Fights from the Movie "Platoon"

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

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bigjackmac

All,

I've wanted to do this for a very long time; the problem is, it's Vietnam gaming, but I don't want to stop all my other projects and start a new one, so the simple answer was to combine them.  I'm going to play out this project, but put it into the timeline of another, so that I can play what I want AND keep the campaign moving along.  So, what am I doing?  You've seen the movie "Platoon," right?  You know, 'the only man that can kill Bahnes, is Bahnes!" that one.  Yeah, I love it, and so this is my wargaming tribute to that amazing movie.  I have created a roster of the entire platoon, from Lt Wolfe and SSgt Barnes and Sgt Elias, all the way down to the FNGs, Bob Gardner and Chris Taylor, and I'm going to play out a series of fights in 15mm using them.  The problem with the movie is that it only has three real fights in it: the initial night ambush (where Gardner is killed and Tex and Chris wounded), the bunker complex (where the platoon gets its ass ripped), and the final battle where the firebase is overrun.  That worked great for the movie, but that's not enough for a wargaming campaign!  So I'm going to play the 'real' fights from the movie, and I'm going to add in some 'fictitious' fights that are (hopefully) plausible for the Vietnam-era.  So I'm going to start at the start, right there with the night ambush, where SSgt Barnes grabs Doc Sanchez and pieces of Sgt Elias' and Sgt O'Neill's squads, and leads them out.  In order to make it more 'wargame interesting,' I'm going to plus up the number of NVA, and having them arriving from more than one direction.  I hope you enjoy it!


Overview of area, left is north.  In the overall scheme of things, i.e., in terms of the front lines, the good guys are in the west and the bad guys are in the east, but in this fight the platoon will be in the south and the bad guys will enter from the north.  Hill 47 is at bottom right, there's a road running north to south with a branch to the west (bottom), and if you look closely, there's a hard-packed trail leading east through the jungle (top center).  There's also a small village at bottom left; the village is actually what brings us here, tonight.  A friendly patrol this morning swept through the village and found plenty of signs of enemy activity, including a weapons cache, so command thought this would be  good spot for an ambush.

The ambush site is at the base of the crossroads (center right), with a team watching their backtrail at top right.  They departed friendly lines just after dark (about 2030, local time) and got into position on Hill 47 (bottom right), but it didn't take Barnes and Elias long to figure out they couldn't see anything from there on this dark and moonless night, so they repositioned down to the crossroads.  They got set in, ran comm checks, made sure their gear was arranged just the way they wanted it, then went to 50% (every other man sleeping).  It's about 0130 and the first inkling of trouble has dawned on the men (the bad guys are at far left, on the road); no one has actually seen anything yet, but the veterans amongst them can sense it coming.


The ambush position, from top left: Rodriguez, Westfall, and Sgt O'Neill hold down the left flank.  It should have been Sgt Elias, as those are men from his squad, but Barnes wanted him watching their backs (bottom right).  Next are Doc and Barnes, then the MG position covering down the road, with Gardner, Junior, Tex, Taylor, and Sanderson.  At bottom right, watching the back trail, are Manny, Elias, Parker, and Fu Sheng.


Taylor is about to piss his pants, the Commies are almost on top of them! Taylor wakes up Sandy, looks over to see if the MG team of Tex and Junior are awake: they're not.  It was Junior's watch!


Taylor initiates the ambush with his rifle (sorry, no Claymores, wanted this to be a fight).  How 'bout them roads?  Pretty spiffy, eh?  They're new, from "Fat Frank," and they're great.  Reasonably priced, and got here (to the US, from the UK) in less than two weeks, too!


Barnes is large and in charge, kicking Taylor and Sandy in the ass to get them back in the fight.


Enemy troops try to flank through the ville.

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
https://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2019/09/operation-chunky-bandit-25-ground.html

The ambush patrol policed up their gear, formed up, and returned to their lines, in high spirits, having met a numerically superior enemy and bested him.  As it turned out, they'd be sitting tight for a few more days, waiting for the next fight, but when it came it was the entire platoon making an advance to contact.

V/R,
Jack

petercooman


Duke Speedy of Leighton

You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

bigjackmac


Terry37

"My heart has joined the thousand for a friend stopped running today." Mr. Richard Adams

Techno


mmcv

Excellent stuff, loving the rockets in action.

Lord Kermit of Birkenhead

FOG IN CHANNEL - EUROPE CUT OFF
Lord Kermit of Birkenhead
Muppet of the year 2019, 2020 and 2021

bigjackmac


bigjackmac

All,

This is the second in my series of Vietnam-era, platoon-level fights based on the characters in the movie "Platoon."  In the first fight I played out my interpretation of the initial fight scene in the movie, where SSgt Barnes and Sgt Elias led a patrol out on night ambush.  In the movie, the FNG Gardner was killed, Tex was wounded bad enough to be MEDEVAC'ed, and Taylor was lightly wounded, ending up on light duty for  a bit.  In my game, the 'Platoon' got off easy, whacking five bad guys and taking no casualties, with Rodgriguez performing a bit of close combat heroics.  Not enough to get him decorated, mind you, but enough to see him promoted from Private to PFC.  So here we are, a few days later, and the 'Platoon' is on a sweep and clear mission, a general advance to contact-type scenario, looking to find the enemy and whoop up on him.

The 'Platoon' has been walking now for a few hours, not a shot fired on this lovely, sunny morning.  But that's all about to change; coming to an open area, SSgt Barnes, the Platoon Sergeant, called a halt to confer with the squad leaders.  Lt Wolfe tried to interject, but mostly Barnes just ignored him and continued issuing orders to Sergeants Elias, Warren, and O'Neill.


Overview, north is left.  At top, in the east, is a ridgeline on Hill 196, with a road running through a saddle.  At bottom left is a small hill, Hill 57, with a small village atop it, while there is another village spread thinly across the east side of the river, which is bridged near a crossroads in the center.  For our purposes, we'll refer to them as 'north village' and 'south village.'  At far right is a small footbridge, and a couple sampans/fishing boats tied up.  Despite the presence of the two bridges, the river is fordable by men on foot throughout its length.  Other than that, there's some traces of jungle to hide bad guys in, and rice paddies dot the landscape.

Here's the set up: Lt Wolfe and the command element are in a stand of trees just left of the road (bottom center left).  Sgt O'Neill's 3rd Squad is atop Hill 57 at bottom left.  Sgt Warren's 2nd Squad is in the tree-line at bottom center, and Sgt Elias' 1st Squad is in the tree-line at bottom right.  The plan is for O'Neill's squad to serve as a base of fire (supporting position atop Hill 57, though it's not perfect as it's got plenty of sight-blocking terrain between it and potential enemy positions, but it's the best they could do to start) while Elias and his men break cover, with Warren's squad in reserve.  Assuming the situation doesn't immediately go sideways, Elias's squad will make it up to the river and call a halt, at which time Warren's squad will move up to the river as well.  Once that is completed, Elias and his men will push across the foot bridge (top center right).  Once a foothold is established they will halt and O'Neill's squad will come up on the left, then Warren's squad will push across the main bridge.  If that all works out, Elias and O'Neill's squads will fall in behind Warren's and the Platoon will continue moving east (top).


Elias' squad moves up towards the foot bridge, the south spur of Hill 196 looming at top right.


Speaking of the south spur (top right), bad guys have shown up there in force, so O'Neill orders Tex and Junior to get their M-60 (bottom left) into action.  Tracers string out, searching for bad guys, in support of Elias and King's stalled advance (far right).


Lt Wolfe finally finds his map, figures out the coordinates, and calls in a Fire Mission.  "Give me one on adjust."
"Roger, one on adjust.  Stand by... Shot."
"Shot out."


Barnes screams at Morehouse and Francis to get the Pig into the fight, as Doc works on...  Nope, you gotta read the batrep to see who got hit. 

You can find it here:
https://cubalibrewargame.blogspot.com/2019/09/operation-chunky-bandit-26-ground.html

The next fight will be another non-movie fight, but somewhat based on the movie.  Here's what I'm thinking: a couple days later the platoon is continuing its general advance.  Like the movie, they find the tunnel complex; they call for reinforcements to deal with the tunnels, leaving Elias and his squad there to hold down the area until the reinforcements arrive.  Meanwhile, Barnes and Lt Wolfe set out with the other two squads towards the village, but there they get contact and fight it out.  Hmmm...  Since I'm only running two squads, maybe I'll run with NEIS again.

Anyway, stay tuned!

V/R,
Jack

Techno

Great report and piccies, Jack ! :)

Cheers - Phil

Duke Speedy of Leighton

You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

bigjackmac

Wow, these are not proving particularly popular now, are they?
All I'm getting out of Lemmey is "Ohh" and "Eek."  I'm not even sure what that means.

Sorry guys, but I'm too deep to quit now, gotta see this through.  If it makes you feel better, I've played two games of Bitzkrieg Commander," I'm working on the batreps.

V/R,
Jack

petercooman

HAd seen this earlier, but put in standby untill the kids got in bed   :D

Nice fight, and lots of action! but that's your fault, you kept rolling more blinds  ;D ;D ;D

Will have to look into those rules, they seem interesting  :-


mmcv

Great action and your tables are always a joy to behold.

Interesting comment on solo play, it's something I always try and bear in mind when playing solo, and something that's easy to forget when you've a "gods-eye-view" of the battlefield, something historical commanders don't generally have the luxury of.

As to Lemmy...they don't call him "mad" for nothing...