INTRODUCTION GAME UNITS AND MARKERS

In May of 1941 the war had just begun. The Germans had the
biggest ship that had the biggest guns …
Lyrics from the Johnny Horton song “Sink the Bismarck”
Great song, for a good movie, on a ship that was one of the most
famous from World War II.
The significance of the German battleship Bismarck was its impact
to British naval operations in the Atlantic. Convoys were needed to
keep Britain in the war. They provided a continuous supply of food The game includes 3 unique German Ship pieces, many yellow
and arms. Anything that disrupted this supply was a grave threat to cubes to track ship and game status; plus colored dice. Ship pieces
the British. are placed on the board with their name facing up.
During the hunt, the British battleship HMS Hood was sunk in its SEARCH BOARD AND EVENT CHARTS
duel with the Bismarck. The Royal Navy detached almost every
capital ship from their on-going missions in the Atlantic to find the A classic search game board is used to track your ship movements
Bismarck and revenge the Hood. The Prinz Eugen slipped away but and locations. On the search game board are a turn track,
the Bismarck was ultimately cornered to face a massive combina- sequence of play and ship battle tactics chart.
tion of enemy battleships, heavy cruisers, and aircraft from carriers.
Now you are in command of the mighty Bismarck and the decisions
are yours…
GAME SUMMARY
Bismarck Solitaire places you in command of German naval forces
against an opposing British autonomous player side, referred to as
the BOT side. The object of the game for the German player is to
earn the victory points of the mission goal AND bring the Bismarck
home safely before the game ends on turn 20.
You are the German commander of the Bismarck, Prinz Eugen and
a supporting U-boat as they sortie into the Atlantic with the British
BOT Royal Navy after you. Then there are 3 game sets (Easy,
Difficult, and Hard). There are 18 different missions of increasing
difficulty. Each mission has it’s own objectives to beat the British
and win the game. There are also medals to earn in each mission
when certain objectives are achieved.
Bismarck Solitaire can also be played cooperative. One player
takes the Bismarck and the other takes the Prinz Eugen and U-boat. Search Board

BISMARCK SOLITAIRE DELUXE EDITION | 1

Events are on each mission chart. Select which mission you want to VPs are earned when British ships are sunk. VP values on the Prinz
play for a game and use the event charts for that mission. Once Eugen and U-Boat are negative values and are deducted from the
selected it is placed beside the search game board or use the easel VP total for the game if they are sunk. If the Bismarck is sunk you
to stand the mission up facing you. Event charts for a mission are lose the game automatically. The Extra VP Track is used to record
brought into play each game turn by a die roll that determines which VP earned through event charts.
event chart to use. The ship status board lists ship firepower (dice rolled
in ship combat), ship speed (how many movement squares it can move
in a turn) extra fuel for German ships, and ship strength is tracked on Firepower Ship Name Extra Fuel
the hit track that reduce ship strength when hit.
BISMARCK SOLITAIRE EASY

SEA TRIAL: TRAINING CRUISE - MISSION 1 OBJECTIVES HOW TO WIN

On your initial shakedown cruise, provide your ship and crew some operational experience. Attempt Return the Bismarck to Bergen or Brest after turn 15.
to sink any British ships you encounter. Most importantly return the Bismarck safely to Bergen or Brest. Don’t scratch the paint, return the Bismarck to port with 4 hits or less
Get your sea-legs and come home safe. to earn a medal.

FORCE H FROM GIBRALTAR EVENT: BOMBERS EVENT: ALL POINTS CONVOY HUNT EVENT: WING AND A PRAYER EVENT: HEAVY CRUISERS
Renown British Bombers Fuel Tanker (+1 Fuel Per Ship) King George V Torpedo Damages Engine Heavy Cruiser Attack
Air Attack EVENT: Roll 2 Air Attack dice During Air Attack Phase roll one die to Roll a die, on a 4-6, reduce speed by 1 to Roll 2 Ship Combat dice, apply hits on
Minefield (1 Hit Ship of Choice) Ramillies

VP Value Hit Track Movement Rate/Speed

for the Ark Royal. Apply hits on 1-3 to search, a 1-3 finds ships AND U-BOAT. ship of choice for game (cannot be reduced 1-3 to the Bismark or Prinz Eugen.
below 1).
ships of the players choice. Do not roll if If found, roll one die per ship AND Lone Merchant (+1 VP) Repulse and Convoy
Ark Royal is sunk. Lüftwaffen Protection
U-BOAT found, hit on 1-4. Each ship may attack ONLY one convoy
British Sub (1 Hit Ship of Choice) Roll a die, on a 1-3 sink a pursuing Cruiser.
per turn. +1 VP if sunk , record on Ship Chart.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
A A A A A A

B B B B B B

C C C C C C

Firepower Ship Name

D D D D D D

E E E E E E

F F F F F F

G G G G G G

H H H H H H

EVENT: OVER/UNDER EVENT: SEAWORTHY LONE WARSHIP EVENT: FOG AND MIST EVENT: TORPEDO ATTACK! EVENT: ROUGH WEATHER
Direct Hit on Ship Guns Ship Repair Hood Smooth Sailing Victorious’ Swordfish Planes All Ships Reduce Speed to 1
Increase speed by 1 for this turn.
Roll a die, on a 4-6 reduce firepower by 1 to Supply Ship found! Repair 1 hit per ship. Reduce speed to 1 for this turn for
ship of choice (cannot be reduced below 1). King George V Minefield (1 Hit Ship of Choice) Ark Royal’s Swordfish Planes all ships.
Ark Royal (Ignore if Sunk) Swordfish Attack! Prince of Wales During Air Attack Phase, roll 2 Air Attack dice
King George V and Rodney
If U-boat is in the zone, roll a die. On a 1-3 Fuel Leak, lose ALL extra fuel. for British carriers. Apply hits on 1-3 to ships
Ark Royal is sunk earn +2 VP. Record sunk of the players choice. Do not roll for Ark
Rodney Hood and Prince of Wales Royal if sunk.
on Ship Chart.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
A A A A A A

B B B B B B

C C C C C C

D D D D D D

E E E E E E

G
F

G
F

G
F

G
F

G
F

G VP Value when sunk Hit Track

H H H H H H

Mission Chart with Events

The search board is divided into a grid search pattern. Each grid
has a cross referencing letter on the left and right sides and the
numbers on the top and bottom. Grids are used to locate your ships
and opposing forces. Within each grid are four ship movement The spaces on the Ship Status Board for Cruiser Sunk, Ark Royal
squares which are only used for moving your ships. Zones are a Sunk, Extra VP, Repairs, and Convoys (not shown) are used to track
group of grids used by event charts to identify where opposing events that may happen during game play. Use yellow cubes to
ships are in relation to where your ships are located for a turn. mark when these events occur.
Zones are defined by color codes and numbers on event charts
and change from event to event. GAME SET UP
1. Choose the mission you want to play.
For example, reference point at Brest, France is in the G7 grid
and within the G7 are four movement squares to move into, 2. Pick the appropriate game board and ship status board for the
defined by the white lines. Around G7 are a group of grids that mission selected.
are defined by zone colors. 3. For the ships in play, place yellow cubes on the start box for
each ship hit track.
4. For the German ships place a yellow cube on each fuel barrel.
For the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen place a yellow cube on its
maximum speed.
5. Place a yellow cube on turn 1 of the turn track.
6. The remaining yellow cubes are set aside. They will be used
during the game to record other status items such as convoys
sunk, extra VPs, etc.
7. Select the location on the game board for the Bismarck, Prinz
Eugen and the U-boat. The Bismarck and Prinz Eugen both start
in any movement square you choose in row A between columns
5-8. They may be placed separate or together. The U-boat is
placed in any movement square of columns 1-4. These are the
SHIP STATUS BOARD only ships that are moved and tracked on the search board.
Use the ship status board to mark damage (hits) to its strength, The British are the BOT they do not set up any ships. Instead the
available extra fuel, and any speed reductions during the game. British ship’s solitary actions are determined by the event charts for
Use the yellow cubes to record the change in status. the mission selected. The events bring their ships into play each turn
and do not need to be tracked on the search board.

2 | BISMARCK SOLITAIRE DELUXE EDITION

 TURN SEQUENCE OF PLAY RESOLVING BRITISH AIR ATTACKS
1. Roll two dice to determine the event in play for the turn and Air Attacks represent the efforts of British aircraft carriers against
carry out the event instructions. the Bismarck. Air attacks are one per turn.
2. Resolve any Air Attacks (if present), in event chart grid zones Air attack die rolls hit on 1–3. If multiple ships are in the grid, hits
containing your ships. are applied to ships by player choice.
3. Resolve U-Boat Attacks (if present), in event chart grid zones RESOLVING U-BOAT ATTACKS
containing your U-boat and opposing ships.
The German U-boat represents a group of U-boats that supported
4. Resolve Ship Combat in event chart grid zones containing your the Bismarck. They are not affected by air attacks or ship combat.
ships and opposing ships. British ships cannot attack U-boats. When the player finds his
5. Move your ships applying any event effects on movement. U-boat in a zone that includes British ships he has a choice, escape
6. Mark the end of the turn and repeat the turn sequence. or attack. The German U-boat automatically escapes British ships
located in the same zone. If the U-boat player decides to attack,
The events have a dice selection pattern tied to a white and black he targets one ship or convoy. When attacking, the U-boat rolls
die. Each turn roll a white and black die to determine the event for one die and on a result of 1-3 it hits the target, on a 4-6 result the
the turn. U-boat is hit. After applying the die result the U-boat attack for the
turn is over.
In the example below, if the white die is a 3 and the black die is
a 4, 5 or 6 then Lone Warship RESOLVING SHIP COMBAT
would be the event used for
LONE WARSHIP the turn. For a detailed example of Ship Combat, see page 6.
Hood
Once the event for the turn Ship combat occurs when your ships are in a grid that is included in
King George V is determined, implement the the zone (group of grids) that have British ships in them for the turn
event instructions. Note, event based on the event chart for the turn.
Prince of Wales instructions can override game Ships must stay for the first round of ship combat. They may attempt
rules. to escape ship combat each succeeding ship combat round.
Rodney The event chart for the turn Each firing ship must use all its firepower (dice rolled) against one
1 2 3 4 5 6 7shows a search board of color
8
target ship.
A
coded and numbered zones
B (a group of grids) of where The German player fires first in ship combat, British second. His
C British ships are located and/ ships may target any British ship or ships. In ship combat, if a British
or zones with information that ship is sunk before firing, it does not fire in the round.
D
may affect your ships. If your
E
ships are in any of these zones, For example, when the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen are together,
F then your ships are impacted. they could target and fire at the same ship. However, if firing at
If it is information, then follow two different ships the Bismarck could fire at one and the Prinz
G
it and apply it to your ships in Eugen would fire at the other ship.
H
that zone. If the zone has British
When the British ships fire in ship combat, the strongest British fire-
ships or aircraft, then you have power ship targets and fires at the Bismarck. Then the next strongest
found the enemy and they have found you too. You must have ship
British firepower ship targets and fires at Prinz Eugen. Any other
combat with the identified ships and/or be subject to air attacks.
remaining British ships (if any) all target and fire at the Bismarck.
For example, The Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen are both in a German U-boats are ignored. British ships cannot fire at U-Boats.
zone with the Home Fleet, but During a round of ship combat each ship fires by rolling dice equal
not the U-Boat. Only the to their firepower number. For example, the Bismarck rolls 3 dice
HOME FLEET
Bismarck will engage in ship when firing, the Prinz Eugen 2 dice. Ships score a hit on opposing
King George V, combat with all the ships in the ships for each 1-3 result on each die rolled to fire.
Rodney Home Fleet in this example,
Prince of Wales When a target ship (warship or convoy) is hit in ship combat, use
because the German ships a yellow cube to reduce the ship strength on the hit status track for
have separated. If the Prinz
each hit. When the ship strength is reduced below 1 the ship is sunk
Eugen had been in the same
and is no longer in the game. Record the VP earned. When the sunk
grid with the Bismarck (even if ship shows up on Event Charts later it is ignored. Excess hits on a
in different movement spaces
sunk ship in combat are ignored.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 of the grid), both could fire on
A
the ships of the Home Fleet. There are five available Convoys in each game. When a Convoy
B is sunk, place a yellow cube a box in the Convoy row. Each sunk
The U-boat is treated different- Convoy is worth 1 VP.
C P
ly than ships because it has the
D
ability to submerge. Events that GERMAN “ESCAPE OR REMAIN” DECISION:
E B refer to effects on ships apply
F only to the Bismarck and Prinz Anytime British ships are encountered you must engage them for
Eugen. Any events that apply to one round of combat (exception U-boat). You have a choice; stay
G U for another round with your ships or attempt to escape combat for
the U-boat will state such.
H the remainder of the turn. If you choose to escape with your ships in

BISMARCK SOLITAIRE DELUXE EDITION | 3

different locations, each ship does an escape die roll. If they are in For example, on turn 4 the Bismark and Prinz Eugen move 2
the same location, both ships will escape or stay based on a single movement spaces together. On turn 5, the Bismarck and Prinz
die roll. Eugen move in separate directions at their normal speed, the
On a roll of 1-2 the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen can escape and Bismark moves 2 spaces and the Prinz Eugen moves 3. On turn
avoid battle. A roll of 3-4 they escape, but take 1 hit on each ship. 6, only the Bismarck burns 1 extra fuel to move 3 movement
A roll of 5-6 they do not escape, receive 1 hit on one ship and re- spaces and the Prinz Eugen moves 3 also at it’s normal rate.
main in ship battle for the next round. These options are also noted Turn 5 Turn 4
on the side of the search board under the Ship Tactics.
The U-Boat always escapes ship combat. P B P B P
BRIT ISH “ESCAPE OR REMAIN” DECISION:
All British ships stay if the ships group (all British ships) total current
strength (not firepower) exceeds the German ship group total
current strength. Otherwise all British ships try to escape after the B Turn 5
first round. On a 1-3 die roll they all escape, even convoys. On a
roll of 4-6 they all must stay for another round of ship combat if the
German player stayed or failed an escape attempt. P Turn 6

Important: When a zone shows a British ship or ships and you have
split the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen into different grids but they are
in the same zone as the British ships, the British ships fight only one
B Turn 6

ship and that is the Bismarck. The Prinz Eugen is ignored.

SHIP COMBAT T ACT ICS:

At your discretion, you have alternate tactics you can employ.
The Bismarck and Prinz Eugen can each attempt to close, stay the HOW TO WIN
course, or attempt to increase the range. At the start of any round You win as the German player if you earn the victory points and
of battle, you may choose a ship tactic to attempt for each ship. The objectives for the mission AND bring the Bismarck to a friendly port
options are found on the search board. Choose a tactic and roll any time after the turn described in the objectives. Otherwise, you
one die before the round of battle and follow the charts listed on lose and the British win.
the page. Ship Combat Tactic choices can change from round to
round. U-Boats do not use Ship Combat Tactics. The British automatically win anytime, and at the instant, the Bismarck is
sunk or at the end of turn 20 without the Bismark in a home port.
MOVEMENT
The ships that are moved on the game board are the Bismarck, HOW TO WIN MEDALS
Prinz Eugen and U-boat. British BOT ships DO NOT move on the Each mission, list a condition for you to earn a mission specific
board; they arrive or are found in grids and zones by turn event medal. If the condition is achieved during the mission (for exam-
charts. ple, sink a warship) then record the earned medal in the battle
archive by circling it. Medals can only be earned if you both win
Events can affect movement. the game AND complete the conditions for the medal. No medals
Each turn your ships and U-boat can move up to their move limit. are awarded posthumously. All ships sunk in a game count towards
The speed for Prinz Eugen is 3, Bismarck 2, and U-Boat 1. They both the mission goal and any conditions for earning medals.
move once each turn. Movement is from movement square to adja- DESIGNER NOTES AND STRATEGY
cent movement square in a grid.
The design of the Bookgame Bismarck Solitaire came about as we
Diagonal movement is not allowed. You do not have to move in a looked for one of our board game designs that could be delivered
turn if you want to stay in a location. You cannot move through land quickly in a book format during backlogs of worldwide shipping and
squares that block water squares from being adjacent (land has no supply chains caused by a pandemic. Our board game Bismarck Soli-
grid lines). taire fit well. So we converted the board game into a bookgame.
EXT RA SHIP MOVEMENT FOR GERMAN SHIPS The bookgame was the right call for the right time. It turned out to
be a hit and has been enjoyed by many gamers.
The German ships and U-boat also start the game with extra fuel.
Now we are excited about doing Bismarck Solitaire as the board
Each extra fuel barrel on a ship allows one extra movement square game as it was originally designed.
move beyond a ship move limit per barrel expended (remove the
cube on the barrel). Only one barrel may be used in a turn per ship It has layered missions for the player that become more difficult
and U-boat. as they made progression through their missions. You make the
decisions on the best way to pursue your mission. Where to move
your ships, choices on keeping them together or apart, when to
head for home, even ship battle tactics of close, keep distance or
escape all rest in your hands. You will encounter the full force of the
Royal Navy (ships, planes, mines) and the variances of being at
sea (rough weather, fog, luck).

4 | BISMARCK SOLITAIRE DELUXE EDITION

Players should plan their missions. The best way is to study the event Bismarck was spotted by British planes on 26 May. The Ark Royal
chart maps to help you decide where and where not to be. This can launched an airstrike, but her aircrew mistook a British cruiser for the
change from turn to turn. German battleship and attacked her. Their torpedoes with magnetic
One of the key design elements is that every event chart has an detonators failed to work properly and the cruiser emerged unscathed.
equal chance of showing up each turn. There is no card counting Ark Royal now launched a second strike consisting of 15 Swordfish.
or limit to how many times an event can arrive. For that matter there These were carrying torpedoes equipped reliable contact detona-
is no guarantee that any event will ever arrive. Keep this in mind as tors. The attack resulted in two hits on the Bismarck, one of which
you plan your mission. inflicted critical damage on her steering. A jammed rudder meant
Each turn move your ships into grid areas where you hope to find she was now unmaneuverable.
target ships (convoys, single ships, etc.) or avoid strong formations The battleships Rodney and King George V waited for daylight
(aircraft, battle groups of ships, etc.). on 27 May before attacking. They opened fire, quickly hitting
Make use of the event charts to help your strategy. For example, Bismarck. Her gunners achieved near misses on Rodney, but the
if you want to hunt convoys look at the British event charts to see British ships had silenced most of the German guns within half an
where the convoy lanes are and place your ships there. If you dam- hour. Despite close-range shelling Bismarck did not sink. Scuttling
age a ship like the Hood and it gets away, use a strategy to hunt it charges were soon set off by German sailors, and at 10:40 am,
down by looking at the event charts to find zones where the Hood Bismarck capsized and sank.
sails and then move your ships into those zones. After separating from Bismarck, Prinz Eugen made her way to Brest
The same goes for when you are damaged and are trying to avoid safely, arriving on 1 June 1941.
capital ships. Look for zones that they do not sail and move your IMPORTANT RULES AND CONCEPTS
ship towards those zones.
Movement Squares: Four spaces within a Grid a ship and
Conditions change during your mission and you need to adjust your U-boat can move.
response to those changing conditions.
Grid: Locations on the board for ships and movement.
GAME HISTORY Zones: A group of grids designated by an event chart, that may
The mission for the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen was to break into the have multiple different zones, designated by color.
Atlantic and attack Allied shipping. To make sure that Bismarck was • Each grid has a grid identifier (A1, A2, B1, B2, etc.) that is fixed
sunk, the Royal Navy would ruthlessly strip other areas of action. and does not change on an event chart. They generally have 4
The British would ultimately deploy 6 battleships, 3 battlecruisers, movement squares though some can have less near land masses.
2 aircraft carriers, 16 cruisers, 33 destroyers and 8 submarines,
along with patrol aircraft. It would become the largest naval force • Zones for an event chart are defined by color and have a vary-
assigned to a single operation up to that point in the war. ing number of grids that make up the zone for that event chart.
Zones, and grids included within zones, can change from event
On the evening of 23 May, Suffolk sighted Bismarck and Prinz chart to event chart.
Eugen in the Denmark Strait, close to the Greenland coast. Suffolk
immediately sought cover in a fog bank and The Admiralty was • Bismarck and Prinz Eugen are defined as together if they are in
alerted. Norfolk and Suffolk, outgunned, shadowed the German the same grid, even if in different movement spaces within the
ships using radar. After the German ships were sighted, British grid. They are both affected by events and opposing ships
naval groups were redirected to intercept. when in the same grid together.
Hood and Prince of Wales made contact with the German force • When not in the same grid together, but in the same zone, both
on the morning of 24 May. Both British ships initially mistook Prinz ships are affected by events. If opposing ships are in the zone,
Eugen that was now in the lead for Bismarck and opened fire on only the Bismarck is affected and must have ship combat with the
her. Both German ships were firing at Hood. opposing ships. The Prinz Eugen avoids the ship combat.
The Hood’s magazines exploded on a direct hit by a 15 inch shell • When Bismarck and Prinz Eugen are in grids in different
from Bismarck. The massive explosion broke the great battlecruis- zones, each ship is affected by the events and opposing ships in
er’s back, and she sank within minutes taking all but three of her their zone.
1,417-man crew. Prince of Wales continued the action, but suffered • The U-boat is not affected by events unless specifically stated.
multiple hits and then retreated under cover of a smokescreen. They are not affected by opposing ships unless they decide to do
Bismarck had been hit two times by Prince of Wales’ 14-inch guns, a U-boat attack.
rupturing some fuel tanks, causing her to leak oil. Norfolk and
Suffolk and the damaged Prince of Wales continued to shadow
the Germans, reporting their position to draw British forces to the BATTLE RECORDS
scene. The Germans decided that the undamaged Prinz Eugen For each mission write down your total VPs and whether the
would detach to continue raiding. Bismarck has sunk. Compare your VPs to the required VPs for the
At 10 pm, Victorious was 120 miles away and launched an air mission and note if you earned the medal.
attack on the Bismarck with Swordfish planes. They made a single
torpedo hit causing minor damage.
On 25 May, the British lost contact with Bismarck. Bismarck had
managed to evade the pursuing British ships and had enough
speed to outrun the Home Fleet and reach the safety of France.
However, Force H with the carrier Ark Royal and the battlecruiser
Renown were approaching to intercept from the south.

BISMARCK SOLITAIRE DELUXE EDITION | 5

 DETAILED EXAMPLE OF PLAY T URN 2
The event dice rolled show white 3 and black 1, All Points.
T URN 1
Bismarck and Prinz Eugen start in grid A5 and U-boat in grid C4. EVENT: ALL POINTS
The event dice rolled show white 6 and black 3, Heavy Cruisers. Fuel Tanker (+1 Fuel Per Ship) B P
Minefield (1 Hit Ship of Choice)
EVENT: HEAVY CRUISERS
Heavy Cruiser Attack B P Lone Merchant (+1 VP)

British Sub (1 Hit Ship of Choice)

Roll 2 Ship Combat dice, apply hits on
1-3 to the Bismark or Prinz Eugen. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
A

U
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 D
A
E
B
F
C
G

U
D
H
E

G The U-boat is not affected. The Bismarck and Prinz Eugen are
H affected by a Minefield in their grid and must apply 1 hit to a ship
of choice. The Bismarck marks the hit.
The grids your ships and U-boat are in are the same zone as the
Heavy Cruiser Attack. The U-boat is not affected by it, but the
Bismarck and Prinz Eugen are affected. The roll of the 2 dice for
the Heavy Cruiser Attack show a 2 and 5. The 2 is a hit and the
decision is to mark it on the Prinz Eugen.

There are no air or U-boat attacks nor ship combat. The Bismarck
and Prinz Eugen move together 2 movement spaces to grid B3. The
U-boat moves 1 movement space and remains in grid C3. The turn
is over.

The event is over. There are no air or U-boat attacks nor ship T URN 3
combat. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen move together 3 movement
spaces to grid A3, with the Bismarck marking off 1 fuel barrel for
the extra movement space it moved. The U-boat moves to 1 space
into grid C3. The turn is over. B P

B P B P
B P

U U

The event dice rolled show white 5 and black 6,

U U Battleship Sighted.

6 | BISMARCK SOLITAIRE DELUXE EDITION

 There are 3 VP are earned for sinking the Hood. The Hood cannot
BATTLESHIP SIGHTED return fire this round nor for the rest of game on any event it shows
Hood and Prince of Wales up. Prinz Eugen fires at the Prince of Wales and rolls 2 dice but
misses. The Prince of Wales fires at the Bismarck by rolling 2 dice
King George V and Rodney
and scores 1 hit. Bismarck marks the hit.
Renown

Ramillies and Repulse

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
B P
A

U
D

F
This ends the second round of ship combat. The British ship rolls to
G escape another round of combat and rolls a 2 which allows it to
H escape. The ship battle is over.
The U-boat and both German ships are affected as the grids they The German ship movement now occurs. The Bismarck and Prinz
are in are the same zone as the Hood and Prince of Wales. The Eugen decide to separate. The Bismarck moves 2 movement spac-
U-boat has a choice of attacking or not. It chooses to attack and es to grid B4. The Prinz Eugen moves 3 movement spaces to grid
targets the Hood by rolling 1 die. The result is a 4 which is a hit on B2. The U-boat does not move and remains in place in grid C3.
the U-boat which is marked. The U-boat attack is over. Turn 3 is over.

There is no air attack. Now ship combat must be resolved between the
P B
German ships and the British ships Hood and Prince of Wales. The
Germans fire first and both ships target the Hood. The Bismarck rolls 3 P B
dice for its firepower and rolls a 1, 3, and 5 which causes 2 hits to the
Hood. The Prinz Eugen rolls 2 dice for its firepower and rolls a 2 and 6 U
which causes 1 hit to the Hood. The Hood marks 3 hits.

Now the British return fire. The Hood targets the Bismarck and rolls 3
dice scoring 1 hit which is marked on the Bismarck. CREDITS
Rule Questions: We would love to hear from you. Please frame your
question in a “Yes” or “No” style and email it to us at:
worthingtonpublishing@gmail.com
Also, visit our website at: worthingtonpublishing.com for any future
rule updates.

BOOKGAME DESIGN:
The Prince of Wales targets the Prinz Eugen. It rolls 2 dice and
scores no hits. This ends the first round of ship combat. The British Mike Wylie, Sean Cooke, and Grant Wylie
ships total strength is less than the German ships so they try to
escape another round of combat. They roll 1 die resulting in a 5, ART & LAYOUT:
and must stay for another round. Bismarck targets the Hood and
Sean Cooke
Prinz Eugen targets the Prince of Wales. Bismarck decides to close
on the Hood and rolls a die for the tactic, rolling a 1 which allows it
one extra firepower die. It rolls 4 firepower die and scores 3 hits COVER ART:
on the Hood which sinks it. “Bismarck” (1997) by Tom Freeman
Bismarck engaged British heavy warships, among them the H.M.S.
Hood, in the Denmark Strait, May 1941.
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BISMARCK SOLITAIRE DELUXE EDITION | 7
In below overview, KM stands for Kriegsmarine (German player), and RN stands for Royal Navy (UK Bot player).

1. A ship's "strength" is the number of remaining hit points on its hit track (not its firepower).

2. Some missions identify an event as "(Only once per game)" with a check box. On other missions, the same event does not have
the parenthetical, but still has the check box. The parenthetical applies even when not explicitly stated.

3. The "Event: Seaworthy", the "Sea Repair" option has three repair boxes. A yellow cube is put on each check box each time a
ship is repaired. If two ships are repaired on one event, two boxes are marked with yellow cubes.

4. For "Event: Heavy Cruisers", all damage must be applied to either the Bismarck or Prinz Eugen.

5. For "Event: Torpedo Attack!", damage can be distributed among the ships.

6. The "Event: Wing and a Prayer" result "Torpedo Damages Engine", can be applied to a ship that is already at movement level
one, effectively negating the effect.

7. For "Event: Rough Weather", a player may not increase speed by using fuel.

8. During "Event: Fog and Mist: Smooth Sailing", a player may increase speed (further) by using fuel.

9. A ship may enter a port square without entering the port. The player should identify the ship's status upon completion of the
move.

10. The sinking of the Ark Royal or a cruiser does not meet the criteria for sinking a warship for the purpose of receiving a medal on
missions where sinking a warship is identified as a medal condition.

11. Escape is not a Battle Tactic. If ships attempt to escape and fail the attempt, they may still employ a Battle Tactic (i.e., Close In,
or Long Range).

12. The following is the detailed sequencing of ship combat steps:

(a) KM player may attempt to escape, but not on round 1.
(b) RN attempts to escape (if strength less than or equal to KM strength), but not on round 1.
(c) KM player assigns Battle Tactics to each ship, if desired.
(d) Battle Tactic rolls are made and adjudicated.
(e) Each ship is assigned a target. The KM can assign the same RN ship as a target.
(f) KM roll attack dice and score hits for any roll 1-3.
(g) Surviving RN ships roll attack dice and score hits for any roll 1-3. The RN ship with the most firepower always targets
the Bismarck. Then the RN ship with the second most firepower targets the Prinz Eugen (if it is present during the battle).
The rest of the RN ships will then target the Bismarck.
(h) Go to Step (a) for next round.

Note that the rules clearly state that Battle Tactics are assigned "At the start of any round of battle..." and not after
selecting a target and rolling combat dice.

13. Note the U-boat attacks in step 3 of the turn sequence. It does not attack during combat. Also, unlike combat rolls, a roll of 4 to
6 on a U-boat attack does one damage to the U-boat.

14. The turn marker is moved at the conclusion of all steps for the turn. Mission win conditions require Bismarck to return to port
after a specified turn. This means the turn marker must already be on the required turn when the Bismarck enters port. So if
the win conditions states “return to port after turn 16” this means the turn marker must be (at least) on turn 17. Entering port
first and then moving the turn marker to turn 17 is an automatic loss as you returned one turn too early.

15. If the turn marker is on turn 20 and Bismarck has not returned to port, it is an automatic loss.

16. Every mission starts with a complete reset. Ships sunk or events in one mission do not carry over to other missions.

17. The extra Victory Points (VP) track is used to allocate any VPs earned by any method not otherwise designated in the ship
status portion of the page. The VP for sinking Ark Royal, Lone Merchants, or Cruisers is marked here. Note the max of 5 such
VP.

18. "Event: Force H from Gibraltar" includes an attack by Renown. Although this is obvious from looking at the Event data, it can
sometimes be forgotten because the air strike occurs first. Don't forget!!

Credits to Jay P at BoardGameG

 For Personal Reproduction Only | © 2023 Worthington Publishing | Not for Resale

If game players want to plot or track their movements of the Bis-

marck, Prinz Eugen, and U-Boat they may photocopy the game
Search Board above and mark their movements on the copy.

8 | BISMARCK SOLITAIRE DELUXE EDITION