AFRICA 1880- Better than DIPLOMACY?

Well, here's a big surprise. Last night we played the old Tilsit game AFRICA 1880 with a full table of six and I have to say that I think I actually prefer it to...DIPLOMACY. Yeah. I mean it.

I'm not really quite sure why nobody liked this game when it came out, other than it sort of showed up when everybody was looking for all those crazy German games but it really is a 2-2.5 hour DIPLOMACY surrogate. It has pretty much all of the stuff you want out of DIPLOMACY but without the "set aside the weekend" playtime.

Bascially, everybody's a colonial power looking to eke out a chunk of Africa. Each turn you get to either explore or develop with the pieces you have out. Exploring puts more of your flags out, developing means you put a chip down to work towards filling these slots and building a cool ass resin building that gives you a colony and seals off the region from further interference. You write all the moves down a la DIPLOMACY but there's really only two orders and no production points or any of that so it's very, very streamlined.

Here's the big kicker. Pieces co-exist. Everybody can be in the same region together, which creates some very interesting diplomatic situations and opportunities for extreme backstabbing. Each turn you decide whether you're at war or peace with every other player. It's an all or nothing thing, so you can't be buddy-buddy in one area but not another. And if more people are at war with you than peace in a region, your flag is unceremoniously flushed down the toilet.

At the end of the game, when all the buildings are out, you tally up points- 8 points for regions where there's a colony and you're the sole flag (pretty hard to pull off), three points where you share it with others.

I honestly can't believe the game was only two hours- and that with 10 8 minute diplomacy sessions. It's interesting that a game as streamlined and stripped down as DIPLOMACY already is could be reduced even more without losing anything. It doesn't have that whole supporting territories deal, there's no navies, no production.

In our game, the leading player got completely annihilated on the last turn so if he were an internet complainer he might very well have turned in a review that said "Game sucks, broken, attack the leader problem"...but that's just not the case. He was ruthlessly "policed" because he had been a dick during the game and screwed at least three people with whom he had both handshake and implicit deals. Had he not done that, he likely would have won. It's part of the game.

So definitely, if you like a pure negotiation game, try this one out. It's really simple and for a 2 hour investment, you'll be surprised at how much you get out of it.

I remember that game from a Tilsit edition brochure I found in one of my '96 Clash of Arms games (who apparently distribute those in the US). I had inherent interest in pretty much all of them, but no money to buy any. Tilsit games are kind of ensconced - can you recommend any other?

All I've played is JOAN OF ARC/MONTJOIE and AFRICA 1880 out of that batch...CHARIOT LORDS looked pretty good though, it's a BRITANNIA game so if you like that system it might work for you.

A: Why is this in the Eurogames section?

Tilsit, Asmodee, and the old Eurogames line are mostly pure AT. That would go for a lot of French and Italian games.

As far as Tilsit, it is mostly crap. Chariot Lords is supposed to be good, and Azteca has extremely mixed reviews (but one I trust said it is brilliant, and psychotically random.)