Ambush Valley

 Here are some photos from a 28mm Vietnam game we played at the club last month. The game saw us moving up the river to try to rescue some hostages from the far end.

The rules were Ambush Alley and the figures and terrain are from someone else's lovely collection

BOHICA 2 - Search and Destroy

Our second outing for the BOHICA rules involved an apparently straightforward search and destroy mission.  We did have some armoured support this time around (in the form of an M48) but we were in for some surprises!  Our map and the real map were different in a number of ways, the road was mined and we were facing some NVA with armoured support rather than just the VC we were expecting.

We also had some clarifications on the various elements of the rules we either were not playing correctly or we confused about in the last game.

Here are some photos from the game:

Whilst the game was fun we were still not entirely convinced as some elements remained a little clunky.  Our umpire is now keen to try a game of Force on Force with the Ambush Valley supplement to see how they compare.

BOHICA - Search and Rescue

A couple of weeks ago we played a first game of the BOHICA Vietnam rules with 28mm figures and some lovely terrain.

The scenario took place in I corps zone close to Hue. Two helicopters had gone down near a small village in an area of ongoing pacification. The helicopters were carrying a senior officer and TV film crew. A nearby team, SEAL team Zulu, had been diverted to search and rescue. The area had been fairly quiet recently; however on arrival SEAL team Zulu came under heavy mortar fire. Their boat was damaged and they requested support. The team went to ground south west of the village, but had eyes on possible location of the helicopter crew and passengers. 

Our mission was to make our way to the village from the east to distract and engage the enemy. Our platoon was supported by ACAV and M113s. There was the possibility of heavy armour support and air support. We had also been allocated a LOACH for spotting/artillery observation. The LOACH was only going to available for  around 15 minutes though. We were to assist in search and rescue, locating and securing a safe LZ for air evacuation. Usual rules apply, civilians and their dwellings were not to be targeted. The area was supposedly close to pacification. Latest intel (for what it's worth!) indicated the area was still relatively quiet so we could expect a swift and successful op.

Here are some photos from the game:

We had a post game de-brief and it was clear that we had not been getting some elements of the rules quite right.  Whilst we had some issues with them we though it would be worth trying a second game with the rules having been clarified.

Their First and Last Patrol

 At our last club meeting I put on a 28mm Vietnam game using FNG from TwoHourWargames (a bit of a version mash up as I prefer elements from the different one).  Two US squads with experienced NCOs leading a bunch of FNGs on their first (and in some cases last!) patrol.  Here are a couple of photos:

Skirmish 2018: Vietnam Search and Rescue

So I've managed to get behind on my posts again but better late than never eh?  Back in March I put together a 28mm Vietnam game for my club.  The game background to the game was that Cobra had been brought down and a search and rescue operation had been quickly thrown together.  The game represented just a part of the operation with the players controlling a single squad.

Here are some photos from the game:

First Look: Classified (Force on Force)

The latest supplement for the Force on Force rules dropped through my letterbox this morning.  This one is entitled Classified: Special Operations Missions 1940-2010 and, as you might expect, covers special forces missions from the second world war to the present day.

The book is in the standard Force of Force style and runs to 136 pages.  The introduction starts by talking about special operations and wargaming, explains what makes an operation "special" and then addressed the differences in this book from the other supplements.  This is followed by new rules for special operations forces and then there are three scenario sections covering historical, generic and "Hollywood" operations.  A selection of current special operations forces (US, Russian, European, Canadian, Israeli and Asia-Pacific) are then described along with a miniatures guide and a glossary.  The bok finishes off with a bibliography and the book artwork references.

The scenarios sections contain 9 historical, 6 generic (including two mini-campaigns) and 3 "Hollywood" ones:

Historical

• Raiders on Makin Island, a USMC island raid 17-18 August 1942
• Heading Toward Extraction, US LRRP north of the DMZ, Vietnam 1969
• Fighting the War of Attrition, Egyptian commando raid on an Israeli convoy, Sinai 1970
• The Battle of Mirbat, Communist rebels attacking the SAS, Oman 1972
• Bulldozers Lead the Way, 75th Rangers, Grenada 1983
• Price of a Vendetta, Speznaz holding off the Mujahideen, Afghanistan 1986
• SEALS on the Tarmac, US Navy SEALs attack Noriega's jet, Panama 1989
• Cross Border Incident, US raid on Al Qaeda, Syria 2008
• Night Raid, US Ranger/Afghan forces raid on Taliban high value target , Afghanistan 2012

Generic

• Gone to Ground, a CSAR mission on the edge of a nation in political turmoil
• Homecoming, a rescue/counter-piracy mission
• A Night's Work, a terrorist training camp assault
• Brave New World (A Mini Campaign): three missions - snatch and grab; recon and hostage rescue
• Ocean Oil 982, an oil platform assault
• Princes of Persia (A Mini Campaign): four missions - "blow up stuff", kill or capture, secure a base of operations and direct action

Hollywood

• Force 10, an Allied raid on a German coastal gun position, 1942
• Bungle in the Jungle (Solitaire), a drug raid in Central America, 1980s
• Hunters Hunted, US Navy SEALs vs Mexican Drug Lords, 2012

The section on current special operations forces is more of an overview and general description rather than sample organisations as the forces for these types of missions tend to be put together on a case by case basis depending on the specific needs and availability.

This book covers quite a period but provides plenty of interest and inspiration for smaller special forces games.  I'm certainly keen to try a couple of these out!

Skirmish Campaigns: Screaming Eagles

The final book in my Skirmish Campaigns collection is a Skirmish Elite book and it moves us on from WW2 to Vietnam - Screaming Eagles at Hamburger Hill.  It centres on the US 101st Airborne's struggle to capture the NVA strongpoint on Dong Ap Bia (Hamburger Hill) in May 1969.

Screaming Eagles at Hamburger Hill is a 44 page, black and white, staple bound book in US letter format which includes 8 scenarios forming three campaigns.

The book starts with a three page introduction and history including some designer's notes; a very short bibliography (it only has 2 items) and a campaign map.  This is followed by a two page explanation of the Skirmish Campaigns format and a table detailing how to translate the scenarios to various sets of rules before moving into the actual scenarios.

There are three campaigns:

• The Approach - 3 scenarios covering the first few days of the battle when the 3/187th didn't yet know what they were up against
• The Assault - 3 scenarios covering the actions on the main ridge line
• King of the Hill - 2 scenarios covering the final days of the battle when the NVA had been worn down

The scenarios are all infantry, roughly platoon size or smaller, and are set in hill and jungle with the exception of the third scenario which centres on an NVA night assault on the airborne firebase.  Several of the scenarios require a number of two man bunkers and tenches for the NVA.

The first campaign is a couple of encounter engagements and the NVA assault on the firebase.  The second campaign is the frontal assaults on the NVA positions and their counter attacks.  The final campaign has two quite different scenarios, the first is an ambush on Col. Honeycutt and his party moving from the LZ up a trail whilst the second is the final battle for the hill top.

I picked up this copy from Lenin mainly for interest as I do have some Vietnam forces in both 20mm and 28mm (although the 20mm stuff is USMC rather than airborne) and so haven't yet got any of these to the table.

First Look: Ambush Valley

Ambush Valley is the third source book for the Force on Force rules and covers the Vietnam War.   The book is over 180 pages packed with useful information on a wide variety of units which were involved in the conflict.

There are around 20 pages of the book taken up with new or modified rules for Force on Force (including special rules for civilians and for boats) but the remainder of the book is full of data which aren't FoF specific.

This is a great resource for anyone interested in information on the forces involved in Vietnam and given the volume of data is great value.  It is much lighter on scenarios though, with only six being included, and so is more useful as a reference work rather than for game ideas.

Available from Amazon for only £9.71: Ambush Valley: Vietnam 1965-1975 (Force on Force)

Wargames Weekend: Firebase

Our next game was our first chance to try out the published version of Charlie Don't Surf! The new Vietnam rules by the Too Fat Lardies. We had tried a playtest version of CDS some time ago and it was interesting to see how they had changed.

I took the role of the Free World player whose objective was to clear the area of hostile forces to allow the construction of a new firebase. I was given an infantry company and a mechanised platoon in M113s for the task.



The VC began the game on blinds in the jungle - something which made the APCs rather redundant as the jungle was impassable to vehicles! Despite several attempts I entirely failed to spot the first two blinds and allowed one of them to ambush me, which resulted in one squad being eliminated and a second withdrawing after suffering heavy casualties.

I continued to press forward and managed to engage one of the enemy units in the front and flank but my flank was exposed in a clearing which didn't do much for that squad!



I managed to get some co-ordinated fire in from two platoons plus one squad of the one who got the pasting earlier and it began to take its toll on the VC (not least due to their lack of Big Men). Eventually the VC decided they managed as much of their objective as possible and fell back.

In the end the game was a draw militarily but a political victory for the VC.

Wargames Weekend: The Men of Company B

Our next game of the weekend was a playtest of The Men of Company B rules from Peter Pig. As with their other RFCM publications these are template based and share a number of mechanics with AK47 Republic.

We used the terrain set up tables in the rules to arrange things and I put together a US force using the points system. I decided on a search and destroy mission and divided my troops into two units which I had choppered into position on either side of the only village on the table.


With one unit covering the other went into the village and stumbled onto a booby trap. Fortunately I managed to disarm it before it did any serious damage. I then had the men advance up the valley to check out a nearby section of jungle. Unfortunately this proved to be home to charlie and we took a bit of a pasting. Eventually I managed to get the other unit onto their flank and called in some air support in the form of a huey gunship but, whilst I managed to eliminate the VC, my first unit was virtually wiped out.

To add insult to injury Lenin had played one of his cards and the VC turned into civilian casualties!

With the game end point having been reached we totted up my victory points and, perhaps unsurprisingly, it was a bit of a catastrophic failure for the US.