"Do you intend to play a lot of Vietnam games this year?" Topic

Do you have plans to play a lot (6+ games) of Vietnam games this Year?

Is this a period that you get into for a while then move to other things?

I played a fair bit of men of Company B (MOCB) Vietnam with my friends this year.
I intend to get in at least 10 games during February and a total of 40 in 2024.
I think most of our games will be "search and destroy" with VC versus average quality White star units.

Myself and others are playing Vietnam games at Bournemouth Beach head show Sunday 11th February if you want to join in.

In my enthusiasm I have also painted up some nice Ebay palm trees too.
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martin

Nope. Nary a one.

I'll probably play some but probably won't reach your definition of "a lot". I do like the period but it has too many other options to compete with! :)

Nope, but I am reading a book on infantry actions in the early 60s. My dad was wounded in Vietnam, so gaming it never felt right to me. A matter of personal taste, so to speak. With the passing of dad and the passing of time (he was wounded almost 55 years ago!), I would consider playing a game. By your definition, I don't think that I play a lot of anything.

No. Too close to home. I remember being at a local convention some twenty years ago where a buch of young gamers were playing a Nam game and solicited an older gamer (a Nam veteran) to join them. He declined, noting that it wasn't fun the first time he'd been there.

No, unless there is a good sounding game at a game day.

Absolutely. We'll have a mix of urban and rural games – some in agricultural areas and some in the bush.
79thPA…what's the book?

Here you go:

link

Thanks 79th; ordered it. Is there a companion volume for the ensuing years?

That's a great book! There's a companion to it for the latter part of the war.

link

Thanks

John

What interesting, if surprising, replies. Many respondents feel uncomfortable with gaming such a "recent" tragedy and I am surprised they even visit the site therefore. I have expressed my own concerns here before. I have been very interesting in modelling the various combatants in VN and creating dioramas, but was not sure I would want to chuck dice over VN, Iraq, Afghanistan etc.

The UK stayed out of it, but I would imagine anti-gaming feelings are far stronger in the USA and Australia, to name but two countries. I can watch Napoleonic cavalry slaughtered on a tabletop, Shermans "brew up" or U boats run riot amongst a convoy, but some conflicts are too recent somehow

My father was in WW2 but i still play WW2 games.
Don Featherstone played plenty of WW2 and he was in the thick of it.

Luckily wargaming has enough options in it to choose the ones you prefer.
This is good.

martin

Yes I will play in Vietnam games this year. In the process of moving from smaller scales to 28mm, given all the options in that scale (including plastics from Rubicon Models). I'm also printing up a fair amount of 3D terrain and vehicles as well.

Thanks John Leahy.

Yes, 2 or 3. Not a lot.

No way.

I've played some FNG (two hour wargames), solo. Would like to play more, but probably won't.

I've read about some VN battles and planned to play them as sci-fi, but never got around to it.

"Plans" is to strong a word for me.

I actually do play in 6-7 a year. However I play the war after the Americans left following the Paris Peace accord of 1973.
There still was a lot of fighting after that between the North and South. Battles are much more balanced than games between the Americans and VC/NVA.

Nope don't game that war.

I will play them when in the mood. I go from period to period among about five.

I ran an FNG game at The Host where a retired LTC who had commanded a SF A Team on the Cambodian border played himself as the C.O. in the game of a fight he was in. He had to think about it for a while before he agreed to do it.

Tom

At 50 years next year since reunification it will be as remote in time as WW2 was in 1995. And there have been several more recent wars.

Personally, I don't think time is the factor any more.

I suspect it is other factors that make some people shy away from the subject or not feel able to enjoy a game set in that era.

I never liked 'fun' wargames. I always wanted to study and understand history thru games.

It's also a war that is still highly controversial. If people can't keep their opinions/emotions out of the game then it would get nasty.

I won't be playing any Vietnam games this year – but would if the chance arose in future years.

Sadly not expected even though I am an avid addict and builder.

Funny the comments on it being too close a thing for some.
As a very young child, my parents brought me along to see the movie, "The Battle of Britain" in the theatre when it came out. Late 1969/1970.

For my age two things stood out pretty starkly, the first was my fasciination with the Spitfire and Messerschmitt rocking horse/fighters in the entrance way.

More importantly, when the decision was made to evacuate France and the scenes showed the RAF groundcrew burning the Hawker Hurricanes that could not be flown out right away, I happened to look behind and around me at the audience. Everyone over the age of twenty-five was crying.

That has stood out to this day in my memory.
Thirty years after the fact and anyone old enough to have lived through it or to have been brought up during the war was crying.

Oh yeah and my family is in Canada no less.

A collective feeling that was THAT strong still.

Maybe a few, if the mood takes me…

Not my cup of tea, still too close for me.

1968 to mid-74, I use to read the newspaper daily about the struggles there. I also remember hearing about the downfall of Saigon as a crew on a destroyer with shipmates.

About 20% of the crew on the DD served off the coast there or even in country.

We are gong to play some firebase games too. We will use a black cloth as it is a night action.
Our game the other night resulted in a US platoon leader calling down artillery on some of his own troops .
The best piece the US player had was a sniper team.

martin

Might have a game or two this year once I have some urban terrain finished. I gamed a rural scenario a few times last year but I'm not altogether impressed with BOHICA rules and want to try a different set to see if they are an improvement.