"Brown Water Navy vs new Nam rules?" Topic

Digging through some boxes I found my copy of Battlefront's last edition Vietnam rules and the Brown Water Navy book. I also have the two Riverine miniature starter sets. But I see Battlefront has discontinued this edition and now has a new ‘Nam book with everything consolidated. On the one hand, I like the idea of a 1 book rule set, but on the other hand, I really like detail and theater specific rules. Is it worth it for me to pick up the new Nam book or should I just stick with what I have? I suppose the one drawback of sticking to what I already have is that if I want to play with other gamers they may have the shiny new set and not want to play the stale, old edition rules. Ahhh the complexities of multiple editions!

Get the new book. Has most everything the old volumes had but is more organized and the rules have been updated.

One caveat, though. Keep the old books. We've had to look at them from time to time to interpret the new rules where they've been streamlined to the point of being a little vague. The old books have more/better painting guides, too, IIRC.

I agree with Bash On. I had all the old version books all the way back to Tropic Lightning and I opted for the new books, which are basically V4 in Vietnam. I really like having all the info consolidated and I like the card system for tracking unit stats and special rules where appropriate.

Agree with keeping all the old books. The v4 books lose a lot of the options for WW2 (being basically divisional sourcebooks).

Good news is that Flames of 'Nam (the v4 book) added USMC troops, so you can game anywhere from the Delta to the DMZ, and into Laos and Cambodia, from that one book. Downside is that you can't get BF UH1B gunships anymore.

There is also a FAQ for the 'Nam book that you will need (they somehow missed a few rules…).

Years ago I bought a copy of GHQ's Mekong… Vietnam rules and was under the impression that it was largely about riverine operations.

Thanks for the info. I will likely upgrade.