Lead Legionaries: Surviving 'Nam Scenario Playtest: Tanks for the Help!

Firefight between Big Red One soldiers & the Viet Cong rages in my latest Surviving 'Nam game

At this stage, I feel my Surviving 'Nam: An Infantryman's Year In Country rules are done, for the most part. All that is left is to play test the remaining scenarios that will go in the book. I did a solo test of "Tanks for the Help!" last night. In this scenario, the squad is part of a group tasked with protecting a tank broken down on a dirt road in Viet Cong country. It is taken from an actual Big Red One in Vietnam incident, as well as from my favorite Vietnam fiction novel, Fields of Fire by James Webb. The squad has to form a perimeter to keep any V.C. -- especially those armed with RPGs -- from getting close enough to fire upon the tank and its crew, who are busy repairing it. The game ends when the squad has inflicted a certain number of casualties (that's when the tank is assumed to be fixed and drives off), and they may then exfiltrate the table.

The tank we need to protect is on the road out of view while jungle & elephant grass cover the table

My squad of the Big Red One finally welcomed back one of its injured fire team leaders, Cpl. Kern. He and his men, with Lt. Fickell and his radioman attached, would cover the left. Sgt. Frey and his team, along with the M60 machine gun team and medic Spec. 5 Frank, would guard the right. Looking at the terrain, I decided we would advance about half of the force into the two pieces of jungle (Medium Vegetation) in the second tier of terrain our from our baseline. The remainder would guard each flank and form a reserve in the center. Each of the jungle pieces would be occupied by our heaviest hitting weapons -- Cpl. Warfield's M60 machine gun on the right, and Lt. Fickell, his radioman, and (hopefully) their fire missions on the left. Each would have a teammate or two deployed just ahead of them with an M-16 so they weren't the first ones shot at by the enemy!

Sgt. Frey, top left, leads his fire team with M60 team & medic attached to establish a perimeter

I set the Countdown to Contact modifier at "-2", which meant that I would get at least two turns to move into position. As it was, with my rolls going fairly well, I was able to fully deploy after four turns of Countdown to Contact movement before the V.C. arrived. One large V.C. squad showed up in the elephant grass on the opposite baseline, while the other showed up on the far right table edge behind another patch of jungle. Two other V.C. riflemen showed up on our far left, very close to our flank guards. Almost immediately, I drew the first "Fire Mission" card, which is needed to establish contact with the battalion artillery (further cards bring in actual fire missions if the C.O. has any V.C. in his line of sight). Things seemed to be going well. Though I was failing on about half of my activation rolls, the resulting cards I pulled from the deck did not activate any V.C. Instead, they were less disadvantageous ones like "Wait a Minute" vines preventing a soldier from moving, or a snake that startles a squad member into a random movement.

Cpl. Kern, center, resumes control of his team as they move off the road into the junble

Along with already being in firing position, the fortunate card draws meant the squad was able to blaze away immediately at the V.C. when they appeared. Cpl. Warfield, temporarily promoted to M-60 Gunner while his friend Boston recuperated from his wounds suffered during the last mission, pinned about half of the V.C. squad in the elephant grass, taking one out of action. Even Lt. Fickell and his radioman got in on the act, firing their M16s and taking down insurgents while impatiently waiting on battalion artillery to respond on the radio. The only real scary point was the two V.C. on the left flank who quickly pinned Pfc. Pace and were advancing towards him while he groveled in the dirt. Cpl. Kern yelled at Tatum to pour fire into those two. Kern also jogged over to help, firing off several controlled bursts. Between the two of them, they gunned down the insurgents. Pace popped his head up and fired off a blast, as well. Kern laughed and told him it was safe now, and to keep his eyes peeled for more V.C. on that flank.

Kern's team enters the patch of jungle where they will set up their half of the forward perimeter

On the far right, the squad of V.C. behind the jungle advanced beneath the trees. That brought them into line of sight of Sgt. Frey's fire team who had been deployed to guard against threats from that flank. Pfc. Johnson sighted his M-79 and lofted a shrapnel round into the midst of their formation. It exploded on target and several V.C. tumbled to the ground. Frey's point man, Cpl. Carter, also fired a burst, taking down another enemy. Soon, all six V.C. lay motionless, and the right flank was quiet. In the center, it was a shooting gallery as half a dozen soldiers fired on the V.C. as they attempted to sprint from the elephant grass to the jungle patch just ahead of them. Soon, they were all down, too. It grew quiet for a few moments across the squad's front.

Center reserve along the road line with Sgt. Frey, medic Spec. 5 Frank & M79 grenadier Cassidy

Pop! A single round cracked from deeper within the elephant grass. Lt. Fickell heard the snap of it passed above his head. He ducked, cursing. "Sniper!" he called. Pfc. Otis yelled out he had seen the muzzle flash. He flipped the switch to full auto and sprayed the area with an entire magazine, just to make sure. All along the line, the squad listened. No more V.C. firing, no sounds, and no movement. Sgt. Frey shouted for everyone to stay frosty. That was probably just the first wave. Spec. 4 Byars' radio crackled to life as the battalion artillery said they were ready for the fire mission. "Should we hammer that patch of elephant grass, just to be sure?" Fickell asked his veteran radioman. Byars shook his head, saying it was too close. Better to be safe and not risk any short rounds.

Pfc. Otis spots the approach of a large squad of Viet Cong advancing through the elephant grass

A moment later, there was a whistle of incoming mortar fire. It impacted in between the squad's forward group and their reserve. "Not ours!" Fickell shouted. Sgt. Frey chuckled, thinking to himself, "Not your fault, eh, L.T.?" He believed him, though. He honestly felt the platoon was very lucky to have Fickell -- he was one squared away officer. Not every unit could say that about their C.O.! A silence reined over the jungle as the soldiers peered into the jungle looking for more signs of the enemy. There appeared to be none. Was that it? Really?? As it turned out, the Event Cards continued to be very fortunate for my squad. NOW -- with all the enemy on table dead -- I was pulling the event cards that would activate V.C. Meanwhile, I flipped over no cards that would bring new enemy onto the table. The Fire Mission card kep showing up again and again, forcing poor Spec. 5 Byars to invent excuses to hold off the eager artillery.

In this scenario, each V.C. squad includes an RPG because they're hunting a tank!

Both Sgt. Frey and Cpl. Kern began directing some of their forward elements to fall back to the reserve line. "That tank has to be fixed soon," Frey called over to Kern. The soldiers moved into their new positions and waited. Suddenly, the silence was shattered by the sound of a RPD -- a Vietnamese light machine gun. Tracers and rounds sliced through the trees where Warfield's M60 was set up. Several soldiers hit the dirt, pinned. Frey called on Warfield to relocate so the M60 gunner would have line of sight on the enemy LMG team. As he moved, the RPD opened up again from the other patch of elephant grass. Warfield's assistant, Pvt. Hartline yelped and went down. "MEDIC!" Frey shouted. Spec. 5 Frank sprinted from the woods to Frey's left across the patch of open ground and quickly appeared at Hartline's side.

Another squad of V.C. enter the board behind a patch of jungle, trying to take out the tank

Cpl. Kern called over to Frey, "Since when do we have a track star for a medic?" Frey laughed and said, "He's great, but don't get too close to him! He likes to step on booby traps." While the two team leaders watched, Frank patched up the new guy, Hartline, and pulled him to his feet. They began walking together towards where Warfield was firing into the elephant grass, suppressing the enemy machine gun team. Suddenly, Frank and Hartline both dove for the ground. There was a "Pop!" "You gotta be kidding me!" Frey laughed. "Frank did it again -- he stepped on another booby trap!" Kern looked a lot more concerned than the sergeant did. "Oh, don't worry," Frey called over. "He's always okay. It's the people around him that have to watch out. Warfield? Frank? Hartline? You guys okay?" It seemed only Hartline was hurt,. Frey looked over at Kern, caught his eyes, and smiled.

The V.C. move into the patch of jungle, unaware that puts them in line of sight of Sgt. Frey's team

Eventually, the LMG team was dispatched. Frey told Hartline to limp to the rear and see if the tank was ready to move out, yet. As Frank walked by him, Frey just shook his head. "How many times do I have to tell you, Speedy Gonzalez? WATCH where you put your feet..." he chuckled. Just as Frank was about to reply, the jungle to their right and front erupted in AK-47 fire. "Shit," Frey cursed, "that's out of Warfield's line of sight!" He called out instructions to his team, then fired off a burst. He saw one V.C. fall. He heard his buddy, Carter, open up on the new enemy, too. Warfield, after relocating yet again, laid down a long staccato burst of machine gun fire. He stood up carefully, peering forward.

Cpl. Kern's forward position opens up on the V.C., mowing down a few in the elephant grass

"They be down, Sarge, but Elliott and Johnson are hit!" Frey cursed again, and shouted instructions for which guys to come and help carry them to the rear. Frank was already off, racing towards the wounded men -- doubtless not looking where he was going! Behind him, he heard the sound of a tank engine gunning to life. In front, Lt. Fickell was ordering everyone to pull back -- the tank was fixed and ready to move out. Kern walked up to him, his gaze directed towards where Frank was checking over Pfc. Elliott. "Couldn't they have fixed that about five minutes earlier? Your guys okay?" he asked Frey. The sergeant replied he hoped so, they'd know if a few minutes. Meanwhile, the team leaders directed their men to exfiltrate to the rear. He hoped Elliott and Johnson were okay. They were both relatively new, but shaping up well.

2 V.C. on the left are too close to Pfc. Pace for Kern's liking, so he tells Cpl. Tatum to light them up!

In all fairness, I have to say that my squad had excellent luck when it came to the Event Card deck this game. Plus, our rolls to avoid enemy fire were fantastic. Up until the final batch of V.C. activated, only one guy had been wounded, and he was soon on his feet as Walking Wounded. My rolls to avoid enemy fire crashed on the final two, though. Still, I was happy that I had good luck rolling on the Down chart for them. I came up with a Walking Wounded result and a Lightly Wounded one.

Pfc. Johnson lobs a perfect M79 grenade shot into the midst of the V.C. closing in on the right

Unfortunately, the trend downward continued when I rolled on their recovery time. All three would miss at least one month. Pfc. Elliott would get to enjoy the rear for a month while he recuperated. The FNG Hartline would be off to Da Nang for two months, as his wounds were slightly worse. Poor Pfc. Johnson, in only his second month in country, was badly wounded enough to be sent to Japan for three months. Yikes! Three guys "Down," and three guys gone for next mission! At least Cpl. Boston would be back, though (the normal M-60 gunner). Also coming back was long-lost Cpl. Hawk, returning from three month's recuperation from wounds suffered when he dropped his own grenade (after being hit, to be fair!). Doubtless, he would get some grief from the squad for that!

Squad's first casualty of the game, and wouldn't you know it was an FNG, Pvt. Hartline?

Still, June's mission is now complete and the squad is halfway through its year in Vietnam. Kern will likely be promoted to sergeant, so we will have two good, Veteran team leaders and it appears a lieutenant who can be trusted. Are things looking up for my squad of the Big Red One? Stay tuned to see...!