Historical Wargaming

This year for Spring Convention of Recruits, ‘Combatcolours’ (Steve H.) and I ran a Cold War Commander game of Vietnam, modified for convention use. The modifications were very minor changes and I will cover those later. First thing, we will cover is the trip up and about Recruits.

Recruits

Recruits is very nice three-day convention held twice a year (Spring and Fall) in Lee Summit, Missouri, just south of Kansas City, Missouri. The Lee Summit High School is extremely nice about allowing the convention to be held in their gym. There is always a good number of vendors, both local and out of state. It normally draws a fairly good size crowd these, with players coming in all over the Mid-West (Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma) and even further! (Texas, Tennessee, etc) It is a must if you live in the area or happen to be in the area. http://recruits.mtswebsites.com/

This Spring convention was either the third or fourth convention for me (I can’t remember right now and I know ‘Combatcolours’ had been to one to three more than that. Last Fall, ‘Hostile Contact’ (Curtis T.) rode with us to the convention, but this convention he went up with another friend of his, Alan. So with the spare room in the car, we reluctantly allowed ‘Timmy!’ (Tim S.) to ride with us…nah, just kidding…he was able to get away for the day this time. Like the last several times, we would drive off from St. Louis that Saturday before the sun rise, drive four hours or so to con, check in, eat breakfast, tour the vendors, set up the game, play a fun game, roll up, check the vendors again, play in someone else’s game, eat diner, and drive four hours back for a fun filled 20 hours or more experience!

This convention appeared not to have nearly the usual turn out, which may have been part of the economics the way that it is today, but also there was really bad weather expected that Saturday in Kansas City and St. Louis. It did rain most of the day and there was some heavy snow in the afternoon. I found out later that it snowed hard enough that the Kansas City airport did close down for a while (probably about 20-30 miles away.) Also the three of us were busy counting the number of wreck cars and SUV’s on the side of the highway on the trip back due to the snows.

Now, on to the game!

The Convention Modifications to Cold War Commander

Cold War Commander is a fun and great system. It is design mainly for one on one playing or a couple of players on each side for larger games. But in conventions, most convention players have never played the game system that they attend as they want to try something new or just want to play in scenario that interest them. Also there is generally a time restriction for how long a game can go on as the tables are to be used by some one else later. So with that in mind, we attacked the way we were going to run this to make it entertaining for everyone.

First, everyone was going to be American players, just like in RAFM’s, Charlie Company, rules. ‘Combatcolours’ was going to run the Viet Cong in the game and I was going to be the narrator and guide to rules and system to the players. Next thing is that ignored the Breakpoint level for both sides. We want the players to keep going for the whole game time slot. Third, the US Army was treated not as ‘conscripts’ as in the normal system since this was early in the war before the morale of the army started to slip and also so the players could charge VC stands without any restrictions if they want. Fourth, I upped the Command Value of the US by one point. Again, I was reflecting that this operation was rehearsed several times before they executed the plan and also give the players a better chance to do several actions each turn. Finally, the major change was the how the US CO would work. Normally when a Headquarters (HQ) stand fails its first command roll, the CO can immediately take over and keep issuing commands until it fails or stops. But in the game, once a command stand stops ordering commands, it can’t start up again later in the turn (example, HQ1, then the CO, followed by HQ2, and then the CO again). So we changed that if a HQ failed its first command roll, the player gets to roll again under the CO’s command value, but then it reverts back to the HQ stand. Then the CO can be used by another failed HQ, if needed. Also, for the CO’s command roll, the distance from the CO stand to the unit did not matter, only the distance between the units being commanded for modifications to the command roll. The reason behind this is that the US CO is flying around overhead in a Huey and can fly where he is needed and also to keep it simple for the players. The trade off is that the CO can only re-roll for failed first time command rolls.
The Game

The general set up was similar as the last Vietnam game that I posted up on my blog. The pictures of the game table below are to give a rough orientation of directions prior to me going into the background of the game.

The scenario of the game is based off of Operation Cedar Falls in 1967, just down sized in scale. Three of the four players had never played in one of our games and never played in a Cold War Commander game. While ‘Hostile Contact’ had played in our games before, he was great enough to help fill in the fourth player slot so that the others could run a smaller forces and pick up on the rules faster. Two of the US Army players (Mike and Matthew) were running the Air Assault elements. The other two US Army players (‘Hostile Contact’ and Alan) were each pushing a mechanized column. So just a quick break down of the forces:

Each Air Assault element was a weak infantry company of two infantry platoons. Each platoon had one headquarters (HQ) stand, three infantry squads (stands), and one weapons squad (machine gun stand). The weapons squad was also armed with M72 LAW rockets for bunker busting.

Both mechanized columns were pretty much the same, but with one column were a ‘Bull’ Plow and two trucks to full fill the battalion’s mission. The mechanized columns had one platoon of mechanized infantry (1 HQ, 3 infantry squads, and 1 weapons squad with M72 LAWs) plus their tracks (2 standard M113s and 2 ACAV M113s). To give the column some extra firepower, a M48A3 tank was attached to the platoon.

Off-board, the players had access to an A-1 Skyraider with one load of napalm bombs and another load of cluster bombs, and some regular old iron bombs; an UH-1D gunship; and several tubes of 105mm artillery, but all of this could only be used after a scenario specific conditions were met first…more on that later.

Mission Briefing

“Attention! Officer in the room!” bellowed the Command Sergeant Major. The room fell very quite after the sound of companies’ officers and non-com’s jumped to attention.

The Battalion Commander of the Up-teenth Battalion stepped in to the command post’s meeting room. “Be seated. Gentlemen, today we are going into the Iron Triangle and start cutting Charlie’s means of operation out of business. As you know, in Operation Crimp last year, we discovered massive tunnel complexes all around this area. The local villagers are supplying the VC with food and recruits and we have not been able to stop the VC from visiting the villages. MACV has decided that if we can’t stop the VC from visiting the villages, then we will move the villages.”

“Alpha and Bravo Companies will air lift in near the hamlet of Tien Phu. You will mostly be landing in rice paddies and some open areas. Your primary mission is to secure the local villagers working in the fields, escort them back to their huts and have them grab all of their personal belongs. Charlie Company will be divided in two mechanized columns. One column will be travelling south from Ba Cat to the hamlet on orders to engage any VC relief forces trying to stop the removal of the village. The second column will be travelling from the base camp outside of Saigon and will be escorting the trucks that move the villagers and their belongings out of the area and back towards Saigon. Also, in that column will be a ‘Bull’ Plow from an engineer outfit that will knock down the buildings of the village while both Alpha and Bravo provide area security.”

“There will probably be mostly Regional VC and limited Main Force VC as intelligence believes that a VC battalion is scattered around the area. We don’t know what the VC has in the immediately area, but I can tell you is that he will not be happy once he realizes that we are taking his gravy ticket with us when we leave. “

“One last thing, MACV was very clear on this, there will be no air strikes or artillery strikes until all the villagers are secured and in the village. So grab those villagers fast and get them back to village.” With that the Battalion Commander was finish and the CSM barked out, “You got thirty minutes till we mount up, get moving! Hoo-Ah!”

Turn One

Both Captains Mike and Matthew were wondering “How did I get into this mess” as the UH-1D’s were flying over the jungle canopy towards the hamlet of Tien Phu. The crew chief’s personal radio hanging on the bulk wall was blaring out ‘Paint It Black’ by the Rolling Stones as they approach the landing zones. Mike’s company touched down to the northwest (1st Platoon) and west (2nd Platoon) of the village. Matthew’s company touched down to the south (1st Platoon) of the village and one platoon further to the southwest (2nd Platoon) near the small bridge that crosses over the irrigation system for the rice fields.

Mike’s 2nd platoon starts advancing to grab some villagers that he saw just south of his landing zone. His 1st platoon secured their LZ and waited orders. As Mike was waiting, a report of a heavy machine gun was heard. On top of the hill just northeast of the village was a VC heavy machine gun team was set up to shoot at any American helicopters that would be checking out the village, but the wily Americans just landed outside of his range!

Matthew’s 1st Platoon moved quickly to the north and started to occupy the village. The 2nd Platoon start to send the majority of the platoon north to check out some people they saw in the rice paddies to the south of the village and right next to 1st Platoon’s LZ that they just ignored and left alone! One squad from the 2nd moved to check out the little bridge.

Both mechanized columns started to roll in but were not too happy about moving down the jungle roads. (They both only made one successful command roll!)

Turn Two

Mike’s 1st Platoon started to move eastward just north of the village to move in engage the VC heavy machine gun on the hill. His platoon took some fire and one squad was pinned down. But they were able to suppress the machine gun and forced it to fall back for a while. His 2nd Platoon got the one group of civilians into the village so they could start gathering their belongings.

Matthew’s 1st Platoon broke up into two groups, the first was just one infantry squad securing the north half of the village and the second group of two infantry squads and the weapons squad moved south back towards their LZ to check out what it was in the rice paddies. The 2nd Platoon, minus one squad moved up and seized the second group of villagers and also went to check out the mysterious group in the rice paddies…

Well, it has been over a month since my last post…and I don’t have a lot to show for that time.

During this period of time, I have been slowly working on my 10mm US Vietnam project. I currently have 10 infantry stands, 6 machine gun stands, 4 headquarters, 2 recon stands, and 1 LRRP stand on my work bench. I hope to have them complete by the end of March. With this, I will have completed the bulk of my main US force for all of my Vietnam games. I will start working and finishing up the various support and armor stands next, re-doing my old infantry & command stands that have the uniforms looking brown instead of green and repaint them to the green uniform, and then begin all of my conversion items.

In the end, I will have a US Army infantry battalion (leg), where each stand represents a squad, a weapon system, or a vehicle. Along with this, I will have an Armored Cavalry platoon, artillery and air support, and various engineers and convoy units.

When I get completed, I will be taking a picture of each completed company and posting them up here.

As I start seeing the completion of the main force of this project, I am looking to what I am planning to do in the future. And the future looks very French!

I am already working on my French paratroopers for French Indochina. I got the flashing cleaned off, primed and mounted on the bases. I also got the base coat on for the uniforms. I had to stop myself as I really need to finish the Americans.

I have decided that I will also start on a Blitzkrieg Commander/IABSM French armor force for 1940, to be ready for the 70th anniversary of the Fall of France. I have ordered the toys and I am now a waiting for their arrival. They will mostly be miniatures from Pithead. What Pithead doesn’t have, will be filled by Minifigs miniatures.

On the travelling side, I visited Guilford Courthouse battlefield (American War of Independence). I have placed pictures of the battlefield here: http://picasaweb.google.com/joeantarctica/GuilfordCourthouseNationalMilitaryPark#

I also visited the Atlanta’s exhibit for the First Emperor of China’s Terracotta Army. But they would not allow photographs…so no picture of Qin Dynasty warriors…bummer.

Later this month, I am attending the Spring Recruits gaming convention in Kansas City, MO, http://recruits.mtswebsites.com/ on March 28 (we will only be there for the one day and not the whole convention.) Combatcolours and I will be running a modified “convention” version of Cold War Commander, so that it will accommodate 6 players, which will all be running the US forces in a 1967, Operation Cedar Falls, Vietnam game. It will be a similar one as the one that I posted earlier, but with some differences. Expect pictures from that.

Well, I figure I should make a "New Year's Resolution" for miniature gaming...not that I have ever kept a resolution yet! But if I put it out there what I want to do in writing, I just might actually do it.

1) Finish my 10mm US Army Battle group for Vietnam.

I still have a lot to work on. I was originally only going to have about two dozen infantry stands, which would be two companies of infantry if the stands equal a squad. But as I decided to change my "weapons" squads stands to be M60 tripod teams so they are different from the regular infantry squads, that means that I will be replacing 6 of my infantry stands that I have. (BTW, I decided to do this so they can be easily ID'd as MG stands or double as infantry stands depending on the scenario.) This now means that I am only 3 infantry stands away from completely a 3rd company for infantry stands...So, not to waste 6 stands, I am going to go ahead and finished the 3rd company, which means that all I need is the support units from the Headquarters Company to complete an infantry battalion...Yes, I will be completing an infantry battalion now!

Now, I have to scratch build a lot of stuff that is not available in 10mm - the M30 4.2" mortar, M40 106mm Recoilless Rifles on jeeps (MUTTs if the one resin company will release them again), the M37 3/4 ton truck (but I might just have to settle for using the WWII era WC-51), some men carrying the M67 90mm Recoilless Rifles, and finally some AN/PPS-4 Ground Surveillance RADAR stands. Sigh...

Also still have my M48 tank platoon, artillery, gun trucks, trucks, helicopters, aircraft, etc....

2) Start my 10mm French Indochina project:

Combatcolours modified and painted up a 144th French Criquet for me as a Xmas gift. I have not taking any pictures of it yet, but I am hoping to take some pictures of it this weekend and put it up on this blog. But because of this, I will start on French Indochina next. I have not decided what I will start first, but I will do one of the following first, then follow by the others afterwards: a French Parachute BN, probably the "6e Bataillon de Parachutistes Coloniaux" (6 BPC) for Operation Castor or Tu-Le; or the "Elément de Choc" for the "Groupement Amphibie" and hope that Pendraken releases the M29 Weasel / "Crabes" soon so I can finish the "Elément de Reconnaissance et de Manoeuvre" for the "Groupement Amphibie"; or, finally, the Viet Minh forces which will probably be a reinforced infantry battalion or weak regiment. I am heavily leaning towards the Paras for Operation Castor, then the VM forces for the same operation.

3) Start my 10mm Japanese Ground Self Defense Force battle group:

I have collected a lot of the 144th collectible Japanese pre-painted toys of the JGSDF and the JASDF for air strikes. As they are pre-painted and not badly at that. I will probably only do some detailing and then have to base them. So, it should be an easy go...but I reserve my rights to complain later! The only thing that I am really lacking will be infantry. So, I think I might be converting some modern US troops to slightly look like JGSDF troops. This battle group will most likely be used to fight alien Mecha war walkers and Martian invaders for "Future War Commander" rules / games. But they might be fighting Combatcolours' modern USMC when he is finish them and I finish mine...Guadalcanal, 2012, anyone?

Other than that, I might revisit my 10mm WWII US Army battle groups and even my 28mm Gangs of New York, B'hoys!

1st Infantry Division’s commanding officer has decided to launch a battalion size search and destroy operation of a village of Long Bien Dein (fictional). Battalion (BN) has made arrangements for mobilizing the various companies for this operation, as well as providing engineer, artillery, and close air support assets. Due to the reduced manpower strength of the various line companies, the weapons platoons were broken up to bring the line platoons to strength.

Alpha Company (A Co.) will be air lifted to the valley just north of the village and create a blocking screen to prevent the Viet Cong (VC) from escaping from the village. (This company is off board and not part of the game.)

Bravo Company (B Co.) will be air lifted to secure a flank of the village and move in to engage in the search and destroy operation. One platoon will be flown in on UH-1s to secure the Landing Zone (LZ). The remainder of the company will be air lifted in on CH-47s after the LZ has been secured. Attached to the company will be Scout Dog team for locating VC formations.

Charlie Company (C Co.) will be ground mobile with one platoon mounted in M113s and the remaining two platoons mounted in 2-1/2 ton trucks. The BN CO will be with this mobile column, as well as the engineering assets.

Delta Company (D Co.) will remain at base camp to provide base security for the artillery command. (This company will not be in the game, but the base camp is where the off-board artillery is located.)

Engineering assets will include one squad of engineers with a M113 and one M132 flamethrower.

Artillery assets will include one battery of two sections of 105mm howitzers.

Close Air Support assets will be provided by an UH-1 gunship.

Commander’s Intent (Victory objectives): The Primary objective is to break the VC force and route them out of the village (VC Battle group must fail their Break Point roll); failing that, Division expects that the BN will be able to have high body count to show that victory is certain (Inflict 25% or more stands lost of the VC Battle group.)

Break down of fixed formations for the game:

BN CO – 1 (Battle group’s Break Point is 13)

B Co.: 1st Plt - HQ-1, Infantry -3; 2nd Plt - HQ-1, Infantry -4; 3rd Plt - HQ-1, Infantry -4; also available are 1 Scout infantry (Dog team) Recce and 1 LAW upgrade. (Please note that 1st Plt is one infantry short compared to the others.)

B Co’s Airlift: UH-1N – 4; CH-47D – 2; Air Assault Assets – 4 (Note: in this game, the cargo capacities for these helicopters are halved for what is stated in the CWC’s stats. It just makes more sense for the numbers.)

C Co.: 1st Plt - HQ-1, Infantry -4; 2nd Plt - HQ-1, Infantry -4; 3rd Plt - HQ-1, Infantry -4; also available is 1 LAW upgrade.

C Co’s transportation: M113’s – 4, 2-1/2 ton trucks – 4 (Note: in this game, the cargo capacities for the M113’s are halved for what is stated in the CWC’s stats. It just makes more sense for the numbers.)

Engineer Asset: Combat Engineer - 1; M113 - 1; M132 Flamethrower - 1

Artillery Asset: 105mm Howitzer (towed) – 2

Close Air Support Asset: UH-1D gunship – 1

Total points: 2015 points

Orders from the 165th Regiment – Viet Cong:


With fortune, we were able to be made aware of a large American offensive against our District. We have moved and hidden our heavy weapons and supplies caches, but we must show some fight against the imperialistic Americans. As such, your understrength battalion has been selected to give a fight to the Americans. Remember our teachings of guerrilla warfare, “The guerrilla wins if he does not lose.” (Major Victory: if the VC inflicts twice or more casualties than taken; Minor Victory: if the VC inflicts more casualties than taken.)

VC Battle group:

CO – 1 (Battle group’s Break Point is 6)
HQ’s – 2
Main Force VC – 12
Sniper – 1
RPG upgrades – 6
Anti-personal booby traps – 6
Anti-tank booby traps – 3
Trenches – 9

Total points: 1000 points


Turn 1 of 12:

The BN Commander, (me…’Sapper Joe’), decided that Bravo Company’s commander (Pat C., ‘Gunslinger’) would make the final decision on where he was going to designate his Landing Zone (LZ) and I would decided from what route would be the best for the Charlie Company (Mike D., ‘Red’) and the engineering assets to move in and secure the village and still be able to provide support to Bravo Co. if needed.

‘Gunslinger’ used his 1st Platoon with the Dog Scout section and landed just northeast of the village. As he had pre-coordinated the landings with the Light Helicopter Company, there was no scattering of this command (Air Assault Assets per CWC). Gunslinger order the platoon to advance towards the woods to his west as there were expected VC forces in there (the hidden counters).


Mean while, ‘Red’ drove in Charlie Company’s 1st Platoon in the attached M113’s down the road from the Assembly Area. Prior to entering the Area of Operations (AO), ‘Red’ instructed the platoon to drive off the road and parallel just off the road. So far, no fire from the Viet Cong had occurred. The BN Commander, ‘Sapper Joe’, decide to wait until more elements of Charlie Company was in the AO, prior to bring up the engineering assets as well as the BN’s M577.


Turn 2 of 12:

Gunslinger decided that better bring in the rest of Bravo Co., so the 1st Platoon’s leader calls in the 2nd Platoon to land in the same location that the 1st Platoon did. While this platoon was to be flown in on a Chinook, due to some engine failures (ie., the models were not finished in time for the game) the platoon was flown in on Huey ‘Slicks’. The ‘Slicks’ were off a little bit, but still were able to land where they were needed. 2nd Platoon was on the ground and they were to start moving to the woods to the west.


Back with ‘Red’, Charlie Company’s 1st Platoon was order to move farther down parallel road. Closing on an expected enemy position, ‘Red’ ordered them to dismount from their tracks. Suddenly, an anti-personal mine booby trap exploded on the 2nd squad near where they dismounted the M113 and wounding a man. As ‘Red’ radioed orders to advance on the VC’s position, confusion from the explosion caused a major blunder of cross fire from the M113’s .50cal machine guns and rifle and grenade fire from 3rd and 1st squad that 2nd squad was riddled to pieces from the friendly fire. While the other squads also took some wounds, 2nd squad had several dead and the rest wounded so that they had to be pull out of the line. (This was an ugly command blunder roll!) The Americans now have one stand towards their Breakpoint.


However as bad as that was, ‘Red’ gained control and the rest of Charlie Company’s 2nd and 3rd Platoons came on and dismounted from their trucks.

Break Point: US 1/13 – VC 0/6

Turn 3 of 12:

Again, ‘Gunslinger’ decided to risk bring in the 3rd Platoon as well and had them in the same location. There was a slight deviation, but again they had an uneventful landing. 3rd Platoon moved out to scout out the expected VC position in the woods to the east the LZ.

As 1st Platoon moved in through the woods, there was an explosion and the report of AK-47 fire…the Viet Cong finally came out to fight! 1st Platoon counterattack with deadly return fire and destroyed the VC squad. The 1st Platoon advanced a little more cautiously after that.


To the south and east of the LZ, Charlie Company pushed on. The expected VC position near the booby trap that lead to the 2nd squad’s combat ineffectiveness, turned out to be an old campsite and nothing of any real interest was found. So ‘Red’ pushed the M113’s foreword, but the 2nd and 3rd Platoons made no head way towards the village as rumors of the bloody friendly fire incident caught their attention.

The BN command and the engineering assets entered the AO and were bottled necked by the 2nd and 3rd Platoons milling around.


Break Point: US 1/13 – VC 1/6

Turn 4 of 12:

Bravo Company continued to fan out from the LZ and ran into VC on both sides of the LZ! Worst yet was that they were entrenched and waiting for a fight! For the next several turns Bravo Company found itself in a serious firefight and just could not get any where.


Charlie Company was rather slow in advancing to the village. It appears the men were rather reluctant to take commands after the friendly fire incident. This also went on for a couple of turns of poor command dice rolling for ‘Red’.

Break Point: US 1/13 – VC 1/6

Turn 5 of 12:

While Bravo Company slugged it out with the entrenched VC and Charlie Company moved forward slowly, the actual results where very little. The only major thing was that the VC in the village decided to finally fight and started shooting at soldiers from 3rd Platoon as well as a VC sniper took a couple of crack shots at the US forces. An anti-tank booby trap exploded near the M132, but it only angered the engineers.

Break Point: US 1/13 – VC 1/6

Turn 6 of 12:

The Winds of Fortune started to blow in favor of the US Army! The VC in the village where holed up in one building and in some trenches under the buildings raise platform. But this is a little too late as two of the three buildings in the village has been already been secured by the Army. The combat engineer squad dismounts and secures the northeast hootch and prepares to flush the VC out of the village.


While things are looking good in the village, again 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company just can’t break the VC’s positions. While they are delivering massive firepower, they just can’t seem to do enough to make a real difference. On the other side of the LZ, 1st and 2nd Platoon can’t seem to crack the VC positions either.


Break Point: US 1/13 – VC 1/6

Turn 7 of 12:

“Victory is ours!” cried the BN commander after receiving the reports from Bravo Company’s firefight and the combat engineer squad in the village.

In Bravo’s firefight, 2nd Platoon was finally able to suppress the eastern flank VC squad and overrun the position. With combined rifle and grenade fire from the 1st and 2nd Platoons, the center trench collapses and exposing the VC’s command center. They VC commander and the political officer escaped to hide with the remaining VC squad in what is left of that trench line.


The M113’s from Charlie Company laid down a deadly barrage of machine gun fire on the VC squad in the trench in the village. This fire was very successful in inflicting hits and suppressing the VC squad. The combat engineer squad, being supported by their M113, close assaulted the VC trench works after taking some fire from the other two VC squads. With satchel charges and bayonets, the engineers made short work of the VC squad and seized the trenches. The VC squads realized that they were doomed and made a run for it into the rice paddies.

Viet Cong trying to escape the US Army

Break Point: US 1/13 – VC 4/6

Turn 8 of 12:

Bravo Company was still trying to crack the VC to the east of the LZ and was not getting anywhere. The remaining VC squad to the west of the LZ was still holding out.

Back in the village, two of the M113’s moved across the north/south road and another anti-tank booby trap went off, but no damage was done.

The M132 was order to move up and flame the VC squads as they flee in the rice paddies. It made short work of them.

The Soviet dice stays true to their feelings towards Timmy! as he rolled for the VC’s breakpoint.

Finally, I am including some pictures of Combatcolours’ Viet Cong stands…beautiful, are they not?

Some more of Combatcolours’ Viet Cong Main Force stands

Hello:

Well, for those that don't know, I work in construction which requires me to live away from home for long periods of time. After my last post, I found myself very busy at work and also had to move from Utah to Mississippi. So...I have not got much done at all since my last post.

But never fear, I am looking at 14 infantry stands, 2 81mm mortar stands, 2 LAW stands, and 1 machine gun stand for my 10mm US Vietnam collection. I have everything mounted, based and have, for the most part, the uniforms finished. I am hoping to have the flesh painted by the end of the day for the majority of the stands. If all goes all, I should have all of this finished by Xmas and may actually run a game on the Saturday after Xmas! We will see.

I did get into a game on the Saturday after Thanksgiving...but I did not think of bring a camera! Bummer...

The game was run by Lance W. using the Fire & Fury variant for Napoleonic’s. I can't remember the particulars, but I think it was 1806 with Lance running the Prussians, I was running the Russians, and Combat Colours was running the French. Lance had the main objective of seizing a village and storming across a bridge and opening a way to Danzig. He was not able to flush the French out of the village or successfully cross the bridge, but he did seize half of the village and cut off the remaining French force in the village which would have had to surrender afterwards. As for me, I basically had to tie up part of the French army and create a second crossing if possible. I droved the French back to the other side of the river, but I did not have enough time to push across the bridge there. Ironically, for almost the entire game, half of my force could never pass the command rolls to advance, specifically my best unit of Grenadiers! If it was not for my artillery, I probably would not have gotten anywhere (and yes, in the end, I was preparing to lead my assault across the bridge with Russian cannons because they were the only one that I could trust to advance! Oh well, it was a French victory...way to go Combat Colours!

The game took place at B&B Games at Eureka, MO. It was a very nice venue and tons of kids everywhere (there was a Pokémon Tournament going on as well). The owner is very friendly and is happy to have us come back for more miniature games! Give them a look! http://www.bandbgameshop.com/

Until later!

Ok, I will provide a quick "sneak peek" of my elusive dreams...10mm conversions for US Gun Trucks. My current conversion is based off the actual gun truck, "Snoopy", from the 444th Transportation Company (Light), 27th Transportation Battalion.

I still have a lot to do: the 4 x .50 cal machine guns and crew in the bed; the air filter and exhaust stack; hand paint the logo on the opposite side; finish the driver; add decals for the US Stars; a radio antenna; and if I can get them to stay - rear view mirrors!

The first picture is from the Minifigs site of what the 10mm M35A2 2-1/2 ton truck will look like straight out of the kit...then were I am at on my conversion.



Now, if you think that was bad enough...I still have to convert another M35A2 to be a Quad .50cal gun truck ("Nancy" from the 444th Trans. Co.); a 3/4 ton Gun Truck (or Beep) (either "Otto" from the 359th Trans. Co. or "Godzilla" from the 512th Trans. Co); and at least one (!) Gun Jeep (or MUTT). This is not also including the infamous jeep for the 444th Trans. Co., "Moon Shiners", which was solid black in color!

Ah, yes...My Elusive Dreams....

As I said in my previous post, I was pretty busy this weekend. This is what I got done for my NVA forces. The PT-76 is the same one as in the earlier post, but this time I photographed in natural sunlight and it came out better then the previous pictures.

The BTR-152 still needs its machine gun finished and glued on and some "Super Moss" added on to the base. It is for NVA's "Xe Sung", or their version of a "Gun Truck" for convoy protection on the Ho Chi Minh Trail or base camps and weapon caches. According to "The Hard Ride; Vietnam Gun Trucks", by James Lyles, US troops also captured a WWII era M3 halftrack that the NVA was using as a "Xe Sung", but the book only had pictures of a captured BTR-152 "Xe Sung".

Finally, the "supply" stand is for a victory objective for the US to capture or for the NVA to sneak past US forces...or whatever I come up with!

Well, it has been several months since I have done any real painting on my miniatures. Today was my first day to really sit down and get back to it. As I am still on my 10mm Vietnam, I was going to work on my now elusive gun truck (yes, I really do have one...), but I forgot to buy the right grey paint to do the tires (sigh...). So, I decided to work on my NVA armor! This is the first of three PT-76's for an armor platoon for the NVA. It is not finished, as I still have the road wheels and part of the tracks to paint and clean off some of the static grass that I did not see before applying the first sealing coat. But, other than that, it is pretty much done. I have to see if they had ID markings and add those if they did have them. This PT-76's other two comrades are just about done as well. I am thinking of having one rolling over some barbed wire or an ARVN position...I got to get creative here!

Mainly, I also want to see how the static grass and "Super Moss" would work on the the base. I am happy with it. Steve H. (Combat Colours) found out about "Super Moss" and has been using it on his VC stands...and they are amazing! I will hope to have a couple of pictures of them on here from a future game in a couple to few months from now.

Any, on a more serious note, Steve H. birthday was yesterday (Happy Birthday!), but today he is in for eye surgery for some serious problems...good luck, Steve!

Well, it is finally coming out..."Charlie Don't Surf!" The long awaited TooFatLardies Vietnam game system. I requested to assist by help hosting a CDS game in St. Louis, MO. However, due to my work travellings, I will probably be running it on the 21st of June (Saturday.) I am planning to make an official announcement soon as I have a copy of the rules and the scenarios. Hopefully, I will be caught up on what I need by then miniature and terrain wise.

Keep a look out for more information.

Well, I don't have any pictures because I have not gotten much done at all since last time. I was looking forward to a good day of painting today, but I discovered that I didn't get around to texture gel my bases...and that takes about a day to dry. So...all I did was texture gel today.

The good news is that tomorrow, I will be able to start on them for painting. I got 17 stands of US infantry and one 81mm mortar textured. I am going to have to look for my 18th stand and the figures for the remain two 81mm stands. I also have to wait until this weekend to see if my order from Pendraken arrives for the 6 x M60 teams. With that and some headquarters stands, I will have a US "leg" Infantry Company. I will then get around to doing the M113's to be able to use them for a Mechanized Infantry Company. This, along with my Armored Cavalry Platoon, will be the bulk of my US forces for Vietnam for the main core elements. Everything else will be support or attachments (M109 howitzers, M110 howitzers, Rome Plows, a "harden" convoy with gun trucks and jeeps, Birddogs, and air support.)

But I am going to start on my Viet Minh forces next...yes, I said Viet Minh, not Viet Cong or NVA. Combat Colours is working on the NVA forces right now. I plan to use my Viet Minh to stand in for early to mid war NVA. Plus I am looking at starting up the 1st Indochina War next.

I will see if I get some stuff done before next weekend.

Oh...BTW, for the gentleman that made a comment about the cornfields from the Big Muddy Day game...I left a comment after yours, but I figure I will touch on it here as well. Those were made by Combat Colours. He used a dishwashing scrubbing pad. I asked him to write some thing up on how he actually does it. So hopefully we will have an answer soon.