TMOCB USMC v VC

Another solo game of TMOCB inspired by having added a couple of new paddy fields and some nice VC command figures and civilians from Elheim Miniatures.

Lt Donovan, Sgt Rambo (1st Squad) and Sgt Elias (2nd Squad) begin to sweep the area:

The VC start to recruit, the leader must be inspirational as numerous villagers sign up:

Recruiting also goes well for the second VC leader:

Sgt Elias moves into a village and searches it. He finds a food cache and destroys it but fails his next activation so the Americans won't make much more progress this turn:

Lt Donovan moves towards another village:

Sgt Rambo also moves into a village:

A VC squad assaults Sgt Elias' squad! Two bases go down on each side:

The second VC squad attacks Sgt Rambo, Rambo and his men drive them back easily though taking out four bases:

Lt Donovan brings down an air strike on more VC gathering in a village behind Sgt Rambo's squad. The strike is very effective with four bases of VC down and no villagers injured:

Sgt Elias and his men further reduce the numbers of VC facing them:

The remaining VC facing Rambo decide discretion is the order of the day and sneak off back into the jungle:

Elias assaults the remaining VC in front of him and wipes the squad out:

Lt Donovan interrogates a peasant but unfortunately kills him in the process. He does manage to find an arms cache though. So far so good for the Americans:

Sgt Barnes arrives with the 3rd squad:

The VC just don't seem to be able to get their act together today. Needing a single 4 to move into the village the squad fails. As they were the first squad to activate this turn the rest of the VC will do little for the turn:

 Lt Donovan and his men wipe out another VC squad:

More VC appear. The American squads are still strong so the best they can do is defend the village and stop the Americans searching it:

Another VC squad recruits:

Lt Donovan searches another village but is ambushed! One American base is down!:

Sgt Rambo is also ambushed while searching, again one American base is down:

Rambo exchanges fire with the VC. Lt Donovan successfully calls in a Medivac for Rambo's casualties:

Lt Donovan calls down another air strike, this time it misses the target though:

Sgt Elias and his remaining men capture an important VC hiding in the village:

Rambo exchanges fire with the VC:

Lt Donovan finds another arms cache. Both his accompanying bases are down but he has Medivac'ed them:

 Sgt Barnes has had a quiet day, just searching the two villages and finding some cached food:

At this point the VC fell back. Lt Donovan seemed to have done well in his first combat patrol, looking at the outcome:

The VC scored 25 VP for turning up, 4VP for two village squares not searched, 3VP for one US casualty not evacuated and 2VP for 2 peasants killed giving them a total of 34VP. They evacuated three of their own casualties.

The Americans scored 15VP for 15 VC casualties, 8VP for wiping out two VC units, 1VP for finding more than 4 caches, 27VP for 4 low value caches, 35VP for two high value caches and 19 for one VC VIP captured totalling 105VP! They evacuated 6 of their own casualties.

So a decisive victory for Lt Donovan and his men with his report to base being "Large communist body count, say 20 dead. No remaining enemy at our position. Have high value caches and four prisoners. Over"

I think I'm getting the hang of playing the Americans finally though this time the luck definitely went against the VC. Choosing the extra bases for the platoon leader seems a much better choice than the M113's allowing the Lieutenant to act more aggressively and be able to take some losses.

I've really enjoyed my TMOCB solo games, they have a bit of a narrative and there are a number of ways to play each side. The rules also include a scenario for an attack on a Firebase which looks interesting but would involve buying or (shock horror) making a fair bit of defences to make up the base. They also have rules for using Mountain Tribes and rescuing downed pilots both of which I might look into. I'd also like to get a Medivac chopper as well for a little more colour.

So quite a bit to keep me occupied  while lockdown continues!