During the 3rd Session of the convention (Saturday afternoon) I joined in a game of Tow Hour Wargames FNG, hosted by Darby Eckles, the writer of the rules, and a THW contributing developer.
The game a based on a mission by a US Army platoon (run by the players), to go into a village that is under imminent threat of attack by Communist Forces (run by THW's Reaction System). They had to convince the locals to leave their homes and come under the safety of US Army protection.
The US forces entered the table in platoon strength from the NW and moved towards the village.
Unconcerned, the villagers went about their business.
Us forces started to round up the locals and talk to them.
Most were easily convinced to come along, although some balked, and had to be man handled by the soldiers. One man broke and ran, only to be tackled to the ground. he was treated as a possible enemy combatant. The whole time this was going one PEFs (Possible Enemy Forces) were being generated and resolved. The first two turned out to be nothing. The third one, though was a 3 man scouting party.
They opened fire on a fire team talking to some villagers in a rubber tree stand; killing one soldier and one civilian. At that point, all civilians, who had been against leaving the area had a change of heart, and took no more convincing.. The other half of the squad maneuvered to the trees and engaged the enemy, with an M-60 and a couple of M-79s.
There were a couple of out of ammo rolls for the US soldiers; in the end, though, the three VC were quickly killed.
The US forces set up a cordon to the east, along some rice paddies, by a river. As they moved into position, another PEF was resolved as a mortar attack. It landed well short of any troops and didn't pose a threat.
At this point my camera ran out of juice, and there are no picks of the game in the gallery for the convention. So here's a rundown of what transpired. No more threats came from the direction the scouts had come from. A platoon of NVA regulars appeared from the NW; the direction US forces had come from. This put them to the rear of the US forces. The US commander scrambled to realign the units. Good fortune would have it that another US squad arrived from the SW, to add to US firepower.
Shots were exchanged with the US forces come out on the better end. There was an exciting incident where a US soldier crossed the river under fire to get some villagers and bring them back. One to the villagers went to ground when they came under more fire, and the second one was swept away by the river. The US solder re0entered the water and rescued the man from certain drowning.
The Communist soldiers were still a threat, killing another soldier, and wounding several others. Still, the US had the upper hand. At this point the silent auction was ending, and people's attention started to wander. The session was drawing to a close, so Darby called the game. Tallying up the points, the US forces won a handy victory by saving most of the villagers; despite sereval KIAs and WIAs.
It was a fun game. I am biased, though, as I am a THW fan. Darby complained that he had forgotten some of his terrain, and some of the villager figs weren't finished. It didn't detract fromt eh experience, in the least. Everyone ahd a good time, and at least one player decided to go with FNG for his upcoming Vietnam project.
Another great batt-rep. Keep them coming. I love them.
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