Drumbeat is a great solitaire game that covers east coast U-Boat actions from January to April 1942. Twenty pages with enough history and rules to make it interesting and not bog you down. Once you have read through it once you will need only two pages of charts, a map to mark your location, and a card to keep tract of your attack, search, and evade modifiers. Everything is included. The game covers the second HAPPY TIME as U-Boats go after shipping off the US Coast. This was a time before convoys, milch cow resupply, or wolf-packs so you can command a single submarine. Motivated gamers could easily run the 10 Type IX boats that made up the 1st and 2nd waves by playing ten games. This game would also link well with Operation Westindien, from another gaming company, which covers the third wave in the Carri bean.
Playing time is a half hour at most and many patrols are shorter. The game has high replay value and my only quirk is ASW Blimps are referred to as dirigibles; but other than that minor detail; HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. You get a lot of value for only a few dollars outlay.
|