Desert Fox Deluxe

About this board game

Desert Fox Deluxe is a two-player campaign board game with an advertised play time of 2,880 minutes, covering the war in the North African desert from the Italian invasion of Egypt in 1940 to the final Allied clearance of Africa in 1943.

This edition combines the previously published Desert Fox and Trail of the Fox, then expands them with additional rules, units, and maps. The result is a large-scale treatment of the complete campaign, including the shifting impact of events beyond the desert itself.

The map scale is 10 miles per hex, and each turn represents one month. Units are mainly regiments and brigades, supported by specialist battalions and a small number of Italian and Vichy French divisions. With vast distances to cross, logistics is the paramount consideration, making the buildup and supply of forces central to every operation.

• A turn sequence built around two move-fight impulses for each player
• Separate phases for events, air power, naval power, and initiative determination
• Fast, intense action alternating with quieter periods of preparation
• Three 17-by-22-inch maps, two 8.5-by-22-inch maps, one 11-by-17-inch map, and 560 counters

The 2019 boxed edition adds cards that better represent the effects of off-map events, including Greece and East Africa, on reinforcements and withdrawals. It includes 20 Axis cards, 28 Allied cards, a Support Booklet, and a Campaign Analysis Booklet.

Desert Fox Deluxe asks both sides to balance movement, combat, supplies, and external developments across a campaign that can shift between sudden action and extended pauses.