"PanzerArmee Afrika: Rommel in the Desert, April 1941 - November 1942", is a wargame simulation of the North African Campaign between April 1941 and November 1942. Battalion, Regiment and Brigade-sized units represent the actual forces which took part in the fighting. Included in the game is a Variable Orders-of-Battle Chart that offers variations in forces to demonstrate how history might have been different.
The game spans the entire 20-month campaign, allowing players to recreate the famous battles of the period between the British-led Commonwealth forces and the Axis forces of Germany and Italy, to include Rommel's Panzer Army Africa. Set at an operational level, players must manage their military forces and precious supplies better than their opponent to achieve victory. The Axis aims at capturing Alexandria, the key to the Suez Canal. The British player has to prevent all this.
When originally published by SPI (Simulations Publications, Inc.) in Strategy & Tactics magazine #40 (Sep/Oct 1973), it was meant to be a very different treatment of a subject made familiar to wargamers in Afrika Korps (1964) by The Avalon Hill Game Co . Different it indeed was, introducing a number of novel twists to what seemed to otherwise be a very traditional-style hex-and-counter wargame. It became a classic in its own right alongside Afrika Korps.
The game is a very tense, very suspenseful contest of sweeping maneuver, lunging attacks, desperate retrogrades, filled with threat, counter-threat, surprises, and more.
Game Scale:
Turn: 1 month
Hex: 12 miles / 19 Km
Units: Battalion to Brigade
Game Inventory (SPI/Strategy & Tactics version):
One 22 x 34" color mapsheet
One single-side printed countersheet (200 1/2" counters)
One 10-page multi-fold rules booklet
Game Inventory (Avalon Hill version):
One 22 x 34" five color multi-hinged mounted mapboard
One single-side printed countersheet (260 1/2" counters - 60 are blank)
One 8-page PanzerArmee Afrika rules booklet
One side-printed errata TEC card
One 6-sided die
Complexity: Low-Medium
Solitaire Suitability: Medium
Players: 1 or more
Playing Time: 8-10 Hours