Units are rated for strength only. For combat each player rolls one die and adds to it the average strength of his involved units. There are bonuses for having more involved units, air power, terrain, artillary and fire bases. Communist units can operate either face down of face up. Face down Communist units can also try to ambush enemy units that move adjacent.
Victory is based on a political track.
Face up communist units count more than face down ones for driving down the total on the political track. One twist to the politics is that pro West adjustments take place once per game turn, while pro Communist adjustments are done every player turn. The Western reinforcement schedule is fixed. The Western player gets units from S. Korea, Australia and Thailand as well as U.S. and ARVN units. The Western player can replace a certain number of U.S. units each turn at a cost in political points.