"Bolt Action Indochina Pics" Topic

All--

Here are some photos of a playtest game we did yesterday trying out an adaptation of Bolt Action to the French period. Basically, a Legion Para platoon had orders to clear a village, look for supplies, bad guys, etc.

They didn't find any supplies, but they sure found bad guys. Ultimately it was a French defeat as the commander's aggressiveness played (more or less) into Vietminh hands.

Here are some shots of the initial set up. It's very quiet. Just a few civilians wandering around.

The French arriving…

Small detachment of local forces ambush the French command group--they got very lucky and survived; the Vietminh were crushed by the supporting section. The command group is out of sight behind the bush in the foreground. You can see the Paras hitting the VM from the left.

Ooops--larger group of Vietminh open fire on the rather careless French and wipe out the platoon leader, the medic and the radio man. It went downhill from there.

Locals leave the area as the French start firing smoke from their mortars.

More to come!

Love the Vietnamese villagers and hooches – where did you get them? I guess some at least of the hooches are Warlord Games / Architects at War..

Yep, Architects for the hooches. I got the civvies via Eureka's 28mm range.

That is fantastic, thanks for posting.

V/R,
Jack

More shots of the French advance. The Vietminh had no mortars, so the French really wrought havoc on the ambushing section. The other section, hidden in the jungle by the main house, stayed under cover until the French got closer.

You can see the VM in the bush are taking a pounding based on the pin markers.

A reinforcing units with an LVT-4 showed up--but with the command element wiped out, they couldn't communicate with their comrades. The civilians in front of them quickly disappeared into the brush.

Somewhat at a loss, the commander of the LVT ordered his track to go straight forward. He was very worried about what might be hiding in the buildings. Turns out he should have been worried more about the 57mm RR team in the jungle.

Then followed one of those things makes gaming so much fun--the 57 fired--and missed! The LVT opened up suppressing fire…and missed! The fates were unkind to the French--next turn, the first die out of the bag was Vietminh. They did not miss a second time.

4 of the squad survived the ensuing conflagration. They wisely began to fall back from whence they came.

The aggressive French player pushed on--he made an all out effort to reach the main building and was surprised/ambushed by the hidden squad in the jungle to his left flank.

We still have some kinks to work out re: spotting, size of units, etc.

We're definitely going to break down these larger 13-15 man detachments into smaller 7-8 man units with fewer SMGs per section. All the SMGs made most assaults nasty, brutish and short.

Wonderful set up.

The LVT looks great. Like the French flag on the side. I've found the LVT's to be pretty vulnerable too. I wanted to mount a 57RCL on mine but couldn't find any in 15mm.

You could designate the VM a local battalion or militia. They'd probably have less smg's and grenades instead of RCL's (make the locals part of a Trinh Sat squad).

Your AAR really got me motivated. Thanks for sharing.

Damn, that's perfect…!

I've toyed with the idea of doing this sort of thing myself – Bolt Action meets Street Without Joy.

Out of curiosity, how did you handle the two armies? That is, did you use existing BA lists for the French and VietMinh, or write your own?

For the armies, I pretty much wrote my own. The French are a cross between British/US airborne though I use the NCO replacement rule given their elite status. It's tough to use pre-WW2/early WW2 French stats--this was a very different army compared to the regular force that went to war in 1940.

The Vietminh are based on the Soviets, a dash of Japanese-type characteristics with of my own local color thrown in--using the bugle to issue two orders in one turn, once per game, substituting one guy with the color bearer--plus up in morale; makes you easier to hit.

If/when Dien Bien Phu minis (or somebody!) comes out with some additional French Union stuff, I'll adjust accordingly.

I've used a couple of online resources to organize the squads/platoons based on historical models.

indochine54.free.fr

Very nice, and thank you for the link!

I was considering using the "Partisan" list in the "France and the Allies" book for the Viet Minh. I don't think it was entirely satisfactory, but might be worthwhile with a few modifications.

Man, I already have too much Vietnam War terrain in 15mm. I don't need another project!!

Fantastic looking game.

Yep, great looking game.

Great looking game. If you are interested in Vietnam, you would like Fields of Fire Reloaded.

One of the boards on that site is devoted to the French Indo-China period.

Here is a link to it.
link

Tom

Well done sir with the table, game and everything! It is full of imagery and character.

I will have to pick up some of the civilians from Eureka. They are much better than I could tell from the site.

The French and Vietminh really look the part too.
Larry

Thanks, all for the kind words and the link to the Fields of Fire stuff.

I think there's a lot that can still be done with this period.

Great looking game!

Great table! How did the recoilless rifle miss at that range?

Good question--it was one of those "you need to roll anything but a…." and they rolled it. French missed on their shot, too.

I keep coming back to this – I think I might want to try doing a similar project. It would be easy to re-purpose some WWII Pacific terrain I already have on hand.

Roughly how many French and Viet Minh do you have?

Got any hints or tips?

Go for it, Scott. It's great fun.
My tips would be TAGs Viet Cong with older weapons to bolster the ranks of the VM and Sarissa houses for terrain.
The houses Troy use are nicer than Sarissas but a lot more expensive.

I've got a few Sarissa houses for WWII in the Pacific; I might dress them up a bit so they don't look so pre-made. I also have some jungle plants, rice paddies, and other terrain that would look good.

I really like the idea of using Bolt Action. I'd be interested if anyone has already taken a shot at making an OOB for the French and Viet Minh.

Thomas Nissvik – I'm after some Vietnamese heads to convert a WLG USMC 30 cal team in to VM or VC, any thoughts on source? TIA.

I see this thread lives on. I have maybe 4-5 buildings now, including the two big hooches from the now defunct Architects of War. Am working on my own, and noticed that Warlord has Pacific buildings that would suit. There are also some nice shanty-type buildings with corrugated metal from Miniature Building Authority that can also work with Indochina.

link

For figures, Age of Glory now has the Red Star line under FNG miniatures. They have added Vietminh sappers and bazooka teams, as well as Vietnamese paras from the French Union forces.

link

My force is now roughly company sized for both (close to 100 figures give or take), including support weapons, etc.

I have a lot of terrain. Battlefield Terrain Concepts does VERY nice trees, but they are pricey. But you can also get the ones Pegasus does and they paint up pretty well.

Another good source is to go to either the pet store or Michael's art supplies--you can get a lot of shrubberies, jungle-looking plants and other terrain enhancing stuff without breaking your bank.

I have also converted the Warlord USMC HQ team--just add some FNG heads in French para helmets and/or bush hats and they look pretty good (IMO).

Here are some shots of the Dien Bien Phu game I just ran at Cold Wars. French and Vietnamese paras storm Vietminh trenches to relieve strongpoint Gabrielle.

It did not go as historically. The French successfully captured the first trench line under the cover of a smoke screen, but were stymied by heavy resistance and a well placed recoilless rifle round that took out one of their Chaffees.

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Brilliant stuff, Troy.
We did a DBP game last year and I have slowly been adding new stuff since then. I think something GM100-inspired might be up during the summer.

Thanks for the comments.

I'm working on something riverine for Fall In. Still a work in progress, but the French will have multiple objectives, mostly likely on both sides of the waterway.

GM100 also has promise--I'd have to buy a bunch of trucks!

Oh yes, so much cool stuff to do on or near the waterways. That will be my next objective.

Yep, just finished off an LCM and an LCVP. I have an armed patrol craft from Barrage Minis on the way.

Really inspiring (still!…)

I have purchased the FNG figures. Is there a way to contact you Viginia Tory to ask questions?

Ooh--sorry I was late getting back. Repaint, feel free to PM me. I think I'm set up for that.