Patrol Boats (VUSBX12) Review

By Tom Burgess,

Flames of War Vietnam not only lets you play in some really cool and very different types of  Flames of War games, it also seems the to make the best of some of Hollywood's Vietnam movies. Indeed, the initial inspiration for the original "Ia Drang" supplement and first special order Vietnam miniatures sets was the movie "We Were Soldiers." Now we can also go up river "Apocalypse Now" style with Battlefront's release of it Patrol Boats boxed set (VUSBX12).

At the cost of $30 USD, this boxed set gives you a pair of U.S. Navy Patrol Boat Riverine or PBR.

The hulls and superstructure of the PBR were a single, well cast, pieces of resin.  They are about 3.5" long.

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Kelley's Heroes (VUSBX11) Review- US Brown Water Navy Force

By Tom Burgess,

www.ww2incolor.com

By far one of my favorite period to play Flames of War in is the Vietnam war.  I suppose this is in part due to my Father’s service in Vietnam, but even more so I think is because Flames of War Vietnam is just so different than “standard” WW2 Flames of War gaming.  Well, Battlefront has pushed the envelope even further away from “standard” Flames of War with the introduction of Brown Water Navy and its riverine combat actions. So I was keen to volunteer to review any products for Brown Water Navy and was lucky enough to nab this assignment.

To let players get started on riverine operations in Vietnam quickly, Battlefront has made available the "Kelley's Heroes" boxed set.

 The set cost $120 (US) and is available in the online store:  Kelley's Heroes (VUSBX11) - Flames of War

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AAR "Ambush Alley" - Road Block Mission in Tour of Duty

by Tom Burgess

I had always thought that Road Block, a Version Two Flames of War Mission that did not make it into Version Three, would be great for playing out missions similar to that actions that occurred along “Route 9” during Operation Lam Son 719, the infamous “Ambush Alley” during the Vietnam War. My friend Charles and I had already been planning to resurrect the V2 Road Block Mission. Our plan was to use his ARVN Cavalry Squadron versus my PAVN Infantry in a fight to keep the VC from cutting the main supply route. So, when Wargames Illustrated #311 came out with the updated Road Block mission we jumped right on it and set up the following battle.

The most important thing about setting up the Road Block mission is that you must have six feet of road that runs along one side of the board. It has to be entirely between 8” from the one of the long edges of the board and 8” from the center of the board.  We have been using a lot of light “jungle” in our previous Tour of Duty games, but for this one we just used a lot of normal jungle/woods and then left the area in-between as clear.

 The battlefield looking down “Route 9.”

The Jungle areas are normal woods. The rice paddies are slow going and have bullet-proof cover for infantry along the bunds (edges). There is a dry stream bed on the other side of the village that is very difficult going, and provides bullet-proof cover as well as concealment.

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AAR "Blocking Force" - ARVN vs. PAVN in Tour of Duty

by Tom Burgess

Following our “Road Block” game where my PAVN Battalion defeated Charles’ ARVN Cavalry Squadron, in a high action game of Tour of Duty, Flames of War's Vietnam rule set, it seemed natural that the ARVN forces would try to breakthrough and reopen the main supply route by pushing back the PAVN forces. So we chose “Blocking Force” as our next mission to play from Tour of Duty.

The board we played on was similar to our last set up, but this time the area between the “jungle” was head high elephant grass. This meant that everything was concealed and line of sight from inf/gun teams to inf/gun teams was limited to 6.”

The battlefield.

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