Phalanx Games located in Opole, Poland started publishing and creating board games almost a decade ago. Their latest creation named “UBOOT the Board Game” got funded through Kickstarter while collecting a whopping £686,652.
The game focuses on depicting the missions of German submarine U-Boat, that made its name during both World Wars of the 20th century. Creators have spent two years making their idea come to reality and the results are very promising. UBOOT The Board Game offers an extremely realistic and detailed simulation of the famous submarine with innovative approach to immersing players in the game’s world. Let’s dive in!
Your Faithful Crew
UBOOT The Board Game is aimed at one to four players. You begin by establishing who will take on which role. Each has different goals, exclusive mechanics and different boards and gameplay gadgets.
The Captain oversees mission strategy, works on maintaining crew morale, leads the torpedo expert squad and decides how to engage with torpedoes themselves.
The Navigator works on planning the ship’s course. Player who takes on this role gets his own map, pencil, ruler and a set of navigation tools. Navigator also aids the captain in aiming torpedoes and… prepares meals.
The First Officer has access to game’s smartphone companion app, monitors everyone’s health and distributes medical supplies.
The Chief Engineer conducts repairs and takes care of submarine’s engines as well as surfacing and diving.
The game encourages cooperation and figuring out your own system of communication to make things smoother.
Deeper Immersion
One of the most interesting additions to the game is its companion app, used by the First Officer. It merges elements known from computer games with a board game. Player can use 3D, gyroscope enhanced in-app binoculars to detect targets for the crew. Enemy ships and various conditions such as weather are controlled by dynamic AI and make the game more realistic. The immersion is improved even more thanks to professional German voice overs in the app.
The application also includes a noise dosimeter module. Enemies can hear you when conducting searches and players should switch to whispering during these times.
UBOOT – Winning the Battle
The goal of the game isn’t super specific and depends on chosen scenario, as players can take on various missions that focus on different things. Some may be related to patrolling, destroying enemy supplies or taking part in battles. If the submarine survives the session, players can get promoted and continue in a subsequent game.
Treasure Trove
If you’re into 20th century history, the box including the game will easily feel like a full blown treasure trove. All backers and late buyers get a set of boards, guides, naval maps, navigation tools, crew cards, gun and troop figurines, food tokens and a beautiful U-Boat model in 1:72 scale to name a few.
The game is set to release before December 2018. Thanks to reaching many additional stretch goals, backers can expect initial tokens changed to proper plastic models and new historical scenarios being added to the game.
Link: UBOOT The Board Game
