Tim came over the mountain last Saturday for a weekend of wargaming. Spent Saturday afternoon/evening catching up and turned to on Sunday. Many Private Reserves and Blue Boars were consumed.
Completed two (yes, two!) games of the two-player version of Fire in the Lake. Finished up at 2310. How? We actually stayed on task (no football, especially if you count The Pro-Bowl), and the Coup Cards popped up sooner rather than later. Coup Cards determine the end of a turn and also the an accounting for determining victory points.
There were three consistent threads in our talks during the games. The first was how different the character of each game was, and the accompanying re-playability. It’s a spendy game, but sure worth it.
The second was how tough it was to play. Not the rules, how the card flow created the decisions that had to be made under less than ideal operational conditions. There never seemed to be a direct path to accomplishing mission goals. Who was that, Wolfe? “War is an option of difficulties.”
The third focused on how each of the four sides had conflicting goals, and the impact on operations and results. This is a great four player game. The problem is finding four players.
US strategy emphasized pacification (with accompanying support), using air strikes and irregulars to attrit communists. This was accomplished using a minimum of US troops. ARVN troops would sweep to locate enemy guerrillas, so they could be bombed, with ARVN Rangers raiding provinces to destroy guerrillas. In both games, the South Vietnamese were used to attain US victory points.
Both communist factions are hampered by a lack of resources. As a result, their operations featured taxes, but also using terror to reduce support. Infiltration was another favorite tactic since ARVN troops or police could be eliminated or “flipped”.
Both games followed the historical pattern of the US/ARVN forces controlling cities and VC controlling the countryside. The first game was a US victory, the second was a tie between the US and VC.
Great weekend of gaming with a great game. Here’s photo of the end-game for game number 2.
