Can Two Friends Complete a Game No One Has Ever Finished?

Can Two Friends Complete a Game No One Has Ever Finished? - The New York Times

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Can Two Friends Complete a Game No One Has Ever Finished?

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/world/europe/campaign-for-north-africa-game.html

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Can Two Friends Complete a Game No One Has Ever Finished?

The Campaign for North Africa, a staggeringly complicated World War II board game, has stymied players for decades. Now two guys in England are giving it a serious go.

Listen · 6:32 min

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!two men kneeling in front of war game maps with the game in front of them

*James Purcell, left, and Andrew Taeger with the terrifyingly complex Campaign for North Africa board game.

Credit...

War With a Mate*

By

Victor Mather

Sept. 18, 2026, 5:04 a.m. ET

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War is hell. And sometimes war games can be, too.

Hardcore war gamers and designers like their battles and campaigns to be simulated with scrupulous accuracy and in granular detail. Sometimes this comes at the expense of the gaming experience.

And there is one particularly notorious war game from 1979, the Campaign for North Africa, a board game so detailed, complex and cumbersome to play that it is thought that no one has ever actually finished it (including its creator).

Now two guys from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, are trying. James Purcell and Andrew Taeger have spent nearly two years just mastering the rules and practicing, and they are ready to start playing the game for real. Finishing it could take decades, if it doesn’t drive them mad first.

They are documenting the challenge in a podcast, “War With a Mate,” which has run for 93 episodes so far. Once again, to be clear, they haven’t actually started playing yet.

A friend told Mr. Purcell and Mr. Taeger about the game that no one is known to have finished. “And then me and Andy were at the pub a few weeks afterward, and we just sort of went, ‘Have you been thinking about that game a lot?’” Mr. Purcell said in an interview. “And we both came to the conclusion that playing the game would be a fun idea.”

*A view of the board game The Campaign for North Africa*

*War With A Mate*

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