Saigon 75 Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components and Set-Up
  • C.1. Choose a side
  • C.2. Initial Set-Up of Units and Markers
  • C.3. Place additional units
  • C.4. Set up reserves
  • C.5. Housekeeping
  • C.6. Place the turn marker on space 1 of the Turn Record Track (Summer 1973)
  • C.7. Prepare the Event Cards
• Sequence of Play
  • S.1. Turns and Phases
  • S.2. Determining Unit Availability
  • S.3. Event Cards
  • S.4. Movement
  • S.5. Stacking
  • S.6. Combat
    • 6a. Procedure
    • 6b. Retreat restrictions
    • 6c. Bonus Battle Dice
  • S.7. Air Unit Attrition
  • S.8. Province Control Check
  • S.9. SV Desertion
  • S.10. Objective tokens (turns 3, 5 & 7)
• Special Rules for Turn 8 (Spring 1975)
• Check victory conditions
• Playing Saigon 75 Solo
  • Setup
  • Solo mode operation
  • Event Cards
  • Order of preference
  • NV player activation
  • Combat
  • NV retreats
  • Objective tokens
  • Precisions on Event Cards played by the NV player
  • First turn — example of play
• Text on the Event Cards

Components and Set-Up

C.1. Choose a side

Each player chooses the side he is going to play (NV or SV) and takes the corresponding units, markers and the 5 Battle Dice.

Common components:

• 6-sided die (1)
• Turn marker (1)
• Event cards (20)

NV Forces:

• NV divisions (14)
• NV divisions—reduced (14)
• VC battalions (8)
• Quyết Thầng markers (19)
• Infiltration markers (5)
• Activation +1 markers (3)
• NV Battle dice (5)
• Objective tokens (3)

SV Forces:

• SV divisions (11)
• SV divisions—reduced (11)
• Ranger battalions (6)
• Marine brigades (4)
• Paratroop brigades (3)
• River Patrol units (2)
• Mechanized regiments (7)
• Air Support/Air Transport markers (12)
• Activation +1 markers (2)
• SV Battle dice (5)
• Air Attrition dice (2)

C.2. Initial Set-Up of Units and Markers

The majority of the provinces are marked with coloured squares and rectangles, representing the units that start the scenario there. Place the corresponding units on each zone (the rectangles are the SV divisions, and the circles have a colour linking them to a specific type of unit). The 3 Objective tokens are each placed at random in the following provinces: Quảng Trị, Đà Nẵng and Bình Định. Each player places their Activation +1 markers close to them.

C.3. Place additional units

The SV player has additional units (listed below) which he places in the provinces of his choice:

• Rangers (3)
• Marines (4)
• Paratroops (3)
• River Patrol units (2)—only in Cà Mau, Cần Thơ, Kiến Giang and Long An provinces

If you would prefer a game balanced more in favour of the SV player, make 2 Air Support markers available to the SV player by placing them in the Air Support spaces on the map.

C.4. Set up reserves

All NV divisions, Việt Cộng (VC) battalions and the 5 Infiltration markers are placed in the NV Reserve Pool on the board. The Quyết Thầng markers are placed in their dedicated space below the NV Reserve Pool.

C.5. Housekeeping

The D6 is placed near the board within reach of both players, while each player keeps his 5 Battle Dice in front of him.

The NV player places the reduced NV division octagons in front of him, off the board, along with the Activation +1 markers. Likewise, the SV player places in front of him, and off the board: the Air Support markers, the Activation +1 markers and the reduced SV division octagons. In addition, the SV player takes his 2 Air Attrition dice.

C.6. Place the turn marker on space 1 of the Turn Record Track (Summer 1973)

C.7. Prepare the Event Cards

For your first games:

Deal three Event Cards [S.3] to each player. Each player draws a new Event Card at the end of his Event Card sub-phase, so that at the start of each turn they will always be in possession of a full hand of three cards – until players empty their deck. From this moment, they play with fewer cards in hand.

Since the game comprises twenty Event Cards, four cards are put aside before starting play; these cards remain unknown to either player.

For players familiar with the game:

Deal eight Event Cards to each player. The remaining four cards are set aside (see above).

Sequence of Play

S.1. Turns and Phases

A game lasts a maximum of eight turns. Each turn is divided into two phases, the NV player phase and then the SV player phase.

Each phase consists of a number of consecutive sub-phases. The player whose phase it is, is called the "active" player.

NV Player Phase

• Determine unit availability [S.2]
• Event Cards [S.3]
• Move units [S.4]
• Resolve combat [S.6]
• Check province control [S.8]

SV Player Phase

• Determine unit availability [S.2]
• Event Cards [S.3]
• Move units [S.4]
• Resolve combat [S.6]
• Check province control [S.8]
• Test for SV unit desertion [S.9]
• Recover objective Tokens (only on turns 3, 5 & 7) [S.10]
• Check Victory Conditions

S.2. Determining Unit Availability

The active player tests for his units' availability by rolling 1D6 and referring to his Unit Activation Table on the game board. This table also indicates the maximum number of units that can be activated for the current Phase.

It is not possible to carry any non-activated units forward to the next turn. (Exception: Air Support/Air Transport markers [S.6]).

The result of the NV Unit Activation Table indicates the number of infantry divisions (full strength or reduced) that he can activate during his phase. This includes units located in South Vietnam, and/or those present in the NV Reserve Pool (historically these units were located in Cambodia/Laos/North Vietnam) that can enter South Vietnam by means of the arrows on the game board. These units can move and/or attack freely.

In addition to these units, the NV player may activate up to 2 extra VC battalions.

The Quyết Thầng militia markers, like the Infiltration markers, [S.8] are not units, and therefore do not form part of the unit availability process.

The result of the SV Unit Activation Table indicates the number of units the SV player can activate during his phase. It represents the combination of the number of units that he can move and/or attack with, and the number of Air Support (strike or transport) markers he can place in the spaces provided on the game board.

It costs 1 activation to acquire an Air Support marker, but their use thereafter [S.6] is free for as long as the marker is still in play.

The Air Support/Air Transport spaces on the board may not contain any more than 5 markers. The SV player can use them to support combats in attack or in defense [S.6] or to transport Rangers units [S.4].

Those units that have been activated are placed on their "Activated" side (identified by a star) as an aide-memoire. At the end of the active player's phase all these units are turned back onto their non-activated side (i.e. with no star visible).

The NV player has 3 Activation +1 markers, the SV player has 2. An Activation +1 marker allows a player to add one extra availability point to the result obtained from the Activation Table.

More than one Activation +1 markers may be used in the same turn, but a player may not exceed a turn's availability limit as specified on his Activation Table. Once used, an Activation +1 marker is removed from the game. Each Objective token [S.10] that a player has in their possession also allows for 1 extra activation but, as above, always in compliance with the current turn's availability limits.

S.3. Event Cards

There are 20 Event Cards; 6 to the advantage of the SV player, 12 to the advantage of the NV player, and 2 "neutral" ones.

Each card has:

• the event name
• a background color indicating which camp is advantaged by the event
• an illustration
• a description of the event's effect(s) on the game.

The active player must play one of the cards in his hand, and the event associated with it is in effect during his phase.

Each card is discarded after the event has been fulfilled, or at the end of the active player's phase depending on the card. (Exception: if the Crisis in Saigon event has been played by the NV player, it must be retained on the gameboard as an aide-memoire until the SV desertion phase.)

After discarding, the active player then draws a new card in order to restore his hand to three cards. (Exception: ignore this step if you have chosen the eight-card hand option suggested in [C.7]).

S.4. Movement

All units have 1 movement point, apart from Mechanized SV units that have 2 (see below).

Moving into an adjacent province costs 1 movement point. Two provinces are adjacent if they share a common border. Example: the province of An Lộc is adjacent to the provinces of Phước Bình, Saigon and Long An, as well as Cambodia.

A unit may only move voluntarily once per turn, during its movement phase.

Marine brigades may be moved from one coastal province to any other adjacent or non-adjacent coastal province. This special movement may also be used for Retreat after Combat [S.6].

Paratroop brigades may be moved to any other province, adjacent or not.

Ranger battalions may move like paratroop brigades, but must use an Air Support marker for each battalion moved in this way (the markers must be available in the Air Support spaces on the board). Air Support markers used in this fashion are subject to an Air Support attrition die roll [S.7].

River Patrol units may only move between adjacent provinces marked with the Mekong River symbol (Cà Mau, Cần Thơ, Kiến Giang, Long An).

SV Mechanized units have two movement points. They must stop moving as soon as they enter a province that contains a mountainous terrain symbol (Kon Tum, Pleiku, Đắk Lắk, Đắk Nông) and/or is enemy controlled [S.4 and S.8].

The Quyết Thầng militia markers [S.8] may not move.

Only NV units may move from a border province of South Vietnam to a zone representing Cambodia/Laos/North Vietnam (and vice versa).

Any unit entering an enemy controlled province must cease moving immediately.

Any unit may freely leave a province that contains units from both sides.

All movement must adhere to the stacking rules [S.5].

Marine, Ranger and paratroop units may use special movement instead of their normal movement.

Example — Activation, Stacking, Movement: We are in Turn 1 (summer 1973). The NV player has obtained a 5 for his Unit Availability roll, for a total of 7 activated NV divisions and 2 VC units (that are "free"). He decides to invade Kon Tum with 4 NV divisions and 1 VC unit, then to move 3 NV divisions and 1 VC unit to Pleiku. For the combat phase he also places 1 Infiltration marker in each province. The NV player has reached the maximum stacking limit in Kon Tum province (the Infiltration marker does not count against stacking).

S.5. Stacking

Stacking controls the number of units (full strength or reduced) that a province can contain. A province may not contain more than five units from the same side.

Militia markers and Air Support markers do not count for stacking. If the stacking limit is exceeded at the end of a Movement or Combat Phase, the excess units are eliminated at the owning player's choice.

There are no stacking limits in the Cambodia/Laos/North Vietnam zones.

S.6. Combat

Any activated unit belonging to the active player that is in the same province as at least one enemy unit may engage in combat. The player's unit(s) become the attackers. It is never compulsory to attack. An individual unit may only take part in one combat per Combat Phase.

At the end of all his movements, the active player declares the combats he wishes to initiate. He chooses the activated units that will fight, and decides the order in which the combats will take place. There may only be one combat per province.

There is no obligation to attack with all the units present in a province. Those units not engaged in the combat are not affected by the results of that combat. On the other hand, during an attack all the enemy units present must take part in the defense.

Exception: a Việt Cộng unit may only be attacked if at least one Rangers or River Patrol unit is taking part in the attack. If no Rangers unit is attacking, the NV player may choose not to engage their VC battalion(s) in the combat. A Việt Cộng unit which attacks suffers all combat results that are inflicted by the defender (whether a Rangers or River Patrol unit is present or not).

The results of combat are considered to be simultaneous. A combat in a province lasts only one round; i.e. the dice are only rolled once per combat sub-phase in each province.

6a. Procedure

Each player rolls as many dice as he has engaged units, plus any possible bonus Battle Dice [S.6].

The attacker first of all announces how many combat units are engaging in the attack as well as any bonus Battle Dice. The defender in turn declares if any bonus Battle Dice are being used to support all of their combat units. Each player then rolls their dice.

A player may not roll more than 5 Battle Dice per combat. The defender applies the combat results, as indicated by the Battle Dice (casualties or retreats), to his troops first. The attacker then follows suit.

Dice results:

• No result: no result
• Casualties result: an enemy division, owning player's choice, is reduced. A division that is already reduced, or any other kind of unit, is removed from the game.
• Retreat result: the number of retreat results each side has rolled are compared and the balance is calculated. For each excess retreat result, an enemy unit (owning player's choice) must retreat into an adjacent province.

Example: if the NV player rolls 2 retreat results and the SV player 3 retreat results, the balance is 1 against the NV. Therefore 1 NV unit must retreat.

Quyết Thầng militia markers [S.8] are unaffected by casualties or retreat results.

6b. Retreat restrictions

Each unit must retreat into an adjacent province under friendly control that contains more friendly units than enemy units (Reminder: Quyết Thầng militia markers do not count as units [S.2]). In the event it cannot retreat, the unit concerned is reduced (and may therefore be eliminated). Any empty province, uncontrolled by the NV player (e.g. without a Quyết Thầng militia marker) is considered controlled by the SV player [S.8]. Any SV unit may then retreat in such an empty adjacent province when, on the opposite, an NV unit may not.

If there are more retreat results than there are units to retreat, the extra results have no effect. If a unit's retreat into a province would exceed stacking limitations, then that unit is eliminated.

A NV division may choose to be reduced rather than retreat. SV units may choose to retreat voluntarily after combat. If a unit retreats into a province where a combat has still to be resolved, it may not participate in the combat but it does suffer any adverse results.

A Marine brigade in a coastal province may retreat to any other SV controlled coastal province.

Only NV units may retreat into Cambodia/Laos/North Vietnam. In that case they are placed in the NV Reserve Pool.

The NV player may at any point "reconstitute" a complete division out of two reduced divisions in his Reserve Pool.

If the outcome of the casualties and retreat results is such that all the SV and NV units are eliminated or have to retreat, the last unit to retreat may be exempted from retreating (at the owning player's choice).

6c. Bonus Battle Dice

At the start of the game the NV player has 5 Infiltration counters. Each counter allows him a bonus Battle Die that can be used in a combat taking place in a province adjacent to the infiltration zones, i.e. adjacent to Cambodia, Laos or North Vietnam.

In order to use the Infiltration counter, the NV player must be the attacker in the combat in question. Only one counter may be used per combat; the player must announce its use before rolling the dice. Using an Infiltration counter is "free" and is not equivalent to activating a unit; each counter is discarded after use.

The NV player benefits from a bonus Battle Die if he is the defender in a combat taking place in a province that contains a Quyết Thầng militia marker [S.8]. Where a province is occupied solely by one or more SV units after combat, the Quyết Thầng militia marker is removed.

The SV player has a number of Air Support markers available to him (these may not be used before the SV player's phase in Turn 1). In combat, the SV player may use one or two Air Support markers per friendly unit engaged on the ground. Each Air Support marker gives the SV player a bonus Air Support Battle Die for the combat. (Tip: as a reminder the Air Support markers used in a combat are placed in the province where the combat took place, until the air attrition checks have been made [S.7]).

Using an Air Support marker is "free" and is not equivalent to activating a unit. Air Supports that are not used are kept from one turn to the next.

In any combat in Saigon the SV player always has a bonus Battle Die if he is defending.

Certain events on the cards will allow the players bonus Battle Dice.

Each Objective token allows the player to reroll one of their battle dice.

However many bonus Battle dice a player receives, the total number of Battle Dice they can have is always limited to 5 per combat.

In the course of a combat, the attacker is the first to declare the number of bonus Battle Dice he is using. At no point may he change this decision. Thereafter, the defender may decide if he wishes to allocate any bonus Battle Dice, or not.

Example — Combat, Retreat: The SV player has played the Ammo Shortage (E-02) Event Card. He decides to attack with all his activated units in Pleiku. The NV player will have to defend with his VC unit because a Ranger unit is taking part in the attack. The SV player also adds 1 Air Support marker that he had previously activated. He therefore rolls 4 yellow dice and 1 white die (for Air Attrition).

The NV player is defending with 3 divisions and his VC unit. He only rolls 3 Battle dice, because of the SV player's Event Card.

SV results: two no-result symbols. NV results: one no-result symbol.

As the defender the NV player first of all applies the casualties to one of his NV divisions. The SV player must then retreat one of his units (2 retreat results against 1). He decides to move the Mechanized division to Phu Yen. The province has not changed sides.

The result of the white die roll eliminates the Air Support that was used.

S.7. Air Unit Attrition

For each combat the SV player rolls a number of Air Attrition Dice equal to the number of Air Support markers committed. For every 'aircraft' symbol rolled, one of the Air Support markers engaged in the combat is eliminated for the rest of the game. This represents enemy AA fire as well as maintenance and supply problems. If an Air Support marker is not eliminated, it is placed back on an Air Support space and immediately becomes available again.

S.8. Province Control Check

At the start of the game all the provinces in South Vietnam are under SV control.

This control is checked after each combat and at the end of the Combat Phase.

A province that is occupied solely by units from the one side is controlled by that side. A province occupied by units from both sides is controlled by the NV if it contains a Quyết Thầng militia marker, and by the SV if it doesn't.

After each Combat Phase, the NV player places a Quyết Thầng militia marker in each province he controls and where there are no SV units. This marker, as well as indicating NV control of the province, also allows the NV player a bonus Battle Die for each combat in defense taking place in that province.

If a unit belonging to the SV player enters a province controlled by the NV where there is a Quyết Thầng militia marker on its own, then the marker is immediately removed and the province passes into SV control. In this event, the mechanised units immediately stop their movement.

There may only be one Quyết Thầng militia marker per province controlled by the NV player.

If, after combat in a province under NV control:

• only the Quyết Thầng militia marker remains, then it remains in place and the province stays under NV control.
• the SV player has more units than the NV player, then the Quyết Thầng militia marker is removed and the province is returned to SV control again. (Exception: in Saigon province the SV player only needs to have as many units as the NV player).

Any empty province not under NV control (i.e. without a Quyết Thầng militia marker) is considered to be under SV control.

S.9. SV Desertion

The SV player counts the provinces controlled by the NV player. If the NV player controls at least 5 provinces, the SV player rolls a die and consults the Desertion Table on the board in order to calculate the number of SV units that desert.

A full strength SV division represents two units for this purpose. It is permissible to simply reduce a division; this counts as one unit deserting.

Units that desert are removed from the board by the SV player in the following order:

• first, units in provinces that border Cambodia/Laos/North Vietnam and that are occupied by units from both sides;
• second, units in provinces that border Cambodia/Laos/North Vietnam;
• third, units in a province occupied by units from both sides, with the exception of Saigon;
• finally, all other SV units.

Example — Desertion: The NV player controls 6 provinces and his opponent rolls a 4 during the SV Unit Desertion phase. The SV player decides to withdraw the 2 units in Kon Tum from the game, the one in Pleiku, and to reduce the division in Bình Định.

S.10. Objective tokens (turns 3, 5 & 7)

During this sub-phase of turns 3, 5 and 7, the players check which side controls the province where the Objective token is located whose number corresponds to the turn that is just finishing.

The player who controls the province at the end of the SV player's phase takes the token and places it in front of him for future use.

During his own turn the Objective tokens allow the owning player to either:

• have 1 extra activation (Unit Availability Phase [S.2])
• re-roll any one of his dice (Unit Availability Phase [S.2], or Combat Phase [S.6])
• look at the 4 cards discarded during the setup, and exchange one of their cards against one of these cards (this card can be played at any time)
• move 2 units using strategic movement (to be carried out at the start of the Movement Phase [S.4]). These 2 units can be moved anywhere on the map and are not considered to be activated. Therefore, they may not take part in combat. They also do not count towards the maximum number of units that may be activated in the current turn.

A player may only use one Objective token per turn. After use, each Objective token is withdrawn from the game.

Special Rules for Turn 8 (Spring 1975)

If, on the last turn units from both sides occupy Saigon province, the SV units may not leave the province, and must attack; this means that units present in Saigon must be given priority for activation.

If there are not enough activations to activate all the units in Saigon, only those units that have been activated may fight. However, combat results suffered by the SV side are applied to all units, even those that were not activated.

Check victory conditions

If, at the end of any turn, the NV player controls Saigon province (it contains a Quyết Thầng marker), or if the SV player has no more units on the board, the game ends with a NV victory.

If the NV player is not in control of Saigon province at the end of Turn 8, the SV player wins the game (even if he has no units remaining in Saigon. Given the resistance displayed by the ARVN, the United States decides to intervene to save South Vietnam by engaging its air forces once more, in particular the formidable B-52s).

Although of course Saigon 75 can be enjoyed in a single play-through, the game's main interest lies in "back-to-back" games where the players change sides.

Each player takes turns to play the North and the South. At the end of the second game the winner is the person who as the NV player captured Saigon the soonest. If Saigon is captured on the same turn in both games, the NV player who controlled the most provinces at the end of the game is declared the winner. In the event of a draw, the winner is the SV player who had the most units still in play at the end of the game (available Air Supports count as units for this purpose). If it is still not possible to separate the players, the winner is the SV player who had the most half-divisions remaining at the end of the game (complete divisions count as 2 half-divisions for this purpose), not the other special units.

Playing Saigon 75 Solo

Setup

When playing solo, you are the SV player. Setup is almost identical to the 2-player mode, differing in only 2 points.

1. Shuffle the Solo Cards and form a draw pile.
2. Shuffle the Event Cards and deal 8 cards to the NV side and 8 cards to the SV side.

Solo mode operation

A Solo Card is drawn at random at the start of the NV side's phase.

This card is drawn before determining which units will be activated for the phase.

It determines the Event Card to be played by the NV player. It gives the Order of Preference for the NV side's targets, and details of its Activation. It specifies how Combats and Retreats are handled, and the use of the Objective tokens.

At the end of the NV side's phase, the Solo Card that has just been used is removed from the game.

Event Cards

The SV player uses their cards as normal. However, the NV side uses its cards differently. The cards are placed in a draw pile, face down. The Solo Card drawn at the start of the turn specifies the priority of the Event Cards the NV player plays.

Example: The Solo Card for the turn specifies an order of events of Yellow/Red/Green. Draw cards from the NV Event Cards draw pile until a yellow card appears. This is the Event Card that the NV side uses this turn.

If no yellow card is drawn, the cards that have just been drawn are re-shuffled with the Event Cards that have already been drawn, and the process starts again. If there is still no yellow card drawn, this means that there are no yellow Event Cards left in the NV side's draw pile. In that case the player returns to the Solo Card to find the second order of priority, which is red. The previously drawn Event Cards are re-shuffled, as before, and the cards are drawn at random until a red card appears. If no red card appears, restart the process with the third order of priority, which is green.

Order of preference

When the NV side has to specify one or more SV unit(s), this is determined in the following order: Paratroops / Marines / Mechanized regiments / Rangers / SV divisions / River Patrols / Reduced SV divisions.

NV player activation

The NV side uses an Activation +1 marker if the die roll to determine Unit Availability is less than 4.

In the first instance the NV side activates units closest to the provinces they are to be moved to. If the distances are equal, units from the Reserve Pool are activated first, followed by those in the most northerly provinces, and then by those in the most westerly provinces. Units at full strength are activated first, then if there are still units to be activated, reduced units may be activated. In addition to these activated units, the NV side may always activate up to 2 VC units if there are any available.

The NV side may never move a unit from Saigon to another province.

If the NV side has to move units into a province where it already has units, and combat can be initiated with those units already present, then they are activated without the need to be moved.

The NV side may not activate units that will not move or participate in combat.

In the Movement Phase the NV side moves its units towards the provinces specified on the Solo Card. Up to 2 units are moved per unoccupied province, and as many units as necessary to ensure 1 more unit than the enemy in provinces occupied by the SV player. If there are not enough units available to send them to each province specified on the Solo Card, the player begins by moving units to the specified provinces that are closest to Saigon; then gradually moves away from west to east, remaining as close as possible to the border between North and South Vietnam, and finally progresses towards the south coast. If on the other hand there are still units available once the player has moved units towards all the provinces specified on the Solo Card, any remaining units are sent to empty SV controlled provinces, 2 units per province and following the same order of priority. The exception to this rule is if the NV side has a choice between more than one province, amongst which at least one has an Objective token in it. In this case the player moves units towards the province with the Objective token that comes into effect the soonest. The NV side always completes movement towards one province (as much as possible) before starting any movement towards another province.

NV units move as a priority towards provinces that contain neither Ranger nor River Patrol units. The NV side never moves units towards a province that already contains 5 of its units.

If the Solo Card specifies that provinces are to be reinforced, first of all check that the NV units are present in at least 5 provinces. If this is not the case, the player moves their units towards the provinces specified on the Solo Card. If on the other hand there are NV units present in at least 5 provinces, these provinces are reinforced; this means sending units to provinces where NV units are already present in order to have numerical superiority (1 more unit than the enemy), or placing 2 units in a province unoccupied by the SV player. Saigon is reinforced as a priority, then the nearest provinces to Saigon, from the north to the south, and from the west to the east. During reinforcement, as with normal movement, the NV side activates units already in a province if that will allow combat to be initiated.

If reinforcement is not necessary, i.e. when the NV side has numerical superiority in every province it is present in, the player moves as if NV units were only present in less than 5 provinces.

Combat

In a combat where the NV side is defending and has VC units available, they are only involved in the combat under one of the following conditions: either because there is no choice, since at least one Ranger or River Patrol unit is participating in the attack, or because without the VC units the NV side would be outnumbered and employing the VC units will allow the NV to match, or outnumber its SV attackers.

To be the attacker in a combat, the NV side must fulfil the condition on the Solo Card drawn that turn. The condition may be that the NV side initiates combat in a province where it has numerical superiority, or where it is equal in numbers or has superiority, or there may be no conditions and the NV side initiates combat in as many provinces as it can.

Example: To have numerical superiority the NV side must have more units in the province than the SV player. In calculating this include the bonuses furnished by Infiltration markers and/or Event Cards. If this number is greater than the number of SV units in the province the NV side is considered to have fulfilled the condition of numerical superiority and may initiate combat.

During combat in a province adjacent to infiltration zones, if the NV side is the attacker it uses an Infiltration marker to increase its number of Battle Dice if it does not have numerical superiority, and if it is not already rolling 5 Battle Dice.

If the NV player initiates several combats, resolve the one in the most northerly province first (the closest province to the NV Reserve). If several provinces are equally close to the NV Reserve, resolve the combat in the most westerly province among those first.

The NV player distributes their retreats and losses in the following priority order: NV divisions > NV reduced divisions > VC battalions.

NV retreats

If an NV unit is forced to retreat, it does not choose to reduce a division unless it cannot retreat without losing that division.

If a retreating NV unit has a choice of provinces to retreat into, it chooses the province with the least number of NV units in it. If it is still not clear which province to retreat into, the unit retreats towards the province closest to Saigon, then towards the Reserve Pool, and finally towards the northernmost province on the board.

Objective tokens

Any Objective tokens the NV has are used as specified by the Solo Cards.

Precisions on Event Cards played by the NV player

When the NV side has to apply a bonus during a combat it does so as soon as possible (Uprising, Armoured Support, Paralysed Leadership, and Corruption Event Cards).

When the NV side has to choose a province, it chooses Saigon whenever possible. If this is not possible, or if doing so would have no effect, the player chooses the province with the most SV units amongst those where the NV side is outnumbered. In the event of a tie, provinces in the north, followed by those in the west are prioritised, as with movement (Diversion, Evacuation, Viet Cong Infiltration, Corruption and Montagnards' Revolt Event Cards).

Two example Solo Cards, showing the kind of instructions printed on them:

Card #27 — Event Card priority: Yellow/Green/Red. Movement: Towards Saigon. Use of Objective Tokens? Yes: to move 2 units by strategic movement. Combat: No strength differential conditions.

Card #25 — Event Card priority: Red/Yellow/Green. Movement: Towards Saigon. Use of Objective Tokens? Yes: draw Event Cards until a yellow card is drawn; discard it and, at random, draw one of the Event Cards remaining after setup. Combat: In those provinces where the NV is equal in strength or has numerical superiority.

First turn — example of play

The NV side draws Solo Card #30. Draw cards from their Event Cards draw pile until you draw a red card. The NV side plays Event Card #19. The other cards that have been drawn are left aside.

Card #30 — Event Card priority: Red/Green/Yellow. Movement: Towards the provinces in the north. Use of Objective Tokens? Yes: for an extra activation. Combat: In those provinces where the NV side is equal in strength or has numerical superiority.

Card #19 (Uprising): The NV player may add 1 Battle Die to 2 combats in this phase. This must be declared before each combat.

The die roll for NV Unit Availability is 3. The player therefore uses an Activation +1 marker, and because this is the first turn, the number of units available is now 6.

The units are moved towards the provinces in the north, going from north to south. With the two VC units needing to be placed, in provinces without any Ranger units, they are sent to the northernmost province. Three units are sent into the first province to provide numerical superiority. There are not enough units for the NV player to get numerical superiority in the next two provinces. As there is a Momentum token in Da Nang, they send the five remaining units in this province in order to get numerical superiority, and no units are sent to Hue.

To initiate combat the NV side must have numerical superiority, or at least equal numbers. The two provinces fulfil the criteria.

The combats are resolved, starting with the closest province to Saigon, as both are equally close to the northern border.

In the first combat the NV player rolls two no-result symbols, and you roll two no-result symbols and one retreat symbol. Two of your units are therefore eliminated. As you have obtained one more Retreat symbol, the NV player must retreat one of their units towards Cambodia/Laos/North Vietnam.

For the second combat, the NV side rolls one casualties symbol, and you roll one casualties symbol (the NV side rolls one more Battle Die thanks to its Event Card). Your SV division is reduced and then eliminated, and your second unit is also eliminated. The NV division and a VC division retreat towards Cambodia/Laos/North Vietnam, and one VC unit remains in the province. The NV player gains control of the province, therefore place a Quyết Thầng militia marker in the province.

The NV turn is now complete and you can start your own turn.

Text on the Event Cards

Air Strikes (E-03): The SV player selects a province and immediately rolls 2 Battle Dice. He applies any effects to the NV units of his choice present in the province.

Strategic Redeployment (E-04): The SV may immediately redeploy up to 5 units in any SV province on the map. If played during the SV Phase, any units redeployed using this event are considered activated and to have already moved. These units may participate in combat. They do not count against the maximum number of units for activation.

Stubborn Resistance (E-06): Of course, ignore the Retreat results the SV units suffer, but not the ones they inflict.

Viet Cong Attack (E-10): If the Event is played during the SV phase, the mechanized units cannot move during the current turn (but they can engage in a fight or retreat if necessary).

Ho Chi Minh Directive (E-12): Playing this card does not allow you to go over the maximum number of units that can be activated this turn.

Viet Cong Infiltration (E-18): The NV player may immediately place a VC unit in any province of South Vietnam. This unit may already be in South Vietnam or in the Reserve. This unit is considered activated and is added to the available activated units for the turn.