Vietnam Solitaire 13

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This is Game 13, and will push my h-index to 13 as well. Will be playing original rules.

The last game I got beaten on Turn 2. This game, let's try to get a little further along.

Turn 1

A. Roll for Trail Counters: Roll 2, 2, no additional Trail markers.

B. Attack Trail areas: B52 on Haiphong, roll 4 for success. B52 on Hanoi, roll 4 for success. No Trail markers on the map.

C. Raise/Move US/ARVN Forces: AirCav in Hue and Highlands, ARVN in Hue. This is 11 PP, which lost me the game on Turn 2 my previous game. Let's how it plays out this time.

D. US/ARVN Combat: Pass, all VC in paddies.

E. Place NVA/VC Units: VC in Highlands-3-4, will be insurgency there.

F. Insurgency Combat: Highlands-3-4 with 1 VC, 1 ARVN, and 1 AirCav. Jungle, VC takes out ARVN, then takes out AirCav. That might be the game, need to get a point back…

G. NVA/VC Offensive: Cu Chi, ARVN prevails. FWA gets a point back for clearing out Cu Chi.

H. AirCav Redeployment: Deploy to Highlands 6.

I. Scoring, Victory Check and Events Roll:

PP 13.

Roll 6 + 2, remove US unit from map. Dang. That sucks. Need to get some ARVN down next turn.

Turn 2

A. Roll for Trail Counters: Roll 3, 3, Trail counter in Laos-3.

B. Attack Trail areas: B52 roll 5, no effect.

C. Raise/Move US/ARVN Forces: 5 ARVN and 1 AC. That's all the ARVN on the map.

D. US/ARVN Combat: Pass, all VC are in Jungle.

E. Place NVA/VC Units: VC roll 6, no placement. NVA roll 2 for Highlands-1-2.

F. Insurgency Combat: No insurgency combat.

G. NVA/VC Offensive: Roll 3 for offensive in Cu Chi, no VC or NVA in Cu Chi. I'm catching some slack here.

H. AirCav Redeployment: I'm good with Air Cav in Highlands.

I. Scoring, Victory Check and Events Roll:

Get a PP back for control of Cu Chi, 8 PP total so no effect on the political roll for next turn: roll 2, no B52 attacks.

Turn 3

A. Roll for Trail Counters: 6, 3, place 1 in Cambodia-6. I'm getting some lucky breaks on Trail counters this game.

B. Attack Trail areas: GB in Cambodia-6, roll 6, roll 5, bummer.

C. Raise/Move US/ARVN Forces: US in Highlands and Mekong.

D. US/ARVN Combat: Napalm in Saigon-1-2, roll 2 ftw. Napalm in Highlands-1-2, roll 2 and remove NVA.

E. Place NVA/VC Units: VC, roll 2, 6 to place in Highlands-6. NVA in Highlands-5 and Mekong-3-4.

F. Insurgency Combat: Highlands-6, VC eliminated. Mekong-3-4, NVA eliminated.

G. NVA/VC Offensive: Roll 1, Hue, ARVNN prevails.

H. AirCav Redeployment: None.

I. Scoring, Victory Check and Events Roll:

Three areas controlled, pretty good, -3 on the PP track, roll 1 play as normal.

Turn 4

A. Roll for Trail Counters: 5, 6, add Trail to Cambodia-5.

B. Attack Trail areas: Attack Cambodia-5, roll 1, remove. Again for Cambodia-6, roll 2, remove.

C. Raise/Move US/ARVN Forces: US regular to Cu Chi-3-4.

D. US/ARVN Combat: Napalm Highlands-5, roll 3 and remove NVA. PP is at 11, hopefully will get some points back.

E. Place NVA/VC Units: VC to Mekong-3-4. NVA to Highlands-3-4.

F. Insurgency Combat: none.

G. NVA/VC Offensive: Roll 3, Cu Chi, no Chicom presence.

H. AirCav Redeployment: none.

I. Scoring, Victory Check and Events Roll: Hue, Cu Chu, and Saigon controller by FWA, -3 PP for unmodified, roll 1 for no effect. Pretty awesome. This game should go to a draw unless I get too greedy.

Turn 5

A. Roll for Trail Counters: Roll 5, 6 for Cambodia-5 and Cambodia-6. Things could start getting hard now.

B. Attack Trail areas: Attack Cambodia-5, roll 1 remove Trail marker. Again on Laos-3, roll 5, miss.

C. Raise/Move US/ARVN Forces: 1 US regular in Highlands.

D. US/ARVN Combat: Napalm in Highlands-1-2, roll 1 remove VC.

E. Place NVA/VC Units: VC roll 6, thn 5 to place VC in Mekong-5. NVA roll 2 for Highlands, roll 3 for Mekong.

F. Insurgency Combat: Mekong, US prevails.

G. NVA/VC Offensive: roll 3, Cu Chi, no Chicom. Lucky.

H. AirCav Redeployment: none.

I. Scoring, Victory Check and Events Roll: Political Roll 4, no B52 or GB attacks. Game is about to get hard.

Will be able to bring on second AC next turn.

Turn 6

A. Roll for Trail Counters: Roll 1, 4, will have a lot of NVA on the board this turn.

B. Attack Trail areas: None allowed this turn.

C. Raise/Move US/ARVN Forces: Second AC deploys to Cu Chi.

D. US/ARVN Combat: Napalm in Highlands, roll 4 remove NVA.

E. Place NVA/VC Units: VC roll Hue-3-4. NVA into Highlands 2, Cu Chi 5 and Mekong 6.

F. Insurgency Combat: Hue, ARVN prevails.

G. NVA/VC Offensive: Highlands 6, FWA prevails.

H. AirCav Redeployment: none.

I. Scoring, Victory Check and Events Roll: 2 Regions under FWA control for 8 PP hence no DRM, roll 5, no US or allies deploy next turn. No big deal as they are already all on the map.

Turn 7

A. Roll for Trail Counters: roll 3, 5 for Cambodia-5, need to take this out as it threatens Saigon.

B. Attack Trail areas: B52 roll 1, remove Trail from Cambodia-5.

C. Raise/Move US/ARVN Forces: Move 1 US regular to Hue.

D. US/ARVN Combat: None.

E. Place NVA/VC Units: VC, roll for Highlands-5. NVA: Hue-2, Highlands-1, Cu Chi-6, Meking-3.

F. Insurgency Combat: Mekong-3, FWA prevails.

G. NVA/VC Offensive: roll 6! Easter Offensive! From the top down. Hue-3, FWA prevails, lose 1 ARVN. Highlands-6 FWA prevails with no losses. Cu Chi-3 FWA prevails, no losses. Mekong-3, FWA prevails with no losses.

H. AirCav Redeployment: None.

I. Scoring, Victory Check and Events Roll:

PP is 9 for no effect on roll 2, no B52 next turn. No big deal. Just hold out a little longer and get a marginal victory.

Turn 8

If I make it through this turn I get a draw.

A. Roll for Trail Counters: roll 2, 3 Trail marker on Hanoi-2.

B. Attack Trail areas: GB on Cambodia-6, fail.

C. Raise/Move US/ARVN Forces: ARVN to Hue-3-4.

D. US/ARVN Combat: None.

E. Place NVA/VC Units: VC to Cu Chi-3. NVA: Both Hue into 1-2. Highlands into 3-4. Cu Chi-3. Mekong-3. Will be a lot of insurgency.

F. Insurgency Combat: Cu Chi, FWA prevails no losses. Mekong 3, FWA prevails no losses.

G. NVA/VC Offensive: roll 2 for Highlands, FWA prevails with no losses. Booyah.

H. AirCav Redeployment: none.

I. Scoring, Victory Check and Events Roll:

PP 9, roll 5 no FWA ground units, don't care now.

Turn 9

A. Roll for Trail Counters: 1, 5 Trail now threatens Saigon.

B. Attack Trail areas: B52 on Cambodia-5, roll 2 to remove.

C. Raise/Move US/ARVN Forces: none.

D. US/ARVN Combat: none, hunkering down to wait it out.

E. Place NVA/VC Units: VC roll 2 for Highlands 6. NVA Hue into 3 and 5, Highlands 5, Cu Chi-2, Mekong 4.

F. Insurgency Combat: Hue FWA prevails with ARVN loss. Mekong FWA prevails with no losses.

G. NVA/VC Offensive: Highlands…bad, 3 NVA here. FWA prevails with 1 ARVN loss.

H. AirCav Redeployment: none.

I. Scoring, Victory Check and Events Roll:

Adjusted PP 10 for controlling Saigon and Highlands. Roll 1 + 1, no B52 attacks. Doesn't matter at this point.

Turn 10

If I make it through this turn, I get a marginal victory "Good Morning Vietnam."

A. Roll for Trail Counters: roll 4, 5, Saigon threatened again.

B. Attack Trail areas: GB roll 2, remove from Cambodia-5 Saigon is safe again.

C. Raise/Move US/ARVN Forces: none.

D. US/ARVN Combat: none.

E. Place NVA/VC Units: VC into Saigon-2. NVA: Two into Hue-3-4, ugly. Highlands-1. Cu Chi 1. Saigon 1. Mekong 3.

F. Insurgency Combat: Hue FWA prevail lose 1 ARVN. Mekong 3-4, FWA prevail, no losses.

G. NVA/VC Offensive: Roll 6! Dang! Hue, US loss, Hue is under PAVN control, and that's the game. I have 11 PP right now, and down 5 already… let's roll it out… Highlands under FWA control…Cu Chi under FWA control but lost another ARVN. Lost another ARVN in Saigon…Saigon has fallen…calling it here.

AAR

This was a draw on Turn 10, "Full Metal Jacket."

In the last game, I don't believe any of the US forces have scored hits on either VC or NVA. Conversely, the NVA and VC have rolled really well. That was a stupendous bummer. This game started the same way, but turned around after a few turns and the FWA started cleaning up.

This would have been a marginal victory had there not been an NVA general offensive on Turn 10. Hard to say how much further it could have gone.

The goal for 2019 is to continue plays, but using the Special Edition rules instead of the original rules. Most of my plays here to fore have been using the original rules.

AirCav

AirCav is expensive to get on the map, and really sucks when it gets taken out. What I'm did in this game is use for maintaining control of areas, and not fighting it without a lot of ARVN and regular US unit support. It's that next-to-last phase which is critical: Moving the AirCav to an area can deny PP to the PAVN.

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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.