SCOPE U-boot
SCOPE U-boot Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
The game includes 60 cards and 6 tokens:
- 12 Allied ship cards: 2 freighters, 2 tankers, 3 destroyers, 1 battleship, 1 escort carrier, 2 Flower corvettes/mines, 1 armed freighter/freighter
- 7 German ship cards: 3 submarines, 1 destroyer, 1 battleship, 2 S-boot/mines
- 35 sea/empty area cards
- 6 surface firing cards
- 6 tokens: 4 torpedo tokens (2 German and 2 Allied), 1 Allied direction token, 1 German direction/ping token
Ship cards
Each ship card shows: point value, a fast ship icon (if fast), and the type of ship. For the advanced rules it also shows armor and firepower. Sea / empty area cards and firing cards are also used in the advanced rules.
Base game ship types: Freighter, Tanker, Destroyer, Submarine.
Base Game - Setup
The number of cards and size of the game depend on the chosen scenario:
| Scenario | Size (rows x columns) | Freighters | Tankers | Destroyers | Submarines | Target Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lone wolf | 5x5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Coordinated attack | 5x6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Wolf pack | 5x7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
- Prepare the game area: place the sea cards with the empty area face down, forming a grid of 5 rows and as many columns as indicated by the scenario.
- Deal ships and tokens: give each player the corresponding ship cards according to the scenario to be played. In addition, the German player receives their 2 torpedo tokens and the Allied player receives their direction token. The rest of the components will not be used in the game.
- Deploy submarines: the German player takes all the sea cards from the first row on their side of the game area. The player then replaces the row, secretly switching sea cards with face down submarine cards in the positions of their choice. The remaining sea cards are saved for later in the game.
- Deploy the convoy: the Allied player places their surface ship cards on any of the sea cards in the first two rows on their side of the game area, one ship per sea card. Ship cards that have the back side in red (damaged ship), are deployed with this red side down.
Base Game - How to Play
During the game, the players play alternate turns. One player takes a full turn and then the other player does the same. The German player goes first. The game ends when the target points are reached or there are no cargo ships left. Each turn is composed of 2 phases:
P1) Action Phase
The player performs 1 action per turn, to be chosen among those allowed by the types of ships in play. In the base game, the available actions are:
Submarine movement (submarines): The player takes in their hand any quadrant (group of 2x2 sea cards) from the game area, looks at them and returns them to the same quadrant, face down and in the position of their choice. It is not required that a submarine be on these 4 cards, it can be a bluff. Furthermore, if there are surface ships in the quadrant, they maintain their position, even if their sea cards are moved; if there is an enemy destroyer, the sea card under the destroyer cannot be moved, but the other sea cards in the quadrant can be moved normally.
Torpedo launch (submarines): The player reveals the position of one of their submarines, returns the card face down and places a torpedo token on the card. The player chooses the direction in which the torpedo will advance, pointing the token in any of the eight possible directions. A torpedo cannot be launched if the submarine card has a ship or torpedo on top of it. Also, one ship may not launch torpedoes more than 2 consecutive turns and must perform any other action (or launch a torpedo with another ship) on the third turn, to be able to launch another torpedo in the fourth turn. The numbers on the torpedo tokens are used to indicate whether it is the first or the second consecutive torpedo. On the other hand, each player only has 2 torpedo tokens. No more torpedoes can be launched if the 2 tokens of a player are already in play. Each token will become available again when it hits a ship or leaves the game area.
Fast ship movement (fast ships): The player takes the card of one of their fast surface ships and places it on an adjacent sea card (orthogonally or diagonally) that is not occupied by another ship.
Destroyers are fast ships that are also equipped with sonar and depth charges. When moving, the destroyer can turn over the card on which it is placed after moving, and check if it contains a submarine. If the card is an empty area, place it face down again. If the card is an enemy submarine, it sinks; remove the submarine card to the scoring area and fill the gap with a sea card with the empty area face down.
Slow ship movement (slow ships): All ships without the fast ship icon are slow ships and require two turns to complete their movement. To move a slow ship, the player places the direction token on the center of the ship card, pointing the arrow to the sea card to which they want to move. It can move in any direction, both orthogonally and diagonally.
The slow ship does not move in the turn the action is performed. It will move in that player's next turn, just before the action phase. It moves in the direction of the arrow, after which the direction token is removed. This movement does not count as the action of the second turn.
If the sea card is occupied by another surface ship, the token is removed without moving the slow ship. Also, one slow ship cannot be moved two consecutive turns. That is, you cannot place the direction token back on a slow ship that just moved at the beginning of the same turn.
If a surface ship (fast or slow) moves to a sea card where there is a torpedo token, two things can happen:
- If the torpedo is headed straight towards the ship, the ship will be hit by the torpedo before completing its movement.
- If the torpedo advances in any other direction, the ship can move forward without being hit. The ship card is placed under the torpedo token, and the torpedo will move in the next torpedo phase without hitting it.
P2) Torpedo Phase
In this phase, all torpedo tokens on the game area advance one position to the adjacent sea card, in the direction indicated by the torpedo token. Torpedoes advance every turn regardless of the player they belong to. As an exception, if the torpedo was just launched in the action phase of this turn, it does not advance. That is, torpedoes advance every turn except the same turn in which they are launched. If a torpedo enters the sea card of a surface ship, the ship sinks. Both the ship and the torpedo token are removed from the sea card. The sunken ship card is placed in the opposing player's scoring zone. Torpedoes cannot hit other torpedoes.
When a tanker is sunk, it is not removed from the game area. Instead, flip its card to indicate that it is on fire. The German player still scores points for sinking the tanker. The burning tanker remains on the surface of the sea card, but it can no longer be moved or destroyed. Torpedoes that enter the position of a burning tanker explode and are removed without sinking the tanker. Submarines can move under the burning tanker. The red back (damaged ship) of destroyer ships is not used in the base game, it is only used with the advanced rules (surface combat).
Goal and End of the Game
Both players score victory points by adding the value of sunken enemy ships, and the Allied player gets double the point value of cargo ships that pass through and leave the game area. A cargo ship may leave the game area by performing a movement action from the last row of the game area (first row of the German side). Then, place the ship in the Allied side's scoring area.
Example: the Allied player's score is 2+(1x2) = 4 points (the cargo ship that left the area counts double); the German player's score is 2+1 = 3 points.
The game ends when a player reaches the target points of the scenario, or if there are no more operational cargo ships in the game area. The turn in which this happens must be played in full. In addition, if there is a torpedo left in play from which a ship could not escape in the following turns, this ship is considered sunk and also scores. The player with the highest score wins, in case of a tie, the Allied side wins.
Slow Submarines (advanced rules)
Submarine ships of World War II were much slower underwater than when sailing on the surface. These rules are intended to represent this fact. This game mode is optional, you can play the rest of the advanced rules without including this game variant.
In this game variant the movement action of submarines is modified:
Slow submarine movement (submarines): Slow submarine movement works like the basic rules movement, except that after moving a quadrant of sea cards, the ping token is placed in the center of the four moved cards. In their next turn, the player will not be able to move the 4 cards marked with the ping, nor launch torpedoes from them.
When this player performs any other action on their next turn, the ping is removed from the quadrant and the cards become available again. If they move another quadrant, the ping will be moved to the center of the newly moved quadrant.
When moving, you can select a quadrant that overlaps with the quadrant moved in the previous turn. In this second movement, the cards blocked by the previous ping remain on the table, unable to move.
Ping token: thematically, it represents an echo on the asdic or radar caused by the presence of a submarine, or a false echo caused by the ocean's seabed, a thermocline, waves, etc.
If you use the advanced surface combat rules, submarines can combine slow submarine movement with surface sorties to remove the ping token and avoid the movement blockage that the token causes.
Advanced anti-submarine hunting
To compensate for the slow movement of submarines and to add more complexity to anti-submarine hunting, gameplay is also modified for destroyers. Destroyers no longer reveal sea cards automatically in their movement action. In exchange, the Allied player receives two new actions to choose from in the action phase.
Sonar (destroyers): Flip a sea card adjacent (orthogonally or diagonally) to a destroyer, to check if it contains a submarine, even if the card has a ship on top of it. The card is returned face down after this check and the action ends with no further consequences.
Depth charges (destroyers): Flip the sea card under a destroyer, if it is an empty area, return it face down. If it is a submarine, you can sink it and move it to your scoring area. Fill the gap using a sea card with the empty area face down.
In addition, at the end of the game, after the last turn is over, all destroyers perform a final free discharge of depth charges. If there are any enemy submarines under a destroyer at that time, the submarine is sunk and added to the final score of the game.
Surface Combat (advanced rules)
Often, the U-boats preferred to attack on the surface where they were faster and could attack with their cannon to avoid wasting torpedoes. The following advanced rules can be added to reflect this.
Surface & submerge (submarines): Before moving a submarine, the player can announce that the submarine is going to surface or submerge by flipping the submarine card over, leaving it in this new position and placing or removing the sea card under the submarine. If the submarine card has been left face down, it moves using the submarine movement rules. If the card has been left face up, the submarine moves like a fast surface ship. In addition, a submarine blocked by a ping token can surface to remove the token and move on the surface.
Surface torpedo launch (submarines and destroyers): In this game mode, submarines and destroyers can launch torpedoes while sailing on the surface. They work in the same way as the torpedoes of the base game, but are launched by placing the torpedo token on the card of the launching ship.
P3) Surface Combat Phase
This game mode adds a third phase to the turn, after the torpedo phase. In each surface combat phase, both players can fire with one of their ships using surface firepower. That is, both players can shoot in each player's phase.
Both shots are considered simultaneous and are resolved even if a firing ship is sunk by another shot in the same phase. Both target ships are chosen before resolving the shots. The active player chooses first. Follow these steps to make a surface shot:
- Set target: both players select their firing ship and an enemy ship as target. The maximum range is the same as the firepower of the firing ship. That is, a ship with firepower 1 can only attack an adjacent ship in any direction; a ship with firepower 2 can fire at a ship up to two cards away, either orthogonally, diagonally, or a mixture of both; etc. In addition, a ship with an armor value greater than twice the firepower of the firing ship cannot be attacked.
- Prepare the firing hand: the firing player draws the hit card ("BOOM!" hit) and as many miss cards ("BOOM!" miss) as the distance to the target ship. That is, to fire at an adjacent ship take the hit card and a single miss card; to fire at a ship at a distance of 2, take 2 miss cards; etc. Furthermore, if the armor of the target ship is greater than the firepower of the attack, add one more miss card; likewise, add another miss card if the firing ship has moved at any point of this turn or has a direction token on it.
- Firing: the firing player hides the selected cards in their hand, and the attacked player takes one card at random to determine the result of the attack:
- Miss card: the shot missed the target.
- Hit card: two things may happen: if the target's armor is less than or equal to the firepower of the attack, the ship sinks and is removed to the scoring area. If the armor is higher than the firepower, flip the target ship card to indicate that it is damaged, but not sunk. If the ship was already damaged, the second hit will sink it.
Reinforcements (advanced rules)
These rules add new reinforcement ships for both sides. Before each scenario, the player may exchange all or part of their destroyers or submarines for the equivalent in points of reinforcement ships of their side.
Reinforcement ships: Battleship, Flower corvette, S-boot, Mines, Armed freighter, Escort carrier.
Battleship: The largest ship in size, with the greatest armor and firepower. If an undamaged battleship is hit by a torpedo, it will be damaged (flip its card) but not sunk.
Flower-class corvette: Light anti-submarine ship. For game purposes it is like a destroyer, but with less armor and firepower. It cannot launch torpedoes.
S-boot: Very fast light torpedo boat. It can perform two fast movements in a single action. It can launch torpedoes.
*The S-boot cannot fire in the surface combat phase. It only has anti-aircraft firepower, which is only taken into account when attacked by aircrafts.
Mines: Mines are deployed first, before the submarines. They are deployed face up, replacing any sea card that is not in the opponent's deployment zone. Neither submarines nor surface ships can enter a mines card. Mines cannot be destroyed. In addition, torpedoes explode and are removed when they enter a mines card.
Armed freighter: Freighter ships armed with artillery. Their card has a regular freighter side and a side with firepower 1. On deployment, they remain hidden with their regular freighter side up. In the surface combat phase of any turn, the Allied player may flip this card to reveal its firepower and choose this ship as the attacker. This freighter also scores double if it crosses the game area.
Escort carrier: Small and light aircraft carrier. Provides new actions to choose from in the action phase, such as taking off an aircraft or attacking with an aircraft that already took off in a previous turn. It is deployed with the aircraft takeoff icon face up.
Aircraft takeoff (escort carrier): If the carrier has the takeoff icon face up, you can use the turn's action to flip the carrier's card and leave its firepower icon face up (aircraft in the air).
*The aircraft carrier cannot attack in the surface combat phase, but it can attack in the action phase. If its firepower icon is face up (because an aircraft already took off in a previous turn), it can perform a bomber or torpedo plane attack action. After this attack, the carrier card is flipped back, leaving the takeoff icon face up again, even if the attack is unsuccessful. This indicates that another aircraft will have to take off in order to attack again.
Bomber aircraft attack (escort carrier): You may use the turn's action to fire a surface shot (with 2 power) at any ship in the game area, regardless of the distance to the carrier. For the firing hand, ignore the distance and take instead as many miss cards as the firepower value of the attacked ship, this represents the anti-aircraft defense of the attacked ship. Do not add a miss card due to carrier movement, but the one corresponding to armor is still added to the firing hand.
Torpedo aircraft attack (escort carrier): You may use the turn's action to launch a torpedo from any sea card that does not contain a surface ship. Just before launching the torpedo, the opposing player can try to shoot down the torpedo plane with one of their surface ships. To do so, the player makes a surface shot, marking as a target the sea card where the plane (armor 1) is going to launch the torpedo. If the shot fails, the torpedo is launched normally. If the shot succeeds, the torpedo is not launched and the attack action is lost.
Deployment with reinforcement ships: with these game rules, the mines are deployed first, then the submarines, then the surface ships. When both players have mines or surface ships, they deploy them one by one alternately, starting with whoever has more. If they have the same number, Allies will start to deploy. The standard deployment rules of the base game are followed, with one difference: slow ships can only deploy on the first row of their deployment side. Fast ships can deploy in the first or second row.
Alternative Scenarios
Alternative scenarios modify the setup and objectives of the game to create new game variants. All other rules are followed normally. You can also create your own variants and alternative scenarios.
Wolf and Shepherd
Set up the game using the standard number of freighters and tankers from the base scenarios, but deploy a single German U-boat and a single Allied destroyer. The German player scores points for the sunken cargo ships, but not for sinking the destroyer. The Allied player scores double the points for the cargo ships that are not sunk or that leave the game area, but does not score points for sinking the submarine. The game ends when there are no submarines or cargo ships left in the game area.
The player with the highest score wins, in case of a tie, the Germans win.
Anti-Submarine Hunting Group
Set up the game using the standard number of submarines and destroyers from the base scenarios, but the game is played without freighters and tankers. In addition, the Allied player may add one more ship (destroyer or escort carrier) to their hunting fleet. The Allied player scores points for each sunken submarine. The German player scores points for each submarine leaving the game area, with a movement action when the submarine is placed in the last row of the game area (first row of the Allied side). The game ends when there are no submarines left in play.
The player with the highest score wins, in case of a tie the game ends in a draw.
Duel with an Edge
If one of the players is much more experienced in the game than the other, you can balance the situation by creating an advantage in favor of the inexperienced player. Use the same setup and ships as the base scenarios, but give the inexperienced player's fleet an additional German U-boat or Allied destroyer, depending on which side they are playing. Or you can also do the opposite and remove a U-boat or destroyer from the veteran player.
Naval Battle (advanced rules)
Naval combat between warships of both sides. The size of the playing area depends on the selected scenario. Each player secretly chooses ships (or mines) for the total number of fleet points indicated by the scenario. Deployment is carried out alternately, as indicated by the reinforcement rules. Slow ships can only deploy in the first row of each side. Fast ships can deploy in the first or second row. Players score victory points for each sunken enemy ship, and the game ends when a player reaches the scenario's target points. The turn when this happens is played in full.
The player with the highest score wins, in case of a tie the battle ends in a draw.
| Scenario | Size (rows x columns) | Fleet Points | Target Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skirmish | 5x5 | 6 | 4 |
| Battle | 5x6 | 8 | 5 |
| Large Battle | 5x7 | 10 | 6 |
Turn Summary
Base game:
- P1: Action phase. Choose 1 action: submarine movement; torpedo launch; fast/slow ship movement.
- P2: Torpedo phase. All torpedoes advance, except the one launched this turn.
Advanced rules:
- P1: Action phase. Choose 1 action: [slow] submarine movement; torpedo launch; fast/slow ship movement; [sonar]; [depth charges]; aircraft takeoff; bomber/torpedo aircraft attack.
- P2: Torpedo phase. All torpedoes advance, except the one launched this turn.
- P3: Surface combat. 1. Set target (both players). 2. Prepare firing hand. 3. Fire (pick 1 card).