PolishGI’s Working Thread (WWII & Vietnam)

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PolishGI
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Re: PolishGI’s Working Thread (WWII & Vietnam)

Post by PolishGI »

BurtWolf wrote:
Sat May 08, 2021 10:24 pm
Great little bunkers Polish!

Gotta say, I reread that great PM you sent me last year in the printer specs. Thank you again. I’m gonna bite the bullet and get one for my scenery. Are you still using Ender 3 Pro? Any additional words of wisdom on a purchase?
Thank Burt!

My pleasure, I hope it helps. Yay! I am still using it. Don't pay top price for it. (even consider a used unit off CL or Offerup and then break it down, clean it and install the upgrade parts) Deals can be had! With the money you save, you can throw into any/all upgrade components. I havent touched my printer since with re-leveling or re-doing. Its been rock solid and that bed does NOT move. hehe Print and wait... its like Christmas every morning. lol
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PolishGI
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Re: PolishGI’s Working Thread (WWII & Vietnam)

Post by PolishGI »

Been slow working on stuff but I am coming up on completing a few items.

A few DAK pieces that will need finishing touches.
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I have a bunch of Italian trucks with guns on them that are coming through as well. I love, love, love painting tires on trucks. This current count was in the neighborhood of 160.

Grabbed and put together a few examples of ARVN infantry for my table. Hopefully, I can finalize these guys up and then mass produce them.

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chrisswim
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Re: PolishGI’s Working Thread (WWII & Vietnam)

Post by chrisswim »

GI, those look so nice, sweet. Love the sand fire positions.
Chris

redleg
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Re: PolishGI’s Working Thread (WWII & Vietnam)

Post by redleg »

Fantastic Polish! Amazing work as always!
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pmskaar
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Re: PolishGI’s Working Thread (WWII & Vietnam)

Post by pmskaar »

Very nice work, as always, on the Afrika Korps as well as your Vietnam stuff. It looks great!.

rdenman62
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Re: PolishGI’s Working Thread (WWII & Vietnam)

Post by rdenman62 »

Nice looking stuff..as always
Peace thru superior firepower

PolishGI
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Re: PolishGI’s Working Thread (WWII & Vietnam)

Post by PolishGI »

chrisswim wrote:
Sun Jun 06, 2021 5:22 pm
GI, those look so nice, sweet. Love the sand fire positions.
Thank you Chris! Agreed! The 3d printed positions are cool to hide behind! Lol

redleg wrote:
Sun Jun 06, 2021 9:59 pm
Fantastic Polish! Amazing work as always!
Thank you redleg!

pmskaar wrote:
Tue Jun 08, 2021 7:51 pm
Very nice work, as always, on the Afrika Korps as well as your Vietnam stuff. It looks great!.
Thank you Pete!

rdenman62 wrote:
Tue Jun 08, 2021 10:00 pm
Nice looking stuff..as always
Thank you rdenman62!
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chrisswim
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Re: PolishGI’s Working Thread (WWII & Vietnam)

Post by chrisswim »

Love the rich texture of the base for the infantry.
:D :) :lol: :x :roll: :D :D
Chris

PolishGI
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Re: PolishGI’s Working Thread (WWII & Vietnam)

Post by PolishGI »

Thanks Chris. The static grass applicator makes a mess!



So this is something I have been wanting to do for a while now but didn’t necessarily have the time. I have a few days so I thought I would give it a go.

Since this is a solitaire situation, I wanted to figure out a way where I can take an infantry foot platoon in Vietnam through its paces for a solid twelve months of operations. What does that mean? I have just about every Vietnam RPG game known and I am using the Ambush Valley (“AV”) game for rules. So I read all of the various RPGs and brought together, what I thought was the best material, into a single location.

So the RPGs will handle the pre-scenario stuff and the post scenario stuff along with the platoon generator, replacement rules and anything else outside of the tactical game. AV will handle the rules while ‘boots are on the ground.’

For example, AV covers sequence of play, initiative rules, actions/reactions, spotting, ranges, suppression rules, casualty/medic rules, morale and damage results to vehicles, helicopters and boats. The game will also cover offensive and defensive combat rules, close assaults, tunnel rules, hotspots, civilians, buildings and reinforcements. Troop quality, movement, ambushes, night fighting, illumination, trip flares and special troop types. Artillery will be covered along with close air support, Pink Teams and possibly napalm strikes. (need to finish up my models)

AV also covers Fog of War for which I have created my own tables/cards that include AV along with variations I thought up and from the various RPG games. There are 100 different options in this silo that one could experience.

All of the vehicle, helicopter, boat and building charts are coming from AV. The small arms weapon, vehicle, aircraft and boat listings are coming from AV.

Moving over to the RPG contributions, this includes defining the campaign as a structured pack or a free form campaign. I had to decide on a force that I wanted to use during this campaign while defining the following characteristics: troop quality and morale, confidence level, supply level, leadership modifiers (positive or negative), the unit size and then define each of the soldiers within the unit. This includes: the soldier’s age (officers differ from grunts), soldier’s home state, their time in country and weaponry provided. I even went so far as to include a table covering each soldier’s ethnic origins. But, I chose to leave that out as possibly a ‘step too far’. With each additional piece of information for each soldier, it may make them more important or more of a lose should they become a casualty or rotate home when their tour is up.

Once the platoon has been created, the timeframe needs to be defined. I have included information for determining how much time passes after the first scenario ends and the second scenario beings. So months could be passing by quickly or slowly with being an active month. All controlled with die rolls.

Pre-mission items could include defining the time passed after the last scenario ends. There would be die roll rolls to determine what the next mission type is (e.g. patrol, search and destroy, attack or defend) and then a further roll to a specific mission within each silo. Die rolls or points could be used to determine if there are any attached units to your base unit for the next upcoming mission. (e.g. sniper team, an additional fireteam or squad, Special Ops team insertion, tank, APC, helicopter gunship etc)

I built a weather table for Vietnam (in general) so you can roll to see what kind of weather will be present in your scenario based on which month it is (dry season vs monsoon). (e.g. heat wave (guys dropping), clear, cloudy, drizzle, thunderstorm) Weather also impacts movement speed, optimal ranges, spotting and availability of artillery or air support. Next up is to determine insertion method (transport, leg, helicopter) which will be based on the mission type selected. After that, fire support, if any, will be determined for the upcoming mission as well.

Once a mission type is selected, then you are rolling for mission specifics based on 20 types within each type. Primary objectives and any secondary objectives are added. There may be a next mission that involves a night ambush. So I may need to determine which squad or two squads go out and pick a spot on the map to setup an ambush. Then using dice, determine if any enemy squads enter the table, what their entry point is along with what their exit point is on the map. Then I should be able to draw a map from the entry point to the exit point. Does that line cross or come close to the point where I set up my ambush? Who knows, but it will make things interesting. Either a hairy night or one that is boring and nothing happens. Which might be ok too! lol

Terrain generator. I have two tables setup for 3x3’ maps and 4x4’ maps. These maps are broken into grids (9 and 16 respectively) where a d20 die will determine that foot of terrain. You roll for each grid and the results will determine what your map looks like. (e.g. hill, woods, grass, clear, paddy fields, elephant grass) I even break each grid square into percentages of this or what. (e.g. woods – 75% jungle and 25% elephant grass) There is a roll to determine if there is a road present on the map and where does it run through? Rivers are a possibility as well and which squares does it run through. For clear grids or paddy grids, you roll to determine if a village is present (clear) or how large the village is for a paddy field.

Another aspect of the tables is the in-game random events. Rolling each turn to see what, if anything, happens along the scenario which adds variability to the scenario. Since it is rolled, it is purely by chance and the player cannot prepare or pre-plan for the result. This also includes village encounters (supportive or hostile), weapon cache locating, rice cache table, hut booby trap table, civilian interrogation (if interpreter present), intelligence gathering, enemy encounters (squads or force), ambushes that you just walked into, sniper table, booby trap table in the wild, mission objective addition, civilian encounter table, non-combat injury on team, dangerous animal encountered and non-dangerous.

Seems like a lot of rolling but this allows the process to be purely by chance rather than the solitaire having some passive/unconscious impact on the scenario.
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PolishGI
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Re: PolishGI’s Working Thread (WWII & Vietnam)

Post by PolishGI »

So specific to his endeavor, I generated the following unit:

2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

Current Platoon strength is 34 soldiers.

Platoon HQ – LT Hayes, SFC, PFC as RTO and Spec as medic (all armed with M-16s, LT has a positive modifier)

1st Rifle Squad
Fireteam 1 - Sgt Cruz with 4 grunts
Fireteam 2 – Sgt Clark with 4 grunts

2nd Rifle Squad
Fireteam 1 – Sgt Cordova with 4 grunts
Fireteam 2 – Sgt Saunders with 4 grunts

3rd Rifle Squad
Fireteam 1 - Sgt Shields with 4 grunts
Fireteam 2 – Sgt Austin with 4 grunts

Almost everyone has M16 rifles with 2 x M79 GLs per squad and 2 x M60 GPMGs for the platoon (1st and 2nd squad). There are a few M-72 LAWs in the squads along with a few claymores for what ifs. C4 blocks are even included so we shall see how that goes.

PFC Martin of 3rd squad is bringing his Remington M870 shotgun. The grenadiers have M1911s as backup weapons. PRC-25s for the RTOs. O’Donnell is the platoon medic. PFC Vaughn in 1st squad is a pointman, Spec Knight has the M-60 in 1st squad, PFC Morales in 3rd squad is the tunnel rat and Spec Myers in 2nd squad has the other M-60 GPMG.

Roster has to be maintained during the scenario along with afterwards. Guys may be casualties who are KIA or lightly wounded (will return) or seriously wounded (may not return) along with the guys rotating home. And then determining IF you get a replacement and who that replacement is…

Scenario 1 is a sweep mission on 08-24-1966. Insertion and extraction is on foot. It’s monsoon season so today’s weather is hot, a heat wave. Unit has two 81mm mortar tubes on standby from a local FSB. I hope to be able to write up an AAR detailing what happened during the mission along with things learned and friendly and enemy casualties. Everything for the unit is in an excel spreadsheet for the platoon roster, Mission 1 AAR tab and a campaign summary where you can view all the scenarios at once that outline the mission, date and casualties. Then the specific mission tab can be selected and you can drill down for more information. This way, if I am able to complete twelve months, I can take a look at friendly units KIA or WIA vs enemy units KIA or WIA. Were they VC (main force or local) or NVA?

So this is an open ended campaign with no real way to determine how long it will take or how many missions it will include. I plan to get through this as I can and will update as I get through them. But this will be a marathon, not a sprint. Lol I plan to continue creating/painting along with maybe sneaking in a few other scenarios I find or draft up.

Couple of pics of the new map with what the random terrain generator created.

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chrisswim
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Re: PolishGI’s Working Thread (WWII & Vietnam)

Post by chrisswim »

Excellent terrain creation! Nice setup.
Can you change it at all? (Spoof)
Looks great.
Chris

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Re: PolishGI’s Working Thread (WWII & Vietnam)

Post by redleg »

That is spectacular, Polish! I'm sure it took you a long time to get all that data together and build the charts and everything, but it looks like the hard work is paying off! Love it!
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Re: PolishGI’s Working Thread (WWII & Vietnam)

Post by Beagle »

That is without a doubt some excellent terrain!

PolishGI
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Re: PolishGI’s Working Thread (WWII & Vietnam)

Post by PolishGI »

chrisswim wrote:
Fri Jun 18, 2021 3:56 pm
Excellent terrain creation! Nice setup.
Can you change it at all? (Spoof)
Looks great.
Hehe Thanks Chris!

redleg wrote:
Fri Jun 18, 2021 6:51 pm
That is spectacular, Polish! I'm sure it took you a long time to get all that data together and build the charts and everything, but it looks like the hard work is paying off! Love it!
Thank you redleg! It took a while to read and capture and then pull it together, yes! Now, it is probably time to playtest and/or proof the tables/ideas. Thank you kindly!

Beagle wrote:
Fri Jun 18, 2021 8:11 pm
That is without a doubt some excellent terrain!
Thanks Bill! Terrain has been a constant work in progress! Lol I am liking the static grass though. I can see where I have overdone it in some areas and hit others just right. I hope to learn from that when I create another batch.
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PolishGI
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Re: PolishGI’s Working Thread (WWII & Vietnam)

Post by PolishGI »

Ok, tried to get through mission 1 earlier today and thought I would report a version of the AAR.

08-24-1966
Mission Type – Sweep
Insertion/Extraction – Foot/Foot
Weather – Heat wave moving through, hot.
Artillery Support – 2 x 81mm mortar tubes on standby from the local FSB

Current Platoon Strength
HQ – 4
1st Squad – 10
2nd Squad – 10
3rd Squad – 10

Scenario started so I tried to get an overview pic illustrating 2nd Squad picking up the right side, 3rd Squad out in front and 1st squad on the left side. LT Hayes is in the center of the position.

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3rd squad has a visual on the first waypoint or village
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Moving through the terrain trying to not make yourself a target.
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Given the movement and then rolling to see if anything happens can be interesting. So far it has been pretty quiet outside of the normal jungle environment.
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But you could almost feel like something was going to happen. So staying in a defensive posture as you moved makes it fun.

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Status pic of the platoon as it is advancing through some wooded areas. The hope was to stay covered a bit so it would provide cover if anything opened up.
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3rd squad moving out to approach the village with 1st squad and 2nd squad covering their movement.
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3rd Squad approaching the first waypoint in what appears to be a deserted village
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Upon reaching the village, the village was searched and it was determined that it was recently deserted. No weapon or rice caches located. A little bit of rice was found but could be used for the village needs.

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