Well I played my first MG today, so here's a report: The opportunity to play an MG today came out of the blue. Some local wargaming buddies had been wargaming all day, and were ready to try something different. In addition, they just set up the Traveling Wall (1/2 replica of the Vietnam Memorial) on the field across the street from my house, so they wanted to come over and see it. The result - I whipped up a Vietnam MG in half an hour, and we played it - TWICE! It wasn't bad for a first effort. We had a lot of fun, and I learned a lot. I'll be much better at it when I run my Darkest Africa Game on September 8. Looking back I can see that I made some mistakes. The main problem was that the game was somewhere between a tactical and strategic game, which was a bit awkward. It was also sort of caught between PBOM and traditional MG. The player's characters and objectives were not clearly defined. Most of this was because I set it up so quickly. I struggled at times when it came to judging the strength of arguments, and the correct procedures for Trouble and Conflict arguments. Actually, I hashed things up pretty bad. Despite my mistakes, it worked. The players were Charlie, John, and Ceasar (veteran war gamers) and Dustin, an enthusiastic 13 year old. The Scenario I divided my gaming table into six zones, and laid out some terrain - villages, roads/paths, woods, hills, and jungle. One player commanded the local force VC. These were veteran winter cadre, familiar with the area. They had been laying low, but now it was time to start causing trouble. Their force consisted of three rifle platoons, a HQ, and a recon platoon. Their HQ started the game in a hidden bunker. Coming from the North to help them were some main force VC - three rifle platoons, a sapper platoon, and a HQ. Somehow the players thought that this force was NVA, and I didn't catch the mistake until it was too late, so I let it go. There were two American commands. Each had three rifle platoons and a HQ. Each side could receive reinforcements or fire support with a successful argument. The Americans could either walk onto the map from the South, or use helicopters to land in any clear terrain. After turn one helicopter transport required a successful argument. Each platoon and HQ unit was represented by a miniature figure. I explained the terrain and the rules - one argument per player each turn. One change from the traditional rules was that I allowed players to move to a new area without an argument but only to the midpoint of the adjacent area. I recorded the successful arguments on a tablet. For game two I also recorded the failed arguments. If anyone wants to see all of them, or the scenario map, I can post them or send them through email, just let me know. For now I'll just summarize what happened in each game. Game One Ceasar and Dustin were US and they entered the board on foot from the South. John was local VC and Charlie was main force VC, but I'll refer to them as NVA since that's what he thought they were. Turn 1: The Americans enter from the South, the NVA enter from the North via "unseen paths." The VC move South to confront the Americans. Turn 2: The NVA foment anti-american sentiment in the villages as they move South. Dustin sniffs out a VC presence in the first village he encounters. Ceasar moves into another village and wins hearts and minds by killing the local VC tax collector and distributing food and medicine. Turn 3: Dustin panics and calls in an air strike that levels the village. Unfortunately the VC had already withdrawn. There are many civilian casualties. Meanwhile Ceasar finds out that the friendly villagers were luring him into a trap. He's attacked by the NVA from the front while VC try to ambush his HQ. He manages to withdrawal. Turn 4: Construction begins on Firebase Dustin. Ceasar calls in an air strike and the village is clobbered with napalm. Turn 5: Dustin orders gunships to stand by to support the firebase. VC and NVA attack Ceasar's company. He loses a platoon and retreats to the fire base, reeling. Turn 6: VC scout Firebase Dustin, preparing for the attack. Ceasar gets lucky and reinforcements are dispatched to help him, but don't arrive immediately. Gunships strafe the tree line near Firebase Dustin. Turn 7: The firebase is harassed by snipers and mortar fire. The defenses are breached by sappers. A nosy journalist arrives and files a report detailing American atrocities in the area - the destruction of two peaceful villages. Future fire missions are put on hold while the brass investigate. Turn 8: The firebase is overrun by VC and NVA. Attempts to evacuate the base are botched. The Americans suffer 60% casualties and many prisoners are taken. American reinforcements arrive too late to help. Game 2 Charlie and Dustin play the Americans. Ceasar commands the local VC and John plays the NVA. Turn 1: The Americans decide to chopper in and land far to the North. Unfortunately spies have already delivered the American plans to the local VC. Dustin detects the presence of VC in a nearby village when they foolishly shoot at his helicopters. Turn 2: The VC evacuate the village, warning them that the Americans have come to kill them. Dustin torches the village. Charlie uses an informant to track the NVA to their base. Turn 3: Dustin tries to attack the VC while they evacuate the villagers but he's driven back. Charlie moves on the NVA stronghold but is driven back and the informant is killed by a sniper. Turn 4: Charlie returns to the NVA stronghold and runs into some booby traps. Dustin scouts the next village and occupies it after learning that it is clear of VC. The local VC recruit two fresh platoons from the displaced villagers and give them weapons. Turn 5: The local VC infiltrate the occupied village. Turn 6: Charlie locates an NVA weapons cache and it blows up in his face - another booby trap. Dustin is alarmed when the villagers suddenly flee to the North, spooked by VC infiltrators and the column of smoke rising from the neighboring village (which Dustin burned). Dustin beats a hasty retreat to the South. Turn 7: Charlie declares his mission accomplished and heads for the LZ. He runs into an NVA ambush, losing a platoon. Turn 8: Charlie is evacuated by helicopter. Dustin moves onto a hill with the VC in hot pursuit. Turn 9: On their way home Charlie's copters get a distress call from Dustin and move to help him. The NVA locate Dustin and bring up some mortars. Turn 10: The NVA mortars pin down Dustin's troops, preventing their escape. Charlie's choppers strafe the VC, preventing them from joining the attack this turn. Turn 11: The NVA successfully attack Dustin, he loses a platoon. Charlie's helicopters are low on fuel and have to return to base. Turn 12: Dustin is successfully evacuated but suffers more casualties. Bad Stuff The VC never made use of their recon platoon. The players consistently argued for ridiculously harsh combat results. Part of the problem was that each platoon was represented by one figure. So players generally wanted their opponents to lose at least one platoon, and often wanted their entire opponent's force killed or captured. Eventually they started make more reasonable arguments. The VC and NVA were a bit too strong, but part of the problem was that Dustin was not nearly aggressive enough. The more experienced players put him on the defensive and he never recovered the initiative. I should have done a better job of explaining how to phrase their arguments. This would have simplified things for me. The players often went on and on without clearly explaining what it was they wanted to happen. Good Stuff We had fun. The players learned how to turn their opponents arguments against them - MG Judo. We were able to do things that would have been hard to deal with in a normal wargame - politics, building a firebase, etc. Final verdict Thumbs up. [So here we have a gamer, in his first month of Matrix Gaming running two games in one day, having never run an MG before in his life. This is exactly what I’ve always thought these games could do. It so gratifying to see it happen.] Back to Table of Contents -- Matrix Gamer #28 To Matrix Gamer List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Chris Engle. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com