A Week in Binh Long - The forever AAR

[Jason Petho]

Turn 13 - 2d/28th Infantry
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A LZ LOUISIANA 5, the Construction Platoon and Dozers are attempting to building the improved positions and then trenches. With the two units, I'm hoping it doesn't take too long.
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I have turned on the elevations in this sector, so you can see the terrain. There are some hills, but nothing too crazy. The whole area is generally pretty flat, unlike the Dak To area of previous games. Here B/2d/28th Infantry has continued securing hamlets in Area LOUISIANA. There is the Viet Cong machine gun position at HILL 171, but I will deal with that in the future.
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C/2d/28th Infantry has finally begun to be useful. They are on the cusp of entering Area LOUISIANA and will be scooping up objectives quickly. The other LRRP unit has secured the objectives around LZ LOUISIANA 2.
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I'm hoping to have the mission of A/2d/28th Infantry wrapped up in a handful of turns so they can fly over to Area LOUISIANA. I might use this company with B Company to deal with the Viet Cong machine gun position on the HILL 171.
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Excellent news on QL13! The bridge was laid and I was able to move the Engineering Task force and D/2d/28th Infantry north! While the Engineers still have a lot of roadblocks and mines to clear, this means the attached units should arrive in Loc Ninh in a few turns. Victory!
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 13 - 1s/16th Infantry
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The northern part of Area ALASKA still has a bunch of Objectives that needs to be secured, but looking at the terrain, most of them are along roads, so they shouldn't be too difficult to acquire. The platoons of A/1st/16th Infantry will secure the western part of the Area and then move along the north edge as they head back to An Loc.
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To the south, B/1st/16th Infantry has nearly wrapped up their operation and will head back to the abandoned airfield to set up some positions.
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Further south, the rest of the battalion has started to move through Chon Thanh. From here north to An Loc, I am not sure how secure QL13 is, so I will have to take it relatively slow.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 13 - 3d Brigade Headquarters
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I was lucky enough to have the Task Force Headquarters that was loaded in the helicopters that were nearly lost in the jungle. After I landed, they were refueled and ready to head to An Loc. You can see them here as they have taken off from Phuoc Vinh - again.
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Here is the current helicopter situation at Loc Ninh. You can see I have landed the Chinooks here before I send them south to grab the other Construction platoon and Dozers. I also have three flights of Slicks ready to move A/2d/28th Infantry when it is finishes to the east of Loc Ninh.
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Down at An Loc, I have the rest of the slicks that will be supporting 1st/16th Infantry operations in Area ALASKA. They are refueled and ready for a mission. For gunships support, I have Hogs operating around Loc Ninh (as shown above) and at An Loc I have a few Snakes. Snakes are effective, but their best attack position is 1 hex away at Nap of the Earth, due to their weapons package.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 14 - General
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Something of interest on the Viet Cong side during this turn. I spotted a leader type unit in the southeast part of Area ALASKA. I'm not sure what it is, but I will advance with my platoons and try to capture it.
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Otherwise, the Construction Platoon has been successful at building an Improved Position at LZ LOUISIANA 5. Some headquarters are still out of supply, but this is expected due to the movements on the roads.
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Turn 14 - 1st/4th Cavalry
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The Aero platoon, supported by some Hogs and Loaches of the rest of D Troop, are meandering through the trails, heading south along the border, hoping to secure the western boundary of Area LOUISIANA in the next handful of turns.
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At LZ LOUISIANA 5, the Construction Engineer and Dozers have finished the Improved Positions and have now started to dig in again to upgrade the Improved Positions to Trenches. The 1st/16th Task Force HQ has arrived via helicopter, just without sufficient Action Points to land.
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And the LRRP operating on the northern boundary of Area LOUISIANA is making excellent progress in the jungle.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 14 - 2d/28th Infantry
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B Company continues its task on eastern side of Area LOUISIANA. I realize the company is quite spread apart, I will start pulling the platoons closer together so they can operate more in tune with each other. You can see that I have highlighted where the Viet Cong machine guns were spotted.
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C Company to the south is far better organized. It will continue pushing west, deeper into Area LOUISIANA. It does have the other LRRP team operating with it to help it secure the locations that it is tasked with.
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A Company is making excellent progress and has been really lucky thus far with mines and IED's. No casualties to this point. The battalion sniper team has been attached to A Company to help it secure its objectives.
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Across the river, the D Company escorting the Engineering Task Force has started north to move into Loc Ninh. If things go according to plan, the units, minus the engineers should be arriving in a handful of turns.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 14 - 1st/16th Infantry
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Operating in the northwest corner of Area ALASKA, A/1st/16th Infantry continues its mission and will start turning around soon to clear the northern part of the area. A Highlight is the new message boxes/pop ups system that will be available the 1.20 UPDATE.
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At the southern part of Area ALASKA, B/1st/16th Infantry wasn't lucky and didn't find that leader type unit that was walking along the road. I used the gunships and loaches to try to find it, to no avail. The rest of the company continued on with the task at hand.
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Along QL13, apparently the route between Chon Thanh and An Loc isn't fully clear. I ran into a minefield with the lead vehicle. I don't have any engineers along for the ride in the convoy, so this will be an interesting adventure.
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Here is the rest of the convoy, moving north as quickly and safely as possible.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 14 - 3d Brigade Headquarters
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All is quiet around Lai Khe, just some digging. I have quite a few reconnaissance helicopters down here, but I am waiting to move them around for when I have some intense action from the Viet Cong. No sense risking forgetting them, or losing them.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 15 - General
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Another shot of the new style of dialogs that will be available in the 1.20 UPDATE. This is informing us of a new addition, that if you keep your supply units close to the primary headquarters - the 3d Brigade headquarters in this case - you will gain a minor supply bonus.
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Otherwise, the report has given us some good news that the first trench has been built! YAY!
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Turn 15 - 1st/4th Cavalry
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The element of D/1st/4th Cavalry are still meandering along the Cambodian border, with the Aero Rifle platoon securing the trails as the gunships and loaches are flying over head for some added protection.
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Up at LZ LOUISIANA 5, you can see the first trench has been finished - astoundingly quickly - and the Construction Platoon and Dozers have moved into the old French Fort to start anew. The 2d/28th Task Force HQ has also unloaded and arrived.
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The LRRP unit continues meandering along the trails to secure the last point before heading to a nearby Landing Zone and then it will take an adventure to Cambodia.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 15 - 2nd/28th Infantry
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I have highlighted where the Viet Cong machine gun position is on Hill 171. You can see B Company continuing to secure locations. I have to decide how quickly to send the rest of the company along the northern edge or if I should leave them down by the Hill 171 to help A Company with it's eventual assault on Hill 171 to take out any Viet Cong in the area.
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Fortunately, C Company and the attached LRRP unit is making some excellent progress on the southern end of Area LOUISIANA and will be securing Objectives left right and center in no time!
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A Company, on the other hand, is definitely the rock star in the early stages of Day 1 as it has nearly successfully completed securing Area ALABAMA.
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To the south, D Company is well across and securing the road ahead of the Engineering Task Force that is clearing QL13 between An Loc and Loc Ninh. Fortunately, the unit is only a handful of kilometres away from the southern end of Loc Ninh.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 15 - 1st/16th Infantry
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A Company has done quite well, dealing with the sniper at the southern part of its operating area, it is now securing the roads and objectives on the northern part of Area ALASKA. All the platoons will snake their way towards An Loc, where it will bivouac for the night.
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B Company had zero luck trying to track down that mysterious leader type unit that was meandering around the area. Ah well, maybe I will find it later. Otherwise, the platoons will soon head down to the Abandoned Airfield at the southern end of Area ALASKA and dig in for the day.
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Here you can see the slow progress the rest of the battalion is making as it journeys north of Chon Thanh along QL13. This is the primary Main Supply Route (MSR) in the area and it is the most direct route north to the various cities. Talk about a massive bottleneck.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 15 - 3d Brigade Headquarters
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The 1st/16th Task Force headquarters arrived to An Loc (just not enough points to land), I will send this helicopter (in orange highlighting) up north Loc Ninh and use that for ferrying the LRRP units into Cambodia because this is only a 2SP helicopter, not enough to carry a full platoon, but enough to carry some minor units.
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Down at Lai Khe, the Construction Engineer and Dozers are building some Improved Positions around the airfield, which it did complete a set already. It will continue until the Chinooks arrive from the north.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 16 - General
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No action from the Viet Cong, as expected this turn. My infantry platoons have recovered from their disruptions though. I believe I have one more left from 1st/16th in Area ALASKA that is still disrupted. My ARVN troops are doing quite well with their improved position building! Seems I have will have all the ARVN troops in some form of protection before too long.
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Turn 16 - 1st/4th Cavalry
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The Aero Rifle platoon continues it's advance along the western edge of Area LOUISIANA. After securing the objective, one of the NEW dialog backgrounds was displayed (this will be included in the 1.20 UPDATE). Hope you like them!
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At LZ LOUISIANA 5, the Firebase is halfway to being constructed, although if I was smart, I would have built the first set of trenches to the northeast of the current trenches, so I could have easy access to that landing zone. What was I thinking!?
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The LRRP, operating along the northern edge of Area LOUISIANA is making excellent progress along the trails. It should secure the last one next turn and can head to the landing zone to be picked up by the helicopters for its journey to Cambodia.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 16 - 2d/28th Infantry
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Here we can see that B Company (highlighted) is still spread out to high heaven. I'm going to continue to ignore Hill 171 for now and focus on securing the points. I will have to formulate a plan to get that company operating together.
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C Company continues along the southern boundary of Area LOUISIANA, scoping out the trails, looking for signs of Viet Cong. None so far, but don't count your chickens, as they say!
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A Company continues to outshine the other companies in the area, nearly completing its first mission. Maybe it is taking it a little slower now that it knows it is going to be flown to Hill 171 for combat. Or maybe they are eager? Who knows! We shall see.
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The D Company and logistical element of 2d/28th is making excellent progress, they are not too far south of Loc Ninh now and the road appears to be clear. Apart from a few mines, that is.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 16 - 1st/16th Infantry
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A Company of the battalion continues to effectively clear the northern part of Area ALASKA. Here we can see the plans for the coming turns for each of the platoons. Of course, that could change if there is any contact with Viet Cong platoons, but that seems reasonable to me thus far.
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Additionally, here is the plan for B Company on the southern part of Area ALASKA. As I mentioned, I'll try and build some Improved Positions around the Abandoned Airfield and secure it to use it as a forward operating base in the future.
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Here is the current progress of the rest of the battalion. That multi-kilometre long convoy continues meandering up the QL13 to An Loc. Only a few more turns away as well though, so that's good progress!
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 16 - 3d Brigade Headquarters
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The Engineer and Dozers have started digging some additional Improved Positions along the airfield at Lai Khe. I am hoping it doesn't take too long to do so, of course. The other Heavy Machine Gun's are all digging in, but seem to be taking a long time to do so.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 17 - General
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No Viet Cong contact this turn although the Dozers at Lai Khe have been quite effective and built some more Improved Positions on the airfield. The rifle platoon in Area ALASKA hasn't recovered yet and there are a number of headquarters still out of supply. Helicopters will be landed to refuel while I see the notification.
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Turn 17 - 4th/1st Cavalry
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The Aero Rifle platoon is slogging through the jungle in an effort to go to the last western Objective in Area LOUISIANA. Don't forget that you can double time your troops through jungle if you are on a level plain or going downhill.
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A little to the north at LZ LOUISIANA 5 where the firebase is still under construction. No joy with the Improved Positions this time, so they are continuing to dig in while the Task Force HQ of 2d/28th Infantry is settling in for the night.
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Looks like my LRRP team was exceptionally lucky when it took that last Objective, as there was IED there. Note on the 3D screenshot where the arrows are pointing and you can see the punji traps.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 17 - 2d/28th Infantry
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Here is B Company scattered in the north, but I have drawn out a plan in order to move the platoons closer together and be in somewhat good cohesion.
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To the southern area of Area LOUISIANA, here is C Company and my plan for the platoons. I might not go that far west with the platoons, but we shall see how quickly the LRRP unit that is attached can secure the most westerly objectives in the screenshot.
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And here is the general plan for A Company to return to the airfield so we can perform a combat assault into Area LOUISIANA. You can see that Area ALABAMA is almost wholly secured.
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And just to the south of Loc Ninh, we have the rest of the 2d/28th nearing the southern edge of the city. It should be there in a handful of turns.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 17 - 1st/16th Infantry
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Here we are to the west of An Loc where A Company is operating. It shall be making some good progress, I am just concerned about additional mines/IED's that can potentially cause additional casualties to my platoons.
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B Company has completed the mission it was assigned, the new mission is to send all the platoons to the Abandoned Airfield where I will dig in for the rest of the day. One platoon is there already, the other two platoons will take a handful of turns to get there though. I have a Loach on the airfield ready to conduct some additional reconnaissance missions.
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Here we can see how close the rest of the 1st/16th Infantry convoy is, with the Abandoned airfield to the top left part of the screenshot. The lead units did run into some mines and blocks, so that will bottleneck the whole column along this part of QL13.
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[Jason Petho]

Turn 17 - 3d Brigade Headquarters
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Down at Lai Khe you can see where I am currently digging in to build some improved positions. The Construction Engineers and Dozers are waiting for the Chinooks that are a couple turns away to send them north. I'll go over helicopter assignments next turn.
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[Jason Petho]

Now the 1.20 UPDATE is released, I can return to the AAR.

Turn 18 - General
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Nothing too exciting happened during the Viet Cong turn. There were no shots fired or movement that I noticed. Here is the summary for the start of the turn, the most concerning thing is that I have some helicopters that I need to ensure I land.
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Turn 18 - 1st/4th Cavalry
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In the far west of Area LOUISIANA, the Aero Rifle platoon continues along the international border between Cambodia and Vietnam, bushwacking through the woods in an effort to secure the most westerly Victory Point Locations. With the streams and forested hexes, it is a slog indeed.
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At the LOUISIANA Firebase, the Construction Engineer and Dozers have been doing some great efforts. I'm not too far away from finalizing the Firebase, collecting my points and sending the Construction Engineer and Dozers back to Loc Ninh. Just the trenches need to be build to finalize.
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The LRRP skirting the northern edge of Area LOUISIANA is making some good progress. I haven't found any additional IED's or mines in this area. They have gone unscathed so far. They will be heading towards the landing zone eventually to fly over to Cambodia.
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