There is no doubt that Fire in the Lake is my favorite COIN Series game! It is always a great experience sitting at that table for 4-5 hours and playing through the whole of the Vietnam War. To me, the inter-factional dynamics and loose alliances really makes for a tense and interesting experience as you see people work together for a few turns and then turn on each other near the end when victory is in sight. I also have enjoyed the expansion to Fire in the Lake called Fall of Saigon that just came out this past year. With that being said, Stephen Rangazas, who had helped with the research on Fall of Saigon and is now finalizing the design for The British Way, the first COIN Series Multi-Pack, is now designing a prequel of sorts for Fire in the Lake called Sovereign of Discord, which was added to the P500 last year.
Once the game was announced, we reached out to the design and development team to see if we could do a series of Event Card Spoilers and Stephen Rangazas and Joe Dewhurst agreed to provide those. We will be hosting a series of 6 of these Event Card Spoiler posts over the next several months and appreciate the effort that both Joe as developer and Stephen as designer have put into these short write ups intended to share the history of the card as well as their game play effects.
*Please keep in mind that the artwork and layout of these cards is not yet finalized and is only for playtest purposes at this point. Also, as this game is still in development, card details may still change prior to publication.
#P71 Madame Nhu
Tran Le Xuan, known more prominently as Madame Nhu, was the wife of Ngo Dinh Nhu, Diem’s brother. She became the unofficial first lady of South Vietnam (Diem never married) and played a major role in politics. During the unrest of the Buddhist crisis, Madame Nhu criticized the US advisory mission calling them “false brothers” and accusing them of using aid “to make lackeys of Vietnamese and to seduce Vietnamese women into decadent paths”. Her prescient criticism of the threat to traditional values around women posed by a large foreign troop presence would become a major social issue following American intervention. Beyond her criticism of the American advisory mission, Madame Nhu became perceived as a liability due to her role in worsening the Buddhist crisis. Her inflammatory denunciations of Buddhists contributed to the breakdown of negotiations between Diem and leaders of the movement.
The Regime Stability Track plays a major role in Sovereign of Discord, determining the cost of ARVN Operations and eventually even the fate of the RVN premier Ngo Dinh Diem. It begins the main scenario at ‘Stable’, but will tend to slide towards ‘Chaotic’, especially due to Events like Madame Nhu, the shaded effect of which is likely to be especially attractive to the VC player. The unshaded effect is likely to prove irresistible to the ARVN player if they are given the opportunity to take it, allowing them to gain Patronage by asserting their independence from the US – and at the same time likely antagonizing their erstwhile allies by removing Support from a City.
If you missed the previous entries in the series, you can catch up on the posts to date by following the below links:
We posted an interview with the designer Stephen Rangazas on the blog and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2023/03/20/interview-with-stephen-rangazas-designer-of-sovereign-of-discord-a-fire-in-the-lake-expansion-from-gmt-games/
Finally, if you are interested in Sovereign of Discord: A Fire in the Lake Expansion, you can pre-order a copy from the P500 game page on the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-966-sovereign-of-discord-a-fire-in-the-lake-expansion.aspx
-Grant
Note: Sovereign of Discord is compatible with the First and Second Edition of Fire in the Lake, as well as the Second Edition Upgrade Kit. The Solitaire System included in Sovereign of Discord is for Sovereign of Discord only, and cannot be used to play the scenarios included in Fire in the Lake. A copy of Fire in the Lake will be necessary to play the Sovereign of Discord expansion.
The Players' Aid 
Amazing how much you post
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I post too much I know.
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Thank you Grant for posting too much. 😉 And thanks to Stephen and Joe for sharing these card drafts… it maintains my excitement for the expansion.
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As a participant in that conflict, I recall Madame Nhu very well. She was in the news spotlight in the early days of the war and was referred to by the press as “The Dragon Lady”.
Regarding the danger to the morals of Vietnamese women, Ms. Nhu had a point. You take 500,000 young American men, place them 10,000 miles from home, fighting in a war where there was a non-trivial chance you might not make it back home, stir in the presence of millions of beautiful girls – yes somebody’s morality is going to be stressed 🙂
Regarding the “false brother” charge from Ms. Nhu, I spent 2 1/2 years far from home expending some considerable effort to keep the NVA out of her back yard so I personally reject that charge. Now – if you want to change the accusation specifically to the US congress of the early ’70s, I’m with you Madame.
Looking forward to completing the trilogy for my game collection. Thanks Grant for the support of this game as it keeps alive some of the history of this difficult time in American history.
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