After a long spell, we played today Sniper! the second scneario of Surf's Up, the companion book to Charlie Don't Surf, the TooFatLardies Vietnam-era rules for company size actions. The game was a total disaster for the Vietcong player (...who by the way, it was me), losing the game on both fronts, the military and the political.
This scenario sees a local VC force (1 platoon) vs a full US Infantry company. The VC is on a security mission in a village defending some rice and weapons caches, and owning a small tunnel network, The objective was to maintain the tunnel network intact (20 points) and as a secondary objective to keep at least 1 cache safe (10 points)
The US orders (main objective with 20 points) were to round up and relocate the villagers and to destroy the hamlet; a secondary objective was to find and destroy any food or weapons stored in the area.
As you see the VC player has a very weak force in this scenario and must fight a delaying action supported with 2 snipers while he must avoid the US finding the tunnels.
The following map shows the initial deployment in blinds and the location of the tunnel (yellow strip on the right)
As expected my "dummy" blinds were spotted after the third turn and even if I could deploy one of my snipers, the first time it shot got a "double 2", which in terms of the rules mechansm means that it disappeared from the game
Second mistake I made was to entering into panic and moved the main force into the tunnel, with the idea of existing the table through my tactical side (south edge). This had two consequences: I left the the field open to the American player and I gave him a very clear indication of the existance of a tunnel network and its location... really stupid on my side.
So the rest of the game went with the the American player quietlly strolling around, almost unmolested from my second sniper (who got just 1 kill) burning houses...
...rounding up villagers and concentrating them in the LZ for airborne relocation...
... and even taking a prisioner alive (a wounded local VC) that was medevaced to the main base.
With the caches put on fire and the tunnel abouit to be discovered, I conceded defeat in my worst performance in a game in years.
Decisive Military victory (30 points) and clear political victory (10 points) to the US player.
Seems like avery nice game. Greate looking table and minis. are the minis 20mm?
ReplyDeleteI got a half done 20mm vietnam project...might have to se it over and try these rules out.
Best regards Michael
Hi Michael
DeleteNo, we play 28mm, and we've dediced to scale down the number of figures on the table to a ratio of 1 mini represneting 2 actual men.
All the minis are from The Assault Group and from Force of Arms (sold through The Wargames Command Post now).
CDS is great set but be aware that are for company size actions: this is different to many other rules on the market that are more skirmish-oriented.
28mm even better, I to would like to run my vietman project in 28mm but i probably won´t switch scale...
DeleteCompany size might be a little to big for me, I suppouse it´s like IABSM in scale then.
Best regards Michael
Exactly, the same scale as IABSM
DeleteThis rulebook is very, very good, Michael, for company actions scale. About the game, Benito...
ReplyDeleteFantastic table and figures!
Jo! No me hables... después de estar en dique seco de partidas varios meses, vaya reestreno.. si lo sé me quedo durmiendo en casa...
DeleteI agree with Michael, the table and minis look great and a fun game. Thanks for doing the write up and sharing.
ReplyDeleteLuce bonito. ¡Espero que para la próxima vez estés más fino y le des una paliza a esos yanquis!
ReplyDeleteAll I have to say is 'Ouch!'
ReplyDeleteI have not played that scenario yet, but just reading the details from my book makes me think that this would probably be the hardest scenario for the VC player. Also without knowing where the US will be entering, makes it more difficult. My only thoughts for the VC player is to husband your dummy blinds more towards the center of the board and try to lead the US in a goose chase away from the bunkers and your tactical edge, plus lead them into a kill zone for your snipers. Also maybe sacrificing one squad to drag and other US troops off if the gig is up with your dummy blinds.
The only other part that makes this scenario very hard is is the lack of a time limit for turns. The US can wait out the VC and slowly and methodically search out the village. The scenario is really limited by the time the players had, so a group that can only game for 2 hours will have a lot less time to make their objectives than a group that has 4 hours to play in. I have been trying to think of a good number of turns to complete a mission if there is no clear cut end (i.e., one side runs away or destroyed). I would do it based off the number of times that the "Time Out" card ends the turn.
Anyway, just some thoughts.
Sapper
Thanks for your thoughts. I was reviewing last night and I have no definitive answer. I also concluded that it is better to split the platoon's squad and distribute them around in hidden positions to ambush the US forces. But yet...
DeleteHello,
DeleteAfter reading the Political victory in the rules and your report, I am not sure where the US got 10 points. If I did my math correct with what you said above, there was one US KIA, one VC KIA, and two caches found, that should have been 5 points, which is a minor political victory.
The reason I am asking is that if you could have gotten the US to open fired on the civilians with artillery / mortars by forcing them to think they were hostile or mixing the civilians in with your snipers / squads, it could resulted in the US killing civilians which penalizes their political points. If the results were the same as above, one civilian killed by the US would have nullified their political victory. This maybe another "tactic" for the VC player in this scenario (assuming you have a VC player that understands that they are not playing by the Laws of War, but to win by any means necessary,politically or military.)
Just as an FYI, this scenario has got me thinking heavy about how could the VC win or at least nullify any US victories to a draw. I am hoping to run a CDS game soon, but due to work, it probably be in May at the earliest. I think I will run this scenario with me being the GM / VC and the other three players playing the various US platoon leaders.
Please post any suggestions that you come up with.
Cheers,
Sapper
The VC was a prisioner worth 3 points if I'm not wrong and the caches found were 3, so in total 9 points (close to the 10 mentioned that I had in my memory)
DeleteThe scenario is difficult for the VC but probably easy for the US if badly handled like in my case. I would consider using scenario #1 for an introductory game.
Ah, the caches are worth 2 points and the dead GI is -2 points.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to future CDS AAR's.
Cheers,
Sapper