Vietnam War AAR

[Grymme]

Khe Sanh & Hue Province - Round 6

Also noteworthy is that i have decided to go all out and move my one armoured division through the Ho chi Minh trail down to fight in south vietnam.


Tonkin incident event & territorial water
If any US capitol ships (cruisers, battleships, carriers) or cargo ships end their movement in DRVN territorial waters this causes international outcry. For each round this happens the DRVN government gain international good will (Political points). The US is free to move destroyers, patrol boats and submarines in DRVN territorial waters.

[Grymme]

Pleikku & Quang Ngai provinces - Round 6

Guerilla units
The FNL can produce guerilla units in villages only. These special versions of SMGs, MGs, Staff and Mortars move very quickly through all sorts of terrain (10APs/hex in all terrain). They can also carry a lot of supply (14 rounds). Villages can also produce Political officers which move as irregulars. More about their special abilities later.

[Grymme]

Rash Gia and Mekong Delta provinces - Round 6

Patrol Boats
These are amphibious units that have aproximatly half the strenght of destroyers. They move on water and in swamps only. They cost 500 BPs. They move half the speed of other naval units (10 hexes/round, 6 in swamp). Each patrol boat can carry 3 infantry.

[Grymme]

Overview - Round 7

- The US have not moved from Khe Sanh.
- In Quang Ngai province the US Marine division in Quang Ngai have moved to link up supply with the ARVN division in the highlands.
- In the south the ARVN division encirled outside Rash Gia managed to half escape. Another ARVN infantry division is pushing on towards Can Tho.
- In the south east corner of the map the Guam Military base can be seen.

- Continually during these rounds i had been producing infantry. Also i was saving up on PPs because the US will get a second strategic bombardment action card in a year or so (6 rounds). And i wanted a lot of political pressure to get rid of the bombers imediatly.
- On round 7 i was getting severly pounded in the south. In an atempt to bolster up support for the Communist cause i decided to infiltrate Cambodia and to join an alliance with the Khmer Rouge. This would add their bases and units to mine, but also mean war with Cambodia.
- I had also used some PP to sabotage the production in Saigon and Hue. For 4PPs the FNL can try (50 % chance of success) to damage production in one of the major cities in South vietnam through the use of car bombs or more or less suicidal attacks by FNL sapper. If successfull the city would take 1 000 structural points in damage (sabotage action cards).

[Grymme]

Khe Sanh & Hue provinces - Round 7

The first battle of Khe Sanh does not go well for the FNL/NVA. Lack of experience and coordination between units from the regular army and FNL guerilla means that the assault is bloodily repulsed.

[Grymme]

Pleikku & Quang Ngai provinces - Round 7

[seille]

Could you give us some detailled informations about production and losses ?

[Grymme]

Rash Gia and Mekong Delta provinces - Round 7 - Jan/feb 1965

Aside from the disasters described in the screenshot the following also happened.
- I was foolish enough to leave my artillery division in the open. It was slaughtered by enemy airbombardment.
- My Flak unit that had been hiding in the swamps was picked up by a passing by freight smuggler who will transport it to my new base area in Cambodia.

[Grymme]

DRVN/FNL production capabilities (at the start of the game)

Hi Seille: Sadly i did not take any screenshots of the game while in progress. I regret this now, but had no thought of making an AAR at the time. What i can give you is an overview of the production in general with some comments. I will do the same for the RVN/US side.

EDIT: From Round 7 i lost Rash Gia so deduct 1K production from the calculation below.

[Grymme]

Overview of RVN/US production at the start of the game

[Grymme]

Some other general comments on production

The base production doesnt paint a total picture of the capabilities of each regime in the scenario. Other factors that play in to it are.

- The US recieves heavy reinforcements up to round 20 or so. Every other round or so a US or US allied unit arrives at Saigon or Hue. Se reinforcement table. Except for US units there are also the Thai Military assistance group, Phillipino Epeditionary Corps, Anzac Special forces, Anzac Mech Brigade, 2 South Korean Divisions etcc.

- The DRVN recieves some outside assistance but not nearly as much as the RVN. A USSR Military advisory group and a North Korean fighter Squad. Also the DRVN can join the Khmer Rouge for its side. But they are mainly busy fighting the Royal Cambodian army.

- Both sides recieve extra support in the form of Equipment through depots that arrive at certain times. The RVN recieves 2 US depots outside Saigon. These are withdrawn when Vietnamization starts though. The DRVN recieves a total of 3 chinese depots outside Hanoi and Haiphong (these arriva a little later but are never withdrawn).

- Also the extreme cost of US/RVN creating new units could be weighed in. A new corps cost 5PPs, a new HQ 10PPs. 
________________________

As a side note Lunaticus (my much worthy opponent) has said he might give some comments in the AAR also. He is however on a businnes trip for now.

Picture shows some of the units in the game

[Grymme]

Overview - Round 8

In this overview i also showed the frontlines against Lao and Cambodia. From time to time i had to fend of the AI of these regimes as they tried to take back their villages.

- During the US/ARVN turn the US struck against an FNL division outside Khe Sanh.
- My destroyers are causing increasing ASW losses for the US since the 7th fleet is occupied in the south and near the DMZ.
- The US cruiser near the DMZ is also causing increasing ASW losses as traffic on the Ho Chi Minh Trail increases.
- The unsuspecting ARVN division north of Ban Me Thuot advances towards Pleikku.
- More seriously ARVN forces, among them the airborne division, reinforced by US forces are rapidly advancing towards Can Tho in the south.

My production at this time focused more and more on SMGs, MGs, Mortars, Flak, trucks and Pack animals & Bikes. Less and less PPs are being built as i have built up some 40PPs as a buffert for applying diplomatic pressure. I was loosing around 40-70 inf per turn at this time. The losses were in themselves not difficult to replace, but it is difficult to get them to the south.

[Grymme]

Khe Sanh province - Round 8

Khe Sanh is captured during the Second battle of Khe Sanh.

[Grymme]

Pleikku and Qúang Ngai provinces - Round 8

- As suspected the ARVN division outside Pleikku seems severly reinforced with Machinegun squads. Scouts count 8 of them.
- Reinforcements are brought in from the Khmer Rouge to surround them.

[Grymme]

Rash Gia province & South of Cambodia - Round 8

Things look bleak. the FNL have almost no forces left and might be forced to retreat in its entirety into Cambodia. Fortunatly it might be difficult for the ARVN/US to follow our forces there because of diplomatic considerations.

ARVN/US intrusion in Cambodia
If the US/RVN have more than 100 powerpoints in Cambodia international pressure causes the DRVN regime to receve 4PPs. The invasion also hurts the morale of the vietnamese elements of the RVN. All units in forest and/or swamp terrain lose 50 % morale each turn. All other vietnamese force lose 25 % morale each turn.

[Grymme]

Overview - Round 9

- At this point of the game i had started to get some aid from the benevolent chinese government. A chinese depot have been erected outside of Hanoi producing 2 000 beatiful BPs/round.
- The ARVN division outside of Pleikku is starting to realize its mistake and backtrack towards Ban Me Thuot.
- A happy surprise was that the enemy had not tried to take back Khe Sanh.
- No good news in the south though. 2 US divisions is closing in on Chau Phu.

[Grymme]

Khe Sahn province - Round 9

At this point in the game i was still feeling pretty confident of my choices.


NOTE: We are currently at Round 23. I have started to make some screenshots of production etc.

[Grymme]

Pleikku, Ban Me Thuot and Quang Ngai provinces - Round 9

- At this time i was also recieving some localy recruited FNL battalions. The small SMG units on the coastlines are examples of those.


Event: Local FNL Battalions South Vietnam is divided into 9 provinces, se map for boundries. Each round there is a check in each province. If there are more political officers than military advisors present there then there is a 2% chance of a FNL Battalion appearing in each hex of that province that belongs to that particular province and is controlled by the DRVN/FNL player..

[Grymme]

Rash Gia province and Cambodia - Round 9

[Grymme]

Overview - Round 10

Nothing much happened this round during the US/ARVN turn. The unit outside of Ban Me Thuot is waiting. The same for the enemy units outside Can Phu in the south.

I am starting to put some pressure on the US with my destroyers cruising outside Guam. The US is loosing at leat 1 piece of heavy equipment each round. He will soon be forced to withdraw the 7th fleet to convoy duty.