Great game for Vietnam era fans. First (COIN) game I`ve seen and liking concept.
Good setup for future Afganistan game.
Overall good buy.

The game places you in a rather abstracted scenario of engaging in counter insurgency, in a abstracted area in Vietnam.
Pluses, The game models the counter insurgency aspect of the war very well. You have choices regarding how you go about fiding and killing the enemy. I personally am a hold it all guy if possible. Although ive been told garrisoning villages is counter productive, I have won repeated scenarios doing just this, and using my special forces units to find the core enemy dispositions.
The game does a fairly good job of modeling supply, combat, base and foreward camps well. Nothing you do should be done on a lark, you have 45 turns to win or lose, and each move by each unit counts.
The game as it stands gets a 7/10 Wargamers tumbs up from me. IF you like it keep you eye on the devs, they will be coming out with more COIN type games in the future...and who can tell? They may be consideably more detailed then this.

Being a sad man this game looked right up my street. And it is. The game mechanics are easy to learn and the interface is very friendly. The unit types are basic but fairly accurate and once you move onto Veteran the gameplay becomes quite a bit more challenging. That said, it still seems overly easy to win a decisive victory. I have found in my own games that mechanised infantry and armour can be totally ignored, in favor of plenty of heli-transport and cobra gunships backing up the boys on the ground. I only use the Green Berets for recce duties, not training, and reserve airstrikes for bases, enemy armour and RPG teams out of reach of other assets. Engineers clear LZ's next to villages without one and also form LZ's in dense jungle areas for sweeps and clear duties or recce insertion. Placing your fire base well, so it can cover several high value areas, is critical. Ideally, it wants to be within chinook range of your HQ, for rapid casevac and artillery replenishment. So far, that has paid off well.

This game is fun, easy to learn and play, and highlights one fact better than almost anything I have ever played. You can have as big a force as you like, but without effective logistis it will all come apart faster than you can say "oh bugger".

Very simple game, has the most perfect difficulty for me, it can be hard but keep on top of your re-supply and it seems to go well for me.
A few anoying things, I find myself clicking the map and moving something I didnt want moved alot and sometimes when you click on a unit if you dont have the map centred on that unit you can too easily have the icon you want overlapping one of the main icons and the game will click the wrong one.

This game does a good job making you balance supply, ammo, soldier health and response to the enemy . You can't overexpand or always react to enemy contact. Just like what many commanders likely experienced in Vietnam! Great strategy game that is very challenging. It's hard enough trying to win on the regular level and near impossible on Veteran. Random maps make the game very replayable. Definately worth the reasonable price.

Anyone who runs, is a VC. Anyone who stands still, is a well-disciplined VC!

Seriously i am pleasantly surprised by this game. Wasn't so sure while watching videos of the gameplay but i must admit that it's a great little strategy game.

Also I think that the supply system is quite alright, in war logistics is paramount, it's an interesting and original part of this game.

8/10

I really enjoyed this game. The game plays like a board game for 1 player, while it is light in the overall content it's worth $10.

Someone people would argue it's worth less but I would love to see more COIN/insurgent based games in the future so paying a bit more to show support is what I believe in.

Full disclosure: review copy provided by developer/publisher!

Boy, how do I put this?

Vietnam '65 is a lot like the divisive conflict it depicts: muddy, ugly, and seemingly nonsensical.

It's 1965 and war is in the air. For the last decade America has been ratcheting up her presence in the troubled region while France and Japan watch on knowingly, having tried to woo Vietnam with guerrilla warfare and baguettes in the past. And while America too would become weary and stop her particular explod-y romancing, 1965 was just the beginning of serious courtship. But enough with this weird sexy subtext history lesson, how's the game?

The game starts off giving you an overview map of the (procedurally generated) Ia Drang Valley. You have a base on one end of the map, and the rest of the map is populated with little villages and forests full of Charlie. From that base you deploy infantry, army engineers, helicopters, tanks... pretty much anything and everything to change the tide, and move them across the hex grid. You build roads and tear down forest to better navigate, you search for mines and set up ambushes, you build forward and fire bases, and you resupply your units in the field. All the while you have to juggle political capital to keep the war going, and that capital is affected by how successful your efforts are in putting down NVA, Vietcong, and turning the local populace to your cause. Some very cool ideas happening here, including the political capital, “hearts and minds” thing, the fact that your military accomplishments and achievements are displayed on a uniform, and the fact that you have to build equal parts to explode.

BUT.

But. These things happen seemingly arbitrarily (seemingly, anyway. Apparently troop levels, American and communist, influence sympathies). Some villages raised American flags in support while others chose the communist North, for reasons not entirely clear initially. Enemies pop in and out of nowhere (an interesting way to depict the guerrilla warfare that marked the conflict, but it just looks lazy and rushed. The developer has told me they appear on the Ho Chi Minh trail so it isn't at random per se, but they still will just materialize as if out of nothing). And the resupplying gets real old real fast, flying choppers sometimes every three turns to feed your hungry units in the field. It's boring, monotonous, repetitive, and tiresome. You play the game once, you've played it a dozen times.

Vietnam '65 is a lot like something you download from the App Store, play in the airport while you wait for a flight, and promptly delete after a game or two – all the while muttering how you need to manage your money better, how eight dollars here and eight dollars there add up eventually, how you could have read a book and bettered yourself. Maybe you start crying and people start recording you on their phones and you're a reluctant viral sensation – I've lost my train of thought again.

The game doesn't just FEEL like a tired App Store game, it looks the part too. Sharp, PS1 textures and models, awkward, janky movements, bad tutorial, poorly explained mechanics, one game type, an options menu that allows you to change the volume and admire the developer credits. It's just lame, it's pathetic, and in a market full of classic and brave new strategy games, why bother with this drek? Even for you history buffs out there, this isn't the Vietnam War game that breaks the crappy mold.

Avoid this one. When there's literally dozens of amazing strategy games out there right now for the taking, why bother with bad, lazy iPad ports?

Overall reccomended. The game tries to depict a complex conflict in a very simple way and is not unsucessfull.

Pros:
- Despite its simplicity, it managed to capture a few basic tenants of COIN warfare, such as "Partisans win just by surviving and remaining active".
- The game is constituted of 3 different factors: local sentiments, military situation and the opinion of your higher-ups in Washington. All 3 influence one anotherin a way that is more subtle than it seems.
- The "search" part of COIN warfare is there and it is most often more important than actual combat. The "Sarch" part is the more difficult than the "Destroy" part.
- The unit list is limited, but each one has its specific purpose.
- Maps are randomly generated, and this really does increase replayability, even in some basic strategic choices remain the same.
- You win by influencing the local population, ratehr than through contrlling territorry or causing enemy casualities, although the latter will help the former.
- Overall the game is engaging and invites the player to think a few moves ahead. The basic design means that there is always a level of uncertainty of what the enemy is up to.

Cons:
- The game is a "Top-down design" and quite abstracted. The combat mechaics are simple (think Panzer General). This is not necessarily bad in itself, but people who expected combat complexity on the level of "The Operational Art of War III" will certainly be dissapointed. More depth when it coems to actual combat and units could enchance the game and this is where ther eis room for improvement.
- Each unit is about the size of a platoon and your entire force will be max about the size of a regiment. You fight to control one valley, not a whole province. As such, there is no finer elements of politics and historical events, such as South Vietnamese coups, attacks on provincial capitals etc.
- You can play only as the US, no possibility to play as the communist side. So far no multiplayer
- The NVA AI may decide to send in some PT-76 tanks, which is ahistorical as far as 1965 is concerned.
- The randomized map while helping with replay value, does not offer any historical background. Villages are entirely generic, even as far as lacking names.
- The sounds are generic ad there is no period music in the game. I ended up turning sounds of and playing Vietnam-era american music mixes from youtbe. This is a strategy game, so its not a major issue but still I'd like to point this out.

Final verdict: The game succedes in simulating the basic tenants of COIN operations quite well, which is not something most wargames do. It could use more depth as far as unit types, public relations, historical events or civil aid programs are concerned. This is a game with Panzer General -level combat complexity and if you are willing to treat it as such, the game can be rewarding and fun.

More in-depth description of some core gameplay mechanics.

Higher relations with the locals will allow you to detect the ennemy more easily, which in turn will allow you to detroy them getting positive political clout in washington. On the other hand, losing units will cost you political clout and allowing VC to run around villages will lower the opinions of the locals - which in turn makes it harder to spot saidVC, which in turn makes it harder to prevent them from lowering the local sentiments even more.

The partisans can win just by not losing, the COIN force needs to actively win in order not to lose. This game really depicts this well. A lack of sucess mans that you can end up in a spiral of dropping political support and local opinions, which in turn make military victories harder and harder.

The map is randomly generated each game, which helps the replay factor more than it seems. The game is low-scale though, so you will not get any game changing hstorical events.

Engineers are an important part of the game and your strategy will certainly include building new firebases, clearng jungle and building roads.

When I was put in charge of the US forces stationed in Vietnam I wasn't expecting an easy fight. The war for hearts and minds had to be won. When I saw the battlefield my heart sank. My only advantage lay in five villages near my HQ along a dirt-track road. If I could control this line of villages, I could secure the Northern half of the territory. However, almost 2/5 of the map cut off from my influence by a meandering river. Four cities lay on the other side. Cities I needed to take.

And so I created a forward base along the track and began recruiting a flurry of new conscripts. We'd win this war by placing a permenant garrison in every single town.

Ambitious? Hell yeah.
Successful? Hell yeah!

Our operation kicked off to a major success, the five villages near me were within the influence of the pro-US AVRN. A great start! One village even gave information leading to our first successful firefight against the VC. Support for the war was increasing at home!

For thirty turns I drastically expanded the size of my airforce, hiring hueys and a chinook to ferry supplies to my vast army. Firebases were established to ease the burden of supplying my troops that my brave pilots faced. The occassional helicopter took an RPG hit, but we hadn't yet lost any. It was now turn 36 and support was running at 71 for the US government. Every village in the map had been brought under our influence. Minefields were routinely being located and destroyed, villages gave up VC rebels which we made short work of with our fighter-jets.

Why on Earth did I ever think this war would be difficult?

Then my engineers hit a minefield. No big deal, I can ferry them back to HQ next-

*BOOM*

An RPG hits the Chinook heading over to rescue them.

*BOOM*

A second RPG hits my already damaged huey sending it spiralling out of control and crashing into the ground.

Waves of Viet Cong guerillas ambush and wound two of my squads, putting extra pressure on my choppers to ferry them back before body bags start heading to the US mainland.

A couple of turns more and disaster continues to ramp up. The North Vietnamese Army joins the fight en masse, swarming over the border.

It's turn 42 now; APC's and waves of infantry have broken my hold on the three Westernmost towns. My popularity in the opinion polls is barely scraping 70 again. Almost every soldier on the front line is badly wounded and I'm continuing to expose my remaining choppers to greater and greater risks to ferry back the wounded to my command station.

I debate abandoning the four most Western towns and one of my fire bases, just so I can redraw a more firm defence line a few clicks back.

*BOOM*

A wounded squad manages to take out the North Vietnamese Army's APC, only to be overrun seconds later by two squads of Vietnamese soldiers. At least they stunted the brunt of the attack.

And then it happened. Turn 45.

The war was over. Things almost fell apart towards the end, but I had been rewarded, the 'man in every village' plan had worked in stopping the VC. My brave recruits, combined with the AVRN's that my Green Beret's trained managed to hold every village for almost the whole game, with only a single APC for armoured support.

9/10 would Decisive Victory again!

Very simple turn based strategy, much less complex than most Slitherine games. Interface is incredibly straightforward, but game mechanics and AI can be slightly annoying, especially the spawning of enemies. Probably more suited to mobile, but still good fun at this price.

My Forward Base near the other edge of the map was the site of an epic struggle. It sustained numerous attacks from VC and NVA (including tanks). Whatever I put there, SF, INF, ARVN would take casualties. So there is a constant ferrying of troops in and out of the area via Huey and M113. The helicopters occasionally get damaged as well by RPG attacks. I placed an arty there but being so far from the Main Base means it takes a lot of time for it receive ammo. So it was quite useless at times especially during the intense attacks. When I finally got a tank and sent it there, time ran out for it to see some real action. I won the campaign (normal difficulty) anyway with 60+ "hearts and minds".

This game captures the feel of 'Nam nicely. And there is a big emphasis on logistics. Don't be fooled by the price. I wouldn't consider this as a casual game.

Great little Gem of a game!!!
Very playable ( and re-playable too). Games last just a couple hours for me. It offers player with many critical decisions also on some tactical level, beside a good logistical handling. It's very balanced and run very smootly on my not gaming laptop.

It is an operational level game loosely based on the Ia Drang Campaign by the USA 1st Airmobile Division in 65. This game reminds me a lot of "1st Team Vietnam" a boardgame published in the 80's on "The Wargamer" No. 56" (look it out on the Boardgamegeek website for pics, description and reviews).

I higly reccomend this game if you are in historical conflict simulations, as it system very well and elegantly abstracts the complex nature of anti guerilla warfare constraints, That is, western democratic countries although enjoying a huge military superiority over third world countries (where since after the Korean War most conflicts has happened), they are unable to afford sacrificing both their own soldiers and committing to big war budgets.

This game system has a huge potential for simulating the many "modern" conflicts like Afganistan, etc.. beside other Vietnam campaigns too (Tet, Khe Sahn) and even on larger scales too.

WOW

This game is really getting me!

I really enjoy it, Just a quick easy strategy game without to much stuff into micromanagement.

Vietnam is a quite Epic battle and we did not see many games with this Topic.
The first game i played with this Topic was Conflict in Vietnam in 1986.
Now Finally we can play a other good game with this Epic Topic.

If you look for a game with High Tech stuff and many micro management well Pass it.
But if you Like a Good Honest and fun Strategy Game and simply to learn well than Grab it.

What really is good are the maps,You get every new game a new Map awesome.
So you do not know what you get where to place your fire base and how to start with spending your points.
Lot of jungle around your HQ or villages will make it hard to go in with example Tanks,so you need to think twice about the choices you make,To spend your Points.
The Map generator make this Game not Boring at all.

The Achievements simple i like them.

Guerrilla warfare from the enemy is cool and challenges you.
The points you get is good, Too to many troops loose will give you minus Points so do take care of your troops.
1VC base will cost you 250 points,And if the VC can manage 3 or more bases it will cost you 750 points or more every round, Till you find them and manage to destroy them.
If not you will simply loose so many points,And than its hard to win.
The green berets,you need them they are your eyes in the field they will win this war for you to Spot the VC.
Find the enemies and than destroy them before they are gone in the Jungle.

Every Single Soldier: you guys did a awesome JOB!
I am a really addict after a few tours in NAM!

I really hope that you guys will come with a DLC so we can play the other side of this Conflict.

GG Every Single Soldier and thanks for the Fun you have given me!

This is a nice little game and presents an aspect of stategy not often seen or focused on. If you think this will be a gory vietnam strategy game, with you napalmin' the locals, setting booby traps and checking out the surf, you are somewhat mistaken.
You are on the recieving end of most minefields and the combat is kept somewhat low key, as this is a game based on logistical strategy and not so much wiping the opponent from the map.

It is turn based strategy with a limit (45 turns) to reach the objective, which just happens to be the lofty american dream of 'hearts and minds', however the solution (as all good 'nam solutions should) falls to your helicopters and their ability to transport and supply.

The game is produced well, visuals are nice, not the best ive seen but certainly far from the worst. The logistical strategy is not something i generally enjoy, but i did in this instance. However the lack of music was something that can go unnoticed but will eventually eat at your soul, so chuck on some CCR in the background to get that 'vibe' going.

In the future the ability to change the game length would be nice, playable vietcong faction, alittle more on the combat side and a deeper more involved method of wining a village and getting intel (i.e. giving locals food, medicine etc.) would enhance the experience.

This game becomes very micro manage, with supply roads, and helicopters going every which way. If your a macro kinda guy or gal, you prefer combat and you hate logistics, this one aint for you. if you dont mind any of those then pick up a copy as its worth its price.
Its great to see the devs so involved with the community and im sure this is destined for greater things in the future.

Two caveats:
Don't expect detail down to the platoon level. This is more Unity of Command style abstraction.
Secondly, don't expect a typical (i.e. 4X) TBS game approach either.

Vietnam '65 is a different style of strategy game. You don't push out from your base in order to push your opponent back into his. Map control is still very important, but your opponent is fluid and the jungle is his friend. Enemies might appear at a village you thought was secure or your brand new tank might roll into a minefield way before he can get to where the action is 'meant' to be. Your infantry will hunker down in your Forward Operating Bases whilst your Special Forces prowl the jungle on recon missions. You'll frantically call in artillery strikes to try and save an ambushed unit of Infantry, or howl in despair as an RPG ambush downs your Chinook, as your units will now not get the supplies they desperately need this turn!

The game manages to capture the pitfalls of fighting such a war quite well, and despite the price there is a remarkable level of depth in there. That being said, once you've grasped the rules and basics, I've found the game a little easy. I'd like the AI to thwart me utterley from time to time. Again though, that being said, you will easily get your money's worth of entertainment at such a price point. I hope that the success of this game will spur the developers onto much more ambitious plans. The asymmetric nature of the war depicted in this game could be really good for multiplayer (or even a pausable real time strategy using something like Eugen's IrisZoom engine, wow! I can dream)

In summary, a great little game for the price point. Think Unity of Command, there is more to this than may meet the untrained eye! ;)

A simple game, which sticks to it's basic game design. It's random enough to allow replayability. Once you learn the logic problems it's quite easy to divide, conquer & control the map.

SOG generated ARVN groups seem key as well as a Fire Base in the middle half of the map.

It's worth $9, in my opinion.

A successful turn-based strategy game tackling the Vietnam War. The game takes place in 1965 and you're tasked at the United States to combat the Vietcong and North Vietnamnese Army. The games combat is pretty much rock, paper, scissor format when factoring unit strengths, health, and supplies. You must seek and destroy the VC and NVA by dividing and conquering the land given(however, the VC will still conduct raids on you in friendly areas). While doing this, you must also win the hearts and minds of the people, along with managing your political support at home. Political support is used to purchase new units, new bases, along with repairing and refueling vehicles. The game aims to gain victory with hearts and minds by visiting local villages, and destroying the VC and NVA(and negative effects if they kill you!).

The game is reasonably priced and it has replay value since each map is a little bit different from the other(although the core concepts of the game stay the same regardless). If you're an enthusiast about the Vietnam War, and enjoy turn-based games, this game is worth a shot, especially for the value.

I wanted to add to the review that the game doesn't have a steep learning curve. The games manual and tutorial are able to explain the games details really well. It is all about supporting your bases, and making sure your supplies are in sufficient distances of your combat troops(logistics is extremely important in planning!). So with this addition it has a small(but not difficult) learning curve, and I believe this game is new player friendly. At least for the ability to grasp on to the concepts within the beginning-mid range of the first game.

It's a huge pleasure to see a strategy game that finally decides to take on the intricacies of the Vietnam War. The battle for Hearts and Minds is constant, clearing a village of mines might gain you some respect amongst the population... but what if they are secretely harboring the location of a Viet Cong base? Below is a gameplay video that lines out the basic aspects of the game, hope you enjoy! 9/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-_4HqFR5W0

It's quite an enjoyable little Vietnam strategy game. Don't expect an epic journey, but do expect to get ambushed by the damn VC.

It's a good pickup.