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Squad Battles: Vietnam / Squad Battles: Tour Of Duty

by Peter "Zhukov" Pawelek

Article Type: Review
Article Date: April 23, 2002

Product Info

Product Names:
    Squad Battles: Vietnam & Squad Battles: Tour of Duty
Category: Turn-based Wargame
Developer: John Tiller
Publisher: HPS Simulations
Release Date: released
Min. Spec: Win 95/98/ME/2000/XP, Pentium 133, 32MB RAM, 250MB Hard Drive Space
Rec. Spec:
Files & Links: Click Here

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Introduction

Recent films and television shows like “We Were Soldiers” and “Tour of Duty” have done a great job of accurately and objectively portraying the military aspects of the Vietnam war, and pay a long overdue tribute to the soldiers who actually fought it. Likewise, Squad Battles: Vietnam (SB:V) and Squad Battles: Tour of Duty (SB:TD) published by HPS Simulations, are two landmark computer wargames that honor those who participated in that widely misunderstood conflict.

'Squad Battles: Vietnam' splash screen

The first two of what will likely be a long and successful series (the third, Squad Battles: The Proud and the Few, which covers Marine operations in the WW2 Pacific Theatre, will be reviewed in an upcoming article) , SB:V and SB:TD are designed by John Tiller, known for his groundbreaking Campaign Series and Panzer Campaigns games, among many others. If you’ve played these games, you’ll immediately recognize (and feel comfortable with) the Squad Battles game interface and menu systems, which conform to the familiar Tiller style.

'Squad Battles: Tour of Duty' splash screen

Old-school wargamers who have played the original Squad Leader boardgames will feel right at home with Squad Battles system, which is about the closest a computer game has come to emulating that classic boardgaming series.



Game Mechanics

SB:V and SB:TD are turn-based tactical-level wargames with units representing both squads and individual leaders. Each turn represents 5 minutes of game time, and each hex on the mapgrid measures 40 metres across. Although SB:V and SB:TD share similar game systems, each is a standalone game and you do not need one to play the other.

Battle for Khe Sanh Hills.

In a given turn, units move, fire weapons and conduct assaults as the player sees fit. As units move they can trigger enemy opportunity fire which can in turn trigger more reaction fire. This dynamic often leads to fierce and often drawn-out firefights. As with most Tiller games, the impatient among us can speed up these firefights by pressing the F7 key.

Units can be in one of two postures: upright or grounded. Grounded units lose the ability to move as far as upright units, but are much better protected from enemy fire. This contributes a lot of tension to the game since although you will be constantly tempted to move your squads more quickly in an upright position, the bitter experience of having your exposed units cut down by enemy fire will keep them crawling on their bellies for most of the game.

Squads can reserve movement points for assaults, which are often the only deadly alternative to rooting out a dug-in enemy position. The game system rewards proper tactics since your assaulting units will only survive if the target enemy position has first been softened up by covering fire.

As part of that Tiller style I mentioned above, you are presented with a wide array of filters to apply to the map view. The most useful filter shade line-of-sight from a selected hex position. This filter is crucial for avoiding enemy lanes of fire while moving. In addition, you can shade for a particular unit’s command range (if a leader), weapons range, hexes reachable with remaining movment points, etc.

The 2-D map can be viewed at two zoom levels and there is a small jump map that can be used to quickly navigate across the entire mapboard. Strangely, Tiller did not include an option to view the map in a three-dimensional representation as he had done with his Panzer Campaigns games. This view would have been extremely helpful in visualizing elevation changes which are crucial to both fire and movement. Hopefully this will be rectified in one of the future patches that are frequently released for his games.

All weapons are represented individually and the player can select which weapons (and ammo load-outs) a squad will or will not fire. Also, weapons can be dropped or picked up and even captured weapons can be used. Each weapon is rated for reliability and here the attention to detail becomes apparent. As Bernard Dy pointed out in his excellent review of the movie “We Were Soldiers”, early M-16’s were infamous for their unreliability and only improved later in the war. This is modeled in the game, with the 1965 M-16 having an in-game reliability rating of ‘D’ compared to the 1969 M-16 which has a ‘B’ rating.

Mortar attack on a fortified position.

The effects of troop quality are very well modeled. Units can be in one of four states: Normal, Disrupted, Pinned, and Demoralized. Disrupted units have less effective fire whereas pinned units behave like disrupted units but additionally cannot move closer to the enemy without becoming demoralized. Demoralized units are essentially useless in combat until rallied by a leader. Whether or not a unit becomes disrupted, pinned or demoralized depends on its own Effectiveness and Morale. The more fatigue and enemy fire that a unit incurs, the more likely it will fail a morale check.

In conjunction with a radio operator, leaders can also call in artillery and air support if it's available in the scenario. Usually there’s a delay between the call for support and its appearance, but the results can be quite spectacular. Seeing a flight of F4-Phantoms swooping down to lay in some napalm is impressive, even with the limited game graphics.

Vehicles (tanks, troop carriers, helicopters, landing craft and patrol boats) are also represented in the game. Unlike infantry units, vehicles have specific facings and often possess a diverse platform of weaponry. Helicopters are special cases, and there is a whole set of rules (reflecting historically accurate doctrine) which govern how helicopters move and engage in combat. Since these games are primarily infantry combat simulations, the appearance of vehicles is relatively rare but they can add quite a punch when used properly.

In addition to helicopters and napalm strikes, there are many other in-game elements which reflect Vietnam-era combat including claymores, PBR boats, tunnels and caves, and TOW missiles.



Gameplay

Gameplay in Squad Battles is very fluid since fire, movement and assaults all occur within a single phase. This is such a well-designed game system that you are completely immersed in the battle. When your units take casualties you really feel it, and will scramble to adjust your tactics to minimize friendly casualties.

I find the AI to be incredibly challenging in these games. When playing against AI-controlled Communist forces, you can expect effective defenses that are not always static. The AI likes to move around and reinforce positions. It is especially harrowing to play against AI-controlled Vietcong forces which will adopt historically accurate human wave tactics to assault your forces. If you prefer solid single-player action against an AI opponent, Squad Battles will definitely give you your money’s worth.

Helicopter attack on NVA troops.

Multiplayer

In Squad Battles, two human opponents can play each other directly over a TCP/IP connection, or by email (PBEM). I haven’t had the chance to play these games with a human opponent, but I’ve played a lot of PBEM with Tiller’s Panzer Campaigns games and have found the system to be simple to setup and exchange files. From what I’ve seen, the Squad Battles follows the same PBEM system. The scenarios from the two games are not interchangeable for PBEM. That is, someone who owns SB:V but not SB:TD cannot play a gamefile from someone else’s SB:TD game. Both players must own the same game to exchange PBEM files.



Sound and Graphics

The Squad Battles games do not have slick graphics, but they are functional. These are, after all, games produced by a lone (yet talented) developer and published by a small (yet dedicated) company. The unit counters have portraits of individual soldiers, which serves to personalize the various squads so that when they take losses you really feel it. The portrait art is pretty amateurish, but you can download high quality alternative art packs that easily install over the default game art.

Unlike the graphics, the sound effects are extremely well done. Ambient sounds, including the buzzing of insects and the distant taunts of the enemy, evoke the atmosphere of being embroiled in a Vietnam firefight. The sounds of individual weapons are accurately modeled and of high quality. During a fierce firefight this really adds to the immersion and although I normally turn off sounds while playing wargames, I make a point of turning up the volume when playing Squad Battles.



Scenarios and Campaigns

Between SB:V and SB:TD, just about every major conflict in the Vietnam War is covered—approximately one-hundred (that’s right, 100!) meticulously researched scenarios. The inclusion of a full-featured scenario and OOB editor further extends the value of the game system.

Scenario selection dialog.

A partial list of scenarios included in the two games is given below:

Squad Battles: Vietnam Scenarios
  • 1965: Battle at Ky Phu (Operation Harvest Moon), Battle at LZ Blue (Operation Starlite)
  • 1966: Battle at Ap Chinh An (Operation Jay), Battle at Chau Nhai (Operation Utah), Battle at Dau Tieng (Operation Attleboro), Battle at Song Ngan (Operation Hastings)
  • 1967: Assault into Ben Suc (Operation Cedar Falls), Battle at Con Thien (Operation Buffalo), Battle for the Dak To Hills, Battle of Le Bac (Operation Tuscaloosa), Battle at Suoi Tre (Operation Junction City)
  • 1968: Battle of Dai Do, Battle of Dodge City (Operation Meade), Battle of Phu Binh (prelude to Tet Offensive), Battle of Hue (Tet Offensive), Battle of Khe Sanh, Battle of Nhi Ha
  • 1969: Battle of Dong Ap Bia (known as ‘Hamburger Hill’), Battle at Song Chang (Communist Summer Offensive), Battle at Song Lau
  • 1970: Battle for Firebase Ripcord, Battle at Ph Tnaot (Cambodia)


Squad Battles: Tour of Duty Scenarios
  • 1963: Battle of Ap Bac (South Vietnamese vs VC)
  • 1965: Battle at LZ X-Ray (recently portrayed in the film ‘We Were Soldiers’), Battle at LZ Albany, Battle at Hill 65
  • 1966: Battle of Hoa Hoi (Operation Irving), Battle at Kim Son (Operation Masher-White Wing), Battle at Long Tan (Australian forces vs. VC), Battle at Thanh Son (Operation Davy Crockett), Battle at Trung Luong (Operation Nathan Hale)
  • 1967: Battle of Ap Bau Bang (Operation Junction City), Battle at My Loc, Battle at Rach Ba Rai (amphibious action in the Mekong Delta)
  • 1968: Battle of Lang Vei (Special Forces action near Laos), Battle of West Saigon
  • 1969: Battle of Ben Het (NVA vs. American armor battle)
  • 1971: Battle of Firebase Mary Ann
  • 1972: Battle at Kontum (South Vietnamese vs. NVA)


As a nice additional touch, each scenario comes with map coordinates so that you can pinpoint their locations on scenario overview maps that are included on the game CD’s.

Scenario overview map.

While SB:V only has isolated scenarios, SB:TD allows you to play entire campaigns (starting early-, mid- or late war) commanding a company in the Marines, Army, Air Cavalry. You can even play a campaign as a company commander in the Australian forces! A campaign usually lasts 5 or 6 scenarios. If your character becomes a casualty during a scenario, the campaign abruptly ends. If he survives, you go on to play the next scenario.

Starting a campaign.

The campaign feature is not very well documented, and it’s not clear to me if there’s any continuity between the scenarios in a campaign (i.e. Do the men in your company gain experience and become more effective if they survive? Does their quality go down if they have to take on green replacements?) Some more feedback information between scenarios would make the campaign system a lot more worthwhile than it is now.



Conclusion

SB:V and SB:TD are the best turn-based tactical wargames that I’ve had the pleasure of playing in a very long time. The games are incredibly well-researched, and the AI provides a challenging single-player gaming experience. In addition, there are numerous multiplayer options available. John Tiller is actively supporting these games with a steady stream of patches that continually add new features and improvements to the game system.

Aside from the primitive graphics and lack of printed documentation (all the game manuals are present as comprehensive on-line Help Files as well as in MSWord format documents), I find very little to fault these games and highly recommend them to both serious students of the Vietnam War as well as aficionados of squad/platoon-level tactical wargames.




Squad Battles: Vietnam
Squad Battles: Tour of Duty


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