Ho Chi Minh Trail 2

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A month ago I sat down and designed a very dumb little game tentatively called "Supply Lines of the American War: The Ho Chi Minh Trail." I worked out a way to sort of simulate both building and moving supplies along the trail, with impediments of bombing, raids, and search and destroy missions to add some friction.

I still haven't played any of the games from which the title was inspired.

For this play, I used the exact same actions as the first game to take advantage of a script I wrote to automate bookkeeping. I arbitrarily chose 100 as the winning score value. That first game was a win, this one turned out to be a loss at 96. No big deal.

If anyone just happens to wander by…yes, there is a real game here, and no, it's neither fun nor interesting as an experience. It's interesting to me from a design perspective, and I would not want to inflict it on anyone in its current 0.0.1 version.

The following game turn log was automatically generated.

Turn 1: Jan 1967

  • Action 1: Increase trail capacity to 8, 4 resources remaining
  • Action 2: Move 12 for total supplies 12, 0 resources remaining
  • Response: Bomb trail, capacity reduced to 6, bases: 0

Game State: Supplies: 12, Trailcap: 6, Bases: 0, Resources: 0

Turn 2: Feb 1967

  • Action 1: Build base: 1 total, resources: 0
  • Action 2: Move 6 for total supplies 18, 0 resources remaining
  • Response: Search & Destroy, 3 supplies lost, new total 15

Game State: Supplies: 15, Trailcap: 6, Bases: 1, Resources: 0

Turn 3: Mar 1967

  • Action 1: Build base: 2 total, resources: 0
  • Action 2: Move 6 for total supplies 21, 0 resources remaining
  • Response: Bomb trail, capacity reduced to 5, bases: 2

Game State: Supplies: 21, Trailcap: 5, Bases: 2, Resources: 0

Turn 4: Apr 1967

  • Action 1: Build base: 3 total, resources: 0
  • Action 2: Move 5 for total supplies 26, 0 resources remaining
  • Response: Bomb trail, capacity reduced to 4, bases: 3

Game State: Supplies: 26, Trailcap: 4, Bases: 3, Resources: 0

Turn 5: May 1967

  • Action 1: Build base: 4 total, resources: 0
  • Action 2: Move 2 for total supplies 28, 0 resources remaining
  • Response: Search & Destroy, 6 supplies lost, new total 22

Game State: Supplies: 22, Trailcap: 4, Bases: 4, Resources: 0

Turn 6: Jun 1967

  • Action 1: Increase trail capacity to 6, 4 resources remaining
  • Action 2: Move 5 for total supplies 27, 0 resources remaining
  • Response: Bomb trail, capacity reduced to 5, bases: 4

Game State: Supplies: 27, Trailcap: 5, Bases: 4, Resources: 0

Turn 7: Jul 1967

  • Action 1: Increase trail capacity to 7, 4 resources remaining
  • Action 2: Move 5 for total supplies 32, 0 resources remaining
  • Response: Bomb trail, capacity reduced to 6, bases: 4

Game State: Supplies: 32, Trailcap: 6, Bases: 4, Resources: 0

Turn 8: Aug 1967

  • Action 1: Increase trail capacity to 8, 4 resources remaining
  • Action 2: Move 6 for total supplies 38, 0 resources remaining
  • Response: Search & Destroy, 12 supplies lost, new total 26

Game State: Supplies: 26, Trailcap: 8, Bases: 4, Resources: 0

Turn 9: Sep 1967

  • Action 1: Increase trail capacity to 10, 4 resources remaining
  • Action 2: Move 7 for total supplies 33, 0 resources remaining
  • Response: Bomb trail, capacity reduced to 9, bases: 4

Game State: Supplies: 33, Trailcap: 9, Bases: 4, Resources: 0

Turn 10: Oct 1967

  • Action 1: Increase trail capacity to 11, 4 resources remaining
  • Action 2: Move 15 for total supplies 48, 0 resources remaining
  • Response: Bomb trail, capacity reduced to 10, bases: 4

Game State: Supplies: 48, Trailcap: 10, Bases: 4, Resources: 0

Turn 11: Nov 1967

  • Action 1: Move 16 for total supplies 64, 0 resources remaining
  • Action 2: Pass
  • Response: Bomb trail, capacity reduced to 9, bases: 4

Game State: Supplies: 64, Trailcap: 9, Bases: 4, Resources: 0

Turn 12: Dec 1967

  • Action 1: Move 15 for total supplies 79, 0 resources remaining
  • Action 2: Pass
  • Response: Raid, lose a base, 3 remaining

Game State: Supplies: 79, Trailcap: 9, Bases: 3, Resources: 0

Turn 13: Jan 1968

  • Action 1: Move 15 for total supplies 94, 0 resources remaining
  • Action 2: Pass
  • Response: Bomb trail, capacity reduced to 8, bases: 3

Game State: Supplies: 94, Trailcap: 8, Bases: 3, Resources: 0

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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.