Silver Bayonet (16 & 17), Dien Bien Phu and more

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Played a couple of fast games of Silver Bayonet, the LZ-Albany Scenario #5.

The first game I was FWA. The PAVN attempted to maneuver combat, which turned out to be at 1-1, and they did not roll well, obtaining 1A4F result. That was essentially the game for them.

The second game I took the PAVN, and I think I figured this one out. The initial attack was an assault, then I moved around the LZ to get a maneuver combat at 2-1 odds, with about 30% chance of forcing a retreat, if I understand the rules correctly.

I need to play this scenario again taking really good notes. It would be fun to work out the probabilities.

Dien Bien Phu

From played games list: Broke out some vintage Indochina action with the usual opponent. I played the French. The Viet Minh went all in for Hanoi in Turn 3, and the French were unable to recapture in Turn 4 on a 1-1 battle. Which was good for VM as that was the extent of their supplies and the I would have had them on the run had I retaken Hanoi. This was before we read the rule stating French don't have to retreat from cities.

This is an interesting little game, with a lot of potential. It reminds me a little of Tonkin zoomed out, same sort of very hard choices. Would be great to see it redone to modern standards. I'd buy that.

Interesting little game, reminded me a bit of Tonkin (2d Edition) zoomed out. Surprised it's not already on this list.

From Paint It Black list:

This falls right into the same slot as Fall of South Vietnam: small footprint, fast playing, exposes major strategic concerns, and would greatly benefit from a total makeover.

In our game, Hanoi fell in the 4th turn (of 14), which was probably a good thing for the VM, as it exhausted all their supply. I suspect most games would go to a draw, perhaps a slight edge to the VM.

Hesitate to recommended for general consumption, probably a must for the French Indochina connoisseur.

The Agents

Taught AS the rules and we played one game. Did not use the Commanders for this game. He liked it, so it's going into rotation with him at least.

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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.