Upcoming WWII deckbuilder Undaunted: North Africa has an official demo on Tabletop Simulator

Play Undaunted: North Africa for free with a newly-released demo scenario for the upcoming World War II deckbuilding game now available on Tabletop Simulator.

A board game for two players, Undaunted: North Africa is the follow-up to last year’s Undaunted: Normandy, which saw players go head-to-head as German and US forces following D-Day.

In North Africa, players take control of the British Army’s Long Range Desert Group or Italian forces in a series of dramatic skirmishes across the desert sands during the early years of the Second World War. With the Italian troops occupying land in the northern part of the continent, the LRDG soldiers must attempt to pass through enemy lines and break the enemy’s defence.

As with Undaunted: Normandy, North Africa sees players using a unique deck of cards to move their unit tokens across the map in order to capture particular targets or take out enemy buildings. A deckbuilding game, North Africa forces players to consider how they’re going to further develop their deck by adding additional cards as well as neutralising the enemy units on the board with tactical movement and attacks.

Depending upon what cards a player draws, they can choose to gain new cards - such as additional soldiers or even vehicles - move their units, attack an enemy unit or claim certain spaces on the board. Whenever a player attempts to attack an enemy unit, they must roll the number of dice listed on the attacking unit’s card against that of the opponent’s in order to do damage.

In a departure from the first entry in the series, North Africa puts a greater focus on the asymmetric - meaning the different abilities and goals of each warring side - elements of the two-player title, with the LRDG forces typically having less firepower but greater stealth and the Italian troops getting stronger units, including all-new vehicles such as tanks.

In our review, Matt found North Africa to be an improvement to the already “outstanding” Normandy, writing: “North Africa’s ultra-polished gameplay makes it a great game; the immersive, careful details on top make it an exceptional experience.”

Publisher Osprey Games announced that the free digital demo scenario for Undaunted: North Africa has been released in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on major tabletop conventions, leading to the cancellation and postponement of events across the world.

Citing the cancellation of the UK Games Expo, at which the publisher was planned to demo the scenario, Osprey said it had released a free mod for digital board game app Tabletop Simulator to allow players to get a taste of the upcoming game.

Aside from creating both games in the Undaunted series, co-designers Trevor Benjamin and David Thompson are responsible for creating abstract wargame War Chest. Osprey is known for releasing games including the latest edition of auction game High Society and co-op game The Lost Expedition.

The digital demo for Undaunted: North Africa is free to access on the workshop section of Tabletop Simulator on Steam for PC ahead of the physical board game’s release on July 9th.