Nam68 – Viet Cong

[piersParticipant 25489xp 6]

Painted up an entire 20mm Viet Cong force this week using Elhiem Figures. These are for playtesting Nam68 to get it shipshape for release… may need to do some Yanks first though!

[jamesevans140Participant 2055xp 3]

These look great @piers,  as usual. I especially like your restrained basing for them. Most people try to say welcome to the jungle by over planting the bases with the end result of figurines looking like they belong to the bottom of an aquarium.  Besides there is much more terrain in Vietnam than just jungle.  Your bases look more natural and would fit into most of the other terrain of Vietnam.

I suppose it is good to see other companies creating wargame rules for Vietnam  War. The basic rules in the pattern of BG at the skirmish level is well suited for this war. To be honest wargaming wise I just can’t go their. For my family and I that war has not ended, it is just to painful. I study it to try to understand how 2 of my brothers went to, but what returned was not my two brothers. What was them somehow died there. I don’t have issues with it being wargamed or with people wanting to play it. Hopefully I am not that stupid, this is just my personal journey.

If your game is to include ANZUS forces I would like to point out a mistake other game systems have made about our Centurians. They tended to look up the stats of Mk v or Mk III and paste them into the game system.  First off we only had 8 Mk IIIs we bought second hand from NZ after we purchased  143+ Mk Vs from Britain.  In their Vietnam configuration they are more vulnerable to HEAT rounds than a standard Centurian as we has to remove their side skirts. They sometimes do not include a rule for the effects of canister rounds. We fired literally tons of the stuff. So much so the the three vanes welded to the barrel was their to assist in aiming the round.  The coaxial .50 caliber rifle was replaced with a .50 caliber MG. If the game is to include ANZUS Forces and I know how anal you are about research I am probably telling you something you already know.

May I suggest  the Battle of Firebase Coral, sometimes referred to as Battle of Coral-Balmoral that happened on the early hours of May 13th 1968. It has everything on offer. Day and night actions, losing and retaking of buy-in positions, Apps and in the closing stages Centurian tanks and off board fire support from the other near by firebases. The Battle fizzles out around the 28th of May. It lends itself to a series of linked skirmishes or a narrative campaign. Sadly even hear in Australia it is an almost forgotten battle with most of the public attention going to the Battle of Long Tan. 🙁

I like the job you have done here and can’t wait for US forces to be completed. Meanwhile I’m off to paint some early Pz-IVs.

[chilledenuffParticipant 3595xp 0]

Looking good. Will the rules set support 28mm?

[piersParticipant 25489xp 2]

@chilledenuff

They are for 28mm and 20mm. I’m using 20mm, the author is using 28mm.

@jamesevans140

It’s not Battlegroup based. Whole new design.

[chilledenuffParticipant 3595xp 0]

Is there anywhere i can find more details?

[grimwolfuk 10506xp 2]

@jamesevans140 we had Pier on SITREP taking about Northag but we also got him to talk a little about NAM 68 as well.

It can be found here: https://youtu.be/2y6QMQ_k3r0

[jamesevans140Participant 2055xp 0]

Thanks for listing that link @grimwolfuk, I will check it out later tonight.

[jamesevans140Participant 2055xp 0]

@piers thanks for bringing my up to speed. I still think the best approach to Vietnam wargaming is at the skirmish level.  At this point you can minimize politics on the table. You might remember that @oriskany and I talked about this in his series about the Tet offensive.  We discussed ways to bring it onto the table with minimal interference to game play. As politics was used as a major weapon delivered to the US homeland via the media of the day. Played at tactical or operational level politics must have more impact.  If politics is completely removed you no longer gaming Vietnam,  just a generic tropical based game. The would not be a bad thing as it would open up gaming in the tropics in a post Korean war world. Southern Africa , South American revolutions, and going back further actions such as Malaysia and Borneo also come to mind. The best part about the skirmish level is you can try these actions out with the armies being small, cheap and quick to build.

,

[piersParticipant 25489xp 0]

@chilledenuff

Little bit here…

Nam 68 – Playtest Campaign

[tonysilvey 7974xp 0]

@jamesevans14o I’d be interested to know what effect all that canister had on the Cent barrels?

I never got to use any on Chieftain/Challenger or Challenger 2. The rumour was that it was hell on the barrels.

Tony

[jamesevans140Participant 2055xp 0]

Thanks @grimwolfuk I had time to listen to the Sitrep covering the intro to Northag and Nam 68. Very informative.  But I will wait until the Hardcover rules hit the stores out here in Australia.  When I first bought the Hardcover for Blitzkrieg expansion to Battlegroup from PSC the postage cost about the same as the book.

[logisticzgsParticipant 21xp 0]

Is there anything new about the Game progress?
Trying to scavenge the internet for more info, besides the sitRep interview and the things posted here 🙂

Also most interesting question, besides “when will it come out”, who is going to publish it?
Will you & Warwick publish yourself?
Will it be maybe even be with Rubicon Models, as they are releasing their First Wave if 28mm Vietnam Miniatures in October? 😉

Please some breadcrumbs, I am aching for this type of Vietnam game (btw. love NorthAg and cant wait for CentAG)

cheers & Thanks mate

[piersParticipant 25489xp 2]

@logisticzgs

The rules and book photos are done, but we have it with a beta playtest team now as it aint had enough testing for our liking…

So far, the test team loves it… 🙂

Still hoping it will be out this year.

It will be published by us, most likely via Warwicks ‘Artorus Games’ as we do with the ‘Soldiers of…’ series of rules.

[logisticzgsParticipant 21xp 0]

sorry for the late reply, but appreciate your info! 🙂

And since over a year passed since then, any prograss yet to publicly announce?
the hype is still strong – everytime I hear or see anything about Vietnam I instantly Flashback to Nam’68 and ache for it 😀

[bloodmoonorcParticipant 1763xp 0]

I was thinking about this rule set yesterday, so thanks for raising it. I seem to remember that the cost of printing was an issue…

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