The following example of play is not based on any particular scenario. This is the same example which is available in the rules for Silver Bayonet which can be found, along with the the player aid cards and other resources at the Support Site.

Silver Bayonet Example of Play

This example of play, while not intended to be comprehensive, will cover most aspects of the rules. The decisions which are made and the actions which are taken are not, necessarily, the best ones. They have been chosen to highlight various rules as we follow through the Sequence of Play.

Taking a look at the situation, we can see the PAVN closing in on the garrison of Duc Co (3 x CIDG [1 x Fatigued] and DELTA). Some elements of the ARVN 3rd Armored Cavalry Squadron (HQ/3, 1/3, and 2/3 [Fatigued]) are operating to the south of Duc Co along with the Fatigued 6th ARVN Airborne Battalion and Lt. Col. Truong. One CIDG Patrol, from a previous turn is already on the map. Note that several of the units are Fatigued.
There are three PAVN battalions lurking in the jungle although the FWA player doesn’t know that because they are all under Hidden Movement markers. Those markers could all have units in them or they could all be Dummy markers. Of course, for this example, we know some of them are not Dummy markers.

Initial Phase

Neither side has achieved an Automatic Victory [17.2] by fulfilling all of their randomly chosen Automatic Victory chits (as outlined by the Campaign Game scenarios which use them). The FWA player adjusts his available Air Points [11.0] by rolling one die. He rolls a 5 which grants him 20 Air Points to use throughout the turn. However, in previous turns, two Air Points were destroyed by PAVN Air Defense Fire, so the total available is reduced to 18 Air Points. The FWA player then checks the readiness of his helicopters [13.4] by automatically moving those in “1 Mission” and “Grounded 1” to “Ready”, rolling for those in the “2 Missions” box, and moving units from “Grounded 2” to “Grounded 1”. We will assume all the helicopters passed their readiness rolls. The FWA player then returns any Hidden Movement markers he has taken for various reasons, including (but not limited to) Observation, PAVN attacks, or PAVN Air Defense Fire, to the PAVN player [16.3].

Recovery Phase

All “First” and “Final” Fire markers from the previous turn’s activities are removed from both sides artillery units. Both sides can now Recover Fatigue [2.6.7]. The FWA player can automatically recover the unit stacked with Lt. Col. Truong. If that unit was in an enemy Zone of Control
[5.0], it would have to pass an Efficiency Check [2.4.5] to recover. The ARVN 2/3 (next to the CIDG Patrol and other 3rd Armored Cavalry Squadron units) and the CIDG unit in Duc Co cannot recover because they are not in an appropriate location or stacked with a leader. The PAVN player also performs Fatigue Recovery at this time following the same rules. The PAVN player has not lost a Headquarters (HQ) unit, so this step [12.4.2] is skipped. Both sides can now spend any Replacement Points [15.1] to rebuild units either by bringing them up to full strength, i.e., flipping from their reduced strength side, or bringing them back from the eliminated pile. In this case, all of that activity is taking place in other portions of the map.

First Player Turn

The FWA player is specified as the first player for this scenario, so he proceeds to take his turn. Since he is the first player, he conducts his First Observation Phase.

First Observation Phase

The FWA player takes his OV-1 Mohawk and any 1/9 Observation Helicopters (OH-13s) and moves them to any Hidden Movement marker hex [16.5.1]. The OH-13s can be escorted by 1/9 Gunships (UH-1Bs). (The units are shown offset from the marker hex to facilitate this example.) The PAVN player now may choose whether or not to reveal any units for Air Defense Fire (ADF) [14.0]. He must either reveal a single, hidden artillery
unit and/or more steps of units than the Bombardment Strength [2.4.2] of the US units. In this case, the PAVN player chooses to reveal an artillery unit from Hidden Movement marker #3 as his only ADF and rolls on the Air Defense Fire To Hit table. He earns an additional -1 DRM for having a revealed artillery unit in or adjacent to the hex. He rolls a 3 which is modified to a 2 and hits the helicopters. He now has to choose which type of
helicopter he wishes to shoot at: the Observation helicopter or the Gunship. He chooses to shoot at the Observation helicopter, and rolls on the Air Defense Fire Damage table and rolls a 4. The result is an Abort 2, so the A/1/9 OH-13 is placed on the “Grounded 2” box of the FWA player aid.

The FWA player now makes his Observation rolls [15.5.1.3]. Cross-referencing the terrain type row with the Observation Column on the Terrain Effects Chart (TEC), he uses the number to the left of the “|” symbol as this is Aerial Observation. He would have earned a −1 DRM for his attempt on Hidden Movement marker #3 as there is one adjacent friendly-occupied hex, but, as the OH-13 was Aborted, no Observation roll is made.

In this case, he also fails to reveal markers #1 or #2. He now proceeds to bombard any revealed units. Since the missions against markers #1 and #2 failed, those units simply return to base to the appropriate mission box (“1 Mission” in this case). Even though there was no observation attempt for marker #3, there is now a revealed unit in the hex, and the escorting 1/9 UH-1B Gunship can bombard that hex. The FWA player cross-references his Bombardment Strength of 5 with his die roll of 2 (no DRMs apply as there is no artillery firing and there is a friendly unit adjacent) and obtains a 2F result. The “F” result requires the PAVN player to place a Fatigue marker on a unit in the hex. This can be either the revealed artillery or a unit under the Hidden Movement marker (he chooses the latter). The 2 result is then divided by the Terrain Defense Value (TDV) of the Forested Hill hex, which is 3, with fractions dropped. Any whole number result is the number of steps lost which, in this case, is zero since 2 divided by 3 results in a dropped fraction. The A/1/9 UH-1B is now returned to base.

The FWA player next Places or Moves Patrol markers [16.5.2]. He likes where the CIDG Patrol marker is, so he leaves it in place. As he has other -road Movement Points of the supporting CIDG unit. He would like to place a third CIDG patrol marker, but a Fatigued unit cannot be used to place a Patrol marker. He also decides to place the DELTA and B/1/9 Patrol markers. He’d like to place the A/1/9 Patrol marker, but its parent unit is already on the map so he cannot. He now rolls for Observation using the markers. He decides that, since he knows there are other units in Hidden Movement marker #3 (the marker would’ve been removed if the artillery unit had been the only unit there), he’ll use the newly placed CIDG marker to attempt to observe it. In addition, he’ll use the other CIDG marker to assist which provides a −1 DRM (this also means that supporting CIDG marker cannot make its own Observation roll). As with Aerial Observation, he cross-references the terrain type row with the Observation column, but, this time, he uses the number to the right of the “|” symbol for Patrol Observation. He rolls a 6, modified to a 4 (−1 for support and −1 for adjacent friendly-occupied hex) and just barely observes the marker. The PAVN player reveals that the entire 9/66 Battalion (note the Fatigue which was applied during the earlier bombardment) is in that hex and hands the #3 marker to the FWA player (it will be returned next turn). Next, the DELTA patrol rolls and fails to observe #5. B/1/9, though, gets lucky and rolls a 1. On a natural 1, the marker is placed 10 turns ahead on the Game Information Track and will not be available to the PAVN player until then. The PAVN player reveals that two companies from 8/66 Battalion are in the hex. Since the FWA player found enemy units there, he can automatically deploy the associated parent unit to the Patrol Marker’s hex. In this case, since it’s the 1/9, they can use helicopter transport to do so as long as the parent unit is in an appropriate location [16.5.2.3]. The Patrol marker is removed when the parent unit arrives.

Reinforcement Phase & Concealment Phase

The FWA Player doesn’t have any reinforcements scheduled to enter this turn, and the Concealment Phase is only conducted during the PAVN player’s turn, so both of these are skipped.

Movement Phase

Hoping to eventually move his Fatigued ARVN unit back to Camp Holloway to recover Fatigue, he moves the ARVN 2/3 unit into hex 1211. As he has moved adjacent to a Hidden Movement marker, the PAVN player has the opportunity to announce an Ambush [16.6] if there are units concealed by the marker.

In this case, there are concealed units, and the PAVN player decides to Ambush the moving ARVN unit. He reveals that 7/66 Battalion is in the hex along with the C/66 mortar artillery section. The PAVN player flips the Hidden Movement marker to its “Ambush” side and places it on the now revealed units (offset here for example purposes). He rolls on the Assault Combat Table (there is no Attack Coordination [7.0] required and Ambush changes the sequence of Assault Combat [9.0]). His total Attack Strength [2.4.1] is 14 as he is including the mortar unit in the ambush. Only four stacking points can attack in an Assault, and, since both D/7/66 and C/66 are ½ Stacking Value, the PAVN player meets this restriction. The PAVN player would like to earn additional DRMs for flipping other Hidden Movement markers to their Ambush side, but none are within two
hexes. He does, however, earn a −1 DRM for having a mortar unit as part of the Ambushing units. Terrain DRMs are not applied in Ambush attacks, so the PAVN player’s roll of 5, modified to 4, results in 2 step losses. The ARVN unit is eliminated. The FWA player is still allowed to conduct Defensive Bombardment, though, and elects to allocate 10 Air Points. Since the PAVN player does not have more steps than Bombardment Strength allocated, there is no ADF. The FWA player rolls a 3 which is modified by +1 for no friendly units adjacent (the Patrol does not count) to a 4. The result of 3 is divided by a TDV of 2 (all Assaulting units are considered to be in a TDV of 2) and the FWA player, dropping fractions, eliminates a PAVN step. Normally, the FWA player would also roll on the Assault Combat Table, but the 2/3 was eliminated by the Ambush. The Ambush Hidden Movement marker is then placed two game turns ahead and will return during the Initial Phase of that turn.

The FWA player continues moving units already on the map as shown. In addition, seeing the danger three battalions of PAVN represent to Duc Co, the FWA player decides it’s time to use his air mobility to intervene. First he establishes an Operational Landing Zone (OLZ), LZ PAR, in 1910, and, using a CH-47 Transport helicopter, moves the B/2/19 artillery battery to the hex. B/2/19 gets a “First Fire” marker for having moved. Transport helicopters can carry up to their Transport Capacity in steps. Note that artillery batteries count double, so, in this case, the only unit
the CH-47 can carry is the artillery battery. As there are no enemy units adjacent to the hex, there is no ADF. Next, the FWA player decides to use the C/227 UH-1D to bring an infantry company of the US 2/7 from An Khe into Duc Co (Special Forces Camps are considered to be OLZs). C/227 will also load the Fatigued CIDG unit and take it back to An Khe so it can recover. Although B/2/7 is two steps and took up all the Transport Capacity of C/227, the transport helicopter is allowed to double its capacity if it starts such a mission in a base hex, both unloads and loads in the same hex, and immediately returns to base [13.1.4]. To support Lt. Col. Truong, the FWA player declares that 1612 will serve as a Field Expedient LZ and uses B/227 to move B/1/7 into the hex. Only one company can load/unload in a FLZ. The FWA player opts to escort the transport mission with C/2/20 ARA. This precludes any ADF by the PAVN. However, since the LZ is adjacent to an enemy occupied hex, it is considered a Hot LZ [13.1.1.3], and the FWA player must make an Efficiency Check for the unloading unit with failure causing the unit to be Fatigued. Here, we will assume it passes. Finally, the FWA player decides to establish another OLZ, LZ LADIES, in 1808, and unloads the rest of the US 1/7 along with Lt. Col. Moore. As this movement requires a Transport Capacity of 6, he uses both the A/227 UH-1D and B/228 CH-47. Since the units landed in
Light Jungle, he cross-references that terrain type row with the LZ Type column on the TEC and notes that he retains half of his Movement Allowance. Cross-referencing the Forested Hill terrain type row with the Move Cost column, he sees that as it only costs 3 Movement Points to enter, he will move Lt. Col. Moore and his rump battalion into 1707 along with B/1/9. As there are no ADF opportunities, all of the helicopter units are returned to the FWA player card in the “1 Mission” box.

Combat Declaration Phase

In this phase [6.1] , the FWA player decides to conduct Maneuver Combat against the units facing Lt. Col. Moore. The PAVN units facing Lt. Col. Truong pose the FWA player with a dilemma. The motorized units may only conduct Maneuver Combat into Forested Hill and are marked accordingly. This is currently a 1:2 attack, so the FWA player decides that the airborne battalion will also Maneuver. The newly landed B/1/7 will conduct an Assault all on its own.

Offensive Bombardment Phase

The FWA player decides to bombard both hexes he will be attacking. For the units in 1512 (below Duc Co), he assigns C/2/20 ARA (this will be its second and final mission for the turn) along with 1 Air Point and the B/2/19 artillery battery (this will cause it be marked with a “Final Fire” marker) for a total Bombardment Strength of 15. For the units in 1607 facing Lt. Col. Moore, he assigns the B/6/14 artillery (outside the shown map area) as well as 3 Air Points for a Bombardment Strength of 11. The PAVN player conducts any ADF. There will be no ADF in 1512 as the combined aerial Bombardment Strength is higher than the number of PAVN steps in or adjacent to the targeted hex. The PAVN player, with 4 revealed steps in 1607, will get to fire ADF. He rolls a 1, which hits, and, with only one choice, targets the Air Points. The subsequent damage roll gives a −1 result which will be subtracted from the total Bombardment Strength reducing it to 10. The FWA player then resolves the Bombardment.

In 1512, his Bombardment Strength is 15 and he earns a -1 DRM as he is using artillery within two hexes of Lt. Col. Truong. He rolls a 4, modified to 3, which results in 4F. The F result is another Fatigue, and, dividing the 4 by the Forested Hill TDV of 3 (and dropping fractions) results in a step loss. The PAVN player applies both results to one of the infantry companies. In 1607, the FWA player rolls a 6 and obtains a 2 result which, divided by the Mountain Jungle’s TDV of 4, does nothing.

Combat Reaction Phase

During the Combat Refusal Step [6.2], the PAVN player determines he cannot conduct refusal in 1512 as his units are being attacked by both Maneuver and Assault Combat. In 1607, however, he can attempt to conduct refusal. The PAVN player makes an Efficiency Check against the highest Efficiency Rating (ER) unit in the hex and subtracts the TDV of the hex from the die roll. In this case, the TDV of 4 subtracted from the worst roll possible, 9, is an automatic success. The PAVN units fade away into the jungle to fight again. The FWA player removes the Maneuver Combat marker and chooses to advance into the hex with just the 1/7 units.

During the Defender Reaction step [6.3], the defender can attempt to move units which are adjacent into the hex being attacked. In this case, there are no units eligible to do, so this step is skipped.

Combat Resolution Phase

In this case, there is only one defending hex remaining, so the FWA player will resolve both the Maneuver and Assault Combats against the hex. He would, if there were other combat hexes, then, in any hex order he chose, fully resolve both Maneuver and/or Assault Combat against them.

The first step for the FWA player is to determine Attack Coordination [7.0]. Normally, attacks with Lt. Col. Truong would be automatically coordinated. However, since this attack involves both US and ARVN units, the FWA player makes an Efficiency Check against the lowest ER involved which, in this instance, is a 5. If he rolls a 1-4, then the attack is Fully Coordinated and goes ahead with no alterations. If he rolls a 5, the attack is Partially Coordinated, and he would continue except that he would not be able to use Maneuver Combat Support. If he rolls a 6, the
attack is Uncoordinated, and he would get no Maneuver Combat Support. In addition, his Maneuver Combat would be shifted one column left and he would incur a +1 DRM while the defender would earn a −1 DRM for any Assault Combat. If he rolls a 7-9, the attack would be an Uncoordinated Frontal Assault. All Maneuver Combat against that hex would be canceled, and the defender would get to choose the units from any one hex which had been allocated to the attack to Assault instead. In addition, the attacker would incur a +1 DRM while the defender would earn a -1 DRM for that Assault Combat. In this instance, we will assume the attack is Fully Coordinated.

Maneuver Combat Step

The FWA player determines the initial combat odds. The attacker has an Attack Strength of 12 versus the defender’s 11 Defense Strength, so the odds are 12:11 or 1:1. Both sides choose a lead unit [the ARVN choose HQ/3 (ER=5) while the PAVN choose A/9/66 (ER=6)] and compare ERs. The  odds shift one column left to 1:2. The FWA player declares he’ll use the B/6/14 artillery battery (off the map area) to provide Maneuver Combat Support with its Bombardment Strength (BS) of 8. The PAVN player declares that the B/66 mortar artillery section (in the attacked hex) will fire its BS of 2. Both sides roll on the Bombardment/Support Table to generate a DRM for the combat. The FWA player rolls a result of 3, while the PAVN player rolls a result of 0. This will give the FWA player a -3 DRM. The FWA player also earns a −1 DRM for the defender having more than 0% but less than 50% of his steps Fatigued. Lt. Col. Truong also provides a −2 DRM, while the terrain provides a +2 DRM. Netting out all of
the DRMs results in a −4 DRM, which is reset, however, to the maximum DRM of -3 DRM. The FWA player rolls a 7, modified to 4. On the 1:2 column, this is a BF1 result which indicates that both players must Fatigue one unit. In this case, it must be the lead unit chosen above.

Assault Combat Step

The FWA player then immediately resolves the Assault Combat. The defender fires Defensive Bombardment by allocating the B/66 mortar artillery (which is now marked “Final Fire”). He doesn’t obtain a result at all, so the US company takes no step loss. The defender then rolls first on the Assault Combat Table using his Defense Strength of 11. The PAVN player incurs a +2 DRM since 50% or more of his steps are Fatigued. He rolls a 5, modified, to 7 which is still enough to cause a step loss to the US unit. The FWA player now rolls on the Assault Combat Table. He has a +2 DRM for terrain and rolls a 5 which misses (he needed a 3 or less with modifiers, i.e., a 1, to hit). Both players then make an Efficiency Check against the best ER unit to determine if they will fire in a second round of combat. Both sides fail their checks and the combat, for that hex, is over.

Final Observation and Final Concealment Phases

The Final Observation Phase is identical to the First Observation Phase. For example purposes, we will assume the FWA player failed to reveal the final Hidden Movement marker (#5). The Final Concealment Phase is only conducted in the PAVN player turn. The situation at the end of the FWA player’s turn looks like this.

Second Player Turn

For the most part, the Second Player Turn is identical to the First Player turn with the obvious exceptions of Observation and/or Concealment depending on who is the active player.

Reinforcement Phase

The PAVN player doesn’t have any reinforcements scheduled to enter this turn, so this phase is skipped.

Concealment Phase

The PAVN player would like to conceal all of this units again, but they are all either adjacent to enemy units or within a Patrol marker’s range. He has no Dummy markers to remove (although the FWA player doesn’t know this). He decides to place two new Dummy markers. He must place them within movement range (9 Movement Points) of another Hidden Movement marker or a map edge leading to a Cambodia Off-Map Box and not within Patrol marker range nor adjacent to an enemy unit. In this situation, unfortunately, there are limited places to put them so they end up near the map edge.

Movement Phase

The PAVN player moves his units. The Fatigued units in 1512, wishing to distance themselves from the FWA units and hoping to recover Fatigue in Cambodia move from 1512 to 1412 for 4 Movement Points (MP). Forested Hill normally costs 3 MPs, but the PAVN player can move from ZOC to ZOC and not stop by paying an additional MP. They continue moving to 1312 and on into 1212 for another 2MPs each, and, finally, they enter 1211
for 1MP for a total of 9. The other units move adjacent to Duc Co as shown.

Combat Declaration Phase

The PAVN player declares that all of his units will conduct Maneuver Combat.

Offensive Bombardment Phase

The PAVN player declares that C/66 (1411) and another mortar (hidden—but obviously in Hidden Movement marker #5) will fire. Both are marked with “First Fire” markers (the concealed unit is marked on the PAVN player aid). The PAVN player gets no result.

Combat Reaction Phase

The FWA player cannot refuse combat if he’s in a Special Forces Camp. He’d like to reinforce the camp with another infantry company from An Khe via helicopter transport, but he cannot do so because the hex is already fully stacked (4 Stacking Points). If it was not fully stacked, and he had a unit in a Helicopter Base with an available Transport Helicopter, he could roll against the unit’s ER, and, if it passed, use move it to Duc Co. ADF might be possible, and the unit would be subject to a Hot LZ. Assuming the helicopter survived, it, and any escorts, could remain in the hex and provide both Maneuver Combat Support or Defensive Bombardment.

Combat Phase & Final Concealment Phase

These are identical to the phases explained before and will be skipped for brevity.

Game Record Interphase

At this time, the FWA player removes any “Closed” LZs. In this case, LZ LADIES is considered closed because it does not contain at least one FWA unit. The LZ is removed from the map and placed five Game Turns ahead. It becomes available again in that turn’s Reinforcement Phase.

The FWA player moves his Air Points marker to zero if not already there. Air Points are not carried over from turn to turn. If this was the last turn of the scenario, victory [17.0] would be assessed on the basis of points earned as per scenario instructions.

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