Despite advertising claims so exaggerated as to be termed misleading, backed up by equally vain commentary in the game's "Historical Notes", Lam Son (developed by D. Casciano and designed by Edward Tillton) reflects a very primitive attempt to portray the Vietnam conflict of 1965-1975 in a simple, compact simulation. It is flawed by an absence of any serious historical or geographical research, amateurish graphics, and a play-system so marred by poor rules that it barely ranks on the level of a "beer and pretzels" game.

Historically, Lam Son falls far short of being an accurate representation of the military situation. The historical notes give a most cursory discourse on the war, with some years being reduced to one-sentence summations while others contain such errors as "The 1st and 25th Infantry Divisions and the 173rd Airborn [sic] Brigade, 25th Inf. Brigade, 173 Inf. Brigade formed a ring north of Saigon".

The order of battle is very haphazard. The Allied player is given only half the U.S. Marines he deserves Ost - 4th regiments are provided; 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, 26th, and 27th regiments served) and four U.S. Army brigades are omitted (the 199th, two brigades of the famed 101st Airborne Division, and the 1st Brigade of the 5th Mechanized Division - the latter, the game brochure assures us, being added "with a number of non-descript replacements" and the 196th Brigade to form the Americal Division.

Actually, the 11th, 196th, and 198th Brigades composed the Americal Division, although unit rivalry in Vietnam certainly might have termed some Americal replacements as "non-descript"). The North Vietnamese Army is missing its 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 320th, 320-B, 325th, and 711th Regular Army Divisions, all of which were in South Vietnam in 1973, not to mention divisionsized elements such as B-3 and B-5 Fronts as well. Other national armies have orders of battle too ludicrous to detail here. Perhaps the most maligned outfit, however, is the Philippine contingent. It's shown as Philcage (Republic of the Philippines Civil Action Group) in the rules, a Philippine mercenary brigade with an unexplained sideways G on the counter provided, and a Philippine engineer battalion on the order of appearance chart.

The order of arrival and departure is not only barely legible but is also pure fiction in every instance. For example, the "1st Brigade" of the 82nd Airborne Division (it should be the 3rd Brigade my old outfit) shows up in January 1966 (should be February 1968) and departs January 1973 (should be December 1969); over two years off the mark in each case.

Lest this reviewer sound too harsh, remember that the rules introduction states quite boldly, "The Historical Campaign depicts the actual historical arrivals of units and places the players within the actual time table of historical events".

The map is a geographical nightmare. The rugged mountain ranges of Laos have been replaced by clear terrain (actually, clear terrain hexes are not defined anywhere nor are we told the movement cost of such, so I'm guessing at this quality when hexes are blank), metropolitan cities dot the landscape (one is four hexes from Saigon just inside Cambodia), and such significant features as the swampish Delta region south of Saigon omitted altogether ("clear terrain" dominating until one reaches the western Plain of Reeds).

The counters are not only destitute in graphic quality but several symbols go unexplained. One strange symbol was explained a pine tree for the South Vietnamese Army Rangers (forest rangers perhaps?).

The rules are poorly conceived and written, with such absurd consequences as allowing the Vietnamese gunboat counters to travel along the Mekong River, but preventing them from any swamp hex (no South Vietnamese unit may enter swamps except on roads or trails), thus reducing their range to impotency. Another example is the rule that "Any time the Communist Player holds both hexes of Vietnam and Luang Praban the Laotian Army must destroy one unit per turn until one hex is regained".

Among the multitude of problems stemming from this one rule alone, besides the obvious reference to two hexes of Vietnam which should probably read the two hexes of the Laotian capital, what units must they destroy their own or the enemy's? Suppose they can not fulfill the conditions, then what should happen to them? The rules represent not only an incomprehensible gaming system, but lack evidence of any proof-reading as well.

Finally, the game itself does not recreate the military situation or warfare in Southeast Asia during the decade alleged. The game starts with a North Vietnamese outright invasion over the DMZ (jargon not translated, but must mean demilitarized zone, right?) despite conflicting rules on travel over the 'DMZ" Highway, U.S. Marines (all reinforcements and replacements, in fact) landing in Saigon, South Vietnamese divisions trapped in the Central Highlands since they can't move in rough terrain unless on a road or trail which will be invariably sealed, and increasing reliance on "strategic decisions other than those which actually occurred" (quoting from the rules) - such as using the handy Laotian Army to invade Vietnam to back up the beleaguered South Vietnamese forces.

If one fancies historical improbabilities and doesn't mind doing considerable patch-up work on the rules, then Lam Son might pass muster as a "beer and pretzels" exercise conducted on the most amateurish level imaginable.