From: "Grand Trunk" Subject: Angola - A Review Angola By Brad Fallon January 28, 2000 GAME_____________Angola PUBLISHER________Gameshop DESIGNER_________James Rosinus YEAR_____________1979 SCALE____________Operational (1 hex = 25 miles) TOPIC____________Angolan Civil War (Oct.1, 1975 - Feb.19, 1976) GAME LENGTH______20 Turns (4-5 hours playing) MAP______________Angola + Neighbours - 29"x22" - 3 colours COUNTERS_________140 TIME_____________Each turn is 1 week. SEQUENCE_________Each player has his own Player-Turn Often times, obscure topics in wargames get covered by a half-hearted effort that tends to disappoint very deeply for the true fan of a particular era. I am happy to state that ANGOLA is not one of those cases. This is a terrific little game that has actually made some inovations that I had never seen before. Most Angolan units have a 3-4 hex movement range, half if it is out of supply. The allies (South Africa, Cuba, Zaire etc.) do have some units that can move up to 8 hexes. Contact between forces is made via the ole ZOC - 6 hexes (not across rivers though). You can move into a ZOC and move between enemy ZOC only by going through a neutral hex first. The same goes for retreats so get 3 well placed units around the enemy and you have a great chance of eleiminating him. This is important because the Combat Results Table is very tame. There are no die roll modifiers and the ratio is figured simply by subtracting the enemy defense number from the friendly atttack factor. You have 0 to +5. You cannot attack below 0 (1-1 odds essentially). All results are Defender Retreat except on the +4 where there is a 1-6 chance of Defender Eliminated and +5 where there is a 1-3 chance. Most time you are just pushing the enemy back 1 hex at a time and then advancing into it. Not much unlike some WWI games. This is where it gets interesting though. Each unit can attack as many times as you want, assuming that you have the supply counters to do it. Supply Lines are very short - 2 movement points. But if you have 4 supply units stationed in an area for an offensive, you can attack 4 times into that area. This can make some gaping holes in the enemies defense. Of course, as you infiltrate their lines, then you can start outflanking and thus actually eliminating units. The secret is that you must really plan an attack properly or else you will out run your supply unit. Each time you attack, you lose that supply unit. Supply units can only move on roads, tracks and railways so many areas of Angola are quite simply impossible to attack. For the rebel forces (FNLA and UNITA) supply appears first in one of your allied neighbour's area. Next turn you can move the supply unit, usually by an airlift. Then it can take 1-2 turns to get the supply unit to the front. The FNLA is very fortunate in the beginning because both of their airfields are very close to where the initial action is going to take place, so they get into the fray quickly. UNITA on the other hand, takes a few turns in the beginning to get the supply in place. For the MPLA, supply shows up in both Luanda and Brazzaville so they have a few supply units for use early in the game. Combat units move before supply units move in the Turn Sequence. Combat takes place after the supply movement. So planning is necessary here. You can of course save up supply for some major offensives but as it is useless in defence, any big pile of supply units is bound to attract the attention of you enemy. The availability of supply is also important. It has already been predetermined and is listed on the Reinforcement Chart. From turns 11 to 20, the FNLA get on average 1 unit/turn, the UNITA 2/turn and the MPLA 4/turn. This makes the FNLA very weak during the last half of the game, regardless on how well they did in the first half. There is no stacking of combat units (rocket launchers and air support the exception), so things can get a bit spread out. You must clip the corners of the counters (be smart - do it before your opponent arrives - mine was not impressed :-(. There is a little chrome here that fits in very nicely. As a rule, there is no unit designation on the counters other than battalion, regiment etc. Most units are infantry, although there is some armour and other units. There is an FLEC unit which is fighting for the freedom of Cabinda, an enclave, once known as Portuguese Congo. It is completely cut-off from Angola by Zaire. There is also the Daniel Chipenda unit which is very strong but takes a while to get into combat. The Reinforcement chart is for the introduction of allies, and for each players supply units. You can lose your allies. This is what happened to me in my game. If you lose your Political or Military HQ's, your allies leave you - high and dry I might add. You also have the option of proclaiming a Guerilla Movement. This is another way of losing your ally, but it is a method of maintaining some presence once you have been beat up really badly. Essentially, when you proclaim a guerrilla Movement, you no longer use the supply counters as you are always in supply. But each unit only attacks as a factor 1, and you can never attack more than once in a turn. You no longer occupy towns and work on a different set of Victory Conditions. In the case of my game, which I have written up as a replay, if there had been a third player, one playing the FNLA and one playing the UNITA forces, I would have proclaimed a Guerrilla Movement. There is no going back to conventional war once you have made the proclamation though. You only get victory points for cutting the enemies Line of Communication, the Benguela Railway, and for destroying enemy supply units. Not much good in a 2 person game but you could still be the spoiler in a 3 person game. Normal victory conditions are based on the control of towns. There are also points for having the Sole Capital, controlling all of the Benguela Railway and of course, having your Government HQ unit in Luanda. This game is perfect for those of us who love those 'dirty little wars'. I feel that historically, the game is very accurate. I like the low unit elimination because half of the time spent by the faction leaders was drumming up new recruits for the army. There is enough depth here, to offer many different combinations of strategic and tactical options, so this game is definately one that can be replayed. This game works well as a 2 player game but would be fantastic as a three player game. No reason why the FNLA would not team up with the MPLA if UNITA took Luanda so there are many, many possiblities here. In conclusion, this is a game that I will come back to again. There are only 8 pages of rules and the rule book is only half size. Generally the rules are well written and almost errata free. I do have some questions regarding the invasion of Cabinda and I think that there should be a bridge across the Congo River at Matadi. Next time I play I will write up an Unofficial Errata. If anyone pulls there copy off the shelf, let me know what you think. As always, thank you for reading. All the best, Brad Fallon ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com