Scenario Design Center | Spotlights

-May 7th, 1954-

The guns fell silent as the last organized resistance in the fortified camp of Dien Bien Phu came to an end. The loss of Dien Bien Phu struck a death knell for the French effort to retain control of their former colony of Indochina. For the Viet Minh it was a long sought victory over significant French forces and heralded an end to this first phase of their war of liberation from their imperial masters. The war had begun 8 years previously in the wake of World War II and would end 21 long years later with the fall of Saigon in 1975. Dien Bien Phu covers the period of 1946 - 1954 when a polyglot force of Moroccans, Senegalese, Algerians, Legionnaires, Vietnamese, Thos and others under the auspices of the French sought to retain France's hold on Indochina and were opposed by the nationalist communist forces of the Viet Minh.


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Dien Bien Phu conjures up many images for the average wargamer - a bloody, muddy siege, the failure of a colonial empire to hold onto it's possessions in the aftermath of World War II, the Legion Etrangere holding positions to the end, paratroopers dropping into a doomed situation, the list goes on.

However, the French Indochina War was much more than that. In the Legion tradition, small outposts and their defense were a fixture throughout the war.

There were riverine assaults, a tactic that would bloom in the American War 10+ years later. Aggressive paradrops were a regular feature before the development of the heliborne assault. There were convoys and endless patrols.

In this latest edition to the Squad Battles series you will get to experience all of these situations and more.


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Dien Bien Phu Features:

70 stand alone scenarios and 7 campaigns to choose from.
A wide sampling of actions from this conflict.
20 unique maps ranging in size from 780 hexes to 71,400 hexes providing ample ground for scenario designers to create their own actions.

Engine changes include:

Support for rolling Barrages has been added.
Added ability to give random probability to "withdraws" defined in a scenario.
Altered the A/I scripts dialog within the editor to facilitate the creation of A/I scripts.
Multiple A/I enhancements for movement, targeting and assaults.
Added Hull Down feature, set in the scenario editor for armor. Fire from the ground through the three front hex sides of a hull down vehicle is reduced by half. Hull down is lost if the vehicle turns or moves.

The game also has the standard scenario, OOB, parameter, database & sub-map editors included with the game. Play modes include A/I, Hot Seat, PBEM, LAN & Internet play.


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Credits:

Developer: John Tiller
Artist: Joseph Amoral
Unit Graphics: Mark Adams
Music: Thomas Hook & Daniel Lee
Additional AI programming: John Rushing
Contributed Sound Effects: Edward Williams
Project Coordinator: Rich Hamilton
Scenario Designers: Mike Cox, John Tiller, and Jesse Cheng
Scenario Maps: Dave Blackburn
Additional Research: Greg Smith
Campaign Maps: Mike Avanzini
Playtesters: Dennis Suttman, Bob Bannerman, Phil Driscoll, Nik Butler, Alan Florjancic, Jeff Conner, Joao Kuma, Greg Coleman, and Kevin Hankins

System Requirements:

Windows XP, Vista, or 7
Processor: 1 GHz
Disk Space: 1 GB
Memory: 1 GB

Planning Maps (click for full-sized images)


Bac Phan: 14.1 mb gif	Black River: 9.40 mb gif	Castor: 4.38 mb gif


Chu Dreh Pass: 7.36 mb gif	Dak Ayun: 12.7 mb gif	Deo Kat: 2.99 mb gif


Dien Bien Phu: 36.4 mb gif	Dong Khe: 6.88 mb gif	Dong Que: 2.76 mb gif


Lung Vai: 4.32 mb gif	Mao Khe: 5.97 mb gif	Muong Khoua: 4.66 mb gif


Na San: 10.9 mb gif	Pk-3: 3.66 mb gif	RC-2 Chang Muong: 4.43 mb gif


Rt 19 Pk-3: 3.7 mb gif	Rt 19 Pk-15: 9.32 mb gif	Song Ky Kong: 2.38 mb gif

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Reading List

	Bondroit, Cyril; 3e Bccp, Indochine, 1948-1950: 3e Bataillon Colonial de Commandos Parachutistes (French Edition); Paris: Hexagone Publications, 1998
	Croizat, Victor, Lt. Col; Vietnam River Warfare 1945-1975 ; New York: Blandford Press, 1986
	Dunstan, Simon; Vietnam Tracks (Revised Edition): Armor in Battle 1945-75 (General Military); Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1982
	Fall, Bernard B; Hell In A Very Small Place: The Siege Of Dien Bien Phu; New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1967
	Fall, Bernard B; Street Without Joy: The French Debacle In Indochina (Stackpole Military History Series); Norwalk, CT, 1995
	Koburger, Charles W., Jr; The French Navy in Indochina: Riverine and Coastal Forces, 1945-54; New York: Praeger, 1991
	Moreman, Tim; British Commandos 1940-46 (Battle Orders); New York: Osprey Publishing, 2006
	Pissardy, Jean-Pierre; Commandos Nord Vietnam: 1951 - 1954; Paris: Indo Editions, 1999.
	Poole, Peter A; Dien Bien Phu, 1954;: The battle that ended the first Indochina War, (A World focus book); New York: Franklin Watts, 1972.
	Roy, Jules; The Battle of Dienbienphu; New York: Carroll & Graf, 2002
	Simpson, Howard R; The Paratroopers of the French Foreign Legion: From Vietnam to Bosnia; New York: Brassey's, 1997
	Tarnstrom, Ronald; French Arms (Armed Forces Handbooks); Lindsborg, KS: Trogen Books, 2001
	Van der Bijl, Nick; No.10 (Inter-Allied) Commando 1942 - 45: Britain's Secret Commando (Elite); New York: Osprey Publishing, 2006
	Windrow, Martin; The French Indochina War 1946-1954 (Men-At-Arms, 322); New York: Osprey Publishing, 1998
	Windrow, Martin; The Last Valley: Dien Bien Phu and the French Defeat in Vietnam; New York: Da Capo Press, 2004
	Windrow, Martin & Wayne Braby; French Foreign Legion Paratroops; New York: Osprey Publishing, 1985