[REVIEW] Angola

Angola recreates a brief portion of the violent, decades-long Angolan civil war that began in the 1970s with the fall of a colonial power and dragged its bloody way into the 21st century thanks in part to Cold War politics. It is a multi-player game in which sides control the various Soviet- and US-backed factions that vied for control of Angola from 1975 to 1976.

The game boasts several innovative systems, especially for its release in 1988, that keep players on their toes, create a lot of tension, and reward a balanced approach of boldness and caution. The map is divided into areas, and units represent military formations and special weapons like artillery, rockets, tanks, and airplanes. A unique command and activation system has players secretly committing to the order in which they will activate a limited number of their units for the turn. Players then take turns activating their units in the predetermined order. The result is a tense game of strategy, with players analyzing the map and trying to outguess their opponents.

The game is nicely balanced, ensuring that all players constantly feel on the brink of either triumph or defeat. This is achieved through a clever victory point system that rewards strategic play for both sides, allowing players to recover from setbacks and counterattack effectively.

So would you stand-up to the task and manage to crush your opponents, gaining the eternal fame and place in history?

Both the box and BoardGameGeek says this is a game form two to four players. However, I believe the proper and most exciting way to bring this to the table is definitely in full squad, so with each player running its own faction. Then the game shines as even allied forces might have uncoordinated offensives and some spots might be left undefended. A true chaos of war!

In general this is a long game. Very long. 1980’s style long. It can be shortened by manipulating the starting position of victory point track; still, if you would like to play it fully, end to end (10 turns), without automatic victory happening, it will take like at least 8 hours to finish.

You see, this is one of those games where rules are not overly complex – I would say, medium-weight. However, the true beauty and countless options come from their application. We have a lot of hidden information here, decisions to make, bluffs to play, which can shake enormously the tactical situation on the map.

• I love the asymmetry in this game. This is not immediately visible and consist of multiple smaller pieces: what columns you have, what cards to activate them, what kind of foreign aid, what weapons will you be able to get, where you will build forces. That build a very interesting dynamic and narrative to the game.
• Another great element is the team play and action phase planning. Playing 2 vs 2 is great fun; still, the coordination is limited as – just like in Volko Ruhnke’s Levy & Campaign – you pre-plan the whole turn, secretly committing the moves by particular columns. This is without your ally knowing what you are exactly doing. That can lead to some very interesting situations indeed 🙂
• One of the things which I deeply appreciate is victory conditions mechanism and possibility to recover. Each turn you compare which of the teams got advantage and decrease the special counter. The closer the counter is to the threshold – the more likely the side will win at the end of the turn. But this is not so straightforward – there is a balancing mechanics! If you loose a turn, depending how big the loss was, the external powers will send you help! This is limited, but will allow you to survive at least the initial failures. 
• You might think this is one-scenario boardgame – which means always plays the same way. Not here! The replayability is really huge. First and foremost, thanks to semi-variable set-up at the game beginning; key points are always in hands of particular factions; however all the rest is shuffled and randomly distributed. Also the action phase mechanics very quickly push the game in unpredictable direction.

• Time to play the whole game (10 turns). Yes, this is unfortunately huge drawback of this otherwise very good design. There is a way to shorten it by starting at lower VP threshold, but honestly, I do not like that approach. There is beauty in how the game develops through the rounds and how victory is achieved. However, this might not be something (length wise) to which a contemporary wargamer is used to. On top of this, with slightly updated and more useful player aids, probably the players will not have to refer to the rulebook so often.

• The longer the game lasts, the more obvious it is that players start to play with couple stacks of doom. With all the equipment and weaponry it might be as high as 10-12 counters. This is both unwieldly and a bit cumbersome. Also, can create dramatic changes on the map in very short timeframe.

For all fans of the medium-complexity wargames, who would like to test one of the best classics. For fans of COunter INsurgency games, which like asymmetry, balanced play and hidden information. In essence, every enthusiasts of our hobby should at least once try this great design – to see how fresh the classic game can be.

• Angola Unboxing

• Angola Teach & Play

• BGG