Campaign for South Vietnam

[Raindem]

Allied Turn 29, May 1967 -

Larry has withdrawn his NVA forces from IV Corps so for the time being South Vietnam is calm and 100% under government control.  The only significant action was continued fighter bomber attacks against the Trail.

[larryfulkerson]

I was hoping that Curt would call in some more reinforcements to help with the round-up effort but he didn't and I drained my supply of squads to the point where it's empty now.  So I'll have to lay low for about 6 months or more to build up enough VC units and NVA divisions so I can try again sometime in the future.  Curt says it came close....he was going to call in another division if the victory level ever got to -20.  But it never did so....

[Raindem]

Allied Turns 30-33,

All is still quiet.  I'm waiting for the 1967 Monsoon season to end so I can resume air strikes against the Trail.  The victory level has inched past 40... an Allied minor victory. Let's see how long I can hold it there.

[Raindem]

Allied Turns 34-37,

It's January 1968 but no Tet offensive this time.  I must have damaged Larry's forces more than I thought because things have been very quiet for the last 6 months.  Victory level is 49 and the EEV is hovering at 51.  On the downside, my air strikes against the HCM have not been very effective.  The cost vs. benefit is just not there.

[Raindem]

Allied Turn 38, Feb 1968 -

Things have picked up again.  NVA forces have crossed the border in 5 places- Thua Thien, Kontum, Tuyen Duc, Phuoc Long, and Tay Ninh.  Three of the incursions I was able to immediately contain and/or eliminate.  The other two battles are still in doubt so I've decided to unleash the B-52s again (I had been curtailing their operations to cut down on losses).

[desert]

Do there happen to be any major Vietnamese holidays in February?[;)]

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: desert
Do there happen to be any major Vietnamese holidays in February?

I'm thinking there must be. Any occasion to start drinking for them. The Day Of The Rat or something.


Hey in a surprising turn of events Curt has invaded Cambodia ( that will cost him +1 EEV ) to destroy some of my HQ units:

[larryfulkerson]

Here's one of the good licks I got in attacking with my rocket unit that he failed to destroy in his turn:

[Raindem]

Allied Turn 40, April 1968 -

I invaded Cambodia last month west of Saigon in an area known as the "parrot's beak".


I very seldom do this but in this case it was the only way to get a good encirclement of the three NVA regiments invading Tay Ninh.  Also, there were 4 HQs congregated along the supply with no escorts.  It was just too tempting of a target.  Was it worth a point to the EEV?  I think so...those 4 HQs will be hard to replace.  I've noticed the replacement engine doesn't reconstitute them very quickly even when replacements are available.

[larryfulkerson]

This may well be the finest rocket unit strike I have had so far, and as a plus I had time to disband the unit before he could destroy it:

[larryfulkerson]

I didn't get to disband the rocket unit after I attacked with it but still the strike was a success I'm thinking. Tuy Hoa is getting it's share of rocket attacks it seems.

[Raindem]

Allied Turns 41-46:

The war has fallen into a cyclic set of repititive operations. Each turn what VC there are will split up and convert surrounding hexes. In my turn I go around after them and mop up. We are not utilizing any optional rules and this is where Optional Rule #1 really benefits the NLF, in that the Allied player doesn't automatically know exactly where to go.

Every 2 or 3 turns an artillery unit blasts 20 or 30 planes in an airbase attack. Larry will leave the artillery unit on the map (instead of disbanding) in order to squeeze out those last couple of rounds. Bad for me, but at least I get to KIA the aggressors. My air losses have thus been high considering the limited amount of on-field action there is.

And every 4 months or so the NVA muster up enough strength to cross the border and cause some trouble. But it's not like the first time. If they penetrate far enough for me to get behind them I can usually squash the threat the same turn it appears. Otherwise I will just engage and wear them down a couple of turns before attacking. This keeps my losses down but increases the risk of losing points to NLF activity activations. Fortunately they've not penetrated far enough to trigger those.

As we approach the end of 1968 it's time to take a reckoning of the situtation. The victory level is at 65. This is a marginal Allied victory. The EEV is at 55, which is way low historically and compared to most other games of CSV. At this rate the U.S. won't be forced into withdrawal until 1974 which doesn't give the NLF enough time to complete the conquest.

So the situation is cause for optimism, but not celebration. The reason it's not is because Larry has been conserving his VC strength and he knows how to use them. Since I've given up attacks against the HCM trail he's getting thousands of new recruits. So the potential is there and I'm aware of it. However, with the NVA weakend by questionable border raids (I don't see the cost benefit), his options are limited.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm seeing that my strategy of converting hexes only instead of trying to capture the point cities isn't working.  Each turn Curt gets a couple of victory points added to his total in spite of my trying to convert hexes.  I'm going to have to try to grab some cities in order to win.  Trouble is that even if I'm successful in grabbing a city or two he always has the strength to get them back in his turn.  So that won't work either.  With the EEV at only 55 or so he can hang on to his US / Free World reinforcements until the end of the war and there's no chance for me to tackle the ARVN alone.  I don't see this ending with an NVA victory in any sense of the word.  Just a thought for those of you playing the NVA side in CSV.

[larryfulkerson]

This is one turn that I believe I disabled 108 of the US planes in three attacks:

[larryfulkerson]

second attack:

[larryfulkerson]

third attack of turn 48:

Now I don't believe there are any Allied planes at Da Nang.

[Raindem]

Allied Turn 61, Jan 1970 -

Larry has increased activity the last few turns but over this past year overall things have become calmer.  The country is 100% under Allied control and enemy forces can barely approach the border without being pounced on.  The victory level is at 95 and the EEV hasn't even touched 70.  My air bombardment campaign was a flop, but everything else is going well.  In fact I feel confident enough at this point to predict ultimate Allied victory.  I know Larry has some punches left to throw but I just don't think he has enough to overcome the weight of factors against him.

[Boonierat]

Looking at the rocket bombardment results vs air units, I am having the same problem in my Vietnam scenarios, they inflict far too much damage. I'm trying to simulate attacks by fire on US airbases but the results are completely disproportionate, Elmer can wipe out entire wings with a few mortars...

[desert]

ORIGINAL: Boonierat
 
Looking at the rocket bombardment results vs air units, I am having the same problem in my Vietnam scenarios, they inflict far too much damage. I'm trying to simulate attacks by fire on US airbases but the results are completely disproportionate, Elmer can wipe out entire wings with a few mortars...

 
What effect will giving aircraft max DF in BioEd have on that?

[sPzAbt653]

Don't the airbases have artillery in the hex for counterbattery fire ?