88: A Tactical Game of Armored Combat on the North African Front, 1940-1942 (1980)

Overview

(from the game box:)

88 is an intense tactical-level game of ground combat in Africa's Western Desert in World War II, the famous struggle between the British "Desert Rats" and the German and Italian Afrika Korps. 88 duplicates the strengths and weaknesses of the German, British and Italian units involved with 50 data cards that display all the information needed to move and fight. The game system, shared with our earlier popular Panzer game (which covers battles on the Eastern Front), easily incorporates myriad details such as armor thicknesses at various points, shots from various angles, heights, and altitudes, and the effects of terrain. The rules cover the important aspects of small unit tactics - armor piercing shots, small arms fire, high explosives, artillery barrages, air support, communications, turret rotation, gun depression, mines, roadblocks, barbed wire, smoke, and much more. The flexible scenarios cover a variety of combat situations that are resolved on the six-piece geomorphic mapboard, which also features movable terrain pieces. The types of units include infantry, anti-tanks guns (including the deadly 88mm), Matildas, Crusaders, Bren Carriers, Long Range Desert Group Trucks, Honeys, Grants, Shermans, M13/40s SEM 41s, a large variety of Pz IIIs and IVs, halftracks, and much, much more.

Expansions

Solitaire Scenarios for Use with Panzer, Armor, and 88