The Battle of Ia DrangBy Phil Yates

By 1965, the wars in Vietnam had been dragging on for two decades, beginning in 1945 when the Japanese were thrown out and French rule restored at the end of the Second World War. The opening round had gone to the Vietnamese with the French withdrawing in 1954 after the disastrous battles of Dien Bien Phu in the north and Mang Yang Pass, between An Khe and Pleiku, in the south. The country was split into a communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the north and a capitalist Republic of Vietnam in the south.

After the end of the Indochina War, the Democratic Republic in the north continued low-level guerilla activities in the south through the National Liberation Front (NLF- commonly referred to as Viet Cong or VC) while recovering from the war and building up its strength. By 1960, they felt ready to renew the armed struggle and started sending units of the People’s Army

Air Cavalry in the Republic of Vietnam, 14-18 November 1965

• The Battle of Ia Drang . . . . . . . . . . . pages 08 - 15

• 7th Cavalry in Vietnam . . . . . . . . . . . pages 26 - 33 - Fielding Air Cavalry using Flames Of War

• Helicopter Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pages 34 - 35

• B3 Front in South Vietnam . . . . . . . . . pages 36 - 41 - Fielding PAVN Regulars using Flames Of War

• Hot LZ Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pages 42 - 43

• Indian Country Mission . . . . . . . . . . . pages 44 - 45

• Ia Drang Battlefield . . . . . . . . . . . . . pages 46 - 47

• Painting Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pages 60 - 63

• Total War at Ia Drang . . . . . . . . . . . . pages 78 - 81

of Vietnam (PAVN) south to engage the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Despite the ARVN being equipped and advised by the United States, they performed poorly against the highly-motivated PAVN and VC units. The initial American response was to send more equipment and more advisors. By 1964 there were 16,000 advisors (more soldiers than in an infantry division) working with the ARVN, but their performance in the field remained poor as their commanders were more interested in preventing coups and looking good by minimising casualties than in engaging the enemy.

At the beginning of 1965, the United States President, Lyndon B Johnson, ordered a bombing campaign against North Vietnam in response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in which it was claimed a US destroyer was attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. In March, the US Marines were dispatched to guard the air bases that the USAF was operating from. After attacks on these bases, the US forces in Vietnam were increased again, rising to 200,000 by the end of 1965.

The Air Cav ArriveOne of the first units to arrive was the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), formed from the experimental 11th Air Assault Division. It was believed, rightly as it turned out, that the mobility that helicopters gave this unit would make it perfect for striking elusive targets over a wide area of responsibility. Unlike conventional forces, the air cavalry were not tied to roads and could strike literally out of thin air. The ‘Air Cav’ division assembled at An Khe in October 1965, right in the middle of South Vietnam, perfectly placed to take the war to PAVN units in the Central Highlands on the Cambodian border.

Their arrival coincided with the start of an offensive by the PAVN B3 Front. The battle started on 19 October with an attack on the special forces base at Plei Me, southwest of Pleiku, by the PAVN 33rd Regiment. While the Vietnamese gained a foothold in the base, they did not overrun it. ARVN rangers were flown in to reinforce the base until a column fought its way up the road to the base. This was the response that the North Vietnamese

Ia Drang contents

Welcome to Vietnam, soldier! You will be serving with the First Team, the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). You will seek out Charlie, and you will destroy him. Any questions?

We were watching We Were Soldiers, a great movie about the battle of Ia Drang starring Mel Gibson for those of you unfortunate enough not to have seen it yet, and decided that we had to make some helicopters and refight the battle. Battlefront Miniatures is so busy bringing you lots of new stuff for the Second World War, we really didn’t have time to expand into a whole new period like the Vietnam War. That was fine though, as we just wanted to fight one battle, Ia Drang. This theme is the result - a stand-alone game bringing Flames Of War to the Vietnam War. It is a one-off thing, so we aren’t going to produce a whole range of Vietnam War figures, just the ones we need for this battle. Don’t worry though, there are plenty of other manufacturers out there with Vietnam War ranges.

You will need the Flames Of War rulebook to use the intel briefings and missions for the Battle of Ia Drang, but everything else you need is right here. The miniatures are available from our mail-order service on the WI website (www.wargamesillustrated.net). Don’t feel limited to the missions given here, or even the Battle of Ia Drang. The First Team went on to fight in Vietnam for another ten years, so there are plenty more battles to research and fight. You can use the forces given here with all of the missions in the rulebook and most of the ones on our website. You may notice that some of the rules in this article don’t come into play in the two missions presented, but they will make it easier to work out how to play other missions. If you are feeling brave, you could even match up the Skysoldiers against a Late-war WWII Soviet force taking the part of the Chinese or a second-line Soviet force, or even see what effect modern technology would have had on the Second World War and pit them against the Germans!

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had been waiting for. On 23 October, the relief force ran straight into an ambush by the PAVN 320th Regiment.

Things didn’t all go well for the PAVN though. The USAF responded to calls

for help with sustained air attacks and casualties amongst the PAVN forces were heavy. When the Air Cav committed their 1st Brigade (Airmobile) to the battle in Operation All the Way, things took another turn for the worse.

On 28 October, B3 Front ordered both regiments to disengage and return to their bases on the Chu Pong Massif, a 730 metre-high mountain straddling the Cambodian border. The retreat saw a series of running battles as the Cavalry’s ‘Skysoldiers’ sought out the retreating Vietnamese. A Vietnamese regimental hospital was overrun on 1 November, and battalion-sized battles fought on 4 and 6 November. By 9 November when they finally broke contact, the PAVN 33rd Regiment was down to half strength. The cost to the Cavalry’s 1st Brigade was over 250 men killed or wounded.

Operation Silver BayonetBoth sides then paused and regrouped for the next phase. B3 Front had ordered the 66th Regiment of the 304th ‘Glory’ Division on the Ho Chi Minh Trail to lighten its packs and proceed to the Chu Pong Massif by forced marches. They arrived on 10 November, going into bivouac and resting, preparing for battle. Meanwhile, the 1st Cavalry Division pulled the exhausted 1st Brigade out and sent the 3rd ‘Garry Owen’ Brigade to a forward base at the Catecka Tea Plantation near Pleiku for Operation Silver Bayonet. The 3rd Brigade had two battalions of the 7th Cavalry, Colonel Custer’s famous command at the Battle of Little Bighorn. B3 Front greeted them with a raid on brigade headquarters by 26 PAVN sappers on 12 November, killing seven US soldiers and wounding 23.

The Garry Owens received intelligence that the Vietnamese were located in the area of the Chu Pong Massif. Colonel Thomas ‘Tim’ Brown ordered Lieutenant

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Ntime. Moore had one company of sixteen helicopters available to carry his battalion in to the landing zone—nearly enough to carry one company at a time. With a round trip of nearly an hour, it would take most of the day to bring in the entire battalion. Fire support would be provided by two batteries of artillery, firing from Firebase Falcon, 5 miles (8 km) closer to Pleiku, and helicopter gunships.

Unknown to either side, LZ X-ray was right beside the bivouac of the 9th (K-9) Battalion, 66th Regiment. The other two battalions of the regiment were nearby. The 7th (K-7) Battalion was on the south eastern face of the mountain, while the 8th (K-8) Battalion was to the west near the Ia Drang River. At 1017 hours, Lieutenant Colonel An, the field commander of B3 Front watched in dismay as the artillery began a 20-minute preparation, right on top of his K-9 Battalion. This was followed by helicopter-mounted rocket artillery and gunships as the UH-1D ‘Huey’ helicopters carrying Lieutenant Colonel Moore and two platoons of B (‘Bravo’) Company, 1/7 Cavalry swooped down on the landing zone at 1048 hours precisely.

First Wave LandsAs planned, Bravo Company secured the landing zone. Half an hour later their scouts brought in a prisoner who revealed that three PAVN battalions were in the area. Moore immediately changed his plan, ordering B Company to scout the

mountain as soon as A (‘Alpha’) Company landed, instead of waiting for C (‘Charlie’) Company as originally planned. By 1210 hours, most of A Company had landed. They moved out to take up positions in a dry creek bed to B Company’s left. There had still been no contact with Vietnamese forces at this point, so B Company moved out to the west towards a finger of the Chu Pong Massif.

Colonel Hal Moore to prepare his 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry for an operation to see what was there. Reconnaissance identified landing zones (LZ) coded (using the phonetic alphabet) LZ Tango through LZ Yankee in the Ia Drang Valley at the foot of the mountain. Moore selected LZ X-ray for his assault, planning to land at 1030 hours on 14 November. LZ X-ray was a clearing in the tree covered river valley, roughly the size of a football field—just large enough for eight helicopters to land at a

Central Highlands

Plei Me

Duc Co

Plei Rongol

Catecka Tea Plantation

Pleiku

ARVN ambushed

Chu Don

Chu Pong

Chu Go

Chu Dalbal

Chu Ba

Chu Lom

Chu ProngChu Kan Yan

Ham Rong

LZ X-ray

LZ Victor

LZ AlbanyLZ Columbus

FB Falcon

K-8

K-7

K-9

Bravo Company secures LZ X-Ray.

7th Cav. Command

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Cut off 2nd Platoon

Vietnamese CounterattacksB Company’s lead platoons came under fire at 1245 hours, and Lieutenant Herrick’s 2nd Platoon, on the right, began pursuing a fleeing Vietnamese squad to the right - straight into the path of a counterattack by the Vietnamese C-11 Company of the K-9 Battalion. Within 25 minutes Herrick and four others were dead and his platoon was cut off on a knoll. Meanwhile, a senior Lieutenant at the K-9 command post (the commander was with K-8 on the banks of the Ia Drang) organised the cooks and clerks to delay the other US platoon on the left, then organised a counterattack against them with C-13 Company around 1330 hours. The Vietnamese battalion’s mortars started bombarding the landing zone around the same time, hitting the last platoon of A Company and the first elements of C Company as they arrived. On landing, the C Company platoon headed south to cover the wide-open left flank and the A Company’s 1st Platoon was ordered to join B Company and rescue the cut-off platoon.

C-13 Company’s counterattack hit between B Company and A Company in the dry stream bed. With B Company heavily engaged somewhere in front of them and the location of A Company’s 1st Platoon’s unknown (it eventually turned out to be on the far side of B Company!), it proved difficult to bring down artillery fire on the attacking PAVN troops. Instead, 3rd Platoon of A Company dropped their packs and charged. They drove the Vietnamese back, but the cost was heavy. The retreating Vietnamese suffered in turn when they fell back across in front of the machine-guns of A Company’s 2nd Platoon.

The fire that greeted the rest of C Company when it arrived at 1430 was so intense that the landing zone was temporarily closed. By this time the Vietnamese attacks were heating up, and the position on the landing zone was looking grim. The new arrivals were just in time to avoid the whole force being outflanked and overrun. The attempt to link up with Herrick’s platoon was called off and B Company pulled back to the dry stream bed. With almost his entire battalion engaged, Moore requested reinforcements, receiving B Company of 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry just before nightfall.

Dry Creek Bed

1000: Scheduled start of artillery preparation.1017: Actual start of artillery preparation.1030: Scheduled H-Hour.1048: Moore and two platoons of B Company land.1120: Prisoner captured. Rest of B Company and part of A Company land.1210: Remainder of A Company lands. B Company moves towards finger of the Chu Pong Massif.1245: Vietnamese C-11 Company counterattacks and surrounds 2nd Platoon B Company.1330: Part of C Company lands. Vietnamese C-13 Company counterattacks.1430: Part of C Company and the Anti-tank Platoon land. Remainder of C Company unable to land in heavy fire. Further Vietnamese counterattacks.1500: Attack on C Company beaten off.1520: Remainder of C and D Companies land.1545: A and B Companies pull back leaving 2nd Platoon still surrounded.1700: Lead elements of B Company, 2/7 Cavalry land.0000, 0315, 0430: Attacks on cut-off platoon.0650: K-7 Battalion launches dawn attack on C Company.0745: Attacks intensify around entire perimeter, penetrating C Company lines.0755: Moore orders ‘Broken Arrow’ air strikes.0800: 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry lands at LZ Victor and marches the 2 miles (3.5 km) to LZ X-ray.0910: A Company 2/7 Cavalry land.1000: K-7 battalion begins to withdraw.1205: 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry arrives at LZ X-ray.

Timeline: 14-15 November 1965

Top of Chu Pong Mountain

D 1/7

B 2/7

B 1/7

A 1/7

C 1/7

B 1/7

LZ X-RAY Night 14-15 November 1965

mortarshq

= Company

= Battalion HQ

= Platoon

A 1/7 = A Company, 1st Battalion, 7th RegimentB 1/7 = B Company, 1st Battalion, 7th RegimentB 2/7 = B Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th RegimentC 1/7 = C Company, 1st Battalion, 7th RegimentD 1/7 = D Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Regiment

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The Second DayThe Vietnamese reinforced as well. K-9 Battalion had been badly cut up in the counterattacks, but K-7 arrived to take over the lead. Both battalions were scheduled to attack at 0315 hours, but coordination problems meant that the main attack didn’t take place until dawn on 15 November. An hour later, at 0745 hours the attacks had penetrated C Company’s lines and encircled the LZ perimeter. At this point the Vietnamese B3 Front began receiving reports of victory. With his force about to be overrun, Moore used the codeword ‘Broken Arrow’ to summon every ground attack aircraft in the area to his aid. Despite one aircraft hitting his HQ area, the attacks were effective. Around 1000 hours, the PAVN forces started to withdraw.

Expecting to merely need to mop up the survivors, the commander of 66th Regiment ordered his last battalion, K-8, to join the attack that night. In this he would be severely disappointed. LZ X-ray was heavily reinforced during the day with the arrival of the rest of 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry at the LZ, and 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry which had walked in from LZ Victor. The survivors of 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry were flown out. The two day battle had cost the Americans 79 killed and 121 wounded for a claimed 634 enemy dead and 1215 wounded.

Ambush at LZ AlbanyHaving taken and held LZ X-ray, destroying much of a Vietnamese regiment in the process, the Americans could claim victory. However, General Westmoreland, the highest American commander in Vietnam, did not want to fly the cavalry out of LZ X-ray as he was worried that the media would interpret that as a defeat. Instead he ordered both battalions to march out to LZ Columbus and LZ Albany about 2.5 miles (4 km) northeast and north of LZ X-ray on the morning of 17 November. Once they were clear, LZ X-ray would be hit by the B-52 Stratofortress bombers that had been pounding the Chu Pong Massif throughout the battle.

Unfortunately for this plan, the PAVN K-8 Battalion, which had been ordered to attack LZ X-ray the previous night, had detoured to the north to avoid US air and artillery strikes. Worse

still, the remainder of D-1 Battalion (the first battalion of the 33rd Regiment) was guarding potential landing zones in the area. Around midday, after 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry had split off from the main column to head for LZ Albany, they ran into a patrol from D-1 Battalion. The patrol alerted the PAVN forces in the area, who promptly attacked off their own route of march, throwing companies into the fray as they became available. The cavalry column was cut in two, and casualties were heavy by the time the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry, marching from LZ Columbus, and their own B Company (which had been airlifted from LZ X-ray with the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry), airlifted back into LZ Albany, reached them in the early evening. The battle at LZ Albany had been bloody. The cavalry had lost 155 men dead and 124 wounded. They counted 403 Vietnamese bodies on the battlefield, nearly a full battalion.

Victory?In the battles at LZ X-ray and LZ Albany the 1st Cavalry Division had proved itself and the concept of air mobility. It had carried the fight to the enemy and held the ground at the end of the day, but the cost was high. While the PAVN estimate of 1500 to 1700 American casualties was high, the actual figures of 305 killed and 524 wounded in October and November were still dramatic, representing 5% of the division. In return the US Army claimed 3561 PAVN soldiers killed and another 1000 wounded. Vietnamese sources give the number as 599 killed and 669 wounded. Both sides claimed victory based on their claimed successes against their own actual losses. In reality, little had been achieved. B3 Front had failed to take any ARVN or US bases, and was driven from its own Central Highland base. However, within months of this setback, they were back in action, operating from their old base areas.

“Some had families waiting, for others their only family would be the men they bled beside, there were no bands, flags, no honor guards to welcome them home, they went to war because their country ordered them to, but in the end they fought not for country or their flag, they fought for each other.”

—Joseph Galloway

Illustration by Adam Hook from Elite 154 Vietnam Airmobile Warfare Tactics, © Osprey Publishing Ltd. www.ospreypublishing.com

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We Were Soldiers Once…And Young, Lt. Gen. Harold G Moore (Ret.) and Joseph L Galloway, 1992, ISBN 978-0345475817. Moore and journalist Joe Galloway started this whole thing by writing about the battle they fought at Ia Drang.We Were Soldiers, 2002, Icon Entertainment. Film starring Mel Gibson based on the book.Chickenhawk, Robert Mason, 1983, ISBN 9780-552-12419-5. Excellent book by one of the pilots who flew into Ia Drang.Osprey books: Vietnam Choppers: Helicopters in Battle 1950-1975, Battle Orders 73: The US Army in the Vietnam War 1965-73, Warrior 98: US Army Infantryman in Vietnam 1965-73, Warrior 128: US Helicopter Pilot in Vietnam, Warrior 135: North Vietnamese Army Soldier 1958-75, Elite 38: The NVA and Viet Cong, Elite 154: Vietnam Airmobile Warfare Tactics, New Vanguard 87: Bell UH-1 Huey “Slicks” 1962-75.Websites: http://www.weweresoldiers.net/campaign.htm, http://www.lzxray.com/index.htm, http://vietnam-hueys.tripod.com, http://www.tallcomanche.org/November_1965.htm, http://www.generalhieu.com/e66pleime-2.htm, http://sites.google.com/site/vietnamcombatoperations/Home/vco-chronology

Resources:

• 2/7 Cavalry splits off, continues north by northwest, captures two prisoners at 1157 100m east of Albany clearing. Prisoners are interrogated

• 2/5 Cavalry continues to LZ Columbus at 1058, closes there at 1138

• Column departs LZ X–Ray 900. 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry (2/5)leads out, followed by 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry (2/7)

• B-52 bombers strike Chu Pong Massif 1117

Morning of 17 November 1965

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Chu Pong massif

Ia Drang Valley

LZ COLUMBUS

LZ ALBANY

LZ X-RAY

2/7

2/5

2/7

2/5

• K-8 Battalion ambushes 2/7 Cavalry at 1315

2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry arrives at the LZ.

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Vietnamese attacks cut off 2nd platoon from the rest of B Company in the dry streambed.

Ia Drang Valley

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Hog fire support helps to hold back the Vietnamese assault waves.

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The Ia Drang is a river in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. It is part of a river system draining into the Mekong River in Cambodia from the highlands around Pleiku. The river valley itself is flat and wide at around 6 miles (10 km) across. The valley floor sits around 200m (650 ft) above sea level. The mountains on either side rise dramatically from the valley floor to about 500m (1640 ft), with the peaks around 800m (2600 ft).

From the air, the valley appears to be a sea of trees interspersed with clearings that could be used as landing zones. However, the view from the ground can be quite different. While there are areas of dense tropical forest, a lot of the valley is covered in more open woods with little undergrowth. In the dry season the stream beds are dry (although in the Monsoon they frequently burst their banks). The valley is not entirely flat. There are plenty of knolls, rises, and even small hills scattered about. This makes for an interesting variety of terrain to model.

ClearingsEasily the most important terrain feature in any battle featuring the Air Cavalry is a clearing. Without a clearing, they cannot land. You need to arrange your terrain to have a large irregular clearing 16” to 24” by 8” to 16” (40cm to 60cm by 20cm to 40cm) in a suitable location for the landing zone. You should also have one or two smaller clearings that can be used as alternate landing zones.

Tropical ForestThe tropical forest is often quite dense and even tanks had difficulty making their way through the worst areas. Use your normal woods (rated as Difficult Going) for these. The trees are mostly tall and spreading, so any trees except pines and firs (and even them at a pinch) would be perfect.

Open WoodsMuch of the rest of the area is covered in open woods. During the playtesting and terrain development for Ia Drang we utilised two different methods for representing open woods on the battlefield.

The first method simply declares the entire table, except where there is other terrain, to be open woods. This requires you to show your clearings as a patch of terrain. You can model a clearing base, use a patch of yellowish felt to represent the dry grass, or outline the edges of the clearing with trees and bushes, or a combination of these as suits your tastes and terrain collection. Scatter trees and scrub bases around the rest of the table to show that the whole area is lightly wooded.

The second method is shown in the accompanying photographs. Place your woods and forests as normal, but then surround each with a belt of scrub and open woods. This extends 4”/10cm from the woods and can be shown on the table by placing patches of elephant grass, bamboo, scrub, or trees around the woods. Make sure you have your woods far enough from the clearings that there is room for the belt of open woods as well.

Whichever way you show your open woods, use the Open Woods rules on page 246 of the Flames Of War rulebook for them. Open Woods are like normal woods, except that trees are dispersed enough that teams inside can see and be seen at 12”/30cm and fire artillery bombardments from inside it or over it unhindered. The general lack of undergrowth means that Vietnamese Open Woods should probably be rated as Cross-country Easy Going, rather than Difficult Going.

The Ia Drang Battlefield

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Dry Stream BedA dry stream bed ran along the western part of the landing zone. Moore used it to establish his defensive line as it offered cover from enemy fire. This is where a good portion of the fighting took place.

Treat the dry stream bed as Difficult Going that offers Concealment and Bulletproof Cover from incoming shooting to teams in it.

Chu Pong MassifThe Chu Pong Massif provided both the rationale and the backdrop for the battle of Ia Drang. As it turned out, the fighting only took place on a low spur of the mountain, so you could represent it with a ridge or hill in the corner of the table or leave it out altogether, but it is such a visual feature that we just had to have it on our battlefield!

The lower slopes of the mountain and the finger or spur running towards the clearing are much the same as the surrounding terrain and are treated as Open Woods. The steeper slopes are almost impassable and are treated as Very Difficult Going.

Knolls & Low RisesOne knoll in particular played an important part in the battle, sheltering the cut-off platoon for most of the battle. There were other knolls and rises scattered across the battlefield. These are easily represented by low, flat hills. The knolls tend to have more undergrowth than the flatter parts, so treat them as woods or forests and add some tree or scrub bases to represent this.

VisualsYou can find Joe Galloway’s excellent photographs of the battlefield taken during and after the battle on both the We Were Soldiers (http://www.weweresoldiers.net/campaign.htm) and LZ X-ray (http://www.lzxray.com/index.htm) websites. The movie We Were Soldiers is also a great resource as they spent a lot of effort to make the set look like the battlefield.

Total War: Ia DrangYou can use the Flames Of War Total War rules to recreate the entire battle at Ia Drang. Gather your friends and field the full 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry plus two additional companies of Airmobile infantry from 2nd Battalion. Or muster up the full 66th Regiment of the People’s Army of Vietnam.

Use the orders of battles on these pages to organise your forces as they appeared on 14 November 1965. You can download the Total War rules from the Flames Of War website, www.FlamesOfWar.com and use the Hot LZ mission to replay the first day of the battle. You might want to consider using a larger table or combining two tables to give each side more manoeuvre room for their increased forces.

Total War allows you to bring the big game to your game table and involve more than one friend in the fun. You can bring big armies to big tables, a fight to the finish with everyone’s miniatures collection involved. With more than one company to command the possibilities are endless in developing the right strategies to lead your force to victory.

Tips for Fielding Large FormationsWhen fielding large armies make sure the battlefield terrain is conducive to moving these formations. Too much terrain can hinder moving a lot of figures, while too little terrain can make it nearly impossible to close for battle as the killing fields are wide open and infantry charges become almost suicidal. In addition if you don’t have enough room for all your forces to fit on the table then they become prime targets for indirect weapons.

Also keep the total points used on both sides equal in terms of how many points each player will command. This prevents the game from slowing down while one player managing

3000 points it trying to keep up with two players each managing 1500 points. Also if you have each player handling more than 2000 points apiece make sure you have allotted enough time to play the battle to an acceptable conclusion. Strategies with larger armies will take more time to execute, especially with infantry dominated forces.

Finally, when playing on large tables it is always good to have extra support materials like more than one tape measure, artillery template, and sets of dice. With massive amounts of men on the board expect to roll an equivalent amount of dice!

Bigger Games - Bigger Victories

A Hog provides close fire support to Herrick’s Platoon cut off on the knoll.

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Delta Company

Company HQ Mortar Platoon (Airmobile)Scout Platoon (Airmobile)

(Use a Rifle Platoon) Anti-tank Platoon (Airmobile)

(Use a Rifle Platoon or make up your own platoon)

Alpha Company

Company HQ Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)

1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry

2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry

229th Aviation Battalion‘The Preachers’

1st Battalion, 21st Artillery (airmobile)Firebase Falcon

Field Artillery battery A (Airmobile)(2 Gun Sections)

charlie Company

Company HQ Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)

bravo Company

Company HQ Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)

BRAVO Company

Company HQ Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)

Bravo Company (1 Platoon of 4x UH-1D Slicks)

Delta Company (4 Platoons of 4x UH-1B Hogs)

Alpha Company (3 Platoons of 4x UH-1D Slicks)

Field Artillery battery B (Airmobile)(2 Gun Sections)

66th regiment, B3 Front

K-7 battalion

Battalion HQ C-1 Infantry Company C-2 Infantry Company C-3 Infantry Company C-4 Infantry Company C-5 Weapons Company

(allocated by Battalion HQ) Mortar Platoon

Machine-gun Platoon Recoilless Platoon

Mortar Company Sapper Company

Recoilless Company Anti-air Company (3 platoons)

K-8 battalion

Battalion HQ C-6 Infantry Company C-7 Infantry Company C-8 Infantry Company C-9 Infantry Company

C-10 Weapons Company

(allocated by Battalion HQ) Mortar Platoon

Machine-gun Platoon Recoilless Platoon

K-9 battalion

Battalion HQ C-11 Infantry Company C-12 Infantry Company C-13 Infantry Company C-14 Infantry Company C-15 Weapons Company

(allocated by Battalion HQ) Mortar Platoon

Machine-gun Platoon Recoilless Platoon

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At 1430 hours Charlie Company landed under intense fire from the enemy. Within minutes of landing the Company was met with a head-on assault which caused high casualties amongst the deploying troops. Captain Edwards radioed in that an estimated 175 to 200 PAVN troops were charging his company’s lines.

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The UH-1D was known as a ‘Slick’ because, compared to the gunships, it had a clean appearance. It was called a ‘Dog ship’ by the pilots for the phonetic code D for Dog. While the UH-1D could carry up to twelve troops under ideal conditions, in the ‘hot and high’ conditions of the Vietnamese highlands the normal load was just eight soldiers and their equipment.

The Bell UH1 ‘Huey’ helicopter is synonymous with the Vietnam War, and the equally-distinctive measured ‘thwop thwop’ of its rotors is known to anyone that has been to a war movie about the period. The US Army flew two main variants in 1965. The UH-1B ‘Hog’ gunship and the UH-1D ‘Slick’.

Painting HelicoptersSLICKS

It is a good idea to paint the door gunners before gluing them in place. Paint the interior a medium grey – eg. 836 London Grey.

Painting a suggestion of reflected landscape in the windows looks good, but try to be subtle, using muted colours. If you don’t want to paint reflections, a flat neutral colour such as 816 Luftwaffe Uniform is also effective. Finish with a coat of gloss varnish.

Carefully apply the rotor markings in several thin, even coats. Make sure the number on the nose matches the last three digits of the serial number on the tail.

All Helicopters come with metal and clear plastic rotors, for you to

choose which set to use. Full assembly diagrams included with each model.

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The older UH-1B helicopters were converted to gunships when the more powerful UH-1D arrived. The UH-1B was nicknamed ‘Hog’ because it handled like a pig when fully armed with rockets and machine-guns. While the Slicks could cruise at 110 knots (203km/h), the Hogs could only make 80 knots (148km/h)! The Slicks had to loiter around while the Hogs caught up and prepped the LZ before they could land. The Hogs are equipped with the M22 armament system. This comprises an M134 six-barrelled minigun mounted in traversable mountings on each side, and two XM157 rocket pods with seven 2.75'' FFAR folding-fin rockets each.

hoGS

The upper windows were tinted green to minimise heat and glare. Paint them a medium green – eg. 968 Flat Green, followed by a coat of gloss varnish.

The Hog’s ammunition belts are fiddly to position. Taking your time, carefully twist them into shape before gluing them in place.

If you find the shark’s teeth decal difficult to apply in one piece, you may want to cut it into pieces. Let each piece dry before applying the next, and use a little paint to cover up any visible joins.

Command Team with Col. Moore

Mortar Team Rifle Team

Weapon Team

At the time of Ia Drang, the Air Cav troopers would still have been wearing black leather combat boots, rather than the lightweight canvas-topped jungle boots which later proved more suitable to a tropical environment.

The Mitchell pattern camouflage helmet cover was reversible, but it was commonly worn green side out at all times, regardless of the terrain.

Command Team

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Painting UniformsUS INFANTRY

Flat Flesh (955)

Russian Uniform WW2 (924)

Reflective Green (890)

Flat Earth (983)

Black (950)

Chocolate Brown (872)

Brown Violet (887)

50/50 Middlestone (882)/German Camo Bright Green (833)

Russian Uniform WW2 (924)

Khaki (988)

Gunmetal Grey (863)

Deep Yellow (915)

OR

Black (950)

Black (950)

Command Team LMG Team

HMG Team Mortar Team

Anti-Aircraft Team Recoiless Gun Team

Rifle Team Rifle Team with Bazooka

The standard field uniform of the PAVN was a simple loose-fitting design. From 1966 the standard colour was a darkish green, but the troops at Ia Drang would still have been outfitted in a faded tan colour. Footwear consisted of a simple canvas ‘jungle shoe’ with a black rubber sole and toe cap. These came in tan, green and sometimes black. The distinctive sun helmet was a similar colour to the rest of the uniform, while the soft bush hat came in a variety of colours ranging from brown to olive green.

Uniform items faded heavily with use, and were not replaced until they wore out. One way of representing this is by painting the shirt or trousers of some figures a slightly lighter or darker colour.

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PAVN INFANTRY

2:1 US Tan Earth (874) & Khaki Grey (880)

Khaki (988)

Beige Brown (875)

Stone Grey (884)

Gunmetal Grey (863)

Flat Red (957) Brass (801)

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