Charlie Company:
Infantry Combat in Vietnam 1965-1972

Armorer's Forge Review

review by Eric Adamaszek

"Charlie Company: Infantry Combat in Vietnam 1965-1972" and Charlie Company Vietnam miniatures line by RAFM

"Charlie Company" rules are back from RAFM, by John Reeves, Greg Novak and Kurt Hummitzch. It is in a much larger format (8 1/2 x 11) this time, rather than the original, small pocket format.

In Charlie Company rules, you are put in the role of a sergeant, lieutenant or captain of the U.S. armed forces in ÔNam. The game master runs the VC/NVA forces against you in each of your missions. The players' goal is to complete the mission and yet survive his "tour of duty" (12 missions for sergeants and 6 for officers). The system blends traditional tabletop miniature battles with the satisfaction of role-playing a character. With some luck and skill, characters will gain experience and become a veteran -- hopefully surviving his missions during the tour of duty.

The rules handle all kinds of terrain, natural and man-made. The infantry company you play can be mounted on helicopters or armored personnel carriers, with support of tanks and helicopter gunships. Or they may be on foot, patrolling through "Indian Country." The rules have a great mix of fire support from heavy weapons on board and artillery on-call, helicopters and aircraft. This firepower is tremendously powerful and deadly effective to those caught in it.

This edition has nice, large reference tables in the back for: Turn Sequence, Movement Phase, Direct Fire Phase, Supporting Fire Phase and Fire Effect Phase. There are also data tables and statistics for vehicles and aircraft. It has worksheets that track the roster of your company, platoon or squad, vehicles, operational mission orders and fire support on-call. I highly recommend this set of rules to run large-scale actions quickly and smoothly.

RAFM is making some new Vietnam era miniature troops for "Charlie Company" rules, too. The new miniatures are taller and thinner and have better detail than the old Platoon 20 and Firefight 20 lines. There is little or no flash. Mold lines are hardly noticeable. You can easily see the difference between the M16 and AK47 rifles. The new miniatures are closer to 1/72 scale than 1/76, so I would almost call them 22mm, not 20mm.

I like them so much that I have added a few squads of these to my collection.

Reviews: Armorer's Forge

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