Vietnam Scenario

This is a fictitious scenario based on the figures and vehicles available to us. Any historical inaccuracy is purely intentional.

1972 - Saigon District North

Background
Australian withdrawal from Vietnam is ongoing. Armoured and special forces units, being composed mostly of professional soldiers, remain at the disposal of the Americans. NVA and VC incursions into the formerly safe areas have caused the French government to request the safe transport of all it's citizens to major airports where relief flights will take them into neutral territory.

Paddy's Problem.
Colonel Patrick Keegan had been given the responsibility to oversee the withdrawal of French citizens within two weeks. Most of the French nationals seemed eager to leave, but on 12 October Paddy Keegan found a signal on his desk advising him that a certain Father Phillipe Toulon was refusing to leave the Catholic mission at Ben-Luc without the members of his flock. Keegan swore like only an Australian who has been in the army for 20 years can, and ordered an escort to accompany Toulon and the villagers on the 26 mile hike to the nearest American firebase.
Typically, Keegan was taking no chances. Members of the Aussie SAS, supported by two M113 Armoured Personnel Carriers were dispatched to accompany Toulon. Immediately after the village had been evacuated, troops from the firebase were to turn it into a US strong-point, ahead of the NVA advance.
Always a pessimist, he hoped the measures would be enough.

Unbeknown to Keegan,, Father Toulon and the Chapel of the Holy Mother at Ben-Luc had been re-classified as a political target. NVA scouts had had the village under observation for several hours.
In the surrounding jungle the communist forces waited patiently for the order to advance.

The Forces

Australians
1 Squad of 8 troops Elite   Leader Lv 6 (distance 6')
including LMG and
light mortar.

M113 - fire support version.
M113 - Vulcan minigun.

Americans
1 Squad of 8 troops Regular   Leader Lv 4 (distance 6')
including LMG and
GL.

1 Squad of 8 troops Regular   Leader Lv 4 (distance 6')  
including LMG and
GL.
Heliborne - Arrive turn 3.

NVA        
1 squad of 10 troops Regular   Leader Lv 5(distance 6')
including LMG and
Rocket launcher.


VC suicide squad        
1 squad of 8 troops Regular   Leader Lv 4(distance 8')
including LMG, Rocket
launcher and bomber
with satchel charges.

VC militia
1 squad of 13 troops Regular   Leader LV 5(distance 10')
including LMG.


Special rules for this scenario

Torching the church

Detonating the satchel charges in the church, will cause it to catch fire and begin burning. The fire will be out of control within three rounds. Troops and villagers can try to put the fire out before then, by dowsing it with water from the paddy fields. They must form a bucket chain, the members of which cannot be more than 2' apart. Fighting the fire is assumed to take the rest of the game.
The VC/NVA can also attempt to set the roof on fire by firing a RPG rocket at it. If the roof is hit, roll d6. It ignites on a roll of 1 or 2. If any artillery rounds hit the church they will also ignite the roof on a roll of 1 or 2.

Satchel charges against armoured vehicles

Resolve as a LCG at Short Range.

Vulcan Minigun

Resolve as LCG.

__________________________________________

For other special rules refer to specific Game Balance Cards.



Leaders

Each time a leader moves into weapon range of enemy or into any dangerous situation, draw a card to determine his attitude.
ACE - Coward This man leads from behind, sending his troops on ahead of him and directing them from cover. If faced with a dangerous situation he may not commit his troops at all.
KING - War Hero This man leads from the front, inspiring and motivating his troops with his own actions. Add +1 to his own morale roll and the morale rolls of all those under his command
QUEEN - Generous This man will attempt to take prisoners whenever possible. He will always hold his squad back allowing other squads to get to safety. (Binding prisoners takes one round, one man can guard up to four prisoners at a time.)
JACK - Nutcase This man leads from the from front, his men will follow him anywhere. But only out of curiosity. Ignore the first wound he receives, treat the second as a pin. Thereafter resolve wounds normally.
2-10 - Careful Treat the leader as any wargamer would.


Game balance cards
If the players by mutual consent agree that the game is tipping too heavily in one sides favour the can draw a game balance card. The effects of these and the special rules relating to them are laid out below.

Remove all the non face cards except the 2.
  USA/AUS NVA/VC
ACE TANK TRAITOR
KING CHOPPER SUPPORT BOOBY TRAPS
QUEEN ARTILLERY BARRAGE ARTILLERY BARRAGE
JACK LIGHT RAIN LANDMINES
DUCE TACTICAL AIR STRIKE LOCAL REINFORCEMENTS

TANK Place either an M48 or Centurion on the road heading towards the village. It counts as a separate squad and moves immediately.
CHOPPER SUPPORT a Huey appears at any table corner (of the players choice). It counts as a separate squad and moves immediately
ARTILLERY BARRAGE The attacking player may place 6 1' burst squares anywhere on the table within a 6' radius. Roll for scatter and resolve effect as for mortar hits. The attacker may decide on smoke or live rounds as he sees fit.
LIGHT RAIN Light rain will make the church more difficult to burn. Double the number of rounds it takes before the fire becomes uncontrollable. If the church is already on fire a bucket chain will put the fire out in 5 rounds.
TACTICAL AIR STRIKE The attacking player may place 6 1' burst squares anywhere on the table within a 6' radius. Roll for scatter and resolve effect as for mortar hits. In addition all cover in the burst square and adjoining squares is removed. This includes trees, vegetation, rocks, and buildings less than 3' in size.
TRAITOR One of the civilians with father Toulon turns out to be a VC sympathiser. Replace one civilian with a VC armed with a SMG. In true Hollywood tradition he/she will try to kill at least one soldier before turning the weapon on father Toulon.
BOOBY TRAPS The attacker chooses 6 of the Allied figures in jungle or built up area. Roll 1d6 for each figure, a result of 5 or 6 indicates the figure has been caught in a trap. Roll 1d6 to determine the effect: 1-2 Immobilised - The figure may not move for the remainder of the game. Two comrades can try to extricate him. This will take 5 rounds, but they have a chance of being caught as well. Roll 1d6 for each, on a roll of 6 they are immobilised too. 3-4 Disabled - As per normal wound table 5-6 Dead
LANDMINES The attacker chooses 6 of the Allied figures or vehicles on road or in built up area. Roll 1d6 for each, a result of 5 or 6 indicates the figure/vehicle has tread on/driven over a mine. Resolve hits on personnel as for mortar hits. Resolve hits on vehicles as for LCG at long range.
LOCAL REINFORCEMENTS Take all of the dead and disabled VC/NVA figures from the other squads and form them into one squad (maximum 10 figs). They appear either on the road or at the LZ. Their leader is Leader Lv 4(distance 6').
   

We set up the following way, but you are welcome to change it.
The Aussies and the Americans set up in the village itself, their vehicles on the road. The VC militia surrounded the church, the suicide squad set up behind the paddy fields, and the NVA along the road.
Hostilities began with the militia advancing on the village from all sides, thier first shots took out the US sentries (Jules, the VC player, was to have ridiculously good luck throughout the game.) The grunts returned fire, taking out the militia's machine gunner and causing their leader to fail his morale check. The militia's advance ground to a halt.
Jules then ordered the suicide squad forward accross the paddies. This was a bad move, the Aussie vehicles opened up killing or injuring half of them in one round, but by some miracle the VC hero with 4 bags of C4 explosive on his back escaped unharmed and continued to splash on towards the church.
At this stage the NVA came into the fight, and immediately justified their fearsome reputation. The RPG gunner took out the forward M113, (all be it with a lucky roll) and the rest of the squad opened up on the Aussies near the vehicles. We rolled randomly for targets throughout the game,and in this exchange the Aussie LMG man got hit 5 times.
Confusion reigned in the village, the villagers and animals running in every direction.
The bodycount was mounting , as I should have expected in this sort of head-to-head scenario, and turn 2 was a night mare for all concerned. By mutual agreement the players decided to draw a game balance card each at the beginning of turn 3 and dispense with the US re-inforcements. As it happened we drew Chopper support and Traitor. The chopper gave the NVA a fright and the traitor took out the Aussie mortar man before she was pinned by enemy fire. The communiists were not daunted however and the NVA leader with two of his comrades pushed past the wreck of the smoking M113 to come face to face with father Toulon. Toulon was seriously wounded in the exchange and suddenly the patriotic forces had victory in thier grasp. The human bomb had made it to the other side of the paddy, and was sprinting towards the church when the US LMG man who had been quietly sitting behind the low stone wall, popped up and let him have it. With such a volume of fire and a total of 6 hits on the VC, the satchel charges exploded, taking out the village storehouse instead of the church.

The result, after two hours of enjoyable play, was a draw.

Myself and the players relised that the rules needed some padding (and a QRS) and that in future we should identify the various weapon types in a squad with small coloured tabs on the bases of the figures.
You should see some revisions of the rules shortly and an improved morale system as we tended to forget to check morale in the normal course of play.