Another visit to the Mekong Delta and other adventures

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Time again for action in the delta, the Mekong Delta that is. My usual opponent and I sat down for a more in depth examination of SEALORDS. This is the third time we've gotten it to the table, and we're starting to get more of the nuance required to play the game well.

We played the six turn Game Warden scenario.

Some notes from the game:

  • On setup, note that supply infiltration and troop infiltration junks are placed in Cambodia.

  • Cadre occupation acquire double VP during territorial victory point phase, and allow deploying reinforcements in South Vietnam rather than Cambodia.

  • VC militia and local force infantry are always in supply, so do not deploy these bases.

  • Deploy supply caches in towns without militia or local forces.

  • Do not deploy bunkers with deception units only.

  • Guerrilla markers go out of play when revealed?

  • Deception goes out of play or in reinforcements or refit once revealed?

  • For airstrike only, does Z send air unit to refit?

  • What are FWA CI units good for?

  • Roll for bounce on every combat cycle?

  • Final score nva 63, fwa 44, draw with 19 point spread.

Good game. I'm sure we're going to play it again.

After SEALORDS, we ripped through the first three turns of Yaquinto's The Fall of South Vietnam. We skimmed the rules and jumped right in. I'm almost sure we didn't play it correctly, but I'm also sure we weren't too far off. It's fundamentally an extremely simple game, which we're looking at as a filler.

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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.