Flatpack and Has.been - Surviving ‘Nam

[has.been]

Thanks for your input, guys! I appreciate the kind words about the feel of the game and the basic mechanics. I was wondering how a 6-player game would go. To this point, I had tried it with only two "players" (me running two squads as separate players).

I'm disappointed to hear the game really went only a couple turns. Did no VC pop up near the ARVN positions? Because a Foe is supposed to always shoot at the closest, non-"Down" (wounded) PC. So, if ARVN activation failures on one side of the board are causing VC shooting against U.S. soldiers clear on the other side of the board, I could see a massacre like that happening. If so, then that's an easy tweak to have the initial appearance of VC placed on board after the Countdown to Contact ends more spread out.

I look forward to hearing (and seeing) more reports and feedback guys. Thanks so much for your time and efforts you are putting into this!! 

Mike Demana

We did play to the rules. If a player's figure failed an activation, the VC popped up near to them.
The ARVN were luckier than the Yanks & dealt with problems quicker, again, with the shooting, they were luckier. 
The Americans also had more 'innocent' civilians near to them.  Several of them turned out to be VC. Fewer of
the ARVN's 'innocents' did.
As Napoleon said, 'Don't give me good General, give me a lucky one' 
By the way I am totally biased as the ARVN were mine, the Yanks Bob's.

[vodkafan]

I just realised after a (too late) reading of the rules  that we didn't use the Squad Leader's extra free activation for an adjacent soldier under his command. That probably would not have made a huge difference though.

[flatpack]

Mike,

Pete is correct.
The ARVN troops did encounter enemy VC on their side of the board.
The ARVN shot well.
I would guess they encountered around 6-7 figures.

But on the yank side, we must have encountered around 15 figures.
They were popping up everywhere.

[has.been]

There is a line in the TV Cop show, Hill Street Blues',
when the gangs start to fight.
The Chief is on the phone to his No. 2, who is out on the streets.
'What's it like?' the Captain asks.
'It's just like Nam!' the lieutenant replies 'No one's wearing colours & fire is coming from everywhere!!!'

[vodkafan]

It might be useful to analyse the  d20 die rolls and results. As it was only 1 turn after the initial squad phase I can still remember them.
I had 6 figures in my squad and they got 1 chance at activation each. I always rolled two dice for each which means 12 rolls in total. of those 12, 7 were fails which resulted in event cards being drawn.
In more detail:

Point Man: 2 successes , 2 actions : 1 to unpin, 1 to fire. Gun jammed.
NCO: 2 failures. I forgot to use his free Squad Leader action
M79 Blooper man: 1 success, 1 fail.  Fired M79, missed target
Rifleman: 2 failures
Rifleman:  1 success, 1 failure. He had already been hit before he could activate, so on his one action could only try to tend himself, which didn't work.
Medic: 1 success, 1 failure. I used his action to run to the NCO . He was shot .

Was this all just bad dice rolls? I need to play a few more times to see if the general pattern repeats.

[vodkafan]

It seems obvious that there is a different perception on "winning" in this game as compared to a normal game. You have a scenario where your squad has a vague mission objective, yes, but you are never going to succeed in that; you are going to get fired on at some point  before you get there. 
"Winning" in this game means staying alive when it all goes FUBAR, making it to the next game , getting replacements  to replenish your squad, doing it all again....
   

[has.been]

Was this all just bad dice rolls?

I don't think the dice helped. 5 of your 6 figures were Grunts (succeed on 8+ on a D 20) & one Vet (succeed on 7+ on a D 20)
So with 5 success against 7 failures you were below average.
You were also not helped by a) Me allocating a risk level of 2 to the scenario, &
                                          b) The D 6 thrown at the end of the FIRST 'squad activation' part of the game being high enough to
                                              send us straight into the 'Individual activation' part of the game.
Had THAT D6 been average, or lower than average the 'Americans' would have had more moves to get a handle on the game.

I would like to play more games & see if the VC ever take a day off.

[CapnJim]

It seems obvious that there is a different perception on "winning" in this game as compared to a normal game. You have a scenario where your squad has a vague mission objective, yes, but you are never going to succeed in that; you are going to get fired on at some point  before you get there. 
"Winning" in this game means staying alive when it all goes FUBAR, making it to the next game , getting replacements  to replenish your squad, doing it all again....
   

It's that way in my Nam '68 games, too.  Keeping the men alive has become the players' aim.  Actually accomplishing the mission is kinda a bonus.  There have been games where they do indeed accomplish the mission and drive the VC off, but due to their own casualties they felt like losses...

I will say that between your guys' 2 games and Mike's games, anecdotal evidence seems to indicate it's current iteration seems to overly favor the VC.  Without having played his Vietnam version, that is strictly an outsider's observation, though.

[flatpack]

Good call from Capn.
I’d love just a quiet mission with my US troops, but it never seems to happen.

[vodkafan]

Good call from Capn.
I’d love just a quiet mission with my US troops, but it never seems to happen.

It's almost as if the Vietnamese didn't want the Americans there....

[Digits]

I’m enjoying the pics and the desperation in the after action reports (especially from James!).  This sounds like it’ has the makings of a “fun” tour through the Nam, lives up to the games name and I’m only upset I wasn’t able to join you for it! 😢

Great looking terrain.   Hopefully will be able to get over to join in some time and will bring a few trees! 😉

[vodkafan]

Hey Digits yeah !

[has.been]

Nice to hear from you Digits.

  Hopefully will be able to get over to join in some time and will bring a few trees!

Having seen pictures of some of your trees... have you acquired an articulated lorry? 

[flatpack]

Prep for the next Nam game.

[mikedemana]

Sorry to take time off from LAF and not reply to this thread! I had a little mini-holiday on Long Beach Island off the coast of New Jersey, visiting friends..

Jim, you may be correct and the game and Event Card mix as it stands right now is "too tough." Perhaps it was just some really bad luck for Bob, Pete, James and the gang. Their catalog of the rolls seems to indicate their rolls were particularly awful. The way the rules are written, even FNGs have a more than 50% chance of activating (with "Veterans" being a 7+ on a d20). Hitting the enemy requires a roll above the Danger Level, which for, say, a VC rifleman is DL 6. There are cover/distance modifiers, of course, but all those misses once again indicates unfortunate die rolling. I say that not to leap to the defense of these rules (which are still being play tested), but to give readers of the thread an indication of what is required for a successful roll.

Once I get another playtest report or two, I'll send out a query to the play testers asking that exact question: "Is it too tough?"

In the meantime, thanks for your efforts and kind words about what you are enjoying in the game. I hope the two turn game is an aberration, as mine have all gone more than a dozen turns. Then again, maybe it is also a function of six players??

Stay tuned, and we shall see...!

Mike Demana