Fire in the Lake 11, with Playbook Example 4
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NOTE: this game is being played out over several days, and will be moved to a new date on the day it's finished.
And it's time to start the 11th playthrough of Fire in the Lake. This is one of my H-index games, currently at 10 plays. If I can get 2 more plays, my H-index moves to 12, which is my target for this year.
My goal for this play through is to get more comfortable with the rules, and code up a bit of logic in Ruby to see what I can do with with. This is much more time consuming than just taking my best whack at playing all sides manually, so it could draw the game out considerably.
It's embarrassing to admit this play was started on March 4, 2017, and didn't even get through the first card until being resumed on October 15, 2017. But it did get back underway, finally. Since I haven't played any COIN lately, much less Fire in the Lake, the goal for finishing this game is relearning the rules, and playing it mechanically perfect. I'm not worried about "who" is going to win. I do plan on working a little bit with the bots, but I still find them very confusing.
The US Sweeps with Airlift
Example 4 in the playbook focuses on the US, which wants to sweep, and will use airlifting to help enable the sweep.
Round 1
Start the game according to Example 4 setup instructions.
1. Operation Attleboro (23)
US is first eligible, with halo. Non-player cards dictates Op & Special Activity.
Going to the Bot Chart:
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Will an Assault succeed? No. The NVA is hunkered down in N. Vietnam and Central Laos, the VC are all in hidden mode. There is nothing to assault.
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Sweep: Looks like US can sweep like crazy:
- Quang Tri for 3 NVA
- Binh Dinh for 2 VC
- Phu Bon for 2 VC
- Pleiku for 2 VC
- Kanh Hoa for 2 VC
- Vinh Tuy for 2 VC
- Saigon for 1 VC
Special Activity is Airlift. There are extra US at Quang Tri, Saigon and Can Tho, and we're allowed to Airlift from 4 locations.
This should allow adding Tay Ninh to the above list.
First, read the rule section on Sweep, 3.2.3:
- 0 resources for US
- 3 resources for ARVN per space selected
- Each US Troop or Irregular or ARVN Troop or Irregular can Activate 1 VC or NVA guerrilla per 2 units in Jungle, per 1 unit in all other terrain types.
For Airlift, 4.2.2: move any US troops and up to 4 ARVN troops among any 4 spaces.
For the Bot we have: 8.8.3:
- No Booby Traps in effect, so can sweep in more than 2 spaces.
I don't think there is more, and it isn't clear how many spaces I can sweep outside of monsoon. Usually 4 or 6 is max, here we have potentially 8.
Following the playthrough, 3 US Troops and 1 Ranger airlifted from Can Tho 1 into Bin Tuy, 1 Troop and 1 Ranger from Quang Tri into Quang Nam.
Now to do the sweeps:
- Quang Nam: Flip 2 VC and take COIN control.
- Binh Dinh: Flip 2 VC.
- Phu Bon: Flip 2 VC.
- Binh Tuy: Flip 2 VC.
- Khanh How: Flip 2 VC.
- Pleiku: Flip 2, VC.
- Tay Hinh: Flip 1 VC.
And that's a done deal.
As mentioned about, I tried to computerized this, and spent 2-3 days banging on it pretty hard. I ended up shelving the project for a while to focus on other things, but it's something I should get back to in the future. It's a good problem.
It's now that VC's play, and they are going to chose the Event on Operation Attleboro, which is to roll 1 die and remove that many US troops to casualties. The space needs to be a tunnel space, and Tay Ninh is just the ticket. Roll 4, remove all US including base from Tay Ninh.
2. Brinks Hotel (97)
ARVN is up first and will play the event and move Aid +10 from 30 to 40.
NVA follows with Op and SA, which is going to be March and Ambush.
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North Vietnam to Quang Tri, move loads, flip 1 NVA guerrilla, remove 1 US to Casualties. Pay 1 resource. NVA Control.
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Southern Laos to Quang Nam, move 7 Troop 1 G, flip G, remove 1 US to Casualties. NVA Control. Pay 1 Resource.
3. Hamburger Hill (36)
US is up first, will choose the event, "A Shau Valley campaign." Move 3 Troops from Binh Tuy and 1 from Phu Bon to Quang Nam, which removes the VC Base and also removes NVA Control.
VC gets Op and SA, Op will be Rally:
- Binh Tuy, Quang Duc, Tay Ninh, Phuoc Long, Kien Giang.
SA is Subvert, replace ARVN in Kien Giang which removes COIN Control and replace ARVN in Quang Duc which also removes COIN Control.
4. RAND (52)
NVA is up and will play the RAND event, which is flipping a US capability to shaded side. Since I don't recall which side is which, nor what the Secret Code on each side means, I need to do a bit of work with the rules. Ok, here's the deal, "shaded" refers to the text on the card, not the appearance of the counter. In this case, NVA choose Arc Light to flip to shaded side.
This leaves ARVN with Op and SA. ARVN needs to get some COIN control back. To that end, it's a Sweep and Raid operation, with the Raids running first in Tay Ninh and Kien Giang, removing 2 guerrillas each.
The Sweep runs next. Move Troop and Police from Saigon to Tay Ninh, flip 2/4 guerrillas (jungle), pay 3 resource. Sweep in Kien Giang, flip 1 VC pay 3 resource, Kien Giang now COIN control.
5. Cambodian Civil War (62)
The US is definitely going to work this event. It will screw the NVA really hard. The US gets free Air Lifts into and US or ARVN free sweeps within Cambodia. Remove 2 NVA/VC bases from Cambodia.
The two bases are coming from The Fishhook and The Parrot's Beak.
Air Lift takes 2 ARVN each from Quang Tin and Phu Bon into The Fishhook to sweep, 2 NVA flipped (jungle) and COIN control. An ugly day for the NVA.
This leaves the VC with Op and SA, which will be March and Ambush.
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March from Phuoc Long to Pleiku, from Quang Duc to Binh Tuy. Spend two resource.
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Ambush in Pleiku, remove 1 US to casualties. Ambush in Binh Tuy, remove 1 US to Casualties.
US has 7 in Casualties. That's not good for US.
6. An Loc (71)
ARVN first eligible, will play the event to move 3 Troops from The Fishhook to Quang Tri, removing all NVA Troops.
NVA follows with Op and SA, which will be Attack and Bombard.
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Bombard: Quang Nam and Quang Tri, remove 1 each US to Casualties.
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Attack in Quang Nam, 6 NVA remove 3 US to casualties, 3 NVA to available. Quang Nam under NVA control.
7. Lam Son 719 (74)
US first eligible, will take the event to place up to 6 ARVN in a Laos space and knock the Trail down 2 from 3 to 1. ARVN comes from The Fishhook and Quang Tri, 4 total.
VC follow with Op and SA, which will be Terror and Subvert.
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Terror: Kien Hoa, Kien Phong, Quang Duc, & Binh Tuy.
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Subvert: Binh Tuy and Quang Duc, replace 1 each.
I don't recall playing VC this agressively in the past.
8. My Lai (119)
ARVN is first eligible, could play Pivotal Event right now, choosing to Sweep and Transport instead.
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Transport: 4 ARVN from Central Laos to Quang Tri.
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Sweep: Quang Tri, Binh Tuy, spend 6 resource.
This sort of screws the NVA who only get a LimOp for this turn. Will make it easy for them though.
NVA LimOp has to be Rally, need to improve the Trail. Will go for Southern Laos, replace 2 guerrilla with 1 Base, then place 3 guerrilla for 1 rsource, improve Trail for 2 more resources.
9. USS New Jersey (30)
Just in time on the NVA, getting that base down and the Trail improved, as the Coup card comes up next. Good timing for them.
US will do Op with no SA to limit VC to LimOp.
US Assault in Quang Tri, Base + 1 Troop eliminates 2 NVA guerrillas, followup with 9 ARVN removes 2 NVA guerrillas and NVA Base, Aid +6. Pay 3 Resource.
VC: LimOp, put a Base in Quang Duc.
On to the first Coup.
10. Coup! Failed Attempt
6.1 Victory phase:
- US: 5 available + 32 support = 37.
- VC: 8 base + 13 oppose = 21.
- ARVN: 14 patron + 25 COIN = 39.
- NVA: 6 base + 1 control = 7.
Nobody is doing very well here.
6.2 Resources phase.
6.2.1 All cities with COIN control, nothing on LoC.
6.2.2 Degrade Trail: nothing to do here, no COIN in Laos
or Cambodia.
6.2.3 ARVN Earnings: Start with 15, add 46 Aid, 15 Econ, 76.
6.2.4 Insurgent Earnings:
- VC: number of bases on map: 8 + 4 = 12.
- NVA: 5 bases in Laos/Cambodia, Trail at 2, new total 24.
6.2.5 Casualties and Aid: subtract 3 x number of US
Casualties from Aid: 12 x 3 = 36, Aid now 10. Dang.
6.3 Support phase:
6.3.1 Pacification:
- ARVN: chooses none.
- US: chooses Hue, Da Nang, Qui Nhon, Quang Tin, spend 12 ARVN resources, flip to Active Support.`
6.3.2 Agitation:
- VC spend 2 Resource to remove Terror and shift Quang Duc to Active opp., 1 R to shift Ba Xuyen.
6.4 Redeploy phase
6.4.1 Remove all US and ARVN from Laos and Cambodia. None
so no effect.
6.4.2 ARVN Redeploy: Move Troops from Tay Ninh to Saigon.
6.4.3 NVA Redeploy: NVA may move to any NVA bases, nothing here
this round.
6.4.4 Adjust COIN Control: no effect.
6.4.5 Not the final round, thus not game end.
6.5 Commitment phase:
Four US to out-of-play, 8 to available, and will pull those back onto the map. The base goes in Pleiku. I think this should have gone to casualties, then to out-of-play, will know better next time.
6.6 Reset phase:
- Trail is at 2, good to go.
- Remove all Terror and Sabotage.
- Flip all irregulars.
- Discard Momentum cards.
- Mark all factions eligible.
- Play the next 2 cards.
11. PoWs (40)
NVA is first up. The Event allows putting 3 US Troops from Available to Casualties, which might be a good idea, but the NVA really need to focus on rebuilding. The converse of the event moves US Casualties to Available, but there aren't any casualties. NVA taking Op/SA puts US up next with LimOp. Sounds like a plan.
NVA Rally with Infiltrate.
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The Parrot's Beak: Has 2 NVAG, add 2 and replace 2 with Base for 1 Base and 2 NVAG
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The Fishhook, same as Parrot's Beak.
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Northeast Cambodia: Replace 2 NVAG with Base, place 4 NVAG.
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Central Laos: Place 3 NVAG.
Bump Trail to 3.
Infiltrate:
- The Parrot's Beak with 1.
- Northeast Cambodia with 3.
Expensive, 6 resources.
US has a LimOp, will Train and Pacify in Quang Tri. Add 2 ARVN Police and replace 2 ARVN Troops with Base. Pay 3 ARVN Resource to Pacify and shift from passive support to active support.
12. Armored Cavalry (61)
ARVN is up first, will take the Event as otherwise losing it would suck, would limit transport to Rangers from one space.
VC will take the Op/SA.
Operation is March, putting VC on 7 LoCs for 0 Resource spend. Tax on 4 of those: Route 20, Route 11, Route 1 twice. Pretty cool. Resources now 13, with lots of LoC blocking.
13. Son Tay (54)
NVA is first up, will take Op/SA for sure.
First, Infiltrate in Central Laos and Southern Laos.
Rally: Central Laos, Southern Laos, Northeast Cambodia.
The US would have liked the Event to move 2 Casualties to Available, but there aren't any casualties. Bummer. Will have to do LimOp instead.
US Train in Phu Bon, pull in two police and Pacify to Active Support.
14. Phoenix Program (27)
VC are up first, will use Event to add Terror in Binh Dinh and Saigon. Six point swing to VC favor in victory points.
ARVN gets Op/SA:
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Sweep in Saigon, Kien Phong and Kien Hoa, expose 3 VC.
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Raid: Kien Phong and Kien Hoa, this results in COIN control for both provinces with net gain 4.
15. Americal (21)
There is a conundrum here, with both this card and the following dealing with out-of-pay US forces. The tempation here is to pass in favor of being first up on the event for the next card, but it's in ARVN's interest to move US forces off the map to allow Vietnamization Pivotal Event conditions to occur. Since ARVN is first up next turn regardless of whether US passes or not, the US should probably take the event here and move 2 from the map and 2 from out of play to Available.
- US: Event, take 1 from Quang Tri, 1 from Binh Tuy and 2 from out of play.
NVA now has Op/SA:
Wrapping this up here, work has finally gotten to a point where I cannot handle any distraction at all, and must remove games from my activities for a while. I'm disappointed, but have not been able to find any sort of work/life balance, hence work trumps.
16. International Forces (65)
AAR
Questions
- Brinks Hotel event has the current Leader card flipped. Does this last the entire round? I'm assuming it does, but would like to check.