Following on from the practice game described in a previous post I took part in a large game last weekend.
The ten players initially faced each other over a series of 6' x 4' tables, changing sides as they moved on to the next table. In this way the ten players were able to play five games on the first day and become familiar with the rules which were new to many of the players.
First came the Highway scenario where the Americans had to get 50% of their mixed force of armour and transports off the opposite end of the table in the face of NVA opposition.
I managed to lose this one playing the NVA
Next was the Charlie Don't Surf scenario where the American chopper-borne force had to find an arms cache in a VC held village and then get their man surfing.
I managed to lose this one as the Americans as I assumed that the choppers could not spot hidden units. Subsequent players decided that they could and were able to shoot up the defenders before landing. Interestingly this assumption was reversed again for the big game.
Next was the Village where the VC had to hold out against advancing American infantry.
I played this one twice and I scored my first victory as the Americans but lost as the VC.
Next was the Firebase where waves of VC assaulted a heavily defended base.
I played the VC so, yes, I lost this one too. In fairness though, one guy actually managed to capture it - amazing!
The final scenario was the Bridge where a Special Forces team had to blow up said bridge defended by VC
Didn't play this one. One guy managed to blow the bridge without even alerting the sentries!
OK, one out of five was not great but the guy who designed the scenarios scored zero!
We spent the remainder of the day constructing the table for the following day. There was a plan but in order to suit the hall, the support tables, the boards and the available terrain it had to be considerably adapted. It turned out to be thirty feet long by eight feet wide with a major waterway and a smaller one traversing most of the length of the table.
The US plan was to move their firebase to a new site which had already been levelled and wired. VC villages en route were to be neutralised and some US PoWs were to be located and released. There were five players on each side. My own part of this was command of an isolated US medical post with a few troops and a damaged Medevac helicopter.
The US plan, such as it was, began unravelling very early on. The river flotillas soon found their boats pinned and the village clearing took much longer than anticipated. The firebase player unaccountably let his transport helicopters get involved in supporting the flotillas so that by the time they finally arrived at the new site the wire had all been removed and the VC were in occupation.
The VC were obviously too busy elsewhere to take any account of my little medical facility so, once I had repaired the helicopter, I loaded up a section of troops and went off to investigate a Prison Camp. Sadly the PoWs were not in such an obvious location.
Things looked up for the US side when an Australian Canberra turned up, unfortunately flown by a Rookie pilot! An then some armour appeared.
As time began to run out it was clear that the Americans were unlikely to achieve any of their objectives. At least I was still in possession of my Medevac facility....................
Total Victory for the VC then but everyone seemed to have enjoyed their weekend anyway.