Game Design: BrianTrain
DARK DAYS
In March 1954 Ahmed Ben Bella, an ex-sergeant in the French army, joined eight other Algerian exiles in Egypt to form a revolutionary committee that later became known as the National Liberation Front (Front de Libération Nationale, FLN). A few months later, the FLN launched its bid for Algerian independence by coordinated attacks on public buildings, military and police posts, and communications installations.
A steady rise in guerrilla action over the next two years forced the French to bring in reinforcements; eventually, 400, 000 French troops were stationed in Algeria. The FLN strategy combined guerrilla tactics with deliberate use of terrorism. The guerrilla tactics effectively immobilized superior French forces, while indiscriminate murders and kidnappings of Europeans and Muslims who did not actively support the FLN created a climate of fear throughout the country. This in turn brought counterterrorism, as colons and French army units raided Muslim villages and slaughtered the civilian population.
Algeria is a game simulating the conflict between the FLN Arab nationalist guerrillas and the French government from 1954 to 1962. During the game, the FLN player tries to erode the authority of the French colonial authorities and replace their governing structures with his own, to the point that Algeria makes the transition from being the 10th department of France to national independence.
The 11 x 17" map is an abstracted representation of Algeria, divided into areas. The 280 counters represent small or large military or paramilitary formations including FLN fronts and cadres, Algerian paramilitary units, and French regular and elite units
