Vietnam Solitaire 5 (Special Edition)
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So far, I've been playing the Special Edition of Vietnam Solitaire using the original rules. And it's been good. The Special Edition is special for a reason: it has special rules, and it's time to put those rules to work.
This game, unlike the last game, I'm careful to set up the game correctly before starting.
An immediate difference between the two games is the Sudden Death criteria. In the original rules, having 14 or more Political Points expended at the ended the game as a loss for the Allies. In this game, it's losing region control including Saigon to the NVA/VC which loses the game.
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Turn 1: SAM into Haiphong, Trail into Cambodia 5. GB on Cambodia 5 roll 6 miss, GB on Laos 3 roll 6 miss. 2 ARVN to Cu Chi, move other two ARVN into Area 1-2 Cu Chi. That's all for placement this turn. Napalm Mekong 5 roll 4 hit, Siagon 5 roll 1 hit. ARVN hits in Cu Chi, clear VC. VC emplaced in Saigon Area 6. NVA enter everywhere! Insurgency loss in Hue. Offensive in Saigon, NVA carries the day, they have been rolling 1s almost every throw. This game was almost over first turn.
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Turn 2: SAM added to 2, second Trial to 5. GB to attack Trail Cambodia 5, roll 4,4 no effect. 4 ARVN into Saigon, regions 3 and 5. Combat in Saigon 3, lose NVA and 1 ARVN. VC into Central Saigon. Insurgency in Hue 5 and Northern Siagon; Hue roll 1, 3 NVA wins. Saigon roll 1, 2 6, NVA and 1 ARVN lost, 1 NVA remains. Offensive in Highlands, naplam eliminates VC, now 2 ARVN, 1 NVA roll for 1 ARVN elmination, other retreats to 5. Move 3 NVA to Highlands 1. Allies with control 2, NVA/VC with control 3.
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Turn 3: Political from last turn: No Green Beret, which is fine, wasn't going to use them anyway this turn. Trail 2 & 3, but 2 is full up already with SAMs as well. B52 attack on 3 and 5: 1 Trail marker from Cambodia 5. 1 Air Cav, 2 US and 4 ARVN emplaced. ARVN into Saigon, all US into Highlands. Saigon clear. Big battle in Highlands roll 10 d6, lose 1 ARVN, 2 NVA, roll again: lose 1 ARVN, 1 US, 1 NVA; roll again: 1 NVA, roll…US carries, but expensive. Actually, I got the wrong order on that, I did the infiltration first for NVA. No big deal. VC infiltration: Highlands 2/5. MAJOR OFFENSIVE! Napalm succeeds in Cu Chi and in Mekong. ARVN lost in Saigon, no control. Highlands Area 1 controlled.
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Turn 4: No GB or B52 this turn. That hurts. Trail roll is 3 & 5. US/ARVN placement heavy in Saigon and Highlands. Combat, lose an ARVN for a VC, more lucky rolls of 1 for VC. In Area 1 Highlands, NVA roll pair of 2s, yikes. Remaining NVA rolled 1. VC and NVA are rolling 1s and 2s on almost every battle. Saigon cleared. Offensive in Region 2, NVA and VC against ANZAC, roll 1 for VC, ANZAC gone, no control in Highlands. However, control marker is now on the track for the first time in the game.
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Turn 5: No GB or B52 this turn. 3 NVA, 3 dice, snake eyes. Dang. VC into Cu Chi. NVA in all over the map. Starting in Hue: ARVN carries. Finally. Highlands 1: ALlies carry. Cu Chi 3-4: ARVN carries. Saigon: US carries, loses 1. Mekong: napalm carries. Offensive: Highlands, VC rolled their usual 1, again…US carries. The US/ARVN dice are getting better, but not fast enough to overcome really bad rolls early on. Nine Trail counters are on the map.
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Turn 6: Political roll: no B52! Dang! Trail to 2 & 4, which puts the MIGs on the board and the last Trail counter. This is the last turn with 15 political points, starts to go down quickly after this. On the plus side, I have all the US and all the non-armor ARVN on the board now. If I can just keep it on the board. After combat, we have temporary control of Highlands. We'll see what happens after infiltration and offensive. VC into Mekong 2, should be no problem to handle. Offensive in Saigon, no units, no effect. Advance Region Control to 3. This game is still not lost, although it looks pretty bad given the situation with the political points.
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Turn 7: No GB this turn. I should have just enough political points to do 2 B52 and get the rest of the units on the board. B52 takes 1 Trail from Laos 3, not enough but still helpful. All Allied units emplaced, no combat on emplacement, napalm saved, playing the defensive game this turn. VC infiltrate in Mekong 6 where 2 ARVN are lurking in wait, this is slanted to ARVN nicely. NVA infiltration left too many units on the board, not getting Region Control advancement this turn. Score: 3/7, losing.
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Turn 8: Political roll, remove 1 US unit, taken out of Mekong 3-4. Turns out I have to remove 2 US ground anyway. So that sucks. Trail roll 2 & 4, all 10 Trail back on the map. Remove 1 Trail B52 on Cambodia 4. Still getting a lot of units on the map. B52 scores on Laos 3. Combat cleared Highlands and Cu Chi. Insurgency rolls, lots of 1s for the VC/NVA. As usual. Offensive in Hue, VC rolls a 1. As usual. 4 NVA relocate from Hue to Highlands. Not good. Control marker stays at 3, score 3/8.
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Turn 9: Political roll: no US ground going in. Also, 2 coming out on this turn, 4 out total. Trail into Cambodia 6. All the NVA will be on the board this turn, minus NVA armor. B52 success on Cambodia 5, one less NVA coming into Saigon. So many 1s. Allied offensive clears 4 regions, let's see how much can stay clear. Two ones in a row for NVA against 2 ARVN in Saigon. That's just bad luck. No offensive this turn. No movement for Region Control, 3/9. I have to carry 3 regions for every turn for the next 7 turns to get even a marginal victory.
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Turn 10: Not going blow by blow. The result is really not pretty, as can be seen in the dice shown below.
Seriously, that's a hint to find something else to do.
I'll pick this game up again later. I'm supposed to play a couple more rounds to get it up to 7 plays for h-index, but I might not worry about that for a bit. Need to lick my wounds for a while.
Blunders
NVA relocation, I didn't really understand that well, and moved a lot of NVA from Hue into Highlands over several turns. The way it works is that the region from which the NVA are moving may not have any Allied units present.