As I’d alluded to more than a few times over the last week or so I’ve picked up Force on Force and have been quite anxious to have a go at it. I wanted something simple to start with; not a lot of elements, a straight up infantry fight between regulars (a kinetic engagement). Unfortunately I don’t’ HAVE more than a squad or two of 28mm Moderns… or appropriate opponents or terrain. A lot of the published scenarios seem to have a whole lot of stuff that I don’t have… in 28mm… I do have an awful lot of 20mm modern-ish stuff and a massive re-basing operation is currently underway… but that’s a whole different story…
Then I got to thinking and
realized I DO have a fair number of 28mm
Vietnam War toys (most of the PAVN have been painted since that was
posted)… and most of the Vietnam War was straight up infantry engagements… and
I did happen to also pick up Ambush
Valley (er… and Cold
War Gone Hot… and… um… Bush
Wars - what can I say I’m a bit of a completist...). But none of the
scenarios in there looked like they were what I was looking for either… Then I
remembered this Skirmish
Campaigns book I had on the “Screaming Eagles at Hamburger Hill” and
decided the scenarios in there might be a good place to start as I seemed to
recall they were straight up infantry battles – US Army vs. PAVN.
The first scenario, “A Walk in
the Sun”, I previously
played using Savage Worlds four years ago this week…!?
I’d kind of figured one person
might show up to play it with me (as usually happens when I have a wargame
night)but in the end THREE showed up – Christian, Rick and Gary (who I played
this same scenario with four years ago!)
A Walk in the Sun
600 metres east of the peak of
Dong Ap Bia, 10 May 1969, 16:30
SITUATION
The lead elements of B Company,
3/187 Airborne has been tasked with securing the peak of Dong Ap Bia for the
new battalion CP. 2nd Platoon is leading the way. They are not expecting
any enemy forces in the area.
SCENARIO
US forces must control both
cross roads by the end of the game – ie. Have friendly troops adjacent with no
active enemy troops within 10” OR control one cross road and exit 3 troops off
the east board edge.
North Vietnamese forces must
prevent the US forces from completing their objectives.
This is what we went with for
victory conditions. If I were to do it again I’d use something more in line
with Force or Force victory conditions – points to the US for holding those and
exiting guys off the table – plus points for killing capturing PAVN and the
PAVN would get points for denying objectives and killing or capturing
Americans….
The entire table was to be
covered with triple canopy jungle so I called it all Dense Forest (which gives
everyone solid cover +1 Defence die and should have reduced visibility to half
optimum range – but I said it reduced it to optimum range – and reduced
movement to only being able to use Tactical Movement).
I wasn’t sure whether to just
give the US the initiative for the whole game or just the first turn and then
dice for it after. To limit the new mechanics I’d have to remember I went with
giving the US the initiative for the whole game which I think worked out just
fine.
FORCES
US Forces
2nd squad, 2nd
Platoon, B Company, 3/187 Airborne, 101st Airborne Division
Confidence Level: Confident
Supply Level: Abundant
Troop Quality/Morale: D10/D8
Squad Leaders Team
1x Squad Leader with M-16 and
M1911
1x Rifleman with radio with M-16
1x Medic with M1911
Point Team
2x riflemen with M-16s
Fireteam #1
1x Assistant squad leader with
M-16
1x Rifleman with M-16
1x Grenadier with M-79 and M1911
Fireteams #2
1x Assistant squad leader with
M-16
1x Rifleman with M-16
1x Grenadier with M-79 and M1911
North Vietnamese Forces
Trail watchers from the 29th
PAVN Regiment
Confidence Level: Confident
Supply Level: Normal
Troop Quality/Morale: D8/D10
Fireteam
1x Team leader with AK-47
3x Riflemen with AK-47
Sniper with SKS
RPG teams #1
1x Grenadier with RPG
1x Loader with SKS
RPG teams #2
1x Grenadier with RPG
1x Loader with SKS
THE GAME
(Remember: click on the pictures
for a bigger version)
It was decided that that
Christian and Gary would play the Americans and Rick would play the Vietnamese.
I had boonie hats for the
Americans and rick got to wear the PAVN sun helmet… But then Christian spotted
my new(-ish) Pickelhaube and decided it had to be worn. During the game he
decided to start calling it the “Lucky Pickelhaube” and determined he would
wear it always when we played games…. Gary did wear his boonie hat, but I
didn’t manage to get a picture of him even remotely in focus…
We rolled for the variable
attachments and the Americans got an M60 MG team and the Vietnamese got a
two-man bunker.
I used the sandbags to mark the
location of the bunker – though in actuality it would be a much smaller
well-camouflaged two-man log bunker (I classified is as Fortified Cover +3
Defence Dice). All the other PAVN started hidden in spider-holes which (Which I
classified as Improved Cover +2 Defence Dice). I wasn’t sure if this “stacked”
with the cover from the woods… I guessed no, and didn’t’ allow it…
TURN ONE
The point team moves up the
trail and the Americans enter on the trail. The point team was blissfully
anware of the PAVN lurking so nearby in the woods. In the Skirmish Campaigns
scenario is stated that the PAVN in the spider-holes could not be spotted until
the fired or US troops were within 1 inch?! I just said they were “hidden” and
said their position was camouflages (-1)
- I said the sniper was also “Elusive” (for a further -1).
Oh this looks like it’s going to
be bad…
TURN TWO
One thing I’m not entirely clear
on is exactly HOW MANY actions an initiative team can do in one turn, and which
can be combined? It says you can move, or fire, or move then fire, or fire then
move… and then there’s a whole bunch of others listed – one of which is attempt
to spot hidden units… another is spot hidden units and fire at them… but it
doesn’t say Move, then attempt to spot hidden units and fire at them if
spotted…? OR Attempt to spot hidden units and fire at them if spotted and if
not them move?! Looking under “Spotting Hidden Units” I found making a rapid
move modified spotting attempts so presumably the CAN move and spot.
Another question that came up
was HOW MANY hidden units can a single unit attempt to spot in a turn? I can’t
imagine a unit ever being in a position where there’d be THAT MANY with int
their Optimum Distance that they could… but I let them spot any that were
within LOS/Optimum Distance.
I’m sure a lot of the questions
that came up are there in the rules… it’s been a week since I read them and I
didn’t’ get a chance to re-read them before the game so there was a lot of time
spent looking things up… reading… re-reading… I’ll have another read through
them before the next game and hopefully everything will become much more clear…
Anyway, in turn two the
Americans all moved up and attempted to spot the PAVN lurking nearby and all
failed to do so! Not having to react to any shooting, Rick opened up on the
Americans in the End Phase.
First of all the PAVN lit up the
Fireteam #1 taking out the two riflemen. The remaining Grenadier failed morale
and was pinned. Ruturning fire, however, he found a flechette round in his
pouches and blasted away at the PAVN fire team , knocking them both out!?
Next, RPG team #2 fired on the
Point Team… and totally missed!? The Point team returned fire taking out the
loader! The PAVN fire team tehn lit up the Point Team, taking them both out.
TURN THREE
The US medic rushed forward to
Fire Team #1 and got the two riflemen back on their feet with light wounds.
The PAVN RPG Gunner in the
Bunker checked on his loader and discovered him to be seriously injured and
spent the rest of the turn trying to staunch his wounds.
Fire Team #1 and the M60 MG Team
rushed off to the left overrunning the RPG #1 Teams’ position.
Fire Team #2 and the Squad
Leader and his Radio Operator Flanked off the right.
TURN FOUR
As the US medic was in RPG Team
#1’s position, he checked on them and found one to be lightly wounded and the
other to be okay. They were taken prisoner. That’s one thing I LOVE about this
game: Prisoners… people surrender, you have to take prisoners… It happens in
real life, why does it happen in so few wargames…?
After taking their prisoners,
the rest of Fire Team #1 lit up the Log Bunker and took out the RPG gunner.
After that the M60 MG Team flanked around the side of the bunker – wanting to
stay well out of view of the PAVN Fire Team across the trail on the other side
of the bunker.
Fire Team #2 and the Squad
Leader continued to maneuver on the other flank.
TURN FIVE
The PAVN Fire Team successfully
hid.
Part of Fire Team #1 (Assistant
Squad Leader, the Grenadier, and the Medic) split from the rest of the Fire
Team (the Riflemen) and left him in charge of the two prisoners. They rushed
the bunker hoping to check on and hopefully capture the PAVN casualties within.
They were joined by the M60 MG Team.
Over on the other flank, Fire
Team #2 moved up and attempted to spot the hidden PAVN Fire Team. Rick decided
to interrupt, but failed to do so, so the US Fire team lit them up…
Wow… Those airborne dudes don’t
mess around! That took out the whole PAVN Fire Team!?
It was at THIS point that
Christian said he would wear the “Lucky Pickelhaube” for evey game he ever
played at my place…
Shot up PAVN Fire Team.
This left only the PAVN Sniper
and with three to five more turns to flush him out we called it there saying
the sniper bugged out.
Checking on the rest of the
casualties The medic found the RPG gunner to be lightly wounded. The PAVN
Fireteam was pretty messed up; two seriously injured and two lightly injured.
The Point Team was in a bad way as well; one was seriously wounded and the
other lightly wounded.
Amazingly there were no KIAs.
I like the game.
I’d definitely like to try a
game with some LOS greater than 8-10”
One question that came up was
what if the Americans (with an LOS of 10”) marched up to within 10” – but
beyond the 8” of the PAVN’s LOS – successfully spotted the PAVN, and shot at
them, would the PAVN be able to shoot back…? Technically they US guys would be
beyond their LOS in the woods…? But that doesn’t seem quite right… I guess
perhaps to avoid this I could have made the US teams Unit Quality D8 as well.
But I had wanted to try a Higher Unit Quality force against a Higher Morale
force, so…
Not sure if I’m going to carry
on with the next scenario in the Screaming Eagles book or just do something
entirely different. I think I’ll just play another infantry engagement with regulars
versus regulars before adding vehicles or irregulars.
Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:
I’ve got a schwack of other
Moderns on the workbench and after this game I’m feeling pretty pumped to get
at them.
Hopefully next week we’ll get
some more Force on Force gaming in!
This weekend I’m running a Savage Worlds Weird
War Two game at ToonCon
2012. I’ll probably post the AAR of that action over at Savage Timmy’s
Playhouse.
Posts
I've always liked Ambush Alley and also have FoF, which is not quite so solo-friendly IMHO, but a great game nonetheless ;)
ReplyDeleteLook forward to more of your AARs Tim ;)
Regards,
Monty
Thanks Monty! I'm looking forward to playing more games!
DeleteThis was fun, and the rules as we played them seemed to make sense. Regarding the measurement quandry, I would suggest that the team being fired on by an 'unseen' enemy be allowed to fire back, but at a penalty due to not being able to actually see the source of the incoming fire, or with a quality test, move forward to a point where they can establish LOS and fire back. Or, after surviving the fire, retreat. Although it seems that the best way to handle this as the non-initiative player would be to suck up the fire, then move and fire in the non-initiative phase.
ReplyDeleteI love the pickelhaube, but I know it will betray me eventually.
Glad you made it out! I'm hoping a re-read of the rules now that I've actually played it will clear things up...
DeleteGreat AAR- love the hats too. Are you planning to play through the whole campaign?
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Pete.
Thanks!
DeleteOriginally I thought I might play through the campaign... but the Dense Forest turned to a bit trickier than I'd imagined in terms of figuring out LOS, etc. So I may try something else for the next couple games and later return to the campaign.
I'd started playing through it a few years back using Savage Worlds but abandoned it after the third game. I can't remember if it was being dissatisfied with how it worked with Savage Worlds or if, as happens all too often, no one can make it for a few weeks and I lose momentum and move on to other things...?
My biggest stumbling block with the games is how to represent the very varied elevations in some of the scenarios... I'm leaning towards ignoring it for the scenarios set in dense woodland but not so sure about the others... Sadly I know completely what you mean about losing momentum, very rarely does a campaign get finished round here.
DeleteCheers,
Pete.
Hey guys - nice report!
ReplyDeletemy first solution on the jungle LOS-problem would be to use the Night-Fighting rules as the problem is very similar - you´re trying to shoot at an enemy you can´t make out clearly. Night fighting rules state that units that are being shot at might fire back even if the enemy is beyond effective LOS (Optimum Range) - they do so with half their normal firepower.
Alternately, you could just try to use your reaction to get closer to the US-Troops in order to fire back.
Furthermore, for the next session I´d suggest using more OPFOR for the Americans, especially if they are rated 1 TQ higher than their foes. But of course I can see how that poses a problem with your restricted figure pool ;)
Thanks BG!
DeleteThat's kind of what we had figured allow anyone being fired at to fire back - I knew there was some sort of allowance for shooting back at someone you couldn't see in the dark (shooting at muzzle flashes, etc.) but couldn't quickly find it and forgot that it was at half normal fire power. We'd also thought of using reaction to bug out or move up... Luckily Christian and Gary didn't bother with resorting to that sort of gamey play, so it didn't really come up.
I probably should have had both at D8 - the US troops had recently been beat up in combat the previous week and probably wouldn't have been up to form. The scenarios in the book, however, have the US soldiers being much, MUCH better quality troops - so I decided to go with them being D10 just to see how much of a different one level of TQ would do. I'm guessing it's a fairly significant difference. I'm not sure this game really showed that - the devastating effects of the US fire was more due to Christian's insanely lucky dice rolling (I wonder if that pickelhaube was forged from melted down horseshoes?!) and when Rick rolls nothing but a handful of ones and twos things are going south no matter what dice your opponent is rolling!
More OPFOR in 28mm Vietnamese won't be a problem... I have quite a few.
Thanks again for your suggestions!
Another way to "degrade" the US Troops while keeping their TQ at 10 would be to reduce them to "Low Confidence" - which forces them to make a Morale Check every time they come under fire (even if suffering no casualties). This greatly increases their chances of becoming pinned. However, I can see how you wouldn´t want to do this in the first games - I still remember how hard it was to not forget some crucial step in my initial games :D
DeleteIf enough Vietnamese are available, I´d suggest fielding them in the next scenario. Using approx. twice the numbers for 1 level of TQ difference works quite well for me, if the victory conditions do not heavily favour the low-TQ-force. And don´t forget to use the Reinforcement-rules. This adds some nice uncertainty to the scenarios and can simulate hordes of enemies emerging from the jungle quite well.
And believe me, even without exceptionally lucky rolls (you should consider to lock that Pickelhaube away from Christian ;) ) the TQ difference causes the inferior forces to get hit a lot more. Just look at the last Die-Roll: there´s no way D8-troops could counter those 9s and 10s. The fact that they rolled nothing but 1s and 2s is thus meaningless and nothing put pure mockery from fortuna!
Hey,
ReplyDeleteGreat AAR! I'm one of the oddballs fascinated with the Vietnam period, I'm Blessed to know quite a few of the vets from that war. I've enjoyed Ambush Valley quite a bit. You should try the Dong Nai River scenario...I've played it twice, and ran it once at a local convention, it was quite a nail biter in the end, but everyone enjoyed it.
Just my 2cents worth.
Thanks!
Brian
Thanks Brian! I did at the Dong Nai scenario and thought it looked like a good one - it had what I wanted (a simple straightforward infantry fire fight) and certainly looked challenging, but I've been planning to batch build a bunch of bunkers (how's that for alliteration!?) and thought I'd wait until then. Maybe I should get on that this weekend!
DeleteI used crayola air dry clay for the heavy bunkers (covered with a tooth pick roof and lichen/foliage)...for the "improved positions", I just used some pre-painted defensive positions (made up of logs, dirt/debris).
ReplyDeleteI'm totally with you on the batch building bunkers, I did that as well!
It is a fairly straight forward scenario...that is until FOG rears its ugly head, the first game we got a monsoon...pretty much killed the NVA visibility from the bunkers!
Brian
My firend Bob had suggested Crayola Air Dry Clay recently for a similar project, I'll definitely have to check it out! I have a whole bunch of DAS to use up at the moment though...
DeleteI try to batch build everything when it comes to terrain. Easier to get a lot done in a reasonable amount of time.
That's something that didnt' really come up in this game - Fog of War (Which looks like it could be real game changers!) - I think it was because there were few reactions. At first Rick chose to not react as the US troops didn't spot him, and then later he didn't have a chance to react at the US troops obliterated his guys!?
Very interesting report Tim. I'm addicted to them as well, and always appreciate the good ones.
ReplyDeleteGood report Tim. A wargames room should always be stocked with hats. Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteCheers, Mike