Elephant Grass, Take 2 (Three??)

 

    One of my 28mm Vietnam figures trying to find his way through my 3rd version of elephant grass

My readers here on my blog gave me a thumbs up on my first attempt at elephant grass for my 28mm Vietnam. Over on the Lead Adventure Forum, though, some commenters echoed some concerns that I had about how my first few bases came out. The blades were too wide. It was way out of scale. The stalks of the "grass" didn't mimic what pictures of elephant grass from Vietnam depicted. So, I decided to do a "Take 2."

    Snipping off the cat tail itself, I thought these O Scale JTT scenery products might work

 

The more I looked at the JTT Cat Tails scenics handing from their hooks at Hobby Lobby, the more I thought they might do a better job of looking like grass instead of some random jungle plant. Yes, I would have to cut off the one brown cat tail amongst the green stems shooting up, but that would be easy. I figured that four of them would look right on one of the 1.5"wooden discs. So, I flocked up one of the discs first, then drilled holes with a pin vice where the stems of the plant would go. 

    

    I trimmed off part of the bottom stem & put 5 plants per base, filling the gaps with JTT bushes

After putting four of them a disc, I decided the ground area looked pretty blank and I would need more vegetation on the disk. I added some of the green bushes I used in the first attempt at elephant grass, placed in between each stalk and also in the center of the disk. Next, I added green flocking tufts in the gaps between the bushes. I showed it to Jenny, and she echoed my concern that it looked a little bare. Plus, she said the fact that the cat tail piece went straight up then suddenly flared out halfway up looked odd. It didn't look like long stems of grass. 

    This view from above shows how there are 3 levels - grass tufts, JTT bushes, & the trimmed cat tails

So, on version 2.1 I cut the cat tails down and also added in a fifth piece in the center instead of a bush. I still put the buses in between each cat tail piece and the tufts between them. I liked it a lot better. I dry brushed the tips of the stems the same Maple Sugar that I had done the plastic plants in my first attempt. I showed it to Jenny and she agreed -- definitely better. Neither her nor I were happy about the very "stepped" appearance. You have the flocking tufts that go up a certain height. Next you have the bushes that go up higher. Finally, you have the cat tail pieces which go up more than twice as high as the bushes. if all those stalks were intermixed amongst each other, that might look okay. However, I still wasn't 100% sure this was my elephant grass solution.

 

    I had never heard of 22mm tall grass tufts! I like how lush & dense they are (& easy to make!)

Enter Version 3 -- or at least 3.0, haha! I visited Michigan Toy Soldier with my friend Mike a day or so later. Mike had to go up to Michigan to pick up some painted figures from the amazing Ted Bender. I pitched a visit another hour and a half north to the store as part of the trip, and I'd go along and buy him lunch. He agree. Well, at the store, which has an amazing selection of modeling materials and paints, I found 22mm high tufts from Green Stuff World. Think about that. The minis I'm using for Vietnam are 28mm. These tufts are almost as tall (and would be based on a wooden disk). I took one look at them and grabbed all three blister packs of them they had hanging from the pegs.

    Looking down, you can see how much thicker they are, plus they have a little lighter yellow color, too

I took it to the counter and explained what I was looking for to the store manager. He opened one of the blisters up and I pulled out the painted figure I'd brought along from the Crucible Crush Black Sun range. We both agreed that the flocking looked good coming up over his chest. Honestly, I had never seen a tuft 22mm tall! Actually, Green Stuff World carries four different colors of them. Thankfully, all three they had hanging on the peg were the same color! I picked those up, along with a number of other scenic items. They didn't have any of the miniatures that I was looking for, so I didn't come home with anything but flocking or scenic items.

    I bought mine at Michigan Toy Soldier, but your local shop might be able to order them

For Version 3.0, I simply did my normal flocking job on three wooden discs. Once that was done, I opened up a pack of the 22mm tufts and found that the diameter of each piece was a bit smaller than I thought. I ended up having to put four tufts on each circular 1.5" base. I did the math and the three packs I bought of these tufts would cover 16 bases (4 pieces of elephant grass terrain?). That should be enough for just about any game. I am still thinking of dry brushing the tops of these stems of grass with the same Maple Sugar color. I'm curious to hear what my readers and those on the Lead Adventure Forum think, though.

    One final look at Version 2 -- which do you like best? Version 2 or 3??

    

Which version do you like best? I really want to hear your vote! The original, very tall but broad elephant grass? The stepped Version 2 using the JTT Cat Tails? Or Version 3.0 with the 22mm tufts? Please respond in the comments if you have time -- I would certainly appreciate it!

 

    For those who don't know, here's what it is SUPPOSED to look like...

Meanwhile, what else is on my painting desk? The next batch of orcs (and armored troll) are very close to being finished. You will probably see a post on them within a day or so. I also have more terrain besides the elephant grass that I am working on. I have the crashed spaceship sections primed and ready to be painted on my desk. Once I get this batch of orcs off of the table, I will have room to work on those. So, they're next, then my penultimate group of orcs. Woo-hoo! Almost done with another painting project!!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 6
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 15

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 2

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 5 

Please Keep Off the Elephant Grass!

    Do these bases of plastic plants do the job as giving the effect of elephant grass in Vietnam? Or no?

I have been slowly working on terrain for my 28mm Vietnam games. I started with a couple different sizes of jungle scatter, added in rice paddies, and most recently worked on patches of bamboo. Only one type of iconic Vietnam natural vegetation was left -- elephant grass! This can grow in height over a man's head. I looked at how other miniature gamers had done it and also paged through a lot of Google Images. Armed with that knowledge, I headed off to Michaels craft store with my Christmas present of a $50 gift card. 

    The giant mat I found composed of individual circles with long blades of plastic 'grass' attached

Unfortunately, I didn't find anything that jumped out at me at Michaels. Boo! Next, it was off to a nearby Hobby Lobby. There I did find a very interesting square mat of plastic plants that looked like it would work. And yes, I had brought along a 28mm miniature in my pocket to hold up to the various options to see if the sizing would be right. The mat passed the test, and what's more, would supply more than enough pieces for all of the elephant grass that I'm likely to ever create. The mat consists of multiple circular pieces (with long blades of grass) attached to a square plastic mat. It looked like three of the circles would fit on 1.5 " wooden disc. However, the center of each circle of grass was completely bare. 

  'Green bushes' from JTT Scenics that I would apply in the center of each circle to hide the bare area

I would need to find something to fill that bare circle, though the blades of grass did a semi-decent job of covering it up. Still, I kept shopping and found a sheet of small green bushes from JTT Scenics that would fit inside of the plastic grass. They would end up being the more expensive part of the components, as the grass mat and 1.5" wooden circles were incredibly cheap. Now, to get it all home and see if it looked halfway decent once I put them all together!

    One base with the first circle & bush attached and the second one epoxied & tacked into place

I decided to paint the base first with the earth brown ground color I use. I did a light coating, which soaked into the wooden surface, and hopefully would not get in the way of the plants adhering to the surface of the wood. To attach them, I decided to use 5-Minute, two-part epoxy. Knowing the grass blades stuck out pretty far in all directions and might "push" neighboring circles away, I epoxied one circle at a time, waiting for it to cure before attaching the next piece. In fact, I decided to wait about an hour or so rather than the five minutes it normally takes. Plastic can be slippery, and some of these did not sit 100% flat, meaning I could have a tricky bonding situation. My fears proved well-founded, as supposedly cured pieces of epoxy came unstuck once or twice during the process. So, I began using a thumbtack to affix it to the wooden base while the epoxy cured. In the end, all three circles of grass were attached to the bases. At that point, I put the scenic bushes inside the center of the grass circles. Once they dried, flocking was the next step. I brushed my premixed 50/50 white glue and brown paint in the gaps between the circles of grass and along the edges of the base. I sprinkled Woodland Scenics Blended Turf atop the glue-paint mix and set them aside to dry. 

    Ground level look at a squad of my 28mm American infantry advancing through the elephant grass

The next step was to trim the blades of grass. I pulled out some of my Vietnam figs and placed them between the four bases of elephant grass. I trimmed off the "wild hairs" and shortened the longest pieces down. It was an eyeballing thing, of course. Yes, I realize the individual blades of grass are still wildly out of scale for my figures. It is the effect that I am shooting for. Once I was happy with all four bases, the last step was to dry brush them. Many of the photos of elephant grass I had seen showed the stalks yellowing and turning brown. I went back and forth on which color to use, but ended up choosing a yellowish-brown craft paint called "Maple Sugar." I took my widest flat brush and dry brushed the grass here and there to give a more varied effect. I was pretty happy with how that transformed the look of the grass blades and made it look way less "plastic-y." At that point, I decided that I needed some green grass tufts to mask where each pair of circles joined. I chose the largest size and they did a nice job of making the surface of each base look more natural. The only remaining thing to do was the acrylic matte spray coat. And just like that, my first four test bases of elephant grass for Vietnam were done. 

A look from above at my first 4 test bases of elephant grass next to some 28mm miniatures

I let them sit a few days before taking photos of them with some of my 28mm Vietnam miniatures. I am very curious to hear what you think about whether they look good or not. The individual grass blades are wider than what would be 28mm scale, but do they give a good effect? Or does it look like some large jungle plant instead of elephant grass? I won't be offended if you give them a thumbs down. I just wanted to get some feedback before doing any more bases. Thanks!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 6
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 6

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 2

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 0
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 4 

Rural Interlude: Asian Water Buffalo, 2-Wheel Cart & Wattle Fences

    Some 3-D printed rural scatter terrain and water buffaloes that I painted up a week or so ago

All of these items were finished more than a week ago. However, I never got a chance to do a blog post on them before leaving for vacation to Dominica last week. I pulled them out after painting up the Japanese Fishing Village scatter set from Miniature Building Authority. I remembered that I had also picked up a couple 3-D printed Asian water buffaloes from them, as well. I pulled them out, and said, "What the heck?" Let's go full-on rural and get that 3-D printed cart from A Critical Hit done, as well. And while I was at it, I pulled out the wattle fence sections I bought at Advance the Colors 2025 from Diabolical Terrain. The cart and buffaloes I simply primed with Liquitex White Gesso. The fence sections I figured it might be better to do an acrylic black spray prime with my usual Krylon Fusion. Next up, was a 50/50 mix of water and black acrylic paint. There are a lot of crevices and recessed areas in the wattle as the branches thread in and out of the posts. I didn't want any gray peaking through.

    3-D printed 28mm Wattle fences (one section with gate) from Diabolical Terrain I got at ATC 2025

For painting the wattle, I scaled my usual wood tones a bit lighter. Instead of using a dark brown base like I normally do for wood, I went with a wet brush of a medium to lighter brown called Autumn Brown. The next step was a Khaki highlight. I skipped the brown wash with the black undercoat still showing in some places. I flocked them and added a couple tufts on each side, and these were done! Quick is the theme for this update. All three items painted up extremely quickly. My biggest decision was whether to put them on a base or just flock the thin base they come printed on. Or I could also make them into an enclosed field using the gate sections...what to do? In the end, I decided to leave them "as is" and place the wattle fence directly onto the tabletop when I use them. That gives me flexibility in both length and width of the enclosed field. Of course, if I don't like using them this way, they are so inexpensive I could buy more from Ron the next time I see him. In fact, when I picked them up from him at Advance the Colors 2025, I joked, "Do you know how much time you saved me for just over a $1.50?"

    Miniature Building Authority sells a pack of 2 3-D printed water buffaloes for my Vietnam games

The water buffaloes painted up very quickly, too. I pulled up a Google Images page on them and they look pretty dark furred, in general. So, I used a dark brown base coat. I did a medium brown (Autumn Brown from Ceramcoat) dry brush over that to bring out the highlights on the figure. Next, I did a khaki dry brush along the undersides of the buffaloes, as some of the photos showed them a lighter color underneath -- like many animals. Their wide, curving horns were dry brushed a light tan ("Wild Rice" from Ceramcoat, again). The only real details I had to do with a small brush were their black eyes and detail around their mouth. Yep, painting buffalo lips! 

    Base coat and a couple dry brushes and these big boys were done and ready for the tabletop! 

I did a brown wash on the horns, but none of the rest of the figure received a wash. Once again, I was concerned that it might cover up the medium brown and khaki dry brushing. Flocking was done in my normal method. The large round bases came with the figures, and I went ahead and used them. Of course, I forgot until AFTER the figures were done to put some magnetic material underneath. Sigh. Still, my Vietnam rural scenes just got a nice bit of eye candy, as they two took very little time to get ready.

    2-wheel carts for only $1.50 from A Critical Hit - I need to pick up more of these next time!

The two-wheel cart was even easier. It comes in four parts -- the main "basket" of the cart, the undercarriage with long handles, and the two wooden wheels. The hardest part was epoxying it all together, as I had to dig out the notch for the wheels fit into. As printed, the wholes weren''t big enough. No biggie! Just using an X-acto knife widened them enough to dry fit them into. I pulled them back out and used some gray tac to hold the cart in place and epoxied them all together. 

    Wattle fences and carts will also work for Fantasy, Medieval, and about anything up to modern age

Once that was done, it was simple. I did a dark brown base coat, Camo brown dry brush, and khaki highlight (my typical wood recipe). There were a few metal bits to paint Iron Wind Metals Steel, with a dab of Bronze for the bolts. Once dry, I did a black vehicle wash over the cart and it was ready for the clear spray coat! And actually, that's where this update ends. The wattle fence sections still need their 50/50, so I guess it wasn't a "full-on" rural post. Still, I was happy at getting the water buffaloes done and the cart. I know that when I see A Critical Hit next (Cincycon 2026?), I will definitely be buy several more of these. I think they cost like $1.50 each. How can you beat it?? They work for a huge number of periods and regions of the world. If you see them at a show anytime soon, pick some up (after I am able to get mine, of course...ha, ha!).

    I went back and forth whether to base the fences as an enclosure or keep them as separate pieces

On the painting desk at the moment is my Orc and Goblin horde commander and his bodyguard. They're mostly completed, though, I still have to do some details like their shield design and eyes, teeth, etc. This morning, I pulled out another batch and attached their weapons and shields. It will be four orcs/goblins and two more trolls. For terrain, I have a giant stone tower that I bought from RRB Minis & More spray primed. I may. not work on it much, though, until I even things up in the Acquired vs. Painted for Miniatures. I am have 27 more figures to complete to do so, and 19 days to do it! Will I make it...? Time will tell...

    Final look at the 'Rual' items I painted up, accompanied by my 28mm Empress Vietnamese civilians

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 306
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 279

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 62
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 80

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 144
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 213 

Surviving 'Nam at Hold the Line - 'It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times..."

    A squad of Viet Cong stalk towards the players in Friday's "Surviving 'Nam" game at Hold the Line

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" -- for the Americans in my Vietnam game, that is! Same rules, same scenario. Different players, different tactics and dice rolls...and wildly different results! I ran my Surving 'Nam rules this past weekend at Hold the Line convention. Both games were full with four players ready to take on the role of a U.S. platoon sent to search Stone Buddha Market for signs of it being a Viet Cong supply depot. Both games had experienced miniatures players who understood tactics. So, why did the U.S. go down to their worst defeat in my eight play tests on Friday afternoon, yet succeed better than any so far on Saturday?

    American troops from the Big Red One infantry division advance towards a village in Vietnam

I have had some time to analyze the two different games since then. Yes, some of it was due to some seriously bad luck. On the whole, the players rolled much better on Saturday than they did on Friday. However, I don't think more Viet Cong popped up to attack them on Friday, though. It wasn't "How Many?" but rather "Where?" the V.C. showed up. I think it came down to half the American force getting bogged down in a killing field on the tabletop. There is a rice paddy and open area on one side of the board edge where the U.S. soldiers enter. The two right flank squads were unable to press past this area and into the village. Meanwhile, the HQ element and other squad mostly went the other direction and made good progress, separating the two. Unfortunately for those on the right, most of the of the V.C. that arrived on table showed up right across the river from them in the light vegetation along the river. The soldiers themselves had little cover, and all too often failed their rolls to avoid enemy fire. When other soldiers would run to check on the Down soldiers, and try to get them back on their feet or at worst drag them to cover, they were shot and went Down, too.

    On Saturday, one U.S. squad crossed the river and effectively guarded the platoon's flank that way

In my Surviving 'Nam rules, a soldier that is targeted by enemy fire must try to roll above the foe's Danger Level modified by cover. If they roll exactly the Danger Level (or one above or below), they are Pinned. If they roll below that, but more than a "1" (natural one is out of action), they are counted as Down. However, if a friendly soldier spends an action checking on a "Down" soldier, the player rolls on a chart. Results can vary from out of action, disabled, walking wounded, lightly hurt, or unhurt at all (maybe the bullet hit an item of equipment and knocked the force knocked them down and stunned them). The rule rewards historical behavior. Soldiers would check on their friends who had been hit, and help patch them up. 

    Right flank squad led by Sgt. Rogers motioning his men forward, crossing the river into the scrub

In Friday's game, the two squads that advanced across the rice paddy and open ground did so slowly, often failing their activation rolls, which causes the draw of a card from the event deck (which can possibly bring fresh V.C. onto the table). As the left wing disappeared into the jungle or buildings on the left,  those squads on the right began to take casualties and get bogged down. Joe M, playing the far right flank -- and frankly responsible for many of the atrocious dice rolls -- at one point had all five of his soldiers out of action. Jeff G, the next squad in, tried to send guys out to help, but as they ran to their buddies they were shot down, too. Jeff cleverly used smoke grenades to block off the visibility of some of the V.C., but there simply were too many enemy opposed to just one part of the American force.

    Sgt. Summers points his squad towards the village & its market, which they are ordered to search

The other thing that really hurt the Americans on Friday was the HQ element was out of position to spot the bulk of the V.C. Two of their biggest "guns" are in the HQ squad -- the M60 machine gunner and the lieutenant himself and his ability to call in fire missions (off-board artillery) on the enemy. I honestly remember the M60, whose suppressive fire can sometimes effectively pin an entire V.C. squad, firing only ONCE the entire game! And the lieutenant had "gone left" so wasn't in position to see the overwhelming amount of V.C. popping up to attack the American right and call in fire on them. There are two "Fire Mission" event cards that come up in the deck, and there was a significant drought of them being drawn during the Friday game, as well. Because a number of cards call for the event deck to be reshuffled, it can mean that some cards simply never come up, while others come up more often because the reshuffling puts the former on the bottom and the latter near the top. I actually like how this makes each game different. 

    A V.C. machine gun team inside a bunker ambushes the American advance

So, even though the Colonel on the Horn card came up and modified the player's mission on Friday, the players eventually got to a point where they felt there was no hope of collecting their wounded and getting off the table. For the first time in my eight personal play tests, my players cried "Uncle!" and admitted they had lost the mission. They were simply going to have to leave wounded on the field to be able to get the other two squads off the table. I actually have 7-8 other groups play testing the rules in the U.S., U.K, and Italy, and that has happened once or twice to others. However, that was before I made changes and toned down the lethality. This was the first time I witnessed it in action myself, so I was trying to figure out why it happened, and especially when I felt I had the mechanics "bloodiness" tweaked to the right level.

    'Incoming!' V.C. mortar fire begins to impact near the HQ squad - the lieutenant seems unimpressed

Although it may seem I am blaming the HQ squad player for being out of position, it was the group's plan that his squad move to the left. All players tried their hardest to do the tactically correct thing to do. Jeff's smoke grenades were a clever tactic that mitigated the danger of an enemy machine gun bunker and a deadly V.C. sniper. Ultimately, I fee the players were victim of bad luck with most of the enemy showing up concentrated in exactly the wrong place for their plan. And when it came to critical rolls, they seemed to fail them regularly. All of that said, I had some serious soul searching going on that night! 

  V.C. machine gun has downed one G.I. already, and is one of the deadlier enemy weapons in the game

I honestly felt that I had fixed Surviving 'Nam from being too bloody for the Americans. adjusted to the correct level. And then suddenly, I had the worst outcome in all of my play tests! Over dinner and beers, I talked to my friends about it. My friend Jim W, who had played in the previous weekend's play tests in World At War (and had his group win handily), chimed in. He said that is the beauty of a balanced scenario and rules. Things CAN go to Hell if the players meet the "perfect storm" of bad luck and unfortunate tactical choices. He argued that, if the players can't struggle when luck is not going their way and they make bad choices, then the scenario or rules are too easy. Jim felt it was bound to happen if you play a scenario often enough. What he said made sense, and I looked forward hopefully to Saturday's game.

    On Friday, the U.S. soldiers swarmed the bunker and took it out with grenades and M16 fire

So, what went different, Saturday to make the same scenario go so well? As I mentioned earlier, their rolls were better. However, remember that patch of light vegetation across the river? The right flank squad instead crossed the river and occupied those two patches of vegetation. Most of the event cards that place new enemy troops on table stipulate the new enemy be placed in cover NOT occupied by the player's forces. The American right wing moving quickly along the opposite bank of the river cut off any enemy squads from arriving there -- except for isolated individual V.C. soldiers popping up in spider holes. Plus, my friend Mike S (playing Surviving 'Nam for the first time) made it a point to use his M60 machine gun regularly and keep his lieutenant where he could best see patches of cover where enemy troops might spring up. Even though Mike didn't get many fire mission cards (bad luck there), his HQ squad was in better position to support either wing of his platoon. He maneuvered his M60 gunner into position to suppress the enemy bunker and its machine gun when it appeared. Then, he shifted position to hammer the biggest enemy main ambushing force when it finally arrived on the table.

 The players on Saturday also did a better job of keeping their squad leaders near their heavier weapons support (M60 for the HQ and M79 grenade launchers for the other squads). This allowed them to use the squad leader's free action he can hand out each turn and give those weapons a second chance to fire every turn. Between the grenade launchers and M60, effective fire was promptly laid down on enemy immediately after they appeared. More than once, a squad of V.C. would appear, and within short order, grenades fired by the "bloop gunners" would devastate their ranks. In fact, when the Colonel on the Horn card came up on Saturday, the players decided to hold off obeying his directive to break contact and exfiltrate. Instead, they chose to continue with their mission searching the market awhile longer. They felt they had the situation under control, and indeed the results showed that they did.

    Many villagers scattered quickly once the Americans arrived, this poor granny froze on the bridge

Thankfully, even the players who cried "Uncle!" on Friday night said they had a blast with the rules. The rules have been tightened up to the point where, after my play tests, the gamers really don't have any rules changes they would suggest. Instead, they say it worked great and excitedly talk about other periods the mechanics would work for, as well. It is always satisfying as a GM to provide a good time for your players. It was also a thrill for me to see the players gel together as a team and work their hardest to help accomplish the mission. After running my Viking Town Raid earlier this year, and running Surviving 'Nam twice at conventions, I am becoming more and more of a fan of cooperative miniatures games. The players really seem to enjoy reacting together as a team and covering each other's backs. Their smiles when they accomplish their mission or overcome the more dangerous enemies, such as the V.C. machine guns and snipers, is a reward for me as a GM. 

It may be time now to pivot my play testing to designing and test-driving scenarios instead of looking for things in the rules that need changed. I'll shift my own writing from making changes in mechanics to editing the text of the rules so that they are clear and well organized. To be sure, you will read more of my own solo Vietnam games and accounts of my Big Red One platoon as I play test more scenarios. I also want to run through an entire year campaign -- 12 missions -- and see if anything else comes up that I might need to fix in those mechanics. So, stay tuned and see how the platoon fares in its upcoming fourth mission when it is one third of the way through its time "In Country." Hopefully, it will be the best of times for them and not the worst...haha!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 290
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 269

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 53
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 67

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 136
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 212

Surviving 'Nam at World at War convention

    I ran two play tests of "Surviving 'Nam" at World at War convention this past weekend

I'm lucky in that my games tend to be popular at regional conventions. Whether that is because of setting up a pretty tabletop or reputation for running a fun game, I don't know. So, I would normally feel bad about running a game that could take only four players. However, World at War at Fort Meigs, Perrysburg, OH, is a smaller convention with fewer attendees. So, it seemed a perfect fit to take Surviving 'Nam up there and run a couple more play tests. Each game would have four players --- the most I've had yet. And it was also the first time I have taught the rules in a convention setting. My good fortune continued as the weekend arrived, and I had a full table in each game.

    Villagers arrive at the weekly Stone Buddha Market in Piit Baub village unaware soldiers are coming

Throughout the course of my previous four play tests, and based on feedback from more than half a dozen playtesters in the U.S., U.K., and Italy, I have been steadily scaling back the lethality of the event cards and mechanics. Not only would I see how my rules played out with four live players (not me running solo), I would also get a good feel for how deadly the newest iteration of these cooperative miniatures rules would be. I was very pleased to see that both games played out similarly, and it was not too lethal at all. In fact, both Friday afternoon and Saturday morning's games saw the fewest casualties inflicted on U.S. forces yet in one of my games. I feel I may have adjusted the danger level correctly. Now, it will simply be tightening up things here and there and writing some actual rules for, say, when the Viet Cong have suffered enough casualties and break contact (ending the game). Players could continue taking turns until every U.S. soldier has withdrawn from the table, but I found that there comes a point in the game when the outcome is obvious. Either the U.S. is going to be able to withdraw with no problem, or the V.C. are reduced to so few figures left that realistically they would break off contact and not continue the fight.

    I had two full tables of players over the weekend -- here is the Saturday group moving troops

The mission for these two games was my version of a "Market Day" scenario my U.K. play testers, Bob F and Pete S,  ran a few weeks ago. My game -- "Stone Buddha Market" -- would have the U.S. enter from one of the short edges of a 3'x4' board. They would move to the center of the table where a small village was hosting a weekly market in its center, alongside the river (one of the long edges) and where a wooden bridge crosses the water. The four U.S. squads (Fire Teams, actually, in size) had to search two designated larger hooches, the market itself, and both sampans tied up beneath the bridge. Once they had done that, the whole platoon could exit on their choice of three board edges. 

    Sgt. Rogers motions the platoon forward as the Big Red One soldiers arrive on the table edge

My games feature a pre-battle portion of the game called "Countdown to Contact." During this phase, players do not roll for activations. Each soldier receives one and they move onto the table and can make progress towards their objectives before the V.C. launch their ambush. At the end of each turn, a die is rolled to see if Countdown to Contact ends and the V.C. arrive. At that point, I deploy a number of enemy soldiers, dictated by the size of the U.S. force for balance purposes. There was a mosquito in the ointment in this game, though. The game begins with 12 Vietnamese civilians scattered across the table, but mostly in the market near the riverside. At the end of each turn, the players roll on a chart to see what each villager does. They could be freeze in fear, move away from the U.S. troops (or V.C., if present), panic and sprint towards a board edge, or are revealed as a V.C. If they are V.C., they immediately move into cover and fire on the U.S. soldiers.

    1st Lt. Xavier 's column heads towards the first hooch in Piit Baub while a farmer is in the rice paddy

Both games saw more villagers than expected turning out to V.C. and opening fire. This automatically brings a halt to the Countdown to Contact type of movement. From this turn forward, players do the normal movement turn sequence -- rolling one or two 20-sided dice to activate each of their men. However, I decided that I would not deploy the ambushing V.C. until the end of the turn when players rolled a single d6 score high (as would normally end Countdown to Contact). That would spring the ambush. On Friday, this happened at the end of the third turn. However, on Saturday, it did not occur until the end of the sixth turn. This gave the U.S. forces time to deal with the locals turned V.C. and any enemy that arrived via the event cards (which are turned over, one-for-one, when players fail their activation rolls). I think this helped the U.S. players survive the initial V.C. attack. In effect, it simulated the V.C. committing themselves piecemeal rather than in one massive hammer blow.

    Two squads of the platoon march along the river, while the rest move in from the jungle fringes

Both games progressed similarly, with the soldiers of the Big Red One (U.S. First Infantry Division) taking surprisingly few casualties. One scary moment occurred in Saturday's morning's game. Just as 1st Lt. Xavier's column of five men took shelter behind a small hut on stilts, someone's failed die roll resulted in the placement of an enemy bunker with a machine gun team inside. Random roll had it show up directly behind Xavier and his men! They were bunched up close enough that all five were pinned by the fire, with Xavier going "Down." My Saturday players got VERY lucky, as the machine gun's fire seemed to have rejuvenated their dice rolling abillty. There were no failures of consequence by players on their activation rolls until after they had managed to take out all three members of the machine gun team. The medic was right there, too, and checked on Xavier. He discovered that the C.O. was only lightly wounded. Apparently, he was also pissed off at the Vietnamese! He and his men sprinted towards the market.

    Bad place for a bunker to show up! As the lieutenant's group passes by, it opens up on the soldiers

Once there, Lt. Xavier managed to get on the radio and call in a series of Fire Missions on the growing number of V.C. all around the board. Squad after squad was decimated by mortar and helicopter gunship fire. From looking very bad, suddenly the board began to open up. The only V.C. remaining were in remote corners of the board where their fire was relatively ineffectual because of long range and cover. The battalion's lieutenant-colonel chimed in on the radio calls and ordered the platoon to abandon the search mission and simply rack up the body count, then exit the battlefield. There is an Event Card in the deck called "Colonel on the Horn" which can cause various things to happen. It is shuffled into the deck on the first reshuffle, and actually came up and both days, helping players each time. Potentially, it can make a mission harder or easier, or simply waste the platoon commander's actions as he gives "sitreps" to the micro-managing senior officer.

    "The L-T is down!" Members of his platoon cluster around to check on their C.O.

Both Friday and Saturday's players ended up having to carry only one comrade off the table -- not counting any Lightly Wounded who could walk off on their own. Sitting back after the game was concluded, we judged both times taht the platoon had completed their mission. One of the players commented that, having read all my previous posts with after-action reports, these two missions at World at War were probably the two most successful, so far. I definitely agree! Even more heartening was the fact that the game flowed very smoothly and did not bog down at all with four players. In the beginning, I admit that I would play "border collie." I would urge the next player in turn order to select his figure to activate and roll immediately after we had resolved any event cards for the previous player (while that player was resolving movement or firing). The players got in the habit of anticipating their turn and being ready to go. With only a three hour time slot for the games, I was happy to see both games easily finished in time.

    Incoming V.C. mortar fire lands amongst members of the platoon as they dash towards the ville

Speaking of happy, all of the players said they had a lot of fun. A number of them are also regular players of a different Vietnam rules set, so I wondered if they might be predisposed to question the rules mechanics when they differed from what they were used to playing. However, they all internalized the rules quickly and figured out tactics to take advantage of the mechanisms. Everyone said they enjoyed themselves. At the end, when I asked for feedback or suggestions for the rules at the end, there were no real rules quibbles. The one or two comments were more cosmetic, like perhaps have linear templates for a gunship's fire mission, or maybe wrapping their heads around the scale of visibility and shooting. They felt that the ranges I was using were a good compromise and "looked right" for 28mm figures shooting.

    Viet Cong guerrillas lurk at the edges of the rice paddy ready to open up on the platoon

The next two play tests are less than a week away. I'll be headed up to the third annual Hold the Line convention in norther Ohio, run by the Firelands Game Group. I'll do the same thing (once each on Friday and Saturday) and same scenario. I'll be curious with a larger sampling pool (four games as opposed to two), will I see worse activations rolls and thus more struggles for the Americans? Or will the scenario play out like the previous games and see the U.S. handle the V.C. at Stone Buddha Market? Stay tuned to see!

    U.S. soldiers begin to enter the market place, ready to begin searching for V.C. & contraband

So, what else am I working on, in the meantime? I probably will continue to create more bamboo stands. I have another 15 bamboo trees finished and ready to glue onto their base. My two larger rice paddies are ready for the edging strips to represent the rice plants. Figure-wise, I also have eight 28mm goblin archers that are in the flocking stage. Just this morning, I pulled out three of the Gripping Beast trolls I bought earlier this year, and epoxied their weapons and shields onto them. They also received their White Gesso primer, and will be started on tomorrow. Oh, and James from Fireland Games was at World at War on Saturday and hand-delivered my copy of Dragon Rampant, 2nd Edition rules. Woo-hoo! I'm looking forward to reading over it this week.

V.C. reinforcements appear near the bridge, ready to ambush the American soldiers

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 290
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 258

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 53
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 67

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 136
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 212

    U.S. troops enter the market place, driving off the V.C. so they can begin to search 

 

    A lightly wounded Lt. Xavier calls in fire missions to clear the way for the platoon to extricate

Table All Set Up for Surviving 'Nam Playtests at World at War

    A view of my table set up in the basement to prepare for running Surviving 'Nam this weekend

It has been a busy last two weeks getting things ready for two upcoming conventions -- World at War at Fort Meigs this weekend (Nov. 7-8) and Hold the Line at Camp Perry, OH, the following weekend (Nov. 14-15). I've mainly been working on three things -- more bamboo and rice paddies as mentioned in the last post, and a couple sampans and Japanese Fishing Village items from Miniature Building Authority. I would like to get more bamboo stands done, but I have enough of the rest of the stuff ready to go. I proved it to myself by setting up the game table this afternoon.

    View from the back corner of the table looking towards the market (Viet Cong's view...?)

It turned out that I don't need the two large rice paddies that are nearly completed. Oh well, the sooner they get done, the better...right? I am using all of the MBA market stuff and sampans, though. I'll include pictures of them in this post, along with views of my table. In fact, it was setting up the table that made me realize I really didn't need the larger rice paddies. The board was crowded enough with my various Vietnam buildings, river, and jungle. There definitely wasn't room for them! 

    Close up of Stone Buddha Market, with various market stands and types of food for sale

I'm trying to duplicate one of the scenarios my most prolific play testers, Bob and Pete, ran. Thus was born the ville of Piit Baub at a river and trail crossroads in the territory assigned to the Big Red One (U.S. 1st Infantry Division)! The center of the board is Stone Buddha Market, a weekly trading place for villages and hamlets in the area. The market is adjacent to a wooden bridge crossing the river. Two sampans are pulled up alongside the bridge and shore, selling their fish (and other illicit wares?). Fanning out from the marketplace are my two scratch-built jungle huts, my resin MBA farmer's house and barn, and two 3-D printed hamlets on stilts that I also picked up from MBA. Beyond them is the jungle. Abutting the river are the ville's rice paddies. 

    One of the two sampans I painted up, along with some of the fishing village items

I think the table looks really nice, and I'm happy with seeing all the various elements I've been working on come together. Hopefully, I will have enough stands of bamboo for a second patch of heavy vegetation done, but if not, it is no biggie. The plan is for the U.S. infantry to enter on the left board edge (as you're looking at the market from the bridge), search several hooches, the market place, and sampans, then exit on the right. I'm sure the Viet Cong will have something to say about that, though! Jenny and I got in a last-minute playtest of the scenario this evening, and it went well. No blow-by-blow of the game, as I plan to do that for my games at the two conventions.

    Close up of the Buddha altar and a few more of the fishing village items in front of it (and on table)

I think the game went well. When it looked like the U.S. infantry had things in hand, we called the game and headed for bed, as it was getting late. Out of 17 U.S. infantry that marched onto the table, all but three were able to walk off. Since this was a one-off play test, I didn't roll for their recovery in the rules. One of Jenny's two squads really took it on the chin, so to speak. However, my HQ element and 3rd Squad came away fairly unscathed. We did lose our M60 gunner, though, which would have been a bad thing in the long run. However, the M79 grenade launchers and the lieutenant's fire missions were making up for the loss of our heavy hitter.

    The U.S. infantry marched onto the table from the left hand board edge in the above photo

Will I change anything because of the play test? I think I will add a fifth squad member to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Squad (HQ already has five figures). I was trying to imagine an individual player controlling Jenny's 1st Squad when two (or was it three?) of their men went down. It might not be that fun having only 1-2 figures to control. It also helped me remember that I needed to print out enough copies of the Civilian Random Movement table so that everyone can help with moving the villagers. It also encouraged me to create a couple smoke templates in case any of the players decide to throw a smoke grenade to cover their movement or block a firing lane for the V.C. And finally, I'm going to reprint my event card deck. The one I had been using was my first draft with hand-written changes. Might as well have a fully armed and operational Death Star, er event card deck at the game's first public showing! 

    A look at 3rd Squad and HQ elements entering the outskirts of the village

Technically, I had not actually decided on what the scenario parameters were before the play test. I'm glad that it forced me to commit to a force of V.C. to arrive on table when the "Countdown to Contact" phase ends and the enemy springs their ambush. I thought the size of the enemy force worked out well. I will likely reduce the number of civilians on table, too. It took awhile at the end of each turn to move them all. I also reduced the number of search points the U.S. soldiers have to investigate to make the game fit in the three hour window. Similarly, I will give them a choice of three table edges to exfiltrate from. Everyone who signs up knows that it is a play test of the rules, but nevertheless I want to give them a satisfying game.   

    One of the civilians was secretly a V.C. -- jumping down off the bridge into the cover & opening fire

Otherwise, I need to go back up to Office Max and print off some stuff and then pack everything up so we are ready to leave for Fort Meigs Friday morning. I hope my players have fun. I promise a more extensive battle report for those two games. I expect that I will have four players for each, but it is no biggie if not. Being a cooperative game and with the enemy force tailored to the size of the friendly forces, it would be easy to modify. Expect to hear back from me on either Sunday or Monday!

    A final look at the center of Piit Baub before the action commences

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 290
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 258

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 53
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 67

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 136
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 212