SGS Heia Safari (v1.7.9)

East Africa becomes one of World War I’s most unusual fronts: a sprawling colonial struggle shaped less by trenches than by distance, disease, supply shortages, and the ability to disappear into hostile terrain. SGS Heia Safari is a turn-based grand strategy wargame covering the 1914–1918 campaign between Imperial Germany and Entente forces from Britain, Belgium, Portugal, and across the Commonwealth. Players can command Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck’s outnumbered German colonial army and its experienced Askari troops, or take control of the Allies as they attempt to end an expensive distraction before it consumes still more men and matériel. The mood is methodical and historical rather than action-heavy, with every advance carrying consequences across a punishing theatre of war.

Each turn represents roughly a month, and the full campaign runs for 45 turns from August 1914 through November 1918. German commanders rely on defensive maneuvering, sharp leadership, limited resources, and guerrilla-style pressure to keep superior enemy numbers tied down, while the Entente must coordinate plentiful but imperfectly led forces without throwing away troops needed on other fronts. Shorter annual scenarios for every year of the war, plus a 1916-start campaign, offer more approachable ways to learn the map and its strategic problems. Event cards introduce military, economic, political, and diplomatic complications, ensuring that a familiar plan does not play out exactly the same way twice.

What distinguishes SGS Heia Safari is its focus on a campaign most WWI games treat as a footnote, presenting the East African war as a contest of endurance and logistics rather than a conventional race for territory. The asymmetry is meaningful: the Allies possess strength and urgency, while the Germans face a tougher survival challenge built around making every unit and supply source matter. Its ten-plus-hour grand campaign suits players who enjoy the focused historical scenarios of AGEOD-style and SGS strategy games more than those seeking fast tactical battles. Wargame newcomers can start with the smaller campaigns, but veterans looking for an uncommon WWI subject and demanding asymmetric decision-making get the most from it.