"Game 7 of 10mm Vietnam Skirmish Campaign" Topic

All,

And then the wheels came off… If you recall, after a stiff fight yesterday to flank the NVA bunker line holding up 2nd then 3rd Battalion moving up Hill 475, all US forces pulled back and dug into company-sized NDPs. The squad had been resupplied and even received a couple replacements.

Overview of table, north is up, NVA baseline at top, US baseline at bottom. The squad is dug-in in three bunkers, from left to right, bunker 1, 2, and 3. The NVA is coming in force from Hill 475 (north), entering their base edge and trying to get off the southern base edge. Everyone starts unspotted (violet beads).

Looking from behind Bunker 2 (bottom right), you can see the squad laid concertina wire, four claymores (aqua beads), and put out an LP/OP (center top, Holmes and Fuqua).

It's pitch black, and both Holmes and Fuqua are awake on LP/OP, when fleeting, specter like shapes and sounds suddenly crystallize in Holmes' mind: @#$%, how'd they get so close? "Echo 5 Bravo this is Echo 2 Hotel, we've got beaucoup Charlie out here, we're coming in" Holmes whispered into the field phone. "Come on Fuqua," as the two men crawl back two actions, both reserving one for overwatch.

The NVA move up in the center, as Holmes and Fuqua are falling back (bottom left) to their own lines.

Then the damn new guy has some gear catch on the wire (bottom center left), and the NVA are alerted to their presence! Holmes begins to turn just as the NVA at far left opens up, giving Fuqua a light wound. Holmes empties a mag in the NVA's general direction, missing, but then Fuqua ripped off a burst and put an enemy soldier on his back. Banaszak is beside himself; the new guy screws up and now his friend's life is on the line, so he does the only thing he can: "Ernie (Holmes), get down!!!" he screams, and Holmes pulls Fuqua down as Banaszak blows the squad's four Claymore mines.

To see how the squad fares the NVA's daring night assault, please check the blog at:
link

Wait until you see the next one (already played, just need to write it up)!!!

V/R,
Jack

Just arrived over from messsage 13 of Burning Bacon…so I haven't read this yet so let me take a look…but first…

OK since my social life with 'real' friends has been non-existent for several weeks due to first working conventions / business trips and then an evil illness I'm going to make this a virtual visit to my pal's place…(that's you in case your already lost.)

Ok [heading into your house]it is a little smaller than I imagined and to be serious mate have a word with the missus about health and safety in the home…you know cleanliness…ok so it is a bit of a mess in here but in all fairness there is a passage though the towers of old newspapers and magazines (interesting choice of mags by the way but I did avert my eyes before I saw too much and hey I'm not a judgemental type (but it does explain the constant references to animals in your posts)so lets head straight to the games room…oh it's perpetually set up on the kitchen table…nice…so I brought a couple of these because I won't be long and I know you don't drink…anyway lets take a look at this AAR while you get me a pint glass and fix yourself a strawberry daiquiri :)

OK so your place isn't much to look at but that was brilliant. You have a gift my friend; you sure can tell a yarn.

So many exciting parts but

" Holmes empties a mag in the NVA's general direction, missing, but then Fuqua ripped off a burst and put an enemy soldier on his back. Banaszak is beside himself; the new guy screws up and now his friend's life is on the line, so he does the only thing he can: "Ernie (Holmes), get down!!!" he screams, and Holmes pulls Fuqua down as Banaszak blows the squad's four Claymore mines."

Class…brilliantly written and that why with all the pretty terrain in the world my AAR's would never compare.

But where did you find this kid Fuqua!!

The moment I saw him I knew, no seriously I knew he didn't have the composure and steel thats needed…he's a liability …I warn you man; he's gonna' bring a world of $£%"% on the team…

Antway I better go…thanks for having me and I'm sorry I made a bit of a mess on the floor…damn AAR just got too exciting… ;)

"kyotebluer than blue" you frightened the out of me… sorry I didn't see you in the room at all…I heard a snorting sound in the corner but I presumed Jack had a dog or pet pig or something

Anyway: Snort, snort

BTW I read this out to my wife (she asked me why I was smiling) and she got all red faced and embarrassed and said "you can't say that about their house" LoL…

When I said well I told him it's actually based on our house she almost killed me :)

LOL, Dude never tell your wife that !!!!!!!!!!!!!

You're right there but it's ok…everything is good …she's now my ex-wife… ;)

She's very understanding…

Well please tell Lady Joyce we all say 'hello' :)

No…NFG is it new or any good…I'm off to do a google search on it

FNG?

link

Reading some of Just Jack's modern and Nam AAR's are dangerous; they're making me want game them…at least not many minis are needed…

But show them to me on the table top and I catch on fast.

Know the feeling :)

.I be 60 now and stuff

60 is the new 30 isn't it…and you sure are young at heart Blue ;)

I've been playing solo games most of the time recently myself. Shame that FoW rules don't work too good for Nam they give an enjoyable WW2 game;

Reading some reviews of FNG

agamemag.com/archives/2364

I'm watching Platoon right now

No probs Blue…It does look good…let us know if you make the jump

Damn, you two, let other folks have a chance to post, you're hogging all the bandwith! And without me even here to defend myself. First, a couple admin notes:

1) Panda John would never be allowed in my house, as we don't like French-Canadians!
2) Kyote John would never be allowed in my house, as we don't like hippies!
3) My wife is Asian and didn't appreciate you dishonoring her home with your derogatory comments, Panda John. I don't think it's bad enough that she's going to fly up there to find you, but you never know. The baby is due June 16th, so if I were you I'd be sleeping with one eye open from the 17th on.
4) I could waive the above statements/requirements if either of you actually showed up here in Texas and let me beat you in a game of toy soldiers.

Back to the game. Yes, it was tense, and for a bit I was pretty worried that the whole squad was going down. It's funny Panda John mentioned Platoon; that, of course, is pretty much the whole vibe I'm going for with this campaign, and I was worried that this fight was turning into the final scene (where the firebase is overrun)…

To be honest, if that does happen in one of these games, I'm going to play it out, just bring in more replacements and continue the campaign. Fuqua is simply one of what I suppose will be a million new guy replacements that come in, and, needless to say, he's not very popular right now.

It's funny Kyote-John mentioned FNG; I've had Nuts! for a few years now, and I like it but don't love it, but I had just been thinking about how it would probably work better (in my own mind, you know how we all have our own version of what we think rules in a certain period should look like) for Vietnam, and I was actually just on the cusp of ordering them when Matt showed his batrep for Some Corner of a Foreign Field.

Regarding getting into the 'Nam, Kyote-John, all you'd have to do is strip figures off of two or three bases (they have four per base, right?) for the US, and three or four bases for the VC/NVA, and mount them on pennies, would work like a champ. Panda-John, here's what it costs:

1) mat – nothing, you already something green to play on.
2) lichen – looks like you've got that too.
3) coconut trees – about $15 USD on Ebay. The only work here was to put flock onto their bases, which are just a plain brown.
4) walls – about $8 USD from JR Minis. I use 15mm walls, but I suspect your 20mm stuff would be way too big. Have to paint and flock.
5) buildings – those two huts I keep using cost me $5 USD, but i can't remember where I got them. Easy to find something suitable.
6) troops – All these guys are from Pendraken, but you could use them or Minifigs. Generally I like Pendraken better, but Minifigs might work out better because of poses. Here's what I mean: with Pendraken you guy 1 pack of 10 guys for $2 USD, but they are all the same pose (in the Vietnam range, not true for all ranges). So you see I have the 'officer pointing,' the 'rifleman running,' the 'rifleman standing,' the 'rifleman kneeling,' the 'M-60 gunner,' and the 'M-79 gunner.' So that's $12 USD, with a boatload of extra figures lying around that are not needed. Then you have to do the same thing with the NVA and VC. I have five different NVA figs and five different VC figs, so another $20 USD with a bunch of extras lying around. OR, you could go to Minifigs and order one pack of US Marines (that's actually how they're identified in the Minifigs catalog) and one pack of NVA or VC, and, if you're really feeling froggy, a pack of both NVA and VC. The packs are $7 USD or $8 USD bucks and each contains 28 guys in about six different poses, so total cost for troops could be $24 USD for US, NVA, and VC.

Thanks fellas.

V/R,
Jack

Is it possible to see the rules you are using? Or acquire them? They seem to give great games and mean I could get into Vietnam with a small number of figures. Finally, would they work with 15mm figs? More variety in that scale. But thanks for the very entertaining AARs.

Kyote-John – Don't worry, the fact you have Marine blood in you offsets your hippiness ;)

James – Regarding the rules, they are a playtest set by fellow TMPer "InventedRegiment." I'll refer you to this link as it's how I and War Panda got our hands on them:
TMP link

Regarding 15mm, there should be no problems. InventedRegiment (Mark) is playing the rules in 28mm, and I'm playing them in 10mm as written (without modifying any of the distances).

I think you guys would have a swell time in 15mm, it should be perfect. You see what I'm doing with 10mm on a 3' x 2' table with about ten guys per side, it's that simple. I would happily play in 15mm on 3' x 2' as well, without changing a thing. As with most rules, I'd say just make sure you have plenty of LOS-blocking stuff on the table to enable some maneuver, it's plenty of room for what the rules are designed for (squad vs squad).

I've actually got WWII Brit and German platoons lying around in 15mm that are individually based, and I really thought about doing my campaign with them (and would love to), but I did it in 10mm Vietnam War and now I don't know if I'll ever get to those 15mm guys. Not to mention my "All Americans," "Odessa USSR vs Afghan," "JCSOG," "Cuba Libre," and "Solomons Air, Sea, and Land" campaigns…

V/R,
Jack

Thanks for the info Jack. Its hard to justify more expenditure right now…I've ordered lots of Vikings and things of that nature but that's very tempting and affordable…

No sweat John, just letting you know. If you do ever decide to go with anything in 10mm, let me know and I'll do what I can to help you out. I've become somewhat of an expert ;)

V/R,
Jack