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Vietnam game?

Started by Phantom, October 10, 2017, 03:09:07 PM

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bboyer66

The best strategic Vietnam game without a doubt on PC, is a scenario from TAOW called I believe Vietnam 1965-1975 (could be wrong about the name, it's been a while). It is based on the classic Victory Games Vietnam board game. It is so well done that I am quite disappointed that no one ever made it into its own individual game. It covers Vietnamization, province control, air power, free fire zones, pretty much everything you can think of when it comes to the Vietnam War. The best part is that as the S Vietnam/ American player, you get to choose what units to send to Vietnam, and how many. Think the VC/NVA are getting too powerful in a region, send in the 1st Marines or the 101st Air Assault. Of course with more troops, comes more victory point penalties. US troop casualties also cause the US to lose support for the war. You also have to decide when is the best time to start Vietnamization and start withdrawing US troops. Seriously this thing covers everything, and is still quite playable. I''m not sure if the scenario is included with the current TOAW or whether you have to find it. You will know you have the right one when you see all the possible deployable American troops in the upper left hand corner of the map.

jomni

Quote from: bboyer66 on October 11, 2017, 07:20:15 AM
The best strategic Vietnam game without a doubt on PC, is a scenario from TAOW called I believe Vietnam 1965-1975 (could be wrong about the name, it's been a while). It is based on the classic Victory Games Vietnam board game. It is so well done that I am quite disappointed that no one ever made it into its own individual game. It covers Vietnamization, province control, air power, free fire zones, pretty much everything you can think of when it comes to the Vietnam War. The best part is that as the S Vietnam/ American player, you get to choose what units to send to Vietnam, and how many. Think the VC/NVA are getting too powerful in a region, send in the 1st Marines or the 101st Air Assault. Of course with more troops, comes more victory point penalties. US troop casualties also cause the US to lose support for the war. You also have to decide when is the best time to start Vietnamization and start withdrawing US troops. Seriously this thing covers everything, and is still quite playable. I''m not sure if the scenario is included with the current TOAW or whether you have to find it. You will know you have the right one when you see all the possible deployable American troops in the upper left hand corner of the map.

Same concept as the Advanced Tactics scenario I played.  Mechanics played out well using AT's card system.

mirth

Quote from: GJK on October 10, 2017, 08:41:18 PM
I know you've dismissed TOAW but have a look again at Mad Russian's (Steve Overton') "Boonie Rats" campaign game covering the war in Vietnam- it is very deep and has a lot of the political stuff scripted in.

This. It's very impressive work.
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Micha

You can check out the vietnamgame of Peoplesgeneral. Here for download.
www.peoplesgeneral.de
It covers almost 70 Battles
By the way, we are on the way to replace al old maps by modern ones.

Phantom

Thanks for all the responses. I'll definitely be having a trawl of the TOAW scenarios/campaigns to find the ones mentioned above. There does seem to be more progress on the board game side of things & Fire in the Lake & the earlier Hearts & Minds both look interesting. Will also give Matrix's Nam 65 a shot given the above recommendations (which will no doubt lead me down the Afghanistan path... :P.)
I don't necessarily agree with the posters who say its a difficult war to game, hence few games. Yes it's asymmetrical & has significant fog of war & non-military complexities, but surely this is where PC games can excel?

The Ken Burns series is really, really good, I'm just coming up to Tet, and it is without doubt one of the most moving & informative things I've watched in a while. I was slightly concerned it wouldn't match the Civil War series, but it does - which I guess shows Burns skill, as they are totally different wars and, very subtly, he treats them in a different way & its often the simple things - the first hand accounts, or the still photos, that stick in the memory.

Regards
Keith

JasonPratt

Matrix's Vietnam 65 is very much a board-game inspired design, with intrinsic capabilities that only a computer would be able to pull off.

Mad Russian's mod (somewhat based on the 65-75 board game, but also highly adapted): http://www.the-strategist.net/RD/scenarii/the-operational-art-of-war-scenario-490-Boonie-Rats


Four other mods based more closely on the boardgame:

http://www.the-strategist.net/RD/scenarii/the-operational-art-of-war-scenario-154-America's-War-in-Vietnam

http://www.the-strategist.net/RD/scenarii/the-operational-art-of-war-scenario-572-Vietnam-1965-75

http://www.the-strategist.net/RD/scenarii/the-operational-art-of-war-scenario-666-Vietnam-1965

http://www.the-strategist.net/RD/scenarii/the-operational-art-of-war-scenario-651-Campaign-for-South-Vietnam


Those are listed in order of their original creation; the last one might be the most recently updated one.

There could be others at the scenario database; I found those searching for "Vietnam" in the mod name.
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Nefaro

Quote from: GJK on October 11, 2017, 07:08:14 AM
Quote from: Moreb on October 10, 2017, 09:27:17 PM
Too bad a computer version of Fire in the Lake couldn't be made. I don't own it but hope to some day. It would sure ring all the right bells.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/144189/fire-lake

It seems like boardgame conversions never seem to pan out. Damn shame really.


The VASSAL module for it is nicely done.



Also in Tabletop Simulator last I checked.

Moreb

Quote from: GJK on October 11, 2017, 07:08:14 AM
Quote from: Moreb on October 10, 2017, 09:27:17 PM
Too bad a computer version of Fire in the Lake couldn't be made. I don't own it but hope to some day. It would sure ring all the right bells.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/144189/fire-lake

It seems like boardgame conversions never seem to pan out. Damn shame really.


The VASSAL module for it is nicely done.

You're right about that. I installed VASSAL just to check it out. Won't do me much good until I get the game though.
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Cyrano

A general note of caution that FITL and 65-75 have pert near nothing to do with one another save the conflict they explore.

I have and love both, but they are radically different choices.

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