Submarine (1976)

Submarine is a tactical game of World War II submarine warfare. One player assumes the role of a submarine captain, while others are escort and/or convoy commanders. The submarine location is kept secret with the submarine player using plotted movement for the submarine and any torpedoes. The escort/convoy players move their ships on the board. When sighted or picked up by Sonar/Asdic the submarine will then be placed in full view on the map board as well. The game includes rules for different nationalities, various anti-submarine warfare systems, historical scenarios, night-fighting, and Design Your Own scenarios etc.

Avalon Hill Complexity rating - 8

from "The Avalon Hill General Index and Company History, 1952-1980"

Submarine (1978)
Prior existing published design (Battleline) redesigned by Avalon Hill
Designed by J. Stephen Peek
Development by Mick (Mike) Uhl

The basic game remained predominantly the same, but Uhl designed a much more ambitious advanced game version. Perhaps somewhat weak as a simulation, it remains an outstanding game—especially in multi-player form. A rulebook revision is pending.

The GENERAL Index Article List:

• The GENERAL Vol.13,No.5
  • The Avalon Hill Philosophy - Part 59: New games: Squad Leader, Empire of the Rising Sun, Submarine, "Boxcars"
• The GENERAL Vol.15,No.4
  • Submarine – “Strategic Submarine” (Variant) Mark Uhl
  • Submarine – “More Submarine Scenarios” (Scenarios) James A Wirth
  • The Question Box - Submarine
• The GENERAL Vol.16,No.5
  • The Question Box - Submarine
• The GENERAL Vol.16,No.5
  • Submarine – “U.505, Odyssey of a Submarine” (Scenarios) Dave Hable
• The GENERAL Vol.18,No.6
  • Submarine – “Fleet Boat - American Pacific Operations for Submarine” (Scenarios) Richard A. Strangman
• The GENERAL Vol.19,No.6
  • Submarine – “Soviet Submarine, Scenarios for the Forgotten Counters” (Scenarios) Michael Lee Merritt
  • Submarine – “Up Scope, Increased Realism in Submarine” (Variant Discussion) Michael Anchors
• The GENERAL Vol.22,No.2
  • Submarine – “Torpedo Junction - New Pacific Scenarios for Submarine” (Variant) by Robert Harmon

Other GENERAL Articles on Submarine:

• The GENERAL Vol.22,No.4 On Patrol,Variant,35,Solitaire Rules for Submarine,Robert Harmon
• The GENERAL Vol.23,No.3 War in the Shallow Seas,Variant (Scenario),5,Adding the Little Ships to Submarine,Rex A. Martin
• The GENERAL Vol.23,No.3 The Lone Wolves,Scenario,17,The British in Submarine,Charles Markuss

The use of PT boats as discussed in The GENERAL Vol.23,No.3 is a great addition to the Submarine game. At that time you had to order the counters separately from the Avalon Hill game company for $1 as it wasn't an insert for that issue. However, since Avalon Hill is no longer around and you can't order the counters anymore, you can just make a color Xerox or color scan of the counters displayed in the article and use those to make the counters needed. You can also make some homemade counters. A Submarine gamer could also use miniatures as well.

Online Play:

• VASSAL, http://www.vassalengine.org (real-time, PBEM)