Dien Bien Phu (wargame)

The Soviets handed over control of the north to Hồ Chí Minh's Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), but the British refused to do the same, instead turning over the south to former colonial power France.

"[2] SDC had published the Vietnam wargame Battle for Hue in 1973, and returned to the same theme later that year with Dien Bien Phu, designed by Dana Lombardy based on an original game idea by Guy R.

[2] Critic Allan Rothberg noted that Dien Bien Phu "is one of only two English language campaign games on the French Indo-China war.

"[3] In a 1976 poll conducted by Simulations Publications Inc. to determine the most popular board wargames in North America, Dien Bien Phu placed a dismal 200th out of 202 games.

[4] In the 1977 book The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming, Charles Vasey noted that only 4 years after its release, this game "is rarely seen now, though the subject must have looked promising enough."

[4] Luc Olivier called this "an unusual game with an area map, simultaneous plotting of all the moves and simple resolution of combat, with just a little chrome to show the oddities of the theater of warfare."

Even with 22 areas to cover it is very difficult to concentrate the large force needed to get a kill, without leaving other units vulnerable to a similar action from the enemy."