"Game 19 of Vietnam Skirmish Campaign" Topic

All,

I am returned! Albeit, in a much reduced capacity. The wife and baby are doing great, we're all just tired, and I haven't really gotten anything done regarding gaming (damned kids!). I have been taking a gander here every now and again, but refrained from posting as 1) I didn't want to get wrapped up in conversations and gaming and ignore the family, and 2) I didn't want to throw something on here then leave someone feeling ignored. Having said that, please bear with me if you post something and I don't get back right away.

Anyways, here's the last game I played for "In Country," which occurred prior to the the boy's arrival, I just now finished typing it up.

After their tremendous ass-whoopin' at the hands of the NVA during their last attempt to secure Kham Duc, the squad pulled back to the battalion position once again, east of the town. There they sat and watched the steady rain of steel by US airstrikes and artillery as they cared for their wounded, cleaned their weapons, and topped off their ammunition. They had suffered very heavy casualties, and ached for a chance to get back at their enemies.

But there they sat for the remainder of the day, and all the next day, watching the bombs fall and 105mm shells strike. It was sunrise on January 12, 1968 when SFC Bleier roused the men. As they ate cold C-rats for morning chow Bleier explained they were once again attacking into Kham Duc, but something was different. Old Sarge didn't look right; dark circles under his eyes, his skin was sickly pale, and his hands were shaky. "You alright, Sarge?" "Yeah, I'm fine." But the men picked up on this, and the heat of their anger and desire to re-engage the enemy in Kham Duc quickly dissipated.

The squad joined the platoon, which linked up with the rest of the company and met the attached armor at the line of departure, approximately a klick outside the town. The whole company was on line, with a platoon of tanks interspersed. The formation crept forward, waiting for the cough of incoming mortars, or the stutter of enemy machine guns, at least the crack of a sniper rifle, but nothing happened. Once the formation was within 300 yards of the town the Company Commander called a halt and conferred with his platoon commanders. 1st Platoon, in the center, was ordered into double interval skirmish line, with the squad in the center, in order to advance into Kham Duc as the other two platoons and the tanks assumed supporting positions…

"I can't believe it's so quiet. Maybe we got lucky, Sarge, maybe the flyboys and the cannon cockers wiped'em out!" says one of the new guys. "Yeah, don't hold your breath Slick. If old Victor Charles isn't in there, it's because he chose to not be in there," replied Bleier. "Dammit, I bet they slipped past us again," muttered Malone. "Yeah, well, that ain't all bad… What was that!?"

Overview of Kham Duc, north is up. US forces are on right, VC are on left. It appears the NVA, happy to have taken Kham Duc from the ARVN, and happy to have held it so long against the Imperialist Yankees, decide to save their strength for another day rather than allow the Americans to eliminate them, and so the NVA pulled out last night, slipping through holes in the US cordon scouted the previous night.

All that's left in Kham Duc are a few VC stragglers that didn't get the word, and now that they realize they've been left to die, they are didi-mau'ing to the north, just as the squad spots them. These VC are in the northwest, three porter teams and three infantrymen.

Looking east at the remains of the squad as it passes Tiger 1, still burning in the street. From left to right: Lipps, Sgt Malone, Hoge (w/M-60), SFC Bleier, Nickerson (w/M-79, ran last fight), and Abercrombie.

And the fight is on! Sgt Malone (foreground) spots the VC, sprints ahead into the ruins of a house, and opens fire. He seriously wounds a VC rifleman (red bead at center) and lightly wounds the porter team above him.

For the rest, please check the blog at:
link

In the overall scheme of things, Operation Hearbeat City was a disaster. It was a reaction to a massive infiltration by NVA troops across the border from Cambodia, missed by the US high command. The US troops had a great time, partying it up for Christmas, then woke up to NVA nearly overrunning their bases, and taking over several ARVN posts and friendly towns. The cost of repulsing the base attacks, and then evicting the NVA and VC from their newly conquered territories was severe, and made worse by the fact the enemy was not annihilated, but managed to slip away, back across the border to its sanctuary in Cambodia.

The Brigade pulled back to its combat base at Dak To, conducting a very limited schedule of security patrols, making sure to stay near its base while it reconstituted itself. The enemy, while he escaped, was still badly bruised, and content to bide his time, also rebuilding his strength. This period of minimal contact continued for two and a half months; the Brigade, once again near full strength and full of confidence due to a round of aggressive training at the company and battalion level, began early April determined to expand its area of influence. The North Vietnamese began April 1968 determined to reassert themselves across the border…

To date our 11-man squad has permanently lost 21 members:
7 men Killed in Action
9 men Wounded in Action, severely enough to be evacuated to the US.
2 men Missing in Action
3 men transferred out of the squad (two "3-time Losers," one promotion)

So, this isn't the end, I do plan to return to these guys at some point, but there are three things hampering this:
1) the new baby, of course
2) a boatload of other campaigns I want to start/get back to
3) a massive painting project I've just undertaken (bought everything shortly before the baby came
4) I picked up a new set of rules and I'm dying to get dug into them.

Stay tuned. I'm slowed down but not stopped. I believe next I'm going into British vs Germans around Caen, 1944 (with the new rules); I've been dying to get to this campaign and it will work well with the new rules. Having said that, I've got a bunch of 6mm modern stuff about ready for action, and some 6mm WWII almost there. Oh, and I have a bunch of Marines for an 'alternate history' type deal I've been wanting to do. We'll see…

V/R,
Jack

Congratulations on the new addition to the family! Glad to hear all's well.

Yes congrats on baby! Thank God everything went well.

Great read as always…looking forward to Caen…or an alternative Marine story; presumably "alternative" because its a place of flying ponies, rainbow streams and where Marines are actually bad ass tough…and not a bunch of big girl's blouses!
Yes…welcome back Jack :D

Thanks for the congrats fellas. I can see by the look in his eyes that he's a future wargamer ;)

Kyote-John – Green field beyond, eh? Sounds cool. Surely you're doing Marines (this is where we earned the moniker "Devil Dogs"). I served with both the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments, who are the only units to wear the French Fourragere, given for their fighting at St Mihiel, Chateau Thierry, and Belleau Wood.

The 'alternate history' USMC stuff is I repainted and rebased some 10mm Minifigs US modern troops I've had lying around for a few years (they were actually my very first 10mm purchases, gotten for use with Force on Force). I want to use them for an imaginary MEU which magically responds to emergency situations worldwide, both real and imagined. Need peacekeepers in Timor or Bosnia? Send in the MEU. Need to evacuate the embassy in Albania or Liberia? Send in the MEU. Wanna go after terrorists that carried out Khobar towers in Lebanon or Cole bombing in Sudan? Send in the MEU. Need to deal with the cartels in Columbia or Mexico? You get the picture. Small scale stuff, i.e., platoon-level with lots of Hollywood support (Abrams, AAVs, LAVs, HMMWVs, helos, Harriers), probably use the rules I used for "All Americans."

Matt – I saw your comment thanking me for the playtesting; it was my pleasure, let me know if I can be of any help in the future, it was a lot of fun. And I finally downloaded the rules from WargameVault.

Panda-John – Regarding Caen, it's been over a year ago that I based up a bunch of mid-war Brits and Germans, and you've seen them play cameo rolls every now and again. In fact, two of my SCoaFF reports were using them. I really want to get a campaign going. Bought a book about SS in Western Europe (heavy on Normandy), bought "Operation Jupiter" from Britton Publishers, which has a boatload of reinforce platoon-sized scenarios (I have quite a few of their books, really like them), and I've got the troops and vehicles (I need to finish up a Sdkfz 251 with PaK40, which 12th SS used in Normandy), just need to find a set of rules. I probably should stick with reinforced platoon-size, but I'm looking at some other stuff as well. I'll keep you informed.

I don't care if it's an alternate universe or otherwise, there exists no reality in which Marines are not actually bad-ass tough.

Also, I see you couldn't be bothered to get off your ass while I was hamstrung and do a guy a solid by actually playing a game and posting a batrep. Thanks for nothing, Panda…

V/R,
Jack

"Also, I see you couldn't be bothered to get off your ass while I was hamstrung and do a guy a solid by actually playing a game and posting a batrep. Thanks for nothing, Panda…"

T'was my pleasure Mr Jack

Just didn't want to make you envious of all the great gaming time I was having…

You're despicable, Panda. Have ya been playing or not? I suppose I shouldn't complain, we did get one whole batrep out of your Wyverns. Take your time sweetheart…

Kyote, Sorry man, Sci Fi's not really my thing, I had to 'Google' Glen Cook. Hope you had a good time though. And you didn't answer the question: surely there be United States Marines in your WWI force, yes?

And nobody's got any thoughts on my proposed upcoming campaigns?

V/R,
Jack

"You're despicable, Panda"

You called…ah yes guilty as charged ur' Honor!

"Have ya been playing or not?"

Not a thing…far too busy…only thing remotely resembling wargaming was the few times I glanced in here…

I'd love to have a game soon but I don't think that will happen for some time…most of our free time will be spent camping during the summer…was thinking of playing some RPG with the kids while camping but I doubt that qualifies as gaming in your book.

And you won't be impressed that the most interesting project I'm toying with is starting an RPG Judge Dredd game…some of the funnest games of my life when I was but a wee cub…

And I keep reading people mentioning they've just met Glen Cook…I presumed he was some Hollywood type person…I'm a little stuck in the 90's and before when it comes to celebrities and actors…still not going to bother checking who he is though :(

Glen Cook writes good SF and Fantasy books. I have not read much, but his The Dragon Never Sleeps I would rate as one of the best SF novels ever. And it was written in the late 80s.

Yes, I am sort of back, real life has stopped any gaming for the last week and the above is all I have time for right now!

Hmm thanks for coming to the help of my laziness guys…I might have to check up that Garrett series

Blue is it more Fantasy or Sci-fi? I often used sci-fi or normal detective novels to inspire scenarios for my Judge Dredd games

Thank you Blue :)

Jack,

Depends what sort of thing you're into – I have a few games in development at the moment, as well as 50 years of squad lists for SCoaFF. Incidentally, just under 100 copies have been sold in the last two weeks or so, so your help clearly made it popular!

Currently doing a card-based swashbuckling game (just ordinary poker cards, no expensive VAT-chargeable additions), a die-pool Pulp game, a Horse & Musket skirmish game (what, another!?) and a big-battle Dark Ages game. And various RPGs, but that's for other forums!

Enjoy your family time, and any reading you pick up off this thread. The Black Company is definitely worth a go.

Cheers,
Matt @ Morningstar

Holy Cow, you guys sure took this thread in a direction I wasn't expecting!

Panda – Enough with the excuses; on a serious note, hope you (and everyone else) have a great summer. We've been in the pool quite a bit ourselves.

Kyote – Not sure I can afford (time-wise) any more stuff to read, I'm barely getting through the stuff I already have.

Shaun – Great to see you, hope all's well. Great stuff with your Game 7 AND the skirmish fight, looking forward to more. I was messing around with a mash-up of Chain of Command and NUTS ("Command of NUTS"?) for some solo skirmish stuff. Messing with rules is just something I do whilst sitting around, I've got notebooks full of scribblings and half-formed thoughts.

Matt – My offer stands for help, though the timing is such that I believe I must pass currently as I wouldn't be of much use to you, and I'm not sure how long it will be until I'm back in the swing of things gaming wise. We'll have to see what the future holds!

V/R,
Jack

Hi Jack,

The games will be there when the time is too! But first things always come first ;)

Cheers,
Matt M