Selecting a U.S. Army Force in ‘Nam

The return of the Vietnam War in ‘Nam is eagerly anticipated by many of us as our Vietnam forces are gathering dust on the shelf.  All the favorites are back:

• The airmobile 1st Cavalry Division (abbreviated 1CD and called “First Cav” if you want to sound like a cool Army guy)
• The mechanized 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (abbreviated 11ACR and called the “11th ACR”)
• The infantry-based 25th Infantry Division (abbreviated 25ID and called the “25th ID”)

Unlike the earlier version of Vietnam, the differences between these forces are much more subtle.  Previously, you could choose between having Confident Veterans with the First Cav or 11th ACR or the cheaper Confident Trained 25th ID. Now all forces are equivalent to Veterans and hit on a 4+.  There are differences however with the First Cav being the most elite infantry who hit in an assault on a 3+ and have a Skill of 3+, and the 25th ID who are pretty much 4+ on all their stats. With only slight differences like that, players should probably focus more on choosing a force based on the toys they are allowed to bring.  Let’s get a little bit more in-depth.

A 1st Cavalry Division Force

This is your classic Air Assault force and you’ve got to love helos if you want to run it. You only have two base formations to choose from and you will likely want a formation of each.

The basic Rifle Company which has the infantry and their Huey transports. Not much you can add other than Mortars and an MG Platoon. Both of which you will need.

And then the classic Air Cav Troop with their Scout Helos and Cobras.  You’ll definitely want to get the Cobra version that can lay down the Salvo template to catch all those big NVA companies. Note that the HQ comes as an all MG force in Hueys and then you add on the other helos from there. The HQ make s a pretty formidable firebase that can set up shop anywhere on the battlefield – nine M60s is going to be pretty hard to assault.

Of course, you’ll want to take support options too and can field off-board artillery and Strike Aircraft to allow you to devastate the enemy. I would suggest you get both.

The 11th ACR Force

Next, we have my favorite force. This all-mech force comes with tons of scouts, but no dismount infantry (incorrect in real life).  However, it makes for an interesting force that is ideal for someone who only wants to paint vehicles.  It has lots of unique toys, such as the cool Sheridan air-droppable tank, and the Zippo flamethrower equipped M113.

The TO&E is a little different than what we saw before in Vietnam. You have three platoons where you can choose either the Sheridan or the three MG ACAV M113. Then you can take up to six more – one of which is mandatory. The other choices are the M48 tank, Zippos and tracked Heavy Mortar Platoons. You definitely have the most choices of any force if you go 11th ACR.

As I mentioned, I like this best of the forces from the old rules as you have the Swiss Army Knife approach to winning the battle. Is the enemy moving in the open? Attack with the multitude of MGs from your ACAV. Is the enemy dug in? Apply Zippos whose flamethrowers Auto on FP (although flamethrowers now just mean a re-roll on infantry save not auto-kill). Does the enemy have a bunch of RPGs?  Move your M48s up and fire beehive which means ROF 5 for each tank.  You’ll still want to take some arty, Strike Air, Cobras, etc. but you really have everything to win in any scenario.

A 25th ID Force

These are the plain vanilla mech infantry force with pretty much 4+ in every stat.  Nothing wrong with that and they come in at cheaper points for that marginal difference.  For example, an M48 in the 11th ACR is 7 points, but the same tank in the 25th ID is only 6 and the only difference is that the 25th ID tank counterattacks on a 3+ and has a skill of 3+.  Hardly a difference for that point discount.  Another cool thing is that a Rifle Platoon can take one M48 tank as part of the platoon for +6 points.  Remember that scene in Full Metal Jacket with the Marines following behind the tank for cover?  Yeah, it’s just like that.  Makes it a lot harder for the NVA to overrun your infantry when they have to take on an almost impossible-to-kill Patton tank.  Probably not the best idea for a scenario where you have to be assaulting across difficult terrain, but a great option to have.

You can even combine the goodness of the 11th Cav with the 25th ID by taking the cav troop from the 25th ID. Essentially the same as the 11th formation, but with the slightly lower stats.

Lastly, we have the support options. Just as in Stripes, the U.S. support options are common between the Army, Marines, and Riverine Forces.  However, there are more choices than in the past. While many will want to add Strike Air or off-board artillery, you can now also add Riverine Patrol Boats, Special Forces (either SF, SEALs, or Force Recon), and Allied support such as ANZAC or ARVN.  Note for the latter it says ANZAC or ARVN “Support Platoon” which I take to mean one of the support units for those forces – not a platoon of Centurion tanks to accompany your Rifle Platoon.

I am not going to go into the new addition to the book – the Marines – or the Riverine Forces, we’ll save that for another post. Good luck building your force.  There are so many choices out there, you’ll have a tough time, but play with it and see what style you like best. You can win with any of them.