Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => The Conflicts that came in from the Cold => Topic started by: Paul @ Empress Miniatures on May 20, 2021, 04:03:17 PM
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I recently had a test game for a rules system that we have been developing for our home use. They may go commercial but at the moment they are in house and developing. Called BOHICA (Bend Over Here It Comes Again.) they are a development of the Danger Close Rules but gone BIG!
The aim was to test the simple systems of landing troops from helicopters. The rules are designed to allow for the full Vietnam experience of anything can happen and everything will probably go wrong. Well that's what happened.
US MISSIO: to patrol and check a small village that has always been peaceful but good intelligence has suggested is a front for the VC.
US PLAN: send a RECON unit to check the landing sites and then radio for a USMC platoon to land and carry out the patrol. The aim is to land quickly and catch the locals out. Limited Air Support is on hand.
Could not be easier and plans to get back in time for team.
The local village was about its business as normal.
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What could possibly go wrong? :D
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Why do I suspect there may be a DShK or 2 lurking about somewhere in that peaceful Village?...
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Looks quiet, too quiet...
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Looks far too quiet... “Happiness is a cold LZ”....
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Beautiful looking table :)
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Interestingly enough BOHICA is what I called my Vietnam rules! No doubt for exactly the same reasons.
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Very nice pics!
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Thanks guys. :)
RECON's plan was a swift fly over the area straight to the LZ. That way they could get a look at what the villagers were up to. Then hover over the LZ for a swift drop off of the unit. The unit could then move straight into position and begin to radio back instructing the main landing on where to land and if there were any issues. None were expected. Easy stuff.
The Huey moved straight across buzzing the villagers below and dropped down to hover above the ground. The team jumped down.
Unfortunately one of the team broke an ankle and 'Doc' frantically signalled the Huey to land so he could load the wounded man aboard.
The rest of the team moved into cover and the unexpected happened as bullets starting to buzz through the air, some pinging off the Huey.
The VC amongst the villagers grabbed their hidden weapons and moved towards the helicopters. The rest of the villagers moved away from the developing fight.
The LT in command radioed in and warned the landing off but made contact with their supporting Sky Raider asking for the pilot to buzz the VC. Unfortunately the Air support was late arriving on station and so the RECON team realised they may have a problem and moved into a defensible position.
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With small arms fire buzzing in, plus a grenade which stunned the RTO for a move the situation became a concern. But it was going to get a lot worse.
part three to follow. ;)
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Thrilling story!
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I knew it. I knew there had to be a DShK!
"Devil Dog 6, this is Recon 6. BROKEN ARROW!".....
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Great looking game, BTW. Nice figs, terrain, and bird.
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Thanks guys.
My favourite bit was the guy who broke his ankle. The odds on the die roll achieving that were huge. lol
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Great AAR and board.
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My favourite bit was the guy who broke his ankle. The odds on the die roll achieving that were huge. lol
Stuff like that happens with a certain regularity in our games. Cowboys shooting other cowboys in the groin, a lackey killing the hero at the last minute, a lone cop holding off the hordes of baddies with just a pistol, Lance Corporal Smythe taking out all the German armor with his PIAT, a whole Swedish division blundering off the table...if it's possible to roll in our games, we end up rolling it, odds be damned.......makes for some interesting games though, that's for sure...
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Part Three.
When the civilians reacted to the Huey landing by grabbing their weapons they began to move in on the RECON unit. More importantly it began a domino effect with the possibility of more VC appearing on the table. With some more excellent throws an entire platoon with heavy weapons appeared. Order very simple. Move as fast as possible towards the enemy and attack.
This they did, collecting village VC as they moved.
On the left flank the RECON held their position and fought off the VC fairly effectively but not conclusively.
Eventually the Skyraider pilot made radio contact and was on station. RECON threw a smoke grenade and the pilot confirmed the red smoke and target identified. The VC in the area realised the danger and were able to make a swift run out of the path of the plane.
With the worst possible die roll the napalm canisters missed their target and exploded further on.......missing everything but some vegetation. WOOSH!!!!
The pilot went round again probably due to the amount of bad language being screamed at him by the RECON LT.
In the meantime the VC were moving at speed towards their position and beginning to encircle them on the right flank. All getting pretty grim and the RECON unit was beginning to consider evacuation.
I will attach pictures when I can get them to load >:(
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As a fan of Danger Close (and the version before) I would be interested in the changes you made to make it big. What changed for Vietnam?? And what means big for you in vietnam? Is it more a "We were soldiers"-asymetric battle???
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BIG as in it has a lot more detail specific to Vietnam and BIG because it can handle larger units as well as the smaller units of the original Danger Close.
It maintains the original mechanisms, although some tweaked slightly but goes into a lot more explanation as to how things work. For example communications move from a few sentences to a few pages which is due to more detailed explanations and a lot more detail specific to Vietnam.
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BIG as in it has a lot more detail specific to Vietnam and BIG because it can handle larger units as well as the smaller units of the original Danger Close.
It maintains the original mechanisms, although some tweaked slightly but goes into a lot more explanation as to how things work. For example communications move from a few sentences to a few pages which is due to more detailed explanations and a lot more detail specific to Vietnam.
Alrighty then. Well, there's more money I'll end up giving you, Paul...besides, one can't have enough sets of rules, can one? ;)
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Will it have a QRS ????? :D
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Will it have a QRS ????? :D
Yes of course.
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Alrighty then. Well, there's more money I'll end up giving you, Paul...besides, one can't have enough sets of rules, can one? ;)
;)
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:)
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o_o
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What a nice game indeed!
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What a nice game indeed!
Indeed it is! I like the ground-level views in particular. But the whole shebang is way cool!
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Cheers guys. You will notice that some of the pictures are sideways. This is done for atmosphere so you can see what it would look like laying down and under fire ;)
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Cheers guys. You will notice that some of the pictures are sideways. This is done for atmosphere so you can see what it would look like laying down and under fire ;)
Ah. I thought it was gun camera footage from the trail Skyraider... :)
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PART 4
Having shouted rude words at the pilot he promised to do better. RECON were now under fire from a VC section on the left flank who. with some local villagers were gradually sneaking forward towards the RECON unit.
A purple smoke canister was thrown into the jungle area and the pilot contacted. This time the Skyraider screamed in firing rockets and hit exactly on target killing and wounding many of the VC and sending the remainder running away. Phew.
The LT decided that things were more stable and so the main landing could begin. Following radio contact they awaited the large noisy UH34's bringing the Marine platoon. These soon appeared and moved towards the planned LZ. Firing suppressive fire from their MG's to keep enemy heads down.
With only some small arms buzzing around they successfully landed and their passengers jumped out and ran for the high ground to take up defensive positions.
Suddenly things looked a little brighter.
Da Dd DAAAAAA!!!!!
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:)
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Loving the new helicopters 👍
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Nice.
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Well done, lad! Well done. Love the choppers and the whole set up!
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This looks great and is very impressive.
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Thanks chaps. Much appreciated ;)
Final part soon.
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Stunning setup Paul....what is the chopper count up to now?
:)
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..what is the chopper count up to now?
I know that it has really taken off! lol lol lol
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What a bunch of nice pictures!
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Nice to see all the toys on the table. Looking good!
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Thanks guys. ;)
Actually I did get all the toys on the table for another game which I will put up picture of when I finish this. I had not realised the range was so big lol
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PART 5. The final part of the game.
Having landed the USMC Platoon the troops ran for the cover to get into firing positions to defend the LZ. On the left flank the squad received no incoming fire and was able to link up with the RECON unit defending that flank.
On the right the two squads raced towards the top of the small hill to get the high ground as the platoon HQ radioed for artillery support and intelligence.
The NVA platoon ran as fast as possible to also gain the same high ground and collected any local VC on the way. They were faster and reached the top with all guns blazing and a few grenades thrown.
The right squad of Marines took casualties but was able to fire back with concentrated fire from its sister supporting squad as well as from the 50 cals in the choppers. Carnage ensued and over the following two moves the NVA were chewed up and the Marines able to take the high ground. The extreme right squad of Marines however took the punishment and fell back to the HQ to create a defensive zone.
In the mean time the UH34's had taken off and despite getting some small arms fire had no issues. However they did spot VC moving across the paddy fields and the fire of all three as they flew over them at low level caused serious casualties.
At this point the VC and NVA fell back rapidly and abandoned the village to the villagers who had been hiding since the fire fight began.
Huey medi vac came in to ferry the wounded and body bags back to base as the Marines established a perimeter and patrolled the area for weapons stashes.
Final conclusion was a successful operation although one that had been far more brutal than expected. As for the rules a good test with some interesting notes and slight amendments. Next battle would be a HUGE test to push the parameters of the rules and see how big a game they could control.
Final body count was
3 civilians KIA.
20 NVA/ VC KIA
3 MARINES KIA
2 MARINES WIA
1 RECON with a broken ankle returned to base and in bed drinking a cold beer.
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:)
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;D
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Endex.
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BOHICA.
We are currently working on a set of wargames rules that work for both French Indo China and Vietnam.
Play testing has pretty much ended and the review team has been bust picking through things.
The final re write is underway to pull it all together and then huge amounts of pictures, charts and general illustrations need to be done.
Release date is difficult to say but hopefully by the end of the year or early next.
Here are some pictures of a play test where we pushed the parameters of how much two players could control in a game. Both had about two companies on a one to one figure ratio plus armour , artillery , air, support. It worked but was exhausting. The game is actually written with a target unit of platoon so between thirty and figures. But can be used for far smaller and far larger battles.
Here are some pictures of the game we played.
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Release date is difficult to say but hopefully by the end of the year or early next.
Paul, a sneaky way of making me start all the Indo-China stuff
I bought from you. Come to think about it I need to find them
& work out what else I need, you rotter! Partizan in a few weeks too. >:(
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Wonderful figures and terrain.
Great photos.
Also went to your Facebook page.
More outstanding pics.
Some of the best set of photos for gaming Vietnam I have ever seen.
Thanks for sharing.
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Hmmm....had you considered a wider set of Post-45 rules as well...if the gameplay works for multiple platoons/companies on a 1-1 basis, it would be interesting to see if they could transfer to a non-Vietnam type game
:)
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Very interesting. You certainly have my attention...
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Hmmm....had you considered a wider set of Post-45 rules as well...if the gameplay works for multiple platoons/companies on a 1-1 basis, it would be interesting to see if they could transfer to a non-Vietnam type game
:)
Thanks guys.
The rules are specific to Vietnam however are very easily adapted in their BOHICA form into other periods. I suppose their true development into other theatres depends on two things. How successful they are and how much time I have ;) Following on from BOHICA are two planned supplements for Vietnam, at the least, and it all takes time. However you can guarantee we will be playing the rules in house for other periods.
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However you can guarantee we will be playing the rules in house for other periods.
It has become a full time... Korea. :D :D :D
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Another good looking board.
Good luck with the rules, it will end up on my shopping list.
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Thanks guys. ;)