ia Drang Valley - The Battle of Ia Drang

8/10/2019 ia Drang Valley - The Battle of Ia Drang

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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 Peoples Army

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

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

7thCavalry 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 Battleeld . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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

eld 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 rst units to arrive was the 1stCavalry Division

(Airmobile), formed from the experimental 11 thAir 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 thePAVN 33rdRegiment. While the Vietnamese gained a foothold

in the base, they did not overrun it. ARVN rangers were own 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 1stCavalry 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 reght the battle.

Battlefront Miniatures is so busy bringing you lots of new stuff for the Second World War, we really didnt have time

to expand into a whole new period like the Vietnam War. That was ne though, as we just wanted to ght one battle, Ia

Drang. This theme is the result - a stand-alone game bringingFlames Of Warto the Vietnam War. It is a one-off thing,

so we arent going to produce a whole range of Vietnam War gures, just the ones we need for this battle. Dont worry

though, there are plenty of other manufacturers out there with Vietnam War ranges.

You will need theFlames Of Warrulebook to use the intel briengs 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). Dont feel limited to the missions given here, or even the Battle of Ia Drang. The FirstTeam went on to ght in Vietnam for another ten years, so there are plenty more battles to research and ght. 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 dont 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, therelief force ran straight into an ambush by

the PAVN 320thRegiment.

Things didnt all go well for the PAVN

though. The USAF responded to calls

for help with sustained air attacksand casualties amongst the PAVN

forces were heavy. When the Air Cav

committed their 1stBrigade (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 Cavalrys

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 nally broke contact, the PAVN

33rdRegiment was down to half strength.

The cost to the Cavalrys 1stBrigade was

over 250 men killed or wounded.

Operation

Silver Bayonet

Both sides then paused and regrouped

for the next phase. B3 Front had ordered

the 66thRegiment of the 304thGlory

Division on the Ho Chi Minh Trail to

lighten its packs and proceed to the Chu

Pong Massif by forced marches. Theyarrived on 10 November, going into

bivouac and resting, preparing for battle.

Meanwhile, the 1stCavalry Division

pulled the exhausted 1stBrigade out

and sent the 3rdGarry Owen Brigade

to a forward base at the Catecka Tea

Plantation near Pleiku for Operation

Silver Bayonet. The 3rdBrigade had two

battalions of the 7thCavalry, Colonel

Custers 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

vietnam

1963-1973

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time. Moore had one company of sixteen

helicopters available to carry his battalion

in to the landing zonenearly 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, ring 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, 66thRegiment. 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

eld 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 Lands

As 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 themountain 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 Companys left. There

had still been no contact with Vietnamese forces at this point, so

B Company moved out to the west towards a nger of the Chu

Pong Massif.

Colonel Hal Moore to prepare his 1stBattalion, 7thCavalry for

an operation to see what was there. Reconnaissance identied

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 eldjust large enough for eight helicopters to land at a

Central Highlands

Plei Me

Duc Co

Plei Rongol

Catecka TeaPlantation

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 Albany

LZ Columbus

FB Falcon

K-8

K-7

K-9

Bravo Company secures LZ X-Ray.

7th Cav.

Command

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4/18

Cut off

2ndPlatoon

Vietnamese Counterattacks

B Companys lead platoons came under re at 1245 hours, and

Lieutenant Herricks 2ndPlatoon, on the right, began pursuing

a eeing 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 weredead 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 battalions mortars started bombarding

the landing zone around the same time, hitting the last platoon

of A Company and the rst elements of C Company as they

arrived. On landing, the C Company platoon headed south to

cover the wide-open left ank and the A Companys 1stPlatoon

was ordered to join B Company and rescue the cut-off platoon.

C-13 Companys 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 Companys 1stPlatoons unknown (it eventually turned out

to be on the far side of B Company!), it proved difcult to

bring down artillery re on the attacking PAVN troops. Instead,

3rdPlatoon 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 Companys 2ndPlatoon.

The re 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

outanked and overrun. The attempt to link up with Herricksplatoon 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 2ndBattalion,

7thCavalry 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 nger of the Chu Pong Massif.

1245: Vietnamese C-11 Company counterattacks and

surrounds 2ndPlatoon 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 re.

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 2ndPlatoon 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: 2ndBattalion, 5thCavalry 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: 2ndBattalion, 5thCavalry 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, 1stBattalion, 7thRegiment

B 1/7 = B Company, 1stBattalion, 7thRegiment

B 2/7 = B Company, 2ndBattalion, 7thRegiment

C 1/7 = C Company, 1stBattalion, 7thRegiment

D 1/7 = D Company, 1stBattalion, 7thRegiment

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The Second Day

The 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 didnt take

place until dawn on 15 November. An hour later, at 0745 hours

the attacks had penetrated C Companys 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 summonevery 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 66thRegiment 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 2ndBattalion, 7thCavalry at the

LZ, and 2ndBattalion, 5thCavalry which had walked in from LZ

Victor. The survivors of 1stBattalion, 7thCavalry were own 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 Albany

Having 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 y 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, whichhad 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 rst battalion of the

33rdRegiment) was guarding potential landing zones in the

area. Around midday, after 2ndBattalion, 7thCavalry 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 2ndBattalion, 5thCavalry, marching from LZ

Columbus, and their own B Company (which had been airlifted

from LZ X-ray with the 1stBattalion, 7thCavalry), 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

battleeld, nearly a full battalion.

Victory?

In the battles at LZ X-ray and LZ Albany the 1 stCavalry

Division had proved itself and the concept of air mobility. It had

carried the ght 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 gures

of 305 killed and 524 wounded in October and November were

still dramatic, representing 5% of the division. In return the USArmy 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, ags, 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 ag, 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 OnceAnd 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 ew 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 XRay 900.

2ndBattalion, 5thCavalry (2/5)

leads out, followed by

2ndBattalion, 7thCavalry (2/7)

B-52 bombers

strike Chu Pong

Massif 1117

Morning of 17 November 1965

IaDrang

Chu Pongmassif

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.

13


7/18

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

Ia Drang Valley

14


8/18

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

15


9/1846

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 at and wide at around 6 miles (10 km) across. The valley

oor sits around 200m (650 ft) above sea level. The mountains on

either side rise dramatically from the valley oor 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 at. There are

plenty of knolls, rises, and even small hills scattered about. This

makes for an interesting variety of terrain to model.

Clearings

Easily the most important terrain feature in any battle featuring

the Air Cavalry is a clearing. Without a clearing, they cannotland. 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 Forest

The tropical forest is often quite dense and even tanks had

difculty making their way through the worst areas. Use your

normal woods (rated as Difcult Going) for these. The trees are

mostly tall and spreading, so any trees except pines and rs

(and even them at a pinch) would be perfect.

Open Woods

Much 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 battleeld.

The rst method simply declares the entire table, except where

there is other terrain, to be open woods. This requires you toshow 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 Warrulebook 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 re 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 Difcult Going.

The Ia Drang Battlefield


10/1847

Dry Stream Bed

A 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 re. This is where a good portion of the ghting

took place.

Treat the dry stream bed as Difcult Going that offers

Concealment and Bulletproof Cover from incoming shooting to

teams in it.

Chu Pong Massif

The Chu Pong Massif provided both the rationale and the

backdrop for the battle of Ia Drang. As it turned out, the ghting

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 leaveit out altogether, but it is such a visual feature that we just had to

have it on our battleeld!

The lower slopes of the mountain and the nger 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 Difcult Going.

Knolls & Low Rises

One 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 battleeld. These are

easily represented by low, at hills. The knolls tend to have

more undergrowth than the atter parts, so treat them as woods

or forests and add some tree or scrub bases to represent this.

Visuals

You can nd Joe Galloways excellent photographs of the

battleeld 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 Soldiersis also a great resource as they spent a

lot of effort to make the set look like the battleeld.


11/18

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 eld the full

1stBattalion, 7thCavalry plus two additional companies of Airmobile infantry from 2ndBattalion. Or muster up the full 66thRegiment

of the Peoples 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 Warwebsite, www.FlamesOfWar.com and use the Hot LZ mission to replay the rst 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 ght to the nish with everyones 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 elding large armies make sure the battleeld terrain is

conducive to moving these formations. Too much terrain can

hinder moving a lot of gures, while too little terrain can make it

nearly impossible to close for battle as the killing elds are wide

open and infantry charges become almost suicidal. In addition if

you dont have enough room for all your forces to t 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 re support to Herricks Platoon cut off on the knoll.

78


12/18

Delta Company

Company HQ

Mortar Platoon (Airmobile)

Scout Platoon (Airmobile)(Use a Rie Platoon)

Anti-tank Platoon (Airmobile)(Use a Rie Platoon or make up your own platoon)

Alpha Company

Company HQ

Rie Platoon(Airmobile)

Rie Platoon (Airmobile)


1stBattalion, 7thCavalry

2ndBattalion, 7thCavalry

229thAviation BattalionThe Preachers

1st

Battalion, 21st

Artillery (airmobile)Firebase Falcon

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

charlie Company

Company HQ




bravo Company

Company HQ




BRAVO Company

Company HQ




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-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-10 Weapons Company


Mortar Platoon

Machine-gun Platoon

Recoilless Platoon

K-9 battalion

Battalion HQ





C-15 Weapons Company


Mortar Platoon

Machine-gun Platoon

Recoilless Platoon

vietnam

1

963-1973

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13/18

1430 15th November 1965 LZ X-ray

80


14/18

At 1430 hours Charlie Company landed under intense re 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 companys lines.

81


15/1860

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 ew two main variants in 1965. The UH-1B

Hog gunship and the UH-1D Slick.

Painting Helicopters

SLICKS

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 reected

landscape in the windows looks good,

but try to be subtle, using muted colours.

If you dont want to paint reections, a

at 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 metaland clear plastic rotors, for you to

choose which set to use. Full assemblydiagrams included with each model.


16/18

Pai

nting&

Mo

delling

61

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-n 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 Hogs ammunition belts are ddly

to position. Taking your time, carefully

twist them into shape before gluing them

in place.

If you nd the sharks teeth decal difcult

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.


17/18

Command Team withCol. Moore

Mortar Team Rie Team

Weapon Team

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

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

Command Team

62

Painting UniformsUS INFANTRY

Flat Flesh (955)

Russian UniformWW2 (924)

ReectiveGreen (890)

Flat Earth (983)

Black (950)

Chocolate Brown (872)

Brown Violet (887)

50/50 Middlestone(882)/German CamoBright Green (833)

Russian UniformWW2 (924)

Khaki (988)

Gunmetal Grey (863)

Deep Yellow (915)

OR

Black (950)

Black (950)


18/18

Command Team LMG Team

HMG Team Mortar Team

Anti-Aircraft Team Recoiless Gun Team

Rie Team Rie Team with Bazooka

Te standard field uniform of the PAVN was a simple loose-fitting design. From 1966 the standard colour was adarkish green, but the troops at Ia Drang would still have been outfitted in a faded tan colour. Footwear consistedof a simple canvas jungle shoe with a black rubber sole and toe cap. Tese came in tan, green and sometimesblack. Te distinctive sun helmet was a similar colour to the rest of the uniform, while the soft bush hat came ina 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 isby painting the shirt or trousers of some figures a slightly lighter or darker colour.

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)

&

ia Drang Valley - The Battle of Ia Drang

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