1st game of the year was a chance to dig out some neglected figures and venture back to Vietnam for the first time in years.
Last year I'd picked up a copy of the 2nd edition on Peter Pig's 'Men of Company B' rules... I used to play the original rules quite a bit and really enjoyed them. Like a lot of PP rules they contain some really interesting concepts, but sadly like a lot of PP rules the layout can make it had to make sense of the rulebook! I've picked v2 up a few times but never got very far into the rules so, when I'd suggested a Vietnam game to my friend Andrew I thought this might be a good spur to get to grips with them
In the event I failed completely to read them and had to dig out v1 since I was reasonably familiar with these rules. MOCB is a small scale patrol-style game with the US (or ARVN) troops on a mission to drive off NVA troops and seize supplies, both of which gain victory points. The US player has a choice of missions from 'Hearts and Minds' which gives more points for securing supplies and penalties for civilian casualties, to 'Bodycount' which emphasises wiping out the NCA/VC and is less worried about innocent bystanders!
The US troops activate zones by contacting markers which reveals hostile troops (possibly), civilians, and supplies. Of course the NVA/VC player has a choice about where to place the markers and how to populate them. There are options to 'interrogate' the locals and to call in artillery or air strikes. The NVA/VC player has a chance of redirecting these however!
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| The M113s trundle happily down the road... |
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| Uh oh.... |
In our game the VC sprang an early ambush from a paddy field, causing an expensive US casualty and pinning down one of the 2 M113s that were advancing down the road, thanks to a well-aimed RPG. Sadly this was the high point of the game for the plucky revolutionary heroes. I made a mistake in my allocation of troops... in hindsight I should have concentrated the bulk of my force in one location to hit the US troops hard... they really can't afford too many casualties. Instead I'd spread them piecemeal across the table and lacked the killer punch I needed. This allowed Andrew to deal effectively with each VC cadre he encountered and then to hoover up supplies and Intel.
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| Marines take cover in the jungle |
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| Interrogating the locals... |
I really like this game although I'm not sure Andrew was as convinced. It has inspired me to properly read the v2 rules and have a think about other Vietnam rules that are out there.
