Fire in the Lake Playbook Example 2

Oct 3 2015

Example 2: The VC Rally and Tax

In this example, the player (that's me) is US/ARVN faction, with non-player NVA/VC.

The game is first set up to the Medium Scenario, then the VC are shifted around a bit.

Brinks Hotel (#97) is the card in play, with faction order VC, US, ARVN and NVA. There is no halo around the VC faction marker on the card, indicating that the Brinks Hotel event has no special significance for the VC. Reading the Event itself, we see that it's ineffective as there are no VC in cities.

Because the VC bot is first eligible, it does not play the Tet Offensive Pivotal Event, despite otherwise being eligible. Let's parse 8.4.6 closely to see how this works.

8.4.6 Pivotal Events for non-player faction must be played when:

The non-player faction is eligible but not first eligible (No).
The Pivotal Event's preconditions are met (Yes).
No coup card is next (Yes).
More details in sections 2.3.8 and 5.1.4.

Hence, no Tet for the VC this turn because the VC is first eligible.

Working the VC flow chart

Top Diamond: VC can terror at Support without last Underground VC at VC Base? More clearly, are there Underground VC in spaces which have support, such that running a Terror Operation leaves one Underground VC anywhere there is a VC base.

In this case, no, the areas with Support which also contain Underground VC are Binh Dinh, Pleiku and Khanh Hoa, but each of these spaces also have a base, with just a single VC. Move to the Middle Diamond.

Middle Diamond: VC have 12+ Guerrillas in Available or would place 2+ Bases?

There are 8 VC available, but
There are 2 Bases Available, which could be emplaced in Phuoc Long or Quang Nam each with 4+ VC in the space.

So looks like a Rally is a go.

The Rally Box:

Place Base in Quang Duc and Phuoc Long for 2 resources.
Then place Guerrillas in 2 spaces with ARVN cubes and no VC. This would be only An Loc.
Then place Guerillas where VC Base and < 4 Underground VC Guerrillas. This looks like Tay Ninh, Binh Tuy and Quang Nam. The playbook disallows Quang Nam, but the reason is not stated. It may be because Quang Nam has already been rallied into with the VC Base emplacement. COIN Control is removed from Tay Ninh.

Now we're at 0 resources, so the box says to Tax. From the Tax Box: Up to 4 spaces with Underground VC and no COIN Control:

Only if VC have 0 to 9 resources (yes)
First on Econ 2 then Econ 1 LoCs (none)
Then highest population with Active Support and no COIN Control. Nothing eligible.
If still 0 resources (yes), at Active Opposition, then random other with highest population first in each case. Active Opposition without COIN control we have Quang Nam and Tay Ninh for a total of 6 RPs for two spaces, and Kien Phong and Kien Hoa with Passive Opposition. This results in VC with 16 VP: 9 Bases for 9, plus 4 for Kien Giang, 2 for Tay Ninh, and 1 for Quang Nam. Resources now at 14.

And the VC can continue to Rally:

Then place VC to remove COIN Control. Nothing eligible.
Then place Guerrillas where 1-3 VC guerrillas, then other South Vietnam. Five spaces are eligible, roll 4-4-3 which translates to Kien Hoa, for one resource.

And that concludes the play example.

But let's continue on a card or two longer, and at least play through the next NVA bot.

Brinks Hotel (#97)

Since the VC played OSA, the US is next up and chooses the Event, just to make it easy. In this case, US chooses to move 4 patronage to Resources.

Typhoon Kate (#115)

The ARVN are up and choose to do an Operation only, which limits NVA to Limited Operation. ARVN chooses to Assault in Tay Ninh where there is an activated VC Guerrilla to regain COIN Control. Resources to 31, 11 Patron + 29 COIN to 40.

NVA gets a LimOp.

Top Diamond: Troop Attack will add Control or remove Base, last COIN or 4+ enemies from a space.

Attack can occur in any space with NVA and enemy. Current spaces where that holds, Quang Tri, Tay Ninh, but none of these will result in adding NVA, or remove a base, or the last COIN, or remove 4+ enemies. Moving down.

Middle Diamond: NVA can Terror 3+ population at Active Support. None.

Bottom Diamond: >20 Troops or >10 Guerrillas in NVA Available or Trail < 2? Yes, 22 Troop available, Rally.

Rally in one space for LimOp:

Place Bases at 4+ non-Base NVA/VC. Interpret this mean placing a Base wherever there are 4 or more total VC and NVA, where there isn't already a VC or NVA Base. No spaces eligible.
Then place Guerrillas at any COIN Control in Laos or Cambodia. None.
Next place Guerrillas at NVA Base with < 2 NVA Guerrillas (none), then at any NVA Bases, finally randomly. I'm taking this to mean that for my 1 space LimOp, I place Bases + Trail at any NVA Base, but which one it doesn't day, so I'm going to roll for it: 5-5-6 is Quang Nam, but there is no Base there, so follow the chart to The Fishhook. There are only 2 NVA Guerrillas available, both go to FishHook. Trail improves to 4, spend 5 resources to 15.

And that's that for Typhoon Kate.

Abrams (#11)

VC not eligible for Tet, with < 20 Guerrillas in South.

The US is up and will the Event on the Abrams card to acquire the Capability for removing enemy base first not last.

VC is up next, with an OSA.

Since ineligible for Terror and Rally, and there are no VC on LoCs, March.

Leave 2 VC at VC Bases, 1 elsewhere, underground first.
Add no COIN in South.
First get 1 VC underground onto each +1 Econ LoC. This can be done from Tay Ninh onto Route 14 and from Binh Tuy onto Route 20.
Then into 1+Pop, first where no Active Opposition, then so as to stay Underground with most then to remove most COIN Control possible.

That's all that's available. Moving on to Ambush. From Route 14, activate and remove 1 ARVN from Quang Duc. From Route 20, activate and remove 1 US from Binh Tuy. Really should have removed 2 US from Saigon though, as Saigon is adjacent to both Routes 14 and 20.

Khe Sanh (#37)

NVA is first up, with a halo'ed Event, hence not eligible for Easter Offensive. In this case, since the US is ineligible, the NVA play an OSA rather than the event on the card.

Troop Attack is not viable; cannot employ Terror anywhere there is Active Support, cannot Rally because no NVA Guerrilla are Available, so must March:

Forces which can march under constraint of leaving Base protection behind:
- N. Vietnam, 8 Troops.
- Central Laos, 8 Troop.
- Quang Tri, 1 Guerrilla.
- Tay Ninh, 2 Guerrillas.
- Fishhook, 2 Guerillas.
- Phuoc Long, 1 Guerrilla.
Trail is at 4, free marches through Laos and Cambodia.
Base is Available, but all spaces in Laos and Cambodia have bases already.
Underground Guerrilla on the Hue-Da Nang road.
By group, march to get NVA control to 3 highest Population. In this case, that would be Binh Dinh, Kien Giang and Kien Phong. But the bot can't meet the requirement for Kien Phong, so the March is restricted to Binh Dinh and Kien Phong.

This is all done for free due to trail being at 4.

Since we cannot remove a US or ARVN base, Infiltrate:

Base to The Fishhook.

And that's it, as all areas have no more than 2 NVA Guerrillas, the bot will not replace them with Troops. Personally, I'm thinking that may be a mistake as I could use those Guerrillas for Rally Operations.

And that's enough for now.

Next full play

VC will tax and tax and tax LoCs to see how much they can get built up. It will require spending to emplace, could be fun.

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.