I have never been very interested in the "modern" (WWI-on) periods as regards wargaming. Beyond the obvious problems of the weapons possessing such long range so as to make it difficult to semi-realistically fight battles on the table-top, the period seemed too real to me in some respects to consider as a game. I have long had somewhat of an interest in the W.W.II Eastern Front as regards wargaming and after seeing "The Wild Geese" I developed an interest in possibly doing some skirmish things with Africa, etc, however, I didn't really go after it with much energy. As a matter of fact, I never played in a "modern" game up till Greg Novak's CITW Colonial Day when he hosted a 15mm French-IndoChina game. Greg utilized very well-done terrain, using geomorphic (each 2' x 2' section is interchangeable) terrain sections and a hodge-bodge of 15mm troops (Heritage WWII, Science-Fiction figures, Mike's Model's Zulu wargames figures, etc.) and equipment (Heritage WWII and Rocco plastic 1/29th). The entire layout was most impressive to a terrain lover such as I and it was most instrumental in attracting me to play in Greg's game. The setting was Vietnam in 1946-48 during which a strong French force was ordered to do a reconnaissance in force of a group of villages and to lose a minimum of people while doing so. The French force consisted of the following: Sixth BPC Bn. of Paratroopers (Grenadier Guard of the French Army in IndoChina) 600 men. Second Bn. 13th Demi Brigade of Foreign Legion (600 men). First Bn 43rd Colonial Regiment (700 men). Third Squadron, 5th Cuirassier Regiment/Royal Polish (200 men) with 15 Chaffee M-14 light tanks; 10 M-8 armored cars; and 10 M-3 Half Tracks. Amphibious force (300 men) with 33 weasels, 1 crab and 1 LVT (Alligator). Company of Engineers (100 men). Anti-aircraft unit (16 men) with four vehicles with quad 50's. 12 105mm guns as artillery support. All players were placed on the French side with one, Frank Chadwick, being responsible for the Viet Minh who had one Militia Bn. (300 men) and one regular Bn. (400 men). Frank used hidden movement (marking the location of units on a map and giving the map to Greg, who umpired). The rules utilized were called COMMAND DECISION, written by Frank Chadwick, and are considered to be low-tech WWII rules, as Greg describes them, and have not been published as of yet. Two figures equals a platoon of 20-50 men in the game. The sequence within a turn is as follows: (1) movement, (2) opportunity fire (those units not moving this turn), (3) second fire phase and (4) spotting (during which units can attempt to spot each other). Each turn equals 30 minutes. Firing was conducted by determining the range and checking the weapon type which told you how many dice to throw (three dice for French/Viet light weapons; two for French paras/75mm guns; and one die for all others (10-sided dice). Dependent upon other modifiers (i.e., type of cover, etc.), one had to throw a "5" or less, for instance, to remove a figure at short range and a "3" at long range. The Viet Minh were deemed to be unable to react to the over-all situation as they did not possess communications, thus, they were required to stay within their original game plan, Any French Bn. HQer's unit could request artillery fire of the French commander who would then make a determination as to whether or not it should be called in. There were a number of minefields although their location was well marked and known to both sides. The French players met and worked out a battle plan. Since Greg Novak was insistent that I command the paratroopers (I remember the last week of basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood in 1967 when they marched us over to the post theatre and showed us a "gung-ho" movie on going airborne and had people available, following the movie, to sign us up - I was moved to consider it, being heavily influenced by the movie, but did not do so) thus, I agreed with reservations. My mission was to drop in a central location on the board between Hill 101 and Hai Lang to secure the bridge and link up with the amphibious force which would be heaving the river just as it came on the board passing through Dien Truong and heading toward the two bridges. The two infantry Battalions were to enter between Hill 101 and 102 with the Colonial unit moving around Hill 101 to the river and the Foreign Legion coming right up the valley between Hills 101 and 102 along with the Engineers, armor force, and anti-aircraft unit. The infantry were to clear the jungles in both hills. The method utilized for air drops was crude and simple but fun and probably as realistic as one can be. I had small 1/2" square pieces of paper with each platoon being represented by a single piece. These pieces were divided into four groups (four separate "sticks" - airdrops -) and each was placed upon a ruler. I "flew" the ruler ("ZOOM") about three feet over the table, approached the landing area, and dramatically turned the ruler over where I wanted the drop to occur ("GERONIMO!"). Greg related to me during the game that the French did not have transport planes available to them very often during the IndoChina War and, as a result, impounded civilian commercial airliners for drops, thus the Viet Minh always knew when a drop was to occur - an interesting sidelight. Anyway, the pieces of paper fluttered to facing up were allowed to deploy into action next turn although they could fire on this turn while those with unit ID's face down could not do anything this turn to reflect being disorganized by the drop. I was most relieved to discover that none of my platoons landed in a minefield or the river (I expected the worst!) and six of the 14 were ready for combat as they landed face up. However, my satisfaction quickly dissolved when Frank opened fire on my paras with two light machine guns. He threw six dice (three dice for each Viet Minh light machine gun) looking for "5's" or less and during opportunity fire he knocked off two of my figures and an additional two during the regular fire phase. I fired back at long range and missed, needing a "3" or less for that range. The two figures lost during the second fire phase represented my Headquarters company which contained both the company and battalion commanders. I took a morale check for my units and three of the four passed (their morale number was "10" on a 10-slider meaning that they would have had to roll a "10" to fail). During turn two, my lone company commander able to move, ran from one unit to the other organizing them so they could move next turn. Any stands within six inches of him could do so. The machine guns opened up again as well as mortar fire and I took four more hits and another company commander was lost to this fire. At this time, the amphibious force lands and moves up to Dien Truong where it is hit by heavy weapons fire losing 60% of their vehicles. During turns three through six, I was attempting to regroup my force behind a ridge and suffered more losses from the machine guns and mortars. By the end of the turn, I had lost 50% of my force. I called to the commander in chief and requested artillery fire giving the approximate location of the suspected enemy positions. The CIC called in artillery and spotting rounds landed very close to the correct spot (the intended target is marked followed by dice rolls to determine deviation). My paras begin to organize in the gully behind the ridge while the company commander spotted for the mortar crew. Following the artillery fire, I was told that I spotted three Viet Minh units falling back from their positions heading for Hai Lang. I called for more artillery fire to follow them back. A spotter allows artillery/mortar fire to be directed to the desired location the same turn while unspotted fire falls the following turn. Turn five saw the Colonial infantry Battalion run into an ambush, however, over the next several turns they fought their way out of it and destroyed the enemy force. In turn six, I am joined by armor from the column and my unit retires to the bottom of the gully while the armor does the spotting. However, as I suppose anyone who has been through battle knows, where there is friendly armor, there will be soon be unfriendly artillery fire which there was, although I did not lose any more men. At this time, I was able to begin organizing my battalion. For each turn a unit is halted and does nothing, it can roll a die. If it passes morale, it recovers one stand per turn. However, the Senior Commander of the unit, or of the force, must be present to allow it to do so. By this time, both hills had been swept, the amphibious force was virtually destroyed, my force was at 50%, the engineers were clearing the minefields, and the Viet Minh were pulling back. Due to a shortage of time, the game was called and determined to be a Viet Minh victory. I didn't know it till several days later when Greg called my, but my paras had jumped to within short range of 50% of the Viet Minh's firepower. He reported that I had handled my paratrooper unit in the traditional French fashion as the unit was destroyed three times historically during the war. See, I do play historically!! Larger Map (Slow 274K) I enjoyed the game but I am still wondering what Greg had against me to insist that I handle the paras. What they should have done, besides refuse to exit the plane, was to be dropped toward the center of the villages where the Viet Minh would have had difficulty bringing firepower to bear in on them. Of course, I did not think of this, which doesn't surprise me at all. In closing, the rules were simple, playable, and seemed to allow for a fun, enjoyable game. Back to MWAN #17 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1985 Hal Thinglum 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