Ambush Valley at Salute 2010.

[Mr. Peabody]

3 days of fun and friends at Trumpeter's 33rd annual convention.
My buddy Ken & I hosted three games of Ambush Valley. We played Search & Destroy at Dak Po twice and Operation Crimp once.
Our table & games managed to win 'Best of Show' for the 3 day event.   Here are a few snaps of the games we played....

The peaceful village of Dak Po


Porters & Escort emerge from Tunnel Spot 5


Reinforcements inside the elephant grass


OP Team on the hill shut down Tunnel Spot 4


The defining moment of Game One a stand-off between rear-guard US and the VC Escort team.


Fog of War! Fire! Fire! Great fun these cards. Never seen people WANT to roll ones...


VC start for Game Two. This group of players chose a more difficult route but they made better use of Out of Contact movement throughout the game.


Peasants out for a stroll? This stand converted late in the game into reinforcements that pushed the game to a VC win.


Home made dice towers. The screen allowed the VC player & ref. to organise hidden units in Bunkers & Hooches.


Booby Trap Card: MMG Bunker! A game changer. Here the bunker is finally put out of action.


A line of bunkers wait in ambush...


Snipers, Bunkers and Tunnel Spots, Oh My... Operation Crimp at the proposed US exit point.


Airborne Rangers moving on bounding overwatch


A unit of Rangers deep inside the line of bunkers... No ambush yet; the VC will 'hug-the-bear' as their strategy for this fight.


Despite making use of the only real cover on the table, this squad of Rangers was reduced to walking wounded. They have been Pushed-Back to the next available cover.


This looked like a good spot to cover the advancing squad from. The cover was insufficient to protect from the concentrated fire of the bunkers however.


Silent bunker sits at the edge of the low grass.


Remnants of the Maxim crew bail out of a destroyed bunker


The US F.O. finally calls in the 105's on the Recoilless Rifle & MMG's that have been causing so much carnage.

[Hitman]

That is a very nice looking game board. Great detail and work. The minis look nice as well. Game must have been a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing.
Regards,
Hitman
 

[Calimero]

It do look like a good game. Nice table, nice buildings too

… and those plastic figures don’t look half bad when properly painted… I’m pretty sure I still have an ESCI box of Marines and a box of VC somewhere

[DFlynSqrl]

Excellent work Peabody.  That hex terrain is sweet.  I also just noticed that you made it easier to mark locations on the game board by boarding your map with letters and numbers.  Great idea!

[Mr. Peabody]

Yah, the borders were Ken's inspiration & they really give the whole table a 'complete' look. Almost looks like a big map when you see it from a few feet away. No more jagged edges.

Doing things like pre-registering fires, noting hidden units & and even planning new lay-outs is soooo much easier. 

[bollix]

Are those commercially made buildings?

[Mr. Peabody]

Are those commercially made buildings?

The buildings are scratch-built. I make a plasti-card shell and add materials like bamboo place-mat, teddy-bear fur, balsa strip, wooden skewers and Woodland Scenics 'fine foliage' for the bunker camouflage.

[abhorsen950]

Looks ace to me stunningly well made game table.