TET Solo: Playtest Games

[Whiterook]

Playtesting - Game 1 & 2

I’ve decided to keep all playtest game sessions in one thread, since they will be played one after another.

Note that this play you will see, before we get to Game 3, was an instance where I messed up so bad, I used the pics I was taking to reset action and play forward as a second game. I know that’s confusing but, it really did play out in its entirety as a combined-one game.

I’d received my mock up test game from Decision Games (my second game!) for playtesting. Set in the Vietnam War, it centers around the TET Offensive and is more of a grand scale level over a large area… North Vietnam, as well as South Vietnam (which is also separated into four Corps areas); Laos and Cambodia are also represented on the map.

The game is in the first stage of blind play testing… a new set of playtesters will participate in the next group, building off of what my group finds. Keep in mind that the mechanics are in the first stage round of playtesting, and all photos of the map and counters are raw play test components; the final published versions will appear different. The hex spaces are allies, greenish and blue (the latter being Riverine); and the round are NVA and VC. Star symbols denote Critical Objectives and cities, while the other symbols represent major bases (I think  ).





Left side…



Right side…



The counters are mock ups…



…I arranged the counters in a Container Store BoxBox organizer to help better access the units. The chicken scratch notes on the right denotes the nationalities in the clear plastic tray. It took about three hours to organize the counters and set everything up. 

I kinda have most of the rules down, but it’s a bit complicated at this stage. An overall idea of how the game works is… if you and the enemy ae in the same “Space”, you fight; movement is done through a 1d6 and you hope to match a number by one of the lines (routes) that connect the spaces. Victory conditions are based on control of key spaces as the tunes got by…this scenario is the only one assigned, which has 7 turns; if one side controls a certain number of key spaces, they can win an automatic victory…but if it goes the full 7 turns, then victory is determined by how many Victory Points you’ve accumulated (for kills and control, and such). There are air strikes with planes support; Arc Light (the code name for B-52 Bombers flying in a wreaking death from the skies in one space); as well as Air Cav Huey’s! Yeah…a lot going on here!!!

I hope to get playing this by Friday and/or the weekend… I still need to nail down the basics of the end of the rulebook (about four pages to go) and then I can just work my way through the Sequence of Play and keep referring to the rulebook. I expect the first game to be a disaster 

[mikeh]

Sounds nice, Joseph Miranda design?

[Whiterook]

Jan 31, 2024 0:31:50 GMT -5 mikeh said:

Sounds nice, Joseph Miranda design?

Yeah! …you know your peeps! I’m actually going through Steve Levan, Associate Game Developer, who’s a super nice guy.  Joe is an amazing designer. I am in awe at how such minds operate… he just cranks them out.

I like being a Playtester, and feel fortunate they have had me on two projects so far. It’s a wonderful challenge for me, because I am typically, such a slow learner on games; I’m too meticulous and maybe a little OCD on the process of learning a new game, where I sometimes read the rules more than twice, lol. I seem to have a mind glitch that insists I have the game somewhat memorized, which is OK, but most gamers I’ve seen, seem to read the rules quickly and dive right in; what these playtest session do is force me to try and work past those roadblocks, because I essentially have two weeks to learn the rules, all while proofing the rules, map, and components… then six weeks to play the game.

[mikeh]

I'm looking to see if I see any of the Miranda touches from his solo games Merrill's Marauders and his Khe Sahn 68 solo games from their Folio Games series. Both games I have and both I enjoy playing.

In not sure I could be a game tester. I am like you in your approach to rules about really digging into them. However I can get to the point of over thinking the rule.

[Whiterook]

I am often my worst enemy in overthinking rules…but oddly, I have sometimes found that though I didn’t get it *right* with what the designer wrote, that’s divergent interpretation made a good house rule.

This game seems complicated from the point of learning from scratch, but I have the idea that it will flow nicely once I know what I’m actually doing. Everything I’ve read really encapsulates what I know the Vietnam War was in the big picture view. I’m going to try and finish the rules and play the scenario tomorrow…was busy all day with a doctor’s appointment and then lots of driving for errands…even so, I love retirement!!!

[josta59]

This looks nice! I've been playing some Decision Games for a while. I'm on the fence with them currently. Pretty cool that you're playtesting for them!

[Whiterook]

Feb 1, 2024 0:05:44 GMT -5 josta59 said:

This looks nice! I've been playing some Decision Games for a while. I'm on the fence with them currently. Pretty cool that you're playtesting for them!

The shear range that Decision Games represent, in not only historical time periods, but in game design (area movement, traditional hex map, etc.) is really quite impressive. Their magazine games pack a lot in a small footprint… they only have so much page space allowance so, it amazes me they can take what is traditionally in a boxed game (or even a zippie), which charts and aids, et. al., and pack it in say 6 or so pages.

I enjoy the playtesting… I can be kinda an anal guy anyway, and very detail oriented so, digging into a game that is still rough around the edges is a great challenge. And even though the final product will tend to be much better in graphics, particularly on the counters, getting essentially a free game ain’t bad! …we don’t send the mock up back, nor do we have to PnP the components.

[Whiterook]

Got about 2/3rds through Turn 1 today… basically, I just worked my way through the Sequence of Play, step by step, reading back into the rules for each step. I have to be honest in saying, I never learn a game this way, but I’d always wondered about it as I hear so many gamer friends that do it this way; me, I almost always read a rulebook several times, until I have what I feel is a firm grasp of the mechanics and sequence, only touching on the rulebook as needed. But this method has tons of merit, so I am glad I was basically forced into it.

Getting to the Vietnamese Movement Phase, I quickly figured out I needed a method to track what was moving from where! You see, you start with the spaces on the right side of the map and work your way left; each space that has Viet Cong or NVA in, you roll 1d6 for each counter, and if the result matches the number on one of the “routes” (lines connecting spaces) leading to an adjacent space, you move that unit to the new space. This basically causes a lot of shifting of units and it got confusing to me what I moved and what spaces completed moves… so I pulled out the floor tile spacers and voila! …white on the units that moved and blue on the space that completed die rolls.



It really worked well, and the spacers were easy to pick up… I used my angle tweezers for ease, and keep each color in. Clear plastic mini-bowl. After all was said and done on movement and spacers removed, this is what we had…



I made it as far as the Arc Light Phase… “Arc Light” was the code name for B-52 bombing missions. In he picture below, the Arc Light marker is circles in yellow… you pick a space you want to bomb and roll 1d6 on the appropriate table.



…that’s as far s I made it before I brought the wife to dinner so, I’ll pick up here tomorrow and/or the weekend.

[Whiterook]

Result of the Arc Light mission…



…that was pretty effective! The B-52s took out two whole NVA Divisions (two 3-firepower counters)…good rolls helped, but that was one eliminated entirely and one sent to Regroup (meaning, it’s potentially available for redeployment in the upcoming turn).

I was able to use past photos taken and go back in for the American/Allies units I didn’t know I could fire back and that made things a little less dire for the Allies. Continuing with play, Americans move into better positions, but there were tough dictions to be made; the Communist Dau Trahn Offensive is still in effect so that meant I had to suffer a 2-column shift on the Combat Results Table (CRT), which is kinda devastating at the very start of the game… again, a surprose attack by Communist forces… so I loaded up for bear! …deployed the 7th Fleet in two areas (a one column shift in my favor) and three squadrons of Air Cav Huey’s in three other spaces, as well as Special Forces Green Berets in Hue. man, it was a slug-fest… I was able to blunt the Dau Trahn a tad but it was still murderous.



Both sides are somewhat depleted, but the Americans/Allies are hurting in some areas. Those dang Commie garrisons are a bitch! You can only get rid of them through an Elimination result…regroup won’t so it, so they’ll be tough to dislodge. My three Huey squadrons had to roll for Recycle and two are available next turn, while the third has to wait two turns to be usable again.



No Sudden Death Victory was achieved by either side, but at the moment, the American/Allies currently control all Allied base Areas (the spaces with the double colored circle symbol), but came up way short of the additional need to control six or more Communist Base spaces (ones with the red star).

We are now moving into Turn 2 of 7.

[mikeh]

I'm thinking I could use another solo Vietnam game. 🙂

[Whiterook]

Feb 4, 2024 17:50:41 GMT -5 mikeh said:

I'm thinking I could use another solo Vietnam game. 🙂

This is a real barn burner! I really like it a lot so far, and the bugs are being ironed out nicely. This is scheduled for probably 2025, though… they didn’t really say specifically, but the rules give a 2025 date. There may be another group of playtesters after my group, so maybe that’s why. Unlike the first game I playtested, I am definitely going to buy the S&T issue that has this one!!! To tell you the truth, I’ve been waiting for a Vietnam War game that has this particular feel…on a grand scale like this.

[Whiterook]

So I’m in the Allied phases of Turn 2! The image above shows where the action halted for a lunch break   …I played out the Communist turn, which thank goodness didn;t decimate me as bad as Turn 1, mainly because they aren’t currently mounting another Dau Trahn offensive, which in Turn 1, was just brutal! I lost a couple units, and they lost a couple units in counterattack response, so we are all balanced on a knife’s edge. Media Events were kind to the South Vietnamese, and three Divisions of their troops deployed to much needed positions to fortify and shore up hot areas. I had some much needed reinforcements arrive; the ones you previously saw on the Turn Record Tract at the bottom right of the map…those were supposed to go in the Allied Reinforcements box at the top left of the map, with all the other turns’ reinforcements, but I find it easier to place them on the TRT. Anyway, of those reinforcements, three Huey squadrons were returned to action, and they’ll be needed up in the I Corps Zone (top right of map).

Action is hot and heavy in this game, right from the get go… I like that a LOT! Though the whole of South Vietnam is a tinder box, I’m of the feeling that the most volatile is up below the North Vietnamese DMZ; this is going to potentially present a real headache!

After lunch should be exciting! I’m starting to not feel totally lost in the sequence of play and overall gameplay. I figured out I was not being as focused as I needed to be with Morale Points expenditures… that may haunt me in this and Turn 3+; I noted the other playtesters having game end on Turn 3, and one gamer on Turn 2, all in Sudden Death Victories. I have the suspicion they fell in the same traps I did. I think this will be a game that plays almost effortlessly, between phases once the player has a grasp of all the rules and sequences; and I also have the feeling that the game will play infinitely well, and not be repetitive… there are a couple more scenarios that will come with the game, but I was only given the one.

[Whiterook]

End Turn 2. I had great rolls for the Allies… and I figured out I was using Special Forces troops totally wrong (as in, not at all in Turn 1), which allowed me to use them for either, 1) rolling against the Communist Interdiction Table to try and lower how many troops (NVA and VC) next turn, or 2) use them to take Tactical Edge (which is who gets to fire in combat first, and who only has what survives that attack to fire back). Of course for me, with so many Communist Bases as the contested spaces where I was about to fight, I couldn’t afford to let the Commies fire at me first and attrition me to the point I had little left to fire, so I used all of my Special Forces units to gain Tactical Edge to let my troops fire first; however, I did allot one SF at an Interdiction reduction roll and actually reduced them by one! …the importance of that is next turn, only two VC will deploy from the Regroup Area (where units that were taken off the map due to combat, but weren’t outright destroy)…see the table at top right.

Those Special Forces units were a big help! …along with Combat Results Table shifts due to Huey squadrons, naval gunfire, and small special operations offensives. The game is nicely balanced, if that’s what you’re thinking at the moment, as there are things like the Allies having less effectiveness in some mechanics, since they are obviously fighting in a foreign land against a foe that are guerrilla wonders.

I was surprised to see that I currently control all allied Bases (that’s an example of what I was saying on having a higher hill to climb… I need to Control all Allied Bases, as in, only Allies can be in the space), versus the Communists, who merely need to Control and/or Contest (the latter being, both sides can be in the space) to potentially gain a Sudden Death Victory. What transpired in my not getting that victory condition was also having to control 6 or more Communist Bases (the spaces with the Red Star).

We will next move to Turn 3. This is where the game has ended in two playtests I saw other players report…they obviously;y play a shit-ton faster than me, hahaha.

[Whiterook]

Turn 3 done. Allies fell short by two Communist Base spaces control for a Sudden Victory. I finally figured out Airstrikes and man, what a difference that makes in the mix. I’m using Huey squadrons much more effectively, and keep pecking away at the Communist Infiltration Table, getting them down to the smallest amount of reinforcements available…that is probably a key factor for the upcoming turn; random placement mechanics may thwart my plans, but if I can maintain the controlled spaces I own, and capture two more Communist bases, I can win a sudden victory next turn! That sounds easier said, than probably done.

Honestly, I have made so many mistakes in gameplay that, either side win may not be truly representative of what can be accomplished, but I’ll admit to course correcting quickly enough in most areas of flub-ups, that it’s also that that far off.

I think the big question all playtesters are trying to reach an answer to is, can this scenario play out the full 7 Turns? …or is it a matter of a sudden victory on one side or the other about halfway through the game. Of course, that’s why game companies playtest their designers’ games, right?!? …to see if it works they way they envisioned it would.

Next up… Turn 4! …but not tonight!

[Whiterook]

Well, Turn 4 was a little quicker in play, as I seem to have the basics down pretty well… I am not 100% sure I am playing everything correctly, but I believe I am petty close to it. I keep missing certain aspects immediately-in-play and find I am still following through the rules as I play, as well as referring back…but that’s just me being anal, I think. I want to get it right. For the most part, the flow is great, and once I get the gremlins (those little bugaboos I keep forgetting, like getting air strikes right) sorted out, I can tell this game will play through extremely well. I think once I get a couple more games play under my belt, this will be more muscle memory than rulebook trolling.

Anyway… the turn… the Allies actually pulled out a Sudden Death Victory on this Turn 4, controlling all Allied Bases and 12 Communist bases (I needed 6 or more of the latter). Once I figured out, a couple turns ago, that I needed to use my Special Forces to gain Tactical Edge in key battles (allowing me to fire first), that was a silver bullet! Before that, I was having my American ass handed to me on a platter by Charlie shooting me down first before I could even raise my gun and sling some lead. I also had some insanely good rolls, which is not the general norm for me 

I had a blast playing this game. Even with the typical annoyance of having to constantly flip rules pages in this initial first play, the game play is so engaging that it dulled the pain of trying to flesh out rules in the book. I really got the feel of the overall conflict, with lots of strategic decisions to be made. I’m curious to see how the other playtesters are doing, as well.

Thanks for following along. I’ll be doing another play, starting in a day or two.