Fire in the Lake - Fall of Saigon

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It's 8:05 am, and I'd like to crank through a very large chunk of this game today. To that end, I'm going to randomize the turn activities with a 5 card deck of ordindary playing cards, specifically, Ace through 5 of diamonds.

This will be the first Fire in the Lake game I've played since November 19, 2024. I think both myself and my usual opponent have been passively avoiding it. We have probably played a dozen games against each other over the years. The Covid debacle did not help anything, and for whatever reason it never got back on the table. In any case, I've been reading a lot of Vietnam history in the last 5 years, and I'm currently reading Vietnam from Ceasefire to Capitulation, which goes into detail during the time period which this game covers, to wit, the Black April scenario.

Here's the setup:

Fall of Saigon set up

Let's get going!

Turn 1

  • Event Card: S6 National Press Club
  • First eligible: NVA, draw Ace and pass and draw +1 Resource to 16.
  • Second Eligible: ARVN, draw 5, Op Only.

ARVN: Operations:

  • 6 troops to Hue
  • 2 Rangers, 2 Armor to Saigon
  • Resources 24.

Turn 2

  • Event Card: S1 Rest of World
  • First Eligible: NVA, draw 2 Execute Event US Posture to 0.
  • Second Eligible: ARVN, draw Ace to pass R + 3 to 27.

That was fast, good.

Turn 3

  • Event Card: S2 War Powers Act
  • First Eligible: ARVN, draw 2 event, improve US Posture to 1. Which is good and lucky.
  • Second Eligible: NVA, draw Ace, R+1 to 17.

Easy turn.

Turn 4

  • Event Card: S5 Secret Bombing
  • First Eligible: NVA, draw 2, Event, US Posture to 0, flip Arc Light to shaded.
  • Second Eligible: ARVN, pass R+3 to 30.

Turn 5

  • Event Card: S4 San Clemente
  • First Eligible: NVA, draw 5, Op only. Attack in Pleiku, 2 ARVN to Casualties; Quang Tri 2 ARVN to Casualties.
  • Second Eligible: ARVN, draw 4, LimOp, Sweep Quang Tri from Hue, flip Guerillas and get COIN control.

Turn 6

  • Event Card: S8 Brezhnev
  • First Eligible: ARVN, draw Ace, R+3 to 30. Drawing a lot of Aces this game.
  • Second: Eligible: NVA, draw 4, LimOp Attack Quang Nam 2 ARVN to Casualties.

Turn 7

  • Event Card: S7 Pham Van Dong
  • First Eligible: ARVN, draw Ace. Dang. R+3 to 33.
  • Second Eligible: NVA, draw 5 OpsOnly Rally Tay Ninh replace 2 G with NVA Base, upgrade Trail to 4; 2G in Quang Nam.

Turn 8

  • Event Card: S73 Coup! Watergate.

Check for Victory conditionw:

  • ARVN: 44.
  • NVA: 5.

No winner yet.

  • Sabotage: none
  • Degrade Trail: N/A.
  • ARVN Earnings: R+30 to 60.
  • Insurgent Earnings NVA: R+13 to 27.
  • Insurgent Earnings VC: N/A.
  • Casualties and Aid: N/A.
  • Pacification: ARVN passes.
  • Agitation: NVA passes, no support in applicable areas.
  • ARVN Redeploy: No units need to redeploy.
  • NVA Redeploy: Move 5 Troops from Quang Nam to Quang Tri to get control back.
  • Adjust Control: Quang Tri back to NVA.
  • Commitment: N/A.
  • Reset: Posture to 1, Trail to 3, ARVN spend 6 to move Casualties to Available.

It's 10:02 am. I don't think I'll get through the game by noon. I should be able to get to the next Coup card by then.

Turn 9

  • Event Card: S3 Ambassador Martin
  • First Eligible: ARVN, draw 4, LimOp Assault in Quang Tri remove 3 NVA.
  • Second Eligible: NVA, draw OpsOnly, which is really a LimOp in this context. March 3 NVA from Pleiku to Quang Nam.

I'm starting to sloe down, need to kick it up.

Turn 10

  • Event Card: S28 Ammunition
  • First Eligible: ARVN, draw Ace, R+3 to 57.
  • Second Eligible: draw 3, finally, first time this game. Rally: North Vietnam 1 Armor, improve Trail to 4; Infiltrate Quang Nam add 5 Troops, replace 3G; Tay Ninh, Rally 3G, Infiltrate 8T.

Turn 11

  • Event Card: S25 F-5Es
  • First Eligible: ARVN, draw 3, nice, Sweep. Pleiku, move a troop from Binh Tuy, Ranger from Quang Tri, flip 2G, flip a ranger to remove 1T and 1G which induces COIN control; Quang Tin, flip 1G, flip Ranger to remove 1T and 1G.
  • Second Eligible: NVA, draw 3, OpsSA, Attack. Quang Nam: 2P to Casualties; Quang Tri remove 3t, Bombard Quang Tri to remove 1T.

Turn 12

  • Event Card: S27 "Enough to Make the Angels Weep'
  • First Eligible: NVA, draw 4, LimOp, March a bunch of NVA Troops into Kien Phong.
  • Second Eligible: ARVN, draw 3, OpsSA. Saigon: Train 6T, Hue 6T, Armor to Quang Tin, 4T and 2P from Casualties to Available. Govern Cam Ranh Bay and Qui Nonh Patronage 22.

Turn 13

  • Event Card: S26 "our Long National Nightmare is Over"
  • First Eligible: NVA, draw Ace, R+1 to 20.
  • Second Eligible: ARVN, draw 4, LimOp, Train in Quang Tri with 6 ARVN cubes, Pcify to Passive Support. I may have played this wrong, may have Trained in an NVA controlled space, can't recall now, but don't recall marching, may have reduced NVA by Assault a couple of turns ago.

Turn 14

  • Event Card: S29 Defense Assistance Vietnam
  • First Eligible: NVA, draw Ace, dang. I'm going to take it as I do want to get through this game today, R+1 to 21.
  • Second Eligible: ARVN, draw 4, LimOp, Assault in Qung Tri, remove 3T NVA.

Turn 15

  • Event Card:
  • First Eligible: NVA, draw 3, Attack: Quang Tri, 2T ARVN to Casualties, Bombard Quang Tin with 1T ARVN to Casualties.
  • Second Eligible: ARVN, draw Ace for R+3 to 39.

So many Aces, so much passing, at least it's making the game move right along. Should be getting close to the 2d Coup card now.

Turn 16

  • Event Card: S31 Happy Trails
  • First Eligible: ARVN, draw Ace!!!! R+3 to 42.
  • Second Eligible: NVA draw 4, LimOp Rally, 5G in the Fishhook.

Turn 17

  • Event Card: S30 Defense Authorization
  • First Eligible: NVA draw 4, LimOp: Attack Quang Tri, remove 2T ARVN to Casualties.
  • Second Eligible: ARVN draw 2, Event: Transport 6T ARVN to Quang Nam and Assault for NVA 2T removed.

Turn 18

  • Event Card: S32 Chinese Interference
  • First Eligible: NVA, draw 3, OpsSA, March: Move 7T from Tay Ninh to An Loc, Infiltrate 5T NVA and 1 Armor to Tay Ninh. Kien Phong move 4T and 1G to Kien Hoa.
  • Second Eligible: ARVN, draw Ace R+3 to 45.

Turn 19

  • Event Card: Coup! Nixon Resigns
  • First Eligible: ARVN
  • Second Eligible: NVA

It's 12:43 pm. I'm definitely slowing down a lot. Getting this done today is going to be a tough one. I think I can do it. I was wanting to play the factions directly on the last round without using the randomizing card draws. Not sure how I feel about that right now. I'm 17 cards into the game, 9 more to go after the current Coup card is resolved.

Check for Victory conditionw:

  • ARVN: 41.
  • NVA: 6. Need to deal with War Weariness.

No winner yet.

  • Sabotage: Route 13 from An Loc.
  • Degrade Trail: N/A.
  • ARVN Earnings: Aid 20 + 14 Econ + 41 = 75.
  • Insurgent Earnings NVA: 13 + 19 = 32.
  • Insurgent Earnings VC: N/A.
  • Casualties and Aid: N/A.
  • Pacification: Pacify Quang Tin, Pleiku x2 for Passive Support, Saigon to Active Support.
  • Agitation: None.
  • ARVN Redeploy: Police to LoCs, ARVN Troops out of Quang Nam.
  • NVA Redeploy: Troops to Qung Tin to flip it.
  • Adjust Control: Quang Tin flips to NVA control.
  • Commitment: N/A.
  • Reset: Move 5T ARVN from Casualties to Available.

Round 3

Now we're into the 1975 deck and I'm going to play both side instead of having the cards dictate the play. This will slow down the game a bit, but since I've worked through some of the mechanics already, shouldn't be too bad. The cards really helped reduce the analysis paralysis.

Turn 20

  • Event Card: S51 VNAF
  • First Eligible: ARVN, Event, Train Saigon, then Armor in Saigon, Hue, Quang Tin, and Da Nang. Air lift 4 to Quang Nam, Air Strike 4 hits on Quang Tri.
  • Second Eligible: NVA, OpsSA. Rally: 1A to North Vietnam, 1A to Quang Nam, Improve Trail, Infiltrate 5T to Central Laos, Infiltrate 2G in The Fishhook.

Turn 21

  • Event Card: S50 Last Aid Request
  • First Eligible: ARVN OpsSA Train 1A to Saigon. Spearhead 2A and 4T from Saigon to Tay Ninh, remove 6T NVA from Tay Ninh. Spearhead 1A Da Nang to Quang Tin, remove 3T NVA. This is actually too much given the current posture, bring back the Quang Tin pieces.
  • Second Eligible: NVA, Event degrade US Posture to 0.

I'm starting to slow way, way down.

Turn 22

  • Event Card: S49 The Final Dagger
  • First Eligible: NVA, OpsSA: March to Tay Ninh, Quang Tri. Spearhead into Quang Tri remove 3T ARVN, Quang Tri to NVA Control.
  • Second Eligible: ARVN Patrol, load up the LoCs with Police units to slow down NVA movement.

Turn 23

  • Event Card: S52 Montagnards
  • First Eligible: ARVN OpsSA: Assault in Tay Ninh remove 2T NVA with ARVN Troops, 1T NVA wirh Armor, and 1 Armor with NVA Armor. Assault in Quang Nam to remove 1T NVA. Both are now Uncontrolled. Transport 1A from Saigon to Tay Ninh for Free Assault (Armored Cav Capability) to remove 1A.
  • Second Eligible: NVA LimOp Rally 5T NVA to Tay Ninh.

Turn 24

  • Event Card: S53 WSAG
  • First Eligible: NVA OpsSA March, Saigon now under NVA control. Quang Nam now under NVA control. Spearhead into Hue with 2T and 1A.
  • Second Eligible: ARVN LimOp, move units from Tay Ninh and Binh Tuy to regain Saigon control.

Coup card very close…

Turn 25

  • Event Card: S56 Warrior H3
  • First Eligible: ARVN OpsSA Assault Saigon, wipe 'em out. Raid into Kien Phong and Kien Hoa to remove 4T NVA total.
  • Second Eligible: NVA LimOp Rally 5T into Tay Ninh. Back to NVA control.

Turn 26

  • Event Card: S55 Deception
  • First Eligible: NVA OpsSa March Kien Phong, Kien Hoa, Quang Tinm, Hue. Spearhead Quang Tin, NVA control.
  • Second Eligible: ARVN LimOp Sweep Kien Phong.

Turn 27

  • Event Card: S54 Congress Visit
  • First Eligible: ARVN OpsOnly Assault Tay Ninh, Saigon, Quang Nam, Quang Tri, An Loc, Kien Phong. Brutal on NVA.
  • Second Eligible: NVA LimOp Attack Hue, NVA control.

Turn 28

It's 3:44pm, this last round took a lot longer, as anticipated.

Check for Victory conditionw:

  • ARVN: 47.
  • NVA: 11 control + 9 bases - 15 War Weary is 5. Something doesn't seem right here.

Here's what it looks like:

Fall of Saigon end of Game 1

AAR

First: the War Weariness feels like a kludge. There does not seem to be a way to reduce it, which raises the bar for the NVA by an enormous amount.

Given how ARVN really cleaned up on the last couple of cards, I'm pretty sure I wasn't paying enough attention to the US Posture track, especially early on. I suspect I would not have gotten as much armor on the map had I been playing that track correctly.

Otherwise, Black April seems pretty similar to plain old Fire in the Lake with maybe a bit more Attack and Assault than the base game gets, at least in proportion to total game play. Will be playing it again soon, this next time opposed.

Looking forward, I think there is room for another another scenario, which would be 1 round of 12 cards from the 1975 deck, with the Coup card shuffled into the bottom 4. This could be a lot of fun and play very quickly, maybe even in an hour or so. Future solitaire plays will be exploring this game space.

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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.