Two friends from Newcastle have embarked on what they estimate will be a 20-to-30-year journey to finish playing The Campaign for North Africa, widely recognized as one of the most complex board games ever created. James Purcell, 29, and 30-year-old Andy Taeger spent roughly 18 months just playing six trial turns before launching their full campaign on Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. local time.
The simulation, originally designed by Richard Berg and published in 1979, recreates the Second World War North African campaign fought between 1940 and 1943. Its immense scale features a map measuring approximately three meters long, 1,600 playing pieces, and seven detailed rulebooks. Players must track military units, aircraft movements, and supply convoys alongside logistics such as fuel evaporation rates and water consumption. One particular rule requires Italian forces to allocate extra water rations simply to boil their pasta.
Purcell and Taeger purchased their copy of the game for £970 and decided to record their progress through a dedicated podcast titled War With a Mate. Before starting their official campaign, they published 99 episodes documenting their preparation and trial sessions. They launched the actual game on the release of their 100th podcast episode, broadcasting the entire opening day live to their listeners.
Within the game, Purcell represents the Axis powers while Taeger commands the Allied forces. If they manage to finish the game, they will become the first known people to successfully do so. Both players acknowledge that the multi-decade endeavor could ultimately end in a draw or even a realization that the massive simulation is mathematically impossible to complete. Even so, they remain fully committed to seeing it through.
You don’t want to make a mistake just because you rushed a bit,
Taeger noted. Because that’s a mistake you could be fixing for the next 10 years.
The duo spent several years preparing for the logistical and intellectual challenge before committing to live play. With the opening session completed and recorded, the two men now face decades of tactical micro-management on their three-meter battlefield in Newcastle.
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