Vietnam Skirmish Campaign

[bigjackmac]

All,

Got the Vietnam figures painted up yesterday, let's get it on!  Because Ronan insisted, I started a campaign with these guys. 

Below is the first battle report, and I think what I'm going to do is post all subsequent batreps to this post (or is that a bad idea, making it easier to miss new batreps?).

It's September 25, 1967, the Brigade has been on the ground in the 'Nam for four whole days and has troops out on patrol.  Someone up high is looking at for them, so the squad is sent east along Highway 20 (made up) instead of west, where all the recent contact has been.  SSgt Bleier is able to muster a full complement of troops, and so all eleven men are on the move.

The squad has been in a Ranger file coming down Hwy 20, but up ahead it opens up for a bunch of rice paddies and the village of Ap Bac 14.  SSgt Bleier gives the hand signal and Sgt Greene begins fanning fireteam 1 out into skirmish line to the north of the Hwy, while Sgt Russell continues with fireteam 2 down Hwy 1.  SSgt Bleier is standing in the road, kind of scratching his head at the sight of all the locals didi mau-ing out of the area.  It doesn't take him but a second to realize this coincides with his making a tactical error, a rookie mistake, 'getting caught with both feet in the air."  SSgt Bleier's squad has hit a likely ambush site and has both of his fireteams on the move in the open...  He had just opened his mouth to holler when the first shots rang out...


Overview, north is up.  The US squad is at left (west), moving east on Hwy 20, near the intersection with Hwy 30  At top right (NE) is Hill 25, bottom right is the village of Ap Bac 14.  Fireteam 1 is north of Hwy 20 in skirmish line, while fireteam 2 has moved south off the road but is still in file.  SSgt Bleier is standing on the road.  Civvies are trying to leave the area via the west, north, and south board edges.  Enemy forces are present in north (on board edge, just west of Hwy 30), on Hill 25, and in the ville.  They are all unspotted.


Team 1 getting it's butt handed to it; red beads are serious wounds, yellow beads are light wounds, and dead guys are, well, dead guys...


Enemy mortar rounds start falling...


Doc White sprints back out into the paddy, grabs Sgt Greene, and drags him back to safety (second time he did so, previously he rescued Spec4 Harris), while PFC Swan drags himself over to Doc.  Stallworth, previously sitting at the embankment for Hwy 20, sprints across the highway out into the paddy, grabs PFC Blount, and drags him back to Doc.

To see the rest, please check the blog at:
http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2014/05/in-country-game-1-25-sept-1967.html

Both sides got bloodied, US took too many casualties.  A fun game, with more write-ups on the way.

V/R,
Jack

[Norm]

Nice looking game jack, giving a great narrative

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Very cool Jack!

[Techno]

 
Cheers - Phil

[bigjackmac]

All,

It's 29 Sept 1968, four days after the squad got its butt whooped IVO Ap Bac 14.  This morning the squad (minus) is on patrol to the northeast of Ap Bac; two days ago battalion sent a company-strength patrol into Ap Bac and found no trace of the enemy.  Today the squad is out looking to see where they may have gone...

All of 1st Fireteam is still out, except Pvt Greenwood, who is humping the M-60.  All of 2nd Fireteam is present.  The squad is following a trail southwest, when the point man signals 'freeze.'


Overview, north is up.  US squad is at top left on either side of the trail, VC are at bottom right, diddy-bopping down the trail like it's cool.


The squad, consisting of seven men.


The VC, with two two-man porter teams, an LMG, and a rifleman (just visible under the tree at top right).


The hasty ambush is set, and Greenwood wreaks havoc with his M-60.

For the rest of the fight, please visit the blog at:
http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2014/05/in-country-game-2-29-sept-1967.html

More to come.

V/R,
Jack

[Techno]

Great again, Jack.

Now....Probably a silly question....Maybe something I've missed in an earlier post of yours.....But.....
Do you set up the battle on the floor ?
A lot of the photos you take, seem to be almost directly above the action and I was wondering how you achieved this ?
You're incredibly tall ?....You stand on a chair ?....You hold the camera above your head and point down ?

Be interested to know.

Cheers - Phil.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Great report again fella!

[bigjackmac]

Phil,

1) The boards are on a couple of 'regular' fold up tables, and I stand on a chair to get the top-down overview of the board, but the rest are just me standing there.  Please keep in mind the board is only 3' x 2'.

2) Wouldn't these battle reports be more interesting with M-14s? 

Thanks Lemmey, I appreciate it.  Do you guys think this works (putting each subsequent batrep into the same thread), or should I start a new thread each time?

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Single reports - different periods or battles.
Campaign - keep them in a thread!  (Says a man who put all his campaign reports into different threads)!

[bigjackmac]

All,

It's 3 Oct 1967, four days later and we're in the "stuff" again...  First off, a few days ago a Sergeant named Banaszak was transferred in from the 199th Infantry to replace Sgt Greene, and everyone is back on full duty except Spec4 Harris, so the squad is out beating the bush with ten strong backs.

The battalion has continued to spend time looking west around Ap Bac14, but no contact has been made since the squad eviscerated that VC supply train.  The battalion has shifted north, and 2nd Platoon has squads patrolling north of the hamlet called Nam Pla 6, while the squad is patrolling south.  The squad actually had moved southeast about a klick past Nam Pla when 2nd Platoon past a sitrep stating they were in contact on the north shoulder of Nam Pla.  They hadn't hit anything in the nearby jungle, but as soon as they turned in towards the ville all hell broke loose, and Alpha-6 believes Nam Pla is the VC's base of operations.  2nd Plt confirms this with reports that the VC are putting up a pretty stout defense to the north, trying to hold open a hole for numerous teams of porters to escape to the west with all their food, weapons, and ammunition.

SSgt Bleier gets the squad turned around, but can't link up with the rest of 1st Platoon in the dense vegetation; from the chatter on the radio, it sounds like the other two squads are totally disoriented.  The Lt orders all three squad leaders to make their own way to blocking positions on the west side of Nam Pla to halt the VC evacuation.  Bleier gets his squad moving, but they have their own troubles with the terrain, a series of razorback ridges and dense forest.  When the squad finally hits the flatland and is close enough to hear the firing, they are in the treeline directly south of Nam Pla, with token enemy forces swinging about to cover the retreat of their comrades carrying heavy loads west towards salvation...


Overview, north is up.  The eastern edge of Nam Pla is at top left; the VC MLR, in contact with 2nd Platoon, is off camera at top left.  There are a few VC fighters in the ville, while five porter teams can be seen departing the village, and a few more fighters are in the top right (NE) corner on Hill 45.  The US squad is at bottom left and bottom center.


Victor Charles riflemen behind wall laying down covering fire for the porters to make good their escape.


Sgt Banaszak leads the assault on the ville: lots of combat stress (red dice), SSgt Bleier (just off camera at top right) is lightly wounded, and the VC have a man down behind the wall.


Holmes tests morale and passes like a champion (he's been very reliable in all three fights so far).  He sprints ahead up to the intersection (bottom center, with Sgt Russell on other side of trail), using the palm trees at right to screen him from fire coming from Hill 45.  Holmes knows they need to stop the VC porters (top), so he sights in a fires twice, missing both times, but adding stress.


The squad is taking its toll on the escaping porter teams (and yes, I'm embarrassed that I'm using WWII German casualties for my VC).


Holmes and Stallworth capture a porter team.

VC losses:
5 down KIA
6 captured (2 seriously wounded and two lightly wounded)
5 others survived by running from Bleier's trained killers

US losses:
PFC Blount was hit in the arm but is immediately available for duty.
Sgt Russell was hit in the calf but is also immediately available for duty.
Pvt Greenwood was hit in shoulder and was evacuated to BAS for 9 days.
SSgt Bleier stayed in the fight, but it was actually a lot worse than they first thought.  He thought he'd had a round bounce off his ribcage, but it turns out the round came apart and he's suffering pretty bad internal injuries.  Bleier is being evacuated to Japan and will be gone for the next couple months.

The games are rolling off the assembly line, having a great time.  For the rest of the fight, please check the blog at:
http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2014/05/in-country-game-3-4-oct-1967.html

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Nice report again chap!

[Techno]

Great again, Jack !
M-14s ?
Don't worry, I haven't forgotten.

Cheers - Phil

[bigjackmac]

First off, yes Phil, I need Glorious M-14s, and I'll start a whole new campaign for Marines up on the DMZ. 
Look how much joy you've already brought me, one can only imagine the euphoria I'll experience with M-14s!  Plus a different M-60, a different M-79, an RTO, a Corpsman, and some Recon guys    Maybe even an officer with a .45? 

All,

Here's the next fight, our first action against NVA regulars in the hill country near the Cambodian border.  Here's the situation: following the fight at Nam Pla 6, the battalion continued to focus most of its attention north of Dak To, seeking out the Viet Cong.  It's October 9, 1967, and the squad (minus SSgt Bleier, who's recovering in Okinawa, and Pvt Greenwood, still at BAS) is scheduled to conduct another patrol to the north, trying to figure out where the VC went after being run out of Ap Bac and Nam Pla.  However, Brigade called out with a FragO and the squad was diverted west.  It seems one of the Division's Hueys went down about 6 klicks away, near Hill 98.  A Bird Dog in the area gave it a look, doesn't look like there are any survivors, so the squad is just going out to destroy equipment and recover our folks.

The platoon had followed the trail network west and then north, and was now in the process of cutting back east to search the area around Hill 98.


Overview, north is up.  Left is US baseline, atop Lamyai Ridge.  Top center is Hill 98, far right is Hill 50.  You can see the helo wreck at top right.  Bottom center is Hill 72.  The enemy has a bunker at far right on Hill 50.


The downed Huey.  The enemy has pulled the three crew out to search for intelligence information.  This is actually a Minifigs UH-1 that I never got around to finishing.


Looking west at US baseline, here's the US squad.  What's happened so far is that the squad had just crested Lamyai Ridge when the pointman, Pvt Holmes, called a security halt.  The acting squad leader, Sgt Banaszak, moved up to Holmes while the squad fanned out.


So Holmes (bottom left) calls a security halt, and Banaszak comes up.  "What's up, Holmes?"  "Sarge, look up there, about 10 o'clock, you can see smoke coming up through the trees.  I think we found our downed chopper."  Movement to the right catches Holmes' eye.  "Hey, what's a water buffalo doing way the hell out here?  Holy crap!"  Holmes shoulders his M-16 and fires twice at the enemy trooper (top right, behind the water bull), seriously wounding him.  At the sound of the gunfire the water bull starts running east.


Stallworth dashes up the right side (far right, near wounded enemy trooper, with Russell at far left).  Stallworth calls out to Russell, "Hey Sarge, this cat's NVA!!!"  "Whaaaaat? No way."  Well, that explains the helo getting downed...


Rusell pops to a knee (top center, left of trail with red dice and green bead), which draws a near miss from the NVA in the bunker (foreground).  Russell flops back down prone, but didn't see where the fire came from.


Harris' assistant, Swan, takes all three actions but spots the two NVA atop Hill 98 (the RPG and leader, with a rifleman off camera to bottom right).  Ham fires his M-79 at the NVA on the hilltop, but it lands short (bottom left cotton puff).  Ham quickly reloads, then bloops another frag up the hill.  He was aiming to hit between the two NVA and missed, but the grenade lands right at the NVA leader's feet (center cotton puff), putting him out of the fight and giving the RPG a light wound.


Doc White and Ham dodging a raging (water)bull.


Security is set while the helo is rigged for demolition and Doc gets the bodies ready for extraction.  Banaszak calls it in, and within minutes a Chinook is on the way.

The fight went very well, the squad is performing like a well-oiled machine and conducting itself (mostly, not counting Harris) as seasoned vets that have 'grown up' very quickly under fire.  They accomplished their mission and gave the NVA, heretofore not known to be operating on this side of the border, a quick bloody nose.  But Banaszak can't help but ponder on how lucky they were: once again, Holmes proves his worth as a pointman, but if that knucklhead with the buffalo hadn't stumbled into us, how might things have gone?  Or if the NVA in the bunker had been a bit more vigilant (AKA, rolled better spotting dice), or if that RPG had put the M-60 team down, instead of missing by a couple yards?

For the whole fight and lots more pics, please visit the blog at:
http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2014/05/in-country-game-4-9-october-1967.html

Hope you had a good time, I sure did.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Another cool game! 

[Techno]

Hear, hear !
Cheers - Phil

[FierceKitty]

There should be a company named after the person who started that technique for mass-producing cheap palm trees!

[bigjackmac]

All,

On the last patrol the squad moved to the downed UH-1 Huey, destroyed equipment, and recovered the friendlies, also managing to give the NVA a bloody nose in their first contact with regular forces.  While performing their recovery mission, Sgt Banaszak noticed numerous large holes in the aircraft, the kind made by a 12.7mm heavy machine gun.  The Brigade focused the bulk of its patrols west for a few days, hoping to find and fix the NVA, or at least eliminate the HMG(s), but no luck, no contact by anyone.

It's 13 October 1967.  The squad has been out all night on night ambush, again no contact.  They had been set up just north of the village of Con Quan 9, southeast of Dak To, about a klick north of the village, overlooking a major north-south trail network.  The squad was just packing it up for the hump back to base when Battalion came on the horn: seems the S-2 just got word the Regional VC tax collector was in Con Quan.  The squad was ordered to move south and see what they could see.  The squad is down Bleier (Okinawa) and Blount (China Beach).


Overview of map, north is 'up.'  Hill 105 at top left, village of Con Quan at bottom left, and Hill 75 at top right.  US baseline is left, VC is right.  The squad is in and around the ville, having just marched south (off map) around Hill 105 then turning east into the ville.


While the US apparently has informers in Con Quan, so does Victor Charles.  These three (rifle, LMG, and 50mm mortar) are in the treeline at bottom right, looking at the ville.  They were sleeping in the ville when a comrade burst in and let them know Yankees were coming down the trail.  They searched for the tax collector, but he was nowhere to be found, so they hauled ass across the paddy into the treeline, surprised the taxman wasn't there.


The squad: Sgt Banaszak is at far left, speaking with the village honcho, with Greenwood, Harris, and Swan at the wall.  Doc White is just outside the north wall, giving medical attention to a little girl, while Sgt Russell is standing on the trail aggravated with Ham and Stallworth, who are in the treeline on Hill 105 (top center), smoking and joking instead of pulling security like they should be.  Holmes, always steady, is at far right, where he has taken up a prone position to keep look out to the east.


The ville, with Banaszak talking to the villager, (l to r) Swan, Harris, and Greenwood at the wall, and Doc White just outside the north wall with the mama and baby-san.  Sgt Russell is up on the trail, with several civvies around.

If you look closely, between Banaszak, Doc, and Russell is a very suspicious looking individual, who has just approached from the left.  He's shocked and bewildered to find Yankees in the village, but he stays cool.  He's further shocked and bewildered that he can't find his three travelling companions; perhaps he should have told them he was staying with a friend last night...  He's really, REALLY shocked and bewildered when the village chief, talking to what looks to be the American leader, spots him and his eyes bulge almost out of their sockets.  The tax man has been made, and stumbles back a couple steps, almost running into another American.  Crap!


As the village chief swings his arm up to point and the American leader turns to take a look, the tax man takes off running into the rice paddy, heading for the treeline!  Spec4 Harris, with the M-60, hops the wall to give chase.


The third VC in the treeline, this one with an old French MAS-36, fires at Sgt Russell (bottom left), Stallworth, and Ham (top right).  Stallworth and Ham take some stress, but Rusell is knocked on his back, hurt bad.  As the mortar fired three times, the LMG fired three times, and the rifle fired three times, I'm counting the treeline as spotted at this point.


Looking east from behind Holmes (foreground, behind bush under tree), straight down the trail where the four VC just arrived, with the VC treeline at top right.  The VC pointman moves up the knoll to his left, goes prone, but can't spot Holmes lying prone in the bushes (VC is top center, just to right of trail you can see his green 'prone' bead next to the bushes his hiding in).  Holmes shifts his shooting position back left and opens up straight down the trail, making a mess of the VC: SMG receives a light wound and LMG a serious wound, with the SMG and remaining rifleman on the trail racking up a goodly amount of stress (you can see all the red dice on the trail).


I figure I'm pretty comfortable with the tax man (top right), surely he's going to assume a fetal position from all the combat stress... but he passes like a champion: he hops up, he uses both actions to crawl towards the civvies so the Yankees can't shoot at him.  Swan and Harris (seriously wounded) are lying in the paddy, while Banaszak (bottom left) passes his test (from the mortar fire), stands up, hops the wall, and sprints ahead, determined to catch that damned VC tax collector!

That's the end of the turn, and the VC win the initiative for the next turn, meaning the tax man activates first.  He hops up and sprints into the jungle, he got away, mission failed...

For the whole report, please check the blog at:
http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2014/05/in-country-game-5-13-oct-1967.html

More to come.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

That taxman must have been an Olympic sprinter!!!

Cool report again mate.

[Matt J]

nice reports Jack, gives me some incentive to getting my own Vietnam project past the leadpile stage.

Also what you are cooking up with Phil looks very good.

[toxicpixie]

That taxman must have been an Olympic sprinter!!!

Cool report again mate.

I think he had considerable incentive to break the ten second 100 metre dash

Good report, they always feel really in period!