15mm Troops by Eureka for French IndoChina

[bigjackmac]

All,

Yes, I'm embarking on another long-term campaign project.  I'm going to follow a fictional platoon of the French Foreign Legion in action against the Vietminh in northern French Indochina, generally west/northwest of Hanoi.  I'll be trying out "Troop, Weapons, and Tactics" for rules (but actually closer to platoon-level "I Ain't Been Shot Mum" as I'm not clear on the 'Tactical Initiative' concept and really don't understand the point, which is not a shot at the authors, merely a paen to my own thickness), and playing solo using Joe Legan's "Platoon Forward" system which, after years of using pieces of it, I'm finally committing to going for it full bore with Platoon Forward as written.

This is a Legion platoon, of course, because... why not!?  They'll have a native born French (as in, born in the actual country France) platoon commander, and everyone else will be foreigners, but rather than a bunch of European castaways I'm throwing in a bunch of, essentially, Colonial troops, because I want to   I'm also basically using American ranks, because I don't feel like worrying about stuff like Caporal and Ajutant, and I added a platoon Guide because I'm worried about not having enough Big Men once the shooting starts and the platoon begins taking casualties.  I'm also setting up both the French and the Vietminh with 10-man squads with a squad leader, a rifle group of six men, and a gun group of three men, because it's easier for me.

In any case, you're not here for all that nonsense, you're here to see all the beautiful troops from Eureka Minis, so let's get to it!


So here's the whole mess.  Oh, yeah, there's more than just the troops (everyone is at left), there's also some rice paddies from Battlefront and some markers for Platoon Forward I made.


Some Frenchmen advancing, M-1 Carbines at the ready.


A couple officer-types, with MAT-49s.


A pair of Vietminh riflemen.


And a bazooka team.


If you read my 'Two Brothers' batreps you've seen these rice paddies, but I decided to put some grass on them to spruce them up a bit.


And for you guys that use Platoon Forward, I took some poker chips and made some markers.

To see a bunch more pics of all this stuff, please check the blog at:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2022/03/15mm-troops-by-eureka-for-french.html


And then, for Christmas I went and got myself a bunch of jungle terrain off of Ebay.


Here's a shot with some 15mm troops to show you the size/scale.

To see more pics, please visit the blog at:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2022/03/new-jungle-terrain.html

Well, everything is set, so here's to hoping I can carve out some time and actually play a game sometime soon.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Very nice! 

[fred.]

Cool project Jack. And great looking stuff. 

What I really like is your enthusiasm for a project - not least if you are doing it solo. I also like the shear number of projects you have. Makes me feel that the number I have is sensible and practical- well at least no more than someone else has...

[pierre the shy]

Nice, those jungle terrian pieces really look the part with some figures included.

The FFL platoon will be in for some tough fights if they're out west......

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Yet more good  stuff

[henjed]

Jack, this is brilliant to see.  I have been playing IABSM using the Indochina Ain't Half Hot Mum tweaks in 10mm Pendraken for a few years (using tokens rather than cards): my French have come off worse more than times than often.  Just lately (last year) I decided to play the same period in in CoC and almost opted for 15mm Eureka (I wanted larger figures to work out easily who was carrying which weapons  ) but went instead for 20mm.  Only got one game under my belt so far (French defeat  ).

I found some very complex company and platoon TOEs online for the CEFEO forces; much less seems available for the VM.  Great period - I'm also a bit of a Dien Bien Phu book addict - some of my IABSM scenarios have been based in the  December>February 1953/4 period in the peripheries of the valley as the French attempted to push out against the gathering VM forces.  I'm basing my CoC campaign (when I start it) in the south - less jungle, more marsh and paddy fields.

[bigjackmac]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it!

Fred - Yes, the sheer number of projects has simply gotten stupid, and is causing a sort of gaming 'paralysis by analysis' that's keeping me from actually playing...

Pierre - My plan is to keep the French up north and probably further west, the goal being to have relatively even fights with well-supplied Vietminh and French at the end of their logistical reach.

Henjed - Yes, I love this in 10mm, as well.  As a matter of fact, to demonstrate my (hopefully limited to gamin) stupidity, I had nice, large French and Vietnminh forces from Pendraken, sold them, but more from Pendraken (still sitting on the painting table), then bought and painted these.  I love the idea of doing company-sized/battalion-sized fights with IABSM in IndoChina, it just seems to fit, and I love your idea about the Dien Bien Phu preliminaries/peripheries.  I'm very interested in Dien Bien Phu as well, but it always seems hard for me to game as the French are static and the Vietminh are (generally) making slow progress, with incredible amounts of ordnance being expended (French air, Viet arty) that doesn't cause a lot of casualties at a time, but is incredibly telling over time.  It's tough.  I'd love to see your IndoChina adventures, if you've got a blog to share.

V/R,
Jack

[henjed]

Hi, Jack - no blog, I'm afraid - outside my meagre digital prowess.  I'll see if I can rummage up some photos I might have taken of past games.

Yes, the French became static v early on, but there were some fun sorties - I played a scaled-down sortie of a company accompanied by a couple of Chaffees trying to take out an AA position at the periphery of the valley (notionally set in Feb 1954) - it didn't end well for the French.  VM reinforcements arrived before the slowed French advance could fulfil their mission. Casualties were high.

While I've played about 6 or 7 IABSM 10 mm games, I've only played two CoC - and the first was in 10mm when I realised I really needed bigger sized figures!  My great opponent is my third son who will be back from University in a few weeks - we can fit in a couple of games at least before he goes back again.

I wish we had more first-person accounts of DBP (or the Indochina War more generally) available in English.  There's an "unofficial" translation of Pierre Langlais's book available online but it's not the best translation and it's spurred me on to seeing if I can do my own - a project for the summer months.

[bigjackmac]

Henjed,

No problem, I'm just always eager to see and support my fellow wargamers, and it's provided so much inspiration to me over the years.

That's a great concept, sortieing out to perform spoiling attacks or raids on specific objectives, and serves to keep it from becoming too stale.  The only way I can see the various sieges at DBP being fun is at the very small skirmish level, when the Vietminh finally reach the French trenches and the vicious, see-saw battles to eject them at the micro level.  We all know the French are going to lose, but at the micro/skirmish level I think there's plenty of room for local, squad- to platoon-sized counterattacks, with vicious fighting at incredibly short range.

I agree, it's really handy to play Chain of Command with larger sized figures so the weapons and leaders are immediately recognizable.  I played with 10mm for awhile but had to resort to some really ugly marking, painting bright colors on the bases, so I could easily determine what is what.

That's a heck of a project; Langlais' memoirs must be pretty interesting, I'd imagine.

V/R,
Jack