SGS Afrika Korps

I don’t want to leave a negative review, however I simply can’t give this a thumbs up due to the lacklustre AI. It was said to me over at winter war (their other game) the AI was being improved, and that with each game the improvements would be ported back. This seemed reasonable and the SGS games certainly get much more support than other Avalon Digital titles (more on that later). However there has been no improvement, or rather if there has it’s minimal. I’m not looking for expert AI, but given the price, and given that there are a million games with a semi-competent AI I feel it’s wrong to advertise this game as having an AI when it really doesn’t. There is zero challenge against the computer, and this goes for both games. Winter War in particular shows this with the Soviet AI unable to win unless one basically retreats themselves. Games a decade older than this like AGEOD’s Grisby’s, Strategic command all have better ai, and most of those are more complex! They also have similar sized dev teams. Shadow empire is essentially one guy, and whilst the AI is not the best (Given game complexity it’s a lot better than here!), the amount of work and communication he puts in blows most Avalon published games out the water. Then I see they’ve released yet another game, and again no sign of AI improvement. If they have no intention of attempting to work on the AI then they should state clearly this game will not have an ai. Rather than continually promise something that never happens. Now onto the issue with Avalon Digital (the publisher), which is colouring my view somewhat. This company is quickly gaining a track record for releasing overpriced buggy games with little effort or communication to improve. Richard III, Julius Caesar, and Hammer of the Scots are all barely playable. The multiplayer doesn’t even work well, and the AI is atrocious! No attempt to improve and no dev communication for months. I regret backing them on KS. What’s worse is I playtested Richard, and mentioned AI issues early on assuming they’d be fixed. 3 games later and the devs have just disappeared leaving their last outing in early access last I checked… The real shame is there is some great games here, but they are just being dumped with no real effort put into them. At least SGS seem to be supporting their games, and whilst I can’t recommend on AI play, from what I have seen this and winter war are worth it for multiplayer. Real effort is there, but I’m disappointed it’s not being directed toward those of us who have not got time to play multiplayer.

I wanted to like this game, and there is a lot to like. The mechanics of the game seem like a fine way to simulate this campaign, and I did occasionally have some interesting battles trying to break through at some points while holding others. The fatal flaw, though, is that the AI just isn't very bright. I played as Rommel in the 1941 and 1942 campaigns, and easily blew through the 8th Army, taking Tobruk and Alexandria both times. Also, it seems like there are more air units than land units. Like I said, in other ways, the fundamentals of this game are promising, but I can't recommended it as is.

That's a pretty in depth game that provides quite a lot of game hours when you like the topic. The card-based system is simple enough but deep enough to provide significant depth.

This is a wonderfull wargame , it's actually a PC version of the boardgame Shifting Sands, looks good and is great fun. However ; the game is unfinished , it locks up constantly in the 'allied reinforcement fase' , so I could not finish 3 out of my last 3 games. There are unused features that dont do anything (strategic bombing , money) with no explanation to them at all , and even obviously less use. This has huge potential , but seems a bit unfinished at times. Update 10-2-2020 ; the issue with the hanging game was reported to the developer , and a steam update fixing it as a result was released mere days later. Now THAT is proper dedication and support , bigger studios should take example.

SGS Afrika Korps is one of the smaller-sized titles, a good entry game to the SGS series. Pros: + Interesting combat system, different enough from the classic hex-and-counter wargames. It takes a while to get used to the d20 attack mechanics against no armor/defense factor for the defender. This system is extremely luck based and usually, unless a great number of units are involved, results in very few strength points lost following a battle. + Generally speaking, the presentation is quite good, with good art for the screens, the map, counters and the cards. While everything is easy to read and understand, the counters themselves display a lot of information, much more than is usually the norm in the genre. + The card-based strategic layer offers a good addition to the, once again traditional wargame, which has two benefits: it improves replayablity and simulates political and military events outside the game's theater of operations. During the 42 turns long main campaign I have encountered the same cards quite a few times, so more of them would be welcomed. + Music is, both the original and the commissioned tracks, appropriate to the time period and subject matter. Very good atmosphere and immersion. + The AI seemed competent enough during the main campaign. The British forces fought some sort of a fighting withdrawal in the first half of the game, mainly using their superior (in the beginning) airforce and LRDG strikes (through card events) to attack my supply network. Once I have reached Egypt and the enemy had amassed enough reserves, their resistance stiffened and became quite aggressive, immediately exploiting any breaches in my line attempting to encircle/cut my supply lines at every turn (to the point I began suspecting the AI of cheating; it knew exactly where unoccupied cities where and went straight for them). Cons: - The rules. Quite poorly explained even though there is a pdf manual and several video tutorials included. The manual is not streamlined enough, not clear enough, and is even missing some info. Unfortunately, clarifications must be obtained through other sources such as forums and YT videos. - Quite a few basic, standard features of the genre are missing from the SGS game(s): the option to display the map with the counters filtered out, a summary of the mission objectives, a detailed OOB list, a list of units lost/destroyed. Enemy units on the map are not un-hidden at the end of the campaign for a clear general picture. Also missing is an undo option that devs chose (!) not to implement for being too difficult/time consuming. - The UI. While it is practical, the menus' design, font, colours and even size are all wrong, or at the very least unsuited to a wargame. Big, white Arial over large, bright blue backgrounds does not make for an appealing design in any type of game (unless specifically designed for the mobile market), let alone an appropriate presentation for a historical wargame. - While the historical designations of the various units involved seem accurate, the actual vehicles pictured on the counter are not named (at the moment, NATO's Nightmare seems to be the only game in the entire series that does so). - Worthy of mentioning is that, apparently, the game has been abandoned by the devs. Minor fixes (e.g. an objective being incorrectly identified in the Battle Axe scenario pdf description) have been neglected, at the time of this review, for 2 years. As such, any bugs you may encounter are not likely to be (ever) fixed.

I've only played the first scenario as the Axis (Operation E). I lost on Expert AI difficulty 3 or 4 times (historically accurate), and barely squeaked a win on Basic difficulty, although if there were more turns I certainly wold have lost on the following turn (the Axis merely has to hold Tobruk to win this scenario but that's a heck of a task to accomplish as the Brits are very strong). It's a different war game than I'm used to playing but it's very engaging. There's replayability because the different cards you get give you different choices to make. It's certainly a very interesting game.

A nice old school wargame. You can lead the Axis or Allies troops in the North African front. The game offers the possibility to play the major battles plus a long campaign lasting from the early 1941 to late 1942. The gameplay reminds a classic board-game stile, the counters are informative and beautifully crafted, every turn consists of a number of phases in which you draw and play event cards, place reinforcements, move air wings, troops and resolve battles. The event cards impact the units combat values, boost the troops supply, add extra reinforcements, impact leaders and so on. The game is very stable, at least on my machine, I did not have any slowdown, freeze or CTD after long game runs. The user interface is very informative and let you see at glance all that you need to know. The game also comes with a detailed, colorful manual, that is absolutely worth reading. A game editor is not currently available but the developers said it will be added soon. The only annoying issue so far is that, when dragging a unit around, sometimes a pop-up appears and hiders the correct unit placement.

With AI set to expert. AI poor. Game locks up often. All UK forces out of North Africa turn 20 Afrika Korps 41 scenario. Will be better as a human vs. human game. If bugs are worked out and AI improved I would recommend this game.

The game is endless fun to play. The card systems give each game a new ripple. The only down side is that my game constantly freezes on the reinforcement section, so I have to exit out, and restart as a saved game. I read the same exact comment on the sister game "Winter War" , I am fairly sure they share the same engine. Otherwise the game is fun to play.

I am a big fan of Philippe Thibault since the old Ageod games. This new series (SGS) of his newest company (Avalon Digital) is getting better all the time. This last game covers the North African Campaign, with scenarios covering the main operations and two full campaigns. The AI is much improved with the "Christmas" patch and gives a real fight against the Axis forces. The events and cards give enormous amounts of diversity and flavour. As the previous game of this series (Winter War), I cannot recommend this enough, and I am eagerly awaiting the planned future releases. Edited in 29 Jun 2026: 6 years have passed and this series of games have been continuosly updated while new games are released. Even old ones like this have vast improvements - supply rules refined, auto-garrisons that can be bypassed at your peril (no supply), better cards and better AI.