Description

This WWI German game (the title translates as "Our newest U-boats") is remarkable not only for its great cover and board art, but also for having game pieces that represent six specific German U-boats.

Players roll and move alone a 100-space track from Helgoland around the UK and Ireland and back home. 20 English flag stickers wrapped around pins are placed in the 18 black spaces(three in number 6); each of these represents a historical sinking of a British ship. The first player to land on each black space collects its flag(s). Another 18 red-colored spaces represent events that force players to move forward or back along the track. The winner is the player who returns home with the most flags (first player home wins a tie).

The six metal U-boat pieces are numbered U-8, U-9, U-21, U-28, U-29 and U-45. According to Wikipedia, each has a notable history:

U-8: Sank 5 British ships on Feb. 23-24, 1915, then was trapped in nets and sunk by gunfire on March 4.

U-9: Sank the “Live Bait Squadron”, three Cressy-class armoured cruisers (HMS Cressy, Aboukir, Hogue), on Sept. 22, 1914 (space number 6 on the track), protected cruiser HMS Hawke on Oct. 15, 13 British merchant ships and one Russian naval vessel by Nov. 1915. Withdrawn for training use in April 1916. It was the only U-boat to be awarded an Iron Cross by Kaiser Wilhelm II.

U-21: One of the first U-boats to be equipped with diesel engines (U19 class). First submarine to sink a ship with a self-propelled torpedo on Sept. 5, 1914, destroying the cruiser HMS Pathfinder off the Firth of Forth. Transferred to the Mediterranean to support the Turks in early 1915, sinking British battleships HMS Triumph and HMS Majestic off Gallipoli, as well as French navy vessel Amiral Charner in Feb. 1916. Transferred to the Austrian navy for a time to attack Italian shipping, then back to Germany for unrestricted commerce war in March 1917. Retired for training in 1918. Merchant victims included 13 British, 7 Italian, 6 Dutch, 4 Norwegian, 2 French, 2 Russian, 2 Portuguese and 1 Swedish ships (2 damaged, rest sunk).

U-28: Sank 40 ships during five patrols, starting with British steamer Iberian on July 30, 1915. Was sunk on its final patrol after torpedoing British steamer Olive Branch, which exploded and fatally damaged U-28 in turn. No survivors.

U-29: Sank 4 and damaged 2 merchant ships during March 1915. Rammed and sunk by HMS Dreadnought in Pentland Firth on Mar. 18, the only submarine to be sunk by a battleship.

U-45: Sank 27 and damaged 1 ship between 27 April 1916 and 24 July 1917. Sunk by Royal Navy submarine D7 on 12 Sept. 1917.

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