Campaign for South Vietnam

[larryfulkerson]

So I'm playing John Fogger in a PBEM FITE and to get a better idea what John might be thinking I was playing a hotseat game of
FITE.....but the situation of my hotseat game was getting confused w/ the situation in the game w/ John so I think I have to find some other scenario to play. I was in South East Asia from Nov '70 to Aug '72 and thought I might like to fight that war again so to speak. So here's the opening map for South Vietnam and as you can see there aren't many NVA or VC units on the map yet. I think maybe that's what the map is going to look like for much of the game until the later stages when the NVA comes out openly and opposes the RVN army.

I'm planning on making some bombing missions to Hanoi and Haiphong to see what good it'll do and for the opening stages of the early game I think I'll call upon the Marines, Marine air, and lots of Airmobile Infantry. And lots of airpower: F-100's and Spads etc. My plan is to form a "front line" at the beach areas on the east coast and then march across the landscape doing search and destroy and clear the hexes as I go until I get to the foothills of the mountains on the west side. It's going to take several months and lots of troops. I'll document everything and explain what I'm doing and why as I go.

I have hex possession turned off so I can't get any clues where the bad guys are just from the Border changes. Just like the real thing.

[larryfulkerson]

I haven't turned on the computer player yet ( NVA ) and so nobody has moved yet as it's the NVA that moves first. I'm going across the
map changing stuff for the NVA / VC so that Elmer won't be operating at such a disadvantage. When I do something major in the game
I'll document it so you can know the reason I do this or that. When it happens, as it happens. Like you are playing this game.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm going around the map changing all the AA units to use ignore losses because the Ho Chi Minh trail was renowned for it's AAA. The
AC-130's I flew on had to fly at night to just survive over the trail. There was a daylight mission attempted but the aircraft was badly shot
up and crashlanded upon return. Some people were killed and the daylight missions were never attempted again.

[larryfulkerson]

I'm going through the OOB checking out the status of each of the combatants on the NVA / VC side and I've come across the 10th Bn
down south. I'm thinking of setting the ignore losses state for it as well. I don't know if Elmer will change it once he gets control so this
is just an experiment. I'll let you know if Elmer changes it.

[larryfulkerson]

I've come across some RR engineers and I don't know whether or not to manually repair the rail for the NVA along the Ho Chi Minh trail
or let Elmer do it. I want to see if Elmer will do it so I'll just leave it alone for now.

[larryfulkerson]

Okay, I pulled the trigger and the NLF got a chance to move units etc. I didn't see anything change except for in Chuong Thien province.
So I have a brand new busted bridge I need to fix and the engineers will need some infantry protection so I'll put a task force together to
take care of that bridge.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the Allied force structure in the Saigon area. Military Assistance Command Vietnam ( MACV ) is supposed to represent General
Westmoreland and his staff I guess. There's not much in the way of protection in that unit.....just some MP's. I'm thinking I should leave
the MACV unit in the Saigon area for now. Since that's where he was much of the time anyway. I've got some Spads for airpower but the
Army helicopters are wimpy. I'm guessing I'll get some reinforcements to fill out that helicopter unit as time goes on. With the hex
possession turned off there's no clue where the bad guys are but I'm guessing they are in the immediate area somewhere.

[larryfulkerson]

So I'm going on a tour of the units on the OOB in order and I've come across the ARVN 1st Inf Div in the Hue area up north. The mission
for the 1st Division is to guard the DMZ and hold the city Hue. Also, I'm guessing I shouldn't use the ARVN stuff to do search and
destroy because they are so unreliable. They aren't in garrison mode this turn but they may be next turn, etc. The best use of the
ARVN stuff is holding the coastal cities I suppose.

I've learned that the ARVN HQ's don't have any organic arty because all the arty has been put into a separate unit. And there's a little
known fact that the 105mm rounds can go further than the 155mm rounds for some reason. I'll have to remember to use a range of 2
when I need the full impact of the arty unit.

Those Regional Forces units are a sort of infantry company stripped down to just 9 squads of light infantry. I'm going to run those bad
boys at a minimum losses state so I don't lose so many so quickly. I expect the NVA / VC to push these guys around any way.

[larryfulkerson]

I've moved the 1st Div Arty unit north to cover the northmost RF unit and I've noticed in previous games that there are a lot of mortar
and rocket attacks in the area to the SW of Hue and they can sneak in close enough to get hits on the aircraft at the airport so it's
kinda important to break down some of the Inf regiments and move them out into that area to persuade the NVA / VC units to go
elsewhere. Well, it would work that way, maybe, for a human player. In this game the enemy unit(s) will probably press on and get killed.

[larryfulkerson]

So here's the final disposition of the 1st ARVN Inf Div in the defense of the DMZ and the city of Hue. There's a couple of places where
there's gaps but I've set all the maneuvor units on 'L' status so hopefully they will migrate toward any fighting that ensues.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what I did w/ the 2nd ARVN Inf Div. Luckily they weren't in garrison mode so I could move them to better positions. Like bridges
over river crossings etc. Also, all the moving units are parked w/ 'L' status turned on.

[larryfulkerson]

The ARVN 5th Inf Div was in garrison mode this turn so I can't move them at all. And they aren't in particularly good positions either.
At least they occupy a village out there in the jungle and can act as bait for enemy units.

[Oberst_Klink]

I hope you guys are using the AAA-patch. Only then a US/ARVN player will be a tad more careful using choppers

Klink, Oberst

[larryfulkerson]

The ARVN 7th Inf Div is also in garrison mode. So I dug in the 2 regiments and put the arty in 'T' status and move the HQ to min losses
status. And that's about it.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Oberst_Klink
I hope you guys are using the AAA-patch. Only then a US/ARVN player will be a tad more careful using choppers
Klink, Oberst

Let me be the first to say I'm using the AAA-patch as 'we' want a realistic game. Hey there Oberst Klink, by the way.

[larryfulkerson]

The ARVN 9th Inf Div is also in garrison mode. So there's not much to do w/ them besides digging in etc.

[larryfulkerson]

The ARVN 21st Inf Div is also in garrison mode. I keep threatening my ARVN boys that if they are in garrison mode three turns in a row
then they get disbanded. Not really. But it is kind of frustrating having a combat unit that is useless to you.

[larryfulkerson]

And now, to rub it in, the ARVN 22nd Inf Div is also in garrison mode. This just demonstrates why there are extra hands needed from the
USA and Korea and Thailand etc. And lots of planes.

[larryfulkerson]

And now we come to the ARVN 23rd Inf Div and you probably already know what I'm going to say. So far we've seen only two divisions
that were active and about 5 or 6 that are in garrison mode. Not good odds. This game has made the ARVN useless and they tell me
that's accurate. They are SUPPOSED to be useless to reflect history.

[larryfulkerson]

The ARVN 25th Inf Div is ACTIVE. Yea! So I've broken down the inf regiments and spread them out a llittle. I want to keep them under
the unbrella of the arty so that they can have some arty support when they get attacked. And I expect some attacks since they are so
close to the border of Cambodia. Lots of bad guys can come across the border, attack, and then move back across the border to
relative safety.