We have played two Sword in Africa games recently and wanted to share some of our observations as we moved through the challenging jungle terrain,
When this skirmish variant was included in TSATF/2oth, Dad wasn't sure how it would be received. In fact, the ladies in his family had to insist on its inclusion. Remember Foundry had recently released their African Explorers and to those of us who remembered the Tarzan and Jungle Jim movies, as well as the many others featuring "Darkest Africa" this was a period just waiting for some rules that were fun. I think Dad also worried about the smaller sized (8 – 10 figure) units.
I think what we noticed after our games is that The Sword in Africa is equal parts role playing and historical gaming. The smaller units allow you to use a smaller table. And you can easily play more than one game in an afternoon. You can also use much more terrain than usual because you are, after all, in a jungle. However smaller units mean the more casualties you take, the more likely you are to deplete your forces more quickly.
We didn't use a Game Master but then, we helped write these rules so we took turns flipping cards,etc.. And we managed to create a few additional Random Episodes that we experimented with. The best thing to happen was in one game, we had the original "Tarzan" from 1932 playing on a small television. At a crucial moment, when the Lord of the Jungle was somewhere, hidden in the jungle, Tarzan's famous yell was heard in the background. It couldn't have happened as well even if we had planned it.
We're ready to continue with our games and are going to use a mysterious hidden temple in the next series. And we'll try to get some photos. TSATF games are always fun but these two were especially enjoyable and I think a lot of it has to do with the beautiful figures, imaginative scenario and the game's ability to invoke memories of much-loved adventure films of our past.
looks at a fast-assembly naval kit for the Age of Sail.
