U-Boat Leader

About this board game

U-Boat Leader is a World War II submarine strategy game for 1 player, with play time of approximately 90 minutes. It places you in command of a group of German U-boats operating across the Atlantic during the Battle of the Atlantic.

The game covers the long campaign from 1939 through 1945, when U-boats and Allied forces developed new weapons, tactics, and countermeasures. You must decide where to deploy your submarines: concentrate them into wolfpacks, spread them across shipping lanes, or assign them to special missions such as mine-laying.

When a patrolling U-boat discovers an enemy force, it can call other boats in the same patrol zone to form a wolfpack or attack alone. Combat then moves to a tactical display, where submarines attempt to close with merchant ships while avoiding escorting warships. Although you receive an idea of the force’s size and general composition, ships must be approached before they can be identified.

Special Operations Points can support your patrols with search planes, supply ships, and Milk Cow submarines that extend U-boat endurance. In longer campaigns, you must also manage patrol rotations to keep submarines on station.

U-Boat Leader includes several submarine types, from Type IIB/C coastal boats and Type VII Atlantic submarines to long-range Type IX boats and the Type XXI Elektro-boat. Four campaigns portray different stages of the conflict:

• The Battle Begins
• The Happy Time
• Operation Drumbeat
• The Hunted

With the familiar core system of the Leader series, U-Boat Leader offers a focused command challenge across changing phases of the Atlantic war.