The Logistical Nightmare That is ‘The Campaign For North Africa’
What is the most complicated board game ever? Is there even an answer? There most certainly is. Today we’ll be diving into The Campaign For North Africa.
The Campaign for North Africa is a tabletop war game set in World War II. At first glance, it seems just like any other game you might have seen in the past. It looks something similar to Axis and Allies. However, Campaign For North Africa is a beast unlike any other.
Campaign for North Africa is infamous among wargamers. It’s known to be the most tedious game ever created. Its production history at SPI began in 1976 under the watchful eye of Richard Berg, who also created War of the Rings.
For everyone else, it’s a game they’ve probably never heard of. Unless, you’re a fan of Big Bang Theory, where it showed up in the 11th season.
Plenty of other war games attempt to take the complexity of war and boil it down to something the average tabletop gamer can enjoy. Campaign For North Africa ain’t about that. Campaign For North Africa is above all else, a logistics simulator. Even the box itself proudly declares “A super detailed, intensive simulation specially design for maximum realism”. They are not kidding. EVERY detail of what goes into a war effort is noted. There are books of charts and tables and references for the players to use to determine what will go into each turn.
Feel free to give the rules a read by clicking here But, be ready to set aside a couple of hours. Did I mention the rules are 192 pages? No? I could have sworn I did. Well, regardless, the rule books (plural) with all charts, tables, and graphs total 192 pages long so… Godspeed with that.
If all this seems overwhelming, don’t worry. It is. But, you’re not alone.
The game recommends you play with a team to help you. And by “team” I mean cabinet of commanding officers. Each commander has a specific but still hugely wide role. With so much to keep track of in this game, no one person could reasonably handle it themselves.
In the book The Best of Board Wargaming by Nicholas Palmer, he describes all the potential actions which go into a single turn. Not to mention the game is estimated to take 100 turns over 1500 hours with about 10 players.
Overall, Campaign for North Africa is a huge logistical nightmare. Although the game isn’t difficult, it’s just tedious with tons of details, tables, charts, math, and more. It really isn’t even so much a “wargame” as it is a logistics and supply simulator, with also some combat thrown in for good measure.
So, obviously, this is just the start of what will be a long journey. Over the coming weeks, we will be diving into the details about how a turn progresses. Going through moving a single unit, to combat, and hopefully wrapping up with air combat and maybe more, if interest holds.
Get your pasta water ready!
