Mark H. Walker's '85 Afghanistan: Graveyard of Empires

by

Flying Pig Games

Part Deux

 So, we left off with a bit of history about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The repercussions of that event are still being felt around the world. It directly led to the later US involvement in the 'Graveyard of Empires'. It is pretty hard to imagine that the timeline for all of these events up until now is only 45 years. However, this game deals specifically with the Soviet Union against the Afghanistan Mujahideen, a name the western countries have had to learn all about in the ensuing years.

 I can never play a game without a tie-in to a movie or a book that I am perusing at the time. In this case, I was presented with the game and had to find something to get me into the mood to play it. The movie 'The Beast', fit the bill nicely. The movie is about a T-55 and its crew in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupancy during the 1980s. It is an excellent movie about people fighting for their homeland. It also shows the savagery of the women against the invaders. Many times, during the centuries, invaders would be much better off being captured by the men they were fighting instead of their womenfolk. Well, that is enough of that, onto part deux. 

 For those of you not living under some strata of compressed earth Mark H. Walker's name should be well known. This is what his website has to say:

"Mark has been designing board and computer games for over a decade. In that time, he has designed over a dozen games and developed, produced, and published over 100 more. In November of 2014 Mark founded Flying Pig Games, a game company dedicated to publishing high-quality strategy games. In September off 2015, Mark opened the doors to a second game imprint, Tiny Battle Publishing. (I think you have to tack on just a few more years than a decade by now)"

 This game is the second in the series of 'Squad Level Battle Games' the first was '65 Squad-Level Combat in the Jungles of Vietnam'. Unfortunately, '65 is out of print but do yourself a favor and look for it in the resale market. One of Mr. Walker's axioms is 'the playing is the thing', meaning that the rules will be as condensed and easy to understand as possible, among other things. He wants the player to be playing and not reading a 100-page rulebook. This is shown in all of his designs that I have played, and '85 is no different. One other thing that his games are known for its size. I am not talking about table space. I am talking about the size of the counters, hexes, and the writing in the rulebooks etc. I am assuming because he is an old grognard he feels pity on the rest of us grumblers and our fading eyesight. 

 If you have played '65 you really only need to glance at the new rulebook to get up and running. As mentioned, the rulebook is extremely large in print and thin on length. It has both a Contents and an Index. If you cannot find your way around it, then I suggest that wargaming may not be your best choice for a hobby. To put it into perspective, this is a rulebook that deals with squad-level war in the almost modern battlefield. We are talking missiles and all the new-fangled weaponry that they had in the 1980s. To be able to make a rulebook for a game in the modern era that is also easy to read and understand, and also be terse, is pretty much unheard of. 

 These are some of the units you will be sing or fighting against:

T-55

T-62

BTR-70

BMP-1

Mi-24

RPG equipped infantry

Spetsnaz

DHSK

Numerous rifle equipped units

Commanders

 At first, it seems that fighting the bear that went over the mountain is pointless. However, if there ever was a country that guerilla war could thrive in it is Afghanistan. True, there are no jungles, but the terrain is tailor made for the defender. Without the 21st century's drones the battles devolve into small knife fights. The Russian player at times will feel like he is trying to kill a wasp with a 20lb sledgehammer. The trick for the Afghan player is not to have the sledgehammer land. The gameplay is fairly reminiscent of the US against the North Vietnamese in the game '65. In both the under armed side had best use Ali's axiom and 'Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee". The Soviet ability to use helicopters really puts you to the test when defending against them.

 

 This is a game on the squad-level. Each one of your units/counters means a lot. You cannot go crashing in guns blazing and not expect to not take horrific casualties. The eight scenarios are spread out among a varied amount of different type actions. The fact that you can receive any variation of the Action Cards means that each time you play a scenario it is different. You have no idea of what your enemy is holding in his hand, or you in yours. It will also be easy to make your own scenarios. If you are into historically accurate games where the game play is paramount, then look no further. This game has a huge amount of game play in it along with some of the largest counters I have ever seen. Thank you again Soaring Porcine Amusements for allowing me to review '85.

 The next part of the trilogy will deal with the solitaire expansion '85 Alone in the Mountains'.

Robert

Flying Pig Games:

Best Strategic War Games | Flying Pig Games

Mark H. Walker's '85 Afghanistan: Graveyard of Empires:

Flying Pig Games

 Mark H. Walker's '85 Afghanistan: Graveyard of Empires

by

Flying Pig Games

 We are going to do things a little differently this time around. I am going to make this a three part look at this game. I am also going to start off with something that I have never done, which is an unboxing for the first part. The second part will be a look at the actual game play and the third will be a look at Alone in the Mountains: '85 Solitaire Expansion.

 The year is 1979 and the Cold War is in full swing. Some people in the Kremlin decided that it was a good idea to invade Afghanistan and put their own puppet government in place. Afghanistan had been a country that had been a tough nut to crack for many armies and governments for thousands of years. It was the map board used in the 'Great Game' by Russia and England in their attempt to conquer more of Asia in the 19th century. Afghans have a well-deserved reputation for being hard fighters and implacable foes. They also invented Polo and enjoyed using the heads of their enemies as the ball. This should clearly clue you in as to the mettle of the Afghans. 

 The back of the box says:

"'85: Graveyard of Empires is the second game in the Squad Battles series. Building on the mechanics introduced in '65 Squad Battles in the Jungles of Vietnam, Graveyard of Empires features tense squad-level battles between the Afghan Mujahideen and the Soviet Red Army in an exciting card-driven, hex-and-counter game."

 As an aside, if you haven't heard of or played '65 Squad Battles in the Jungles of Vietnam, do yourself a favor and look into that excellent game.

This shows some of the counters and a piece of a map from the game

  This is what comes with the game:

5 richly illustrated, 11” x 17” geomorphic game boards. 

4 lavish sheets of thick 1” and 1.375” counters. 

1 deck of 54 action cards, 4 Event Cards, 5 Bonus Victory Condition Cards. 

Full color rules and scenario booklet.

Player Aid Cards, 

Terrain Effect Charts.

A die.

A box to keep it safe and warm.

 I thought one-inch counters were big. These 1.375" ones, for aircraft, tanks, and other vehicles are massive. Yes, the hexes are quite large enough to not be dwarfed by those counters.

 Because of the size of the counters, there are only so many counters that come with the game. However, just like its older brother '65, this game is about Squad Battles and not large military actions. So, you have more than enough counters, and a good variety of them, to keep you playing for a good long time. 

 The game boards all fold out to give you their 11" x 17" full size. The landscape that the game represents is seen in in wonderful detail, if a little muted in color. They represent the different battlefields extremely well. 

 The Player Aids are 8.5" x 11" in size, and they are made of card stock. One gives you the Sequence of Play and a turn record track. The other is two-sided and has the Terrain Effects Chart on one side and the Range Modifiers etc. on the other.

 The Rule Book is 35 pages in length. It is in full color and is in nice, large, type for us aging grognards. It comes with plenty of example of the rules. The Rule Book also has all nine of the game's scenarios included in it; the ninth scenario was a Kickstarter exclusive. This does not seem like many. However, the game is card-driven so you have endless possibilities for a hand of different cards each time you play a scenario. Because of their small size, it does not look like it would be any trouble to make your own scenarios to add to the mix.

 The deck has 54 Action Cards in it. These have actions for both sides in the game on them. The cards are also used to determine hits on vehicles. There are also four event cards. The above says it comes with five Bonus Victory Condition Cards, although my game came with 11.

Action Card

 If you have bought or played any of the different games from Flying Pig Games, you will be excited about the care and attention that is given to the manufacturing of them. If for nothing else, you should look at the Flying Ham Steaks rendition of Hermann Luttman's 'A Most Fearful Sacrifice'. Yes, once again it is out of stock. I do believe that it will be reissued again and again as that magnum opus deserves. I had the pleasant experience of playing '65 more than a few times and by looking at '85's rules it looks like playing this game will be just as enjoyable. 

 Thank you, Flying Pig Games, for letting me take a look at and review '85 Graveyard of Empires. Stayed tuned on this same bat channel for the other two perusals of the game.

Robert

Mark H. Walker's '85 Afghanistan: Graveyard of Empires:

Flying Pig Games