FIRE IN THE GROGS -- game complete

[JasonPratt]

TURN TWO VC ACTION
------------------

Well, at this point it's a two-player match, and while I'd like to see the weirdness involved in antithetical teams (VC + US; ARVN + NVA), I guess I'll go with the VC to move things along.

So! -- Banzai didn't move anyone into cities last turn so that the NVA could activate his card, but the NVA really needed to rebuild after AzTank's opening Long Range Recon Alpha Strike as the US. That's true for the VC, too, so meh.

I don't really care if AzTank uses the "Brinks Hotel" event, since it won't hurt either of my factions (only help him); so I'm going to choose a full op plus a special action -- specifically I want that Tax special action!

Rally allows me to do any of four things, in as many valid targets as I want, so long as I can afford the 1 Resource per action.

1.) Place 1 spec anywhere on the map that isn't supporting Saigon (and isn't an LoC).

2.) In any area without Saigon support but with a VC base, I can flip all specs there back underground. Useless at the moment, and my specs will all flip underground anyway during the upcoming scoring phase.

3.) In any area without Saigon support but with a VC base, I can place specs up to that area's number of VC bases plus that area's population.

4.) In any area without Saigon support but with at least two of my specs, I can replace them with a base.

The choice between option 3 and option 4 is actually quite hard (I can do both of course -- the question is how much of one and/or the other); for reasons I don't want to talk about since strategy is the only secret thing in this game!

However, in the end I choose to spend four resources Rallying up my four bases, so that I will have more specs to do things with later. So:

* Reduce my resource marker on the outer track from 5 to 1 (= 4 spent)

* Put 3 specs (1 base + 2 pop) in Quang Tin; 2 specs in Quang Duc (1 + 1); 2 specs in Binh Tuy (1 + 1); and 3 specs in Tay Ninh (1 + 2). As usual, the specs enter play 'underground'. Az knows they're there somewhere, but can't target them by normal means.

(None of those provinces have COIN forces, so increasing my forces in any of them can't shift out COIN control. Nor can I take control for the NVA.)

That finishes the Rally. For my special action option, I'm taking Tax. I can choose up to four areas, whether LoC or province or city, so long as they don't have COIN control and they have at least one underground VC spec. I activate one spec in those chosen areas, meaning it's visible and can be targeted now, and take twice the pop level in resources from each targeted area -- or only the "econ value" of any targeted LoC. (Not double the value there, but also those targets wouldn't suffer the next effect; besides I haven't moved onto any LoCs yet anyway.) Last, the taxed area move one notch toward Saigon support.

So in order:

* I flip a spec in Kien Giang; Kien Phong; Tay Ninh; and Quang Tin. The latter two areas have a base and lots of specs still hidden; the first two areas only have a VC spec. They each have a pop of 2.

* I take 4 resources from each area (because each has a pop of 2). 4x4 = 16, so move my resource marker up to 1 + 16 = 17.

* Increase support for Saigon one notch in each province. They all started with Active Opposition to the regime, so they all shift up to Passive Opposition. AzTank's US faction won't benefit yet.

* Each of those areas was giving me 2 pop x 2 active opposition = 4 victory points. Notching up to passive support means they're only giving me 2 vic-points now, so I've lost 2 points x 4 provinces = 8 points: I must reduce my score chit by 8 to 19. That's a pretty big drop, but I should be able to recoup those points with a profit later using the new resources.

Here are the two adjusted map halves, with changes marked (and also the NVA score error fixed). Green up arrows show support for Saigon rising (which will help the US score eventually, but not yet); little blue dots with "n" are newly placed VC specs; I didn't have any active specs before, so the ones with stars are newly active; and I've put some blue movement arrows showing my resources and score shifting on the track:







The lower half shows my turn marker in the box for the full op plus special activity.

Consequently, the ARVN player (presumably AzTank unless or until someone else takes over!) has three choices:

1.) Pass the turn and pick up 3 extra resources. This would be silly, but possible.

2.) Play a limited faction operation with no special activity. Since we're in a Monsoon (i.e. before a scoring turn), he isn't allowed to do a Sweep, but he can do any of the other three main ops (Train, Patrol, or Assault). However, as a "limited op" he can only choose one target area for the action to 'land on' so to speak -- although he may choose any number of valid areas capable of focusing that action into that one area. For example, if he chose Patrol, he could only choose one LoC or City as a target for the action, but he could move any number of Troops or Police (his yellow or orange cubes) from areas adjacent to his target area, so long as he pays for the move. (For a Patrol he only has to pay 3 resource total anyway.) Normally he could do a Patrol for any number of target LoCs or Cities. (Normally he'd also be trying to activate my specs in the way, whether VC and/or NVA, but I don't have any in cities or LoCs yet. But he could still do it for a limited strategic movement.)

3.) He could choose one of the events for this turn's card "Brinks Hotel", which hasn't been claimed yet. For reference, here's that card again.




And here's the Coup coming up, which will also provide an ongoing event affecting the ARVN player:




Second initiative now goes to the ARVN, to end out this turn!

[Arctic Blast]

You're certainly welcome to join in with a faction!

Yeah, I'll be getting both "Falling Sky" (and its expansion whenever that comes out) and "Pendragon". I'd get this, but only if GMT ever reprints. (I suppose I could speed that up by registering for a P500 copy...)

Nah, a bit late to be figuring out the ins and outs of how this particular COIN title works.  ;D

[JasonPratt]

Heck, at this rate I may end up playing a four-way game against myself for the lulz.  ::) :nerd:

[ArizonaTank]

Sorry, I can generally get to this once per day, but was doing some work related travel.

For the ARVN turn, will take the event for the 4 Patronage

[JasonPratt]

So noted! -- will update soon.

[JasonPratt]

TURN TWO -- ARVN ACTION (mistaken interpretation by both me and Aztank, so revised downthread)
-----------------------

AzTank as the ARVN chooses (a little surprisingly to me) to pass, picking up the three resources.

Edited to remove the final results of the turn until later; leaving behind my mistake about what he meant so that subsequent posts will make sense! Sort of. ;)

[ArizonaTank]

TURN TWO -- ARVN ACTION
-----------------------

AzTank as the ARVN chooses (a little surprisingly to me) to pass, picking up the three resources.

This ends Turn Two with no further map change.

Sorry, ARVN took the event, did not pass.  On the card, ARVN has the option to take 4 patronage.   Patronage is the victory point "air" that ARVN needs...

[JasonPratt]

Oh God, I'm retarded  :hide: Shouldn't have done that late at night before sleeping!

Will fix prior post accordingly, and adjust gameboard.

[JasonPratt]

Sorry, ARVN took the event, did not pass.  On the card, ARVN has the option to take 4 patronage.   Patronage is the victory point "air" that ARVN needs...

Hm, I'll check when I get home, but I think the text means you can convert 4 Patronage points to Resources -- not pick up 4 Patronage. The theory of the unshaded version of the event is that the bombing of the Brinks Hotel (or some equivalent) helps the US and the government of (South) Vietnam, the GVN, reconcile to cooperate with each other better. Adding Patronage runs against that idea, since that represents corruption in the ARVN which the US opposes (usually by reducing Aid) -- and the ARVN often increases Patronage by diverting Resources to it. Converting Patronage to resources runs in favor of the US and ARVN cooperating more.

The official Playbook entry on this card doesn't clarify the interpretation (although it talks about other things). The relevant card text reads:  "Aid +10, or 4 Patronage to ARVN Resources." Aid +10 means the option of moving the Aid marker up the track 10 notches. 4 Patronage to ARVN Resources has to involve the Resources somehow, so if you think it means taking 4 resources and putting them into Patronage (a typical ARVN corruption move to increase their score, consolidating their government's political power), then I'll have to reduce you by 4 resources.

I won't make any adjustments yet either way -- let me know your thoughts on this!

[ArizonaTank]

I see what you mean...I am good with taking 10 aid then.

[JasonPratt]

TURN TWO -- ARVN ACTION (revised)
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AzTank as the ARVN chooses the "Brinks Hotel" event card; and (logically) the unshaded version of the event that helps the ARVN; and of the two options there he increases Aid +10 rather than sacrificing 4 Patronage points (which he needs to help trigger a victory) to gain 4 Resources.

This ends Turn Two with no further map change.

Going into the next turn, which will be a Coup and thus also a scoring round, the scores and related tracks (double checking everything for Turn end) stand as follows:

The US is 13 points from a win trigger, with a score of 38 (Support for Saigon + Available Troops/Bases back home).

The NVA is 14 points from a win trigger, with a score of 5 (Bases + NVA control in South Nam). We have 2 operational resources.

The VC is 15 points from a win trigger, with a score of 21 (Bases + Opposition to Saigon in South Nam). We have 17 resources.

The ARVN is also 15 points from a win trigger, with a score of 36 (COIN pop control + Patronage); 30 resources; 15 each of Patronage and Econ; and 25 Aid. (Note that the resource mark goes back to 30 after I misunderstood him to be passing to gain three, when instead he took the event. By taking Aid +10, he bumped his prior aid up from 15 to 25. Resources and Patronage unchanged.)

It's a close game after the first two turns; but with two players now ensuring close cooperation between Team North (the insurgents) and Team South (the counter-insurgents), this could change pretty drastically if one of us sees a way to sacrifice one of our factions for a Team win!

[JasonPratt]

TURN THREE -- FIRST COUP (phases 1 and 2 of 6)
----------------------------------------------

For Turn Three we drew a Coup from the Event Deck. To recoup (yes I intended that pun) prior discussion in agonizingly more detail >:D : "Coups" are when we check to see if any faction has won the game. On the rare occasion when two coups are drawn back to back, the second coup's win/score phases are ignored although the 'event' still happens. That certainly can't happen for this Coup, because it wasn't the final card in the first portion of the Event deck. (It is impossible due to how the event deck is shuffled together to pull more than two coups in a row.)

Phase one of a Coup is checking if any factions have advanced their scores enough to trigger a win. This being the first Coup, that might be practically impossible, and anyway none of us are there: the US is closest at 13 points short; then the NVA at 14 short; the VC and the ARVN both at 15 short. Which is quite a close game.

Phase two has a bunch of subphases that happen automatically:

2.1.) Check if any Lines of Communications (the road network and the Mekong River branches) have Team North forces parked on them. If so, mark them as Sabotaged based on various criteria which currently don't apply because Team North hasn't moved anyone anywhere yet, including onto LoCs. This would affect ARVN's "Econ" when-if-ever it applies, though, and therefore their income.

2.2.) Check if any Laos or Cambodia province (the western map edge) has COIN (Team South) control. {checking} Nope, the US has some specs there but I made sure the NVA still has control. The Trail would have been degraded otherwise. This, by the way, is why I track Control of those provinces even though they have no South Nam population and so can't count for NVA or ARVN score.

2.3.) ARVN gets income! And a lot of it. All the LoCs are clear, for a maximum possible 15 Econ, so they get +15 in Resources. The Aid marker stands at 25 currently, so +25 from that. That pumps ARVN Resources from 30 + 15 + 25 = 70! That's almost off the track!! (Keep in mind, the US can use ARVN resources to order ARVN forces around sometimes.)

2.4.1.) The VC gets income! -- one point of Resource for every VC base on the map, which currently totals 4. So from 17 + 4 = 21 Resources. Coincidentally, this is also the VC total score at the moment.

2.4.2.) The NVA gets income! -- one point of Resource for every NVA Base in Laos and Cambodia (but not South Nam or even the "North Vietnam" province!) + 2x the Trail value (which is 1). So 2x1(Trail) + 5(West Bases) = 7 + 2 current Resources = 9 Resources.

2.5.) Finally, if the US has any Casualties then Aid would be reduced by 3x their number; but there aren't any casualties yet so that isn't a problem. (Note that this wouldn't affect ARVN income -- this time!)

Now comes the Support Phase, and here AzTank will have to make some choices before we continue.

3.1.) The US and ARVN players, with the US going first, have to decide how many of up to four population areas they're going to spend ARVN Resources pacifying. Since AzTank is playing both factions, this is simply a single Team action for him.

Pacification sounds ominous, especially considering that South Vietnam is rather an oppressive revolving door of corrupt autocrats! But from the US perspective this means winning the hearts and minds of the South Vietnamese people, and while the ARVN player can abuse it (and doesn't strictly need it to win) it really does mean helping the people.

The US can choose up to four populated areas (provinces or cities) and spend ARVN resources there increasing Support for the current regime. (Keep in mind a Coup is going on. ;) Insert irony as appropriate.) Support for Saigon is a major way the US scores to win (in a later coup, never the current one -- that's why victory points were checked first!) Once the US has made their choice, if they didn't choose a full list of four, the ARVN get a chance to fill out the list of four pop areas under the same rules. (So if the US player chooses 3 areas, the ARVN can choose one more for 4 areas total. Or vice versa.) Since AzTank is playing both factions, and since it makes no difference whether the US or the ARVN is doing this, he's just making the choice straight out.

The rules are these: in each selected pop area, AzTank can spend 3 ARVN Resources up to 3 times per area (for a maximum of 9 per area or 9x4=36 absolute total). The first expense in an area would remove any Terror markers, and can only be used for that; but there aren't any yet. The second and third expense per area shifts the Support one notch per expense toward Active Support (max shift of two notches up per area). This can also be used to sooth Opposition to the Saigon regime, and so erode the VC's score (and capabilities in those areas!)

So, AzTank: here are the two current map halves:







(The Coup isn't finished so I haven't replaced the ARVN leader yet. ;) )

Choose up to 4 populated areas to spend ARVN resources increasing Support (and how many notches up, up to two per area since there's currently no Terror.)

Oh, almost forgot: the areas must have current COIN control; must have at least one ARVN police division (orange cube); and must have at least one of either US or ARVN military divisions (green or yellow cubes). (The US would be limited to choosing areas with green cubes, and the ARVN to areas with yellow cubes, but ARVN orange police divisions would be necessary for either faction!)

That means eligible map areas, roughly north to south, west to east, are: Hue City; Da Nang City; Kontum City; Qui Nhon City; An Loc City; Cam Ranh City; Can Tho City; and Saigon City.

(Note: not provinces Quang Nam, Phu Bon, Khan Hoa, Ba Xuyen nor Kien Hoa, because there aren't any yellow or green cubes there. Not provinces of Quang Tri, Binh Dinh, Pleiku, because no Police divisions and/or no COIN control.)

While that may seem overly limited (currently to the South Nam cities), AzTank can utterly crush the ball forward on US score here! 

Edited to add: and in case it's helpful for your planning during this Turn, here's the upcoming event for next Turn:

[JasonPratt]

While AzTank is thinking about that move, he might as well consider the upcoming ARVN Redeployment, too: he doesn't have any ARVN Troops (the military divisions, i.e. the yellow cubes) that he must move somewhere this time (possibly during the next Coup); but...

1.) he may move as many deployed ARVN Troops (the yellow cubes on the map) as he likes to any cities without NVA Control (currently all of them); to Saigon regardless of any other factors; or to any area with a COIN base (currently only Pleiku Province, Saigon having the only other COIN base on the board and already a valid move -- there's an ARVN spec in Quang Nam, not a base);

and

2.) he may move as many deployed ARVN Police divisions (the orange cubes on the map) as he likes to any LoC at all without restriction, and/or to any COIN controlled South Nam area: currently all the cities, plus the provinces listed roughly north to south, west to east, of Quang Nam, Pleiku, Phu Bon, Khanh Hoa, Ba Xuyen, and Kien Hoa.

(Note that positions at game start, which for the ARVN haven't changed much in this game yet if at all, follow these deployment rules validly!)

I don't think any Viet Cong Support shifts (we get to spend resources on that, too, but the US and ARVN first) can possibly affect these options (because support shifts don't affect COIN control nor COIN Base existence, nor erase Saigon from the map ;) ), so you don't have to wait for my choices there. (I think the only place I could affect Support that's a valid redeployment move is Pleiku, so if you want to wait to see what if anything I do there, that's fine. ;) But I'll let you re-redeploy again after my VC support phase if you want to save time and make most or all of your redeploy moves now.)

Remember, however, although it won't affect your ARVN redeployment either, that your US specs currently in the western border provinces (Laos and Cambodia) will be sent back to Available automatically as part of the redeployment phase. (Had there been any other Team South forces over the border, they would be automatically sent to Available boxes, too -- except for US Troops, the green cubes, which would be sent completely out of play! Not before messing with the NVA Trail however.)

You could go ahead and consider your US Commitment moves, too, although you might want to wait for my VC Support phase. (I don't think my NVA Redeployment phase will mean anything relevant to your Commitment this time, but theoretically it could so you can wait if you want or I'll let you re-commit as you like after I make any NVA troop movements.)


US Commitment is, in effect, a special version of Redeployment unique to the US. Those rules are:

1.) Some Casualty rules which would automatically apply except he doesn't have any casualties yet.

2.) AzTank can move up to 10 US Troops (the green cubes, but not the little round specs) and up to 2 US Bases (the larger green circles) as he likes, off the map into the Available box, or onto the map from the Available box to any LoC, to any COIN controlled space (regardless if Team South has a base there or not), or to Saigon.

This could hugely affect US victory points up or down based on Available Troops and Bases (not specs being Available which is why the US alone has a separate box for them). It won't affect NVA or COIN control, unless Saigon is uncontrolled or NVA controlled, so it won't affect those scores.

[JasonPratt]

Also, in case it's helpful, here's the upcoming card for the next Turn:



I'll also update your Support options post with this.

[ArizonaTank]

As you note, pacification is not that easy since I have to have troops, police and coin control.  Turns out I only have this in some of the cities.

-US Pacification:  Spend six to increase support by two in Kon Tum.  Spend six to increase support by two in Da Nang

-ARVN Pacification:  Spend six to increase support by two in Hue  Spend three to increase support by one in Saigon

Back to you  Next up, VC agitation