Battlefront released their latest Vietnam era title in April and having received it last week I thought a short review might be in order. My up front disclaimer is that for a range of reasons I don't actually play FoW, but bought this for eye candy and some ideas on how to take our current beta test rules onto the deltas of Vietnam. Thus, my perspectives on this book are probably a bit different to somebody who plays FoW Vietnam frequently.
Its a 50 page softcover book with full colour on every page in the tradition of other FoW books. Very nice quality paper and high res printing.
After a couple of pages of intro and history, the book splits into two sections - the River Assault Squadrons and troops from the 9th Infantry Division who roamed the Mekong Delta, and the local Resistance forces. The rules go through each platform type and some interesting rules for incorporating them, including beaching under fire and the fact that most boats need up to 3 hits before they are wrecked. US organisations include the incorporation of waterborne, airborne and mechanised forces which would work neatly for some bigger multi-player scenarios. SEALs get to play as well, though obviously this was not their usual work, and air support comes in the shape of either the A-1H Skyraider (my favourite) or the A-4E Skyhawk.
Moving to the Communist forces, there are no NVA down in the Mekong and so the local resistance is both Main Force Viet Cong and local force VC. There are a range of rules which help them melt away into the jungle, plus they have access to a range of fortifications/bunkers, booby traps and minefields. The VC player can also access elite sapper units, rocket forces and sampans which can ferry troops around the battlefield right under the Allies' noses.
 |
| The artwork and pics of models are at the usual very high standard throughout the book |
The book includes a few thoughts on modelling BWN battlefields and the terrain effects of things like jungle overgrowth and water navigation hazards before going on to outline the single Mission scenario. This was real pity as the Brown Water Navy theme could have been used so much better to present different scenarios types such as extracting a surrounded ground force, recovering a wrecked Tango boat from a previous mission etc. These could have been included by chopping out the two double page pics of models for no extra page count.
I thought the value (USD$20, delivered) was adequate at best and lacked a 'wow factor'. Annoyingly, if you want to play these rules you not only need the core FoW rules, you also need something called the 'Pocket Guide to Vietnam' on the FoW digital app (only) OR the previous book Tour of Duty (although the Battlefront webpage says that "Most of these rules can be found in
Tour of Duty, but not all of them." The inclusion of only a single mission was also a disappointment. If you are the kind of gamer that likes getting a framework to go your own way, then you'll be happy. But if you want a bit more meat, you are going to be left wanting more.
Overall I recommended this book to hardcore Vietnam and BWN gamers only. If you are getting this out of interest I think you'll get better value elsewhere. Sorry.
http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=4837
During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese propaganda derided the collective Free World Military Forces (including US, Australian, New Zealand, Phillipines, South Korea and Thailand) as "Mercenaries" in the pay of the "illegitimate cronies" of the Republic of South Vietnam. In this vein, I have used this bonus round in homage to one of my favourite screen characters: Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore - callsign "Big Duke 6" - Commander of 1st/9th Air Cavalry, in Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now.
.JPG)
