Welcome to Platoon Forward!

Welcome to the site where the story of the battle is as important as the battle itself. Here we will focus on men thrust into extraordinary situations of life and death. They must lead other men with duty and honor to meet their countries objectives. Some will be blessed with great skill, some will carry great shortcomings. No matter what nation, no matter what war, no matter what theater, they are all called to move their Platoon or Squadron forward!

These are their individual stories as played out using my various campaign rules . Hopefully these stories will entertain and inspire you to use your own troops, airmen and sailors to accomplish your own great heroics.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Johhny A in the FFL Chapter one

Finally decided to start a French Foreign Legion squad in Vietnam using Grunt's Forward and my rules for the Legion which will be in my African expansion.  There is a 10% chance of getting an American and I finally got one! ( Okay so 10% is high but hey it is my game and I am an American.  There is also a 10% chance of getting someone from the UK.)  Great back story as well so this guy can't die.  Gentlemen and Jack ( I doubt there are any ladies that read this, if there are please let me know and I will correct myself!) I introduce to you Johnny Anderson better known as "Johnny A". 

Johnny A grew up as a golden boy high school athlete and class president of well to do parents in the mid west.  WW II broke out and in 1943 Johnny turned 18 and against his parents wishes "threw it all away" and enlisted in the marines to serve his country. His touch continued as he was quickly found to have true leadership talent and ended up a squad leader on Okinawa.  After the war he demobilized and went to college to prepare for law school to take over his dad's practice.  He was restless however, and Betty Lou helped quench that fire in him. After Betty informed him she was with child his dad told him the honorable thing to do was marry her and stop living a wild life.  Johnny didn't want to give up his wild life so spit for the east coast.  After bouncing around for 6 months he realized he knew how to soldier and went to France and joined the Legion armed with his High School French.  The Legion also noted his skill and he advanced rapidly to once again become a squad leader.   His brash cockyness did rub his fellow NCOs a bit, particularly the kraut Dietz ( swear I rolled him up too!) and the Lt Carville but the Company commander fancied himself a fluent english speaker and americanophile so liked this marine who had seen action in WW II while he himself had been in North Africa.

West of Hanoi in the Red River Delta 1951
Capt Doucet informed Johnny in English that a mentor of his had located to Annam and he wanted to take him to see the temple up river.  He wanted Johnny's squad to accompany them.  The boat would only hold a dozen people so he should pick 10 and meet him at the dock tomorrow at 7 am.  Now Johnny didn't like the Captain but he had treated Johnny well and the Captain was brilliant in a fight.  None better he had every seen; even in the Corps.  Besides, the Captain was the Captain...
Patrol scenario using Grunt Forward.
Sgt Johnny A         Gr II Leader
       1st Squad  10 men including 1 BAR       8/10
ASL Cpl Hughes    Gr II Leader
Capt Doucet            Gr III leader with Brilliant characteristic
1 patrol boat with LMG up front.

French will land at the dock upper right and proceed to temple on foot.  VC will be returning to village
My cool $4 temple from Petsmart
Johnny A, the Capt and Fr LaRouche, SJ. 

Fr LaRouche meets some villagers.  Yes he does speak the language but they tell him nothing. ( yes there is a table for that.)
The enemy shows up on blinds and becomes...
1 squad, 1 LMG and 1 mortar team.
Cpl Hughes gets pinned down right away and civilians scramble for cover. 
 The VC use tunnels to move to the opposite side of the village leaving the LMG in the temple.  One of Hugh's men goes down with a serious wound.   Johnny patches him up and takes him back to the boat.

Johnny A making a drop off.

The boat moves up and eliminates the LMG. 
Johnny sends 2 men into the temple. He goes back for the rear guard and the Capt and priest start towards the temple again.  Battle over?


As Johnny picks up the rear guard to move they are attacked by the VC squad.  Disciplined firepower carries the firefight and after 2 KIAs charlie breaks off contact. 

Short fun firefight!     Easy victory for Johnny A. One serious wound vrs 4 KIA for the VC. ( VM)  Post battle Johnny gets to talking with the priest who also speaks english and they strike up a friendship.  Also, Cpl Hugh's fireteam takes a liking to him with a +1. 
More to come for sure!

Also played a special ops raid on an african nation where 4 green berets snatched a high ranking officer. 

Enjoy

Joe








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3 comments:

  1. Excellent fight Joe, thanks for posting, and I'm looking forward to your modern Africa write-up as well. A couple issues:

    1) Johnny A is pretty cool, but nowhere near as cool as that debonair Staff Sergeant of Marines in your Iraq campaign. You know, the one recently decorated for valor ;)

    2) I was gonna gripe about the mistreatment, i.e., "...gentleman and Jack...,' but, as they say, any publicity is good publicity ;)

    I hope all is well, and that temple is awesome, I need to head over to PetSmart!

    V/R,
    Jack

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jack,
    Great to hear from you as always!
    1. Agreed- not even close but you have to try.
    2. Actually thought you would take it as a complement otherwise I would hear, "don't call me that. I work for a living!"
    Joe

    ReplyDelete