1. society
2. unrest and war

12
ISSUE #
ES
INCLUD
RAID &TE
RIPOS
PLUS !
• In-Depth Articles on
Forgotten
Heroes 2
• Previews of Honneu
r et Patrie
and Into the Breach
• Reviews of Band of
Brothers
and Singapore 1942
• A World at War HQ
Variant
• An Interview with Go
ttardo Zancani
ame
plete g
A com rk H. Walker
by Ma
Sa
m
ple
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SCENARIOS
• Forgotten Heroes 2
• White Star Rising
• A Solitaire World at
War Scenario
• Part 1 (of 2) of a Wor
ld at War
Modulette on the Seco
nd
Sino-Vietnamese Borde
r War
• 88 New Counters Inc
luding
Nicaraguans for a Lock
‘n Load
Scenario Based on Ev
ents in
America Conquered!
AND MUCH MORE!!
LINE OF FIRE > THE LOCK’N LOAD PUBLISHING MAGAZINE
CONTENTS
LINE OF FIRE > Table of Contents
ARTICLES
On the Table: A Review of Forgotten Heroes 2................................................................................ 3
Men with Painted Faces: On the LRRPs in Forgotten Heroes 2...................................................... 8
Forgotten History.............................................................................................................................. 10
Show Me the Hue: A Battle Report of the FH2 Scenario “River of Perfume”................................... 16
Interview: Gottardo Zancani ............................................................................................................ 20
The More War: A Preview of Into the Breach................................................................................... 22
The French Connection: On the Design of Honneur et Patrie.......................................................... 24
No Time for Tea: A Preview of In Defeat, Defiance........................................................................... 26
Tactical Cheeseburgers: A Review of Band of Brothers: Screaming Eagles.................................... 28
If at First you Don’t Succeed: A Review of Field Command: Singapore 1942.................................. 30
A New Cue for the HQ: A Command-and-Control Variant for World at War..................................... 32
The Blogs of War . ........................................................................................................................... 33
The Cardboard Curmudgeon........................................................................................................... 34
SCENARIOS
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Lock ‘n Load
Ambush!........................................................................................................................................... 35
Stay Behind...................................................................................................................................... 37
On Patrol ......................................................................................................................................... 38
Act of Valor ...................................................................................................................................... 42
White Star Rising
Queen of Battle ............................................................................................................................... 44
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World at War
The Battle of Bitterfeld ..................................................................................................................... 45
Far from Home................................................................................................................................. 46
Solidarność and the Fifth Partition................................................................................................... 47
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World at War Modulette, Jungle Blood & Sweat: Part I
Introduction....................................................................................................................................... 51
Black Flags....................................................................................................................................... 53
Foot Blitzkrieg................................................................................................................................... 54
Into the Fire...................................................................................................................................... 55
Raid and Riposte: A Complete Game by Mark H. Walker.............................................................. 57
H1H
LINE OF FIRE > Editor’s Page > Credits
Editor’s Page
The late Whitney Houston had hit song in the
‘80s containing a maudlin lyric: “I believe the
children are our future . . .” (A quick internet
search reveals the name of this song to be
“Greatest Love of All”.) The lyric, despite its lack
of profundity, makes for a good starting point for
this editorial, which is about kids and the future
of gaming.
Lock ‘n Load Counter Art: David Julien
World at War Counter Art: Pete Abrams
Raid & Riposte Counter Art: Gabriel
Gendron
Raid & Riposte Map Art: Guillaume Ries
Special Thanks to Gottardo Zancani
Circulation: Janice Walker, Tracie Arrington,
Ayron Walker, Whip Wilson
How to Reach Us:
Lock ‘n Load Publishing
1327 Deer Trail Road
Henry, VA 24102
USA
Phone: (540) 420-2279
www.locknloadgame.com
E-mail: [email protected]
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Contributors: Pete Atack, Peter
Bogdasarian, Sean Druelinger, Ralph
Ferrari, Dale Holmstrom,David Julien, Jeff
Lewis, Roger Lewis, Konstantin Lubsky,
Norm Lunde, Richard Mataka, Jeff Schulte,
Brad Smith, Lt. Col. Robert Smith, Arrigo
Velicogna, Mark H. Walker
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Publisher: Mark H. Walker
Editor: Jeff Lewis
Art Director: Guillaume Ries
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CREDITS:
Once a week I teach/coach the chess club at
the elementary school in Roanoke, VA, where
my wife teaches. I’ve played
chess for many years and know
a lot about it, though I’ve never
played competitively. The leap
from chess to war games isn’t a
big one. In my opinion, chess is
THE war game, and the perfect
game. And I think the best war
games are as thought-provoking
as chess but with the added
dimensions of weapons and
art and history—and fantasy and sci-fi,
too, of course—which all in all add up to be a
springboard toward a more expansive mindscape. Odds and luck play a part, too, giving war
games another factor of intrigue. With chess,
everything is stripped bare—though there are
some ornately designed chess sets out there—
and it’s a game of mind against mind, each
player with the same force.
I was surprised by how well organized the
city’s chess program is. Every school, from the
elementary to the high school level, has a club,
and a couple hundred students are involved.
There are five tournaments a year, plus the
best players compete at the state level, and if
successful, at the national level too. My students
are in Kindergarten to 5th Grade. At first I had
14 students, but once word got around that
I brought snacks and made lots of jokes, the
roster grew to 21. Twenty-one kids, ages five
to eleven, were interested in playing chess,
this somewhat odd-looking, rigid game played
in silence save for the soft sound of the pieces
H2H
being set in a new square and the mumble of
the word check. The best player in the class
is in Kindergarten, surprisingly. He’s five years
old and he’s beaten everyone. He’s won two
beginner-level tournaments, also playing against
kids as old as 5th Grade; he’s a prodigy in the
making. (And, no, the student has yet to beat
the teacher, in case you’re wondering.) Put a
chess situation/problem in front of him on a
board and he will solve it.
You would think chess wouldn’t stand a
chance versus all of the digital distractions
within reach of today’s youth. But the kids
are there every week, and
about half of them are very interested in the lessons, their
young minds aflame with
many possibilities that the
board presents from move
to move. From here it’s not
a big leap to the more colorful
pastures of hobby time know as gaming—
war, board, Euro, or whatnot. The audio/visual
onslaught, which certainly has its merits and can
be a great time, is only going to get increasingly
more lifelike, but there will always be, I hope,
a place for the abstract pleasures that can
be induced by the simple and less-distracting
components of a board and a few pieces, be it
pawns or counters. It just has to be offered. I’m
sure it wouldn’t take long to get them excited to
play a game like All Things Zombie or Space
Infantry. Warparty, too, seems like a game that
could rope a kid into the hobby. Exposure to the
components is all that is needed. Kings, queens,
knights, zombies, space creatures, dwarves,
vampires . . . where else can they thrive best but
in the imagination?
Note: New contributors are always welcome.
If you’d like to contribute, contact me through
www.boardgamegeek.com; my geekmail is
Fenster400. General feedback is always welcome, too.
LINE OF FIRE > Review
On The Table
A Review of Lock ‘n Load: Forgotten Heroes Vietnam
Second Edition by Lock ‘n Load Publishing.
The philosophy of fighting between the opponents was markedly different. The
U.S. and South Vietnam believed in
air superiority, mass firepower, largescale bombings and masses of troops to
conduct search-and-destroy operations
involving ground forces, airstrikes and
artillery. The Viet Cong, on the other hand,
were lightly armed and ran a guerilla war
with hit-and-run tactics. Occasionally the
North would mass a large contingent of units
in battle, but not very often. For the South
and U.S. forces, it was often very difficult to
tell friend from foe.
The Game
Forgotten Heroes Vietnam Second
Edition (FH2) is a tactical-level game
using a squad-based system. The units
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Physical Components
The physical components of FH2 are
very impressive. First of all, you are
provided with five mounted geomorphic maps, each of which depicts the
lushness of the Vietnam jungle. Each of
these maps can be interconnected
in any way to create a larger map,
which is often done in the scenarios.
Speaking of the scenarios, you are
given 13 unique scenarios that
will challenge the tactical skills of
any grognard. Each scenario card
is laminated, which means
you will get a lot of
wear and tear out of
them.
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The U.S. government viewed their involvement
in the conflict as a way to stop the spread of
communism to the South. The North viewed the
South as a puppet government of the United
States that it wanted to overthrow. U.S. involvement in the conflict escalated in the early ‘60s
and went through a couple of troop-level tripling
deployments. However, in 1965 the war spread
across other borders with Laos and Cambodia
being heavily bombed.
portrayed in the game represent
the U.S. Army, U.S. Marines, Viet
Cong, NVA Regulars, and ARVN.
The size of units can vary
from full squads to half
squads to single-man (or
woman) counters. Individual weapons are also
supported such as 12.7
mm machine-gun teams,
M-60s, RPGs, and M-48 tanks, to
name a few. Individual counters are
used to depict leaders, medics, heroes, advisors, chaplains and snipers,
each of which can significantly affect
game play.
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Background
The Vietnam War has a
long and troubled history.
Many people associate
the Vietnam War with
Presidents Johnson
and Nixon. However, it really began back in the
1940s and came to a head with the rise of communist power in North Vietnam during the Cold
War. It was the Cold War that pushed the United
States into the conflict because we saw it as an
expansion to communism. In 1955 President
Eisenhower began to send military advisors
to South Vietnam to aid them in their training
against the communist North.
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By Richard Mataka
Next, let’s take a look
at the counters. You are
provided with colorful markers that allow you to keep track of
the game’s progress. Also,
there are nicely drawn singleman and multi-man counters
to represent the belligerents.
Support weapons are displayed
on the counter to illustrate
the weapon that is used. The counters
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are nicely done and you can see the face of
the soldier, leader, medic or hero. Finally,
there was armor present on the battlefields
in Vietnam and this is represented with
counters showing the M-113, M-48, PT76, M-41, Ontos, and, last but not least,
the most recognizable piece of Vietnam
equipment, the Huey. Each of these
counters will be used
in the scenarios that are included with the game, or future
scenarios that will be offered.
The last five items to take
a quick look at are the dice, cards,
charts & tables, core rules, and module rules. The game comes
with two six-sided dice,
one black and one
white. There are also
16 skill cards provided, and gamers
are told when to pull
a card. These cards add special
abilities, modify die rolls, or can increase attacks. If played at the appropriate
moment, a card can be a game changer.
Normally charts and tables are no big
thing. However the charts and tables in
FH2 are on an 8.5” x 17” piece of paper,
folded in half and laminated. Everything
is well explained on the charts, especially the terrain area where hex examples
are shown. This is very well done, though
I wish two of these were included with the
game so that each player would have access to their own copy instead of it being passed
back and forth.
Now we come to FH2’s core rules. These rules
are 35 pages in length and cover everything
you need to know about the Lock ‘n Load (LnL)
game system. What you need to understand
at this point is that Mark Walker has designed
a series of games all of which are centered on
LINE OF FIRE > Review
Finally we come to the module-specific rules. In
this area any special leaders, units and weapons
are presented. For FH2 this consists of three
pages, but gives the core rules their own personality for squad-sized battles during the Vietnam
War.
The Scale
The scale of FH2 is 50 meters per hex with
the multi-man counters (MMCs) representing a
squad of 8 to 12 men; half-squad units, 4 to 6
men; single-man counters (SMCs) representing
leaders, heroes, medics, etc.; weapons teams;
support weapons (SWs); and individual vehicles.
The size of the counters varies from 5/8” (MMCs,
SMCs, SWs) to 7/8” (vehicles) depending on the
unit type being represented. As you can see,
and as I mentioned before, this is a squad-level
game.
turn—ties reverting to who had the initiative on
the last turn. What is interesting is that a player
can go last on one turn and get the Initiative
the next turn and can really take advantage of
his opponent’s tactical situation. This brings up
a different type of strategy that the player must
always be aware of during his phase.
Also, it is in the Rally Phase that shaken units
can be rallied and half-squads can be combined.
This is the time that units can pick up or drop
off support weapons, too. The player with the
initiative rallies all his units starting with leaders,
followed by his opponent.
Operations Phase
The Operations Phase of this game consists
of innumerable, alternating impulses. During
an impulse, a player activates and controls the
units in one hex, or more hexes if a leader is in
the primarily activated hex. The player with the
initiative goes first and then his opponent and so
on until both players pass and then the phase is
complete and the sequence progresses to the
Administrative Phase.
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these rules. Stating it simply, once you learn
one game, you know them all, which means
the learning curve for any of the other titles is
very short. At the moment there are well over a
half-dozen LnL titles available, with more on the
horizon.
Rally Phase
The first thing that is accomplished in the Rally
Phase is players roll 1d6 to determine initiative.
It is the high-roller who has the Initiative this
Administrative Phase
Once all units have either moved or fired, or
after three consecutive passes, the Operations
Phase is over and the Administrative Phase be-
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Outline of Play
The LnL game system uses a straight-forward
intuitive sequence of play that is very simple to
remember but provides challenging games. The
sequence or outline is:
•
Rally Phase
•
Operations Phase
•
Administrative Phase
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Simple, right? Well, it is in the outline of play’s
simplicity where the challenge to the game exists.
During an impulse, the active
player can activate all the units in
a hex or if there is a leader in the
hex, he can also activate units in
adjacent hexes. Once a unit is
activated it may either move or
fire, but not both. The exception to this is the assault move. Not all of the units in the
same hex need to perform the same
function, however they must all fire
at the same target. Finally, units that
have moved, fired, spotted or performed an action, have a Moved,
Fired or Ops Complete marker
placed on top of the unit. That is
not to say that a unit’s actions
are complete for the turn; there
are exceptions in which a unit under
an Ops Complete marker can perform
actions, or an opponent’s unit(s) may
initiate melee.
The Rules
I will endeavor to give you an idea of the game
system employed in LnL. I am not going to cover
every rule or nuance of the game, but I will try
and provide readers with an insight in to game
mechanics and how it fits in with the game
system.
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gins. During this phase, all Moved,
Fired, Assault Move, Stealth
Move, Low Crawl, Ops Complete,
Spotted, and FFE (Fire For Effect,
artillery or mortar) markers are
removed. Finally, any Smoke 1
markers are turned over to their Smoke 2 side
and any Smoke 2 markers are removed from
play. Once all of this bookkeeping is completed,
players start all over again by beginning anew at
the Rally Phase unless victory conditions for that
scenario have been met.
Direct Fire Combat
Firing on enemy units must meet some specific
requirements that are identical to many other
games of this genre. There are only three specific requirements that the firing unit must meet,
and they are:
•
•
•
The target must be within the range of the
firing unit(s) and/or its support weapon
The target must be within the firing unit(s)’s
Line of Sight
The target unit must have been spotted
If these three criteria are met by the attacker,
the unit can fire. What happens next is simple
addition, subtraction and luck. The attacker adds
its firepower number from the counter (bottom
left) to a 1d6 die roll. To that the player adds any
leadership or target-movement bonuses to find a
total, and then subtracts any modifiers because
of degrading terrain. The final result I will call
the Unit Attack Number. If there are multiple
firing units in a hex, the attacking player
can choose the counter with the highest
firepower (FP) to lead the attack and then
each additional MMC infantry unit adds ½
of its FP to the total. A hero, machine gun or
flamethrower support weapon adds its full FP to
the FP total, which is then rounded up.
Now that we have a base number for the
attacker, we need to perform a similar action
for the defender. The defender rolls a 1d6
and adds the target modifier (TM) of the
terrain that the unit is occupying—if any. Players now compare the die rolls. If the attacker’s
die roll is less than or equal to the defender’s
die roll, the attack is a failure. If the attacker’s
die roll is greater than the defender’s, all of the
LINE OF FIRE > Review
If a player has a unit that has a MF of 4 and a
weapon range of 6 and he is 8 hexes distant
from an enemy unit, he can still attack during
his impulse using Assault Move. By declaring
an Assault Move he can move 2 hexes, which
brings him into range to fire his weapon at the
target unit, whereas if he just moves, he will not
be able to fire this impulse.
Once you begin to look at this rule and how it fits
in the game system, you can see that it is very
subtle and adds a new dimension to your game
with all new kinds of tactics.
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The rule states that if a unit’s movement factor
(MF) is within a red square it can assault move,
which means it can move half of its movement
factor and fire during the same impulse (or wait
to fire or opportunity fire in a later impulse). This
is similar to a combat unit charging ahead and
firing as he runs. He will not reach his destination but he is attacking. So now let’s put this in
game terms.
As you would expect, melee is handled differently from fire combat. In melee all attacking units
must melee. However, the attacker can choose
a defender to attack if there is more than one
unit in the hex. The basic procedure is that the
attacking player adds all the FP of the attacking units, and any eligible SWs, and chooses a
defender or defenders in a hex that he is going
to attack. An odds ratio is now created and all
ratios are rounded down. The attacking player
now rolls 2d6 and cross references the odds
to see the number—known as the kill number,
on the player-aid card—needed to be rolled to
eliminate the defending unit(s). Once the attacking player has completed his attack, and before
any units are removed from the map, the defender of the hex now becomes the attacker and
repeats the process. So, attacker and defender
both have combat during a melee. Once both
combats are completed, any eliminated units
are removed. If there are still friendly and enemy
units in the hex, they are considered locked in
melee combat. On the next turn, the melee is
continued when either player uses an impulse
to initiate it or reinforce it. A side can also decide
to break off the combat with the announcement
that he is leaving the engagement, but they can
only leave the hex if they first pass a morale
check; otherwise they must fight another round
of melee combat.
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Assault Movement
In many war games, assault movement would be considered similar
to melee combat. However, in FH2
that is not the case. To begin an
explanation of assault movement
you need to remember that during
an impulse in an Operations Phase, units in a
hex can either move or fire but not both. Assault
movement is the only condition in which a unit
can move and fire. Now, when I first read this
rule it didn’t make any sense. However, the more
I analyzed this rule, and understood the game
system, and remembered the period of history
the core rules cover, the rule made perfect
sense.
Melee
Melee occurs during an impulse
in which a player moves his
units into a hex occupied by
enemy units. All units that are
in the hex participate in the melee, and there is
only a single melee per hex per turn.
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defending units in a hex must take a damage
check. The procedure for a damage check is
straightforward and simple to remember. First
of all, in the previous step when we compared
the attacker’s die roll to the defender’s die roll,
a differential amount was created. You take this
differential amount and add it to a 1d6 die roll
for each unit in the defending hex. You cross
reference this result against the defending unit’s
morale number. You then look at the Direct Fire
Table (DFT) and this is where you are informed
of the result for that combat.
Armor and Ordnance
Ordnance in FH2 is any weapon that has a tohit table printed on the back of its counter. They
include support weapons such as the bazooka
or RPG-7, anti-tank guns, M-48 tanks, and
helicopter gunships. Whether a unit is mounted
on a tank, a support weapon, or a weapons
team, ordnance weapons are fired separately
from any other units in the hex. As such, they
do not have to fire at the same target unit as
other non-ordnance units in the hex. If a target
has both vehicle and non-vehicle units in a hex,
the firing unit must specify which unit will be
attacked.
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On the back of ordnance counters are three
ranges, each in its own little square.
Below each of these ranges, is
the unit’s to-hit number, and below
that is the weapon’s penetration
value. Once the range to target is
determined, you have to determine
if the target is hit. To determine if a
target is hit, the attacking player
rolls a 2d6 and cross references
this number with the to-hit number
below the correct range on the ordnance
counter. This die roll is modified by adding the
terrain modifier (TM) of the target hex and a
number of other modifiers that may apply, such
as degrading terrain through which the Line
of Sight passes and other factors as listed on
the Ordnance Fire Table (OFT). If the resultant
modified number is less than or equal to the
to-hit #, the target has been hit; anything else
is a miss.
If the target is not a vehicle it is immediately
attacked with the HE equivalent (on front) plus
1d6. Now the defender rolls 1d6 and compares
the roll to the attacker’s die roll. If the attacker’s
value is less than or equal to the defender’s die
roll, the attack misses. If the attacker’s die roll
is greater than the defender’s, each defending
unit in the hex must roll a separate damage
check on the DFT—as written about previously.
If the target happens to be a vehicle, we will
use the penetration value of the attacking unit
to determine if the vehicle is destroyed. The
attacker looks at the correct penetration value
under the proper range and rolls 1d6. The defender rolls 1d6 and adds the armor thickness.
The resultant die rolls are compared and if the
modified penetration value is more than the
modified armor value the target is destroyed.
If a vehicle is destroyed, a wreck marker is
placed in that hex.
Now, if the modified penetration value equals
the modified armor value, the vehicle must
take a morale check. This action simulates a
non-penetration hit. If the vehicle passes the
morale check, the unit is only shaken; if it fails,
the crew abandons the vehicle. An abandoned
vehicle is abandoned for the remainder of the
game and cannot be used by either side.
LINE OF FIRE > Review
Scenario Card Format
Each scenario follows the same general format.
At the top of the first page there is a short
description of the scenario. Next is the order of
battle, where players are told which units they
will use, and their initial deployment. On the
back of the scenario card you are given a picture
of the map that will be used. Underneath the
order of battle, you are informed of the scenario
length and victory conditions. After this are the
locations of the Event markers, and below them
are the paragraphs.
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Set-up
The scenario takes place on Map #1 with three
Event markers. The US units begin off the map
and enter via the west (left) edge. The Viet Cong
(VC) begin on the map, though their sniper is
to be brought in per the rules of the game. The
rule concerning snipers says that the player can
place the sniper in any hex desired at any time
just as long as the hex he is placed in has a
positive terrain modifier. The VC player decides
to wait and see how the US units will advance
before committing a unit that cannot move.
The philosophy behind the deployment of the
VC (3 x Squads, 1 x RPD + Lt. Diem) is to
protect the village (which means victory points)
and create killing zones where possible. To this
end, the RPD is placed with a squad in hex I5,
which has a strong central position with additional views to the left and right flanks. Another
VC squad is placed in the huts in K4, with a fire
lane down the main road and into
the light jungle on the right flank.
The final VC squad is placed in
reserve in the light building in L3.
Finally, Lt. Diem, the Charismatic leader, is placed in hex J5
because of his leadership skills: during the Rally
Phase, Lt. Diem can rally units in his own hex
and also, because his troops revere him, units
in adjacent hexes; thus here he can rally either
or both squads that are adjacent to him (see
Figure 1).
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FH2 Module Rules
The module rules are specific modifications to the game to update it to
the historical situation. For Vietnam
there are not many changes, most
of them introduce the belligerents involved and
some weapons specific to this time period. In
these sections you are informed of any terrain
modifiers, unit uniqueness, or morale changes.
Two new weapons systems are also introduced:
the Ontos and Claymore Mines. Here you are
told either how the unit can be used or the effect
of the weapon on the battlefield. The modulespecific rules are only about 2 ¾ pages long but
provide the necessary information to take the
LnL system and make it specific to Vietnam.
Playing the Game
As a quick example of play, we will take a look at
one of the simpler scenarios called “A Friend In
Need.” This battle occurred in May 1969 in the A
Shau Valley when US Army forces advanced on
a village. Each side knew the other was there,
but neither expected a battle.
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Triggering events causes the player(s) to read
paragraphs that are on the scenario cards. It
is recommended that you do not read these
paragraphs ahead of time and wait until you are
instructed to do so by the scenario. Some of
the events could introduce units to an already
started game or fire missions to one side or the
other, just to name a few. The events add a new
dimension of uncertainty to the game.
The final item that is covered on the scenario
card is the designer’s notes. Here you gain an
insight to the scenario and what the designer
had in mind.
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Event Markers
There are two types of event markers: they are Line of Sight (LOS)
and Occupation. The scenario card
will tell you if there are event
markers in play and what to
do when the requirements for
the event marker are met. If it
is a LOS event marker, the side
specified triggers the event if it
has LOS to the hex in which the event marker is
located. Occupation means the side specified on
the scenario card must occupy the hex.
Turn 1
According to the scenario, the US player has
the initiative on Turn 1 and begins by bringing in
units from the west edge of the map. He decides
to split his force in to two platoons (three squads
+ 1 M-60 each), with the medic in one group
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FIG. 1: VC SETUP
and Lt. Jensen, who has the Bull skill card (he
can be wounded twice without dying instead of
once) with the other. Partial hexes are in play,
thus units must pay the terrain costs to enter
the map. The platoon with the medic enters via
hex A8 and moves in the open to the south of
the heavy jungle. The VC player passes. Lt.
Jensen’s platoon enters the map on the road in
hex A4 and double-times (adds 2 MF because
of leader) up the road, ending its move in the
cover of the kunai grass in E3. But this triggers
opportunity fire from the VC squad with the RPD
in I5 (see Figure 2). Contact has been made.
The Americans can be fired on because they
are under a Moved marker, and thus spotted,
and within range and line of sight of the VC. The
attack die-rolls go as follows: The VC rolls a 1
on a 1d6, adds the RPD’s firepower (FP) of 2
and the FP of 1 for the VC squad, for a total of
4. There is an additional +1 die-roll modifier because the Americans are under Moved marker,
but there’s also a –1 because the Americans are
in kunai grass, which negates the +1 for firing
on a moving infantry unit; thus the total for the
VC attack is 4. The Americans now roll 1d6;
kunai grass has no terrain modifier (but it did
negate the attacker’s +1 bonus for firing on units
FIG. 2: CONTACT
LINE OF FIRE > Review
marked Moved) so they have no modifier. The
American player rolls a 3. Since the VC die roll is
greater than the American die roll, there is a hit,
which means that all units in the target hex must
undergo a damage check.
Turn 2
The first thing we do for Turn 2 is to roll for initiative. The VC player rolled a 3 and the Americans
rolled a 4, which means that the Americans
have the initiative for Turn 2. During the Rally
Phase, the American player attempts to rally the
two shaken squads. You need to have a good
order leader, medic, chaplain or a hero in a hex
to attempt to rally a MMC. Lt. Jensen is in good
order so both squads can try to rally. To rally, you
need to pass a morale check. For each, roll 2d6
and the result must be less than or equal to their
morale. Lt. Jensen has a leadership modifier
of 1, which is subtracted from the result. Kunai
grass does not have a terrain modifier (TM),
thus there is no –2 bonus for being in a hex with
a +TM. (It’s easiest to rally units in a hex with
a positive TM, like buildings or light or heavy
jungle.) The shaken squads’ morale is 5. The
first rolls a 6, minus 1 for Lt. Jensen’s leadership, for a result of 5; thus it rallies. The second
rolls an 8, minus 1, for a result of 7; it fails, and
remains shaken. If it was in a hex with a +TM, it
would have passed. There are no other shaken
American units, or VC units, so the turn moves
to the Operations Phase.
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The American player advances his platoon with
the medic, near the south edge of the map, up
into the kunai grass, to hex F7, adjacent to the
intriguing Event Marker D, but it’s an occupation
event, so it is not triggered yet (see Figure 3).
The VC squad in I5 could opportunity fire but
they don’t, waiting to see what the now-unspotted platoon in E3 is going to do. The VC player
passes.
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Both sides pass for the next three impulses,
so the Ops Phase ends and the Administrative Phase begins: remove all Moved and Fired
markers. Turn 1 ends.
FIG. 3: ADVANCE
The American player decides against a frontal
assault on the VC RPD position and, instead,
decides to send a squad forward into hex F3 to
trigger the occupation Event B. The scenario
directs the player to read paragraph four:
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The first unit that must take a damage check,
according to the rules, is the leader in the hex,
Lt. Jensen. The American player rolls 1d6 for a
result of 1; to this he adds the difference found
in the to-hit calculation, which was a 1 (4 – 3
= 1), for a total of 2. We compare this to Lt.
Jensen’s morale, which is a 6. Since the modified result of 2 is less than Lt. Jensen’s morale,
there is no damage. While this may appear a bit
complicated and a convoluted way to determine
casualties, it’s not. After only a few combats, you
remember the sequence and refer to the charts
only to determine die roll modifiers.
Each unit in the stack must undergo a damage check, but I won’t
go through the die rolls in detail. I
will tell you that, against the odds,
the Americans didn’t fair too well.
Two squads received a shaken result, and the
third and Lt. Jensen remained in good order.
“White Rook, this is Castle. Over.” The PRC-77,
which has been on the blink all morning, suddenly hisses to life. “Gimme that,” you snarl as
you snatch the handset from the radioman. . . .
The paragraph continues, of course, and it’s
exciting what happens, but I don’t want to spoil
it for you.
Conclusions
I have spent a lot of time with this game. I have
examined it thoroughly, discussed it in depth
with another war-gaming friend of mine and
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have come to the conclusion that Lock ‘n Load:
Forgotten Heroes Vietnam Second Edition is a
carefully designed, well-thought-out war game
that will surprise you with its subtleness. Just
when you think you have a scenario won, a
curve is thrown in to make it more difficult. You
get a glimpse of what combat was truly like in
the mid ‘60s to mid ‘70s. The game makes you
think and want to try different strategies to see
if you can change the outcomes of some of the
scenarios.
The rules may have you go back and forth a few
times as you are learning the system, but no
more than a standard game. The one thing you
may need to learn are the acronyms employed
throughout the rules. However, I think that if
the designer didn’t use the acronyms, the rule
book would be 10 pages longer. For just a little
while you will flip back and forth to the glossary
until you begin to remember what the acronyms
mean.
Once you get through the rules be sure to pay
special attention to the examples of play towards
the end of the rule book. They are excellent
examples that will explain many of the concepts
you were reading about. My one minor complaint
is that there should have been more examples of
play provided to illustrate the rules in action.
Additionally, the way the rules have been written
you are not just learning a single game, but a
whole functional game system. This system is
extremely flexible, but yet it captures the essence of the time periods being recreated. If you
examine warfare during the period of the LnL
games, you see that the most important factors
in combat have been firepower, terrain, and morale. The LnL game system, and FH2 in particular, captures these elements and integrates them
into a combat system that is fast and accurate.
The last, and most important, words I want to
say about the Lock ‘n Load system is that it’s a
fast-moving game system that presents intriguing challenges to players—and it’s fun to play.
What better accolade can you give a war-game
designer of an historical game except to say, “It’s
FUN to play, Mark!”
LINE OF FIRE > Article
Men With Painted Faces
On the LRRPs in Forgotten Heroes 2.
The Lurps had many roles. They would, as the
second R in their acronym implies, conduct
recon operations, but they also conducted intelligence-gathering missions, located new landing
zones (LZs) for future operations, assessed the
damage from bombing attacks, directed artillery
and air-to-ground attacks, conducted raids and
ambushes (see the scenario “Stay Behind” in
this issue of Line of Fire), overwatch and even
prisoner-of-war rescue attempts. They typically
went on patrol in teams of six men, but could
have more or less, depending on the operation.
For example, if they were conducting a raid they
may have a dozen or more personnel, whereas
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The Lurps were irregular soldiers. In 1965, as
American troop levels began to increase in
Vietnam, there was no existing units that had
specifically been trained to perform LRRPtype operations. The Viet Cong were fighting a
guerilla war, and to defeat them the Americans
had to find a way to out-guerilla the guerillas.
A certain type of soldier was required for these
operations. They had to be “unique,” as Michael
Lee Lanning wrote in his indispensible book
on the subject, Inside the LRRPS: Rangers in
Vietnam. According to Lanning:
The troops who volunteered for LRRP duty
were a unique group in a unique war. They
were not “super soldiers” any more than their
brother infantrymen in the regular combat line
units. Yet they performed “super feats” that
earned the respect of ally and enemy alike.
(Lanning, 1988.)
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Overview & Roles
The Lurps did what their acronym suggests:
they went on long-range recon patrols, often
in dangerous terrain, deep behind enemy lines
and within contact-range of NVA and Viet Cong
forces.
a team directing fire for bombers may have had
only three or four personnel.
The volunteers ranged from officers to privates,
but rank didn’t matter while on patrol. Each team
had a team leader who, for example may be a
sergeant, while another member of the team was
a lieutenant or captain. On a LRRP team, role
was more important than rank. A typical six-man
team had a team leader, an assistant team leader, two radio operators (RTOs), a point man, and
a rear-security man. It was also not uncommon
for mercenaries to accompany the team, lending
local knowledge and contacts; these men were
usually motivated by hatred for the VC or NVA
and were looking to enact revenge or retribution.
(The scenario “On Patrol” in this issue of Line of
Fire has a Montagnard Mercenary in the OOB—
an ARVN Hero is used.)
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What’s a Lurp?
Lurp is a fun word to say.
Say it: “Lurp.” Again:
“Lurp.” See what I mean?
But what’s a Lurp? A
Lurp is not some sort
of Dr. Seuss character.
It sounds like one, but
it isn’t. A Lurp is a member of an U.S. Special
Forces team. More specifically, a Lurp is a member of a Special Forces team that conducted
Long-Range Recon Patrols (LRRP) during the
Vietnam War. A far cry from Dr. Seuss and Whoville, for sure. So, out of the acronym LRRP, with
its exceptionally long-R sound, comes Lurp.
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By Jeff Lewis
The Lurps armed themselves with whatever
each member of the team preferred to use,
including enemy weapons like the AK-47—which
also served as a deception tactic, as the NVA
often fired AK-47 rounds as a means of communication. Dress was also unique to the team
member: from head cover to boots, whatever
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camouflage was best for the mission; and again,
even enemy clothing was used at times. And
they all used black or vegetal-colored greasepaint on their faces. As Michael Lee Lanning
wrote, “Captured documents and prisoner interrogations revealed that the enemy’s common
name for LRRPs was ‘the men with painted
faces.’” Having such a name among your enemies is a testament to your effectiveness.
As their success and importance increased,
so did their numbers. In 1969 they became
redesignated as Rangers and organized in to
companies within the 75th Ranger Infantry Regiment, which eventually became what is known
today as the 75th Ranger Regiment—elements
of which fought in Mogadishu, Somali in 1993,
the conflict depicted in the Lock ‘n Load module
A Day of Heroes. But this article is about the
Lurps, or Rangers, in Forgotten Heroes 2.
LRRPs in FH2
In Forgotten Heroes (1 & 2),
the LRRPs are represented as
Squads and Half-squads, and if
the Self-Rallying Half-squad,
at 2-4-4-6 and with the Assault
Move capability, wasn’t powerful enough, there’s the Squad
with an intimidating 3-5-5-6 with
Assault Move and Self-Rally. Put an M-60 in the
hands of one of the team members and suddenly one Squad has the formidable
Firepower of 5 at a Range of up to
five hexes—not to mention 2 FP
at up to 10, to pick off distant and
unwitting enemies. The bottom
line is, moving adjacent to a well-armed LRRP
Squad is to invite not just trouble but the promise
of devastation. These guys are, for lack of a
better word, badasses. And you have to be when
your job is to out-guerilla the guerilla.
Though LRRP teams were usually comprised
of six men, a Squad, which in LnL depicts 8–12
men, may seem too big of a unit; but given that
they did go out in larger numbers than six and
had superior acumen with their weapons, plus
LINE OF FIRE > Article
training in combat medicine, the extra step is
warranted. I tend to think of a LRRP Squad as
the traditional six-man team and the Half-squad
as two to three men. One curious omission in the
LRRP skill set, in my opinion, is that, given their
proclivity to move about the jungle undetected,
it’s a little odd that they do not have Stealth
Movement. The simple inference is that Stealth
Movement was yet to be a rule in the original
version of Forgotten Heroes. It made its debut
with the Scout in Anzac Attack and then again in
Band of Heroes. Stealth Movement (Movement
Factor within a yellow square) would still grant
them Assault Movement but with the addition of
not being spotted when moving in hexes with
a positive Terrain Modifier, like Light or Heavy
Jungle, even when adjacent to enemy units. It’s
certainly worth trying as a house rule—if both
players agree, of course.
FIGURE 1
“Stay Behind”
This scenario is a short one, but that doesn’t
mean it’s simple, nor was it simple to design.
Mark Twain has a pithy comment about the writing of letters in which he states that if you don’t
have time to write a short letter, write a long one.
The point being, creating something concise
and intricate is much more difficult and time
consuming than something large, sprawling and
unfocused.
Some tips for this one:
• If the Claymore kills the equivalent of at least
one MMC, the Lurps should pull back to the
Light Jungle in 4I1 or the Brush in 4J3 and
await the Huey. The advancing VC want to
engage in Melee (their best tactic), they will
have to come in to the open, where the Lurps
can open fire on them.
• Don’t get stuck in Melee. The VC player’s best
chance to kill and/or keep the Lurps on the
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Where can you find the LRRPs in Forgotten
Heroes? They are in the Order of Battle (OOB)
in only one scenario in FH2, “Prelude to Lang
Vei,” in which case they are accompanying
two platoons of ARVN infantry to secure hills
overlooking Highway 9. Not exactly a patrol, but
a role they would certainly fill. They also may
turn up elsewhere, but events will dictate (hint).
They are in the OOB in the scenario “Catecka
Tea Plantation,” which was in Forgotten Heroes
1, but substituted out for the second edition.
They also make an appearance, albeit as Green
Berets, in the scenario “Snakes in the Grass,”
which was in Line of Fire #2. So, they aren’t in a
lot of scenarios, and that’s why I chose to design
two scenarios for them for this issue of Line of
Fire. I wanted the scenarios to illustrate the LRRPs’ traditional roles and experiences. Neither
scenario is based on a specific historical action.
They are titled “Stay Behind” and “On Patrol.”
In the scenario, a Lurp team accompanies a battalion’s extraction helicopters and stays behind
to set up an ambush for the enemy forces that
move into the vacated LZ. It starts off with a
bang, as the Lurps’ Claymore is triggered by
advancing VC, and doesn’t end until the Lurps
are themselves extracted by helicopter. This
scenario hinges on the effectiveness, or ineffectiveness, of the opening Claymore attack (there’s
no way out of it, VC player) in a leafy section
of Board 4 (see Figure 1). With modifiers, the
opposed die-roll is 1d6+3 (Claymore 0-FP + Adjacent + Moved) vs. 1d6+2 (VC in Light Jungle),
thus a slight advantage for the Lurps and their
Claymores. Given the variation of the result and
the low Morale of the VC, the effect of this attack
can be anything from an ineffectual flesh wound
to casualty- and wound-inducing mayhem. Not
to mention that it’s more or less going to be
followed up with the Lurps’ inherent-firepower
attack of 1d6+6 (3 FP + Adjacent + Moved)
vs. 1d6+2 (TM, VC in Light Jungle). The Lurps
don’t have to attack, of course. But more VC
are on the way, and the Lurps have a chopper
to catch, so the player has to make a decision,
based on the Victory Conditions, which call for a
body count as well as safe extraction for a major
victory.
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ground is to mire them in Melee.
• The Lurp player should not attack Shaken VC
that have no chance of rallying; this will give
them a chance to spawn a Hero.
• Don’t count on the Huey or the Gunship to bail
the Lurps out of trouble.
• The VC player should try to get one of the
follow-on Squads into hex 4E4 and hope to
get a shot at the Huey or the Lurps as the
embark on the Huey.
I’ve played this scenario more than 30 times—
it plays quickly—and the results were really
interesting; so much can happen. Both sides
had their day. Hero-spawning always throws a
wrench in things—a fun wrench, no doubt. There
were even a few outcomes where the Lurps
embarked on the Huey up on the Hill hexes in
the southeast corner of the Board. It’s no easy
task to have a perfect ambush, or get extracted
after one.
“On Patrol”
This scenario is entirely different from “Stay
Behind.” This one is an event-driven scenario
in which no enemy units start on the Board.
This is a hypothetical scenario designed to give
players a chance to game a few of the situations
the Lurps could encounter during a patrol. The
LRRP team is also a bit expanded, with a Squad
and a half of Lurps and a Montagnard Mercenary (ARVN Hero), who has the Pathfinder Skill
Card. They also have the extra firepower of a
M-60 and Claymore Mines. Fate Points, which
they start with, and can earn during the patrol,
also add dimensions to their capabilities, from
being able to re-roll a die or add or subtract 2
from a roll, to calling in an artillery mission or
spawning a Hero. Their mission is to activate all
four event markers, in alphabetical order. I don’t
want to spoil this one with details, but there are
different outcomes for each event; these drive
the story of the scenario and increase replayability. It’s almost as if there are a couple of
scenarios within the scenario. It’s strange, it’s
different, it’s fun. I hope you agree.
Principal Source:
Lanning, Michael Lee, Inside the LRRPs: Rangers in Vietnam; Ivy Books, New York, 1988.