Vietnam Solitaire first play

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In my quest to acquire a broad selection of English-language games on Vietnam, I picked up the Special Edition of Vietnam Solitaire. The original game is a $4 print-and-play. This one features extended rules, 88 laser cut counters (thick!) and additional scenarios.

I'm not going to take a lot of notes on this play. Mostly will limit myself to a few remarks per turn.

Turn 1

Bombed the trail and did some combat with ARVN. Managed to remove some VC.

End of Turn 1

Political Points at 6. Not a good start!

Turn 2

(I forgot to roll for Political Events.)

Phases:

  1. Trail Rolled 1,1 for placing Trail counters, but there is already trail in Haiphong, lucky.
  2. Attack Trail Green Beret roll 3 against Laos, no effect, and 2 against Hanoi, remove Hanoi trail marker. Advance PP by 2.
  3. Raise/Move US/ARVN Put a few on the map to attempt to get some PP back by clearing occupied areas.
  4. US/ARVN Combat VC rolls a 1, takes out an ARVN unit in Mekong, bummer. US take out that VC though.
  5. Place VC/NVA VC placed into Highlands Area 5. NVA placed in Area 6 of Hue as only the Haiphong Trail is active.
  6. Insurgency Combat none this turn.
  7. NVA/VC Offensive Roll 5, Mekong, no NVA or VC present, no offensive.
  8. Air Cav Movement None on the map this turn.
  9. Victory Check Mekong and Saigon are free of Communist forces, move PP back to 8. Political Events roll 5, no US/Allied ground units next turn.

Last turn, I also carried the Political Points forward, which is a mistake, it's to be reset at the current game turn. This really changes everything, because I was at 9 political points, and really couldn't see how it would be possible not to get creamed inside of 4-5 turns. So that makes more sense.

Turn 3

Since the Political Points get reset after each turn, it's time to call in the Cavalry, the Air Cav to be precise, which is expensive at 3 PP per unit. Except, bummer, political roll means cannot emplace US/ARVN ground troops this turn.

  1. Trail Roll 3 and 6.
  2. Attack Trail Since no US/ARVN ground troops can be placed this turn, going all out on the trail. Trail marker removed from Haiphong, remains in Laos, removed from Cambodia.
  3. Raise/Move US/ARVN no ground troops allowed this turn.
  4. US/ARVN Combat no ground troops allowed this turn.
  5. Place VC/NVA VC placed in Northern Saigon. NVA placed in Area 3-4 of Highlands.
  6. Insurgency Combat no insurgency this turn.
  7. NVA/VC Offensive NVA offensive in Region 1, Hue. ARVN make no hit, lose 1 of 2 units, retreat to the Area 5 box.
  8. Air Cav Movement no air cav units on the map.
  9. Victory Check Only Mekong free of Communist forces, PP at 9. Roll 3, no Green Beret attacks next turn.

Turn 4

  1. Trail roll 3, 6, add Trail to Cambodia.
  2. Attack Trail B52 on Laos, roll 2, remove; B52 Cambodia roll 4 remove. There are no trail markers down.
  3. Raise/Move US/ARVN Air Cav in Area 1-2 Cu Chi, move ARVN to Area 1. More ARVN in Hue and Highlands, might be a bad idea.
  4. US/ARVN Combat VC eliminated from Cu Chi. VC eliminated from N. Saigon.
  5. Place VC/NVA VC placed in Area 1 of Region 5 (Mekong). No trail on map, so no NVA placed this turn.
  6. Insurgency Combat None this turn.
  7. NVA/VC Offensive Roll 6, offensives in all Regions. * Hue: ARVN roll 1,2 (lucky) destroy 1 VC and 1 NVA, suffer 1 loss and retreat. * Highlands, VC roll 1,1 both ARVN destroyed! 1 VC destroyed. * Mekong: 1 VC destroyed.
  8. Air Cav Movement Air Cav stays in Cu Chi.
  9. Victory Check PP 15, busted. Should have let Hue and the Highlands alone, losing all those ARVN units hurt.

AAR

Pretty cool little game. I like it enough to play it several more times, and I think it's definitely beatable.

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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.