TMOCB ARVN Special Forces v Viet Cong

Dave's second game of TMOCB this time with him using the VC and me an ARVN Special Forces platoon in the search and destroy scenario. 

I'd never used veteran troops before in TMOCB so was interested to see how they did. While few in numbers they do have some significant advantages which should allow them to move fast and hit hard. Given their small numbers I spent the 5 asset points on an extra base for one squad and an artillery liaison team for the platoon HQ more for an extra base than any other reason!

There are initial reports of VC activity from an armoured convoy (I just wanted to put the tanks and M113's on the table really!):

An ARVN Special Forces platoon is sent in to investigate:

VC mass in one of the villages, the reports were not wrong:

They sure were not! Sniper! The 2nd squad loses a base which is taken out by a VC ambush:

The casualties are quickly medivaced by chopper:

The first food cache is discovered:

The VC commander makes an error, two of his sections are hit by an artillery strike. One section is unscathed but the other takes very heavy losses:

To the right of the road the 2nd squad advances and finds some hidden weapons and ammo:

The 1st squad destroys more food stores:

The 1st squad moves up along the temple towards the VC hit by the earlier artillery strike:

The 3rd squad arrives but have got a bit lost and have some distance to cover before they can join in the fight:

The platoon commander destroys more food supplies:

The 2nd squad encounters VC, they are few in numbers though:

The 1st squad occupies the temple:

The 2nd and 3rd squads converge on the VC in the village:

With the VC being squeezed between the 2nd and 3rd squads they elect to fade back into the jungle:

Assault! A large VC section attempts to rush the temple!:

The attack is beaten off with heavy losses:

Undaunted a second VC section tries to rush the temple:

Again it is largely cut down though the ARVN take a base loss themselves. When calling don the medevac helicopter disaster strikes as the VC shoot it down! Truly this is the TEMPLE OF DOOM: 

Another ARVN artillery strike, less effective this time:

The 2nd squad clears more of the villages:

More food goes up in smoke:

Remarkably another attempt to medevac is stopped in it's tracks (literally):

Having cleared the temple the 1st squad resumes the advance:

They begin to explore another village:

Masses of VC casualties are in the area:

With few men left the VC quit the field:

A rather overwhelming victory for the ARVN Special Forces, they only lost two bases in the entire game one of which was evacuated (the medevac service did less well though losing a chopper and an M113!) with numerous VC casualties and several caches found. 

Dave was pretty unlucky with his casualty, shooting and assault rolls but the more I play the more I think that winning with the VC against a competently handled White Star force is difficult and the style of play required is rather negative, trying to minimize losses and prevent the villages being searched while picking off any isolated White Star forces. Of course this may well be realistic!

As regards using veterans they seem quite effective, they get an extra action dice, two more dice when shooting or assaulting and always count as 'down' improving their saving throw. 

Next time we will probably try the NVA rather than the VC and see how that goes!

The Men of Company B VC v ARVN

 After what seems like a long time I managed to get in another TMOCB game, this time against an actual opponent (Gary) instead of playing solo.

As it was Gary's first game and he hadn't been able to read the rules I thought the best way to go would be for me to be the VC and Gary to take the ARVN (but the 'regular' Mike Force' not the 'raw' version so basically Americans but I'd get to use some of my ARVN figures for a change. Again as it was Gary's first experience with the rules I went for the 'Search and Destroy' operation.

The peace of another day in Nam is shattered by the arrival of the ARVN:

I didn't choose the Chopper as a support for the ARVN but thought it may as well make a brief appearance for the customary photo:

A VC leader arrives and begins to recruit the enthusiastic peasantry to the cause:

The Imperialist lackies prepare to begin their mission:

More VC are recruited in another village, again the villagers seem keen to repel the invaders:

An immediate success for the ARVN who find a food cache and destroy it:

The first casualty of the day, an innocent peasant killed while being interrogated for refusing to give up any information. A reporter covers the scene:

Despite the villager refusing to talk the ARVN find another food cache and destroy it:

Another village, another food cache destroyed. The villages and VC will be hungry tonight:

More VC gather together:

The ARVN have now searched most of the easily reached villages and will have to move on to those now held by the VC:

They advance on one of the weaker held villages and the first VC casualty occurs:

Following up the ARVN assault the surviving VC who fall back with heavy losses:

The entire VC squad is wiped out by the ARVN:

They search the village, find another cache of food and destroy it. Not much is going for the VC so far!:

However they manage to strike back with three ARVN bases going down in a firefight:

VC begin to mass around the animal enclosures:

This proves to be a mistake as the ARVN commander calls down an artillery strike with devastating accuracy:

Several VC are hit including one unfortunate villager:

On the other side of the road fighting continues:

Neither side seems willing to attack across the paddy fields:

Eventually the ARVN move forward but take heavy losses from shooting. The VC assault with a large numerical advantage but fail to drive off the ARVN and are forced to retreat:

The game ends with a few further exchanges of fire:

On counting the victory points the final score was VC 54pts to the ARVN 54pts so the game was a draw! Gary kept his men together well, not allowing the VC to pick off isolated units. He also decided to concentrate on destroying the food caches rather than capture the VC VIP or their arms supplies which again worked well. If he had evacuated some of his casualties I think he'd have won easily but, not realising really how significant that could be, he didn't evacuate any.

We both enjoyed the game and Gary would be happy to play again, it is quite a thoughtful rule set with a variety of ways to play. It was also good to get the ARVN on the table even though we didn't go for the 'raw' version of the list with two platoons, I'm curious to see how that would work! Maybe next time.