Ghosts of the Jungle: A Solitaire Wargame (2022)

[Whiterook]

You may have seen my threads in the World Wars zone of the forum on “Fields of Normandy” and “Battles of Normandy” — if not, head over there after this! As mentioned in those threads, “Fields…” caught my attention on Facebook’s solitaire group a short while ago, and after I saw it again yesterday morning and checking it out with a deeper dive, not only did I order that title, but “Battles…” and this one as well!!! With “Ghosts”, the purchase decision was simple — it’s the ‘Nam, baby!

3 Squadron of the Australian Special Air Force Service Regiment (SAS) arrived in Vietnam in June 1966. Their objectives were to undertake reconnaissance patrols and to observe enemy movement, as well as to conduct offensive missions deep in enemy territory. They often operated in groups as small as four and moved slowly through thick jungle and bushland. The kill ratio of the SAS was surpassed by no other Australian unit in Vietnam. They were feared by the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong who referred to them as the ‘Ghosts of the Jungle’.

In the game, it’s 1966 and Sergeant Allen, together with Troopers Baker, Clarke and Dixon of the Third SAS Division must undertake covert missions in the jungle of Vietnam, in an area swamped by Viet Cong. Danger awaits as they face numerous enemies and difficult conditions. They will need to use stealth, tactics and good planning to survive.

This is book-based solitaire wargame. You play the game, and the book will provide the “enemy”.

—description from the designer

And as with the other two, there’s diversity in design and play!



I now know Mike owns this one, so I’ll be interested to hear host thoughts on it! I may play this one using hex tiles from the Memoir ‘4f Pacific terrain sets, though I don’t really own ‘Nam miniatures…this may change that situation!

[josta59]

I find this whole concept super interesting. I have a video about it in my YouTube "watch later" list. I'll probably watch it today.

[Whiterook]

Apr 8, 2022 10:53:30 GMT -5 josta59 said:

I find this whole concept super interesting. I have a video about it in my YouTube "watch later" list. I'll probably watch it today.

I’ll be curious on your thoughts. When I saw all three (this and the two WWIi game books), I immediately thought of you! It seems so you! Then seeing Mike owns this particular title really set my hairs on edge!

[josta59]

Apr 8, 2022 11:21:59 GMT -5 Whiterook said:

It seems so you!

I totally agree. I tried to make something like this years ago. This looks way better!

[mikeh]

Ghosts of the Jungle. Interesting little game. As Em said you start out with 4 Australian SAS in the early days of the Vietnam war. You have a Sergeant and three troopers all missions have you traverse the board to complete missions. Each trooper has 3 strength points, read dice. When injured they become reduced limiting what you can do. If you are in the same square as the sergeant the trooper gains one die. Movement and firing is straight up and down or straight across, no diagonal.

My picture shows Swampland, a real bugger to get through for me. Rocks block movement as does water. The number of trees or buildings per square tells you haw many of your forces can hide in them, two trees can hide two SAS. Everytime you take out a VC with rifle or grenade you roll a die and place another VC as the noise has alerted his buddies, the only way you don't add another is through hand to hand combat and the only way you can do that is if you are hidden and the enemy enters your square. It's considered a silent kill. You can also heal a wounded trooper. Tough game in spots.

[mikeh]

Give you an idea of how it works.

[mikeh]

Damnit I forgot you can not remove a picture from postimage without it being lost on this end.

[Whiterook]

Apr 8, 2022 17:13:38 GMT -5 mikeh said:

Damnit I forgot you can not remove a picture from postimage without it being lost on this end.

Happens to the best of us! It’ll get easier in time. You can edit the pic above later… the B-17 one is broken, too.

[Whiterook]

QUESTION: What happens with a die roll of 1 on the SAS Actions Chart?

This one baffled me and stoped play as soon as I rolled it… Is it a lost die or do you treat it as a Move?

ANSWER:
Page 13 under example 2…
"Note that the 1 is wasted here and reflects the difficult terrain they are in."
— Mike

[Whiterook]

QUESTION: How do you handle an SAS that you’ve previously hidden (say in a jungle image)… and now, you want to move it:

A. Do you have to Unhide it first with one Unhide action die (if you have that action to use), and then use another action (a Move action, if you have it) to move it to another tile?

Or…

B. Do you move it from the tile you’re hidden in, directly into the adjacent tile with one Move action die, therefor becoming unhidden in the process?

Another one that baffled me! Here, I had an SAS Trooper in a Jungle and I wanted to move him out of that Jungle and into the next tile. My problem with this, was thinking of how in this game, you move from an Unhidden state (outside a Jungle silhouette, for instance) to a Hidden state (into that aforementioned Jungle silhouette), or vice versa. Do you do that to move out of that silhouette and back into the open… as in open tile? No — that unhidden state of bing outside the silhouette isn’t moving into an “Open space”; you’re still in the Jungle! (…you can just now be seen in that Jungle space!) Move ti the next tile and thereby becoming unhidden automatically as a consequence (or benefit, depending if you get your head blown off by a VC!).

ANSWER:
”It's Option #2; Page 11 under Move: ‘Note that a Move Action results in a Hidden SAS becoming Unhidden.”
— Jack Darwin, BGG

”Option 2 is correct, as Jack Darwin says. Having to unhide first would make the game very slow.”
— Mike Lambo, BGG

[mikeh]

I don't even know why the designer would mention you can unhide with a 4 then, really no reason I can see for needing a 4 to unhide for any situation.