma-
react, so the First Officer should always ment, repairs, and instruments. Armament
report EVERYTHING they learn from the lets you manage torpedoes and man the
information feed to the other players. deck guns, while Repairs open the repair

Options
menu Information
feed

New Time
speed compression

Armament
New
course
Repairs

New
Instruments
depth

Target acquisition Observers on the bridge

34
menu. Instruments allow you to monitor
battery charge levels, check for incom-
ing and outgoing radio messages, as well
as use the sextant.

Sharing the app

Other players may request access to the

app, but they can do so only when sail-
ors under their control are carrying out
the order in question. For example, the The First Officer looks through the bin-
Navigator might want to see the view oculars and reports two merchant ves-
from the bridge to get better situatio- sels (visible left and center in the
nal awareness, the Captain may wish to example above) as well as one escort
fire torpedoes, or the Chief Engineer may (on the right).
need to look at the repair list. Don’t
forget to take the device back and check
the Information Feed after they are fin-
ished using the app.

8.2. T
he First-Person View (FPV)
and visual identification

The app lets you look through five dis-

tinct first-person views (FPV): observer
view, periscope view, torpedo targeting
(TDC) view, and the 88 and 20mm deck
guns.

Looking at enemy units allows for visual

identification of targets. It should al-
ways be performed before an attack takes
place. It allows the Navigator to update
the tactical map and the Captain to de- The Navigator replaces the enemy marker
cide on which targets to attack. It can with the appropriate tactical map min-
be done via observer or periscope view. iatures (two merchants and one escort).
Identification is not an order and is
completely cost-free. 8.3. Observers on the Bridge
The First Officer should tell the Naviga-
tor how many escorts and merchants they
• When observers are in Section 8, the
Captain can order them to watch their
see. The Navigator then replaces the en- sectors and relay contact information.
emy marker with the appropriate tactical This gives access to the observer FPV.
map miniatures. This is the first step of
visual identification.
• Each of the participating sailors
must be activated with an observation
token.
Once the Navigator has updated the map,
the First Officer should use the iden-
• Once observers have been activated,
the First Officer inputs the number of
tification sheet to determine how much observers in the app.
GRT each target is worth. Upon choosing • Each time the number of observers
a  target (typically the heaviest), the on duty changes, the Navigator must
First Officer should guide the Navigator report the current number of ob-
to attack that target. servers to the First Officer. The
higher the number (up to a maximum
of 6), the more efficient the obser-
vation will be.
• When there is at least one busy ob-
server in Section 8, the First Officer
can click on the binoculars button to

35
 enter the observer FPV for a  better Sextant
picture of the tactical situation.
• Entering the observer FPV is not an If the U-boat is surfaced and the sky is
order and is completely cost-free. clear, the app will reveal the U-boat’s
• While in observer FPV, you can access current square on the Strategic Map.
the TDC and the deck guns.
_________________ Repairing Technical Conditions

DESIGNER NOTE: As previously mentioned, When asked by the Chief Engineer, the
details regarding app functionalities are First Officer should check the repair
explained in the in-app tutorial. This ap- list by pressing ‘Repairs’ on the main
plies especially to the following section. screen. When a ‘Repair’ order is issued,
_________________ select the desired repair, input the
number of sailors assigned by the Chief
8.4. O
ther orders featuring app Engineer, and then confirm.
functionality
Repairing Environmental Conditions
Periscope and Hull Breaches

At periscope depth (when the U-boat is Repairing environmental conditions does

submerged within 10 meters of the sur- not require entering any information
face), this order allows entering the into the app. Hull breaches, on the oth-
periscope FPV. The TDC view can also be er hand, will display clear instructions
engaged from periscope view. on the screen. Follow them and remember
not to confirm anything before you are
Enigma 100% sure.

The app will inform the players if an in- Launching Torpedo Attacks
coming message has been received, or if an
outgoing message can be sent. This order Torpedoes are launched from the TDC view,
is used to decipher and encipher them, re- which can be engaged from the observer
spectively. Messages can be accessed from FPV or the periscope FPV. Press the red
the instruments menu by choosing ‘Enig- attack button and follow the Captain’s
ma’. Only one sailor may be activated by orders.
a  single ‘Enigma’ order. However, that
sailor may be activated multiple times per Reloading Torpedoes
this order, with each activation allowing
him to send or receive one message. Select ‘Armament’ in the app and then
click on an empty tube to reload it.
TDC
8.5. Time Compression
This order allows access to the TDC FPV
by pressing the Attack button in either Setting the right time compression for
the periscope FPV or the observer FPV. the given situation is an important task
entrusted to the First Officer. It should
Deck guns always be discussed with the Captain.
There are 4 possible time compression
When the 88mm or the 20mm deck guns are settings:
to be fired, the gun crew must take their
position (the 88mm is on the foredeck; • real-time - perfect for combat sit-
the 20mm is on the bridge). Observers uations or making difficult decisions
may use the 20mm gun WITHOUT stopping • action - good for maneuvering or ap-
their observation. proaching the enemy
• fast-forward - recommended when you
Hydrophone plan to stalk a target for an extend-
ed time period
When the U-boat is submerged, the Hydro-
phone can be used to detect and track
• transit - suitable only for long dis-
tance travel
enemy vessels.

36
Changing time compression is not an or- Running out of medical supplies
der and is completely cost-free. In ad-
dition, time compression will automati- When playing a single mission, the First
cally revert to real-time whenever a new Officer’s supplies are limited by the num-
message appears in the information feed. ber of tokens in the medkit space locat-
ed on their player panel. In linked mis-
8.6. First Aid sions, however, additional medkits can
be opened to replenish the token supply.
• The First Aid order is not managed by This is done by discarding a medkit to-
the app. ken and returning all of the discarded
• A sailor activated to give First Aid medical supply tokens back to the medkit
must be in the same section as the space. Using a medkit token is not an
sailor receiving treatment. order and is completely cost-free.
• Only one sailor may be activated by
a  single ‘First Aid’ order. Howev- 8.7. Event cards
er, that sailor may treat multiple
sailors located in his section, one The app will signal when event cards are to
sailor per activation. be drawn. The First Officer must draw the
• Any number of health conditions may top card from the event deck and resolve
be treated per sailor at a time. its effects. Some cards have an immedi-
• Each health condition card lists the ate effect, while others are added to the
medical supply tokens required to Captain’s hand of cards and can be played
treat the condition. There are five during an ‘Address the crew’ order. Once
kinds of medical supplies: pills, an event card has been resolved, return it
ointments, bandages, shots, and sur- to the bottom of the event deck. The Cap-
gical instruments. tain’s cards, including event cards added
• After the First Aid order has been to the Captain’s hand, are returned to the
given, treat the sailor by placing box after being played.
all the required medical supply to-
kens on the sailor’s assigned health 8.8. Wound cards
condition card(s).
• Once a card has been treated, one These cards comprise four decks and are
health condition token resulting from assigned to sailors affected by crew dam-
it can be discarded instead of an ac- age. When resolving crew damage, wait for
tivation token during a watch change. the Captain to draw Crew tokens. If any
A health condition token is discard- sailors should receive a  wound, shuffle
ed EVEN IF a  sailor has transferred the appropriate wound card deck once,
a ‘busy’ token during the current then draw and assign one card to each
watch change. sailor receiving a wound. When discard-
• Once a sailor has no more health con- ing wound cards, discard them to the bot-
dition tokens resulting from a par- tom of the appropriate wound card deck.
ticular card, discard the health con-
dition card they resulted from and If you ever need to assign a wound card
the medical supply tokens used to of a  given type and there are no more
treat it. cards of that type, then choose a differ-
ent wound deck and draw a card as normal.

37
 9. THE NAVIGATOR

The Navigator advises the Captain about steering the U-boat. This includes strategic
plotting of transit routes to reach patrol areas, tactical maneuvering to acquire
perfect firing angles on enemy contacts, and updating the Strategic and Tactical Maps.
The Navigator is also responsible for observers and the crew’s food consumption.

9.1. Strategic Navigation

The Strategic Map is divided into

squares, and the mission briefing always
indicates the U-boat’s starting square.
Once the mission begins, the Navigator
calculates the optimal route towards
mission objectives. This is not an order
and is completely cost-free.

In order to plot a course:

1. C
onfirm the current destination with
the Captain.
2. 
Find the square where the U-boat is The Navigator draws a line connecting
located. the squares...
3. 
Find the destination square and draw
a line connecting the centers of the
two squares.
4. C
enter the protractor over the line
you have drawn and align 0/360 with N
the North. Read the result on the
protractor - this is the course to
the destination.
5. 
Report the course to the Captain and
the First Officer.

…and rotates the 360° protractor so that

‘0’ is aligned North and the drawn line
goes through the center of the protractor.
The Navigator reads the result: the op-
timal course from AF76 to AE69 is 301
degrees.
_________________
DESIGNER NOTE: When playing as the Navi-
gator, you can and you will get lost on
the Strategic Map. This is no big deal
and is a part of the experience. Remember
that navigation was far less accurate
during World War II than it is today,
and navigation errors were very typical.
Keep this in mind and don’t try being too
The U-boat is located in AF76 (blue ar- accurate. You can always blame the sea
row) and the Navigator wishes to plot currents if the Captain gets mad at you...
a course towards AE69 (red arrow). _________________

38
9.1.1. The Distance Ruler There are four parameters which must be
taken into account when updating the
The ruler’s scale equates to the U-Boat’s Tactical Map:
‘Ahead-Full’ speed on the Strategic Map
(surfaced on one side, and submerged on • U-boat course (the direction where
the other). This permits a dead-reck- the U-boat is heading)
oning of the U-Boat’s position if the • Enemy course (the direction where the
sextant is not an option. The submerged enemy is heading)
side may also be used to calculate dis- • Bearing (the direction where the con-
tances covered by convoys, as many con- tact has been detected)
voys traveled at roughly the speed of • Distance (the distance between the
a submerged U-boat. U-boat and the contact)

9.2.1. Using the Attack Disk

The Attack Disk is the Navigator’s best

friend. To use it effectively, they must
understand the difference between ene-
my bearing and course. Please note that
courses (both of the U-boat and the en-
emy) relate to east, west, north, and
south. They must be set based on the
white disk’s values.

Conversely, bearing is relative to the

U-boat’s bow (ahead of it, to the left,
to the right, etc.) and must be set
When held against the map, the ruler can based on the green disk’s values. Below
be used as a time-to-distance converter. you can find detailed descriptions of the
The above example shows that when start- first three tactical navigation parame-
ing from AE67 and traveling at full speed ters and how they should be marked on
on the surface, it will take the U-boat the Attack Disk:
roughly 9 hours to reach AE69, and about
24 hours to reach AF57. U-boat course must be set with the green
disk. The yellow arrow on the green disk
9.1.2. The Sextant must point to the current U-boat course
value on the white disk.
The Sextant can help plot the U-Boat’s
accurate position. This order must be Enemy course must be set with the black
carried out in Section 8, so not when disk. The yellow arrow on the black disk
the U-boat is submerged. When carrying must point to the current enemy course
out the order, the First Officer checks value on the white disk.
the sextant in the ‘Instruments’ menu.
Weather conditions may sometimes make it Enemy bearing must be set using the ar-
impossible to use the sextant. row on top of the Attack Disk. Bearing
refers to the direction where the enemy
9.2. Tactical Navigation is located. It is calculated in rela-
tion to the U-boat’s bow. Bearing 0/360
If you wish to play as the Naviga- means that the enemy is straight ahead,
tor, study this section carefully. As bearing 90 degrees means that the ene-
soon as contacts are detected, tacti- my is exactly to the right, bearing 180
cal navigation becomes the Navigator’s degrees means that they are directly be-
top priority. They will need to use hind the U-boat, etc. Use the arrow on
the Attack Disk to work out the ene- top of the Attack Disk to set the bear-
my’s location and course. This infor- ing using the values on the green disk.
mation allows the Navigator to update
the Tactical Map, which is a very im- Once the Navigator completes the above
portant source of information for the steps using the Attack Disk, they are
Captain. ready to update the tactical map.

39
The U-boat is following course 290
(northwest) when the First Officer re-
ports a contact: Bearing 40 degrees
(ahead and to the right), distance four
miles, course 70 degrees (northeast).

He then turns the black disk so that its

yellow arrow (enemy course) is pointing
at 70 degrees on the white disk.
The Navigator is now ready to update the
tactical map.
_________________
DESIGNER NOTE: The Attack Disk may look
intimidating at first, but once you un-
derstand it, it is very easy to use. If
The Navigator starts with the green you don’t confuse the enemy’s bearing
disk, making sure that its yellow arrow with their course, and you understand
is pointing at the current U-boat course that bearing is relative to the U-boat’s
(290 degrees on the white disk). bow, while courses are absolute, then
the rest is easy.
_________________
In addition, you can change the order in
which you set the values on the Attack
Disk: it doesn’t matter if you set ene-
my course first, then update the U-boat
course, and finally enemy bearing. The
only thing that matters is for all three
values to be in place. Work closely with
the First Officer and agree on a coopera-
tion scheme which will be effective for
you both.

ONE LAST TIP: If you have already set

a value on one of the disks, then it is
a good idea to hold it down with your
thumb so that you don’t accidentally
change it while you rotate the remaining
parts of the tool. Good luck, and have
fun lining up those perfect shots!

9.2.2. Updating the Tactical Map

The Tactical Map is a grid of squares,

He then turns the black arrow in the with each square representing one square
center to point towards the bearing val- mile. Once the Navigator has used the
ue on the green disk. Attack Disk, they must place the U-boat

40
marker and the enemy marker on the Tac- sitions. The Navigator then reports the
tical Map in a way that recreates the situation to the Captain.
current battlefield situation. This need
not be a precise representation as the
_________________
situation is constantly changing, but DESIGNER NOTE: You can orient the markers
should allow all players to have a gen- on the map in any way you like, as long
eral view of the situation. as you roughly recreate the relative po-
sitioning and facing of the U-boat and
The Navigator can tell the relative ori- the enemy. You can either assume that
entation and facing of the markers by the farther end of the map is the North
looking at the Attack Disk. The Navi- (and rotate the U-boat miniature accord-
gator first lays down the U-boat marker, ingly), or you can always point the bow
and then adjusts the position and fac- of the U-boat ‘forward’ and move the
ing of the enemy marker based on Attack contacts around it as the situation de-
Disk data. The final parameter is dis- velops. You could also use a combination
tance. The Navigator counts the number of both methods.
of squares between the U-boat marker and _________________
the enemy marker and corrects their po-

The Navigator places the U-boat marker on the Tactical Map, and then places the
enemy marker in a way that represents its location in relation to the U-boat.

1 U-boat course: 290°

2 Bearing: 40°

41
 3 Distance: 4 miles

1 mile

4 Enemy course: 70°

1 mile

After placing the enemy marker, the last thing to do is to correct the dis-
tance and facing of the markers. The tactical map is now updated!

The enemy marker is used only initial- 9.3. Observers on the Bridge
ly, before target identification has
been carried out. Once the First Offi- Once sailors have been mobilized to
cer has had the chance to take a good Section 8, the Captain must issue the
look at enemy ships, they will tell the ‘Assign Observation Sectors’ order. The
Navigator what kind of other markers number of observers is then passed to
the enemy marker should be replaced the First Officer, who updates it in the
with. app. The more observers are on duty (up
_________________ to a maximum of 6) the more efficient the
observation will be.
DESIGNER NOTE: remember, there are no
strict rules on how the Navigator should • All observers on duty are considered
use the Tactical Map. It should give ‘busy’ and must be activated with an
the Captain and the rest of the play- observation token. Remember that car-
ers a clear view of the battlefield, so rying out the ‘Sextant’ order is pos-
the only real criterion is efficiency. sible without stopping observation.
_________________ • Observers must get inside before
the ‘Dive’ order is carried out. All

42
 sailors located in sections 7 and 8 A meal has the following effects on the
are KIA if the U-boat dives. crew’s morale:
• If there is at least one busy observ-
er, then increasing the number of busy Meal Size Effect
observers does not require a separate
order. It is enough to activate addi- no meal decrease morale by 2
tional sailors in Section 8 with obser- 1 token decrease morale by 1
vation tokens to mark new observers. 2 tokens no effect
• When a busy observer moves out of Sec- 3 tokens increase morale by 1
tion 8, he stops observing. When that
happens, his observation token must • Lemons are not used in combination
be flipped to its activation side. with any other tokens, but they must
• Whenever the number of busy observers be included in the diet (see below
changes, the new number of observers for details).
must be updated in the app as quickly
as possible. 9.4.1. Meal Preparation

9.4. Food • To prepare a meal, a sailor must be

present in Section 4 and ordered to
Besides navigation, the Navigator also ‘Prepare Meal’. Only one sailor may be
manages the crew’s food consumption. Good activated by a ‘Prepare Meal’ order.
food fosters good morale. If this is ne- • Before selecting tokens, the Naviga-
glected, morale will quickly suffer. Meals tor may either switch the positions
are prepared using the ‘Prepare Meal’ or- of any two tokens or discard any one
der. Once daily, the app will ask about token and draw one token from the
what has been prepared. A meal may consist Food Supply to replace it. Taking ei-
of 1, 2, or 3 ingredients represented by ther option will activate the sailor
the following provision tokens: one additional time.
• The meal consists of one, two, or
three tokens from the ‘Available
Products’ pyramid. If the Navigator
selects more than one token, they
must form a connected group, i.e. the
first token must be adjacent to the
second, and the second token adjacent
to the third.
Onions, bread, lemons, eggs, • If there is at least one lemon token
tinned fish, meat, and potatoes. within the pyramid, then the Navi-
gator must collect a lemon together
3 tokens make a good meal, 2 tokens make with the rest of the selected tokens
a decent meal, and 1 token means a bad (even if not adjacent to the rest of
one. The worst situation is when there the combo). The lemon never counts
is no meal at all. for the purposes of counting the num-
ber of products within a meal.
The possible token combinations are: • Collect all the selected tokens and
put them on the ‘Today’s Meal’ space
+ = wurst with bread of the Navigator’s panel.
+ = tinned fish sandwiches • Inform the Captain that the meal has
been prepared. Randomly replenish the
+ = scrambled eggs ‘Available Products’ pyramid with new
provision tokens drawn from the Food
+ = ham omelette Supply.

+ = bangers and mash

+ + = casserole
+ + = stew
+ + = potato pancakes

43
 the next type of food, in order: on-
ions, eggs, bread, lemons, potatoes,
and tinned fish.
3. 
After returning the spoiled food to
the box, flip the remaining tokens in
the discard pile face down, random-
ize them, and return them to the Food
Supply.
4. 
Replenish the empty spaces of the
A very good draw, They choose the ‘Available Products’ pyramid.
giving the Naviga- omelette and add
tor four different the obligatory Once all food has spoiled, no further
options. lemon when prepar- meals may be prepared.
ing the meal.

This example shows The Navigator de-

a less fortunate cides to swap the
draw, as there is positions of two
no combo. tokens at the cost The Navigator wants to replenish the
of one additional ‘Available Products’ pyramid, but there
activation. are no more tokens in the ‘Food Supply’.

9.4.2. Eating

Once daily, the app will ask what the

crew has eaten. As soon as the First Of-
ficer asks that question, the Navigator
should report the meal in the ‘Today’s
Meal’ box. The morale effect is then ap-
plied. After applying the morale effect,
the Navigator discards all the tokens
from the ‘Today’s Meal’ box into a dis-
card pile next to the Navigator’s panel.
The Navigator removes all the meat to-
9.4.3. Food getting stale kens and returns them to the box.

Each time the Navigator must replenish

one or more empty spaces of the food
pyramid and there are no more tokens
in the Food Supply, spoilage occurs as
follows:

1. E
ach time spoilage occurs, remove all
provision tokens of one type from the
‘Available Products’ pyramid and the
discarded food provision tokens. Re-
turn all tokens of that type to the
box. After that, the Navigator randomizes all
2. M
eat is the first type of product to the remaining tokens, forms a new ‘Food
spoil. Once meat has spoiled, each Supply’ and replenishes the ‘Available
successive spoilage will eliminate Products’ pyramid.

44
 10. THE CHIEF ENGINEER

The Chief Engineer is responsible for operating and maintaining the U-boat’s propul-
sion and ballast systems. They also coordinate repairs, deal with hazardous occur-
rences on board, and may even have to patch up the U-boat after it sustains structural
damage. The Chief Engineer is responsible for marking all issues and threats appear-
ing on the Technical View and dealing with them swiftly. They have various resources
at their disposal and must use them wisely to maximize the repair crews’ potential.

10.1. Engines This requires TWO sailors in Section

3. This applies both to changing depth
There are two means of propulsion on while submerged and to diving/resurfac-
board the Type VIIC: diesel engines (in ing. Make sure to update the depth gauge
Section 5) and electric motors (in Sec- on the Chief Engineer’s player panel af-
tion 6). ter changing depth.

Generally: 10.3. Repairs and resources

• When the U-Boat is surfaced, it uses The Repair order has very broad appli-
diesel engines and charges the elec- cations. It is used to deal with three
tric motors’ batteries. different categories of problems:
• When the U-Boat is submerged, it uses
electric motors, drawing from the • technical conditions
batteries. • environmental conditions
• hull breaches
To change speed, the engines need TWO
sailors in the appropriate section: Sec- Technical conditions result from wear and
tion 5 (diesel) when surfaced, or Sec- tear. They begin as maintenance tasks,
tion 6 (electric) when submerged. Be but escalate over time. If unattended,
sure to update the engine room telegraph they can lead to a component’s complete
on the Chief Engineer’s player panel af- breakdown. Environmental conditions re-
ter changing speed. sult from enemy attacks and are much
more dangerous. They have a negative ef-
Each time the U-boat Dives from the sur- fect on morale, can cause crew damage,
face or Resurfaces, the Chief Engineer and will have disastrous consequences
must switch propulsion. This requires if the crew is exhausted. Hull breaches
one sailor in Section 5 and one sail- require immediate action and mean watery
or in Section 6. Merely changing depth death for the entire crew if not sealed
while submerged does not require switch- quickly.
ing propulsion: the U-Boat always runs
on electric motors when submerged. Regardless of which type of problem is
being handled, a single Repair order al-
For example, when the U-boat is running lows the Chief Engineer to tackle only
at periscope depth and the Captain’s or- one problem, i.e. one technical condi-
ders are to go deeper, there is no need tion, one environmental condition token,
to switch propulsion. However, if the or one hull breach.
dive were to be performed from the sur-
face, that would require changing from The Chief Engineer has various resources
diesels to electric motors. The Chief to help repair crews. These resources
Engineer must remember this difference can increase the repair crew’s efficien-
and always make sure that their sailors cy, or let them tackle otherwise unsol-
are where they need to be. vable problems.

10.2. Ballast Tanks These resources are:

• cards
The U-boat can change depth only when • toolboxes
the ballast tanks are filled or emptied. • supplies

45
Cards represent tools, spare parts, and remove the corresponding technical
other small helpful items. They are car- condition token from the Techni-
ried in two different toolboxes. Supplies cal View, and flip the repair crew’s
help with environmental conditions. Both technical condition tokens to their
supplies and toolboxes need to be moved activation side.
around the U-boat. See section 6.4.’Mo- • The number of sailors in a repair
bilization’ for details. crew may drop due to crew damage,
watch change, or because the Captain
10.3.1. Technical Conditions mobilizes the crew. If a technical
condition is being repaired and the
Technical Conditions have three levels number of sailors in the repair crew
of severity: drops below the level required by the
repair, then the order is stopped.
Maintenance: Routine tasks to • When repairs are stopped, all the
keep the U-boat in working or- technical condition tokens in the re-
der. If neglected, they will pair crew’s activation spaces must be
likely result in a failure. flipped to their activation sides, and
the repair must be paused in the app.
Failure: This is a more serious • A paused repair can be resumed if
condition – if left unrepaired, enough sailors are activated for re-
a major failure is imminent. pairs in the corresponding section.
It does not require another ‘Repair’
Major failure: The situation order from the Captain.
has gone from bad to worse. The
component is completely out of
• If a new watch is unable to contin-
ue the repairs (due to not having
order and will not work until enough activation spaces available),
repaired. then discard the technical condition
tokens instead of transferring them
10.3.2. Repairing Technical Conditions to the new watch.
• The Chief Engineer may play a card when
• As soon as the First Officer reports repairing a technical condition. See
a technical condition, the Chief En- the following paragraph for details.
gineer must mark it with the appro-
priate technical condition token on
the Technical View.
• Each technical condition has a sever-
ity level: green is minor, yellow is
moderate, red is most severe.
• More severe conditions require more
sailors for repair. The First Officer
will find the exact number needed in
the app Repair Menu.
• Activate each sailor in the repair When the First Officer reports a Technical
crew with a technical condition token Condition, place the required token in the
of the corresponding color (instead specified section on the Technical View.
of an activation token). Please note
that game components use to mean
‘a technical condition token of the
corresponding color’.
• As usual, if a sailor does not have
the necessary specialization icon REPAIR

(‘repair’ in this case), then the Radio tuning required

0/1 Start
- Officer’s Quarters
sailor must be activated with an ad-
ditional activation token. Back

• A sailor with a technical condition

token is busy. See section 6.7. ‘Busy
sailors’ for details.
• The app will indicate when repairs The First Officer checks the severity
have been completed. You can then level in the repair menu.

46
 cated, and cards from toolbox II only
where toolbox marker II is located.
1
• All sailors may carry the toolbox
markers around the U-boat.
• When the ‘Repair’ order has been is-
sued and the Chief Engineer is de-
claring the number of sailors in the
repair crew, the Chief Engineer can
play one card and apply its bonus.
• Cards which list specific repairs
(e.g. the periscope, the electric mo-
The Chief Engineer confirms the number of tor) can be used ONLY for the repairs
sailors in the repair crew and the First listed on them.
Officer inputs that into the app. • There must always be at least one
real sailor in the repair crew: a bo-
nus card alone cannot repair.
• Only one card per repair may be
played.
• When playing a +1/+2 card, place it
REPAIR face up in the section of the Tech-
Radio tuning required
1/1 Start
nical View where the ‘Repair’ order
- Officer’s Quarters
Working 5%
is being carried out. The card stays
Back there and its effect applies to that
particular repair (and no other re-
pair) until that repair is completed,
even if paused and then resumed. Once
Once the number is confirmed, the repair the repair is completed, the card is
starts immediately. Its progress can be discarded.
tracked in the Repair menu. • Cards with the may be used multiple
times and always stay in their tool-
10.3.3. The Chief diesel engine • electric motor • 88/20mM
box spaces on the Chief Engineer’s
Engineer’s cards ________
Bearings panel. When playing a card, flip
it face down for the duration of the
• The Chief En- +1
___________________
+2 repair, and flip it back face up if
gineer’s cards the repair is paused or completed. Do
give bonuses to 88 not move a toolbox marker if its cor-
a repair crew. responding toolbox space on the Chief
They either increase the effective Engineer’s panel has a facedown card.
number of sailors in the repair crew • When a new watch takes over the re-
(+1 and +2 cards) or modify the re- pairs, apply the effects of the
pair crew’s activation (cards with ‘U-boat blueprints’ card to the new
the icon). watch as well.
• Each card has a basic and an advanced
effect. The basic effect requires
that at least one sailor with the
specialization is in the repair
crew. The advanced effect requires
that the most experienced sailor from
the Chief Engineer’s current watch
( ) is in the repair crew.
• During setup, the cards must be even-
ly distributed between the two tool-
box spaces on the Chief Engineer’s
player panel. Each of these spaces The Chief Engineer is repairing a bro-
corresponds with one of the tool- ken diesel engine. As not many sailors
box markers located on the Technical are available, the Chief Engineer de-
View. Cards located in toolbox I can cides to play a card to boost the repair
only be played to boost repairs in the crew’s efficiency. The Chief Engineer
section where toolbox marker I is lo- makes sure that the required toolbox

47
is in place, that the card matches the cialization icon). One environmental
repairs to be done, and that there is condition token is then removed.
a sufficiently qualified personnel to use • When removing an environmental con-
the card’s ability (a  sailor, or, dition token, increase morale by 2.
better still, the sailor). If every- • Dealing with environmental conditions
thing is correct, then the card’s bonus does not require the app.
is added to the number of sailors in • Having the necessary supplies does
the repair crew. not protect a sailor against the ef-
fects of fire or electrical hazard.
10.3.4. Environmental Conditions (Toxic gas is an exception.)

Environmental conditions directly in- The list below shows which supplies are
fluence the crew’s health, morale, and necessary to deal with each environmen-
overall performance. They are marked on tal condition and which wound deck to
the Technical View and must be solved draw from when resolving crew damage:
with appropriate supply tokens.

• When instructed by the app, place the Hazardous

appropriate environmental condition
token in the specified section of the Electrical Hazard
Technical View and decrease morale by
one. If that happens to an exhausted Crew damage: electric shock
crew, the game is over. See 7.4. ‘Ex- Eliminated by: wire
hausted crew’ for details.
• After placing the token, resolve crew Fire
damage for that section (if neces-
sary). Crew damage: burns
• A section may have multiple environ- Eliminated by: fire extinguisher
mental condition tokens.
Toxic Gas1
10.3.5. D
ealing with Environmental
Conditions Crew damage:
poisoning
The Chief Engineer uses five supply to- Neutralized by: rebreathers
kens to deal with environmental condi- Eliminated by: Surfacing
tions. During setup, they can allocate
them in any sections they wish on the Non-hazardous
Technical View.
Lighting Failure

Eliminated by: light bulbs

Special effect: one additional sail-
or in this section must be activated
Above from left to right: wire, whenever an order in this section is
rebreathers, water pump, light bulbs, to be carried out2.
fire extinguisher. EXCEPTION: a lighting failure cannot
cause a ‘game over’ effect when the
• The repair requirement of all envi- crew is exhausted. The game continues
ronmental conditions is 1 and the as normal - DO NOT press ‘all hands
required supply token. All sailors lost’ in the app.
may carry and use supply tokens.
• The sailor carrying out the order and Leak
the supply token must be present in
the section where the environmental Eliminated by: water pump
condition token is located.
• Activate the sailor carrying out the
1 
‘Repair’ order with a regular activa- Toxicgas is somewhat different from oth-
tion token (or two activation tokens er hazardous conditions. It can only be
if they don’t have the repair spe- removed by being vented out of the U-boat

48
 after surfacing. Therefore, rebreathers be isolated with a watertight bulkhead.
allow the crew in the affected section to If a second section becomes flooded, the
avoid resolving crew damage (it is enough U-Boat will sink!
for the rebreathers to be in the section
to prevent the crew from resolving crew A Hull Breach starts a countdown in the
damage from toxic gas). This environmen- app. The countdown shows the remain-
tal condition will linger until the crew ing time the Chief Engineer has to seal
can open the hatch and let in fresh air. the breach. This is done by solving the
If toxic gas ever occurs while the U-boat Technical Puzzle. The Technical Puzzle
is sailing on the surface, then resolve has 16 puzzle pieces showing the U-Boat
crew damage once in the affected section schematic in sections.
without placing a toxic gas token. The Chief Engineer must assemble three
adjacent sections of the puzzle. These
sections are where the Hull Breach oc-

curred and the sections forward and aft.

Note: For the purpose of the Technical
Puzzle, Section 1 and Section 6 are ad-
jacent to the bow and the stern, respec-
The U-boat has just been attacked with tively. See 10.3.8. ‘Other rules related
depth charges, and leaking batteries have to Hull Breach’ for details.
released toxic gas. A toxic gas token is
placed in the affected section, morale is If the Technical Puzzle is not completed
decreased by one, and crew damage is re- in time, the app will tell you to flood the
solved. The U-boat will need to surface in section where the Hull Breach occurred.
order to vent the gas outside. This is a last ditch effort to save the
U-Boat from sinking. Below is a descrip-
tion of how the whole process is handled.

10.3.7. Sealing a Hull Breach

When a hull breach occurs:

ecrease morale by one. If that hap-

1. D
pens to an exhausted crew, the game
In this example, the U-boat is sailing is over. See 7.4. ‘Exhausted crew’
on the surface, when a seriously dam- for details.
aged diesel engine starts spewing to- 2. 
Assemble enough sailors in the sec-
xic fumes inside the hull. Crew damage is tion where the Hull Breach has oc-
resolved once, but a toxic gas token is curred, and then start sealing the
not placed and the Morale Track is unaf- breach. This will most likely require
fected. the Captain to issue Mobilization,
and then a ‘Repair’ order.
2 
Thisalso applies to repairing lighting 3. 
A Hull Breach requires a repair crew
failure itself. A single activation to- of 5 in order to be sealed. The
ken is placed regardless of the affected repairing sailors must be in the
sailor’s specialization icons. breached section to seal it. Acti-
vate them with regular activation to-
10.3.6. Hull Breach kens. Remember that sailors without
the ‘Repair’ specialization must take
A Hull Breach means the U-boat is tak- two activation tokens.
ing on water. This is far more serious 4. 
Only AFTER the repair order has been
than a minor leak and must be sealed issued and the repair crew has been
immediately. If it is ignored for too activated can the Chief Engineer
long, the flooded section will need to start solving the puzzle.

49
5. O
nce the Chief Engineer has solved the puzzle and are used in the exact same
puzzle, they must flip the pieces to way as the remaining pieces. For ex-
confirm that it has been solved cor- ample: if a Hull Breach occurs in
rectly. If the puzzle has been solved Section 1, then the correct result is
correctly before the timer runs out, ‘C,B,A’, as seen on the diagram.
then the breach is sealed and players • A flooded section is inaccessible: sail-
can continue with the game. ors can never move into or through it.
No game effects can target it. It is
Failing to seal a Hull Breach inaccessible for the rest of the mis-
sion. For Linked Missions, that means
• If the puzzle has not been solved and until the end of the whole patrol.
flipped before the timer runs out, then • If Section 2, 3, 4 or 5 becomes flood-
the Chief Engineer has failed and must ed, then one part of the U-boat is
immediately stop solving the puzzle. cut off from the other part.
• If the Chief Engineer flips the pieces • Sections which have been cut off, but
to check their solution and an er- are NOT flooded, may be used as normal.
ror is found, then the Chief Engineer • The app retains all its functionalities
has failed and must immediately stop for the duration of a Hull Breach.
solving the puzzle. • The Chief Engineer may play a card
• All sailors and resources must be when sealing a Hull Breach. See
evacuated from the section using Mo- 10.3.3. for details.
bilization before the timer runs out.
• After the timer runs out, place a flood-
ed section token in the breached sec-
tion. Any sailors remaining inside are
now KIA, and any resources left inside
are lost and are returned to the box. 2 1

10.3.8. O
ther rules related
to Hull Breach C B A
• Sealing a breach requires a ‘Repair’
order.
• The Chief Engineer should have the The above example shows how to complete
Technical Puzzle pieces in a face- the Technical Puzzle if Section 1 was
up pile within reach. After each at- breached.
tempt to solve the puzzle, randomly
mix them again. 10.3.9. A
ccess to sections which have
• Three sections must be put together been cut off
before the timer runs out: the sec-
tion where the Hull Breach occurred, After Section 2, 3, 4 or 5 has been flood-
and the sections forward and aft of ed, the U-boat is split into two parts.
it. For example, Sections 1, 2 and 3 The flooded section cannot be entered,
must be assembled to repair a Hull but there is still a way to get to the
Breach in Section 2. other side. A mobilized sailor can by-
• A Hull Breach can occur only in Sec- pass the flooded section by using one of
tions from 1 to 6. Each section is com- the torpedo loading hatches (located in
prised of two puzzle pieces. The pieces the ceilings of Section 1 and Section
have letters on their back, so that 6). This is possible only if:
the Chief Engineer can use the diagram
on his player aid to make sure whether • the U-boat is surfaced, and
the puzzle has been solved correctly or • the sailor bypassing the flooded sec-
not. See the Chief Engineer’s player tion is activated. (This is the only
aid for a complete diagram of how to situation when players activate sail-
solve the Technical Puzzle. ors to move them).
• The bow (comprised of two ‘A’ puzzle
pieces) and the stern (comprised of If the above conditions are met, then
two ‘H’ puzzle pieces) are not U-boat the movement is otherwise carried out
sections, but they are a part of the as normal.

50
 U-boat. Technical and Environmental con-
ditions must be marked for everyone to
see, and the Chief Engineer should moni-
tor the Technical View during Mobiliza-
tion to check whether any sailors move
into or through hazardous sections. If
so, the Chief Engineer must report it
immediately.

Toolboxes and supplies are also placed

As Section 2 is flooded, several sailors on the Technical View, and the Chief
have been cut off in Section 1. When the Engineer should check which resources
U-boat is surfaced, those sailors can are needed for repairs and whether Mobi-
leave Section 1 and other sailors may lization is necessary to move resourc-
move into Section 1, as long as each of es to a different U-boat section. The
those sailors is activated. Chief Engineer should always be aware of
what is happening on the Technical View
10.4. The Technical View and work closely with the Captain so
that repairs and maneuvers can proceed
The Chief Engineer is also responsible smoothly.
for monitoring the Technical View of the

11. Closing comments

We sincerely hope that you will enjoy playing U-BOOT. A lot of thought, research,
and love went into this game, and we are confident that it will give you many unfor-
gettable gaming memories. However, if you find anything that is not in line with your
understanding of the theme, then we encourage you to find solutions which suit you and
your group’s playstyle. The rules already incorporate a few customization possibil-
ities (e.g. difficulty levels and simplified watch changes), so if there is anything
else which you would like to try changing to enhance your experience with the game,
then we say ‘go for it’! This is your game and the most important thing is that YOU
have fun with it!
Happy hunting, and stay tuned for more World War 2 games by
Artur Salwarowski & Bartosz Pluta from Iron Wolf Studio

INDEX Hydrophone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4

Mobilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4
Activation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6
. . Morale Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3
Attack Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.1 Observers
Ballast tanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2 - app . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3
Busy sailors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.7 - board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3
Captain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.3 Orders
Crew Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.12
. - carrying out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5
Crew Tokens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.6
. . - order list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5
. .

Difficulty levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3

. . Order Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2
. .

Engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.1 Periscope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4

Enigma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4
. . Repairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.3
Environmental Conditions . . . . . . . 10.3.4 Strategic Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1
Event cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.7
. . Tactical Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2
First Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.6 TDC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4
. .

First Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4

. . Technical Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . 10.3.1
Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4
. . Toolboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.3
.

Hazardous sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4 Watch system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.8

. .

Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.9 Wound cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.8

. .

Hull Breach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.3.6 Visual identification . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2

51
 Mobilization 1. Pay for the order and announce Mobilization.
2. Move sailors.
3. Resolve crew damage (if necessary).
4. End Mobilization.

Carrying out orders 1. Pay for the order and issue the order.
2. Select the order in the app (if necessary).
3. Confirm verbally whether sailors are in position.
4. Activate the sailor(s) carrying out the order.
5. Carry out the order (in the app if necessary).

Changing the watch: 1. Adjust the Order Track.

2. Resolve crew damage (if necessary).
3. Manage tokens and flip crew tiles.
4. Return or remove KIAs (if necessary).

CREDITS
Board Game & Companion app design: Iron Wolf Studio S.A.
Artur Salwarowski, Bartosz Pluta
Project Director: Bartosz Pluta
Creative Director: Artur Salwarowski
Board Game development: Jaro Andruszkiewicz, Waldemar Gumienny, Michał Ozon.
Companion App development: InImages Sp. z o.o. Tomasz Chudy & Krzysztof Czerwieniec
Artwork: Chris Clor, Marcin Krawczyk, Jan Różański, Michał Sztuka, Dawid Wiącek
Graphic design: Bartosz Pluta, Krzysztof Klemiński, Marcin Krawczyk,
Barbara Niklas, Andrzej Musioł
Rulebook and Tactical Guide: Artur Salwarowski
Proofreading and editing: Aaron and Lauri Lillibridge, Mark Hathaway,
Russ Williams, Jesús Sánchez, Adam Kokoszka
Miniature sculpts: Luis Hidalgo (Holden8702)
DTP Specialist: Krzysztof Klemiński
Kickstarter and Production: Michał Ozon

Special thanks to: Krzysztof Kostowski, Jakub Trzebiński, Michał Nowakowski,

Marek Bartniczak, Jerzy Salwarowski, Jerzy Klimowicz, Michał Klimowicz, Adam Kokoszka,
Wiktor Długaj, Piotr Jasik, Michał Parma, Wojciech Sieroń, Andrzej Cierpicki, Maciej
Szafranek, Marcin Kramarczyk, Richard Ham, Thierry Vareillaud, Tomasz Bar, Michał Sapieha,
Angelika Ebert, Robert Lane, Marcin Żełubowski

We would like to thank all our Kickstarter and Backerkit backers,

and our international partners, whose involvement
in this project enabled it to be published in this form.
Iron Wolf Studio S.A. would like to thank Playway S.A.
for believing in us and making
this project possible.

PHALANX CO. LTD Iron Wolf Studio S.A.

Craven House, 40-44 Uxbridge Road, Ul. Mickiewicza 18/6, 40-092 Katowice, Poland
London, W5 2BS, United Kingdom www.ironwolfstudio.com
www.phalanxgames.co.uk www.uboottheboardgame.com