First off, this series is being done as a bit of a lark as wargaming has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas so if anyone is offended, please just stop reading now.

On the 10th day of Christmas War Gaming, my true love gave to me…

10 Viet Cong Enemy Fighters Ambushing

Purple Haze is an immersive story-creation tactical level campaign wargame that is set in 1967 Vietnam. The player is in charge of a squad of U.S. Marines and must lead them through the dense jungles, flooded rice paddies, and straw-thatched villages of a war-torn country on various scenario based missions such as Search and Destroy, Patrol, Rescue and Long Range Recon. The game system forces tough choices on the player to determine the outcome of the mission and your squad as you encounter enemy resistance, booby traps, a dangerous physical environment all with a black cloud hanging over the team as they will be forced to make moral decisions in furtherance of their objectives and to preserve their own lives.

The game has a narrative generation focus as your choices will lead to specific outcomes and additional challenges or boons while also incorporating tactical combat on a battle board and building a campaign arc over a series of several missions. The writing builds a vivid story about the situation and includes historically accurate accurate as well as cultural and period specific jargon and experiences. The goal is to move from mission to mission, building experience and gaining new abilities to be used to survive the jungles of Vietnam, while following orders to the best of your ability. Nothing is easy with this game and tests will force the players to roll dice to determine the outcome of all types of challenges including physical, perceptive, diplomatic and emotional situations as squad members will track both their health and mental fatigue as it effects them over the course of the mission and the campaign.

One of my favorites parts though is the Combat. Combat is triggered by Events and once triggered will be decided on the Combat Board. The Event text will lay out the Combat Board set up, including the number and type of Enemy units that you will face, which will vary depending on the Threat level and the consequences of earlier Events and choices that have already been resolved. Depending on the outcome of the Combat, the Squad may earn Experience, acquire new skills and find new Boon Cards, which will help with future challenges.

As you can see in the picture above, the squad has been ambushed by 10 Viet Cong Fighters after the squad raided a nearby suspected VC village and 2 hidden guerillas fled the scene and then who lost the trailing squad. The 2 fleeing VC were able to rouse their comrades who then set a skillful ambush that has the squad outnumbered, outgunned and out in the open. Your squad consists of up to 4 soldiers, who each have a specialty including Heavy Weapons, Scout, Medic, Radio Operator and the Leader. Each has their own set of skills and abilities and the player must use each wisely to survive the encounter and defeat the enemy.

Also shown in the picture is an Air Strike that has been called in by the Radio Operator denoted by the 2 red counters with ordnance shown on them. These ordnance are being dropped by several F-100 Super Sabre jets with pinpoint accuracy and unleashing a hellfire of napalm that will attack each Enemy Fighter in 2 adjacent rows doing a number of damage that is likely to kill each of them. Without these powerful weapons, the squad would have been in trouble but these aircraft have leveled the playing field!

Here is a link to our unboxing video to give you a good look at the components and the fantastic production: