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Post by NKL AeroTom on Mar 2, 2022 22:38:19 GMT
I've been working through the edits made during playtesting, and some of them have been quite a bit of work - re-working the terrain point rules a little for simplicity, as well as mortar and artillery rules to make them easier to use and more effective. As you can imagine, mortar and artillery support is absolutely crucial in Vietnam, so its important these systems work easily and interface nicely with the infantry gameplay. Here's an example of one of my pages of notes - this one in particular was quite a mission to get through (and you can see its been through the wars and survived the great coffee spill of 26th feb).  Another thing I'd like to touch on is file management - perhaps not often covered in gamedev blogs, but incredibly important if you're actually writing a game! This is what my Vietnam game folder looks like. I save a new version of the game whenever I make significant changes, that way I can always go back and find old rules or old ideas, or if there's ever a problem I can go to an older version (although that kind of thing has never happened...)  Blog - images and notes for writing these blogs COMMENTS AND EDITS - not actually much in here except an annotated version of the PDF, with lots of comments. I'll drag all the random comments into here. Cover - images and paint.net files for the cover page and the background images Example - example images and paint.net files - cover examples, LOS examples, etc. Markers & Nametags - all the game markers, and paint.net files of the marker sheets Old - old version of the rules, going back to the original open office document I typed up. I keep all the old versions here so they don't clutter up this main folder Pictures - all the pictures of the Vietnam war I've collected. Once the rules are finished, I'll drop the most interesting and/or relevant images into the document to fill up any empty spaces. Platoon Roster & day-night- VC plans - image files for the platoon rosters, which are no longer used. I could move this to the "Old" folder. Research - All the PDFs and other game rules I've collected as reference. A few Ospreys, and declassified US army studies in firepower and random reports on stuff like the 11th Armored Cav in Vietnam 1969 - 1970 Sound - This folder is empty - I think I used to have 2 sound files for playing at the start of each player's turn (fortunate son and some traditional Vietnamese music). I'll delete this folder (typing this up is forcing me to organize this folder a little...) TTS - Tabletop Simulator files, such as individual markers exported for upload, as well as screenshots and shortcuts. Another important element of file management is backups - I personally back up my files on Mediafire, uploading the latest few versions every week or so in case anything happens to my computer such as the house burning down. It would be sad to put all this work into a project and then lose it, so I'm a big fan of cloud-based backups.  Anyway, the next week I'll be working through the rest of my notes, in preparation for another playtest next week. These weekly playtests with my long-time wargames buddy Eugene (who helped me design our first ww2 wargame - ostfront) have been incredibly helpful, and forced me to simplify things so they run smoother and are easier to use. We're making good progress, and Eugene has lots of good ideas on how to simplify things, as well as a very solid knowledge of military history. |
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Post by NKL AeroTom on Mar 9, 2022 0:26:54 GMT
Good playtest yesterday, everything seems to be flowing pretty well, and the tweaked artillery rules are working nicely. I took only around 4 lines of notes, so not too many things actually going wrong with the game which is nice.  US Airmobile insertion, backed up by 2 cobra gunships. Artillery prep suppressing the LZ  US Platoon disembarks, and the cobras continue to strafe nearby terrain points, although they aren't able to detect any enemy forces.  Friendly Fire! call them off! CALL THEM OFF! - A cobra is confused by a phony VC smoke grenade, and makes an attack run against US forces, Inflicting casualties on one squad, and suppressing another - this was a VC Asset card which allowed them to take control of any allied unit for 1 turn to simulate friendly fire.  A VC LMG opens up on the squad already weathering a hail of fire from the cobra, as the US platoon commander calls in reinforcements which quickly arrive - 3x M113s.  Night falls, as the last of the platoon is inserted, and all the helis must RTB, which is exactly the time the VC choose to make their attack, ambushing from the rear of the US platoon, and causing chaos.  Close up on the action  This is a true test of US support assets, as its one platoon against 2 or 3 VC platoons. The only thing the US can count on at night for support is artillery, and they quickly react, calling in a spotting round, adjusting fire, and then Calling to FIRE FOR EFFECT. 3 VC squads are decimated in the heavy barrage. The M113s advance up, wiping out the VC LMG position, and closing on the flanks of the VC main force. This was about where we called the game - the VC player was trying out having massive platoons, but with little heavy weaponry. It turned out these larger formations were a bit unwieldy, due to limited Action Points available to get them to move, attack, etc. and we decided to increase action points in general for all platoons, so you could get more done when you activate, and not have to wait an entire turn to be in the position you want. All in all a good playtest - the core mechanics are functioning nicely, balance seems to be ok (game was a draw at the time of finishing), and artillery accounting for most of the VC casualties, which I think is right on par with some of the accounts I've read. Some tweaks to be made, but we're getting there! |
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Post by NKL AeroTom on Mar 31, 2022 1:30:01 GMT
Making some good progress over the past 3 weeks, have had another playest, clarified some rules issues, and have typed up most of the scenarios. The playtest was a bit of a mismatch - we put very low quality Viet Cong against a US Mechanized company, with M-48s. This kind of match up actually isn't allowed for in the rules, as the low quality VC are only available for the 1960 - 1964 period (to match against the ARVN), and the US don't arrive until 1965. We found out why these two lists shouldn't go up against each other - the low quality VC, while heavily armed with RPG-2's ambushed the US almost immediately in the game, but failed to inflict any significant damage, beyond causing an M-48 to be disordered. The US quickly reacted, funneling large amounts of firepower into the VC forces, while simultaneously ambushing them from behind. The VC quickly broke and ran, or were cut down from behind. A second VC platoon attempted to cross open ground to attack, but it was clear to us that there would be no use continuing the game after they were only able to knock out the weapon of one M-48. The rules seemed to be functioning as intended, and we will re-try this battle again, but this time with average quality VC to see how the vehicle / infantry balance is.  VC ambush  US react  VC being quickly dealt with Over the past few days I've been codifying exactly how partial cover and line of sight works, and have done some example images:  Line of sight blocked: utilizing a simple "draw a line from the center of the attacker to the center of the target" system - if this line is blocked, line of sight is blocked.  Terrain and units giving partial cover: The US Squad at the bottom of this image has a number of targets. Target A will get Light Cover, as the field of fire drawn towards this target has Scattered Terrain in it. Target B will get no cover Target C will get Light Cover as the field of fire drawn towards this target is partially obscured by unit BTarget C cannot be attacked, as it is blocked as described by the line of sight rules (drawing a line from center of the attacking unit to the center of the target unit). Now that I've clarified these rules, and created the example images, I hope people reading this for the first time will be able to easily work any line of sight or terrain issues without any strange edge cases. As well as these clarifications, I've typed up 3 more scenarios in addition to the Search and Destroy and Cat and Mouse scenarios already done. The new scenarios are: Rescue (rescue a recon squad surrounded by Communist forces) Base Defense (Allied Firebase under attack - introducing satchel charges and artillery fired at point blank range with beehive rounds) Urban Battle (a Huế 1968 style battle in the city). This leaves only 1 scenario still to type up, which is the "Assault" scenario - kind of the opposite of the base defense, where the allies are on the offensive into a heavily defended communist region. So we're definitely getting there, will be continuing playtests next week. |
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Post by NKL AeroTom on Apr 13, 2022 1:42:25 GMT
Good playtest yesterday, we tried out the US Armored Company vs more experienced NVA reinforced VC. Game started with 2 M48 Pattons's and 2 M113s sniffing around some terrain points, seeing what's around. There was a friendly fire incident where one Patton fired on the second, but thankfully there was no damage...  The Patton tanks rolled across the open field, successfully detecting sings of VC in the area (Although their exact position wasn't known...) this caused the VC to be revealed on the table, but at this point the tanks cannot attack them as they have not detected them yet. The tanks called in helicopter gunship support, as well as airmobile reinforcements.  The VC opened fire with RPGs on the two Pattons, causing one to be disordered. Due to tracers, the tanks were eventually able to determine the position of the VC, and opened up with their 90mm main cannons and .50 cals, causing some casualties and suppressing most of the VC platoon. 2 cobras rolled in on the target and lit them up with rockets and miniguns, absolutely annihilating the platoon's HQ and knocking out RPG gunners. Shortly after this a second VC platoon appeared in the same area, this time at very close range and slightly behind one of the Pattons. Multiple RPG hits were scored on the Patton and it was destroyed in a massive fireball.  The remaining Patton called in artillery strikes on the treeline, and annihilated more of the second VC platoon, especially their HQ. Without an HQ, the platoon scrambled to try to establish a new command, after which the new commander decided to "melt into the jungle", taking many of their casualties with them. The M113s rolled over the open field to join the fray, but were hit by opportunity RPG fire, and one was destroyed, with the entire squad inside / on top perishing.  The game ended with 210 Victory Points to the US for destroying 3 VC HQs (another was hit off screen), and multiple casualties, largely from the Cobras and artillery. The VC scored around 30 Victory Points for the destroyed tank and APC and the 1 squad. All in all a heroic victory for the US. We took a few notes, still clarifying some things, and obviously the balance needs a little tinkering. I decided that helicopters require their own detection checks, and cannot use automatically detect units that have been detected by ground forces. They will get bonuses to detection if smoke grenades are present within 12" of the target. the cobra asset was also nerfed slightly to only be 1 gunship rather than 2. The vehicle attack rules seem to be ok, especially with opportunity fire, although vehicles are still quite hard to destroy, even with RPGs (Although this includes actually trying to getting a hit), although better quality NVA would make this much easier. Perhaps more Victory Points for destroying vehicles might also help the balance. At this stage the rules are mostly fine, and just the balance of the points values and the different factions assets are the main thing we're focusing on. Due to the asymmetrical nature of the game, this will take time to really get a feeling for how the different assets of different factions function and how powerful they are. |
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Post by NKL AeroTom on Apr 26, 2022 0:45:01 GMT
Had another good playtest last week, I tweaked the VC assets a little, allowing them a little more movement (with a literal "Tunnel Movement" free 12" move for an entire platoon) and the ability to pop up a small squad out of a spider hole, both of which were quite useful to the VC player, as opposed to some of the less useful assets like "fragmented withdrawal" that had a possibility of units being attacked. The game was a draw victory points-wise, which means the game balance should be pretty much spot on.  Turn 1 - the US Marines, backed up by an LVTH-6 track, take sniper fire while entering a suspected VC village. This platoon is "good" quality, putting them a cut above the regular AS army with their mixed-in green recruits. This platoon has experience and should (ideally) be able to stand against 2 or 3 VC platoons on their own.  Loach scouting ahead, VC pop out of a spider hole and take it under fire - no damage however.  After searching the village, and finding a VC rice and weapons stash (which adds bonus victory points to the US player), the Marines withdraw slightly to set up a Night Defensive Position, as night sets in. The night is fairly quiet, but in the morning more sniper fire is received, and VC pop out of a spider hole right in front of the NDP, killing the platoon commander. The marine Platoon quickly establishes a new command, but it takes time, and prevents them from finding or suppressing the VC spider hole.  With a new commander installed, and radios back up, the new HQ calls in reinforcements, and 3x M113s arrive to assist. a VC platoon appears to the Northeast, while a second makes an assault from the village towards the marine position. A huge brawl erupts, with tracers flying everywhere as the marines desperately resist, losses are high on both sides. One of the marine squads breaks and runs to the Northwest, with their morale degraded from small attacks over the past week (a VC asset), they are forced to withdraw under heavy fire. The LVTH-6 flanks the VC platoon, causing significant casualties, but meanwhile the M113s are beset by anti-tank booby traps. One of the M113s is immobilized while trying to navigate the mines. The game ended with significant losses on both sides. The marines did take more casualties, but their discovery and destroying of the VC stash helped them to break even. The main changes after this game is that we won't allow spider holes to appear within 6" of a US HQ, otherwise the VC can just snipe them, and losing your HQ is just too disruptive (and highly unlikely that a spider hole would be right next to an HQ unit). Other changes include allowing helicopters paid for in army list writing to return at dawn (otherwise they are just removed as soon as night falls, which could be at the end of turn 1), and a few small corrections and clarifications. The next playtest is tonight, and we're going to try a city fight, a la Hue, so should be interesting, and completely different from these jungle battles. |
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Post by NKL AeroTom on Apr 30, 2022 7:27:28 GMT
Playtest on Monday went well, we did a city battle, and it was chaotic, different and a little unwieldy due to both sides being infantry, and the amount of reinforcements called in. In light of this, I have tweaked the assets slightly so that reinforcements are less common. City fights are a whole different story, with NVA setting up bunkers inside buildings, and marines needing to rely on smoke and 105mm recoilless rifles to make headway. Ambushes were common, with an Allied squad appearing in the rear of an NVA buildings, only to be ambushed themselves by NVA in the building behind them... An M48 tank appeared to help out the carnage, but was immediately hit by RPG fire destroyed... The table wasn't pretty, but it did the job. The Carboard squares are buildings.  Aside from this, I've spent this week typing up the various edits needed, working through my list from the past 2 playtests. Honestly everything is looking pretty good, and I think we're pretty much ready for release!I spent today doing up the ANZAC and ARVN nameplates (for printing out and gluing to miniature bases), as well as finalizing the marker sheets and the latest version of the clock marker (with only "Night" and "Day" segments). I will hopefully record an example video over the next few days, and should be on track for release within a week I think. Only other main thing I need to go is go through the rules and replace all the instances of "Page XX" with the actual page numbers (because these are often subject to change as sections are added or removed, I generally leave this until last).  I'm going to be doing a lot of this, opening two versions of the rules and double checking all the page numbers are correct... |
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