Return to Indochina

    Several years ago, I staged Operation Castor (Parachute assault into valley of Dien Bien Phu in 1953), numerous small engagements between that village and Lai Chai, and then the ultimate battle itself at Tacticon. The final battle occupied some 18' x 15' although we only reenacted the battles of Beatrice, Gabrielle, Anne Marie, and the Five Hills over three days. All in 15mm and involving hundreds of figures (From Eureka and Old Glory mostly). Then it all went on the back burner so to speak as we moved on to newer fields of 'glory'.
    Recently picked up an Osprey Combat volume, French Foreign Legionnaire vs Viet Minh Insurgent and I was re-enthused. So we fought the 1948 engagement at Phu Tong Hua located along Route Colonial 3bis (RC 3bis). This post was found between Cao Bang in the north and Thai Nguyen in the south. The Post was held by100 Foreign Legionnaires with 4 North African gunners against 4 cos of Viet Mihn numbering some 224 men plus heavy weapons. The VM came from the east (lower left) and the north (top) to attack a bamboo and earthen fort. 1948 combat was certainly more primitive than latter engagements! Using a 2 fig=1man scale, the French barely held on to the post following a serious counterattack form the SE Bastion (lower right) as they did historically:

Now thoroughly hooked once again, I reread my copy of Lucien Bodard's The Quicksand War: Prelude to Vietnam, which is chockfull of gaming possibilities. Then went back to Bernard Fall's  Street Without Joy, which simply added to the options. An outline has been prepared, maps recreated, and a campaign hoped for! Going to try and refight these battles in historical order, so up next was the massive ambush along Route Colonial 4 (RC4) that took place in Feb 1949, between the French posts of Cat Bang and Dong Khe. The French were trying to hold on to the frontier forts they had prepared along RC 4 to control the area and to stop supplies coming across the Chinese border. If you goggle photos of this route you will quickly see of the impossibility of keeping these posts supplied by road. Miles of single road track, bounded by cliffs and jungle would lead to ambush after ambush. The largest, nearly destroyed a 200 vehicle convoy, and changed French tactics. The following battlefield is inspired by that fight:

The view if from the north hovering above the head of the convoy. It consists of 38 vehicles, including 13 of the Regiment of Colonial Moroccan Infantry (RICM), (actually an 'Armoured' unit consisting of M5 Stuart tanks, jeeps, halftracks, White Scout Cars, M8 HMC, and truck-bourne infantry), there for protection. The valley floor has a very small stream while the road is surround by Calcaires or limestone crags, filled with caves!

A close up of the head of the column. Each supply vehicle has only a single driver (shortage of personnel!), while vehicles 2-5 represent the first squad of the RICM. Look very carefully at the left center of photo, perched on top of a Calcaires...a VM 60mm mortar about to rain destruction on the French convoy!

Another closeup, this time of the middle of the convoy. 2nd Squad RICM to right. followed by a Radio truck and more supply vehicles. On the left side of photo you can make out an M8 HMC and the 3rd Squad RICM.

A final close up, this of the column's tail, with the 4th Squad RICM, vehicles 2-4 from bottom. The French troops are represented by about 60-odd figs, while the Viet Minh have a battalion poised to strike, numbering some 200 figs. If you look closely, you can spot a Viet Minh 57mm Recoilless Rifle (bottom left), and a MMG on cliff left of stream. The battle report will follow shortly.

San Carlos de le Barre; Fortress of Maracaibo

Latest project to be used with the Blood and Plunder games. The major pieces are about evenly divided between scratch-built, Magister Militum and Battlefield Accessories. The entrance to the sea is to the right and Lake Maracaibo to the left. The fort is connected to the mainland by a narrow peninsula shown at top. Since the French Buccanier Francois l'Lonnais' raid on this area in 1666 found the fort incomplete, I decided to model work on the landward side still going on. The plan is to recreate this battle as well as latter attacks by Henry Morgan against the completed fortress. But for now, here is the initial photo:

 Francois L'olonnais and his men at lower left begin their assault on San Carlos de le barre. the small Spanish garrison consisted of two artillery gun crews of eight figures each; a Trained Milicianos of eight men; and two Inexperienced Milicianos of eight and one of four (this off picture to right)

After successfully storming the wall at the left, L'olonnais and his unit of trained Marins are charging towards the Spanish forces deployed at the fall back bastion. The other French units are advancing down the wall towards the Bastion.

With the Milicianos and artillerists overwhelmed in the rear, the Spanish commander and the last of his men are overrun on the wall. L'olonnais now has an open door to Maracaibo.

Part III: The Don's Come Ashore

Turn 7: The Inexperienced Milicianos and Mareneros move along the dock towards the town while the Galleons' Longboat moves towards shore.

The Milicianos Indios drop another Freebooter and when they fail their Resolve Test, they rout!

Turn 8: The Galleon gives another broadside and strikes home! With a critical resulting in debris which kills one Sea Dog, and another falls causing the sailors to become Shaken! The Fort has fired its last shot. 

The Kapers abandon their gun. Bad round for the Buccaneers.

Turn 9: The Papers fire but miss the Milicianos Piqueros while the Sea Dogs in Fort Warwick regain two fatigues. 

The Piqueros charge up the steps leading to Fort Warwick and take down two Sea Dogs which routs last two sailors.

The English Forlorn Hope finally get a target and they blast away with their 6lb and drop a Miliciano

The Milicianos then move down the dock and get off an incredible volley against the Boucaniers inside the large building, dropping one

The Pressed Men lower left) now move towards the fighting in town, while the Dutch Enter Ploeg (center) have taken position at another 6lb gun:

Turn 10: The Kapers move from their gun and fire on the Milicianos near the dock and strike one down. 

But the Longboat now grounds itself on the beach and the Trained Milicianos quickly deploy and unload a volley of their on onto the Kapers, also inflicting one casualty.

As their turn ends, some Marineros move towards the gun positions of the Buccaneers.

Turn 11: Unfortunately for the Kapers, the Spanish gain initiative and the Trained Milicianos unleashes another volley dropping one more forcing them to retreat:

The Enter Ploeg blast the Mariners with their 9 lb and drop two!

One of the Inexperienced Milicianos units sweeps into town to bring fire down on the two remaining Buccaniers attempting to fall back. They bring one down and it routs the last man:

Another Miliciano unit fires upon the Forlorn Hope but fails to get any hits.

The Forlorn Hope are more successful as they fire and drop two more Mareneros.

Finally, the Pressed Men (at bottom) move closer to the fight:

Turn 12: With the initiative again, the Milicainos pivot and blast the unfortunate Kapers, dropping the last two survivors!

The curtain rises on the final stage of the battle. One Milicianos on the right by itself (after destroying both the Kapers and Buccaniers), with two further Milicianos seen to the left of the large building. Two remaining Marneros stand next to the beached boat. The Forlorn Hope are at the gun bottom center; the Enter Ploeg to the left on hill; and finally the Pressed men behind the building (left of center in the shadows)

Turn 13: Its the time of the Pressed Men. They charge into the Marneros and destroy them!

de Guzman pivots his trained Milicianos and his men blast their volley into the traitors, dropping two. They fail their Fatigue checks and rout.

The other Mareneros fire unsuccessfully at the Forlorn Hope.

Fortunately for de Guzman and his Spainish, the Milicianos survive an attack by the two remaining Sea Dogs (who fail to throw a 5 on two attempts!) and then destroy the last two Sea Dogs themselves. They advanced into the quiet ruins of Fort Warwick and gain the necessary Strike Points to cause the Buccaneers to lay down their arms! Glory to the King of Spain! Interesting that it is His Majesty' Christianized Natives who steal the victory.

Part II: The Don's Naval Assault

With the Piragua and its crew ordered to land at St. Catherine's dock and then assault Fort Warwick, the Brigantine leads the Galleon towards the harbor, past the guns of Fort Warwick:

As Turn 1 commences, the Dutch Kapers open fire with their 9 lb gun but misses the Piragua! The Spanish return fire with two Swivel guns, but they miss as well! (my Caribbean Waters from Cigar Box doesn't quite cover my 7' table)

Turn 2 sees the Kapers using two actions to reload their 9 lb gun (after guns fire, they need 4 reloads/actions. Swivels and small arms need only two reloads). The Sea Dogs in Fort Warwick will miss with two of their 12 lb guns, so a very slow start for the Buccaneers! On board the Piragua, the Milicanos Piqueros fails to lower their sails while Marineros reload and fire the Swivel guns again, but fails to strike home. 

The Brigantine turns slightly to port towards the dock area following a failed broadside from its five 6 lb guns!:

With Turn 3, The Kapers reload their gun and then move it to bring the Piragua under fire again. The Sea Dogs in Fort Warwick do the same with their 12 lb gun. The Freebooters now draw down on the approaching Piragua and bring down one of the Spanish Pikemen! First blood to the Buccaneers!

The Brigantine again misses completely with it five 9lb gun broadside while turning further to port. Although the Mariners fail their attempt to lower the sails, the Commander gives one of his Command Points to the Spanish sailors who succeed this time to slow down the Brigantine. The Piragua meanwhile, failing to lower its sails, crashes along the dock! The Milicianos Indios lets go with two volleys (bows get to fire twice a turn with no reload, although they are less effective) but the Kapers roll their saves successfully:

Turn 4: The Papers finally get a success blast from their 9 lb gun , three hits which bring down two more Pikemen.

While the Freebooters reload, the Sea Dogs get off a second volley of two 12 lbers and this time are much more successful, scoring three hits inc one Critical on the Brigantine! The Crit results in a leak (which is represented by the Firelock Games red die) while two Marineros are also lost. If that leak isn't repaired there is a chance the ship could sink!

The Milicianos on the Brigantine miss with a volley of their Swivel guns:

The Piragua seems about to pass by the dock due to the failure of lowering their sails, but they are saved when one of their men successfully grapple with the dock to bring them to a stop. Four Marineros quickly disembark to the dock:

The Sea Dogs unsuccessfully fire two more 12 lb guns at the Galleon now coming into range:

But finally, the Galleon has slowly moved into position to give its first broadside, consisting of x2 9lb and x10 12 lbers! It gets 12 hits! (each time a big gun gets an initial hit, additional dice are rolled=6lb get two, 9lb three and 12lb get four) One of the hits is a Critical which results in a gun destroyed. Fortunately for the defenders only one Sea Dog is lost with two Fatigues gained (One fatigue brings no effect, but two results in one lost action, and three will create a Shaken unit)

Turn 5: The Brigantine finally strikes home with its broadside, registering 3 hits inc another Critical which destroys another gun and kills three more sea Dogs. The survivors fail their resolve test and gain 4 fatigues which causes them to go Shaken!

The Freebooters reload their muskets and the Sea Dogs recover half of their fatigue and stop their retreat. The Spanish then draw an Event card that removes a Fatigue from their Milciianos Piqueros from the Piragua.

But now the Brigantine is in trouble having yet again to fail to lower their sails (what's with those Spanish sailors?). They collide with the dock and do some damage to the hull. The only good news, is the crew were able to repair the leaking hull.

Turn 6: The Freebooters (upper right)fire down on the Milicianos Indios, dropping one, but no Fatigue is gained:

The Kapers let lose with their gun against the Spanish pouring onto St. Catherine's dock and brings down two more of the Dons! (upper right of photo)

The Galleon now reloaded, lets lose with another massive broadside. It gets four hits and drops two Trained Sea Dogs and two Fatigues!

The Brigantine fails to grapple and slides along the dock, but finally one of the Don's gets the grappling hooks into the dock to stop their progress!

de Guzman, with two units of Milicianos, climb down into their Longboat, to join the landing.

Now the Milicianos Indios get lucky and even though the Freebooters have hard cover, two become casualties:

To be continued...