The Wargamer

Dien Bien Phu

Author:  Jim Zabek

Introduction

America was not the only nation to find itself in the jungles of Vietnam.  The French had occupied what was then called Indochina from the late 19^th Century.  With the onset of World War II, Vietnamese nationalists began to throw off the yolk of French (and Japanese) occupation, which along with other factors lead to the extended conflict that eventually found the United States involved.

Dien Bien Phu is John Tiller’s latest creation for the Squad Battles series.  Gamers familiar with Tiller’s work will find few surprises in the interface or graphics.  Most of the changes from previous versions have been the crafting of scenarios and units specific to the French theater of Indochina.  However, some new features have been added:

·         Support was added for rolling artillery barrages.

·         There is now a random probability that a unit may withdraw from a scenario.

·         The A/I scripts dialog within the editor has been adjusted to facilitate the creation of A/I scripts.

·         The A/I has been enhanced for movement, targeting and assaults.

·         And a Hull Down feature has been added to the scenario editor for armor. Fire from the ground through the three front hex sides of a hull down vehicle is reduced by half. Hull down will be lost if the vehicle turns or moves.

Presentation

As with other HPS titles set in the relatively recent past, troop quality in the scenarios has been randomized.  Wargamers, military historians, and survivors may debate the merits of this policy, but it is what it is.  As with other HPS titles, gamers interested in customizing their scenarios to more accurately fit the perception of historical accuracy have access to a number of game editors that allow most aspects of the game to adjusted.

Aside from the step away from accurately modeling troop and commander quality, the balance of Dien Bien Phu depicts a hardcore hex-based, turn-based squad level wargame in the jungles of Indochina. 

After playing through several scenarios (sometimes the same one several times) the singularly most significant item that comes to mind is Line-of-Sight.  Unsurprisingly, LOS in the jungle can be tricky, and in Dien Bien Phu, just because one hex of terrain looks like the next doesn’t mean that LOS exists to another hex.  Seemingly impenetrable jungle may open up LOS to a hex without warning, and the player, often on the offensive as the French, may find himself unexpectedly under fire as he seeks to close with the enemy.  Bringing concentrated fire to bear on a specific target can be a challenge, and in fact is often the principle challenge of the game.  Mastery of this terrain takes time, frankly, something that has eluded me so far.  I have often found myself in several close-run engagements but the ever elusive decisive victory has remained from my grasp.  In the games I’ve played, it’s been less of a challenge of AI, and more of a challenge of me versus the map.  Which, in the end, may be historically accurate since the jungle can be as much of a foe as the enemy.

Documentation

Documentation comes in the form of no less than eleven .pdf documents.  These range from an introductory manual that walks the novice through the basics to a biography of the music composer...and everything in between.  Scenario editor, OOB editor, database editor – it’s all there.

Copy protection is basic and non-intrusive.  The player need only insert the CD into the drive to play the game.  This is the kind of customer-oriented copy protection that should be lauded, and I was pleased to encounter it.

Graphics & Sound

HPS games aren’t known for their flashy graphics or slick interfaces.  Dien Bien Phu is no exception.  The landscape art is acceptably functional.  The interface is baffling until the gamer becomes accustomed to its quirks.  I like how Squad Battles games allow for the selection of individual weapons within a squad, but the tradeoff is a learning curve that has to be relearned by those who are even moderately rusty from their last round with the system.  The requirement in some cases of selecting a squad and then using the menu at the top of the screen can be clunky.  It’s not as elegant as a left-mouse-click/right-mouse-click menu would be, but the system is well-entrenched, unlikely to change, and perhaps is part of the charm of playing one of Tiller’s games.  Hotkeys add to the streamlining of the interface and greatly assist in smoothing some of the more common functions used.

Past the interface and graphics, however, the hex map and turn-based combat system play to the strengths of the game system.  The ability to individually select weapons, drop and pick up new equipment all work to the strength of the game, and it is here that Dien Bien Phu really shines.  Turn-based squad-level games are my favorite genre, and even with the obscure late 1950’s early 1960’s Indochinese theme the gameplay is gripping.  It’s tough to find a more venerable or stabile system than the Squad Battles series and the new challenges of jungle warfare with French equipment is a nice change of pace. 

Editors, Expansions, and Replay Value

Like other Squad Battles titles, Dien Bien Phu is a standalone game.  Fan-created mods, campaigns, and scenarios are likely to blossom as time goes by, but the game itself is unlikely to receive more than technical patches.  However, I have found the replay value in the scenarios is fairly high.  Playing the same scenario several times over finds that the AI will react somewhat differently in each game; reinforcements have a randomized element to them and the enemy AI has enough variation to have kept me on my toes as I replayed against it.  The principle challenge I found was in looking for a method to severely beat the AI.  While I don’t mind a close game, I prefer to whomp the AI and send it packing for the hills.  Even after several attempts, my mastery of the game system eluded me, so, for me at least, the replay value of the game is fairly high.

Multiplayer gaming is supported, and the ever popular PBEM games are easily configured, which expands the replay value further. 

Summary

Overall Dien Bien Phu is another successful game from HPS.  Gamers seeking a different era to explore will find the French equipment of the 50’s and 60’s an interesting change of pace from earlier and later periods. 

The Squad Battles series is well established and gamers will be hard pressed to find a more authentic squad-level turn-based wargaming experience.  Newcomers to the system will find challenges to learning the UI, but the documentation is solid enough to teach the basics.

The additions of moving barrages and hull-down for armor is welcome.  The best part is that wargamers have another great Squad Battles game to choose from. 

System Requirements & Reviewer’s System

Minimum Requirements

1 GHz Pentium CPU

256 MB RAM

300 MB Hard Drive

Microsoft Windows 98/2K/XP/Vista operating system

Microsoft DirectX 9.0+

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About The Author

Jim Zabek has been a long time fan of squad level wargames.  When not pushing squads across a computer screen Jim might be found slaying zombies, donning armor in an RPG, or painting miniatures.  In short, if it’s fun, he’s probably giving it a try.