Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Ia Drang is a solitaire game which covers the 1965 battle in the Ia Drang River valley between NVA troops and the 1st Air Cavalry Division. The game uses area movement across a map that covers from Cambodia to Pleiku, turns lasting 2 days each, and company-level units.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Read the full game description
Ia Drang is a solitaire game which covers the 1965 battle in the Ia Drang River valley between NVA troops and the 1st Air Cavalry Division. The game uses area movement across a map that covers from Cambodia to Pleiku, turns lasting 2 days each, and company-level units. The player, as the US, has overwhelming firepower and mobility, but the NVA has stealth. The NVA uses dummy units to hide his actual deployment while the US (player) must search constantly and hope not to get caught in an ambush. There are extensive rules covering headquarters units/command and control, fatigue, CIDG, tactical air support, battalion cohesion, and of course air-mobile transport. Counters must be mounted and cut.