SAIGON 75

• Game design : Pascal Toupy - Jean-Philippe Barcus

Saigon 75 is a simple and swift strategic game, simulating the fratricidal struggle between North and South Vietnam from Summer 1973 to Spring 1975. Everything is contained within a few pages of rules and 1 hour of fun, with pressure at every moment! The game portrays the differences between North Vietnamese divisions and the Rangers/Marines/Paratroopers and other units of the South Vietnamese. Air power and desertion are also featured, with the experience being completed by event cards that give the game great replayability. An ingenious mix that keeps the players on tenterhooks right up to the last turn!  

English and French versions are in the same box (2 sets of cards and rulebooks).

The gameboard is in English and in French (both languages are on it).

The card size is 63 x 88mm and the cards are 300gsm.

The box size is slightly bigger than an A4 (310 x 220 x 50mm).

You can use the punchboard instead of the D6 during activation phase (each side can draw one token randomly during this phase). The tokens that were used are then discarded. You can also change the difficulty of the game by removing some of them before the beginning of the game.

Gameplay overview

One of the players controls the "communist" forces of the North (North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong) and the other controls the "liberal" forces of the South (the Army of the Republic of Vietnam). The game is played on a board representing a map of the southern part of Vietnam. Cambodia, Laos and North Vietnam are also represented, and constitute territories that may only be used by North’s forces. If, at the end of any turn, the North player controls Saigon province the game ends with a North victory. The South player wins by successfully defending Saigon until the end of Turn 8. 

Movement 

All units have 1 movement point, apart from mechanised SV units that have 2. Moving into an adjacent province costs 1 movement point.

Combat and Air support 

Any unit belonging to the active player that is in the same province as at least one enemy unit may engage in combat. It is never compulsory to attack. The players roll as many dice as there are units engaged in the combat, plus any possible bonus Battle Dice. Each Air Support marker gives the SV player a bonus Air Support Battle Die for the combat.

Retreat 

Retreats must be made into an adjacent province under friendly control that contains more friendly units than enemy units. In the event it cannot retreat, the unit concerned is reduced (and may therefore be eliminated). 

Unit Desertion 

The SV player counts the provinces controlled by the NV, rolls a die and consults the Desertion Table on the board in order to calculate the number of SV units that desert. Units that desert are removed from the board.

Province Control

A province that is occupied solely by units from the one side is controlled by that side