by Brant G, 18 May 2025
We’re republishing this older AAR, which runs through one of the special scenarios that comes with Civilization 5. It’s got some special rules, as well as a set ‘stop point’ to limit how open-ended a Civ game is when not playing a scenario. This scenario was originally played/published over 10 years ago, but we wanted to preserve is in case parts of it go dark elsewhere.
The Scramble for Africa
It’s a new scenario that sounds very busy, so I’m curious what might come out of this. It seems as though the exploring is focused on finding other people, rather than finding new lands, so it’s a departure from my comfort zone, for sure.
click images to enlarge
Paul Kruger… Hmmmm…
You don’t get to play the Boers in any other Civ 5 game, so I’ll grab these guys. They repurposed the image of George Washington, but that’s fine. Not going to see him too much anyway. There are a few other Civ’s whose leaders were renamed, even if some of the images stuck around, like when Garibaldi subs in as the Italian leader, with Caesar’s leader portrait.
Opening Screen
There’s a lot of details on here, in pretty small print. But note the key for the Boers: build a lot of farms. Also, their unique unit is the Foreign Volunteer (defensive infantry) and they get a Staatsmuseum building that’s a culture boost over a normal museum.
This is the latest episode in a running playthrough of Civilization 5 from 2K Games; you can find new installments each Sunday
The Rules
This is a convoluted scenario! There’s the North Africans, that are after gold. There are sub-Saharans, that are after culture (so I definitely need to build farms). And there are the Europeans, who are trying to dig for artifacts, find wonders, and build railroads. It’s like there are 3 different games, depending on who you play.
First Turn
No cities. 2 Settlers. 2 Workers. 4 Foreign Volunteers. I need to plant some cities fast, but I need them in useful places. I want one right by the river on the left. The other settler I might push north a bit and see, but not too far so no one splits my cities. Also, there’s someone sticking in from the right side of the map, so there’s already a city over there. Same with the south side, where it looks like the Brits.
Pretoria
Parked that first city right where I want it. Now for the land grab.
Gimme Gimme Gimme
Yes, I’m grabbing a lot of land, especially for resources. There’s borders all around me, and I’m going to sink my treasury into expanding to those resources before someone else grabs them. Note that I’ve gone from 200G last turn to 45G this turn thanks to my shopping spree.
Building a Caravan
I want to get some caravans out there to boost my inbound gold. For the foreseeable future, I’ll need to be buying land like Thomas Jefferson, so I need the cash.
Queueing up
Caravans, some more infantry, and let’s get that museum built.
Hail Maria
So Portugal is nearby.
‘Ola Cetshwayo
So are the Zukes.
Yikes
So are a lot of Zukes. I want to get my next city on that river, but there’s a few unfrendly faces out there.
Hey’a Vickie!
There’s the English.
Trading… sort of
The first thing I’m doing with all these guys is establishing embassies. Part of it is to facilitate later trade, but also so I can find their cities on the map, which may not be immediately obvious (and aren’t always their true ‘capitals’).
Bloemfonten
I got my second city where I wanted it. I’m setting up some production, but don’t have the cash to grab the land I otherwise would’ve. Unfortunately, I don’t have the option to build a stadium, which eliminates the possibility of at least one miracle.
Dr Livingstone, I Presume
The European powers get to build “explorers” – part archaeologist, part Civ-III-era explorer – to roam the continent. Many of them have historical names attached to them, like most Great People do.
Developinizing
I’m starting to build up around Pretoria with my worker, starting with a mine for coal to power a factory and boost production.
Hmmmmmm…
There are a lot of Zulus around here, but they haven’t planted all their cities yet. I’m going to have to face them down now or later, so if I can strike quickly and thin out one of my competitors before he gets established, it’s going to make the rest of the game a little smoother. Maybe a lot smoother. Let’s get those volunteers into the fight.
WAR?!
You’ll have to wait ’til next time to find out if I go through with it!
Civilization 5 AAR – The Scramble for Africa
PART 1 ~ PART 2 ~ PART 3 ~ PART 4 ~ PART 5 ~ PART 6 ~ PART 7 ~ PART 8 ~ PART 9 ~ PART 10 ~ PART 11 ~ PART 12 ~ PART 13 ~ PART 14 ~ PART 15 ~ PART 16 ~ PART 17
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