Once again we find ourselves deep in the jungle basking in the sunshine and tropical weather. This scenario, #5, depicts the ill-fated journey of the 2/7 Cav (along with elements of the 1/5) as they humped overland from the aftermath of LZ XRAY to a new landing zone, LZ ALBANY, a few miles away.

The torturous terrain combined with a severe lack of sleep and some command issues resulted in the cavalry troopers paying a heavy price as they were ambushed during their walk in the sun.

[NOTE: These examples don’t, necessarily, show the best tactics to be used. They are for illustrative purposes.]

Here you can see the US troops, spread out on their line of march. The leading elements had just reached LZ ALBANY when all hell broke loose in the form of a PAVN ambush.

In the Scenario Special Rules, the PAVN player is directed to place either Assault or Maneuver markers, his choice, at setup.

Not wanting to risk the uncertainty of a low odds Maneuver attack, the PAVN player decides to Assault LZ ALBANY with two companies while bringing the remaining units, two full and two reduced strength companies, against the tail end of the marching column.

As play begins with the Combat Resolution Phase, the PAVN player rolls for Attack Coordination for the Assault on LZ ALBANY.

Since all attacking hexes are within the HQs command range of 3, he gets to roll against the HQ’s ER of “6”. He rolls a “9” which results in an Uncoordinated Frontal Assault. The defender gets to choose one stack of attacking units which must Assault (regardless of which type of attack marker they had originally). In this instance, it doesn’t change the attacking units as only one hex is assaulting, but it does provide a “-1” DRM for the defender and a “+1” DRM for the attacker. The FWA player has 10 Air Points available and allocates three of them to Defensive Bombardment. He rolls a “3” which gives a result of “2”. Dividing the Assaulting Terrain Defense Value (Assaulting units are always TDV = 2) by the result equals one which causes a step loss to the attacking units. The defender then rolls on the Assault Table with the DRM earned above. Unfortunately, he rolls a modified “9” which does no damage. The PAVN rolls his assault with a “+1” for being uncoordinated, a “+1” for terrain (Light Jungle), and “-1” for Scenario Special Rule. He rolls a modified “4” which causes a step loss. Both sides fail their ER rolls, so a second round of combat is not conducted.

In the other Assault, not all attacking hexes are within the HQ’s command range, so the PAVN player rolls Attack Coordination against the nominal “3” command value. He rolls a “2” and is fully coordinated. The FWA player commits his remaining seven Air Points to Defensive Bombardment. Because the PAVN player has more steps adjacent than the number of aerial bombardment points, he gets to use Air Defense Fire. He rolls a “2” which is a hit. On the subsequent damage roll, he rolls a “3” which results in a “-2” adjustment to the number of Air Points bringing the total to “5”. Unfortunately for the FWA, this will move his Defensive Bombardment down a column. He rolls a “6” which is still enough to inflict a step loss. The FWA player then rolls another step loss for his first round of combat. The PAVN player misses entirely with his roll. The FWA player misses his roll for a second round, but the PAVN player does not. In the second round, he inflicts a step loss on the FWA player.

In the FWA player’s turn, he consolidates his troops in the LZ and declines to attack.

Game Turn 2 (of 2)

In the next turn, only the FWA receives any type of reinforcements in the form of 15 Air Points. The PAVN moves his units so as to nearly surround the LZ, and declares another Assault. Only four stacking points can be part of the assault even though more are available. Note that the HQ moves so that all attacking units are within its command range. The mortar moves along with the HQ (although it didn’t have to as its range was sufficient to reach from its original hex). It is NOT marked with a First Fire marker for moving, because mortars are an exception to that rule for artillery.

Next, the mortar conducts Offensive Bombardment. The PAVN player rolls a “2” which isn’t enough to cause a step loss, but it is enough to Fatigue one of the FWA units.

The FWA player has the option of conducting a Combat Refusal, but doing so would defeat the purpose of the scenario. Normally, US units can’t do that in an Operational LZ, but the LZ marker isn’t actually placed in this scenario because it has yet to be established. There is also no Defender Reaction since there are no units available to do so.

The PAVN player rolls for Attack Coordination and achieves it. The FWA player, with nothing to lose, uses all 15 Air Points in Defensive Bombardment. There is no ADF. Even with a high roll of “8”, it’s enough to inflict a step loss. The FWA player then rolls for the first round of the Assault with a “+1” DRM for having 1-49% of his steps Fatigued. He misses with a  “9”.  The PAVN player rolls a “2” which is modified to a “1” (+1 for Light Jungle, but -1 for each hex above two attacking). This results in three step losses. For the US, every unit must take a step loss before any can be eliminated, but one unit still ends up being taken off the map.

Both sides roll for a second round. The FWA passes, but the PAVN fails. The FWA player causes another step loss. With little chance of changing the outcome, the FWA player foregoes his turn.

Now it’s time to count VP. The FWA earns 5 points for destroying steps and 3 points for holding the LZ for a total of 8. The PAVN player earns 10 points for destroying steps and wins.

Author: Mitchell Land