Showtime Hanoi

Showtime 100 verses Colonel Toon

This is the little game that began the "Eagles" gaming system.  Though only 4"x6" in size, counters that have to be cut out, rules so small, one needs a telescope to read, one would think, "self, what the fudge, is this?", and the answer is of course, "why it is a pocket game!". Small in size, yet as fun if not more so, than a monster game.  (I know setup is a whole easier!).

This game is about Lt Cunningham* and Lt Driscoll's victory over Colonel Toon*,  May 10, 1972, during Operation Linebacker, making this team one of the few aces the Americans had in Vietnam and the only Navy Ace for the entire war.

At Lt Cunningham's de-briefing, he stated that it was a MiG-17 he shot down, that he fired a Sidewinder missile, it hit sending the MiG-17 down into the ground and exploding. There was no parachute in sight.>

On his way back to his carrier (the USS Constellation (CV-64), Kitty Hawk class, operational between 1961 to 2003) Showtime 100 run out of luck and was hit by a SA-2 in the aft (rear for those none military types).  Nursing his crippled F-4J back to the carrier, he made it to the ocean as the aircraft hydraulics failed. Picked up out of the ocean by helicopter, both "Duke" and "Irish" landed on the USS Okinawa before being transferred back to the "Connie".

*Note - Did Lt Cunningham shoot down Col Toon? He believes he did. All we know is that the NVAF plane was a MiG-17, with the numbers of "3020" on it.  Most of the Aces of the  NVAF flew MiG-21's, not 17's, though there is at least one MiG-17 Ace with a score of 7 kills and that is Nguyen Van Bay, but he survived the war. 

 

The NVAF claim that the plane Lt Cunningham destroyed was flown by a pilot named Nguyen Van Tho and that he survived the loss of his aircraft which doesn't correspond to the explosion Lt Cunningham witnessed.  Some believe it was a senior officer of the 923rd Fighter Regiment with the authority to ignore orders to disengage. 

 

One thing about NVAF, many different folks flew the same aircraft and each time that aircraft was used to down an enemy plane, a star was painted on it. Basically a MiG could be seen with 13 stars and it could be a rookie flying it. I don't believe we will ever know for sure. Was Col Toon (Tomb) for real or just a case of a hero enshrined in legend by his opponents in the conflict? Who knows as people more in the know, know better than me. 

But, enough of the history. We have a game to review!

The Game:  Showtime Hanoi is designed By Paul Rohrbaugh with graphics by Craig Grando and this is Pocket Battle Game #3. ©2008, *LPS, Inc.

*Note - LPS, Inc (Landsknecht Publishing Services, Inc) is the mother company of Last Stand Games, Turning Point Simulations, and Against the Odds magazine. All are good companies, it is just hard  to figure out where to spend one's money.  

Parts of the Game, Part 1: Showtime Hanoi utilizes the standard 8x8 square grid over a remarkable game map thatlooks like it is an air chart (I know my Air Charts and this game map is pretty close). It has numbers printed in the squares that give the illusion of what is known as the Maximum Elevation Figures (MEF) grid on a standard JOG-Air chart. This could be the top of a hill or the height of a radio tower on a hill, etc. The game map MEF is actually the row of squares. Such as 1.2 is first row of squares, number 2 square from left, 5.5 is 5th row of squares, 5 squares from the left, etc. Pretty smart thinking on numbering the grid that way. 

I also like the way the lake, rivers, village and what looks like an aircraft compass rose is indicated on the game map.  The graphics designer was top-notch in his making of this game map.  

The same can be said for the counters, though to be honest, the top down view of the A-4's and the F-4's are a little too close in size. The A-4 was a much smaller aircraft.  But if you take your time and look closely, one can see the wings and tail are correct for a F-4. It is just if one is in a hurry, it is easy to confuse the two. No such luck on confusing the NVAF counters - MiG-17 Fresno, MiG-19 Farmer, and even got the correct look for the old Fishbed (MiG-21).

Besides the game map, there are 18 counters that need to be cut out. Three counters for US aircraft (2 F-4J Phantom II's and 1 A4 Skyhawk) and 3 NVAF aircraft (1 MiG-17, 1 MiG-19 and one MiG 21). There is a turn marker, altitude markers, a target marker and AAA (SA-2's!). There is no sun marker or wind marker as these are not used in this game.

A deck of cards will be needed (all cards plus 1 joker, please) and  one six sided die (1D6). Of course, not letting an opportunity go to waste, a set of cards can be bought for this game too! Cost is $* from High Flying Dice Games. Just click here to go to the web site to purchase these. 

Parts of the Game, Part 2:  Movement is by the card system that Paul came up with and has over the years fine-tune. Of course there is a Movement Chart and a Combat Modifiers Chart (however these are on the rear of the postal game map. One needs to copy the map and play on that or copy the back side ,so you don't keep turning the map upside down and losing the counters. LOL ....

And if you order a game from ATO magazine you can request a free set of die cut counters for this game. In this set of die cut counters are two F-4J, one A-4 Sky Hawk, one F-4 (extra), one A-1H Sky Raider, one A-6 Intruder, three F-105's (one ace), one RF-101 (should have been an RF-4C) and three counters with bombs on them.  For the NVAF, two MiG-17 (one Ace), one MiG-19, one MiG-21. In addition there are ten AAA (SA-2) sites with "?" on one side and a "2" on the flip-side, three dummies, four with different attack factors at the various altitude levels and three that has the "?" printed on the wrong side - these must be the original AAA counters and what looks like two counters for bombing opportunities.  

But be warned, though there are extra aircraft counters in the die cut counters, you don't get the variant rules with the die cut counters, unless you also order ATO, issue #23 (at $32 a back issue, that is an expensive variant), but that could be how you should order to get  the variant counters and ask for the game with die cut counters, thereby killing two Fishbeds with one Sidewinder.

I think it would be easy to come up with variant rules for the use of the new counters, With the F-105 Super Chief (i.e. Thud) it was consider a supersonic fighter bomber  and though it was one of primary attack aircraft in Vietnam, it has the distinction of being the only aircraft removed from combat due to the amount of casualties it sustained. Over 20,000 sorties were flown, 382 aircraft lost including 62 operational (non-combat) losses out of the 833 produced.  

 

However, where the F-105 came into it's own was as the two-seat F-105F and F-105G Wild Weasel variants flying SEAD missions against the Surface to Air SA-2 platforms.  And that is where I believe the 3 F-105 counters come into the game in addition to flying as fighter attackers using the 3 weird bomb counters.  Outside of this, you are on your own.

That pretty much sums up the game parts of this pocket game.  What's next? Oh yeah time to play it!

Game Setup:  Shuffle the deck! Don't forget to add only one joker (important).  Game setup is just like the other Paul Rohrbaugh air combat series - 

1. On the map the NV picks out three sides which will be friendly. 
2. Place 2 AAA (SA-2) counters in each corner of the three sides. 
3. Place a 3rd AAA (SA-2) in one of the four middle squares and also 
4. place the target marker in one of the four squares, But not the same space as the AAA!  
5. American places his 3 aircraft, at any level in any of the squares on his friendly side opposite the US player.
6. The NV places his MiG-17 & 19 in squares friendly to him at low, medium or high level. 
7. The MiG-21 will come on at turn 3. 

Actions:  Jump down, turn around, pick a card...

1. The US has the first card draw (CD)
1. if the CD is a joker, discard and draw again, if the CD is a black suit, all US Aircraft may expend a number of Action Points between his aircraft equal to 1/2 of the card value, rounding up. An Ace =1.
1. example - a Black 5 is turned over - this is 5/2=2.5, rounded up is 3 APs to spend. REMEMBER - no aircraft can exceed it's printed Action value (lower left of counter). US player can move 3 aircraft 1 square or move 1 aircraft 3 squares or move 1 aircraft 2 squares, leaving 1 AP to fire with.
2. It takes 1 AP to be able to attack the enemy aircraft or AAA or target.
2.  if the CD is a black face card then the US player can move one aircraft 3 squares 
3. OR allow a free attack on an AAA unit
4. if the CD is a red suit then the NV player may expend a number of APs (like #8.2 above) for his aircraft. 
5. if the CD is a red face card then the NV move one of their aircraft up to 3 spaces
6. OR allow a free attack from an AAA unit against an US aircraft.  

Combat:  Combat is another card draw and of course this has it own set of rules too.

1. Combat is voluntary! 
2. If you are going to attack, you must 
1. move one square forward, 
2. OR change a level (up or down). 
3. Combat costs 1 AP from the action phase (see above). 
4. Aircraft have a range of 2 squares, but watch out for that modifier!
5. Don't forget there is also the Combat Modifier Table!!!
6. And of course under combat, you have 
1. plane versus plane, 
2. bombing, 
3. AAA combat. 
4. Each has it's own set of rules. Not long, but you need to read them.

Game length is 4 turns, but inside those 4 turns is a deck of cards to go thru until 1 of 2 things happen - you run out of cards (new turn) or a joker pops up (whether for combat or movement and that is also a new turn).

Addendum: This game is pretty much standard like Fighting Eagles. Honestly, if you have that one, then this will be a piece of cake. If you have Head Honcho, the rules are the same, just the names have been changed to protect the guilty.

I keep thinking how brilliant the design of the game map is, all on a little 4"x6" card. The designer must have been prior military.  (he wasn't)

Ok, hopefully I have given you a review that WILL make you want to go and spend whatever it takes to get this game. Since it is a pocket battle game, one needs to order something from LPS, Inc and request it. Or maybe my review sucks and you say to heck with it.  

 

Whichever it is, you really do owe it to yourself to get this. Like all of Paul's Eagle game systems, this one too, is a gem. And not a rough one either. It is highly polished.

Without further adieu it is time for the ratings:
Complexity of the game = LOW (easy to learn, difficult to master)
Solitaire = HIGH (very little work is needed)
Fun Level = HIGH (the only thing missing is Nước Mắm (fish sauce if you ever been to Nam or Thailand)
Nail biting = 7 fingers worth.
Length of typical full game = .5 hour (30 minutes) to 1 hour.

Out of the 5 9 games I have played 1 3 NV win, 2 4 US wins, 2 draws. Both sides won and lost, It is pretty even, just the luck of the draw, as it always is. With the game map having squares, it would be very easy to adapt this to miniatures.

AAA - Below 2,000 feet, small arms were the most serious threat, but US directives limited most operations to altitudes above 4,500 feet, the maximum effective altitude of small arms fire, which limited the effect of these weapons. Other weapons included 14.5mm, 23mm, 37mm, 57mm, 85mm, and l00mm gun batteries, with effective altitude coverage up to 45,000 feet.

Then came the surface to air missiles such as the SA-2, SA-7, among the many different types. Of them all, the SA-2 was the deadliest.  However, like most weapon systems, the US worked out how to negate the effectiveness of the SAM's.

I really hope you can get this game before it is out of print. It is worth it. 
thanks for reading!
-ab out 

 

Also I need to add, this blog is considered to be a living blog. Changes will be made to it as needed to clarify, correct errors or update with new information.  And I apologize, but this review may contain references to graphics that are no longer on this blog. Long story, but it was Google who removed them.