Afghanistan ’11

afghanistan-11-boxWe have big news today. We are announcing a new game, one which explores a largely untouched setting and with an extremely original approach to wargaming: Afghanistan ’11.

Afghanistan ’11 builds upon the very successful Vietnam ’65 and brings its original formula to the desolate mountains of Afghanistan, where the US armed forces, assisted by the local Afghan National Army, fought for years against an invisible enemy.

Afghanistan ’11 isn’t your standard wargame: if you want to win it won’t just be about eliminating the enemy on the battlefield, but you will need to conquer the Hearts & Minds of the locals by ensuring safety to villages, isolating and eliminating Taliban leaders, training the Afghan army and building and protecting infrastructure.

Logistics and organization will be extremely important as the Talibans, tribal militias and drug lords will attempt to thwart your efforts with sneaky ambushes and terroristic attacks – the enemy plays hide and seek and could be everywhere and only the most skilled strategist will manage to win the war in Afghanistan and help build a modern nation.

Want to know more? Please visit the product page.

The game is about to enter its beta testing phase, and we could use your help. Feel free to apply here.

And let us know what you think and your first impressions are on the forum, here.

Afghanistan ’11 is coming on PC and Steam in Q1 2017!

afghanistan-11-boxBy Alex Connolly @ The Wargamer

If  you didn’t do your fair share of fighting up the Ia Drang last year, you really should. South African studio Every Single Soldier crafted a slick COIN wargame in Vietnam ’65, one that received hearty praise across the board. Counter-insurgency is an extra-dirty business in the modern era, where the might of state actors don’t quite have the purchase they’d otherwise have in more conventional scenarios. In a post-9/11 world, mired in protracted military campaigns, this is the war of the Now. This is also the war ESS’s Johan Nagel wants to tackle in the follow-up to Vietnam ’65, Afghanistan ’11.

Read on…

afghanistan-11-boxSource: The Wargamer

Last year’s Vietnam ’65 was a fantastic game, a wargame in which controlling the hearts and minds of the local population is just as important as which hexes your units occupy. Developer Every Single Soldier isn’t done delving into wargames with a slightly political bent, as their next game will delve into the Middle East, specifically Afghanistan ’11.

There was a time when war was fought by two regular armies on battlefields. That time is over. The year is 2011, you are commanding the US army operations in Afghanistan. But contrary to the previous generations of military officers in your family, killing the enemy is only a secondary mission. Most of your efforts and resources are spent elsewhere. Providing security to the civilians, persuading local tribes to reject the Taliban and isolating insurgent leaders are your main focus.

Counter-Insurgency will have better results in the long run than conventional tactics but a simple incident during a routine patrol can ruin your relationship with the locals and damage your image in the Western newspapers.

Afghanistan ’11 will include:

  • A full nation building module, whereby player can affect the hearts and minds of the local population via non-military means (constructing infrastructure and delivering UNICEF aid)
  • An intense 19 battle campaign covering the iconic Afghan war operations from establishing Camp Rhino to the Bin Laden Raid (Neptune Spear)
  • Command the American and the Afghanistan National Army during ground and air operations
  • Drones, multirole fighters and ground-attack aircraft are available to help you to spot and eliminate enemy units
  • Upgrade your bases with specific buildings to offer a better support to your soldiers and military vehicles
  • Random social and political events – like Afghanistan National elections – affecting the balance of power in the Afghan theatre
  • Taliban operations are financed from the growing and harvesting of opium crops. Locate and destroy these fields to cripple the opponent’s resources
  • Full range of modern military units including artillery, mechanized and infantry units, engineers, helicopters, etc
  • Special forces including sniper and forward air controller actions, offering you plenty of tactical options.

Aside from Afghanistan ’11, Every Single Soldier is working on another game right now that puts you in control of the USS Ronald Reagan supercarrier in the middle of a warzone. It’s called Carrier Deck, and sounds more like a management sim than a straight-up wargame. That’s not a bad thing.

No clue on when either of these two new games are hitting the shelves, but we do know that Afghanistan ’11 is slated for both PC and iPad. Not sure what platforms Carrier Deck is coming to, but we should be talking with Every Single Soldier soon and have a lot more info to pass along.