Welcome to the Jungle: Purple Haze - Vietnam Tactical RPG

I was closely watching this game (Purple Haze) , having spotted it a long. long time back and although I did not step in at the Kick Starter phase I joined the fan-base when I pre-ordered it through Zatu Games (after too much sitting on the fence). It is Vietnam, it is very atmospheric, the playing material of of great quality, the mechanisms look very intriguing and apart from the game itself (that looks so good) it meshes with my existing 20mm kit and in the end it was just too good not to get (see below, can you hear the Hendrix guitar rifts and "All along teh Watchtower" kicking off in the background? I can"): 

The unboxing took quite a lot of time, this was a very heavy box! Elements of it will also graduate to teh tabletop.

"Ghosts of the Jungle" Playtest - Charlie fights, er Charlie!

I hit the critical mass (or Minimal Viable Product [MVP]) for the cast of characters, fully painted and ready for "The Ghosts of the Jungle", so it was time for a play-test  (see below, [the "specials" from a previous post are still 'in progress' - what you see here are 15 VC [Platoon 2- and Britannia Miniatures] and 8 US Special Force LRRP [Platoon 20]):

The game board is set up (see below, I chose to use 'explore mode' by giving the US insertion force a grid map, but only exposing "stuff" in LOS and not hidden from view): 

The US player (confusingly called Charlie) has been given an information extraction mission/ Get to a designation spot and retrieve some "information" and then get out. Body count was of no consequence to him, the mission's success rested on getting the "information" off the board and having all members of the LRRP intact (as in, at least with one hit point left). I added a layer of pre-game rumour "acquisition" - some helpful, some wrong and some just pla-in contradictory (in classic D&D fashion). What was ascertained was that there was little air support because teh Americans were busy elsewhere and you could and could not trust the villagers (who were VC, maybe or just "sometimes").  Although not a regular wargamer, Charlie took to the game like a duck taking to water.

Foot Note: In his own words, Charlie's success, came from his days of playing an old 1980/90's problem-solving computer games, in particular one called X-COM. This seems to fit into the "tower style" puzzle solver game, where you break through the enemy's defences by seeing weaknesses in their patterns. X-COM recently gained a second lease of life, with a 2015-20's revamp and series of follow on releases.

Back to the mission, which was played with an impressive amount of stealth and patience (waiting for the correct moment to 'move on' or to 'strike hard' ..good enough being far better than waiting "too long" for complete safe option). Reaching "X marks the spot", the "information package" turned out to be a downed (and wounded)  USAF airman, "Oh!" said Charlie (a bit of an understatement). The flyboy was promptly patched (and drugged) up by the SAS lads to get him as a "walking wounded" - the LRRP back-tracked out the way they had came in (while pushing, pulling, carrying and cajoling the Yank). The [exciting] "helicopter evacuation" option was not activated .. which would probably mean "hold a designated Alamo position" until the helicopter gunships and rescue helicopter came in. In the end the LRRP had a few scratches to show from a bit of fighting, but had successfully extricated themselves in a very professional manner! Beer on the USAF at the Australian NAAFI bar!

Vietnam War - US News Broadcast of the (Surprise) Tet Offensive (NBS News Saigon) - You Tube Footage

Sometimes history is thrust upon a sleep walking nation and they are rudely awakened to unpalpable truths (see below, incredible News footage from 1968): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=wA8n114eYXc&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2F&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY&feature=emb_logo

Amazing that was shown as a "special broadcast" to the US people outside of direct political control!