Africa Orientale (1989)

Africa Orientale (Italian for East africa), is a simulation of the campaign fought in the horn of Africa in 1940-41.

On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on Britain and France, which made Italian military forces in Libya a threat to Egypt and those in the Italian East Africa a danger to the British and French territories in the Horn of Africa. Italian belligerence also closed the Mediterranean to Allied merchant ships and endangered British supply routes along the coast of East Africa, the Gulf of Aden, Red Sea and the Suez Canal. Egypt, the Suez Canal, French Somaliland and British Somaliland were also vulnerable to invasion, but the Comando Supremo (Italian General Staff) had planned for a war after 1942.

Hostilities began on 13 June 1940, with an Italian air raid on the base of 1 Squadron Southern Rhodesian Air Force (237 (Rhodesia) Squadron RAF) at Wajir in the East Africa Protectorate (Kenya). In August 1940, the protectorate of British Somaliland was occupied by Italian forces and absorbed into Italian East Africa. This occupation lasted around six months. By early 1941, Italian forces had been largely pushed back from Kenya and Sudan. On 6 April 1941, Addis Ababa was occupied by the 11th (African) Division, which received the surrender of the city. The remnants of the Italian forces in the AOI surrendered after the Battle of Gondar in November 1941, except for groups that fought an Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia against the British until the Armistice of Cassibile (3 September 1943) ended hostilities between Italy and the Allies.

The rules use the basic The Europa Series system as a framework, with specialized rules covering the historical situation in detail.

Originally published by 3W (World Wide Wargames) in Strategy & Tactics magazine #126

Game Scale:
Turn: half a month
Hex: 32 miles / 51 kilometers
Units: Battalion to Division

Game Inventory:
One 22 x 34" 5 color mapsheet
One dual-side printed countersheet (200 1/2" counters)
One 24-page Africa Orientale rules booklet

Complexity: Medium
Solitaire Suitability: Medium
Players: 1 or more
Playing Time: 4-6 Hours

Players will need to provide one 6-sided die