At GenCon 97, I had the pleasure of joining a demo game of Charlie Company, a set of Vietnam miniatures rules on a 1-to-1 scale, i.e. one figure equals one soldier. This was a basic game, and thus not using the advanced rules. As in a role-playing game, which was somewhat appropriate given the setting, the players are all on the side of the USA, while the DM, er, GM, er, umpire (in this case, Tom Franks) plays the VC. Each player commands a squad, while one of the players is a Lt., who gets to do things like call in mortar and artillery fire, and air strikes. Scenario A tank rolling along a road through a village has a tread blown off and is taking fire from enemy forces. Naturally, the call goes out for some air mobile infantry support (landed off board) and thus we entered the edge of the combat area. Charlie Company offers three types of movement: combat (4"), patrol (8"), and march (36"). In march mode, you cannot fire; in patrol, you fire at basic levels (1 die per M-16, 3 dice per grenade launcher equipped soldier); and in combat, you fire double dice. Shooting is simple and quick--pick a group target and let loose with your entire squad (you are allowed to split your fire to two groups). Cover halves the number of dice and hits are randomly distributed. You are allowed to "recon by fire." That is, if you wish to, you can spray an area with fire if you think there's a VC there, although the dice are quartered. Sometimes, that's the only way to do it. There are spotting rolls based on expertise and cover, but VC troops are often hard to spot, especially the snipers. "Minefield Cleared, Sir" In the game, my squad was suppose to climb and clear a rather steeply-stepped hill. There was one path up, and you bet, the point found mines. Right then, a sniper picked off the point, only to get shot by the squad's overwhelming firepower. Some recon-by-fire picked off another sniper, and one soldier was designated to clear the mine. He calmly rolled a "10" on a d10, which I commented (not knowing the system), "was either very, very good, or very, very bad." As it turned out, lower is better for mines...the medics were on the move. Part of the interaction between players is the RTO phase, where the Lt. gets 30 seconds or so to obtain status reports. As 2nd Squad, 2nd Rifle Platoon, 1st Co. sergeant, I reported, "snipers killed, no other enemy in sight, advancing up the hill, and minefield cleared, sir." Meanwhile, other squads cleared the snipers from the village as a squad of VC drove the tankers trying to reepair the tread back into the tank. That's when the mortar fire flew on both sides. The US proved more accurate. Later, as I cautiously climbed the hill, which was holed with caves and trap doors, I ran into a VC squad with a RPG trying to work their way behind the tank. In the RTO phase, I asked for, and received, some 81mm mortar fire, which veered off target. My squad's gunfire nailed the loader, but the firer, well, fired. The tankers, busily spraying the area in front of them with MG and HE fire, never saw it coming... ...but the roll was bad, the missile missed, and further gunfire decimated that squad and the others that tried to surround the tank. The VC melted back into the jungle for another go another day. Thumbs Up, Chuck Charlie Company offers extremely quick and simple play in the basic game. The idea of players all on the same side, plus the RTO phase, brings some comradery into the game, although for larger games (say, over 3 or 4 people vs. 1 umpire), you'll need additional umpires, or a very fast umpire. Since hidden VC units stay off board, this eases the umpire burden, as map moves with arrows are sufficient, but once spotting takes effect, the umpire was spread a bit thin trying to answer questions AND move/fire troops AND plot mortar fire simultaneously. The unlimited range of small arms fire does away with looking up a chart, which speeds play. We never called in air support, but the napalm template was very impressive at about 6" wide by 1 foot long. By comparison, mines had a 1-inch radius and 81mm mortars has a 2.5-inch radius. Helicopters get 4 "Movement Points" in which to maneuver and make an attack, then they vanish off the board. Advanced rules include throwing grenades, the above air support, and more detailed rules on each soldier. Available from RAFM. Back to MWAN #90 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1997 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