DAR as NVA: Battle of LZ Albany 11/17/1965 (No peeking Big Ivan!)

[Crossroads]

Here we go, then!

To kill some time (and each other) while waiting for the release date, Big Ivan and I thought to put up a During Action session on one of the battles depicted in the game. I will be playing the North Vietnamese Army against John's US forces.

As for my role in CS Legion for CS Vietnam, in addition to my dev roles such as the 2D side graphics, I have also programmed in the CS Event Engine logic for David Galster's French Indochina War scenarios, in addition to participating as a beta tester for that era, and Vietnamese Civil War as well. I am well versed with how to battle on during that time, including the VM forces, this however will be my first "serious" battle against a new foe the US is. Everything I have learned against the French and ARVN will be put into use. Wish me luck!

Having received the opening turn from John, let us first set up the game to our liking.

I am a board gamer so prefer the 2D boardgame view here as well. For this first post, I will actually post the whole screen as I see it. I have a 21:9 wide screen monitor, so there's plenty of screen estate. That said, the game comes out with a number of various "Zoom levels": Zoom-in, Normal, Zoom-out and Extreme Zoom-out for both 2D "boardgame" and 3D "miniatures" player, and a 2D Strategic view handy for both views, especially with large maps, which many Vietnam scenarios are. It is a vast jungle out there!

CS Vietnam is compiled with the latest Microsoft has to offer with Visual Studio, so it supports the Windows Desktop Scaling as well. Think of this as a compliment to zoom views, for instance if the font is too small, Desktop Scaling alleviates for that. With 4K monitors this will no doubt be handy, I am however playing with Desktop Scaling set at 100% ie the normal view. Every pixel appears as they are.

As a rule, if you don't like what you see on screen, it is likely the Options menu has an option for view. I pasted some of those into this screenshot:

[*] Unit list on left side, as I prefer it there. You can have it on right side as well, as well as toggling it OFF.

[*] Since I prefer to play with Counters with NATO symbols on them, I prefer to have 3D unit images on Unit list. That way, I get the best of both worlds: NATO symbol telling me exactly what the unit type is, then the Unit list showing what it looks like. It is my recommendation that if you prefer to play with 3D miniatures view, or with 2D but with unit images on counter, you'd then have Unit list with counters with NATO symbols, so you can do the same.

[*] Toolbar: Since I have a wide monitor, and since I prefer to use icons rather than Menu or hot-key combos, I actually prefer to have all the icons statically present. It is a lot, but since I have drawn them, and know them quite intimately, this way I get to have everything instantly available. There's the grouped Toolbars as well, with say only Common, or Combat, or Air, etc, icons visible at one time, to make it easier to find what you are looking for. You can toggle Toolbar OFF as well if you prefer your screen estate to portray just the map.


NOTE: Unfortunately there is a file size limit in this forum, so I had to bring the resolution down in this jpg file. Hopefully it is visible enough still.

[Crossroads]

OK, let us do battle, then!

First, as always, it is very important to read your Mission Briefing in detail. What are you told? What are you NOT told? Lesse:

Battle of LZ Albany

WARNING: This is currently best played as the SIDE A player unless being played Head to Head. Please restart the scenario as SIDE A.

SITUATION: After the battle of LZ X-Ray, two battalions of Regiment 66 had suffered significant casualties. Your 8th Battalion is to advance down the Ia Drang to rendezvous with the rest of the Regiment before heading to Cambodia for rest and refit.

Friendly Forces: Your primary unit is the 8th Battalion/66th Regiment and elements of the 1st Battalion/33rd Regiment.
Enemy Forces: There is a heavy American presence in the area. Be wary of American gunships operating nearby.

MISSION: Your mission in this scenario is to secure Landing Zone Albany and advance south.

EXECUTION: In the event of running into an American unit, move inside the column, grab them by the belt, and thus avoid casualties from their artillery and air.

Additional reinforcements are not available.

Good luck, Commander!

POLITICAL: You lose Event Points for indirect firing or ordering airstrikes on inhabited hexes (village, city, suburb), whether or not occupied by the enemy.

ADMIN: Supply levels are high at the beginning of the scenario, but expect them to taper off as the situation unfolds. Additional supply is not scheduled.

COMMAND AND CONTROL: Weather is expected to remain consistent during the course of the mission.

Note the warning in the beginning. I am playing Side B, and should I be playing against computer, the US side would not be as well prepared as the NVA side B to be under computer control. No worries here though as this is an Head to head battle.

What else: secure the area, and try to stay alive? I will try!

Here's the initial plan then, with 2D Zoom-Out View. With the screen estate I have available, I don't need to go any further down the zoom views.


[*] All in all, as a first battle against the US forces, I will play this with tight formations. No isolated units anywhere, mass it against any US units found. Hopefully they will be isolated in moving boldly alone in a dispersed formation?

[*] Then, I will have my rifle companies in two stacks in adjacent hexes, for immediate assaults should I find something. Fire support teams then right behind them for suppressing the enemy before charging in.

And, that's it. Let us not make this too complex. Mass my forces, grab the enemy by the belt when met.

That said, I am quite concerned about the warning for US gunships, and I guess, their Close Air Support in general. Need to move in fast, then move out fast!

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

Here's the initial plan then, with 2D Zoom-Out View. With the screen estate I have available, I don't need to go any further down the zoom views.

[*] All in all, as a first battle against the US forces, I will play this with tight formations. No isolated units anywhere, mass it against any US units found. Hopefully they will be isolated in moving boldly alone in a dispersed formation?

[*] Then, I will have my rifle companies in two stacks in adjacent hexes, for immediate assaults should I find something. Fire support teams then right behind them for suppressing the enemy before charging in.

And, that's it. Let us not make this too complex. Mass my forces, grab the enemy by the belt when met.

Here's the situation at end of play NVA turn 1. Not much happening, but you can see the NVA pulling together, with Fire Support on their own hexes, and Rifle Platoons on their own.

What I did here additionally was to toggle both Show Visible Hexes and Highligh Formations ON, so that for command and control purposes my companies stick together (see the orange highlight), and to see what they see (see the yellow hex radious, just the adjacent hexes here in the jungle.

As for Hex Highlighs, I prefer to use that instead of the Shadow Pattern covering everything else, as I like to see the map clearly all the time. Options!

Edit: Oh, I toggled Hex Outlines ON as well. I want to make sure my units end up where I want them to end up at.

That said, file saved and sent over! To be continued...

[Crossroads]

If you have any questions or comments at any time please feel free to chip in! Let us make this as interactive as possible [:)]

[Crossroads]

Oops, forgot to set my global Opportunity Fire to ambush mode. Let us hope the US does not make an appearance just quite yet...

[devoncop]

Nice to see....

Can any of the units lay mines or IED's ?....if so may be useful.

[budd]

What are the perimeters of "ambush" mode in practice, one hex, identified enemy?

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: budd

What are the perimeters of "ambush" mode in practice, one hex, identified enemy?

I was mainly referring to setting all Opfire to Short, apart from AA against heloes, which could be medium. I guess for infantry it does not really matter, as visibility is mostly a one hex radius around you.

[Jason Petho]

ORIGINAL: devoncop

Nice to see....

Can any of the units lay mines or IED's ?....if so may be useful.

Yes, most infantry platoons can lay a level 1 IED (claymores for US, boobytraps for VC/NVA)

There is no limit to how many you can place

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Jason Petho

Yes, most infantry platoons can lay a level 1 IED (claymores for US, boobytraps for VC/NVA)

There is no limit to how many you can place

This is something really nice, especially if you have the time to prepare your ground...

[Crossroads]

... but time is not something I have available.

The fixed Recon section (this is a Side A scenario, remember) I have next to LZ Albany observes US recon assets in force in front of them, and greets them with Opportunity Fire! The US units don't respond, likely they were out of Action Points. Bummer, should have remembered to set the Opfire in the previous turn! Not that it matters, as my Recon are fixed in place, and could not retreat.

No biggie, I will deal with this later.

Here's the situation after having watched the Replay of the US phase for Turn #2:

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

Bummer, should have remembered to set the Opfire in the previous turn!

OK, let us do this, finally. Without any unit(s) selected, I click at the Opportunity Fire icon and then set the general opportunity fire parameters for all my units. Note that you can then override the general settings unit by unit, with evoking the same Opportunity Fire dialog, but with only those units selected you want to tweak.

What I did I set all the unit types I have to not Op Fire at enemy foot units at all (because they likely haven't seen me). The other setting is I have my AT/Heavy AA set to Medium for Helos, this concerns my recoilles rifles mostly, as well as the AA units too. And foot units. This hopefully will have an effect at making their gunships not so bold if and when they appear.

[Crossroads]

Here's then the NVA setup at the end of Side B phase for Turn #2.

What I am hoping is my tight line formation will meet the US flank unexpecting of our arrival. If that's where they arrive from, of course.

And...

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

No biggie, I will deal with this later.

Just to portray some of the new features, I set my fixed Recon platoon to "Defend Weak", with an Shield icon with a minus sign on it. Hopefully, as US units retaliate next turn, they won't be wiped out but quickly retreat to jungle instead.

And that's it. PBEM file sent!

[Crossroads]

Turn 3 of 12

Turn received, we go again!

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

I set my fixed Recon platoon to "Defend Weak", with an Shield icon with a minus sign on it. Hopefully, as US units retaliate next turn, they won't be wiped out but quickly retreat to jungle instead.

No such luck, what looks like two full US Cav platoons assaulted my Recon squad, capturing them.

Hmm, they have advanced way more towards west than I assumed!

I don't want to engage them yet, want my full force in vicinity first. That said, can't have them airlift too many reinforcements there either...

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

I don't want to engage them yet, want my full force in vicinity first. That said, can't have them airlift too many reinforcements there either...

Well, I don't want to engage them at a piecemeal fashion, that is. But this calls for some Law of Hammurabi justice right here.

I assault their isolated Recon section with two of my platoons. Typically you want to assault from different hex sides, even from opposite sides for full Assault bonus. I can't do that here, then again, my two platoons should capture them easily.

I order them to Assault by selecting them both, then moving them (or the cursor) on top of the hex I want to Assault. With all Fog of War in place, the Assault dialog is not that helpful, but that is the intention!

Calling the Resolve Assault with the little Hand Grenade with Exclamation mark and we quickly overcome the poor US section there.

And captured they are. Eye for an eye, a Recon section for a Recon section.

Edit: Added a snippet from the Unit list to show how the units selected to participate in a current Assault have a little assault icon added to them. In this case, both rifle platoons are assaulting. Note the bottom one is the 1st Platoon, with a little Radio icon visible. For Command-and-Control Optional Rule, this is your lowest level HQ unit at a Company level. The actual HQ units begin at Battalion level.

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

I don't want to engage them yet, want my full force in vicinity first. That said, can't have them airlift too many reinforcements there either...

Well, I don't want to engage them at a piecemeal fashion, that is.

Time to move some feet, then! Here's the situation at the end of NVA phase for Turn #3. Plenty of time to get that Landing Zone surrounded, with a caveat that I don't want them to fly in reinforcements either.

Looking at the Victory Dialog it is always to check the Event Points tally first. Am I missing something? Are they gaining something I fail to prevent them from achieving? So far so good.

Note that I retreated my two Rifle platoons that took part in the assault one step away from them. NVA are faster to move about in the Jungle, gotta play that to my advance.

Over to Big Ivan with a little message in the email: "Ain't nobody in the forest but us squirrels!"

Edit: One more turn of maneuvering the troops to have them sit tightly together, then a full all-out assault on Turn 5, I hope. Note I haven't plotted any Artillery (mortars in this case), want to have the tubes full when I need them.

[Crossroads]

Turn 4 of 12

... where I realise I am in some serious trouble.

Here's the situation at the end of US phase for Turn #4. It seems they've managed to put a defensive perimeter right at that ridge line.

Only one US platoon spotted at the moment, but where there's one there's often more.

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

One more turn of maneuvering the troops to have them sit tightly together, then a full all-out assault on Turn 5, I hope. Note I haven't plotted any Artillery (mortars in this case), want to have the tubes full when I need them.

Looks like I have definitively run out of time though. They seem to be there, I am still maneuvering to positions I wanted to have before launching the all out assault at them.

What was it they say about plans and first shots, again?

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

What was it they say about plans and first shots, again?

Let us have a go at them, then. Hoping for some lucky concealment die rolls I have my Recoilless Rifle move next to them, first. Having fired at them (with no way knowing what effect if any it had with all Fog of War options toggled ON), they op fire back at me, causing a step loss with my RR unit.

At that time there's Op Fire from all over that ridge line. The 7th Cavalry has indeed arrived!

Next, set up my two Rifle platoons for a frontal assault at their positions. That always works out, right! Before that, I also move my MMG unit to their flank, and fire at them. Op Fire causes my MMG to retreat one hex, with no losses though They end up where they started from (the yellow arrow).

Then, finally, launching the assault. No visible effects for enemy, no losses for me. A brute frontal assaul (orange arrow) did not work out, then. As I did not expect it to, either. But first shots have now certainly been fired!

[Crossroads]

Next, some more maneuvering. I don't like what I am seeing at all.

They sit tight at the ridge line in their reverse slope positions, while I not only need to climb that ridge (meaning I lose Action Points for the height difference, resulting in just one assault per platoon per turn), my troops are more or less a mess.

My right flank is weak, my left flank is still too far out, and my center looks quite vulnerable too, sitting there as target practice for their concentrated firing. I put a red arrow to this picture to remind me there's a US presence in that hex, too. Concealment in jungle does not only work for NVA side!

Note that I sent two platoons to western edge of that ridge for some distraction. Hopefully Big Ivan does not yet have a good view what's coming at him, and from where.

[Crossroads]

Here the situation at end of play for NVA phase for Turn #4.

I spread out as much as I could, I am bringing my left flank forward as quickly as I can, but still: terribly vulnerable!

Having saved my indirect fire assets to be all available when I need them (and there's not that many of them), I plot them now. There's an icon with a Mortar and an Exclamation mark to show what is available, and clicking at each row in time you can then target said battery.

Normally, I'd go for a more concentrated fire plan, instead, let us just barrage them everywhere in order to not show where I want to attack them in particular.

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

I put a red arrow to this picture to remind me there's a US presence in that hex, too. Concealment in jungle does not only work for NVA side!

That said, things are not looking good. Here's hoping the Concealment die rolls work in my favour, so that after Big Ivan's Replay of my turn, most of my units become concealed again. I am not overstacking at the front line, so hopefully that helps.

Then, I have no idea of their indirect fire assets, if there's plenty of that, and Big Ivan's plotted the hexes adjacent to his forward line, there will be all kinds of grief coming towards me. I am hoping he has not yet used his Close Air Support missions on empty hexes, so if he calls them come next turn, they will arrive at the turn after, at earliest.

Not good, Comrade Crosscroads, not good at all!