B 17 Flying Fortress Leader: 1 month

 I honestly had ever intention of playing a cold war scenario to try out my new 6mm vehicles I showcased last post.  But I watched part of 12 o'clock high on TV and I was done for.  

It is a great movie and a very good book as well.  Both authors were in the 8th AF during WW II and Maj Lay was a qualified pilot stuck in staff work.  I won't give the story away but if you haven't seen or read it you need to.  It was used by the Air Force as a leadership film for many years.

   So at first I was going to play a squadron forward mission but I wanted something with bigger scope.  That was when I remembered I had...

 This is a solitaire game where you take over the 8th Air Force and try to destroy your allotted targets.  It is an operational game along the vein of Avalon Hill's Luftwaffe but is much better.  This is not meant as a review, as you can find that at boardgame geek, but a report of my first month of operations June 1943. 

[ I haven't played this game for years so I may be making mistakes during the game.]

I chose a 3 month scenario "strategic targets" that takes place in the summer of 1943.  The USAAF has cut its teeth and now has to prove it can cripple Germany with the vast resources that it has been given.  First you are dealt 30 target cards and have to pick your 10 strategic targets that you will destroy during the summer.  I pick 3 oil because those are worth many points despite being deep in Germany, 3 Baltic naval ports because they are accessible, 3 V1,2 rocket sites because they are political and accessible and 1 factory in France because it is close to the coast and doesn't have a lot of flak.  In addition you have airfield targets and aircraft factory targets.  Unfortunatley I draw Regnesberg which is deep in Germany and will give the Luftwaffe 5 new squadrons every month it isn't destroyed!  But the points are with the strategic targets so MGen Spaatz clearly wants those destroyed.  

You now pick your squadrons based on a number of points you are allotted.  I don't like this mechanic.  While it makes for a good game it doesn't feel very historical.  I don't think the operations staff looked to maximize their point totals.  They asked for x amount of heavy bombers, light bombers and fighters and got what they got.  So I randomly drew cards that were close to point totals and picked 1 leader who I consider a great wing CC.  

I was allotted 3 B-17 groups the 97th, 398th and 388.  The 97th is experienced so they will be my lead. We have 1 B-24 group the 389 who are newish as they are green and a B-26 group, the 322; also green.  I have the eagle squadron, 4th FG still hanging on to their spitfires and the wolfpack, 56 FG flying brand new P-47s.  

You can fly 2 missions a week and can only have 1 FG per mission.  I used weather as it is simple and adds flavor.  

The wolfpack ready to go!

WEEK 1

Weather is partly cloudy everywhere except near the North Sea where it is clear.   I was going to start small but with clear weather we can fly over water and crash into Bremerhaven and see the target.  As I am the Director of Ops [ or S-3 for you army types] I don't need to clear it with anyone and tell my staff to make it so.  FRAGs are cut for the B-17 wing to bomb Bremerhaven with 56FG escort and we will hit a V-2 site across the channel with our B-24s/B26s and send the eagles to guard them. 

 The red markers are german fighter concentrations.  They will always defend their hex and if the germans are agressive that week will fly 1 hex away to attack.   

This week the Germans are aggressive along the coast but with the chit pull I only draw 2 fighters which the wolfpack keep away from the bombers.  No big losses for either side which is a win for the bombers.  The 398th takes several loses due to flak over the target but still manage 50% bombs on target.  The other 2 groups nail it with 100% and the naval base is destroyed!  How easy was that.  The flight home is uneventful as the Germans as still refueling. 

The second mission also goes off without a hitch.  It is a quick hop across the channel and german response is poor with only some ME 109s coming up.  The eagles actually take them out earning an extra experience point.  Way to go 4 FG!  Bombing is dismal however and the target is only lightly damaged.  

Overall a good week.  1 target destroyed, 1 light damage.  Our losses are light but so are the germans.

WEEK 2

It is partially cloudy all over and we still have good strength.  We get another B-24 group; the 448th.  With clouds everywhere I really don't want to outstrip my fighter cover so we will stay in France this week.  Our main effort will be a small aircraft factory (2 squadrons worth) in Amsterdam.  This will be my B-17 wing led by the 97th and protected by the wolfpack now stinging by the eagles success.  Second the undamaged V-2 sites continue to hit England and the boss keeps getting calls about it so we will hit another V-2 site since damaged sites don't launch rockets.  

First up are the B-24 with the eagles.  The eagles again keep the ME 109s away and flak is light.  Unfortunately while the 389th bombing is great our newest group only has 50% so the target sustains medium damage.  Better give those boys some practice Colonel!   

Next is our trip to Amsterdam.  The German response is more fierce here...

 
 as we run into 2 groups of FW 190s including some veterans and 1 group of ME 110s.  The wolfpack...

keeps most of the fighters away and manages to take 1 group out!  They do sustain some loses however. The veteran Folke Wolves do rough up the 97th some[ 4 points or 12 bombers] but the 97th eliminates the ME 110s.     Flak is light at the target and the 97th comes through again but the 398th [33%] and the 388th [66%] don't bomb as well this time so the factory sustains medium damage.  

Overall a modest week.  We have damaged an aircraft factory but really could have taken it out and we did take another V-2 site off line.  Our losses are starting to mount and we really are not atritting out their fighters.  

WEEK 3

Lousy European weather!  Storms on the continent except for the North Sea where there are partial clouds.  I really wanted to hit the V-2 sites this week but can't.  I am afraid they will be repaired and start shooting again which means I will get chewed out.  Think we will rest the eagles and the wonderful 97th BG.  We also add another B-24 group; the 392.  Since we have to go to the North Sea we will send our 3 B-24 groups to Wilhelmshafen without a FG since our fighters can't get there anyway.    Our 2 remaining B-17 groups will go back to Amsterdam to finish off that factory.  We will send the wolfpack with them. 

First mission

 The target...

Bombers on the way...

Unfortunately the Luftwaffe was waiting.  Veteran FW 190s, ME 109s and ME 110s pounded the column.

 

  The 389th lost 24 planes.  My brand new 392 lost 15.  Only the 448th escaped with minimal losses [6].  When the armada reached the port only the 448th put bombs on target.  The rest barely registered hits. [25%].  The port was

moderately damaged.  

Apparently the Luftwaffe was all east because the B-17s running to Amsterdam ran into only 2 groups of ME 109s...

Sorry forgot to take a picture with ME 109s... and this time the wolfpack...

Cleared the skies!!!

Unfortunatly the bombing was poor [33%] so the factory's damage level ...

remained medium.

Overall week 3 was a disappointment.  The only positive was we have finally started taking down german fighters. [ When you destroy 5 you get to remove a red counter].  Otherwise my B-24s were mauled and we have little to show for it.  I need some P-38s so I can escort those missions to the German ports.  

WEEK 4

Weather partly cloudy everywhere except over the North Sea where it is clear again.  My B-24s have to rest.  I can use the 448th if need be.  My B-17s are alright.  The wolfpack is tired and deserve a rest.  They have eliminated 3 groups.  With the North Sea clear I would really like to take out Wilhelmshaffen before Jerry rebuilds.  I have no fighters that can make it but I shouldn't need 3 groups as it is already damaged. I will send the freshly rested 97th, my best group, and the 398th.  I will use my B-26s to launch a diversionary raid nearby to draw some confusion. [ This creates a -2 to the German response roll.]  Finally I have been lucky that the V-2 sites haven't been repaired.  I will send my last B-17 and the 448th B-24s across the channel to hit the last V-2 site.  The eagles can cover.  

I can only imagine the dread that the 97th and 398 feel as they take off alone, unescorted toward Germany.  Greatly exaggerated rumors of the B-24 massacre in their ears. "Who planned this suicide mission anyway?"  

 

The B-17s drone on... and on... and on.  It appears the Luftwaffe too is licking it's wounds.  

At the target flak is light and no bombers are lost.  Both groups hit 100% and the target is demolished. Not a single bomber is lost.  

Down in France at the V-2 site only a handful of veteran FW 190s contest the bombers.  The Eagles block their way successfully but suffer for it losing 18 planes in the process for only a handful of kills.  The bombers, however, take their vengeance out on the rocket site destroying it with precision daylight bombing!  

Big week!  Two targets destroyed with minimal losses save for our eagle squadron.  

 

At month's end we get 18 replacement points which I use to bring the B-24s back and buff up the B-17s and Eagles.  The Eagles convert to P-47s and we finally get the 20th FG armed with P-38s.  Unfortunatly German industry cranks out 11 new "squadrons".  1 each goes to russia, tunisia and to reserve leaving 8 new red counters to face us next month.  I have to do something about those aircraft factories.  

That is B-17 leader in a nutshell.  I like it alot.  Like most solitaire games it gets repetitive so you have to leave it up and come back to it.  There is a lot there and I am just begining to scratch the surface.

Enjoy

 

Joe  

 

GHQ and Heroics and Ros vehicles

 One of my rules of wargaming has been not to get tempted into various scales with different projects.  I have always gamed land battles with 15mm and air combat with 1/285th.  For a solo gamer this keeps costs down. [ I have failed with the sea though.  I have slowly moved to larger scales both with AOS and WW II until I am at 1/300 for WW II and 1/700 for AOS.  I take a little solace in that it is relatively few figures and a museum actually wanted my smaller AOS ships. For those of you that visit the USS Constitution...]  

As I moved up in land scale from 1:1 to 1:2+ I have thought about micro armor.  My friend Jack sold me a bunch of his modern stuff which you have seen on these pages.  I am still unsure if I prefer it to 15mm [ 1/100] but thought I would flesh out my modern US forces at  least.  I asked on TMP which vehicles and infantry to buy.  As you might expect I got multiple opinions but the vibe was GHQ for vehicles and H+R for infantry.  The sentiment appeared to be GHQ vehicles are larger [ 1/285] and more detailed but more expensive but since you live in the US postage will even much of the cost out.     

So I purchased some Abrams from both companies and some M113s and present here my findings.  

H+R abrams.  Not as detailed as GHQ and a tad smaller but still looks like an Abrams to me.  Straight cost without postage or specials about $1.  GHQ is $2.80 but you have to buy 5.  Of course I needed 6!

  Not exactly a M113 but close; a M901.  Same comments as above but as the M113 has less detail there is less detail missing.  Straight cost $0.9.  GHQ $2.80.  I needed only 2 of these for a platoon.  

The 3 H+R pieces I painted up plus some terrain [ close up]

Gaming distance.

Next a series of side by side comparison pictures.  If you are paying attention the 1/300 H+R does look smaller because it is.  

Not as clear as I had hoped but you get the idea.

H+R closest now.

From the rear.  There is some detail lost in the H+R Abrams compared to the GHQ in both the turret and the hull.

2 platoons of Abrams at closer to gamers distance.  From here if I wasn't concentrating I would need to look to find the H+R model.  YMMV.

A little more obvious which is the H+R model here.  

From gaming distance.

2 H+R tracks plus one GHQ.  The width of the GHQ is noticeable to me but nothing else unless I am really looking.  

From gaming distance I wouldn't notice anything unless I was concentrating on it.  

Those are the pictures.  While the GHQ Abrams do have more detail at gamer distance it is harder to tell. The GHQ are larger and more detailed but much more expensive.  Would I rather not mix them; yes.  Will I; yes because here I don't see much difference at gamer distance. 

If I was still stationed in England H+R would be a no brainer; very good figures, can buy only as many as you need and cheaper.  In the US I wasn't as confident because postage from H+R to me is almost 50%.   So lets do some math shall we?

Let's take 2 examples, ordering 1 Abrams and ordering 40.

If I want 1 Abrams from H+R that would cost me [in theory at least] $1.50.  that is $1.00 for the tank plus $0.50 for postage.  I can't buy just 1 Abrams from GHQ I have to buy 5.  That will be $14 plus postage so clearly an expensive tank. So my GHQ tank is literally 10 times as expensive at a H+R tank. Do you think the GHQ tank is 10 times better?

If I want 40 Abrams from H+R that would cost me close to $60 including postage.  This is where the 50% postage really kills.  If I want 40 from GHQ that is 8 packages at $14 a piece equals $112plus postage.  But GHQ gives you 10% off any order of $100 or more so lets call it $100.  There shipping is $8 so It is $108.   So now my GHQ tank is "only" 40% more than a H+R tank.  Do you think the GHQ tank is 40% better?  I suspect some people would argue yes.  For M113s, trucks, jeeps and the like I would say absolutely not.  

Vehicles

GHQ

Pros

1/285 scale is nice.

Models are great

Cons

Expensive anyway you look at it.

Have to buy 5 at a time.

H+R

Pros

Nicely detailed models particularly those vehicles without much detail at 1/300 scale such as M113s, trucks, halftracks ect.

Can buy individually

Cons

1/300 scale is smaller than GHQ.

Postage is a killer to the states

 

Obviously the more you buy at once from GHQ the better your ratio will be.  Another wrinkle to add is GHQ will normal have a Christmas sale with 20% off if you can wait.  

I think everyone in the US will weigh how important a 1/285 vrs a 1/300 tank is and make their decisions accordingly.  Hopefully I have given you some more data both pricing and photographically to help you decide.  I know I would have found this helpful 5 months ago.  

Next I will look at infantry.

Cheers

Joe

  

Ancient figures by Old Glory

 Haven't posted in a month but I have been painting and playing SAGA.  Game posts haven't proved popular but I have had several discussions over at TMP about 15mm ancient figures.  Thought I would show everyone the Old Glory figures I have painted up.  

I paint quickly for wargamer grade.  I don't prime.  I paint everything once, touch up then wash once with Paynes grey then base.  For SAGA I stopped doing fancy bases and went with green train cloth as it seemed to work just as well.  I don't paint continuously but I can paint up 5 ancient figures in under an hour total and I think it looks pretty good.  

Overall I have been happy with the Old Glory figures.  They are not quite as nice as the Khurasian but are cheaper.  They are on par with Essex and Peter Pig which I like. Peter Pig is true 15mm so are a tad small than the rest.  When basing individually it doesn't present a problem.   On to the pictures!

  First up are chariots.  These are nice models that painted up well.  I did need to figure out how to glue the chariot to the horses however.  In the background are some essex figures.  

Lots of new figures here.  Moving from left to right.  OG chariot, some slingers of mixed manufacturers, OG greek light troops, these painted up well and have multiple figures in the 24 figure bag.  Next come the greek clasical hoplites.  Again I was pleased with multiple different figures as well as wire to use for the pole arm which I could make a spear or a sarrissa.  Lastly you can see an elephant, more about him ( or her) later.

Chariots charging a phalanx.  Chariots actually did pretty well.  Also in this picture is a greek commander with a trumpet player from the greek command pack.  The command pack is a little disappointing in that you get only about half commanders ( only 2 mounted) and a lot of hangers on.  I can always use extra fighters but I am never going to put together a greek band!  As a commander he gets a fancy base though.  In the foreground is an essex numidia calvary person.  Nice figure.  

Another view of the figures.

 

A nice scenario I picked up from Warning Order issue # 46.   It is an interesting free online magazine which is always worth a look.  Found here: https://www.wfhgs.com/wrngorder.html

Essex numdian cavalry face off against OG skirmishers while unpainted (horrors) OG creten archers provide support.  They will start to become painted during the battle.  Mixed slingers guard the tower. 

A good shot of the variety of the troops in the HG05 Peltasts pack.  

A shot of the greek medium cavalry.  These are probably the only figures I was disappointed in.  The molds are probably old as the figures aren't that crisp and there is almost no differentiation. 

That said they were still able to hold there own against the carthaginian cavalry from essex.

  My archers now have skin and hair and togas!

Glamor shot of the greeks taking the tower.  Their warlord Talus is a publicity hound!

Heavy metal of the ancient world; OG chariots vrs OG elephants. (CA04)  The elephants were very easy to put together and painted up well.  I probably could have gone without adding a base but the figure is top heavy. This one actually took a good hour.   I can always go back a spruce up the base.

  Another glamor shot of Peltasts guarding the tower.  I suspect this is a staged shot.  I found it from an old cover of Skirmisher Today.

I hope you enjoyed this overview of some of my Old Glory ancient figures.  I have been very please overall.  Be careful with the greek medium cavalry and don't buy to many command packs otherwise I think they are good value for the money and fit in well with Khurasian and Essex and I have no problem with Peter Pig but I do base my figures individually.

Cheers

Joe

The Tale of "Black Flag" Wilde; Airacobra pilot

 Had time to run off a bunch of games last week.  Aerial games are hard to play and hard to post.  The action is suppose to to fast, furious and three dimensional.  Most systems struggle to be these things.  When reporting a game it is hard to convey these traits.  I will attempt to do so.  This battle also really shows off the interactions between characters which are so important in any human endeavor including war.

The 91st Fighter Squadron was the first P-39 squadron to land in Africa.  They spent their first days flying CAP over the convoy and were successful; fending off several attacks.  As P-40s and P-38s showed up they transitioned to more fighterbomber missions.  Their CO is Capt Robert Filarto.  He is a good pilot who has scored 2 kills in Tunisia.  He hates paperwork and leaves that to the XO a West Pointer Lt "Honey" Donnelson.  The squadron has a good reputation given their work over the landings.  They have 5 kills and only 2 losses.  Their "cool" is +2 which is very good for a P-39 and morale is high registering in at a "9".  Their group commander is LtCol Rawlings who is neutral towards them but the group admin Capt Ford doesn't like Capt Filarto because his paperwork is always late.  The group intel officer, Lt Gordons. is also not a fan of the squadron since Capt Filarto chewed him out once for not expecting ME 109s in the AO yet.  The squadron has been short a replacement pilot for weeks despite other squadrons getting pilots. When Filarto or Honey inquire why this is Capt Ford tells them the other squadrons are taking heavier losses and they need the pilots more.  [ I dice for this and Ford keeps blocking replacements and Filarto hasn't wanted to go to Rawlings yet.]  Finally the 91st gets a replacement pilot, 2Lt Wilde.  

It soon become apparent why the 91st has gotten Wilde.  Wilde's nickname is "Black Flag" and he was a big football star in college. [ Jack I swear I rolled all this up!]  He is all about himself and thinks he will be an ace by the end of the month.  All he needs is the rest of the squadron to block for him.  Filarto assigns Lt Donnelson to him but after a couple of easy runs Black Flag can't stick to his wingman.   Honey gives up and want him out of the squadron.  Filarto reads him the riot act and decides Black Flag will be his personal wingman on their next mission. 

28 December 1942 and the squadron is assigned close support to US troops for a limited offensive.  

Characters

Top Cover

Capt Filarto              Vet           2 kills

  2LT Black Flag  Wilde          rookie

 

Bombers

2LT Sampson  lead           vet              2 kills

       2LT  Egert                    avg

2LT    Myers                     Avg

       2Lt     Hamm                   rookie

 The squadron encounters 4 MC 202s 3 turns from the front lines.  The Italians have the initiative but not position.  

Capt Filarto states he and Wilde will engage the fighters while Sampson should try to make it through to the target.  There should be a low threshold to drop bombs however as the airacobras can't outrun the macchis and can't outturn them.   

Two MC 202s stay medium to tangle with Filarto.  However, the other 2 split and each go after an element of P-39s...

 

 2Lt Myer quickly has one behind him with fatal consequences.  

So a swirling battle begins.  At the end of the Italian turn... Capt Filarto [left] is disadvantaged against the Italians as exemplified by facing 90 degrees to them.  Wilde is still protecting his wing as best he can.  In the center Myers is going down while 2Lt Hamm looks on horrified.  Above right the rookie Italian [green base] has the advantage over 2Lt Sampson's element but Sampson just executed a vertical roll to keep the Italian off his tail.  

As the US gets the opportunity to counter thrust Capt Filarto [nearest element] claws his way back to neutral but looses Wilde in the process [near plane not associated with Filarto now].  In the distance at low altitude 2LT Hamm [right] manages to stay neutral to the MC 202 while Sampson [far left] manages to get the upper hand on his attacker and even fires off a burst of cannon but he misses.  

As the battle continues Sampson [upper right] continues to advantage the Italian but can't quite put bullets on target.  His wingman Egert hangs on to his tail.  Capt Filarto [ center left] is now faced with a dilemma as both Hamm [below right] and Wilde[ above left] have MC 202s on their tails.  " I told Wilde not to leave." he thinks as he dives down towards Hamm.  

Capt Filarto coming in from the right guns blazing.  The Italian, without a wingman, wisely breaks off to engage the new threat.  2Lt Hamm is relieved! Meanwhile...

 
 

2Lt Wilde's football skills are not translating well to the skies.  He twists and turns but the experienced Italian pilot [pilot marker on stand] soon lines up for a perfect shot.  Wilde does manage to bail out in US territory. 

 Last turn before everyone heads for home.  2Lt Hamm [center]actually gets lucky with a quick shot while his attacker was busy with Capt Filarto.  He wounds the Italian pilot but the Italian gets away.  2Lt Sampson's [left] quarry uses the macchi's better rate of climb and speed to climb away from the fight.  

Great battle that played in under an hour.  The airacobras lost but they were set up to fail so morale and cool don't change.  Filarto felt a little bad about Wilde but he was also pissed at him.  The squadron was happy he came to Hamm's rescue and happy Hamm finally hit an enemy plane.  Hamm become average and promptly gets a head cold and will miss the next mission.  What to do about Wilde?  After consultation with Honey, Filarto goes to see the LtCol requesting Wilde be removed from the squadron because he is dangerous in the air.  He suggests he be transfered to Air Transportation Command.  I set the odds for the AKOT at probable since he is new and was shot down but with a -1 as Capt Ford will be against sending even a bad pilot away.  This could also blow back against Filarto if LtCol Rawlings thinks he is whining.  Guess what?  The LtCol bought it!  Wilde is transfered out of the squadron to admin duties with the group while Rawlings and Ford decide what to do.  Of course the squadron is down 2 more pilots [ Wilde and Myers] and I doubt we will ever get a new one but at least Wilde is gone.  So Filarto and Honey will have to continue to move their squadron forward!

Enjoy

Joe

 

Revisiting Piquet with Lt LaRoche 1950

 Just after the beginning of the year I was straitening up my "study" and came across my Piquet stuff.  Now I bought Piquet about 15 years ago because I have always been interested in Command and Control and Piquet seemed to have a novel approach.  I played it for a while ( of course I modified it.) then discovered Too Fat Lardies and Troops Weapons and Tactics which I still think is the best model of leadership for squad/platoon level gaming that I have come across.  It does drag a bit as a game and you all have heard my groaning about Richard's shock system for combat.  I moved on to Force on Force which has everything but indirect fire and leadership which I corrected with my house rules.  Well now that I have moved up to company level I thought I would try Piquet again.  

Piquet is a game that people either love or hate. I actually like it because in my limited experience with war it is very chaotic and nothing goes as planned and nothing is easy. I also like that you can't move your units just out of cavalry range because you aren't really sure have far their cavalry can move. For anyone that doesn't know, Bob Jones took a wargame sequence and put each phase on a card.  The cards are mixed up and then you draw them. You have a contested die roll with winner picking the difference in the number of cards.  Loser picks nothing.   It was revolutionary at the time.     I bought Brent Oman's Field of Battle 15 years ago to try to address several burning issues with Piquet; namely huge impetus runs by one side and the fact that sometimes all you need is one card and it might have passed.  So your whole "strategy" is to burn through your cards to get to the next turn.  While defenders of Piquet say this shows that you are not being distracted by the cards and shows your are a great general [ or in my case a major or LtCol] it is indeed boring.

I played 2 test games of Piquet with companies of Germans and Russians solitaire. Please note I am only experimenting with initiative and command and control.  I am dead set on Battlefront for combat resolution.   First it is a great system for solitaire gamers.  You might want to close assault the building but you have to wait for the right card.  You also customize the decks, so for instance the German deck is more efficient while the russian deck has 1 more close assault card in it for their propensity to close with the enemy.  You really felt like a company commander ordering 1st platoon into the building and then wondering what was taking them so long to move!  Here is where my problem with the system showed up.  As a CO I couldn't do anything to get the platoon to move except to draw more cards.  So leadership is built into the decks and ratings but it is still abstract, at least for me.  As a surgeon I want to be able to go and physically get those people moving if I chose to do so.  

Stug fires during a playtest.
 

This moves us to Too Fat Lardies and Troops Weapons and Tactics.  While they are the wrong level Rich was on to something with his "big man" cards. Here leaders move the troops but troops don't do much without leaders.  So I thought I would add big man cards to Piquet, significantly decrease the number of duplicate cards in the deck to decrease time and increase the importance of big men and perhaps get the best of both worlds.  Here is a playtest that turned into a rocking game.

 French IndoChina 1950

Lt, because we are at the a** end of the world we will not be getting a replacement for our poor comrade anytime soon.  Tell me what do you think of your platoon Sergeant Poloski?

Sir, he is a fine NCO.  

What do you think of 2nd platoon?  

I think the platoon is all right but Lt Shiffron wasn't impressed with Sgt Jones.  

I agree Shiffron wasn't impressed but the Chef Sgt thinks he is okay.  I need you to oversee both platoons for the next month or so.  Have the NCOs run the day to day and just be there if needed.  Best to learn some of the men from 2nd platoon.

Yes Sir.

Mission    Patrol area on this photo for possible Viet Minh activity. 

 Characters

Lt LaRoche   Avg leader   foolhardy, fully supports the war.  son of wealthy parents.  Some people act out by becoming hippies, some by joining the French Foreign Legion!

1st Platoon  Sgt Poloski  Avg Leader  Polish NCO during the war.  Didn't return to Poland so joined the legion

2nd Platoon  Sgt Jones  Avg Leader  South African   Wanted for bank robberies.  joined the legion to lay low and found out he liked it.  [ another neat thing about Piquet is you roll up the quality of your units before the game.  2nd platoon was 1 step down from expected so they are experienced.  I hypothesize this is because their Lt was decapitated by a VC mortar 1 week earlier.]

Lt LaRoche's plan was to land a platoon on each side of the river and have them move up to check for contact.  He had a battery of 105s on call plus some maritime craft.   

[ At this time french squads had an authorized strength of 15 men, many with automatic weapons.  While I have no doubt they never reached this number I am using 3 regular french squads with LMGs and 1 SMG squad without an LMG to make up the french platoon.  Each squad can only take 2 disruptions before it is removed due to decreased manpower.   For those of you that play battlefront this should make sense.]

Per patrol scenario 1 blind on each side of the river [ black markers]

Lt LaRoche decamps onto shore.  He briefs Sgt Poloski on the plan.  2nd platoon will start across the river. LaRoche sets up his HQ. 

1st platoon moves out.  

Across the river 2nd platoon meets a VM blind in the jungle... while

 1st platoon gets closer to a VM blind as well.  

2nd platoon wins ( or loses) as their blind turns out to be 2 platoons + a 60mm Mtr in transit.  1 platoon is downgraded to raw which should help.  

 1st squad runs into a whole platoon of VM.  It doesn't go well for the french and the squad is wiped out.  

Yes I made up my own custom Piquet cards 15 years ago. Glad I didn't throw them out.   What do you mean I don't have a life?  I am well adjusted!  

Lt LaRoche hears gunfire across the river.  He sees the boats move up to the jungle to support.  Merde!  I should have stuck with 2nd platoon.  He can't seem to get a SITREP from Jones.  He recalls 1st platoon.  He needs to get over there before something bad happens.  

Despite the french deck being better the VM are getting all the right cards.  The VM manage to move up their mortar and start to effectively shell 2nd platoon.  Casualties start to mount...

LaRoche finally gets a report from Jones.  They are taking heavy small arms and mortar fire and have heavy casualties.  He suspects they have run into a reinforced company.  the boats finally get over as 1st platoon comes in. 

 Things are getting worse for Jones and 2nd platoon.  They are down to 50% effectives and morale is shaky at best.  [ very bad morale rolls] The battle has actually been going on for about 30 minutes since first contact.

The VM commander, sensing a huge victory, sends in his 2nd platoon to annihilate the foreigners.  [ I have to tell you I am sweating this out.]

What a great time to have a boat [tanks] move card come up!

What a great time to have some VM command confusion!  [ As the VM start to hesitate in closing with the french secondary to their inexperience.]

All right Pierre, let's get that 50cal working on this line of VM!  

The VM mortar hits the boats forcing everyone out.  There are casualties among the 1st platoon.  

At this point I draw Lt LaRoche's command card.  He gets 2 actions.  He attempts to rally 1st platoon [partially successful] and then leads a charge into the VM line! 

No contest.  The raw VM melt away.

 

The VM commander realizes they have hit their high water mark.  He sends 1st platoon away and tries to recover 2nd platoon.  

The energized 1st platoon continues to plow into the dazed VM platoon.  Now Sgt Polowski is running the show as Lt LaRoche goes over to see what is left of 2nd platoon.  

The carnage continued...

The 60mm Mortar manages to slip away...

As the VM head for their basecamp.  Their commander got a little too greedy and hadn't counted on Lt LaRoche and 1st platoon FFL!

Fantastic game!  I really thought 2nd platoon was going to be overrun.  Needless to say an excellent playtest.  I don't know if I will stick with this but it played fast and had all the tension I would want.  In addition, the leaders directly affected the outcome both good and bad.  

Post game I used Grunt's Forward to see if Lt LaRoche would get a medal.  I gave him an extra point because it was a dire situation and he actually made the first roll; Croix de Guerre with a Silver Star! His leadership rating also improves to good.  So word spread of his actions and the Captain wrote it up.  It is now making it's way through the system.  He puts in Sgt Polowski for an award; we will see.  What to do about Sgt Jones?  He is an average leader that had a run of bad luck.  All the stuff that makes gaming fun! 

Enjoy!

Joe