Operation Pegasus (board game)

In early 1968 during the Vietnam War, a large force of the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) encircled and besieged two regiments of United States Marine Corps defending the Khe Sanh Combat Base, hoping to draw American relief forces into a series of ambushes in a duplication of their 1954 defeat of French forces at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. In March 1968, an overland relief expedition called Operation Pegasus was launched by a joint United States Army/Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) task force. But as PAVN forces gathered in ambush positions along the highway to Khe Sahn, helicopters of the 1st Air Cavalry Division inserted infantry into flanking positions, driving the PAVN forces out into the open to be decimated by supporting artillery fire. The operation broke through to the Marines at Khe Sanh in only seven days, inflicting major casualties on the PAVN forces while suffering only minimal casualties themselves.^[1]

Operation Pegasus is a two-player game that simulates the relief operation.^[2] Three scenarios are included with the game: the historical scenario, and two "what if" scenarios.

• paper 16" x 20" hex grid map scaled at 500 m (550 yd) per hex
• 18-page rulebook
• 108 counters
• two casualty record sheets
• reference charts card

Vietnamese units are placed facedown so that their combat strength is unknown. The units are only flipped over when they become involved in combat, revealing their combat strength.

Each turn consists of:

1. American reinforcements
2. Helicopters: The American player has a limited number of helicopter points that can be used for transportation of new units to anywhere on the map, support combat, or observation. Helicopters cannot be used in consecutive turns — each must be grounded for a turn before returning to the air.
3. American movement and combat
4. Vietnamese reinforcement
5. Vietnamese movement and combat

Each game turn represents one day. The historical scenario lasts ten turns.

For the historical scenario, only the American player gains or loses victory points based on casualties on both sides, the speed the American player removes mines from the road to Khe Sahn, and the Vietnamese player's siege effectiveness. The American player wins by ending with a positive number of points, and loses if the total is negative.