15mm Viet Nam BAPS game on 10 April 2010
Hello.
There will be a 15mm Vietnam game using Beer and Pretzels Skirmish (BAPS) rules starting at 10am at the Forest Avenue Congregational Church on the corner of Forest and Stillwater Avenues in Bangor. This will be a learning experience for the SOMME group (first time with the rules), so there will be some surprises but it's mostly an infantry action.
The Viet Cong have a supply base in a local ville and the rice harvest is coming up. The US forces are clearing the area of VC to preserve the harvest for "the good guys". The VC need to collect as much of the harvest as they can to support operations in the area. Both sides need that ville. With a selection of possible LZs in the area, there will be many possibilities....
This game can accomodate up to 20 players (fat chance) and as few as 6. The rules play pretty quickly and easily (hence the name), so this is a good one for novices and younger gamers as well as the grizzled veterans among us.
My wife will be sending me with some food that fits the period and place for us to have for lunch, so you get free eats as well! Come on around and try it out.
Bob Bailey
Hello.
Well, the game ended up as being a bit cumbersome, as only four gamers (incliuding the ref) were there. We had two US platoons and a company hq taking on a Regional VC platoon and a Main Force VC platoon. There was also a team of US Special Forces on the board. That's a lot for that few gamers at 1 figure equals 1 man.
The rules worked VERY well, and I recommend them to the crew. Buck Surdu was also involved in the Milk and Cookies and Blood and Swash sets that are popular for kids games at the HMGS conventions. I strongly urge you to get Big Battles For Little Hands (where the two kids sets are presented) and Beer And Pretzels Skirmish (BAPS) for future reference and use. Simple mechanics, easy to teach and learn, LOADS of fun.
Bob Bailey
Hi, Bob. Thanks for the AAR. Are you anywhere near being able to see beyond Tax Day?
Hello.
We survived, but t'warn't pretty. This was about the worst tax season I have seen, and I've been doing this since 1995.
On the subject of the game, superior US firepower and morale sealed the fate of the Regional VC (even though they were forted up in a village they had fortified), while the Main Force VC went to cover an LZ that the US didn't use. The Green Berets stayed hidden throughout the game, which was a shame. They looked great in green berets and tiger stripe cammies. So ist das Leben.
I've also ordered in some more M-4s for the game at Huzzah! Can't have too many Shermans as the Americans, after all. I also started teaching myself and Austin to speak the Pidgin of the Solomon Islands. He's a fan of the USMC, and Guadalcanal is a particular fascination for him.
So, when I stub my toe, the proper statement should be "Gudfella Got! Finger belong foot buggadup!"
Bob Bailey
Hello.
8 May is another Viet Nam BAPS game, if you wish you'd made the first one.
We will go at 10am on 8 May at the Forest Avenue Congregational Church on the corner of Forest and Stillwater Avenues in Bangor. I HOPE to have a few more Americans painted up for this one, so we can field a US company.
The scenario is a US platoon in heavy contact with a VC force and the rest of the US company inserting by Huey slick in staged lifts due to a small LZ. The first relief platoon will start the game on board with the follow-on platoon staging in in two lifts of 4 ships each. The US forces will also have access to company 81mm mortars, battalion 4.2" mortars, and 105mm howitzers. However, these things take time to arrive (each turn is 15-30 seconds), and they are WAY destructive.
The plan is to have the players run the US troops while Steven Jonason & myself run the VC force. US priorities, in order of importance, are as follows:
1- Get any wounded Americans out of the danger zone and preferably lifted out by dustoff.
2- Fix and destroy as much of the VC force as possible.
3- Relieve the platoon that's in deep *ahem* stuff.
You gotta try this out. I will have tables and all such that you can probably "try this at home" if you take a set with you. There will also be period-appropriate food available at the game, compliments of my wife, the former restauranteur.
Bob Bailey
"To those who fight for it, life has a flavor that the sheltered never know." -- note pinned to a bulletin board, Khe Sanh Combat Base, Tet, 1968.
Hello.
The game went very well. We had the Americans use up a lot of the VC, which was no real surprise.
Rick Watson's 2nd Platoon was roughly handled by Steven Jonason's VC in turn one, then the VC 60mm mortars struck him in turn 3. He spent most of the game collecting casualties and setting a defense.
Pete Dalton and Bill Drisko inserted by helicopter (VERY cool, looked and acted like the Huey insertions I was in in ROTC, back in the day) and drove toward Rick's position with the 1st and 3rd Platoons. They met resistance at the stream, but grenades and small arms used up my local force VC pretty quickly.
Meanwhile, 4.2" mortars and 105mm howitzers began working over the Main Force VC facing Rick Watson. (Quoth Steven Jonason: "It was going pretty well until the artillery arrived." A sentiment many VC and NVA in the actual situations would have seconded, I would think.) The VC decided to bug out, and the game came to an end.
Bob Bailey
