Angola Starting in July

I can't remember the last time I read a rule book and thought "that's really cool". It's pretty amazing that I'm saying that about a wargame designed 24 years ago about a war I know little or nothing about. So even though I'm at my limit in on-line games now (BATC, TS, Virgin Queen), I still want to give Angola a spin.

Cool things about Angola so far:
* Random starting location
* Secret placement of units.
* 2 on 2 alliances
* Planned order for the whole turn that can't be changed. (Starcraft like)
* Fairly simple rules even with a wide range of unit types (air, armor, infantry, mines, etc)
* More foreign aid for the team that's losing
* Units having to roll to get out the jungles

If they get a VASSAL version done and if things slow down for you PBEM-wise, I'd be into giving it a go.

I'd like to play too, but then I'm the person whose summer of travel has temporarily ground our BATC campaign to a halt...

I Kick500'd ANGOLA about a hundred years ago. Excited to see it almost ready to be close to finishing most of it's pre-printing. Count me in if there's a decent module.

Just got the email notice that my copy has shipped, and I'm very stoked to get this to the table, as are a number of my friends in the area. One my most waited-for games; the fact that it's actually been printed by MMP is almost surreal.

Got a game of 'La Revolution Francaise' in last Sunday, and a long game of 'Wilderness War' in tonight. 'Virgin Queen' next week, then 'Angola' after that, almost all with a group of married guys in their 30s. Fuck 'just for fun' games - give me a long, detailed wargame any day.

'La Revolution Francaise' is another old design that was way ahead of its time, by the way. Almost a proto-HiS.

"Fuck 'just for fun' games - give me a long, detailed wargame any day."

Any game, not just wargames, for me and hallelujah. I'd rather carve out the time to play the games I want than play some random stuff that fits into my time slot.
But then my wife and I intentionally make time away from kid for each other. Not everyone does that.

I like the look of the "foreign aid for losing players" bit, it was the thing that made me order this game in the first place.

iguanaDitty wrote: "Fuck 'just for fun' games - give me a long, detailed wargame any day."

Any game, not just wargames, for me and hallelujah. I'd rather carve out the time to play the games I want than play some random stuff that fits into my time slot.

Amen brother!

Also, Angola has entered the building. My copy arrived today.

If FFG was re-doing Angola's combat system and victory point we'd have a combat deck and victory point wheel or something. I've never seen a VP system that starts at 20 goes to 10 but it's really cool how it works. Each turn the odds will increase the game will end until turn 10. The combat system is totally wacked because it seems completely different than anything I've seen. One other thing to add to my things that are really cool about this game, the Bidding for Covert Foreign Aid. The faction that bids the highest has their VP track moved down one which is real costly.

Dr. Mabuse wrote: If they get a VASSAL version done and if things slow down for you PBEM-wise, I'd be into giving it a go.

VASSAL module posted within the last 48 hours. Get it here: www.vassalengine.org/mediawiki/images/0/0f/Angola.vmod

Rules up anywhere, or is this on Starkweather "all-you-Internet-cheapskates-can-suck-it" lockdown?

I've always been vaguely interested in it, but not enough to commit. Now that it verifiably exists, a little research might still turn me into a buyer.

If I can read the rules, I'd also be down for a Vassal game.

KingPut wrote: One other thing to add to my things that are really cool about this game, the Bidding for Covert Foreign Aid. The faction that bids the highest has their VP track moved down one which is real costly.

For this to work in a PBEM setting you'd need a moderator to take all the bids and reveal them as this happens simultaneously face to face. Another note is that allies can't discuss what they are bidding with one another.

In general, this can still work in VASSAL, Dr. You can mask and unmask stuff so the other players cannot see it. So a good way to do this is to for everyone to mask a chit, put it out, then send it to the next guy, etc. At the end, everyone unmasks their chit when it's their turn to prove what they bid. To speed things up you usually just tell each other what you bid and then the unmasking on your own turn is just "proof" you bid what you did.

Of course, this isn't enough for a tourney setting but it has worked for me with some other games I've played with hidden info.

Not Sure wrote: Rules up anywhere, or is this on Starkweather "all-you-Internet-cheapskates-can-suck-it" lockdown?

I've always been vaguely interested in it, but not enough to commit. Now that it verifiably exists, a little research might still turn me into a buyer.

If I can read the rules, I'd also be down for a Vassal game.

This was the last update .

Holy shit, I just read the rules to this, it was sitting on my doorstep when I returned from abroad.

This game is fucking creative. I love the combat results table---basically, fundamentally odds determine the outcome of the fight, modified by technology, etc. So if you've got 5-1 odds with just regular guys, the best the opponent, regardless of the technology the other side has deployed, can do is move you down to the results of like a 2-1 fight. That is a freaking cool way to model this... the foreign aid system looks totally awesome too, along with reinforcement bidding. Besides combat, it's also VERY simple.