Nam 68 – Playtest Campaign

[piersParticipant 25488xp 3]

This weekend we started playtesting…

Nam 68 will focus on a single US platoon and its 12 month tour of duty.

One (or more) player(s) will lead the platoon through patrols, engagements, and clashes with a hostile enemy force as they try to subdue the enemy prescence in their area of operations.

The other player, will take the part of the Viet Cong and be tasked with appearing from the shadows to cause maximum injury to the enemy.

The US soldiers will never know what they will face on a mission until the firing starts.

The game can be played as a one off game or, as really intended, as a 12 game campaign representing a units Tour of Duty in Vietnam.

Lock and load… its Nam 68.

So by month three in the playtest campaign…

3rd squad went out on patrol and got jumped by some VC. Luckily the LT and the Platoon Sarge were with them and an M60 team.

One fire team got badly pinned down behind a low wall, and the FNG took a round between the eyes on his first trip out…

But the LT called in the 81 Mike-mikes and nailed a bunch of Gooks on the road. Specialist Orlando once more proved his worth taking down a VC with a round from his Remington.

We lost one dead, but had five dead VC and two more blood trails…

Back in base, the LT got word the VC are bugging out of the area, but Mitch McConnell managed to shoot himself while cleaning his .45 pistol. He is the third guy we have lost outside of combat, Private Nunnly the LTs RTO trod on a mine while walking the base perimeter. Not much of him to send home…

#nam68

[limburger 21676xp 0]

Not sure how much fun it will be to lose a guy during off duty gameplay, but hey … that’s ‘Nam.

I think a campaign system like this could be fun for any number of (modern) historical settings.
So maybe more in the future ? (ok … I know, finish playtesting this first)

Keep us posted.

I’m sure you’re trying to keep it historical, but a ‘Tour of Duty’ license would be interesting :

Can’t forget Full Metal Jacket :

 

[commanderkaiser 2552xp 0]

Definitely interested in this sort of campaign. I’m looking at getting into some Nam wargames.

[beccasParticipant 1146xp 0]

I’ll be interested if I can field an Anzac platoon

[phaidknott 7023xp 0]

SHQ 20mm figs there Piers?

They also do a range of South Vietnamese (usually ignored by Wargamers even tho they made up the bulk of the fighting forces), as well as Huey Crews.

From games I played before I was usually playing Viet Cong (as no-one wanted to play them so it was usually me against 3 other players. One thing that I always did was to bug out once the helicopters turned up, and my opponents always felt it was “spoiling” the game if I didn’t try and down Cobra’s with a motley selection of SKS and AK47 fire.

“Wargaming” the period is hard because of the difference in tactics and firepower between the two sides (it’s almost an asymmetrical game). VC fire from ambush and then either close or bug out (depending on how well the ambush went), while US force rely on sheer firepower (and most players fielding the US do sulk if they don’t get to play with all their toys like, Huey Gunships, Cobra Gunships, Skyraiders with Napalm, M60s, M113s (ACAV), Special Forces, etc etc. While for the VC player it’s all about hit hard and run away to fight another day. How do the rules handle all this (or are the VC played by another player with strict rules on what he can do to “force” the game into a prolonged engagement that lets all the toys get unleashed?

 

[piersParticipant 25488xp 0]

You will have to wait and see.

 

It is a hard period to wargame, this will be the third set of Vietnam rules I have worked. This one is, so far, the most close to the ‘Vietnam Experience’ that I have done. It’s a very different game brings all the key elements of the period to bear in its focussed setting.

 

 

The figures in this game are all 28mm, as Warwick went with 28… I’m using 20mm Elhiem for mine, never been a fan of the SHQ offerings.

[thebelon 7272xp 0]

Bam ? sounds cool, gonna have to get my gringo 40s figures painted

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