Battle For Hue (SDC, Conflict #6 issue game) Review by Alan Sharif During the 1968 `Tet' offensive, Communist forces captured Hue, the old imperial capital of Vietnam. US marines were sent in order to regain control of the city. This resulted in a very odd battle in that a medieval city was being attacked by modern weapons. The moats and walls resulted in a strange combination of world war two style street fighting and medieval siege warfare. The marines found the going tough but eventually the city was liberated. This game dates back to 1973 so it will come as no surprise to discover that the graphics are in no way up to today's standards. However, the map, featuring Hue with a little of the surrounding area, is functional and clear once you are able to grasp the way the three dimensional nature of some of the terrain is indicated. The units are simple affairs being single sided and, with the exception of Artillery types, bearing only two factors. The game was designed by John Hill of Squad Leader fame, and some gam ers may find his design for effect approach does not suit their tastes. At games start Hue is held by a small Allied garrison that Communist forces, (North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong), soon over power. A game turn commences with Communist movement, all units moving up to six hexes regardless of terrain type, but having to stop once moved adjacent to an Allied unit. Having completed movement the first fire phase takes place. Both sides units may fire on enemy units within range. Combat is simultaneous unless the enemy unit moved adjacent in the preceding movement phase. If this is the case the defender fires first and then surviving attackers return fire. The combat procedure is to simply add fire factors involved, find the correct column on the CRT, roll a die and cross reference for the result. Terrain in the defenders hex modifies the die roll up to a maximum of +5 for the inappropriately named Palace Of Peace. The results of fire combat are either no effect or elimination. Allied, (US and South Vietnamese), movement follows. Allied units are allowed unlimited movement along roads halting only if they move adjacent to an enemy unit. Units that do not use road movement are limited in the number of hexes they can move, and the type of hexes they can move into. Infantry can move two hexes in any direction, artillery only one and then not into either built up or moat hexes. Mechanised units can move four hexes but only into clear, park and airfield hexes unless along a road. Remember, the majority of this map represents the city of Hue. In effect, although artillery support is vital, once off road this is an infantry battle. Once allied movement is completed the game turn ends with a second, identical, combat phase. Victory points are earned, by both players, for destroying enemy units, and by the Communist player by clearing the inner city. Two armouries are on the map and held by the allies at games start. If these are taken the Communist is able to upgrade some of his units by using the `captured arms'. Free set up is allowed at games start through the historical set up is provided also. It is worth noting the historical Communist plan to seize the whole city at once does not represent their best game strategy and s eriously lessons their chances of capturing the armouries intact. Additional simple rules cover allied naval gunfire support which acts like off map artillery as that's what it is, bridge building and destruction like in `bulge' games, weather and helibourne landing allied reinforcements. Some excellent optional rules exist for hidden communist units but this is one aspect of the game that does not work if playing solo. Hardly any games that were published in 1973 are worth playing now, the state of the art having moved on so much. Hue is one of the very few exceptions. It is a simple game with a unique feel that is highly playable. Anyone familiar with John Hill's later game, Battle for Stalingrad by SPI, will recognise the concepts contained in this game. This is a sort of Stalingrad `lite'. I would happily recommend it to all players.