Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Angola is a simulation of the 1987-88 campaign which was the culmination of the civil war in that country during the height of the Cold War. This campaign saw major offensives by both sides, with considerable intervention by the armed forces of Cuba and South Africa.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Read the full game description
Angola is a simulation of the 1987-88 campaign which was the culmination of the civil war in that country during the height of the Cold War. This campaign saw major offensives by both sides, with considerable intervention by the armed forces of Cuba and South Africa. Among other things, Angola saw some of the biggest armored actions of the Cold War. The game is operational level. Each player commands the forces of several different factions, each faction representing a major entity in this particular conflict whose goal was to gain control of as much of Angola as possible while inflicting decisive losses on the enemy. Command control is a critical factor, and the game uses a variant of the “Boots” system to model this. Each game turn represents about one month of operations. The map features all of Angola and the adjoining border regions of Southwest Africa and Zaire. The map scale is approximately 31 miles (50 kilometers) across each hexagon; each brigade or regiment represents from about 1,000 to 3,000 men, depending on the army. A battalion is 300-900 men, whereas a cadre represents small teams of soldiers. Components: One 22" x 34" map & 228 counters