Scramble for Africa - Board Games

[Ignatieff]

Anyone know of any good ones?  Post Berlin Conference (1885) to say 1900??

[The_Beast]

It's been so long since I've cracked the box, that I'm not really sure, but I think the out of print but often available Source of the Nile has some of that.

Sadly, I've another larger boxed game in mind, but damned if I can squeeze a name out. I'll troll BGG and see if that helps.

Doug

Edit: Aha, it was Africa 1880 in my mind; however, as it, as reviewed in BGG, is 'The success of their adventure, however, has more to do with intrigue in the luxurious parlors of the embassies than hacking away through the jungle. ' type of game, I'm going to go on a limb and guess you're looking more for neither of the above, and more about generating battles, perhaps to use for campaigns. Well, back to diggin'.

[Captain Blood]

I think, although couldn't swear to it, that there was a Britannia variant based on the various colonial powers scramble for Africa...

There was definitely a Britannia variant based on the European and other powers C16th - C19th scramble for India.

Britannia remains just about my favourite boardgame of all time, although I've never played any of the variants apart from the Spanish one, Hispania.

[Ignatieff]

I'm going to go on a limb and guess you're looking more for neither of the above, and more about generating battles, perhaps to use for campaigns. Well, back to diggin'.

Either/or or both to be honest.  Interested in flavour, logisitics, scenarios, mechanisms, etc.  Nothing too specific at this stage.

[n815e]

Take a look at Source of the Nile.  It is out of production for quite some time, but you should be able to get it cheaply.  It's got a lot of creating an expedition and managing it.

[The_Beast]

I think, although couldn't swear to it, that there was a Britannia variant based on the various colonial powers scramble for Africa...

There was definitely a Britannia variant based on the European and other powers C16th - C19th scramble for India.

Britannia remains just about my favourite boardgame of all time, although I've never played any of the variants apart from the Spanish one, Hispania.

I was thinking the same thing; came up with Source of the Nile, but when I went looking for the game I think I have that's closer, I can't find a name that looks familiar, and I've been trolling BGG and Web Grognards, both excellent resources.

I thought it was Colonial... something, like Colonialism, but nothing found besides Colonial Diplomacy. Don't think that hits the spot.

By the way, isn't the Britannia-esque 'scramble for India' Maharajah? I know I have that.

Doug

[smirnoff]

Anyone played this?:
http://www.guhsd.net/mcdowell/edtec670/scramble/scramble.htm
Not had a chance to examine it yet....

[fastolfrus]

Probably need to ask the "Beyond Monopoly" crowd in York.

Obscure board games are their thing - they'd probably have a copy in the cupboard.

[chicklewis]

Smirnoff, that's an interesting find.  I read the rules of the Scramble game, and it might be ok.

However, I wonder about their claim of usefulness as a teaching aid, since on their game map they call the Belgian Congo the 'Belgium Congo'.   

Plenty of illiterates in the world. 

[warrenpeace]

Blue Iguana Games is supposed to be producing a game titled "Scamble for Africa," which is specifically inspired by Pakenham's book.  However, Blue Iguana is taking a very long time to produce and publish the larger "Age of Imperialism" game, which was started two or three years before "Scramble for Africa."  The announcement was made about "Scamble for Africa" on the Consimworld Forums under boargames/individual games/gunpowder/post-Napoleonic.  Not sure if there is a page on that game at BoardGameGeek or not.  I think there is a page at BoardGameGeek on Blue Iguana' "Age of Imperialism" game.

In other news, Greg Costikyan, the designer of the 1985 Victory Games "Pax Britannica" is at work on a new version of "Pax Britannica."  There is much discussion of that on BoardGameGeek.  That's not specifically about Africa, as the game is about global colonialism from 1880 to the Great War.  The old version was quite beautiful, but there was a bit of simple math to do and the playing time was a bit too long to make it a hit.  I suggested to Greg that a game that just focussed on Africa would be a good thing, but he didn't seem interested.  The topic is ripe for a modern "Card Driven Game."

[Armchair]

Anyone know of any good ones?  Post Berlin Conference (1885) to say 1900??

I have some good 20 year old memories of playing Pax Britannica - But it's a long game and I'm not sure if it's really as good as I remember.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1209/pax-britannica

[Shikari Sahib]

Pax Britannica was one of my most favourite  boardgame, altough I don't like very much boardgames anyway.

you could also try the campaign : "the sun never sets".
I think is free on line.
is only on British side, but is easy to adapt, increasing areas on new maps and adding new European Powers.
is the clever system I have found, I playied it many times, always with enjoyable outbrakes and result.

[The_Beast]

I also had some 'global' games in mind, such as War! in the Age of Imperialism.

Rather a GamesMaster version of Risk, which the board of Scramble reminds one, but you could focus on Africa. I'd probably still try to use the whole game for creating 'external' evens, but focus on action in Africa.

Unfortunately, I'm in the bad habit of seeing a discussion about Pax Britannica or Britannia, and thinking we're discussing the other. Didn't happen this time, but fair warning. 

Doug

[chicklewis]

Shikari Sahib said:
You could also try the campaign : "the sun never sets".
I think is free on line.
----------------

The Sun Never Sets is a very nice set of campaign rules.  We enjoyed it at the Bengal Club as a tabletop game generator. 
However, it is not free, but a very nicely finished version is available from the Virtual Armchair General. 

I'll go find the url -

Edit:  Here it is

http://www.fauxtoys.com/tvag/079-rules.html#TSNS

The fancy color-printed maps and game accessories are available with the rules or by themselves.  Recommended.

[Shikari Sahib]

Shikari Sahib said:
You could also try the campaign : "the sun never sets".
I think is free on line.
----------------

The Sun Never Sets is a very nice set of campaign rules.  We enjoyed it at the Bengal Club as a tabletop game generator. 
However, it is not free, but a very nicely finished version is available from the Virtual Armchair General. 

I'll go find the url -

Edit:  Here it is

http://www.fauxtoys.com/tvag/079-rules.html#TSNS

The fancy color-printed maps and game accessories are available with the rules or by themselves.  Recommended.

I though it was free, anyway , from my personal view, it worth all the money.
Piero