Sovereign of Discord 1
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Note: game was concluded and logged on 2024-07-26.
The base Fire in the Lake game starts in 1964, but the civil war has already been going on for years. These years are what we'll take a look at here in Sovereign of Discord. The interest in this first solitaire game is playing the Diem's War scenario, which is a two player ARVN versus VC game, with Hanoi and Washington completely abstracted out. There are no VC or US forces on the map.
For this game I'm short decking with 8 cards instead of the specified 12 cards for each deck.
Turn 1
- Event Card: P11 Ho Chi Minh
- First eligible: VC, LimOp Attack Kien Phong roll 2 success remove both ARVN.
- Second Eligible: ARVN, Op only, Assault, no-op, bummer.
Turn 2
- Event Card: P10 Regroupees
- First eligible: VC, Ace for 1 resource.
- Second Eligible: ARVN, 4 for LimOp, Ace to Train Saigon with 2 cubes then base, pacify to Active Support.
Turn 3
- Event Card: P2 JFK
- First eligible: ARVN, draw 5 OpOnly, Patrol no-op nothing on LOCs or in cities.
- Second Eligible: VC draw 4 LimOp draw 4 Terror in Kien Giang.
Turn 4
- Event Card: P9 NVA in Laos
- First eligible: VC, draw 5 OpOnly, draw 3 Attack Pleiku/Darlac roll 2 another success! ARVN to Available.
- Second Eligible: ARVN draw 4 LimOp, draw Ace, Train 5 ARVN cubes to Can Tho.
Turn 5
- Event Card: P3 Ambassador Nolting
- First eligible: ARVN, draw 3 Ops + Spec, draw 4 Assault in Kien Hoa and Kien Phong, follow up with Raid to remove VC and establish COIN Control in both.
- Second Eligible: VC draw 4 LimOp, Rally in Kien Giang place 3.
Turn 6
- Event Card: P4 Taylor-Rostow Mission
- First eligible: VC, draw 5 OpOnly draw 2 March from Kien Giang to Ba Xuyen and Mekong River LOC north and south.
- Second Eligible: ARVN, draw 4, LimOp draw 4 Assault which is a no-op.
Turn 7
- Event Card: P73 Coup! NLF Spreads: VC in Quang Nam, Bin Tuy, and Khanh Hoa.
- First eligible: ARVN, draw 4, LimOp Patrol Mekong North LOC, use Police, flip and assault VC.
- Second Eligible: VC draw Ace and pass for 1 resource.
Coup Round
- Resources Phase:
- ARVN: 10 Aid + 9 for 19.
- VC: 1 + Hanoi Track 1 for 2.
- Support Phase:
- N/A
- Redeploy Phase:
- ARVN redeploy, leaving as-is.
- NVA: N/A.
- Commitment Phase: N/A
- Reset Phase:
- Reset Washington and Hanoi tracks appropriately.
Turn 8
- Event Card: P8 Khrushchev
- First eligible: VC, draw 2 event VC Resources +5.
- Second Eligible: ARVN, draw 3 Pass for resources.
Turn 9
- Event Card: P7 Politburo
- First eligible: ARVN, OpOnly, draw Ace, Train, cubes to Saigon.
- Second Eligible: VC, draw Ace to pass for 1 Resource.
Turn 10
- Event Card: P33 Sino-Soviet Split
- First eligible: VC: draw 4 LimOp, draw 4 Terror, Binh Dinh.
- Second Eligible: ARVN, draw 5 OpOnly, draw 3 Sweep Quang Tri and Tay Ninh.
Turn 11
- Event Card: P25 Laos Crisis
- First eligible: VC, Event, Hanoi Track to 2, Resources +2
- Second Eligible: ARVN, Assault Tay Ninh, 1 VC to Available, Raid with Ranger from Kien Phong to Tay Ninh to remove 1 VC and Base.
Turn 12
- Event Card: P28 Farm Gate
- First eligible: VC, Rally Kien Giang and Pleiku.
- Second Eligible: ARVN, LimOp Ranger from Available to Qui Nonh.
Turn 13
- Event Card: P29 Mike Mansfield
- First eligible: ARVN, draw 5 OpOnly, South Mekong Patrol to flip underground VC.
- Second Eligible: VC, draw Ace for 1 Resource.
Turn 14
- Event Card: Coup! Buddhist Crisis! ARVN passes, VC shift to passive opposition in Quang Tri.
Coup Round
- Victory Points:
- ARVN: 35
- VC: 15
- Resources Phase:
- ARVN: 3x Washington Track + Aid + Current = 3 + 10 + 8 = 21.
- VC: Hanoi Track + Current = 2 + 7 = 9.
- Support Phase: N/A
- Redeploy Phase:
- ARVN redeploy: Troops to cities, Police deployed to maintain COIN control.
- NVA: N/A.
- Commitment Phase: N/A
- Reset Phase:
- Reset Washington and Hanoi tracks appropriately.
- The Trail: N/A.
- Washington Track:
- Hanoi Track:
- Regime Stability: -1 for Coup Card Buddhist Crisis, Aid - 5.
Turn 15
- Event: P26 Roger Hillsman
- First eligible: VC March to Kien Phing and Tay Ninh, Ambush Kien Phong.
- Second Eligible: ARVN, Event, Strategic Hamlet to Tay Ninh.
Turn 16
- Event Card: P27 Project Beef-up
- First eligible: ARVN, Event, Washington track to 4.
- Second Eligible: VC: Rally in Kien Giang and Pleiku. subvert in Quang Tri and Binh Dinh.
Turn 17
- Event Card: P31 Cuban Missile Crisis.
- First eligible: ARVN 6 to Qui Nonh, 5 to Da Nang, Govern Hue, + 2 Patronage -2 Aid.
- Second Eligible: VC Event, Lower Washington Track, shift Aid to 0.
Turn 18
- Event Card: P32 Diplomatic Struggle.
- First eligible: VC March Kien Phong, Binh Dinh, Route 4, Rute 14. Subvert Quang Tri.
- Second Eligible: ARVN Event, Aid and ARVN resources +6.
Turn 19
- Event Card: P52 Nhu Must Go.
- First eligible: ARVN, Sweep Kien Phong, Tay Ninh, Quang Tri. Raid Tay Ninh, Binh Dinh.
- Second Eligible: VC Event, lower Patronage by 3.
Turn 20
- Event Card: P58 Chinese Aid.
- First eligible: Start with Tax in Route 4, Route 14, Mekong South for +4 Resources. Rally Quang Tri, Kien Phong, Binh Dinh.
- Second Eligible: ARVN LimOp Sweep Quang Tri.
Turn 21
- Event Card: P50 Phased Withdrawal.
- First eligible: ARVN Strategic Hamlets: Binh Tuy, Quang Duc, Quang Nam.
- Second Eligible: VC Rally Kien Phong, Subvert Kien Phong, Quang Tri.
Turn 22
- Event Card: P59 Nguyen Chi Thanh
- First eligible: ARVN Pass +3 Resources.
- Second Eligible: VC Event Hanoi Track +1.
Turn 23
- Event Card: P64 Big Minh
- First eligible: ARVN Pass +3 Resources.
- Second Eligible: VC Pass +1 Resources.
Turn 24
- Event Card: P70 Hoa Hao
- First eligible: ARVN Sweep Quang Tri, Quang Tin, Binh Dinh. Flip all Rangers.
- Second Eligible: VC Event, Base and 2 in Kien Hoa.
Turn 25
- Event Card: Coup! Officer Coup.
Victory Points:
- ARVN: 26 COIN + 14 Patronage for 40.
- VC: 6 Bases + 20 Opposition for 26.
It looks like this is an ARVN win by margin if not outright at 40. It was that last Sweep which put it over.
AAR
At some point to get good at this I need to use only eligibility without any events, and play just the operations and special activities to really understand the cyclic nature of the game play.