Fights from the Movie "Platoon"

Started by bigjackmac, 02 September 2019, 03:38:08 PM

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bigjackmac

Thanks guys, and sorry, didn't mean to seem like I'm moaning, was just making a statement that these batreps don't seem very popular.  Not sure if it's me, 15mm figures, the movie concept, the Vietnam setting, or the rules, just clearly not popular.  And that's okay, just struck me as odd as I figured the movie Platoon was well known and well liked.

Peter - Yeah man, I think I had the volume turned up to 12 with those blinds, felt like a human wave attack!  The rules are pretty cool, definitely some different mechanisms, which seems to be young Ivan's specialty.

mmcv - Thanks for the reminder on Lemmey ;)
Yeah, that's part of the attraction of solo gaming for me, I can do things to infuse character into the game that you would never do against an opponent (if you were trying to win).  I'm glad you liked the fight, and I'm finally pretty proud of how my table and troops look.  As a reminder, this is from one of the first batreps I posted here, back in 2013:


Wow, look at that!  Gray spray painted walls, khaki spray painted houses, brown spray painted craters and telephone poles, grids drawn on the mat, carpet for hills...  Now, don't misunderstand: if your setup looks like that, and you're having a blast, more power to you, please post some batreps, I'd love to see them.  I was having a great time, but I knew I wanted to get my stuff looking better.  I'm finally to the point where I'm proud of my table.

Anyway, thanks for looking guys, and thanks everyone for the support.

V/R,
Jack

paulr

I'm definitely liking the newer look of your tables Jack :-bd =D> :-bd

But as you say, if you're having fun all power to you :) m/
Lord Lensman of Wellington
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pierre the shy

Nothing wrong with the way your table looks or your batreps Jack.....

There have been some epic Vietnam movies....Apocolypse Now, Platoon, The Green Berets to name a few.

Speaking for myself I have never found a desire to game the ground combat portion of the Vietnam conflict, not sure why exactly......a bit too assymetric numbers wise?,growing up there here in the late 60's and early 70's there was quite a lot of opposition to NZ participation, maybe that influenced me?

On the other hand I have wanted to game the air war side of things for years......now I have some 1/600 stuff to be able to do that, though like you I will be doing it solo since no-one else in our group holds much interest in aerial gaming and I'm still trying to catch up with Peter C to borrow his copy of Downtown....maybe I just watch too many episodes of Dogfights on Youtube or the history channel  ;)
   
Anyway keep 'em coming Jack  ;)


       
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
we are not now that strength which in old days
moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are.

bigjackmac

Paul - Indeed!

Pierre - Thanks!  An interesting perspective on Vietnam ground operations; we are all victims of our experiences ;)
So hurry up with the aerial fights, I'm really looking forward to seeing them!

V/R,
Jack

Matt J

Great stuff Jack!

Also big fan of Platoon but add to that Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, We Were Soldiers etc etc

Would love to do Hue and throw some armour about (getting there but distracted by the Aussie contingent at the moment - love those cents  :D)

'Nam, horrific for the grunts but one helluva soundtrack
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petercooman

Quote from: bigjackmac on 10 September 2019, 03:34:10 AM
Thanks guys, and sorry, didn't mean to seem like I'm moaning, was just making a statement that these batreps don't seem very popular.  Not sure if it's me, 15mm figures, the movie concept, the Vietnam setting, or the rules, just clearly not popular.  And that's okay, just struck me as odd as I figured the movie Platoon was well known and well liked.



In all honesty, i have seen the movie, but the only name i am familiar with is Elias  ;D

It was one of those movies i have seen once, and that's it. Can't even remember the battles.

Quote from: bigjackmac on 10 September 2019, 03:34:10 AM

Peter - Yeah man, I think I had the volume turned up to 12 with those blinds, felt like a human wave attack!  The rules are pretty cool, definitely some different mechanisms, which seems to be young Ivan's specialty.


Must admit, i have only played five men in normandy (and took the rules out after reading this report actually)

Should give them another spin really, but lately i have been playing gw and mantic games. Just love the walking dead skirmish game, and have rekindled my love for fantasy with warhammer 7th edition warbands. Got a suplement for bolt action skirmish as well, so have to try that out too! so many games, so littte time!!!

Quote from: bigjackmac on 10 September 2019, 03:34:10 AM

Yeah, that's part of the attraction of solo gaming for me, I can do things to infuse character into the game that you would never do against an opponent (if you were trying to win).  I'm glad you liked the fight, and I'm finally pretty proud of how my table and troops look.  As a reminder, this is from one of the first batreps I posted here, back in 2013:


Wow, look at that!  Gray spray painted walls, khaki spray painted houses, brown spray painted craters and telephone poles, grids drawn on the mat, carpet for hills...  Now, don't misunderstand: if your setup looks like that, and you're having a blast, more power to you, please post some batreps, I'd love to see them.  I was having a great time, but I knew I wanted to get my stuff looking better.  I'm finally to the point where I'm proud of my table.



Wasn't your first campaign the one with the 'big red one'?

I used to do batreps around that time as well, but just can't find the time these days!

petercooman

Quote from: bigjackmac on 10 September 2019, 01:23:29 PM

Pierre - Thanks!  An interesting perspective on Vietnam ground operations; we are all victims of our experiences ;)



Vietnam is one of those wars that really doesn't 'live' around here as much. I mean, we get history lessons in school about the two world wars , but always only a passing mention of the vietnam war. I find it interesting, but it's not part of 'our history' (not meant in an offensive way, really hard to explain what i mean), so there is less focus on it.

bigjackmac

Matt - Thanks man, I really appreciate that.  You named a list of great ones, and I'm really thinking hard on how to do Hue.  I'd like to do it in 10mm, but I think I've already got too much urban ruins/terrain in 15mm to try and start it over...  I don't know much about Australian involvement, other than Long Tan.  You're right about the soundtrack; just heard Fortunate Son and Gimme Shelter on the ride home from work ;)

Peter - One time?  You know, if you've only seen Platoon one time, you might be a Communist ;)  Regarding battles, there are only three: a fairly quick, conventional night ambush (US troops ambush NVA on a trail), a stereotypical last stand as their Firebase gets overrun, and they patrol into an ambush in an NVA bunker complex.  That's the one to watch (in my opinion), a great firefight, a screwed up fire mission, a failed enemy flanking maneuver, great scene.

I'm a fan of the 5 Men in Normandy concept, though I usually play 5 Men at Kursk for skirmish fights.  In these batreps I'm using No End in Sight.  I understand about too many projects and not enough time!

When I first started blogging I played a few three or four fight mini-campaigns, but they were just sort of preliminaries, playtesting.  The first full-on campaign I ever did was with 10mm Pendraken American Airborne vs Germans, which I called "All Americans."  It was a fictional battalion of the US 82nd Airborne Division, where I followed a platoon, having named every single man, through the assault on Sicily in July 1943.

And nothing offensive about your point of view, I understand perfectly.  It's like the Victorian Colonial era; I didn't really know anything about that until I got into wargaming and bought "The Sword and the Flame."  It's not really talked about in the US, and certainly not from a military standpoint.  The only quirk about it was that a few years ago I did a campaign called "In Country," also set in the Vietnam War, and it was pretty popular (unless I'm just remembering wrong).

V/R,
Jack


paulr

Quote from: pierre the shy on 10 September 2019, 10:24:10 AM
...
Speaking for myself I have never found a desire to game the ground combat portion of the Vietnam conflict, not sure why exactly......a bit too assymetric numbers wise?,growing up there here in the late 60's and early 70's there was quite a lot of opposition to NZ participation, maybe that influenced me?

On the other hand I have wanted to game the air war side of things for years......now I have some 1/600 stuff to be able to do that, though like you I will be doing it solo since no-one else in our group holds much interest in aerial gaming and I'm still trying to catch up with Peter C to borrow his copy of Downtown....maybe I just watch too many episodes of Dogfights on Youtube or the history channel  ;)
   
Anyway keep 'em coming Jack  ;)   

Certainly some complex political baggage surrounding that war in NZ
I've played a couple of games but challenging to make it work on the table; asymmetrical and lots of ambushes

I'd be happy to give the air war a try, challenge is the investment in another rule set

Keep'em coming Jack
Lord Lensman of Wellington
2018 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2022 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2023 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

petercooman

Quote from: bigjackmac on 10 September 2019, 10:57:29 PM

Peter - One time?  You know, if you've only seen Platoon one time, you might be a Communist ;)  Regarding battles, there are only three: a fairly quick, conventional night ambush (US troops ambush NVA on a trail), a stereotypical last stand as their Firebase gets overrun, and they patrol into an ambush in an NVA bunker complex.  That's the one to watch (in my opinion), a great firefight, a screwed up fire mission, a failed enemy flanking maneuver, great scene.



I own it on dvd though, does that count? ;D

In al honesty, my favourite movie about the vietnam war will be "we were soldiers" with Mel Gibson. have that one as well and have watched it about 5 times now. And every now and then i watch the 'ride of the valkyries" scene from apocalypse now on youtube  ;D ;D

Quote from: bigjackmac on 10 September 2019, 10:57:29 PM

I'm a fan of the 5 Men in Normandy concept, though I usually play 5 Men at Kursk for skirmish fights.  In these batreps I'm using No End in Sight.  I understand about too many projects and not enough time!

When I first started blogging I played a few three or four fight mini-campaigns, but they were just sort of preliminaries, playtesting.  The first full-on campaign I ever did was with 10mm Pendraken American Airborne vs Germans, which I called "All Americans."  It was a fictional battalion of the US 82nd Airborne Division, where I followed a platoon, having named every single man, through the assault on Sicily in July 1943.

And nothing offensive about your point of view, I understand perfectly.  It's like the Victorian Colonial era; I didn't really know anything about that until I got into wargaming and bought "The Sword and the Flame."  It's not really talked about in the US, and certainly not from a military standpoint.  The only quirk about it was that a few years ago I did a campaign called "In Country," also set in the Vietnam War, and it was pretty popular (unless I'm just remembering wrong).

V/R,
Jack




Ah yes, i remembered it being americans but got the 'unit' wrong  ;D

bigjackmac

Paul - Yeah, it's certainly different, but you know me, I'm staying away from everything and anything political, just want to play wargames.  I find I don't have any issues playing at squad or platoon level, pretty much the same scenario options as any other war.

Peter - I suppose it will have to! ;)  I was kind of let down by We Were Soldiers, actually.  Having read all about the fights at LZs X-Ray and Albany, there was a tremendous amount of maneuver/counter maneuver that went on (with the NVA largely getting the better of it, until overreaching and getting swatted back by massive US supporting fires); We Were Soldiers was very much a 'human side of things' type of movie, which I can certainly appreciate, but to me it shorted the action sequences, which was sort of boiled down to 'jump off the Hueys, run over there, do some shooting, run over there, do some shooting, call in air, movie over.'  Didn't really explain what was actually happening particularly well (in my humble opinion), and the battle did not end with the air strikes.  I'd say the worst was yet to come, actually.

Anyway, the Apocalypse Now air assault is a classic, and epic, scene, gotta love it.  I've never come up with a convincing way to game the ground combat with all those helicopters zooming around.

And yes Sir, All Americans.  I've recently been pondering getting back to them, too.

V/R,
Jack

petercooman

Well, since i mentioned it, i watched the air cav scene again this morning. And the bridge scene with the grenade launcher  :D

The thing i liked the most of we were soldiers, were the helicopter scenes. (Starting to see a theme here?).

I have the same interest in most wargames, computer games : transport and carriers.

Ww2: beach landings! Longest day was my favourite movie when i was a kid. Especially the landing craft.
'Nam: the helicopters
Naval games: the aircraft carriers
Sci fi games: transports and fliers.i have a boatload of epic 40k fliers.

There's just something fascinating about adapting transportation to fit military needs!


bigjackmac

Peter,

I am, indeed, noticing a pattern.  So cool, how about some more fights then?  You know your D-Day landing beach fight is one of my favorites!

V/R,
Jack

petercooman

12 September 2019, 04:59:46 PM #28 Last Edit: 12 September 2019, 05:04:35 PM by petercooman
I have contemplated getting 10 mm landing craft, but that plan always falls short when i realise my bases won't fit.

I really want to be able to put the troops in.I'm actually looking to get some landing craft for my bolt action marines at the next crisis show. Maybe i'll get some done  :-

Only thing i can't figure out is, what to use. Looking at pictures of marine landings show mostly amtracs. And at £26 per vehicle that gets costly very quick! there are pics of marines in landing craft at iwo, wich i prefer, means i can do them in mdf (much cheaper). Should be the lcvp wich sarissa makes.

bigjackmac

Peter,

Sorry for the delay, the end of the week always gets super busy for me (my boys have baseball games on Thursday and Saturday, practice on Friday). 

Hmmm, for some reason I thought I'd seen 10mm landing craft in one of your batreps, but you're absolutely right about having a tough time getting troops actually inside them.  It's just like houses in wargaming; they look to be the correct size on the table, and scale-wise to real life, they're dead on, but for some reason you just can't actually get (even singly based) troops in them, or if you do, to look right...

I did recently buy three of Pendraken's amtracs for my WWII US Marines, with the passenger blocks from the French Indochina range, and I think I'm going to be able to pull putting in and removing the passenger blocks for games.  I'm still trying to work out how to do tank riders for my 10mm Soviets (being able to have them put on/taken off during games, not permanently attaching them to the vehicles). 

Regarding Marine landings and amtracs, yeah, once you get out of the Solomons (really beginning with Tarawa in Nov '43) it's all amtracs in the assault waves, with landing craft usually coming in from the 4th or 5th wave on.  You don't really need landing craft as they didn't make it to the beach, they got hung up on the reef about 600 yards out and the Marines had to wade in to shore.  Regarding Iwo Jima, the assault waves went in in amtracs, but it was strangely quiet, the Japanese didn't open fire until the Marines moved inland.  I've been to Iwo Jima about a dozen times: amphibious landings hit the beach, then you've got to go up a steep, about 15-foot slope, then it flattens out for about 30 yards, then you've got to go up again, where it levels out again as you get to the center of the island, before dropping off in the same manner to the other side of the island, Suribachi just looking down on you from about 10 o'clock.  The steep slopes and soft, black sand meant the amtracs couldn't get off the beaches (until later, when engineers created routes off the beach), so the various waves of amtracs and landing craft just stacked up  (the Marines were walking up, but all the supplies and vehicles were stuck on the beaches), making incredibly lucrative targets for Japanese artillery once they did open up.

Here's a pic:

That's us, screwing around atop Suribachi, the invasion beaches at right, Motoyama (you can see a white building in the background, part of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force sea/air rescue station there now, the three WWII airfields are now one) at center.

V/R,
Jack