Angola

This was Ragnar Brothers’ very first try at designing a game with the object being for 'other people' to play it rather than just ourselves.

It's our most involved game in terms of complexity and would probably be termed a 'war game' in most circles. We call it a game of Command and Decision, which sounds pretentious but does accurately capture the essence of Angola - the decisions a player makes about how he or she orders the elements of his or her command are the crucial factors that determine the outcome of combat and the capture of towns.

Angola is a game that requires some dedicated rules reading but is easily explained to others once one kind-hearted soul has grips with it. The effort made will be well rewarded by a game that really cranks the tension up as each player waits to see which units are moving in each turn - the command orders are turned face down and only revealed one at a time as the turn proceeds.