Creating African scenarios

[Artaud]

The EPLF captured a great deal of equipment from the Ethiopian military during the years of fighting, up to and including the final battles against the Derg. If I remember correctly, during the final stages of the war against the Derg, the EPLF and the Ethiopian anti-Derg forces successfully switched over to conventional tactics and weaponry, sealing the regime's fate.

Following the defeat of the Derg, Ethiopia expected the Eritreans to behave like little brothers and continue some sort of federation with Ethiopia. The Eritreans thought the Ethiopians insufficiently grateful, because without the EPLF the war could not have been won.

Because of its ethnic, territorial, political and personal aspects, the Ethiopian-Eritrean conflict is a fascinating one. I remember foreign observers calling it "Africa's first modern war." It was reported that the two sides were spending hundreds of millions of dollars on military hardware, although there was a great deal of Soviet equipment left over by the old Ethiopian army.

Eritrea is my second favorite African country. It's just a really interesting place.

I'm surprised that there has been so little interest in this conflict among wargamers. But it is what it is.