From: Pietro Cremona Subject: Searching for ... (Angola)... long To Michael Dale I do not know if you already got the answers you searched for, but here is my (late) contribution to your quest. I think that SPI published a game named SOUTH AFRICA that was not very well received by the ... South Africans (it was against apartheid). Unfortunately I sold it many years ago and I never played it. FIREPOWER from AH also has scenarios on that "field" (SCENARIO ONE : #3 - CIVIL WAR 1969: Biafrans against Nigerians. SCENARIO TWO : #3 - IN DEEPEST AFRICA 1978 : Angolans against Cubans. SCENARIO THREE : #2 - SOUTHERN AFRICA 1965 : Angolans+Rhodesians+Portuguesea against Angola Guerrillas+Cubans +South Africans). I think that this game is still available and youmay find it in any specialized shop. Finally a game on Angola was published by an amatorial British company (well, probably they were more friend players who decided to publish their game). As this game is no more in production you may be interested in knowing something more, so I will give you a short presentation of the game. The game is ANGOLA and the publisher was RAGNAR BROTHERS : it was designed for 2-3-4 players and I found it rather interesting (with 4 players). It was sold in a thin box (similar to the 3W ones) with a yellow cover were it was depicted an African tipical town with a soldier looking from a balcony. Inside you founded a rules booklet (20 pages : very well done, with many examples and step by step explanations), four sets of counters for the different factions/players (MPLA-FAPLA/FNLA-UNITA), a set of "foreign" units (from Cuba-Zaire and South Africa), some markers, asix sided die, "column" cards and "special"cards, and, of course a map depicting the Angola region and a small part of the border nations (Zaire and Soiuth Africa). The map is divided in "regions" , each one belonging to a different terrain cathegory (clear, savannah, jungle) : there are also towns/ports and Cities, plus some roads and escarpments. The game can last for up to Ten turns, but it may finish early if an Alliance wins a "decisive victory" (capturing towns and Cities from the enemy). The game begins in 1975. The first alliance is the FPLA (Popular Armed Forces of Liberation of Angola, based on Luanda) MPLA (Popular Movement for the LIberation of Angola, based on eastern Angola). The second one is the UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) FNLA (Nationa Front for the Liberation of Angola). The units were printed on glued strong paper to be attached to a cardboard sheet, but I was obliged to use good glue on strong cardboard because the original glue was not strong enough. They are of two shapes : square units (18x18 mm) and rectangular units (25x18 mm) : the last are usually the strongest units (tanks,etc.) and depicts infantry, engineers, armoured cars, tanks, artillery batteries, airgroups, etc. Each counter has a black silouette of the Army on a different colour (Red for FAPLA, yeallow for MPLA, green for FNLA and blue for UNITA). The column cards (40x80 mm, in bristol cardboard) have just the name of the faction and a description (column A,B,C,D, Fifth Column, Command and one "blanc" card). The "special cards" (40x70 mm, in bristol cardboard) have some "events" that may happens (reinforcements, interventions, telegrams from Peking ???, etc.) The game "must" be played by 4 players if you want a balanced match and if you wish to enjoy it at the best. Set-up is quite important as you have many things to do : place the Victory markers, collect the first 5 town counters (another 23 are mixed in a bag, to picked-up by players later), deply your initial forces (each faction has different units), randomly draw some towns, deply off map units onto his City/Towns counters, create COLUMNS (a stack of units under a column marker : they cannot be examined by other players) and deploy off-map forces onto the map. Units may enter an enemy occupied region only if in column : a column is a stack of units whose position may be changed only under certain rules. New column may be created only at the end of a turn. The heart of the came is the OPERATION PACK : at the beginning of your turn you must prepare your column cards putting them in a certain order (this system is similar to the one of the West End TANK LEADER series) : then you put your pack face down on the table. When an operation phase starts (player number one is determined with a dice roll) every player turn is first column card and use it as follows : - each Column "x" card allows the column with the same letter to move - each Command card you may move a column "marker" to another force or swap column markers between two different forces of your faction - each 5th column card allows a force NOT in column to be moved (not in enemy conrolled regions) - each "blanc" card oblige the player to pass (and must be included in the pack, of course). When a column enter an enemy occupied region must stop moving and a combat take places : you have to consider tactical advantages (defending in Cities or Towns, attacking up the escarpement, defending a minefield, being supported by forces in bordering regions, etc.) and then you calculate the odds, adding Combat Dice Bonus. All those calculations allows the two players to throw a certain number of dice : you add your points, calculate the difference of the totals and adjust consequently the odds. The final odd determine the relut of the combat : 6:1 = DD = Defender Destroyed 5:1 = DR+2/3 = Defender Retreats with two-thirds losses down to 1:4 = AR +1/2= Attacker retreats with half losses Whenever a column carries out an attack ONE unit will also straggle. Automatic victories are also possible under certain conditions New troopps may be acquired by Direct Aid (foreign powers committing units of their own armed forces) or by Recruiting (raising extra units in the Towns or Cities of Angola) or Bidding for Reinforcements (you bid a certain number between 0 and 5, then you draw a number of cards equal to the bid and you follows the written instructions). Whichever faction makes the highest bid in a turn gives its opponents a PROPAGANDA VICTORY, and its victory marker is moved one space. VICTORY is determined by the number of VICTORY TOKENS that an alliance controls at the end of each turn. The Victory Track has Victory mMrkers that move sup and down : if the number of Victory tokens is the same (or more) the alliance wins a decisive victory. If not you check next turn and so on. At the end of turn 10 the alliance with more points on tha track wins. Angola is a nice game that could be played still today : I hope that the above notes may help you Ciao Pietro //// / ^ \ ( o o ) -----oOOO----(..)---OOOo------------------ Pietro Cremona - "Old Hand" Wargamer CP 136 - 47023 Cesena Centro - FORLI' - Italy E-Mail - asterix@linknet.it Phone - ++ 39.547.335121