Released in 1978, The Campaign for North Africa has been called “the most complicated board game ever released.” On each turn a player must:
- Plan strategic air missions
- Raid Malta
- Plan Axis convoys
- Raid convoys
- Distribute stores and consume stores
- Calculate spillage/evaporation of water and adjust all supply dumps
- Determine initiative
- Determine weather (hot weather = more evaporation of water)
- Distribute water
- Reorganize units
- Calculate attrition of units short of water and stores
- Begin building construction
- Begin training
- Rearrange supplies
- Transport cargo between African ports
- Bring convoys ashore
- Deploy Commonwealth fleet
- Ship repair
- Plan tactical air mission if airplanes are fueled
- Begin air mission
- Fight air-to-air combat
- Fire flak
- Carry out mission, return to base, airplane maintenance
- Place land units on reserve
- Movement:
- Move units, tracking fuel expenditure and breakdown points vis-a-vis weather
- Enemy reaction
- Move more units
- Combat:
- Designate each tank and gun as deployed forward or back
- Plot and fire barrages
- Retreat before assault
- Secretly assign all units to anti-armor or close-assault roles
- Anti-armor fire
- Adjust ammunition
- Deploy destroyed tank markers and update unit records to reflect losses
- Carry out probes and close assaults
- Release reserves
- Move rear trucks
- Begin repair of breakdowns
- Make patrols
- Repeat all movement and combat steps a second time
- Repeat all movement and combat steps a third time
His opponent then completes the same sequence, and that constitutes just one game turn.
Reviewer Luke Winkie estimated that “If you and your group meets for three hours at a time, twice a month, you’d wrap up the campaign in about 20 years.” Reviewer Nicholas Palmer added, “No doubt the first ten years are the hardest.”