African Imagi-nations: The War Goes On

A Few Notes from the Guy Behind the Curtain

As I've progressed through my fictional conflict, the path of the game has been dictated by a campaign where as battles are resolved on the table, I consider what the next step might be in the strategic game, and create randomizing tables to accommodate the options for that part of game.

For example, as the war progressed and Mugabia took losses, the stability of the country decreased a little with each loss.  So after each loss, I roll dice against a continuously evolving table that could result in an overthrow of the Mugabian president.  

The overthrow could be an assassination attempt, a coupe by an individual or the general staff, a mutiny by an army officer and his unit in the field, a popular uprising, etc.  Each possibility is listed on a table, and if the overthrow is rolled, then the next roll would be on the table for the type of overthrow.  Additional tables might be generated to roll up more details, battles would likely follow, more strategic/campaign tables, etc.

Not surprisingly, the most dynamic possible outcomes have been missed, as there is a very small chance of any of these happening ( it seems that the President's brother and General Mobata had bad die rolls, etc).

Once I have die results for the next step in the game, I build backstory to explain it, creating characters as needed. Many of these appear as officers in the battles.  For me, the story telling adds a lot of flavor to my games on the tabletop, making me try harder for each side as I play the games.

Anyway, that is how the campaign is driven.  I realized some time ago, that Uwanda had over-reached with "the big war", but had expected that Mugabia would suffer some sort of destabilization that would have brought the war to a halt, prior to Uwanda reaching its current state.

That didn't happen, and the war eventually hit a strange point, where I couldn't see the options for progression of the game.  Briefly, I was afraid that the game might have reached the end of the line.  After thinking about this for awhile, I eventually came up with some ideas.  Some were older ides revisited, and others were completely new.  Another generation of tables resulted, and I started rolling dice, reaching some dead ends, and finding some new directions.  To be honest, what appears to be happening presents some delightful possibilities on the table top, and moves the game in directions that I had never considered outright.

My next few posts will introduce back story presenting lead-ins to these new paths that the game might follow.  The first is included below:

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The Uwanda-Mugabia War Continues...

Populations in the west took little notice of the Soviet action in Mugabia, but some of their governments had far greater interest.  The west always wanted to confound the east in these efforts, but how to best go about it was always a challenge.  These governments fumbled around, while events in Uwanda and Mugabia unfolded.

The Soviets surprised Uwanda with the attack on the patrolling F5s, and the overwhelming success of the attack sent ripples through Uwanda's command structure.  Uwanda had to find a solution, and several options were on the table. Uwanda remained unnervingly quiet, while considering the options.

Soviet ground forces were relatively light at this point, and possibly Uwanda still possessed enough ground strength to give the Soviets a bloody nose.  The question was how would the Soviets react if Uwanda could be successful?  And what if Uwanda wasn't successful?

Uwanda could try to simply take back their contested territory outright, little movement had occurred there, and Uwanda still possessed significant ground forces in the region.  Additionally, they could mass air support close to operations, while the Soviets would have to travel farther to defend Mugabian assets.  Uwanda had attempted a version of this prior to starting the broader war, without success.  Could Uwanda be more successful now?

Or Uwanda could offer a trade.  Several variations were under consideration but all involved offering former Mugabian territory for the occupied Uwandan territory.  The general perception of these options by Uwanda's leadership was that this would be seen as an act of contrition, and would not end favorably.

In the mean time, general Kukimbia, commander of Uwanda's Air Force,  looked for an opportunity to test his F5Es with their upgraded missiles against the Soviet Migs.  He believed that the newer F5s could match the Migs in the air and relieve some of the current pressure on Uwanda.

The clock was ticking.