With regards to The Enemy Below, Up Scope! has even less human connection. I’ve owned this game since the early 1980s but have never played it (and only rarely opened it) in part because the Designer’s Notes make reference to it being a counterpart to Air War (SPI, 1977) and placing realism over playability. Up Scope! Tactical Submarine Warfare in the 20th Century was designed by Joe Balkoski for SPI in 1977. Interestingly, I have a second submarine-themed wargame designed during this era. When I play Submarine, it is the influence of The Enemy Below that helps me remember the human side battle which barely gets a nod in the game system (see rule 49.0 Crew Quality). Which makes me admire The Enemy Below even more the book simultaneously captures the human and technical with a proper balance between the two of them. It’s akin to gamers today who play the videogame Call of Duty and praise it for being “realistic.” Then again, The Enemy Below is popular not for being a techno-thriller (ala The Hunt for Red October) but for being a deeply human story. After all, I studied to be a historian so I should be looking at any wargame critically from a historical perspective, not through the lens of popular culture. In retrospect, I sorta laugh at myself when I think about how I judge Submarine. Looking at those words, is there any real wonder how one could not link The Enemy Below and Submarine together? Pop History? He can launch torpedoes at convoys or combat ships or hunt down submarines with depth charge runs. A player assumes the role of either a submarine or escort captain. Submarine is a tactical recreation of the submarine war. But it was also fought with no holds barred, a struggle in which a second’s hesitation or lapse in concentration meant the difference between death and survival…. It was a war of no fronts of hit and run tactics a one-on-one duel reminiscent of the air war of World War I, complete with aces and acts of chivalry. One of the few remaining campaigns of World War II yet to be covered on a tactical level has been the submarine war against commerce shipping and naval fleets.

The Enemy Below, Dust JacketĬompare this to the introduction for Submarine: But before the Cecilie or fleet destroyers could influence the outcome, the absolute battle between absolute equals was played out to a startling conclusion….

Each hour the U-121 drew closer to its rendezvous and, sensing the fact, the Captain radioed for reinforcements. Attack after attack, the stratagems of the two masters cancelled each other out. Then, for forty merciless hours, it was depth charge vs. The book is ripe for a wargame setting as communicated on the dust jacket: Back then, and even today, I judge the “realism” of Submarine on the basis of how well it can recreate situations in The Enemy Below. Even today, I recall sitting down and learning the rules to Submarine with The Enemy Below at my side. My copy is a 1981 Second Edition which I bought brand new soon after release. When I started wargaming, one of the earliest games I acquired was Submarine designed by Steve Peek from the Avalon Hill Game Company.

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