North Africa.
Preamble.
My first ever board wargame, obtained in the late 1960’s, was ‘Afrika Korps’ by Avalon Hill. I still have that game, albeit the box has long since disintegrated, and I even download the revised rules and replacement counter set, although I have not actually bothered to print them out. All a bit of a nostalgia thing, really.
Apart from that, my dad was out there! He actually served with one of infantry brigades that was part of 5th Division, which for quite a time was part of Middle East Command, stationed in Iraq, Persia (as it was then) and the Holy Land. He had lots of stories to tell about the desert and his experience during WW2, and vividly recalls being present at the opening of a large battle where he (as an RASC driver) was supplying artillery ammo directly to the gun lines. He was under the impression that this was El Alamein.
I did some research and found that, although 5th Division was not present at this time, still being part of MEC, Monty had drawn a lot of transport units from MEC in anticipation of the coming campaign. Recently, I obtained dads army records and what I found there was a bit different.
Early in 1943, he was temporarily attached to 69th Brigade, part of 50th (Northumberland) Division, and I’m pretty sure that the big battle he referred to was ‘Operation Pugilist’, the assault on the Mareth Line in Tunisia.
Without doubt, the campaign for North Africa has long been a popular subject for wargamers, and many games have been published, and indeed continue to be published covering the campaign(s).
So, I though it would be interesting to look at some of these games and see which one you think are good/bad/ indifferent. I’d like to try and concentrate on operational level game that cover the major campaigns rather than games that only deal with individual battles. In general, the setting is ideal for brigade(ish) size game since there is usually a relatively low counter density, plus the campaigns are very dynamic with the back-and-forth aspect that is so characteristic of the conflict. Add into that a few very charismatic leaders to add some flavour!
I’ll start off with a few games that I have played and let others add to the list with their own comments.
As already mentioned, Avalon Hills ‘Afrika Korps’ which may well be the first game ever on the subject.
SPI/Decision Games ‘Desert Fox’ and the DeLuxe version with lots of maps that takes us right through to the final battles in Tunisia.
Various games on the subject, and in different systems (OCS, SCS) published by MMP, non of which I have ever played.
No Retreat – North Africa. I tried hard to like this game, and the components are very well done. I failed on the card play system and the disjointed maps which I really felt distracted from the continuity of the campaign.
My own favourite, which I sold a while back and have bitterly regretted ever since, is ‘Rommel’s War’ by L2 Publishing. Love the system and all the components and thought the map was the best ever. Unfortunately, ultimately, it was too big for me to set-up and leave, North Africa being the long bit of geography that it is!
As a matter of interest, the same system is used for ‘Slouch Hats and Eggshells’, the game by Legion Games on ‘Operation Exporter’, and, if you have space, can be played in conjunction with ‘Rommel’s war’.
Enough from me, so lets keep this going.
« Last Edit: September 04, 2022, 07:45:03 AM by bob48 »
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