Wolfpack (wargame)
Wolfpack, subtitled "Submarine Warfare in the North Atlantic, 1942–44", is a solitaire board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1974 that simulates a four-month period during the Battle of the Atlantic.
Description[edit]
Wolfpack is a solitaire board wargame where the player controls German U-boats and attacks Allied convoys that are controlled and defended by a game mechanic.
Setting[edit]
The map shows convoy zones in the North Atlantic between Ireland, Greenland, Newfoundland and the Azores Islands.[1]
Convoys[edit]
During each scenario, twenty convoys will try to cross the ocean using automatic but random movement, ten in each direction. Twelve of these convoys are dummies; this is only revealed by a close and effective examination by a U-boat. All have a randomly determined escort as protection, and an umbrella of aircraft based on either side of the Atlantic.[1]
Five convoys are already on the map at the start of the scenario, and fifteen more will enter the map, one per turn.[1]
Search and attack[edit]
The player spreads the U-boats across the map to search for convoys. When one is found, the U-boats can converge as a wolfpack to attempt to sink the convoy.[2]
Scenarios[edit]
There are four one-month scenarios, all set in 1943: February, March, April, and May. The February scenario uses basic rules, but each successive scenario becomes progressively more difficult as new enhancements are applied to convoy defenses. There are also optional rules for U-boat upgrades and production.[1]
Publication history[edit]
Wolfpack was designed by Jim Dunnigan, with graphic design by Redmond A. Simonsen, and was published as a free pull-out game in Issue 47 of SPI's house magazine Strategy & Tactics. SPI also made a boxed set of the game available for sale. The game did not prove to be popular, and in a 1976 poll conducted by SPI to determine the most popular wargames in North America, Wolfpack was only rated 169th out of 202 games.[3]
In 2011, Decision Games published a videogame for Windows 98 titled Wolfpack that was based on the original game's rules.
Reception[edit]
In his 1977 book The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming, Nicky Palmer thought that another SPI game, Operation Olympic, was "a better solitaire game unless you have a strong preference for submarine warfare."[3]
In The Guide to Simulations/Games for Education and Training, Martin Campion called this "a solitaire game which works." Campion commented "The game is a fairly realistic challenge for a single player. It would be possible to turn it into a multiplayer game I suppose but I doubt it would be worth the effort."[2]
In a retrospective review in Issue 13 of Simulacrum, Luc Olivier called Wolfpack "a perfect solitaire game: movement and reactions are programmed and erratic so it is difficult to break but easy to delegate to the system." Although Olivier felt "the hunt with U-Boats can be exciting or, at least, strategically interesting to decipher" he thought the main problem with the game was "the mechanic of moving counters and throwing a lot of dice, which can be painful."[1]
Reviews[edit]
- Fire & Movement #76[4]
- The Wargamer #25
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e Olivier, Luc (October 2001). "Wolfpack". Simulacrum. No. 13. p. 47.
- ^ a b Campion, Martin (1980). "Wolfpack". In Horn, Robert E.; Cleaves, Ann (eds.). The Guide to Simulations/Games for Education and Training. Beverly Hills CA: Sage Publications. p. 523. ISBN 0-8039-1375-3.
- ^ a b Palmer, Nicholas (1977). The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming. London: Sphere Books. p. 185.
- ^ "Index to Game Reviews in Magazines".