Search & Destroy: Tactical Combat Vietnam 1965–1966
Search & Destroy: Tactical Combat Vietnam 1965-1966 was a board tactical level wargame designed by John Young and released by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI), in 1975. It was itself a reworking of an earlier title, Grunt, released by SPI in Strategy & Tactics Magazine #26 in 1971.
The map and counters were much improved color versions of the earlier black and white components in the original magazine title. The game's map portrayed an area of central South Vietnam, divided into hexagons measuring 50 scale metres across. The counters represented squads of infantry as well as specialist soldiers such as medics, artillery observers, snipers, etc. Two sets of rules are included, for the Basic Game and the more complex Standard Game.
The rules were lauded for their realism in simulating tactical problems in guerilla warfare, as well as incorporating rules for casualty evacuation, communications, supply, civilians and other factors that real life company commanders would have had to deal with.
Search & Destroy is a unique game in that it makes the players feel as if they are in command of a rifle company or Viet Cong company and goes beyond a strictly military interpretation of war to take into account the political consequences of small unit actions and how they fit into a national strategy. It, like real war, leaves the players with frustrating choices based on limited information made under difficult circumstances. This uncertainty makes for tense contests that are seldom decided until the final turn. Nick Stasnopolis, "Search&Destroy: Winning Hearts and Minds", in the Classic Wargame Series column of Fire & Movement Magazine, Number 73, May/June 1991.
Like many games produced in the mid-1970s, the limited replayability and scope of the game left it in the shadow of Squad Leader, whose open-ended format with generic unit counters and geomorphic mapboards (as well as very high quality mounted mapboards and overall production value) would be of much greater and wider appeal to wargamers as a whole.
Of course, while Squad Leader is a great game, Search & Destroy was designed to provide the player with insights into the conflict and the reasons for the actions and reactions of the participants in the real world situation.