Sugarloaf hill Patrol

 I had such a blast with my last game of PCR [Perfect Company Rules] that I decided to follow up with a smaller game.  Unusually, I kept the same unit for back to back games.  You can read about the Cavs last battle in my last post.  For this battle I wanted to do a Patrol of 1 platoon.  Would PCR work with just a platoon?  So for this battle I modified the Patrol scenario from PF so that half the blinds set up on the board and half come in as a patrol.  So we begin another story...

After the last battle, the company lifted off to chase the NVA as they moved towards the interior.  LtCol Duval placed them with a newly constructed FSB.  They were to guard the base and check out the area.  There were suppose to be VC main units acting as rear guard for the NVA.  

Capt Rainer talked it over with First Sergeant Tanner and 1Lt Dunn.  Dunn said, "I would send 1st platoon out.  Robertson did okay last battle.  Let's see if he is becoming the leader he thinks he is.  Will also give SSgt Rosso a chance to shine."  They all agreed.  

   The area just outside the FSB.  FSB is to the left.  Sugarloaf hill is in the center.  Plan is to patrol the area between the two villages and return. Again "squares" are 4 hex grouping and are 60 x 60 yards.  

1st platoon

Lt Robertson the football star who is a poor leader

SSgt Rosso, draftee who "gets it" and stayed.  avg leader

2nd squad is down to 2 bases after clearing the village last battle.   

The enemy

 

Half the markers placed on the board guarding the road.  Everyone dug in.

Capt Rainer is concerned that the hill may be heavily fortified.  He asks for a fly over to check it out. A scout helo does draw fire so ...

Hogs rocket the hill before the patrol which now looks more like an attack.  

Capt Rainer talks with Robertson.  Obviously 1st platoon has to address enemy forces on sugarloaf hill.  Rainer requests a Duster from the base as support in case the hill is heavily fortified.  He also alerts 2nd platoon to be a QRF in case they are needed.  

What is your plan football star?

Lt Robertson decides to send 1st squad [full strength] around to the right while he will take second squad and the duster into the village as a base of fire.  The company gives him an extra radio which he gives to 1st squad.  

1st squad into position.

 Second squad with leadership in position.  

Lt Robertson as a poor leader will get one less command and has an increased chance of going last. [ Part of that OODA loop thing.] 

Here he gets 3 commands.  First he spots the enemy on the hill.  Next he sets up his base of fire.  Third he radios 1st squad to start the assault...

 

only to be told by Sgt Reyes that he is looking at cliffs on this side.  

 So 1st platoon settles for crossfire on a dug in VC squad.  

 During the VC turn a second VC squad with a poor leader shows up on the back side of the hill.  What are the odds?  [ actually 12%!]   The blind on the opposite side of the road moves forward to flank the jungle.  It too revels a squad which takes second squad under fire and they are pinned down.  [ What are the odds that all three markers would be full squads?  2%] 

 So now 1st platoon has its hands full. 

 Fortunately, Robertson get the initiative.  

 He still manages 3 commands with bullets popping all around.  Fortunately, 2nd squad while pinned, is has not lost cohesion yet so will only require 1 test to rally.  Afterward, rallies SSgt Rosso and tells him to assault the hill.  He uses his last command to move off board to go get 3rd squad. The Duster is not going to be happy to be left all alone with VC 40 yards away!

 SSgt Rosso leads an assault up sugarloaf hill. 

 Casualties are light on both sides as the VC move down the trenches toward the back side of the hill.  

 The duster ceases fire at the hill as the cavalry climb. They plan to retreat without infantry support in the village.  The question is, "How fast will the VC realize there are no US troops in the village?"  

 Apparently not very fast without a leader!  

 Duster safe and not wild about following Lt Robertson anymore!  

Robertson gets 4 commands because no one is shooting at him.  He spends 2 to bring the duster and 3rd squad back up into the village then decides he better go see what is going on up front.

Robertson [botton left] checks in with Sgt Reyes and 1st squad.  He is happy to see Rosso on the hill. 

 Unbeknownst to Robinson, 3rd squad is in trouble in the village.  They have taken casualties entering and now the rest of the [depleted] squad is pinned down with no radio.

  Also unknown to Robinson, the VC patrol shows up to see what is going on at sugarloaf. 

 2LT Robertson gets a whopping 4 points this turn.  First, he directs the thump gun to fire into several VC trenches on the hill... 

the gunner nails it!

Second he moves to sugarloaf to ...

 get an update from SSgt Rosso.  He wonders if he can move third squad up so goes back to check on them.  There he finds them in disarray.  

During the VC turn...

 2LT Robertson and the rest of the 3rd squad go down in the village!!!!!

Now what?!?!?!?!

As if things could not get worse, the VC patrol turns out to be 2 squads, an average leader and a MMG. The odds are infinitesimal that the OPFOR should generate 5 full squads and a MMG for this battle.  It has never happened before. The MMG sets up to crossfire SSgt Rosso.  

 2nd squad starts to lose cohesion as the bullets fly.  SSgt Rosso does his best to keep things together.  He is not aware that the Lt is down. 

The Duster, already not happy, realizes things are not going well.  They pour fire into the jungle. 

A wounded soldier gets on the radio and tells Capt Rainer what has happened.  He tries to move a buddy towards the FSB.  

Wow.  This was totally unexpected in a patrol scenario.  1st platoon outnumbered and now potentially cut off.  Good thing I went through the motions of having a QRF ready.

Capt Rainer breaks into a cold sweat as he orders 2nd platoon forward. "This was suppose to be a patrol?"  He tells MSgt Tanner to get 3rd platoon ready and to arrange 105s and air support.  He is going forward with Lt Dunn.  

 Capt Rainer shows up with 5 commands!  Time to save this situation.  

First he orders Lt Dunn to take over 1st platoon. 

Second, he orders the medic into the village.

Third he orders Lt Carlson to clear the village and jungle around the village. 

Fourth he orders ambulances to the village to extract casualties.

 The brave medic goes to work!

 Whew!  Those VC in the jungle are good shots but they sure don't act fast.  This should give the US time to put Rainer's plan in action.

 First up, Lt Carlson.  

 As a good leader he gets an extra command.  He also gets an extra command because no one is shooting at him! [ Note 2nd squad in the back is poor.  That is Sgt Watson's squad that wallowed on the LZ last game.] 

 Nothing subtle here.  Two squads infiltrate the village.  Infiltration doesn't go so well so they are moving in the open.  Several men are pinned down but the VC LMG is already pinned by the duster.  The 3rd squad will enter the swamp to surround the VC.  Capt Rainer looks on. 

 3rd squad in the swamp. The combined firepower wipes out the VC squad.  The men will continue to fire at shadows until told to stop. 

Lt Dunn shows up at 1st squad to asses the situation.   

 He saves 2 commands as he prepares to go to SSgt Rosso.

Situation end of turn 7. Village stabilized to the left.  Battle for the hill still to be determined.  VC have the luxury of a squad in reserve in the village to the right.  

 Rainer only gets 2 commands.  He orders Carlson to try to flank sugarloaf on the left and organizes the ambulances. 

 Lt Carlson gets 6 commands.  He orders Sgt Watson into the jungle.  He rallies the pinned men of 1st squad and reorganizes the squad.  Then he sends a runner to 3rd squad in the swamp and tells them to advance to the hill in front of them.  

 Lt Dunn makes it up to sugarloaf and talks with SSgt Rosso.  The squad is pinned down and has lost cohesion.  They have heavy automatic fire from their left and strong forces to their front.  He requests permission to withdraw and reorganize.  Capt Rainer, not wanting to lose any more men over worthless ground agrees.  

 1st squad withdraws into the village.  Capt Rainer requests 105s and air to pound the hill.  

The positions before the US withdraws.  Please note 3rd squad/2nd Plt on hill upper center of picture.  

 

What a battle!  Certainly was not what I expected.  Platoon Forward certainly generated quite the scenario.  I was stressed out for sure.   The PCRs played very well at the platoon level and had an easy transition to a company game.  

Post game Lt Robertson died at the FSB while awaiting A/E.  As Lt Dunn said, "He finally did as well as he thought he could."

SSgt Rosso makes his roll to become a good leader.  

 

I am really enjoying the PCR rules. Hope you are enjoying the reports.

Joe 

Perfect Company Ruleset round 3

 I have had a great discussion on TMP about company rulesets. I appreciate all who have forced me to articulate what I am looking for.  

1. War is drama, not a math exercise.  A company commander leads humans [ for now] not generic machines. At the sharp end his job is to put his best people with the hardest tasks and minimize the risk of failure for his less than sharp people. 

2. The CO sets his plan [ commander's intent] but then has little direct control over the execution of the plan.  One of the most important and hardest things about command is knowing when to intervene and when not too.   During the battle the CO has imperfect intelligence as to what is happening. 

3. Each platoon is a microcosm of the above model.

4. Even without direct control, platoons, squads and teams will generally try to accomplish the mission, albeit slower and not exactly as the CO would execute.  

5. It is easy to pin down troops.  It is hard to kill them.

6. If not under direct fire, pinned down troops will rapidly recover without need of leadership. 

7. Troops don't need to be told to fire at the enemy or to hit the dirt. They need to be told to hold/shift fire or keep moving.  [ Wolf will tell me troops are trained to keep moving under fire.  That is true.  To actually do it requires either leadership or well trained troops.]

So for my third iteration of my Perfect Company Ruleset [PCR] I set up a search and destroy 1967 for the 1st CAV to test them out.  I am using modified PBI rules with 4 hex groupings as a square of 60 yards. Turns are about 5 minuets.   I pulled a squadron from my past battalion battles.  It is an interesting squadron as they aren't very good.  

Here are the players:

B squadron CO  Capt Rainer    ROTC out of Georgia Tech     Avg

                          1Sgt  Tanner                                                    Avg 

1st Platoon  Lt Robertson  Football star at West point.  Thinks he is God's gift to the Army   Poor

2nd Platoon Lt Carlson  Up from the ranks.  Loner, quiet, professional         Above Avg

3rd Platoon  Lt Schaffer Drafted upon completion of engineering degree from Colorado School of Mines. Accepted a commission but counting the days left in the army.  Will do his job with the platoon but wants to come out alive.     Poor

No particularly good or bad NCO leadership so you see Rainer has his hands full. 

Lt Col Duval is planning a battalion search and destroy.  Squadron B's roll is to look over two villages and a hill.  NVA is know to be in the area and contact is expected.  Additional assets are some Hog choppers, an assault boat and air on call with a FAC.  

 For PBI I am using 9 person squads for the first 2 squads divided into 3 bases and a 6 person squad [ 2 bases] for the 3rd secondary to depleted manpower.  As usual, the MMGs are split up among the squads.

 An airmoble platoon.  [ Lt Shaffer out front!]

 

  Our HQ, L to R FAC, 1Sgt Tanner, Capt Rainer and every important medic

Lt Schaffer's hand drawn sketch of the AO.

[ Board I rolled up using Platoon Forward.  Scenario is modified version of Village Sweep from Grunts Forward.]  

As CO most important thing you can do is have a plan.  What is your plan?  Where do you put your LZs? 

 Here is what the terrain actually looks like.  There are 5 blue markers that have to be searched.  What is your plan?

Rainer decides to land 3rd platoon up at Foxtrot.  He will accompany to steady Schaffer.  They will occupy the hill then move towards the village west of the LZ.  Meanwhile the assault boat will move north to cover LZ Echo while 2nd platoon lands there.  The boat will hold a squad from 2nd platoon afloat.  While anti-social, Carlson is the best equipped to be across the AO from Rainer. He will move north to the village.  Hopefully the squad afloat can check out the large building next to the river on the opposite bank.  1st platoon will be in reserve.  What could go wrong?

LZ Foxtrot and the hill get a pounding from 105s before landing.  Unfortunately...   

Some of the shells fall short into the village and cause civilian casualties. Not a good start.

The HMG on the hill is untouched.

 

Lt Schaffer lands with 2 squads. Machine gun fire covers the LZ.  

Everyone is quickly pinned and 1st squad takes casualties.  2nd squad starts to lose cohesion.  This is getting worse.  Meanwhile across the AO...

 

Our assault boat quietly moves up river. 

Schaffer, wishing he was in Colorado, gets 1 command point.  He is the only person on the LZ not pinned down.  He tries to pin point the source of fire coming from the hill but fails.  But he does hear rotor blades as the second wave arrives...

 

   

 He reports into Capt Rainer.  Perimeter set, everyone pinned down by unknown automatic fire from the hill.  Welcome to your day job Captain!

Meanwhile on Echo... 

2nd Platoon touches down to automatic fire coming from the swamp.  Again, everyone is pinned down.

[ Now for some of the cool stuff in my rules.  You roll for the NCOs and PFCs to see if anyone does something helpful out of your control.  Remember rule #4 above.]  

 Sgt Alcantera rallies 1st squad on LZ Foxtrot.  He then spots the HMG in the trench and passes this information to the attached M60 gunners.  At least the Cav is shooting back now!!

Capt Rainer gets a report from Carlson.  Things don't seem too bad there but it is early. He suggests to Schaffer that he rally the men and expand out into the village.  He switches frequency and starts to work on an Air Evac and some Hogs to hose down the hill.  A squad under Sgt Ricks enters the village but is quickly pinned down from across the road. 

HMG breaks apart 3rd squad.  They will function as three separate parts now.

Meanwhile, the assault boat has spotted the NVA in the swamp and lays down heavy fire.  A 60mm mortar falls near the boat. 

 

Lt Carlson gets three orders after a sitrep with Rainer.  He rallies both squads and sends 1st squad to flank the NVA position by going through the jungle. [ Note he doesn't need to order second squad to fire into the swamp.  They will automatically do so.  Once rallied their fire becomes more effective.]

 

Now the enemy are in a crossfire! [ note one stand of 2nd squad is back as they are starting to lose cohesion.]

Suddenly an RPG errupts from the swamp. Fortunately it misses the boat. 

Capt Rainer has inbound Hogs and Medivac.  

 

back on Echo, 2nd squad has lost cohesion and each part is pinned.  Lt Carlson has his work cut out for him.

Meanwhile, on Fox Lt Schaffer decides to lead.  He confers with Sgt Alcantera and they get the thump guns landing rounds right on target! [ Schaffer had to decide who were the higher priority, 1st squad and the hill or 3rd squad and the village.  He chose 1st squad and the hill since it is a direct threat to the LZ.]

 Back on Echo, 1st squad has managed to maneuver around the NVA.  Faced with possible encirclement, the NVA [ with an officer] wisely pull back into the village.  2nd squad flails on the LZ.  

The hogs come in and put on a show for 3rd platoon on LZ Foxtrot.  The hill is pounded.  Since I am using initiative, 3rd platoons card was draw before the air support.  You might recall that Lt Schaffer and Sgt Alcantera put thump guns on target on the hill.  This caused the HMG to pull back into the jungle.  Unbeknownst to all US forces, there are currently no NVA on the hill to be pulverized! 

Where we stand halfway [5 turns] through the battle.  3rd platoon [bottom left] is stuck on the LZ but preparing to assault the hill once the hogs leave.  The have also entered the village [ bottom left] with Sgt Ricks but he is stuck.  2nd platoon [ upper right] has pushed the enemy from the swamp into the village but practically have only 1 squad active.  The LZ is now under sniper fire which is hampering Carlson's efforts to consolidate 2nd squad. He has requested that Rainer deposit 3rd squad from the boat to the large building across the river to scout that position.  No areas have been searched.  Casualties are light but so is progress.  Any thoughts Captain?   

Capt Rainer decides he needs more bodies.  He tells Lt Robertson to land his platoon on LZ Golf.  Give 3rd platoon fire support across the river and move in and secure the village hooking up with 2nd platoon.  He sends 1sgt Tanner along for adult supervision. Then  he tells Carlson to press forward and Schaffer to take that F#### hill.  

 

With his latest orders, Lt Carlson leaves the hapless 2nd squad and moves up to 1st squad.  He orders them into the village.

Both sides take light casualties during the firefight but the americans are repulsed. Now what Carlson thinks?

 Lt Robertson and 1Sgt Tanner land on Golf.  It is quiet. 

  Unbeknownst to Rainer, 2 NVA squads from nearby appear on the other side of the hill...

 

They have brought a senior LT, another mortar and a really cool flag as well.  

Lt Schaffer sends Sgt Alcantera up the hill while he now turns his attention to Sgt Ricks in the town.  

Schaffer starts to rally the squad while he hears tremendous firepower on the hill.  He looks across the LZ and sees Alcantera coming down with casualties. ????

 

Situation on Foxtrot.  Alcantera pushed off the hill by the NVA on the other side.  2nd squad rallied and whole.  Schaffer in the village trying to rally 3rd squad and Ricks.

Situation on LZ Golf.  LZ secured.  2nd platoon [ top] stuck.  Assault ship firing into town. 

 

Rainer gets 5 points this turn.  He talks with all 3 platoon leaders and switches frequency and tells the boat to offload it's squad across from LZ Echo. 

 

Lt Robertson sends a squad to fire across the river into the village tormenting Lt Schaffer.  It wipes out the NVA there!
 

He then orders 2nd squad to assault into the village.  1Sgt Tanner volunteers to lead.  As Robertson is waiting for his last squad, he agrees to the request.

 Casualties are heavier this time and the assault is stopped.  The US does gain a small foothold in the village however.    

[ The NVA in the village are surrounded.  They are down to 5 men plus an officer.  They have moved almost all the supplies from the village.  The officer orders them to move to the nearby jungle to hide and wait.] 

Meanwhile 3rd squad 2nd platoon offloads and moves into the building across the river.  

 

Rainer gets only 2 command points.  Lt Robertson is reporting heavy casualties in fighting for the village.  Rainer uses his 2 points to bring in a Medivac to LZ Golf. 

Lt Carlson, on his own initiative, moves 1st squad over and begins to search the area near the river.  They almost shoot several civilians hiding there. At least he thinks they are civilians.  

In the village just abandoned, 1Sgt Tanner and squad find several boxes of weapons ready to transport.  It isn't much but often they find nothing!    
 

The Medivac lands on Golf.  3rd squad disembarks and casualties are loaded.  As this process is occurring...

 shots ring out from the previously quiet jungle.  Several new troops are hit.  They are quickly loaded back on the choppers before they leave. 

 Back on LZ Foxtrot, the NVA squad and LMG have been making things unpleasant.  Capt Rainer decides even though it is danger close he needs to put artillery on that blasted hill.

 With the enemy in the village wiped out.  Lt Schaffer orders "cease fire".  He then sends Sgt Rick and 3 men across the road to search the store for weapons.  He then repositions the squad to fire on the hill.  

Sgt Rick goes over and starts looking. 

Meanwhile, the nautical squad in the building has run into a hornet's nest of fire.  They are facing 2 MGs and are pinned down.  Lt Carlson doesn't know this however.  

 

Through pidgon english/vietnamese the villagers tell Lt Carlson that there is ammunition stored in the commercial store.  He passes this info to Capt Rainer. 

Capt Rainer is still pinned down.  He rallies himself then tells Robertson to push through the village and cross the river and come relieve pressure on the hill.  He then call in yet another Medivac. 

Lt Robertson might be great on the gridiron but he is slow to move troops.  Here he moves over to 1st squad and tells them to cross the river and lay supporting fire down on the hill. 

80mm Mortar fire on target!!

1st squad 1st platoon crossing the river.  All the NVA are too preoccupied to fire.

Lt Carlson finally gets his Medivac!   2nd squad finally combat ready.

 

Sgt Ricks finds ammo!  The villager's message hasn't reached him yet.

 

10th turn.  3rd platoon [ bottom left] still under minimal fire on LZ foxtrot as NVA on hill pinned.  Sgt Rick's squad has control of village.  1st Platoon [center and lower right] has one squad crossing river towards hill, one squad in village and one squad on LZ Golf. 2nd Platoon [ upper right] has 2nd squad guarding LZ Echo.  Lt Carlson moving 1st squad towards river to link up with 3rd squad that is holding down large building across the river from Echo.  

NVA now confined to upper left corner of the board.  They have 2 squads, 1 HMG and 2 LMGs which are all low on ammo.  Time to go.  They have bloodied the enemy and saved some rifles. 

Last turn will boil down to this.  Can 3rd platoon assault the hill before the NVA can withdraw?  

I start my card draws...

Nope!  This card means that Lt Schaffer [ poor leader] will go last during the turn. Sgt Acevedo is a true american but he is not going to order an assault on the hill. Thus Schaffer moves too slow and the NVA withdraw before the US can occupy the hill.

Final medivac and a reminder of the cost of doing business.  

Fantastic game!  I had a great time every single turn.  V2 of the rules worked very well.  I really felt like a Company commander willing the platoons to do well. I could not do everything I wanted and had to make choices every turn.  Some things need to be worked on like pins and close assaults.  Combat was as deadly as I wanted.  Will probably need to work on time/distance scale as well.  Bottom line, I was engaged the whole two hours and highly entertained!  

Post battle, Lt Robertson misses his leadership roll and remains poor.

Sgt Ricks and 3rd squad/3rd platoon become veteran. 

Sgt Watson receives remedial motivation from 1Sgt Tanner.  He is a poor leader from 2nd squad 2nd platoon.  Lt Carlson wants him replaced.  Tanner wants the platoon sergeant to work with him. Rainer sides with Tanner for now.

Enjoy

 

Joe