I was playing the NVA, aligned with Matt (who org'ed the game) and was playing the VC
Zack, a COIN veteran was playing the US, and Richard, a COIN newbie, had the ARVN
Early on, I used a few events to clear some US forces off the map, and add a bunch of NVA irregulars/insurgents all over South Vietnam, but I focused a little too much on the events on the cards and not enough on moving my (considerable) conventional forces south, especially thru Cambodia/Laos
The VC got a lot of guerillas out there, especially in the south, and really cut into the ARVN's police presence everywhere, but never could really gain the support of the local populace outside of a couple fo provinces.
The US player spent most of his time hunting down VC (and why not, my guys weren't on the move enough to threaten them), which helped the ARVN player get his COIN Control of a LOT of provinces.
In the end, on the 3rd/final COUP! card, the ARVN player ran away with the game, bc the rest of us were too busy sniping at each other and not busy enough getting down to business and actually fulfilling out goals.
There were at least 2 turns where the US player busted out a major move or event that wrecked the VC presence on big chunks of the map, but it was more to the ARVN's benefit than to his.
I'd definitely be interested in playing again, and even playing the NVA again, but even though I got my ass kicked (I was last by a country mile) I had a good time playing a longer game again, and especially helping the newbiw learn a new kind of game.
