Looking for a Portuguese Colonial War video game? There's no standalone title - but BUSHWAR lets you fight Portugal's African campaigns as a modern military game, built as a free community overhaul mod for Arma Reforger.
For thirteen years, Portugal - Western Europe's poorest country - fought three simultaneous counter-insurgencies across an empire twenty-two times its own size. The war consumed nearly half the national budget, sent a generation of conscripts to Africa, and ended only when its own officers overthrew the government in the Carnation Revolution of 1974.
The Conflict
The war began in Angola in 1961 with uprisings answered by brutal repression, then spread to Guinea-Bissau in 1963 and Mozambique in 1964. Portugal faced different enemies in each theatre: the MPLA, FNLA, and UNITA in Angola; the PAIGC under Amílcar Cabral in Guinea; FRELIMO under Eduardo Mondlane and Samora Machel in Mozambique - each backed by different Cold War patrons.
Guinea-Bissau became the war's hardest front, where the PAIGC fielded anti-air missiles and pushed Portuguese forces back toward the coast. In Angola and Mozambique, Portugal held the cities and contested the bush with a mix of conscript infantry, local recruitment, and elite intervention forces.
A War of Three Theatres
Portuguese tactics anticipated much of what Rhodesia and South Africa would later refine: heliborne assault with the Alouette III, fast riverine patrols in Guinea's mangroves, aldeamento resettlement programmes, and elite units - Comandos, Paraquedistas, Fuzileiros, and the locally recruited Flechas - taking the war to insurgent sanctuaries.
The G3 battle rifle, the Panhard AML armoured car, and the Fiat G.91 strike jet defined the Portuguese arsenal. By 1974 the army was undefeated in the field in Angola and Mozambique but exhausted as an institution - and the captains who had fought the war ended it at home.
In BUSHWAR
BUSHWAR depicts the Portuguese theatres with period kit: G3 rifles, camouflage lizard patterns, and the Alouette III in its earliest African gunship role. Patrol the mato as a Comando section, run riverine insertions, or fight from the bush as PAIGC and FRELIMO guerrillas.
Operations capture the scale and isolation of the war - small garrisons, long patrols, and three very different theatres against AI or live opponents.
Frequently Asked
Is there a Portuguese Colonial War video game?
No studio has released a standalone Portuguese Colonial War title, but you can play it today through BUSHWAR - a free community overhaul mod for Arma Reforger, Bohemia Interactive's current-generation military game on PC and Xbox. It brings period Portuguese kit and the war's three African theatres to life.
Which theatres can you play?
All three fronts of the war - Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau - each with its own terrain, from bush and mato to Guinea's riverine mangroves.
Can you play as the insurgents?
Yes. Fight as a Portuguese Comando, Paraquedista or Fuzileiro, or take the guerrilla side as PAIGC and FRELIMO fighters.
How do I play it - is it free?
BUSHWAR is a free, non-profit community mod. You need a copy of Arma Reforger; the mod and our PvP and PvE servers are free to join via Discord.
No political affiliations. We do not seek to glorify any participants in the conflicts we portray. Historical depiction only, within Arma Reforger.