Versus Vietnamese Verewolves (A Vietnam '65 AAR) (COMPLETE)

[JasonPratt]

IN WEREWOLF COUNTRY -- Day thirty

Might as well get it over with.

First things first (on the improbable assumption I can keep going a few more turns): I finished bringing my arty back to the Firebase and also its ammo run. No one close enough to shoot yet, but at least I'm ready in case. Moved that ambushing infantry at the Firebase further west one more notch to watch for RPGs setting up, parked him there permanently on ambush.

I realized I was leaving pretty horribly huge holes in my screen for any werewolves to slip through to attack my Firebase eventually -- not complaining, though it couldn't be helped since I have to try a rush west to stomp some NVA bases. This realization was partly induced by watching a VC pop out of nowhere in range of my northern GB scouting for the tank squad, and then running south! Portal spotted! I'll try to drop an infantry on ambushing there as soon as feasibly possible. But anyway, just to be safe I really ought to bring some infantry into the Firebase and set for ambushing; the closest feasible candidate is one of the ARVN, who was helping try to track and nail down that portal a little way north-northwest of UGeek village. I'll just have to hope my infantry company there is on ambush close enough to cover the portal; they march in to save some fuel, and a copter ferries them in the rest of the way.

Worryingly, the map not only shows the brief enemy contact indicating the portal south of my GB/tank team, but also that an enemy must have appeared briefly overnight right on top of Belisarius village! Far away from any of my troops! They're still flying an American flag, but this makes me worried that I haven't closed a line of approach from enough portals near it yet.

Moved the southern GB squad back west again a couple of notches, didn't find anything. Finished half my supply run for the two infantries hunting that far northeast portal, east of Banzaicat Village.

Last night some NVA or VC (from my amazingly lucky screensnap it looks like an NVA RPG ambusher) attacked my two most elite companies approaching Jomni; so that'll certainly help keep me going another day. I didn't want to risk sending a copter up to supply until I was sure I had gotten the VC RPG trap I knew about; and that turned out to be wise because though one company entered Jomni for information (helping them raise a US flag which is good) they didn't get any; yet 3rd (I think, it's been a few nights and the renaming update isn't out yet) did find that trap moving up a little farther. Scratch one more VC, and add maybe another day to the tally. Searched for mines around Jomni, didn't find any.

Last but far from least, the GB/tank team. With the tank on only two more days' gas (man, this game engine would be interesting for a Bulge game, wouldn't it?), I assign the engineer APC platoon to rush out toward it for refueling. Should be fairly safe, but the tank can't feasibly go forward any farther for a day or two.

Fortunately, it doesn't have to move at all to shoot the NVA my GBs detected at the end of yesterday's move; and great, added another day's operation to offset the Victory Generators. So I won't be wiped out in only two more days, but still, I'm almost certainly going to have to buy one more engineer APC just to ferry fuel (who won't be able to get in range to do so for a weekish); and probably one more American infantry to plug that portal hole I found asap.

Except that would cost 5750, and I only have 5658 minus whatever the Victory Generators suck off tonight.

Then for my final move, my GBs with the tank edge forward...





AND THERE'S ONE OF THE FOUR BASES!

I pray to God.

He says, "Use the chain of command."

I use the chain of command. That's the chain I use to beat Victory Generators with.




Target. Eliminated.

In a satisfying blast that leaves a glowing scar temporarily upon the earth. (Sadly not screenied, sorry.)

I can't use that again for another five days. (That time will decrease as I play campaigns more often and 'rank up'. Don't know what other benefits I'll get, if any.) But that's exactly what I've been saving it for.

Having forward spotted, the GBs take a bit of a southwest tack across the tank platoon's path, and spot two more VC companies, one of which is certainly an RPG trap (though I don't know yet if it's reach its position) and the other being the company who portal'd in last night. They're almost in my Firebase's arty range, but not quite. Too bad.

Score at the end of the day: HAM, 61. PSUP, 6656 - 750 for remaining bases. The augurs say ten werewolves are currently on the map, only one of which is NVA and since I can see one I know he must be the one: an RPG unit, so he won't be replacing that base; thus the NVA won't be making this up anytime soon.

I might still pull victory out of the jaws of werewolves yet.

[JasonPratt]

IN WEREWOLF COUNTRY -- Day thirty-one

As a reminder, this is the tip of the spear as night comes on Day 30.




Those rocketwolves to the immediate west on the other side of... uh, I guess that's Endfire village... are the only NVA units on the map right now, so even though I'm still losing 750 psup a day they won't be able to replace the dead base soon.

(Incidentally, based on what Johan is saying elsewhere, I can't tell if we'll be able to rename villages, soon; but villages will soon be assigned names from a pool of legitimate Viet terms.)

However, unless I'm really lucky, and they're meant to park there or nearby in ambush, they must mean to travel eastward along their hexline to find a place for ambush -- and that line could be my base.

The problem here is my tank is in their way, though they can't know this yet. I don't know how much the computer 'sees and remembers' from being shot by units. Nor whether it can reassign missions, so that the RPG team goes after the tank on purpose. But it could easily stumble into it tonight, even with my GBs blocking. We'll see.

That VC squad to the south popped out of a portal somewhere south of the tank. Come to think of it, I ought to snapshot that now while I have a chance...




If I can get an infantry to camp on that spot in ambush, I should seal off the werewolf portal.

The glowy border line in the first screenshot for this post, is my arty range, by the way, from the Firebase. Ideally, those VC will run east or east-southeast, and be picked up by my southern GB squad coming west, allowing my arty to either score or at least disperse them.

Since I'm using all my infantry right now to hunt for bases or portals (or both) or to secure bases in case of leaks, I risk splurging a little on a new infantry company at 1750 psup. I won't be able to chopper it out immediately from HQ, but they can start the long walk anyway and save a little fuel and time.

The night is certainly busy for Team Werewolf! As far as I can tell (since the game doesn't always zip to show me moving contacts detected), the VC south of the tank team entered that village in the jungle, and another werewolf company popped out of that portal to do the same thing tonight. I can't do anything about that yet, but as long as they're doing that I can survive.

My northeast trackers picked up a werewolf squad heading south from that portal, but unfortunately can't tell me which direction they came from. Inferentially, based on past evidence, I'm pretty sure it had to be from the north, and their path might zigzag some since this hexmap isn't oriented north-south.




That's a lesser rocketwolf squad, so I don't dare get my helicopter over to supply whichever-company-that-is. (Not the 4th, they're up on ambush duty along a path from the portal to Banzaicat village. Fortunately, being low on supply doesn't affect combat strength (yet -- this may be coming in an update!) They fight, and win, giving me another day(ish) to fight at least; then are resupplied by the copter which goes back to HQ, while they return to their northern hunt.

In the northern central part of the map, 1st Company caught a portalling werewolf company in ambush last night, north of Ugeek Village, and that's a good thing, though I can't be sure I'm enough on top of the portal to catch any ingress. I want the elite 3rd and 5th companies, to start plodding west, but one (I forget which) is running low on supplies and frankly I could use another Huey, or rather two, for all the spread-out supply roles. I save some fuel by having them hike down to where a copter is waiting and it ferries them to the Firebase, but this means my sweep west from there will be hampered for a day or so.
Fortunately I get all the infantry supplied today; tomorrow is another story -- I don't feel like I can dare risk buying even one more Huey yet (at 2750 now) with so many NVA bases still unfound, much less unstomped.

At least the NVA Rocketwolves didn't go anywhere last night, which means they're already on point. Unfortunately, they have the same attack range as my tank, and will trigger an initiative if I close. Probably better to leave them where they are; which means I should move Tank Team southish after those VC -- once I refuel! Which I (barely) manage to do; then the elite tank rolls south a little and splats the wolvies from long-distance.

Feeling pretty nervous about being near a portal -- if the VC generate a rocket hunt mission for that tank, I won't be able to avoid a damage-flip -- I decide to risk moving my... whateveritis company (7th?) currently camping along the ambush path west of my Firebase, in toward the portal location. I might be able to reach it tomorrow, and set up an ambush afterward.

GBs move southwest, but don't detect anything new.

End of day score: HAM, 63. Support, 6895 -- if I bought a helicopter I'd only have 3 more days before being out of support, so I had better wait. Augurs say there are 8 werewolf packs still in the area, plus those NVA rocketwolves. Naturally no new bases until after more NVA arrive, whenever that might happen.

[besilarius]

Jason, you should request an NGLO (Naval Gunfire Liason Ofc).  The New Jersey and Newport News (8in heavy cruiser) had enough range for your needs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK2bY7ul9xA
(Everyone talks about New Jersey but those automatic 8inchers were great.  When they were prepped, on a "John Wayne" shoot, they could easily do five rounds a minute per barrel.)

[JasonPratt]

Hey, maybe Johan will add that in an update!  O0 8)

[JasonPratt]

Hope to get some more turns done this afternoon or tonight. I installed a Steam copy on my new Surface pad this morning to show my brother sometime, for what it's worth. (As critical as I am about the Victory Generators, I love the game dearly.  )

Worth noting: the footprint for this game is insanely small by modern standards. I'm almost certain the Steam program itself is larger.

[bob48]

I'm think I'm about to pull the trigger on this for £6.99. I'm very much inspired by your AAR, Jason - warts and all  O0


.....and, I did pull the trigger :)

[JasonPratt]

I'm sure you'll enjoy it Bob!

(Also, the next village I enter will be named Bob, apparently.  O0 )

[JasonPratt]

Okay, I've been talking with Johan on Steam, and here is his clarification of the NVA base rule.

Ok let me explain the NVA base mechanic, the NVA only dispatch a unit to setup a base when the HM of a individual village drops to 40 or below. It is not random. The NVA base will also be setup close to that specific village.

So, if you neglect to visit certain villages or only visit them late in the game you will most definitely have bases on the map. The way to prevent/ mitigate base is to visit them all as often as you can and should you find a NVA flag flying above a village, immediately conduct a search and destroy mission to eliminate it.

Hope this helps

Yes, I appreciate the rules clarity there. (Finally.)

But then there is at least a serious bug, because at no time has any village flag ever dropped below 40 into the NVA flag. In fact, at no time has any flag dropped below 50 apparently; they've all been flying the ARVN flag since turn one. I check on this religiously.

I've got saved games for most (or all) turns throughout the game. I could post screenies of the flags.

[JasonPratt]

Nor does this clarification really change the fact that the computer should be able to easily win every game by using its own rules correctly.

Step 1.) Every time a VC squad is generated, assign it a village mission, aimed at the village fourth-farthest away from the western map edge. (Or if there's a tie, pick one village and stick with it.)

Step 2.) Keep doing that until that village has dropped below 40. Don't go give the Americans any chance at shooting you and earning political points. They have almost no chance (allowing for semi-random village and portal positioning, and random terrain) of getting supplied troops out far enough to guard that village this early in the game without ignoring all other villages.

Step 3.) When an NVA spawn is allowed, assign it a base-building mission one hex onto the map, preferably in one of the corners.

Step 4.) Repeat steps 1, 2, and 3, in sequence for the third, second, and closest western villages. Each will be that much farther away from an American reach being steadily drained by operational costs and the bases.

Step 5.) If VC missions simply have to be generated, keep sending them to the closest western village, perhaps as RPG traps or minelayers just to be safe.

Step 6.) Profit.

Step 7.) Wait for the Americans to be fully paralyzed and impotently half-dead, assuming the game just doesn't end prematurely with a total NVA victory once the political points run out.

Step 8.) Reacquire any southern villages at leisure for however much longer the game lasts.

[JasonPratt]

Alternately, start with the farthest western village so that by the time the NVA has expanded to the fourth-closest one the US, who might theoretically be there by then, will be hemoraghing 750 points a day plus operational costs without having possibly had any return.

[JasonPratt]

IN WEREWOLF COUNTRY -- Day thirty-two

At the end of yesterday, I realized I hadn't moved my tank as far south as I could have. I sure didn't want to move any closer to that RPG trap! -- but I didn't realize I was moving into an area my GB team really hadn't scouted yet.

This turned out to almost be a problem, since doing so triggered a rocket attack against the tank...




...the next hidden NVA base!

Fortunately the rocket attack missed. What happens tonight I'll know in a minute when I end the turn.

Note however that there is no reason (especially in regard to the NVA base rule which was explained to me by Johan yesterday on the Steam thread) why either of those two southern villages in that screenshot, nor the farthest northwest one (offscreen) nor even Endfire in the central west, should not be totally NVA flagged. At worst (from the werewolf perspective) two of those villages should now be only VC, since I've shot a few troops nearby.

Overnight no one shot at the tank again from the base (for whatever reason; I have no idea what the base mechanics are, but I'm assuming for now that the tank triggered an RPG trap standing in the base). But 1st Company smacked another werewolf company trying to portal in north of UGeek village.

I moved... nth Company a little farther westward from the Firebase and put them on ambush to guard the probable spawn location; and sent copters around to resupply everyone (plus to ferry the elite 3rd Company back up to help 5th Co.)

Then I took a shot at the base with my tank, and yay! Since my GB will need resupplying soon I moved them back east (and a little south) of my tank, near Bob48 Village, and lo they saw a (VC) RPG ambush. So no getting any closer with the tank in that direction. (Also, it's parked JUST OUTSIDE my arty, which is annoying.)

At this point, with over 7000 psup and a drain of only 500 a day (for now), I wondered if it was time to buy something else. Another chopper to ferry supplies around? That wouldn't cost a whole lot, and I sure could use one (or maybe two, but I couldn't afford that yet.) A Cobra perhaps? Kind of pricey. Even pricier a third GB squad, but I sort of need that for helping the northern elite companies hunt bases in the northwest. I could build a new Forbase (I only have one at the moment), which wouldn't cost much, and try to get the arty in range of the western map, but it might run out of ammo quickly and I'm not entirely sure I've got the center of the map sufficiently locked down enough to protect my Firebase which (unlike a Forbase) can fuel choppers and bring all infantry and vehicles up to full overnight.

Pondering over the Cobra, I decided to go back and look at the difference between its firepower and the tank's...

...and accidentally clicked to buy the tank. Not the (i)nformation button.

Yay. I have a second tank. And only one (much pricier) engineering squad to fill it with.

Sigh.

At least it didn't cost even quite as much as a new Huey at this point. It'll be at the Firebase in three days, maybe four, and I can think of something to do with it then, maybe.

Score at the end of day: HAM 65, PSUP 6077 - 500 overnight (the next time I send the engineers out to fill the tank, I'm definitely plopping a Forbase mid-west on the map afterward). Augurs say 9 werewolves on the map, only one of which is NVA (that being the Rocketwolves near Endfire village), and two remaining bases, woot!

[bob48]

I'm starting to hate PT-76's

[JasonPratt]

Yeek, are they running those out on you already? How did that happen?? (Those are the NVA tanks, right?)

Theoretically, that should only happen if your net HAM score average drops three nights in a row.

[JasonPratt]

IN WEREWOLF COUNTRY -- Day thirty-three

Overnight 1st Company shot more werewolves popping out of their portal again; but then a couple of odd things happened. Useful, I guess, but odd.

First, a new VC unit came south(westish) from that far northeast portal, and man it must be farther east than I gave it credit for??








Note that those bleepers must have run like the wind the moment they got past me and left the forest. I have no idea if I can catch them this turn in some way. I'll try scouting with the copter, but air scouting in this game reeks hard.

Much to my not-surprise, that doesn't work at all; but I had enough sense to march my ambushing 4th company (I think) back into my LZ northeast of Banzaicat village, where my nearby copter could easily pick them up. So failing to detect them from the air, the copter dropped them ahead of the apparent line of advance, where (having one more move) the infantry could go into ambush mode. Meanwhile 6th company (I think) moved closer to the probable portal position, ready to drop a permanent ambush on top of it next turn. I hope.

Next up on the weird-shit-o-meter, a VC suddenly traipses into view at least two hexes southwest of Banzaicat village, and I just happened to see them coming diagonally from the northwest.







First, not that I don't appreciate it, but why am I even able to see those clowns? Villages don't give me a spot, so far as I've ever been able to tell, and certainly not that far out. That flag isn't even American (anymore?? -- have others been doing this to get into Banzaicat village that I haven't seen?? And if so, why I can see them now!?!)

Second, where the Hong Kong Phooey are those werewolves coming from!? A portal off in that direction!? -- how can that count as just as close as the portal off to the northeast!? Three portals equidistant to a town seems wildly improbable. Maybe they're on a mission to plant mines nearby but still... Or, did they pop out of the portal near 1st Company, northward without triggering the ambush somehow (I'm not right on the portal I think), and then loop back around from far to the northwest of Banzaicat? -- can the AI plot moves that loopy in order to avoid detected problems??

Wherever they're going, I don't think I have a snowball's chance in hell of catching them.

...wait. Maybe I do. Wait... Make sure everyone's supplied who needs it first. Okay my tank's GBs need resupply but I'll probably have to kill that base or otherwise wait until next turn anyway to make sure the copter doesn't take RPG fire. And I have a copter waiting in the Firebase to refuel tonight, so that should be safe.

Okay. I can probably do this safely. Just barely.




The concept is that I walk... um, 3rd I think, one hex into the nongrassland where they can be picked up (5th would be more likely to win, but they can't reach the clear area, and 3rd could use a little more exp anyway); the copter picks them up, drops them off, they have one more move (you can see their two hex range if they go east into the clear land) and they attack the pack. (I checked, they aren't on RPG ambush, so the copter should be safe. Unless another has been posted already.)




CAV SURPRISE WOLFLICKERS!

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately sometimes) surprise and flanking means nothing in this game (yet, unless someone walks into an ambush, which this wasn't), and the wolves tooth-up and bite our guys before running safely away. Well done for them; but at least we disrupted whatever nefarious plan they had.

Before you ask, no the enemy was JUST OUTSIDE my arty range again.

Who isn't outside my arty range are these guys, found by my southern GB squad.




See those rocketwolves waiting around down there? Worst case scenario, I miss and they run away....

...oh.

Oh wait.

Never. The. Hell. Mind.

I just realized

THEIR BASE IS IN RANGE OF MY ARTY!!

I've got plenty of time to bomb those RPGs later; they're either already on guard, or are hiking eastward and will be in spotting range of the GBs for a while.

Base. Vs. Base.




Base wins.

I decide I had better buy another Huey since I'm over 7000 again, and I'm floundering around a bit trying to keep everyone from starving to death in the jungle.

End of day score: HAM 66; PSUP 4762 - 250 overnight. Augurs say... still 9 werewolves on the map?? Huh. But no new NVA, so still that rocketguy near Endfire Village; and one last base somewhere (and no new base likely to pop up soon, or so one would suppose. Then again, according to the rules there should have been no bases at all, since no village ever even got into "VC Flag" loyalty, much less "NVA Flag".)

[JasonPratt]

IN WEREWOLF COUNTRY -- Day thirty-four

My plan to intercept those VC from the most northeast portal, heading southwest, worked like a charm -- except for them managing to beat my ambush and then running away. That's twice now in half a day. Crap. And both my companies were pretty experienced, too! (Well, okay, that one wasn't, I think they're 4th company; they've been on ambush duty almost all game, and have run into barely anyone.)

This... may lead to some problems. Most of today is spent ferrying wounded troops around and supplying others; but the end result is that most of my helicopters are either far back east at HQ or need to stop off there another day tomorrow. But tomorrow I have some people who are going to be getting awfully hungry. Not dangerously so, I think; but I'm a bit worried the day after is going to find them down to 1 supply, and not enough copters in place enough to feed them. Or (worse??) I'll end up losing copters feeing them one last time but unable to get back for their own fuel and crashing in forest or somewhere they can't land.

But that's for the next few days. I've done the best I can.

Well... the best I can would probably be to bomb those rocketwolves I saw yesterday, and use the extra cash to give myself a bit more leeway by buying yet another Huey. Which I do. ;)

Anyway, I think I've got the northeastern portal nailed down for ambush now, as well as the two main paths out of it. And it's time to send my engineers out to feed my western tank, as tank platoon two arrives at the Firebase. In the next few days I hope to build a centrally western Forbase and chopper my arty there, even though this will mean putting it even farther out of range for ammo supply. Anticipating this, I put the new Huey on an ammo run (since it needs to get central for supply missions in the next few days anyway.)

The southern GBs move forward (westward), and even though I feel a bit hinky leaving Ubercat Village completely unguarded from whatever portal was down there spawning VC missions in its direction, at this point I really need to split my two scout groups into better western map coverage to find that last base. (And to find any new bases if a village manages to drop below 40 without me realizing it a Victory Generator mission is randomly generated.)

I swear on a Bible, though, I didn't run over a mine and reload the game! I thought to myself -- this village I'm walking near, out in the jungle, has had exposure to VC all game without anything nearby; and I know from past experience the VC like to put mines near villages. I'd better check: boom! But wasn't that supposed to improve HAM or Psump?? Oh well, I don't have wounded GBs trying to crawl five days out of the jungle to an extraction point I guess.

End of day score: 68 HAM; 2429 Psup - 250 for the remaining base overnight (that's nine turns left minus operational costs, which should be doable). Augurs say we still have a steady 8 packs plus that NVA plus the last base.