Concept for campaign - Vietminh/VC

[duff]

I'm thinking about designing a very long campaign played from the communist side of the Vietnam conflict.
Anything other than decisive loss would advance you to the next battle. Some battles will be quite easy and some would be unwinnable without heavy (probably unacceptable)casualties.

The decision about if and when to cut your losses would be a key challenge for this campaign.

Does it sound interesting? Is the idea of a campaign where part way through some battles the correct thing to do is cut and run too much against the spirit of SP? Thanks for any feedback or suggestions.

[Mesh]

Just my 2 cents, I think the concept sounds great and I would love to play something like this. Also wouldn't say the "cut your losses and run" is too much against the spirit of the game, sounds more like a breath of fresh air.

Would the campaign involve fighting against all of the French, the ARVN and the USA? And how historical are you planning on going with the scenarios, or do you intend to stay purely hypothetical?

[duff]

Yes ARVN, French, US - also perhaps ROK, Aussie, and the odd warlord/rival revolutionary thrown in for good measure.
Not planning to be very historical, more true to the general flow of the fighting. For example during the battle for Dien Bein Phu I would try to create the sort of missions an infantry platoon/company may have been involved in inspired by actual actions rather than attempt to recreate any specific terrain or follow the action of any given unit. Where there is tension between history and game play I will design for game play every time. That said - if anyone wanted to produce historical battles which fit the campagn I'm happy to put them in.

Also, where the historical result of a major battle was very one-sided I reserve the right to go the other way - partly because even the most crushing victory at the regimental level can have a platoon which has a very bad day but mostly so reading history doesn't make the decision to opt out or press on too easy.

[mkr8683]

That would be a hell of an awesome campaign, Duff. I recommend 'Inside the VC and the NVA: The Real Story of North Vietnam's Armed Forces' by Lanning and Cragg as a reference - designing a campaign with the communists' perception of the war would be invaluable to its outcome. Let me know if I can help. I actually worked up a Viet Minh OB for SP:WaW, with the formations and unit names in Vietnamese.

Do it!!

Matt

[duff]

Thanks Matt. Do you know of any online sources?

[mkr8683]

Hmm.. most of the online sources I have are for US forces. I'll do some digging and see what I can find. There was an excellent site from the LBJ library about PAVN armor, that was from a long time ago, though. As far as book references, I have that previous book I cited and all the Osprey titles for VM/VC/PAVN.

[duff]

Does anyone know where I could find a map of Hoa Binh from about the right time (1951)?
If it happened to include more info on where actions took place during Hoa Binh that would be great.

[mkr8683]

There's one in Fall's 'Street Without Joy', but I don't have a scanner. You should go ahead and pick that book up, very cheap on Amazon and an invaluable reference.

[Miketee10022]

Not a bad idea at all! Very compelling actually. Perhaps the very last battle in the series can be against the Chinese in 1979!

[duff]

I thought about continuing into Cambodia and against China. The VC end in 1975 so there would be no chance to re-equip after that, I had decided to end it with the fall of Saigon but if an enthusiast wants to design scenarios beyond that I'd be happy to consider adding them on. Also, would it be worth releasing sections of this campaign as individual campaigns? For example the battles of late 51-early 52 around Hoa Binh/black river seem like they could hang together. No prizes for guessing where I'm up to developing the campaign huh?