12 Months: Vietnam

The "Idea" of this game really fascinated me and made me want to play. But... this thing is nearly unplayable and I can't believe it's in a "Release" state. The UI is awful. The text is so small its hard to read, there is no volume control or resolution options besides windowed and full screen. I appreciate the effort and vision but this is just not doing what I think it wants to do.

This game can be good someday, but no way right now for the following reasons: 1 - Missions are always the same, we needd ramdomness, or it'll always the same thing. 2 - Outcome are always negative, ok, but you lose if morale drops beyond 40%. Put it together with the fact that missions are always the same and you have an impossible scenario here. Once you learn what to do, it'll always be the same (dev stated that it's intentional, and I disagree). Morale thing should be tweeked. 3 - Positive morale are given with medals or events. You have the soldiers who distinguished themselves in the briefing, but you don't know what medals the've earned. 4 - There's many more to be added, in my opinion: option to complete at least 1 tour of duty without this morale thing. More missions, ability to manually award soldiers, soldiers portraits, notification when you are awarded or promoted and more...

Fast playing with an interesting premise. It seems pretty easy but I have not finished it. Would like to see it get some more love from the dev. Priced right for what it is.

After playing this for an extended period, I can confidently say it’s a fun game. There are no overcomplicated UIs or bloated mechanics to wrestle with. The gameplay loop stays just random enough to feel rewarding without becoming stale. From reading developer responses and posts, I understand there are limitations on what can realistically be added or fixed. With that in mind, I do have a few recommendations that, in my very non-developer opinion, could improve what is already a solid experience. Suggestions: -End-of-run summary screen. It would be great to see a breakdown at the end of a run. Combined stats, awards earned, number of missions completed, and similar details would add a satisfying sense of closure. -More base events. Not necessarily tied to morale. Events that could result in demotions, transfers, or reassignment opportunities would add flavor and consequence. -Add the Marines. No explanation needed. -UI resolution and clarity. I know resolution adjustments are limited, and the UI is readable as-is, but slightly darker or clearer fonts could help. This is especially noticeable with awards and ribbons. I know what I’m looking at, but they can be hard to distinguish at times. These are probably things you’ve heard before, but I genuinely enjoy this game and think people are overly hypercritical. To me, it’s exactly what it set out to be: a playable Season 1-style adventure. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys forming a personal connection with the soldiers under their command and prefers to observe more than directly participate. Id pay to play another game from AlphaSixGames like this.

The games not bad, it needs the UI worked on. if you click on KIA and the soldiers name their profile will get stuck on your screen same with WIA. the game currently has little variation in the missions and almost if not all missions result in friendly WIA or KIA no matter how safe you play. The morale is another thing that needs work as it drops significantly after 1-2 missions at the beginning. over all I would say the game is alright if your board and just want something to do. I had fun with it but it can feel very repetitive. Overall I would say give it a try, my personal opinion and experience will not be the same for the next person. Things I like or things I dislike others might have a differing opinion on, but you will not know unless you give the game an honest try.

12 Months: Vietnam is a game that deliberately hides part of its mechanics behind a curtain, asking the player to influence events primarily through decisions rather than direct control. There is no time pressure here—progress unfolds at a measured pace, giving you space to think through your choices, whether you are leading soldiers during operations or managing the day-to-day realities back at base. A significant part of the experience happens away from the battlefield. You are responsible for handling individual requests and reports, approving or rejecting promotions, reassigning roles, deciding who remains at base, and resolving personal or operational issues within your unit. While the underlying mechanics are relatively simple, they are consistently engaging. The decisions you face feel varied and, more importantly, grounded in realism rather than abstract game logic. I have not yet completed a full twelve-month campaign, but it is already clear that success will not come easily. As the weeks pass, the number of challenges steadily increases, and maintaining both morale and combat readiness quickly becomes a balancing act. The game does a good job of conveying the growing pressure of command without resorting to artificial difficulty spikes. Visually, the game is modest but clear and functional. The graphics are simple, yet readable enough to support informed decision-making. The sound design is minimalistic, but it does what it needs to do without becoming distracting or repetitive. At its current price point, 12 Months: Vietnam feels like a worthwhile purchase. There is clear potential here, and one hopes the developer will choose to build on it in future updates. Features such as soldier portraits, access to individual service records or “track records,” and more detailed feedback on the immediate consequences of decisions—not only through post-mission reports—would significantly deepen the experience. Small interface improvements, like the ability to preview medal descriptions directly from the platoon screen, would also go a long way toward improving usability. Overall, I believe 12 Months: Vietnam brings a fresh perspective to the management genre. It may not overwhelm the player with complex systems, but it offers a surprising amount of satisfaction through thoughtful, meaningful choices. For players interested in leadership, responsibility, and the human side of command, it is a game well worth attention.

A bit bare bones and repetitive at the moment but a lot of potential here. Does a good job at putting on human face on war. Would like to see more missions and some type of "reward" or need for being more aggressive. With the goal of keeping men alive, why wouldn't you choose to be conservative.

Could use some work, there are some UI issues. It's a text-based game with some files, everyone is a file, which I think is what the dev was going for. Not bad to kill some time, but ultimately, not as fun as I wish it was.

I'm going to give it a recommend at the price point. but with caveats. There are some issues. First, I absolutely love the premise of this game. Managing your platoon of soldiers through 3 years is a really fascinating concept. Example: I had a trooper who kept performing well in missions and I watched him move up the chain of command with a number of promotions, all the way up to platoon sergeant. In my mind he became the rockstar of the platoon only to be KIA during his second tour. His loss hurt. Even though the game provides very little narrative, moments like that create their own narrative, especially if you're board game geek like me. There is a lot of natural narrative generation if you're willing to have an imagination. Now the not so good. UI is very buggy. Sometimes soldiers won't allow to be reassigned to their role after sitting a mission even if the slot is open. Text is very small and sometimes boxes cover parts of the text making it a bit hard to use and see. The game provides very little narrative during missions. Just tells who who was decorated during the mission and who was injured or killed. The missions give you dialog choices, but there is no indication of what they actually do for you during the mission. I'm sure there are dice rolls somewhere but the game provides no feed back as to how your decisions impacted the outcome. I'd also like to see the names and backgrounds of the soldiers to be more randomized. It's always the same soldiers from what i can see if you play again. This game could actually be really good if it cleaned up its UI issues, Also if it provided some sort of feedback as to how you're running the platoon. If you're being conservative to keep your men alive it would be nice to have battalion critical of you for not being aggressive enough, or if you've lost a lot of men get chewed out for that. Anything to give some sort of feedback. The core ideas are something i really like and would love to see more developers tackle. I'm giving a recommended review on core ideas and the reasonable price point. The execution is a little rough and I hope the developer continues to develop this game as I think has potential to be a compelling game with some enhancements. As it sit, it feels a bit unfinished and leaves a lot of potential waiting to be realized.

good