Having been born in the mid-60s, my youthful years were steeped in the news of the conflict in Vietnam, mostly in the form of the nightly news I watched with my dad, and the awe with which I regarded the one vet I recall meeting in person. 

Resultantly, when I discovered the joys of reading, I scoured the military history section of the Waldenbooks next to my first real job and read every book I could find and afford. While books like Body Count, A Rumor of War, Fields of Fire and then later on works like Chickenhawk and The 13th Valley are the only ones that I remember, I absorbed piles of paperbacks.

When I joined the Army National Guard I did so with an outlook on the military shaped by those soldiers and authors.  Much later in life, when I had discovered the joys of computer wargaming I bought the first copy of SSI’s ‘Nam and at the time wanted more, with more detail, and felt that ‘Nam’s grand tactical-ish, just south of operational level was a great gaming experience.  Calling in fire support of CAS with troops in contact was fun, even the rough “green splotch-heavy” way my ‘ol Commodore 64 presented it. 

Back then my playing buddy and I talked about all of the things we would like to see in the game, detailed coordinated combined arms and air assault missions, constructing night defensive positions, night fighting with muzzle flash and illuminating rounds, Artillery and close air support, and the ability to order units to perform the same actions that were historically performed, such as booby-trapping terrain and objects, requiring successful supply deliveries, and so on.

Since then I’ve played many of the computer games set in the Vietnam War.  I felt Matrix Games’ Vietnam ‘65 was a good representation of the United States’ first bloodying in a guerilla conflict in the modern era.  In that same period, I played and loved many of John Tiller’s fantastic wargames.  When they two crossed in the form of Squad Battles Vietnam and Squad Battles Tour of Duty, I was elated, played a lot, and while participating in an online SB: V gaming club I interacted with Miller Tiller’s team as much as they’d put up with me.

This review represents my first foray into writing something other than dry, practically-rote investigation reports.  It will be my first dry, practically written review.

So, anyway, I was hooked on Campaign Series: Vietnam when playing through the well-presented tutorial when my infantry platoon was air-inserted to an LZ, then patrolled to another location, fought in a brief firefight, secured the objective, then abandoned it, patrolled to a second objective, then cleared an LZ.  Units can also set up IEDs / booby traps, and they can be cleared.  VC and NVA units make use of tunnels and underground supply depots.  American units with a “tunnel rat” can explore them.  Engineers can collapse them.  The game features the full spectrum of units that fought in the conflict, available at specific times of the war.

The game scale is operational, with unit markers representing teams (e.g. RPG teams of several men), individual or platoons of vehicles, up to platoons of infantry.

Presentation-wise the 2-D maps have been improved greatly since release and are now quite eye-pleasing.  The artwork on the board wargame-style unit chits is so good it caused me to play with the stylized chits instead of NATO symbology.  The 3D map – meh – my note to the team would be to not spend any more time on it.  One can only do so much with rice paddies and jungle, and my tired old eyes can’t make out most of the units from the backgrounds.  Back to the 2D, elevation changes are discernable as are trails, streams, dense and light jungle, etc. 

The terrain of Vietnam is much more varied than rice paddies and jungles, and the game’s maps accurately present that diversity effectively and attractively.  Overall, despite going in caring more for the subject matter and gameplay and expecting poor graphics, I am very happy with how the battlefield and the units of all combatants are presented.  One note, both I and my opponent changed our computer’s graphics to 1920×1080 so that the map, units, and information screens can be seen properly.

My PBEM opponent and I have merely scratched the surface of battle types, but I can say that this is where the game truly shines and is worth the purchase.  As the allied player I have conducted combined air and sea-borne assaults of villages lousy with VC weapons stocks and bunkers – and a tunnel system that required an engineer platoon with tunnel rats to explore and deal with (Protect those engineers, while they can fight them are too valuable to risk losing as I have done).  At about the halfway point, in an area behind my front that I thought secured, a Marine AMTRAC was ambushed by a VC team as it moved between two small villages near a graveyard. The combat resolution notification told me that the vehicle had been destroyed, and one crew member was missing in action, the others KIA.  Fantastic moments of immersion are why CV has become my favourite computer wargame. 

Playing as the US I have come to relish the massive amounts of firepower I can unleash on those rare occasions I observe enemies that are not too close for artillery or CAS.  Naval gunfire, in-range fire-support bases, and a host of on-call A-1 Sandies as well as helicopter gunships and organic mortars are available.

My opponent and I have played scenarios in which patrols have been ambushed, compounds attacked, reinforcing columns themselves ambushed, and are currently fighting the Ia Drang valley battle described so well in the novel We Were Soldiers Once, and Young.  An amazing feature of CV is that many events in the scenarios are scripted to occur when something triggers them.  This has enabled the team to create scenarios with depth and tension.  The resultant wargaming experience is unique for this genre.

Combat resolution is indicated first graphically and then an informational box, which through the fog of war options can be adjusted to provide a realistic amount of feedback as to the damage your attacks have done.  The location and duration of the box are adjustable.  Opportunity Fire can be set for unit types (I’d love to be able to drill down to setting these for individual units as clearly and easily as can be done in the Flashpoint Germany games, if at all possible!)  Indirect Fire Support and CAS are brought up via button clicks and are executed in the following turns (Mortars during the player turn if they have a LoS).  

The game menu has been enlarged since release and presents all potential unit actions and map views (the ability to highlight various units/unit states).  It will be instantly recognizable to any of John Tiller’s game alumni, as it is based on his game. 

Campaign Series Legion’s Jason will energetically answer your questions on Matrix’s excellent game forums.  He helped me understand best practices for gun runs with helicopter gunships for example.  DLC covering the later part of American involvement is being worked on by the tiny design team.  I am very much looking forward to scenarios set in that period. 

I recommend CV to computer wargamers who enjoy games that look and play like board games, who want realistic unit performance and weapon effects, and who have an interest in French and American involvement in Southeast Asia.  If you are a wargamer who enjoys exploring the challenges of fighting in different eras it should not be missed.  The game is not currently available on Steam, but I hope to see it there someday, to be seen and appreciated by a wider audience.  It is available on Matrix Games’ site.  If you have not purchased from Matrix, once you have an account, you have access to all of your game installs there.  I can’t say enough good things about Matrix’s contribution to our hobby.

So that is my piece on Campaigns Vietnam.  I hope that you enjoyed reading it, I’d be happy to hear your notes, and better yet I’d be happy to hear if it swayed you to pick up this gem!

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