Podbit · Fin vs History
The Campaign for North Africa (1978) is possibly the most complex game ever designed: 10 recommended players, 1,500 hours estimated playtime, never tested before release, and almost certainly never finished. One reviewer calculated that playing twice a month would take 20 years — and Italian troops specifically require extra water to cook pasta.
Where this was said
At 6:55 · chapter starts 3:33
Fin sets the scene: September 1940, Italy invades Egypt from Libya with nearly 250,000 men but absolutely no coherent strategic plan beyond Mussolini's fantasy of riding topless through Cairo. The Italians build a series of heavily fortified but completely isolated camps — no road, no infrastructure between them — then wait for engineers to construct a victory parade route. A Patreon listener then sends Fin a Wikipedia article about The Campaign for North Africa, a 1978 wargame by Richard H. Berg that simulates the entire desert campaign. [1] — Fin Taylor "The Campaign for North Africa (1978) is possibly the most complex game ever designed: 10 recommended players, 1,500 hours estimated playtim…" 06:55 The gameplay description, read aloud by Fin, is extraordinary: 10 recommended players, an estimated 1,500 hours total playtime, never tested before release, and believed to have never been completed. A single turn involves calculating water evaporation, pasta-cooking water for Italian troops, strategic air missions, convoy raids, ammunition adjustments, and multiple rounds of movement and combat. Fin and Horatio agree: this is not a game but a historic simulation, and it captures exactly why North Africa is the most logistics-obsessed theater of the war — and why Monty ultimately wins it.
Italy invaded Egypt with nearly a quarter of a million men and no coherent strategy beyond Mussolini's dream of riding a horse topless through Cairo. They built fortified but completely disconnected camps, waited for engineers to build a victory parade road, and were ultimately picked off one by one by a British force a fraction of their size.
The Campaign for North Africa boardgame, made in 1978, has an estimated playtime of 1,500 hours, was not tested before release, and is believed to have never been completed.
Italy invaded Egypt from Libya with nearly a quarter of a million men, yet this force was effectively neutralised by around 36,000 British troops due to poor planning and disconnected camps.
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The Campaign for North Africa board game takes roughly 20 years to complete at a reasonable pace, and no one has ever actually finished it. Pierre already knows the Italian forces need extra water for pasta, which is technically accurate to the rules.
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