Campaign Series Vietnam

[Jason Petho]

Well this is turning out to be more fun that I anticipated. We are finally making some progress and our second wave is starting to land. By no means it is a walk on the beach, but the early lessons have certainly been learned and the amount of firepower is certainly helping our advance. It would be a lot more of a problem without our mortar batteries and tank platoon support. Our 7th Infantry Division is lacking the high morale of the Marines, but I think we're holding our own. Talk about good fun!

[Jason Petho]

We started a new scenario today and tried a combined operation with the South Koreans as the attackers. It's been an interesting experience so far as I learn how to best use the South Koreans. This isn't a particularly hard scenario, but offers some insights in how to use helicopters, a beach landing and humping through the maze of Viet Cong infested villages. I'm also learning that sometimes, I need to consolidate my forces better to attack key positions. And be more cautious as it relates to ambushes. Ugh, I paid the price in an ambush!

[Jason Petho]

Well, we started a new scenario. The Main Event, which is the hypothetical invasion of Honshu by the US forces. Our initial landing was a bloody affair during these initial turns. Even the 16-inch naval guns have little effect on the Japanese positions. I have figured the trick to taking out the positions, but it will be a terribly bloody affair. It's a large map with a lot of objectives, with not a lot of turns, which means it will be an interesting and challenging scenario.

[Jason Petho]

We continued our operation Dragon Fire today to completion. It is a good scenario, a good introductory scenario for learning how to use the various forces. It is also a nice bonus to use South Korean and learn their strength and weaknesses. One thing I learned was that a single company might not be enough to wear down a heavily defended Viet Cong position and to expect losses. A lot of losses. I'm grateful the gunships came on the map as they gave the illusion of having some success!

[Jason Petho]

Our invasion of Honshu seems to be in good order, if you don't count the terrible casualties we are suffering. Some good news is that some of the defending coastal positions are falling and we are slowly probing into the depths of the mainland island. Of course, there is ample stubborn resistance and near the end of the session I noted to significant counter-attacks on the flanks what will need to be addressed with that already too few units at my disposal. No one said this would be a walk in the park...

[Jason Petho]

Well we fired up a Linked Campaign Game in Rising Sun. We are in command of a Marine Battalion and will be participating in adventures on Guadalcanal. We have suffered some casualties, but so far the scenarios are progressing pretty quickly. It should be interesting to see how the campaign progresses. This is a first for me, a Rising Sun campaign, so it will be interesting to see if what I have learned can be put into practice. Each of the scenarios so far have been interesting, although I wish I would receive some more replacements. Some of my platoons are definitely understrength.

[Jason Petho]

We are making excellent progress in our attacks onto Honshu. There is still some bloody fighting as we push towards the objectives. There is an interesting counter attack from the west and we ran into some heavier tanks. I haven't figured out what to do with the M45 tanks quite yet, as all the shots seem to be mostly bouncing. The M26 Pershing's are amazing though, they can destroy Japanese guns at a distance. We are two thirds of the way through and I found a hidden (by a label) objective. It will be a race to see if we can get there. Thank you, Murphy.

[Jason Petho]

We started scenario number 4. It was another scenario where we should be taking a break during the night, but the Japanese had other plans. On the bright side, we had the rest of the regiment to help in our defence of Henderson airfield. The attack started swiftly in the west and our lines held. I had a good plan to hold off any assaults from the east, but little did I know the Japanese had other plans and decided to conduct a beach landing. The losses are mounting, but we're in the middle of a determined counter attack.

[Jason Petho]

While our lines are a little porous, we are still making some good strides on our attack onto Honshu. Japanese resistance is pretty well coordinated in a few locations and some I just right up bypassed to avoid the impending casualties. The Japanese counterattack in the west has faltered, fortunately, and our attack into the northeast with two platoons of M26's in the vanguard has turned out to be an interesting foray.  We're almost completed with totally securing the beach head and hopefully the last bits will give us the total victory we have been aiming for!

[Jason Petho]

We ended off scenario four and started up scenario five. If we thought the last scenario was challenging, this one was even worse. The Japanese assaulted the perimeter of the Henderson field defences and we ended up having a scrap in the jungle. There is little movement, but a lot of fighting. We saw the results of a banzai attack on one of the mountain tops. What a mess. Our battalion was acting as the fire brigade, and our casualties starting to mount to hold the line. Lessons learned the hard way, it seems.

[Jason Petho]

Success was ours! We secured the last mountain and cleaned up a bunch of Japanese stragglers. It was a tough fight and we paid the price for taking over the landing area in Honshu.  The Japanese put up a stiff resistance but our firepower won the day. Once our Pershings were on shore, it turned out to be all over for the Japanese but the tears in the saki. A good fight and certainly something to consider for the future version of the Campaign Series!

[Jason Petho]

Campaign Series West Front:   We started a brand new battle that was created by Ingomar Scheiber that details the German parachute operation for battle of Crete in May 1941. We start off by a series of landings and our attempt to capture the Maleme airfield. We have run into some strong defences but we making some progress in these first few turns. There are a handful of British positions and we have spotted some Greek irregulars meandering in the rear that we have to be cautious about. The battle begins.   

[Jason Petho]

Campaign Series Rising Sun: Our campaign continues! I was fully expecting the campaign to end during that scenario number 5. We were quite successful, but it seems during the night we were kicked back to the perimeter of the airfield and we are attempting to take the same ground again in the sixth scenario. On the bright side, we do have some additional forces! The attack is going well, although quite bloody. We did receive a bunch of reinforcement points, which brought our battalion marines to half strength. Of course, that lasted about as long as ice cream in the hot sun. C'est la vie.

[Boggit]

Hats off to you Jason, You've put a huge amount of love into the various Campaign series.

I dug out one of your campaigns the other day. Western Front Campaign series playing the Sealion Campaign as the Fallschirmjaegers.

It's hellishly brutal on the first scenario to get sufficient objectives in the 20 turns available, and I wish there was a little more wiggle room when you're just a hex or two between defeat and victory.

Don't remember, but does campaign Series Vietnam and Middle East have any option to have a random few turns above and beyond the scenario cut off?

[Jason Petho]

Thank you for tuning in! I really appreciate the support!

It is a hard scenario campaign indeed. One way to help is double timing your para's when you can. It helps move faster and reduce the extra turns needed.

As for your question about Vietnam and Middle East, no, not yet, but that is one my wish list!