Played the campaign game solo years ago and got as far as summer 1967. I remember I came up with a somewhat practical rule for solo play which allowed for more intricate placement of VC units which I long since forgotten. I still have the original game and lately have been itching to play it were it not for the huge amount of space required for the map. I am happy that GMT is re doing some of these iconic games from the past including Pacific War. Vietnam is an absolutely fantastic game that not only depicts the unit combat of the war but incorporates the politics of the time as well. Well worth every penny.
You mentioned the bibliography which includes many fine books. One that is not in the list is Historical Atlas of the Vietnam War by the late Harry Summers. It is a must have for any serious student of the war. Includes over 100 beautifully done color maps and is a great companion for the serious player of this magnificent game.
Do not be intimidated by the game. The rules are very unique but easy to master, then you can concentrate on how to best destroy those slippery VC battalions...
Wow 100 views in the first hour? Haven't watched yet but will later today. I received mine 3 days ago and already have Game 1 underway. First time for a non-Vassal play for me. Loving seeing it laid out in all its glory🇻🇳🇺🇸
I passed on this because (imho) considering the size, scale, complexity and length of play and the fact it just does not work (right) solo will make it a true shelf-hero only. Maybe the ownership of the physical copy that never hits a table equates to privs to use Vassal...but I don't play Vassal so YMMV. :) I just do not see me buying a game I KNOW will never physically hit the table in any manner (too big/complex to find an opponent and it does not solo). With all that said: I would love to see someone actually pull off a camp/big scenario face-to-face -- If had a room I could leave it setup for weeks on end...maybe just not for me. When I considered the alternatives available, it was a easy pass and I got Compass Game's: "Hearts And Minds" -- same scope but much more manageable
GMT down, OSG and Compass to go! I just recieved my copies of "Bonaparte in the Quadralateral" and "War for America" this morning, with "Four Lost Battles" arriving Monday! No idea even how to prioritize the counter clipping, let alone the game play right now; I feel like a kid at Christmas!
How much you spend on games within a year? 2000? Anyway i play maybe 50% of games solo Vietnam dont look much in that regards even though would like to have it
@@368engbn Can you let me know how you played the Communist turns in solo mode. Its easy to handle the fog of war for the US turns by making the Communist forces random when they are cornered.
@@Jezza_One Oh man it was 20 years ago when I played it last. I remember that when placing VC counters they were drawn from a pool of unit counters, Political units and blank counters and placed without looking at the strength/ID side. You would only reveal their face side if they conducted an operation or were in the ZOC of allied units. As with all multi player games if you play solo you have to play both sides equally. So ask yourself, if you were Ho Chi Minh what would you have done in each situation? With the campaign game being so much more detailed in scope makes it a bit more playable in my opinion as you are trying to control the population and not win battles.
@@368engbn Ok I think I will give that a miss I tried playing the campaign solo and it was awful because the Communists never knew what strength their units were until they tried to atack. I suppose you could spend the entire game avoiding combat but thats not much fun.
I played the game, full war. It was ok. The Viet Cong and NVA won. The US loses moral for every attack even if all the communist units are killed in a turn. So I just kept attaching and getting killed until the the US was forced out of the game. Then I stopped and built an army and then ran over the South units.
Maybe the rules changed. I got it the weekend it first came out. There was a tracking of US home morale. Or maybe I have it confused with another game. Though it looks just like the one in my memory. But in the game I played the US home morale was set at a number which was reduced by every attack the Vietcong or NVA carried out. Once the US home morale was down to 0 the US had to withdraw. The idea was the communist forces couldn't beat the US military but they could demoralize the US population by constantly killing Americans and showing they were still there and the US troops weren't stopping them. This also caused teh varies allies to leave (Korean, Tahi, Australian). The game I think was designed to just have the Vietcong hold on but I figured out that if I just constantly expended their replacements on small attacks it added up to the US and all others leaving ahead of schedule. Again I could be mistaking this for another game but the name, the company, the time frame and the maps all look the same to my eyes.
No, this all tracks. But the US only takes a morale hit when you remove a US unit (not the same as just combat losses) or in the seasonsl interphase, after the NLF has made 8+ attacks in the season - not for each individual attack.
@@ardwulfslair Interesting. I remember there being the need to wear down like 40 points. Well anyway not important enough I suppose to have a long discussion about it, you are reviewing this version not the one I remember
I'm waiting for the Vietnam wargame that includes the air war. The Vietnamese say that Operation Linebacker II was the US's Dien Bien Phu of the Air. With the US defeat and loss of 34 B-52 Bombers shot down, forcing the US to sign the 1973 Paris Peace Accords. Oh well, still waiting for the Downtown P500 🤷♂️
This does sort of represent the air war. The U.S. player has to allocate strength points to his commitment each season. This gets broken down further between strategic and tactical air points or air mobile and transport air points. It does not represent a abstract air game but in the scope of this game it does a good way depicting what the U.S. had to decide it wanted to do in the war. Bombing the North in this game has severe consequence with Population control.
![Unboxing: Vietnam 1965-1975 [GMT]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YrunUFQEZdc/mqdefault.jpg)
Played the campaign game solo years ago and got as far as summer 1967. I remember I came up with a somewhat practical rule for solo play which allowed for more intricate placement of VC units which I long since forgotten. I still have the original game and lately have been itching to play it were it not for the huge amount of space required for the map. I am happy that GMT is re doing some of these iconic games from the past including Pacific War. Vietnam is an absolutely fantastic game that not only depicts the unit combat of the war but incorporates the politics of the time as well. Well worth every penny.
You mentioned the bibliography which includes many fine books. One that is not in the list is Historical Atlas of the Vietnam War by the late Harry Summers. It is a must have for any serious student of the war. Includes over 100 beautifully done color maps and is a great companion for the serious player of this magnificent game.
Thank goodness the trippy red & blue Ho Chi Minh trail has gone.
Do not be intimidated by the game. The rules are very unique but easy to master, then you can concentrate on how to best destroy those slippery VC battalions...
Wow 100 views in the first hour? Haven't watched yet but will later today. I received mine 3 days ago and already have Game 1 underway. First time for a non-Vassal play for me. Loving seeing it laid out in all its glory🇻🇳🇺🇸
Looks like a very detailed game, thanks for the unboxing.
I’m playing this next. Do you have any plans to do more play videos? The two you have already done were very helpful.
I passed on this because (imho) considering the size, scale, complexity and length of play and the fact it just does not work (right) solo will make it a true shelf-hero only.
Maybe the ownership of the physical copy that never hits a table equates to privs to use Vassal...but I don't play Vassal so YMMV. :) I just do not see me buying a game I KNOW will never physically hit the table in any manner (too big/complex to find an opponent and it does not solo). With all that said: I would love to see someone actually pull off a camp/big scenario face-to-face -- If had a room I could leave it setup for weeks on end...maybe just not for me.
When I considered the alternatives available, it was a easy pass and I got Compass Game's: "Hearts And Minds" -- same scope but much more manageable
Cold and rainy box fart kinda day...
Where can one get those counter trays?
Those are GMT's tray, which do not seem to be available at the moment.
Great unboxing, thanks
GMT down, OSG and Compass to go! I just recieved my copies of "Bonaparte in the Quadralateral" and "War for America" this morning, with "Four Lost Battles" arriving Monday!
No idea even how to prioritize the counter clipping, let alone the game play right now; I feel like a kid at Christmas!
How much you spend on games within a year? 2000? Anyway i play maybe 50% of games solo Vietnam dont look much in that regards even though would like to have it
... no comment.
I never got anywhere with the original game because you couldnt really play it solo.
You lose so much, and the full campaign is so much effort, that nobody would bother soloing it outside of the short/learning scenarios.
I soloed it with some tweeks to the rule book. My campaign only lasted till end of Summer 1967 because the wife wanted her table back.
@@368engbn Can you let me know how you played the Communist turns in solo mode. Its easy to handle the fog of war for the US turns by making the Communist forces random when they are cornered.
@@Jezza_One Oh man it was 20 years ago when I played it last. I remember that when placing VC counters they were drawn from a pool of unit counters, Political units and blank counters and placed without looking at the strength/ID side. You would only reveal their face side if they conducted an operation or were in the ZOC of allied units. As with all multi player games if you play solo you have to play both sides equally. So ask yourself, if you were Ho Chi Minh what would you have done in each situation? With the campaign game being so much more detailed in scope makes it a bit more playable in my opinion as you are trying to control the population and not win battles.
@@368engbn Ok I think I will give that a miss I tried playing the campaign solo and it was awful because the Communists never knew what strength their units were until they tried to atack. I suppose you could spend the entire game avoiding combat but thats not much fun.
I played the game, full war. It was ok. The Viet Cong and NVA won. The US loses moral for every attack even if all the communist units are killed in a turn. So I just kept attaching and getting killed until the the US was forced out of the game. Then I stopped and built an army and then ran over the South units.
I've never played the campaign and would be happy to be corrected on this, but I'm not seeing where every US attack costs morale.
Maybe the rules changed. I got it the weekend it first came out. There was a tracking of US home morale. Or maybe I have it confused with another game. Though it looks just like the one in my memory. But in the game I played the US home morale was set at a number which was reduced by every attack the Vietcong or NVA carried out. Once the US home morale was down to 0 the US had to withdraw. The idea was the communist forces couldn't beat the US military but they could demoralize the US population by constantly killing Americans and showing they were still there and the US troops weren't stopping them. This also caused teh varies allies to leave (Korean, Tahi, Australian). The game I think was designed to just have the Vietcong hold on but I figured out that if I just constantly expended their replacements on small attacks it added up to the US and all others leaving ahead of schedule.
Again I could be mistaking this for another game but the name, the company, the time frame and the maps all look the same to my eyes.
No, this all tracks. But the US only takes a morale hit when you remove a US unit (not the same as just combat losses) or in the seasonsl interphase, after the NLF has made 8+ attacks in the season - not for each individual attack.
@@ardwulfslair plus you have to declare an offensive for your attacks to count, which are quite costly for the north vietnamese.
@@ardwulfslair Interesting. I remember there being the need to wear down like 40 points. Well anyway not important enough I suppose to have a long discussion about it, you are reviewing this version not the one I remember
I will buy this.
I'm waiting for the Vietnam wargame that includes the air war. The Vietnamese say that Operation Linebacker II was the US's Dien Bien Phu of the Air. With the US defeat and loss of 34 B-52 Bombers shot down, forcing the US to sign the 1973 Paris Peace Accords. Oh well, still waiting for the Downtown P500 🤷♂️
This does sort of represent the air war. The U.S. player has to allocate strength points to his commitment each season. This gets broken down further between strategic and tactical air points or air mobile and transport air points. It does not represent a abstract air game but in the scope of this game it does a good way depicting what the U.S. had to decide it wanted to do in the war. Bombing the North in this game has severe consequence with Population control.