Produktbeschreibung
North Africa may well have been the theater in which the war was waged in its most modern guise...It was only in the desert that the principles of armored warfare as they were taught in theory before the war could be fully applied and thoroughly developed. It was only in the desert that real tank battles were fought by large-scale formations - Erwin Rommel
Shifting Sands is a point-to-point movement, card driven game based on the World War II African campaigns of 1940-1943. From the first Italian attempts to cross "The Wire" through the Torch invasion, all aspects of the campaign for North Africa are covered including the Abyssinian Campaign of 1940-1941. Like the commanders of the day, you'll need to try and achieve your goals while events in other theaters influence your ability to maintain any semblance of a plan.
Contents:
* Two sheets of die-cut playing pieces
* Two 55-card decks of cards (one Axis; one Allied)
* One unmounted map sheet
* Illustrated Rules
* Two 8" x 11" Setup Cards
* Two dice
Time Scale: Three months/turn
Unit Scale: Divisions with "Battlegroups"
Players: Two
Playing Time: Up to 5 hours with "Automatic Victory" conditions.
Complexity: medium
Solitaire Suitability: high
Credits:
* Design: Michael Rinella
* Development: Jeff Evich
* Map Art: Dean Essig
* Counter Art: Dean Essig
Shifting Sands uses the point-to-point movement, card-driven system made popular by games such as We The People and Paths of Glory to simulate the very mobile campaigns in North Africa. Unlike other North Africa games, Shifting Sands forces players to take into account the side theaters of Ethiopia and the Mid-East.
Instant victory conditions force players to constantly be aware of the situation on the map. Sure, O'Connor may be driving the Italian armies back from the border, but an unexpected Egyptian Uprising coupled with subduing Malta may just give the Axis enough victory points for a quick win - before the Americans and Free French land and open up a second front in Tunisia.
The heart of Shifting Sands are the two decks of 55 cards. Each card dictates how many operations a player may have on a given phase, how many replacement points they may add to rebuild damaged units, or events of the day which may cause all sorts of historical situations to occur. The problem is, on any give round a player may utilize just one card to do one of these actions! Do you play the "ULTRA" card to see your opponents hand? Or do you get some divisions out of trouble by using the card as operations to activate their stack and move them out of (or in to!) harms way?
These are the tough decisions which a player will have to face.
What People Have Been Saying About Shifting Sands!
* "What a GREAT game - so filled with see-sawing action and tense to the very end!" - Lance McMillan
* "I don't usually think about games once they're over, but this one I have. That is a good omen." - Rob Winslow
* "Unlike most North Africa games, I found myself doing almost EXACTLY what Graziani did historically in 1940... Overall, this is almost certainly the best game on the topic. It's a heck of a lot of fun, reproduces the history well, and can be played from start to finish in just a few hours." - Doug DeMoss |
