This is an update report on the second Standard Combat Series game, Afrika. This game, the follow-up to Stalingrad Pocket, covers the campaign in North Africa from September, 1940 (with the Italian invasion) through December, 1942 (when all Axis resistance historically ended on the game map area). It will come with one and a half maps and 280 counters. The retail price will be $25.

Series Changes

Aside from the excessive (for my tastes, anyway) patches made to the series rules after SP's release, a couple of important changes will be made to them. The rules in this game will be "Standard Combat Series Rules, second edition". This would be as good a time as any to introduce everyone to the revision 'notation' system we have evolved into using. A set of series rules beg is in its 'first edition.' (No kidding, right? Stay with me, I'll get to the point.) Those problems discovered on its release-and there is always something-would be incorporated into what would be termed the 'first edition, revised' or more simply 'the revised edition'. The SCS has just entered that phase. Later, if more serious structural flaws are found or-' as in the case of the first edition CWB-yours truly learns to write in more comprehensible English, the rules are rewritten in a 'second edition'. Repairs to typos in a 2nd edition will give rise to a 'second edition, revised' and so on.

At any rate, the new SCS rules will contain all of the changes brought out heretofore and one major system change-the Supply Phase will be moved to the end of each player's player turn. It was found in Afrika that pockets of short duration could be formed very easily. While these occurred in SP too, the effect wasn't as pronounced since A) the out of supply effects weren't as catastrophic, and B) there were many more units running about. The change brings on some neat effects. First off, the 'attacking' player cannot run hellbent-for- leather deep into the enemy rear sure in the knowledge that he will be OK in his next Supply Phase, yet the enemy win rapidly be ruined before he has a chance to do anything about it. Once formed in the new system, pockets must be able to withstand at least one turn's full strength attack or they will be of little or no effect.

Afrika: The Game

Afrika has been designed to be a fast running, volatile, active game. There are but a few units on the map at any one time, so each player can rapidly make his move. Special rules and other 'drag' have been kept to a bare minimum. What is left is a straightforward I wargame' of the desert with enough meat to keep the grognard's interest, yet simple enough to be learned and played in short order.

The full scale game begins with the Italian 1940 offensive, runs through all of Rommel's adventures and ends after Montgomery's big counteroffensive at El Alamein. The entire thing is 28 turns long, but the turns fly by much more rapidly than those in SP since there are fewer counters to deal with.

Supply

What would be a North Afrika game without so much as a wink at supply? Not much of one. Afrika uses a much simplified supply system with roots in the GB-OCS style one. Players get supply points every turn (each represents 20,000 tons or so), uses coastal shipping and truck points (trucks are not counters on the map, but are abstract points), and expends them to supply units during the Supply Phase. The calculation of number of supply points required of units is made by totaling the number of units drawing off a dump and dividing by ten. The conduct of the Supply Phase for a player usually takes less than a minute.

Units found to be out of supply suffer all the effects seen in SP plus they automatically lose one step to attrition. This gives a bit -of urgency to keeping your units in supply. Also, for the first few turns (in order to reflect the rapid disintegration of the Italian Army in 1940), Italian units found to be out of supply automatically surrender.

At times some, but not all, of the supply points a player might need will be available. The player can then select who is going to go without and who is going to be supplied. In the playtester's parlance, this is called "being sent out to watch the desert..."

Shipping

The Axis player (and to a much lesser extent the Allied player) must use his coastal shipping effectively to survive. Each turn, a player rolls one die for each of his ports. The port value has a marker placed on a short track designating the port's useful capacity for that turn. The Axis player also rolls to mark a track for the total amount of coastal shipping available for the turn. Either the total port capacity or the shipping available will set an upper limit on the number of supply points or units which can be moved by sea in the turn. For the Axis player (all of whose supply points arrive at far away Tripoli (unless Malta is reduced during the game), the proper use of coastal shipping will conserve vital truck points.

Units

The units in the game range from the occasional recon-type battalion through Italian Infantry Divisions. Most are either regiments or brigades. The Rommel counter represents the man, his forward staff, and the Storch. Units can have their step losses repaired by step replacements provided by the player's Variable Reinforcement Table. These steps also represent returning wounded and repaired vehicles. The Allied unit withdrawals are also handled by that table-an Axis player cannot rest assured that the outside world will go according to plan and unit X will disappear on turn 10. Withdrawals might happen at odd times and in different combinations since the table tells the Allied player when and how much to withdraw, but not what units. The choice of units is his. Returns are handled in a similar way. The withdrawn units are dumped into the dead pile and the player's replacement steps must be used to bring them back into the theater.

Scenarios

Aside from the 28 turn campaign game, this game will include a number of short scenarios, the final group of which has yet to be fully determined. Among them win be: The Italian Offensive, Rommel's First Campaign, Operation Crusader, The Battles of Gazala, and El Alamein. At least the last three will be small map area, few turn snacks compared to the main event. The Italian Offensive will be the first seven turns or so covering the September, 1940 invasion through just before arrival of Rommel. It will need both maps.

Conclusion

Afrika is not the definitive game on the North African campaign-it was never meant to be. What it is is a fast, fluid, fun wargame which roughly simulates the historical events in Northern Africa during the early years of World War III. That is what the Standard Combat Series is all about-good old fashioned FUN wargames!