PolishGI’s Working Thread (WWII & Vietnam)

[PolishGI]

Your stream looks fantastic, Polish! Just curious, how much table top can you cover with your Vietnam terrain? It all looks amazing?

Thank you sir! Well, the ping pong table is 9 feet (2.74m) by 5 feet (1.52m) in size. So 45 sqft of goodness. For Vietnam, there are different configurations available, with villages? With streams? Rivers? Roads? Just straight up jungle/bush country? Just straight jungle areas, flat empty hexes… I am probably up to around 75% of the board. I always try to make enough terrain to cover the ping pong table. And then have additives like villages, roads, streams and rivers. Probably make a few larger hex pieces (3or4) and put hills on them using my clay.

World War II is pretty set for space. Although arguably, I am building up to refresh some of the pieces.

And North Afrika is a WIP. I have a few test hexes complete. I want to make a few roads and then a few hexes with towns. After that, create a few Wadi hexes to see how it looks. Once I have it down and like it, then mass produce it.

The ping pong net makes a solid divider… WWII on one side and Vietnam on the other. hehe

Streams are looking real good Polish, all you’re missing is Augustus Gloop ha ha!

Your PPRs really are worth the time and effort at least from the spectators viewpoint. They just make your game board and I bet they would be fun to game with. Don’t know how you were going to manage the flag since they will be so small but I’m sure you’ll come up with something good.

And yes, PBR is my lawn cutting beer.

Your Vietnam terrain (and minis) is really extraordinary, and it’s great to see the constant postings. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Bert. Haha AG! Thank you for the kind words. I hope so! PBRs always make a good dropoff/pickup vehicle for SEAL missions. Might be fun to have them engage or respond to an ambush to see what it can do.

I have transparent plastic that I used for the helicopter rotor blades. It is maybe .020 thick? So on one side, I applied the first flag as normal. I need to seal it. My plans were then to apply the modified flag decal on the back side of the 1st flag decal. So you have decal / plastic / decal so its solid. I have an idea for gluing a flag pole underneath the PBR roof so its angled back like the real boats. Measure the flag and then the flag pole to know how much I need to cut off of the pole. Paint the pole black and glue on the decal/plastic flag. And hope… hehe The downside is that you will really have to be careful not to mishandle the boats so it beats up the flag. Otherwise, I think it will be good to go and you will have an American boat flying the flag. Might be a cool effect.

[ACWBill]

Beautiful stuff PGI! I love the muddy river hexes. Those will work for Vietnam or even Burma.

[panzergator]

Very realistic. You have a lot of patience and talent.

[PolishGI]

Beautiful stuff PGI! I love the muddy river hexes. Those will work for Vietnam or even Burma.

Very realistic. You have a lot of patience and talent.

Thank you guys.

[PolishGI]

So I spent some time play testing a scenario I generated for the ‘Nam era. I created this scenario as a test run and wanted to check the setup, assets on both sides, playability and weighting for each side.

The facts…

March 1967… A supply UH-1 Huey is coming back from a supply run back to a base when it is winged due to enemy fire and needs to land quickly. The terrain is mainly open in the central portion of the map with flooded rice paddies and two villages. The heavy jungles makes spotting difficult and provides pretty good cover. The central portion is mostly grasses and shrubs which provide cover but do not impair lie of sight.

The Huey went down, that is known, but a thrown together quick reaction force is landing ASAP to control the crash site. This QRT consists of about eleven troops being broken into 3 small fire teams: a) HQ element consisting of a Sqd Leader, a Medic and the RTO, b) fireteam lead with a FT leader, Grenadier and two riflemen, c) Fireteam lead, Grenadier and 2 x firemen.

The mission is to have 3 small teams land and the first objective is to secure the Huey crash site and assess the crew for injuries. Once injuries are determined, the Medic is to setup an aid station and make sure the crew stay alive. Any remaining crew are to grab whatever weapons they have and take up a position. As an added benefit, the M-60Ds are in working order and can be used to set up a base of fire. The catch is, the M60s cannot be carried further than 4 inches from the Huey in order to remain in ammo supply.

Once the US forces have landed and setup, the VC are coming from all directions to eliminate any US forces and raid the Huey for anything they can grab.

The US forces cannot cover every lane so the US player will have to figure out some way of making sure every direction is covered.

Map overview with the Huey crash site marked in the middle…






Incoming QRT coming in…


Deploy quickly, assess crew and setup defensive firing positions.

[PolishGI]

VC alerted and already on their way…










All of the Huey crew are alive. There are two with light wounds and three are ok. M16s distributed and M-60s setup on berms and ready to go.


Initial VC squad already taking casualties…


VC returning fire…


Situation pic


VC group moves into the local village and does not fair well.

[PolishGI]

Situation:


VC reinforcements moving into position to attack






Crew staying put and near the Huey for M-60 ammo.


Crew laying down fire from the M60s and M16s


A Fireteam eliminates the VC group in the village


VC squad approaching from the south which is being guarded by the HQ element. (Sq Ldr, RTO and Medic)


Small arms fire being exchanged. The berms really helped the US forces out with cover.


Another Fireteam is in the southeast corner pouring on the fire towards the southern threat.


Situation pic

[PolishGI]

Movement…




HQ element engaging VC forces




Movement from the east…


VC are trying to attack from all directions






One of the fireteams watching the west side engages VC moving into position


HQ element is eliminating the VC threat


Eastern fireteam opens up on the approaching VC team, shots go wide




VC open up on the fireteam and there is dirt kicking up all around the fireteam and berm

[PolishGI]

A single VC tried to sneak up on the Huey and was gunned down by the M-60


The remainder of the crew open up on the approaching VC squad.


The remaining crew hiding behind the berm and taking all sorts of incoming gunfire from the VC squad from the north.




Shot from above…


Western fireteam already engaging approaching VC


VC are returning fire




Northern VC attack is pressing the crew and the M60s took over


Status

[chrisswim]

GI, Great terrain, great set up. I like the 'babbling' brook.

[PolishGI]

GI, Great terrain, great set up. I like the 'babbling' brook.

Thanks Chris!

[7.62]

Just brilliant work Polish.
Truly inspirational

[Guroburov]

I love your boards. Always inventive and cool.

[PolishGI]

Just brilliant work Polish.
Truly inspirational

I love your boards. Always inventive and cool.

Thank you for the kind words guys!

One day, I am hoping to complete a Tour of Duty with a single platoon. Develop a LT and let him assume an infantry platoon. This ToD would take the platoon through a random set of scenarios over the course of 12 months to see if he is successful.

There are enough rules sets out there to put together a best approach for how many days there are in-between scenarios (calendar tracking), troops dropping off due to their DEROS, grunts wounded in action (to return? Off to Japan and done?), new grunts coming aboard all while maintaining a roster.

There is pre-mission work that includes: number of days that have passed since last scenario (maintain calendar) or since the LT arrived in country, dice roll for mission variation (sweep, search & destroy or RIF, Combat Patrol or Defensive). Are there any add ons attached to unit for mission? (e.g. sniper team, mortars, artillery, transport (wheeled or airlift), armor support, fixed wing etc) I have a collection of mission specifics to drill down on each of the silos listed above.

Pull out the 6mm figure lineup according to the roster sheet. And get ready for insertion.

Play the scenario, keep records of WIAs, KIAs, call in Dustoffs to get guys help along with enemy body counts if able. I am trying to work on tables for each mission that are randomized or by chance via dice. Start on one edge of the map and as the platoon moves through it to achieve an objective, dice/chance will add things that the platoon will encounter along the way. (e.g. snake bites lead to dustoffs, ambushes, civilian interactions, setups for village (support VC? Support Govt?) or any other number of events the platoon must tackle. That way, one has no idea what to expect once you go into a mission. And each mission should be different.

Post mission work includes AARs (all excel based), casualty status reports and recovery which includes status of casualties. Determine if the wounded in action will be out for a period of time or if their Tour is over. Then file for replacements and hope for the best. Depending on how the platoon performs, take into account any unit developments (e.g. combat fatigue, firepower enhancements, defensive enhancements, reaction developments, special developments or leadership enhancements.) So the roster comes into play and will impact squads that have upgrades. Last phase is to figure out if you get any FNGs (raw, low skills) to fill in the ranks. And hope for a transfer from another unit that may already have experience.

Back to the pre-mission work.

On a back burner, I am working on upping my game with static grass. Bought an applicator and will test it out even though it goes against everything I believe. Lol But we shall see if I can start making some grass areas with various height levels. Will help the open areas and jungle areas. If I can find tall enough static grass, get to work on another type of elephant grass.

[redleg]

Hey Polish, your Tour of Duty idea is really awesome! I'm very interested to see how that looks because I'd like to shamelessly copy it and apply it to some of my own games. Great concept! Please keep us posted!