UBOOT The Board Game Kickstarter campaign will be launched on the 22nd of January 2018 and will last until the 14th of February 2018. Before the campaign starts, we will use this preview page as a portal to keep you informed about the game and gather feedback. Please click the Notify me on launch button at the top row or side bar of this page to receive a notification when the campaign starts. If you wish to share your thoughts on this project, feel free to post your feedback in the box at the top of the page. This is much appreciated!

Please note that not all the graphic material presented here is final. The photos are showing handmade prototypes of the game. The final production quality will be much higher.



UBOOT The Board Game is a real-time tabletop game of WW2 submarine warfare. An underwater cooperative war thriller that allows 1 to 4 players to assume the roles of the Captain, the First Officer, the Navigator, and the Chief Engineer on board of a type VIIC U-boat. The game is enhanced by a companion app, allowing for an unprecedented level of realism, as well as a challenging enemy A.I. which will push your skills to the limit. The action unfolds both on the strategic and the tactical scale, always demanding teamwork, efficient crew management, and quick situation assessment.

Game overview


The Crew

Each of the four roles entails unique responsibilities, encouraging the players to develop an efficient communication scheme and use genuine navy terminology. The Captain oversees the completion of mission objectives, supervises action point costs, and is responsible for the crew's morale. The First Officer operates the companion app, manages the flow of information, and takes care of the crew's health. The Navigator steers the submarine by setting its course and depth, but also updates all the essential information on the strategic, and the tactical map. Last, but not least, is the Chief Engineer, who is responsible for the engines, repairs, as well as other mechanical implements on board of the U-boat (such as the ballast tanks, weapon systems, etc.). At the same time, each of the four officers commands his own group of crew members by issuing orders within a worker placement system.



The App

The idea behind the companion app is to deliver a real-time, realistic gameplay experience. To that end, the app features the most essential instruments of the u-boat (such as the periscope, the hydrophone, and the Enigma, among others). Rest assured, however, that the vast majority of gameplay traditionally takes place on the game board, with the instruments revealing otherwise hidden information, and the app requiring only certain data (such as the U-boat's course, speed, etc.) in order to generate an adequate A.I. response of the enemy force. It is also responsible for all the ambient sound effects, thus immersing the players even deeper into the claustrophobic interiors of the type VII C. But fear not! With open & play being a design priority, you will be launching torpedoes in no time, thanks to streamlined rules, video tutorials, and variable difficulty levels for each player.

The Mission

From quick skirmishes, through full combat missions, to an all-out campaign, UBOOT will let you conduct submarine operations in all major naval theatres of the 2nd World War. Success of these missions will hinge on the completion of various tasks delegated to the crew by the BdU (U-boat HQ), which include patrol duty, ambushing convoys, laying mines in enemy waters, and many more! Each mission will require the players to adopt various strategies and play styles in order to successfully complete it, and the companion app will generate a detailed report at the end of each game session (evaluating player efforts, and possibly awarding decorations, promotions, etc.). That is, if the U-boat makes it back home…

 Tannhauser42 wrote:
If the app is a requirement to play, that is an absolute deal breaker for me. One of the greatest advantages of boardgames is that they'll still work just fine 10+ years down the road. No worries about system hardware or software compatibility over time.

 Pacific wrote:
Damn you Huron, that's planted that song in my head now too! Although there are worse songs that it could happen with..

Have updated the title to make it a bit more clear what it's about.

I'd be happy to have a go at keeping the thread updated with campaign announcements when it launches (haven't really done that before but will have a go).

I wonder if this should be in the general N&R section rather than down here, in the dark, briny depths of Board Games?

 spiralingcadaver wrote:

Ooph. They say 20% discount is $50 off... so, that means $200 pledge (possibly before shipping)?

 Vertrucio wrote:
(...)losing just because the shuffle put a bunch of very penalizing encounters/events in the AI deck right next to each other.

 Tannhauser42 wrote:
If the app is a requirement to play, that is an absolute deal breaker for me. One of the greatest advantages of boardgames is that they'll still work just fine 10+ years down the road. No worries about system hardware or software compatibility over time.

Stormonu wrote:God, I'd love to get this, but have no one who'd be interested in playing it with me.

I need to hunt up a working copy of Silent Service. I miss that game.

Sheck2 wrote:

 Tannhauser42 wrote:
If the app is a requirement to play, that is an absolute deal breaker for me. One of the greatest advantages of boardgames is that they'll still work just fine 10+ years down the road. No worries about system hardware or software compatibility over time.

I hear your concerns, but I think this will be the new normal. There are too many advantages with technology integration than without.

 Pacific wrote:
I also think it is far more acceptable than the Legacy game format, where you are ripping up cards as you play (and after all, I don't think there will be any groups of friends playing this game where one of the four won't have a smart device), yet that hasn't stopped some of the Legacy games being brilliant fun and being best sellers.

Elbows wrote:I glanced at this, and thought "whoa, cool!" and then saw the bit about the app...and I'm out. I normally do board games to get away from any electronic device, and I also share the concerns about the ap going forward. Doesn't seem like a game you'd break out in 10-15 years and be able to play --- so that's wasted money.

judgedoug wrote:Was wary of apps until Mansions of Madness 2nd edition converted me. It's way better than a human could possibly run the game. An app makes me that much more interested in a game like this.

Thought I'd post the opposite of everyone who feels the need to inform everyone else of their "This uses an app? HARD PASS" opinion

inb4 "If only this game didn't have an app and also massaged my foot bunions I would have pledged 1.7 million dollars"


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Pacific wrote:
I also think it is far more acceptable than the Legacy game format, where you are ripping up cards as you play (and after all, I don't think there will be any groups of friends playing this game where one of the four won't have a smart device), yet that hasn't stopped some of the Legacy games being brilliant fun and being best sellers.

Most board games are played between zero and two times by any given game group, trending towards zero - many are bought and put into a collection, never to be played.

Legacy games assert that the overwhelming majority of gaming groups won't play a 2-hour-ession game more than a handful of times - the fact that Pandemic Legacy gives you 12 to 24 sessions before ending completely means that you get more enjoyment and usage out of it than most other games. Well done legacy mechanics provide for a gaming experience a normal board game simply cannot replicate.

App games assert that the overwhelming majority of gaming groups won't play most games in ten years anyway. They're pretty much correct. In ten years, any supported game will have at least a second edition of it. Apps for XCom and Mansions of Madness 2 provide a gaming experience, that, once again, normal board games cannot replicate.

point being, Instead of trying to compete in a dense and overcrowded market of board games with clever mechanics that no one plays anyway, Apps (and Legacy) allow games to be run in a way with mechanics and elements that are simply impossible to produce in traditional board games

zedmeister wrote:Saw this, became a must back.

Saw the app requirement. Sod that, I'm out. Don't want anything to do with apps and the like.

 Alpharius wrote:
I love it when Dakka Dakka works as intended!

Hopefully there are some provisions to run it without App Assistance as well.

It would make more people happy and potentially future proof it against obsolescence (ha!) too.