T.B.M. Tom Wilde - Nov 3, 2003 9:26 pm (#5261 Total: 5267) 
Society of Tanzanian Armchair Generals: Dirty Little Wars 'R' Us 

STAGS on the Dark Continent

On the table at Society HQ is Schutze Games' Dark Continent, a colourful
and fun game about colonising Africa with some clever twists in the mix.
Up to five colonial powers start by occupying a coastal region each, and
then have to maximise their profits by balancing expansion with
development while fighting hostile local forces and each other. 

You have to develop your profits by establishing farms, towns, ports in
your colonies but forts and armies (native, colonial and European) are
also important to seize new territory and protect what you already have.
however, costs rise rapidly if you have too many armies and your
European backers will demand more profits if you are to win! You can try
to grab some land 'on the cheap' by sending native forces and hope that
diplomacy achieves some peaceful gains, or you can arm your colonies to
the teeth and try to crush any opposition before considering your profit
margin. 

The designer's aim was to show the importance of profit in Europe's
colonisation of Africa, and a player who maintains excess military units
will suffer the consequences at the end of the game. However, if you
fail to protect your infrastructure you wil find your opponents helping
themselves to your poorly defended colonies and reaping the benefits of
your investment. 

There is an element of luck involved (natural disasters can strike,
leaders arrive to lead your troops, European investment rises and falls)
which helps prevent one player running away with the game, but there's
also fierce competetion and second-guessing throughout. Players act in
turn depending on a chit pull mechanism which allows those with the
highest production to decide to keep or reject their chit (it's usually
best to move last in the turn, but not always). However, the 'best-laid
plans' can turn sour at any time, as was historically the case many
times, and disaster can turn to triumph even in the space of a turn. 

This is a highly playable game, suitable for families but with enough
subtlety and strategy to keep wargamers happy. I am looking forward to
trying this out with my colleague in the World Studies Faculty (actually
he *is* the WS Faculty, basically), and I'm sure our students will enjoy
this as a fresh way of studying colonisation in Africa.