Vietnam 1965-1975; 10 - Operation Starlite (9)
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Another round of Operation Starlite, this time with reduced logging. I'm not bringing in the full turn sequence, will focus on logging just the operations in a minimal way, with emphasis on tactics discussion. To keep things on track, I have the Search & Destroy flowchart handy.
Operation 1
VC move to 5020 and 5120, I don't know which VC unit is which.
There is nothing more of consequence to write of at the moment.
Operation 2
USMC needs to figure out which unit is the VC Political Section so it can bear down the regiment. Too this end, 5020 is declared the Target Hex, 3/3/3M moves to 5020.
The VC in 5120 moves to 5019.
6 points of Naval are fired for Offensive Interdiction.
Alert roll, 2. VC are pinned in 5020.
Round 1
3/3/3M attacks, revealing the 70R.
- Attacker: 3 + 4 Air for 7.
- Defender: 6 + 2 support for 8.
Odds 2:3, DRM -1.
Roll 3 - 1 (drm) for 2:
- VC loss: 1 Repl.
- USMC loss: 1 Repl.
Not bad.
Retreat: +2 for enemy occupied hex, +1 for interdiction. Looks like they can retreat 1 MP to 4920.
Pursuit: the USMC is going to stay where it is and apply at least 1, possibly all 3 pursuit points to the next round of combat. Will need to read some rules on this. From 6.7.4, there is no explicit mention of Interdiction effects on Pursuit.
Offensive Reserves: Pile on! Bringing all of them in while I still have Air support. Too bad about Naval. Here's the movements:
- 2/12 to 5020
- 7/1M to 4820, Airmobile
- 2/4/3M to 4919
- 3/7/1M to 4920
Reaction: VC Political Section move to 5119.
Remove interdiction and start Round 2.
Round 2
We can attack again, with Offensive Interdiction of 6, reducing potential support to 13. But this really pins them down.
- USMC: 3 AF + 6.5 support for 9.5.
- VC: 6 DF + 2 support for 8.
DRM:
- Odds 1:1 no DRM.
- Pursuit: +3
Casualties: roll 1 + 3 for 4.
- VC: 6 + 6.5 = 12.5, lose 1 Repl.
- USMC: 3 + 2 = 5, lose 1 Repl.
Retreat: VC cannot retreat having been interdicted.
Pursuit: +1
No more offensive reserves, end of Round 2
Round 3
No interdiction this round, pile on with the support to see if we can take out the VC.
- AF: 6 + 9.5 support = 12.5. This is risky, rolling a 2 reduces USMC to 0 Repl.
- DF: 6 + 2 support = 8.
DRM:
- odds: 3:2 for +1.
- Pursuit roll: +1
- Pursuit unit: +3
Casualties, do not roll a 2, roll 3 + 5 = 8. Pursuit +4.
- VC: 6 + 9.5 = 15.5, lose 1! Dang!
- USMC: 6 + 2 = 8, lose 0.
Retreat: VC to 5019, which removes 8 support from USMC, but adds the cruiser back in.
No reserves, proceed to Round 4.
Round 4
AF: 6 + 7 (2/12) + 6 (naval) + 4 (air) = 6 + 8.5 = 14.5 DF: 6 + 2 = 8.
DRM:
- Odds: +1
- Pursuit roll: +4
- Pursuit unit: +3
- Total: +8
Basically, any roll will take out 1 Repl of VC, the only question is how many USMC are lost. With +8, I don't think any.
Casualties: roll 2 + 8 = 10.
- VC: lose 4 Repl.
- USMC: lose 1 Repl.
This is a win for the USMC.
AAR
The VC failed the Alert roll in Operation 2. What would have happened if they succeeded in the Alert roll? This is worth gaming out.
USMC should have put 2/12 in the hills, big blunder. However, the only retreat route puts the VC right back into Naval gunfire range.
Here's the situation at the start of Round 4:
