COMMAND DECISION
Body Count: The Tet offensive Part 2.
Each Command Decision aims to offer a series of playable options in timeless military scenarios. Command Decision is designed so you can read the situation and figure out your own command decisions if you were leading the troops on the ground. You can either work through the various options or use the mechanics to create the precise circumstances of the table top engagement. The scenarios may have particular historical themes and settings, but you can easily adapt the mechanics to suit your own preferences and collections.
SITUATION REPORT
Communist forces in the Central Highlands area around the regional capital of Pleiku have launched a series of coordinated attacks on strategic points and isolated units across the province. The actions are part of a broader offensive by the north and their VC compatriots that have hit ARVN, US Army and Marine bases and depots across the country. The civilian administration in the south has also been targeted with reports of NVA and VC surrounding
towns and villages and executing key officials and those with supposed ties to the government or the Americans.
It is only a matter of time before the communists launch determined attacks on Pleiku itself. Tensions are running high and everyone is on alert for trouble. With pitched fighting taking place across South Vietnam, no help can be expected for the US backed forces in the city.
ROLE & COMMAND
You are Nguyen Thanh Tam local VC commander for the Central Highlands region and based in Pleiku, the capital of the Gia Lai Province. You carried out a series of attacks on isolated towns, villages and enemy positions as part of the overall Tet Offensive operations.
You must now turn your attention to Pleiku. It has enormous strategic importance as it sits on Highway 19 leading to the vital port of Qui Nhon. It also commands the road from Kon Tum inthe north to Buôn Ma Thuô. t in the south. You cannot hope to overrun the city, but you can strike hard and decisively against a series of targets.
PLANNING THE ATTACKS ON PLEIKU
Hanoi has left it to you to determine the targets and their priority, but they expect a spectacular performance that will rock the resolve of the South Vietnamese army and make the Americans and their allies realise that this is not a war they can win. Hanoi has some clear ideas about the prestige of each of the targets across the city and they will not be satisfied with some attacks on mediocre locations.
Failure requires the VC player to choose again, but they cannot pick a target that was chosen before.
RULES
These scenarios were written to match the requirements of The ‘Nam: The Way It Was by Wayne Bollands (Partizan Press). Other options include: Bodycount, ‘Nam by Battlefront, Force on Force Companion Book 3 - The Vietnam Conflict or Fireteam: Vietnam, however I have based stats on Mr Bolland’s rules.
GAMING TET OFFENSIVE CITY ASSAULT
If all of your platoons have seen action, then they are considered Veteran; the remaining platoon is more recently recruited and if it has not been involved in the fighting so far it is only Trained. Your HQ units and your Weapons platoons are all Veteran. You begin with the following forces, minus any losses from the engagements leading up to these fresh attacks:
CAMP HOLLOWAY, PLEIKU: FACT CHECK
Pleiku had been attacked much earlier in the conflict on February 7 1965. It had been constructed in 1962 as a helicopter base. In 1964, the VC had launched a number of attacks on US bases across South Vietnam; the attack on the helicopter base was carried by the VC 409th Battalion. Their attack was part of the spring offensive with Nguyen Thanh Tam leading the 30th Company. South Vietnamese security force (including a Ranger battalion, five Regional Force companies and an armoured squadron) guarded the outer perimeter. The key VC target was the US advisory compound which was protected by 10 metre high layers of wire fences.
At around 2300 on February 6, 300 VC attempted to breech the fences, but they tripped an alarm. The US MPs failed to hear the alarm and the VC flooded onto the site. It was all over in five minutes. The VC killed eight, wounded nearly 130, destroyed ten aircraft, and damaging several more. They retreated from the base and melted into the night. ■