Hope everyone has been doing well as spring is here. Decided to go back to Lt LaRoche and my FFL in IndoChina. You can read about Lt La Roche in my post on 23 Jan.
I decided to roll up a scenario using Grunts Forward and got "Village Sweep". Now this scenario was the hardest to make in GF. I didn't want it to be just a village assault as we already had scenarios for that. So what I ended up with is a platoon minus sized unit moving into part of a village with hard intel on 4 sites. They will be met with variable scattered light resistance that is reinforced as the insurgents come to the "sounds of guns" to move out assets before they are captured. Biased opinion but I think it works well as the government forces have to move fast to search.
So for a company level game I had a problem; what should "Village Sweep" look like? The above would not work as now I have the whole village on the board and turns are now twice as long. I will spare you my first 2 playtests as they didn't go well.
Capt Doucet had his orders. The village of Tak Dao was being used as a supply cache for the VM. He was to capture the supplies without destroying the village and the "civilians".
Characters
Capt Doucet Obnoxious, son of weathy parents and good at everything including leading men.
Above Avg and Brilliant leader
1st Plt Lt Carville Haughty [ he is french] avg ldr
Plt Sgt Anderson (USA) avg ldr
2nd Plt Lt spot vacant
Plt Sgt Jones South African wanted for bank robbery; joined the legion and stayed.
Avg ldr that did poorly last msn. Plt down to 3 stands and rated
experienced.
3rd Plt Lt LaRoche Foolhardy but brave. above avg leader
Plt Sgt Poloski ex NCO Polish army. avg ldr
Attached M-24 Chaffee tank section, 1 riverine craft, 1 MMG and 1 RCL. 105 artillery on call but we lose points if we use it in the village.
FFL rated veterans except 2nd platoon and Chaffees rated experienced.
My FFL cards for IndoChina
The village of Tak Dao and environs. Blue markers are suspected caches. Black markers are enemy blinds.
Capt Doucet's plan was a follows; 2nd plt would hold the bridge north of town as they are weak. 3rd plt would split into 2 and cover both east and west of town. 1st Plt would enter the town followed by armor and rapidly search the caches. 2nd and 3rd Plts would be available to assist as needed.
My new PP sniper hoping for a crack at the french.
1st Plt move out towards Tak Dao...
Since I have set my plan I can roll up all the VM forces. 2 Plts inf [ 1 raw and 1 trained + bazooka], 1 LMG and 1 sniper. All VM except sniper and 1 squad start disorder as they are caught by surprise.
Sniper takes a bead on the FFL [Sgt Jones' plt] on the bridge.
Lt Carville questions a peasant as per Grunt's Forward while the rest of the platoon...
rapidly moves into the village. No shots fired so far.
Then shots are heard from near the bridge. Sgt Jones reports they have encountered sniper fire.
Capt Doucet pushes 1st Plt for speed before the VM can move the supplies. Sgt Anderson reaches the first site. No resistance other than a few snipers. Maybe this will be an easy mission today?
With one site searched [nothing], the rest of 1st platoon move towards a house on the north end a machine gun shatters the dream of an easy mission.
Situation about 30 minutes into the sweep. Sgt Jones and 2nd Plt have established a blocking position at the bridge despite sniper fire. Lt Carville and half the platoon have encountered resistance in the large house near the bridge. Sgt Anderson and the rest of 1st Plt are taking fire from the east end of town. Sgt Anderson has tasked the squad with searching the courtyard for a cache of supplies. At this point Capt Doucet calls for the Chaffees and the RCL to move up to support.
1st squad/1st plt takes casualties from the VM LMG and morale breaks. [ how embarrassing!] The french pull back to cover to reasses the situation.
Good news! Sgt Anderson reports finding a small arms cache in the courtyard. He covers it with a convenient black tarp.
With 1st Plt stalled, Capt Doucet orders [ with some trepidation if you read January's battle report] 2nd Plt to seize the northern section of the village supported by the navy.
Sgt Jones redeems himself as 2nd plt gains a foothold in close combat!
Meanwhile, things have not been going well for Lt Carville and much of 1st plt. A random event drops their morale to experienced. Next they fail their morale roll again and wind up...
retreating to the edge of town where the Chaffee crews have been firering ineffectually at the north side of town. To make matters worse, Sgt Anderson's squad guarding the small arms cache has taken heavy casualties [ including Sgt Anderson] and have withdrawn.
A very angry Capt Doucet comes up to "assist" the Lt and his platoon!
2nd platoon continues their battle on the north side of town. The VM garrison CO has wisely moved to nearby buildings.
I love it when things line up!
Legionnaire Rahme is mentioned in this report for single handedly clearing 2 building of VM including a bazooka team during operation in Tak Dao.
As we are nearing an hour Capt Doucet realizes 1st platoon is not going to be able to sweep the village in time. The east end is still a problem. " Lt LaRoche, take your men and sweep the east end of the village. Make sure you check the bend of the river for a weapons cache."
Lt LaRoche has been hearing the small arms fire in the east end of town; he has been expecting this call. "1st squad with me into town. 2nd squad follow the river to the bend and search that area. Questions? Let's move!"
As sappers start moving supplies the VM's thoughts turn towards escape. The survivors of the north end battle make a break for the bend in the river. Many will not make it thanks to the Marine Nationale!
Lt LaRoche enters a firefight on the east end of town.
LaRoche likes the odds of fighting an enemy he can somewhat see. The french fire begins to take its toll. The VM are trying to give their sappers time to clear the small arms.
Capt Doucet, realizing no one is guarding the small arms orders Sgt Jones to dispatch a squad to guard them until the fight on the east end of town is over. A squad obviously without Rahme is sent. I use variable movement with 2d6. 5 or less you move 1 hex, 6-9 2 hexes and 10+ 3 hexes. You can see how anxious the french squad is to enter the center of town and guard the small arms. Where's Rahm? Yep you guessed it, the VM are moving small arms as we speak. Sacre bleu!!!!
Meanwhile on the east end of the village...
2nd squad has shown up and see the VM are attempting to evacuate across the river.
A gunfight breaks out. The garrison CO is killed. Will the french close assault the boat or will the wily VM get the boat out into the river in time?? With the Piquet cards you don't know. However, the VM don't have a leader card now while 2nd plt does [ Lt LaRoche] plus our naval move card could solve the problem so the odds are in our favor...
Can you believe that?!?!?!@!#
Sure a little late now!
The final VM squad goes into hiding.
Great game! In retrospect leaving the sweep to 1 Plt even backed with armor and naval assests wasn't enough. We searched 3 of the 4 sites in time and only found 1 cache. Unfortunately we didn't guard it and most of the weapons were gone by the time the french showed up to claim the town. A clear loss to the french made worse by VM escaping in front of us.
1st Platoon is in the doghouse. Sgt Anderson, their platoon sergeant, did not survive. RIP.
2nd Platoon did very well and we have a new hero that will get promoted, Cpl Rahme.
3rd platoon did well once called upon but that is what we have come to expect from Lt LaRoche.
Regarding the scenario, I gave the VM3/4ths of the starting forces. On the blinds table "A" change "5" to snipers and "7" to 1/2 platoon. Also the VM can pick 2 units that start ready. The rest start in some sort of disruption as they gather themselves to prepare to fight the french. The sappers will start to remove supplies on turn 5. Try it out and let me know. I certainly need to playtest it again but it worked well in this iteration.
Enjoy!
Joe
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