RFCM

Martin replied on June 29th quite succinctly.

Tony

Thank you for your prompt reply. I find the rules clear and have played them happily since you published them. I have not noticed a huge groundswell of opinion for a reprint but others will definitely have a better finger on the pulse.   

Tony

Dear all,

Thank you all for reading the above. Perhaps there were too many questions for a definitive answer so let me reduce it to one key question:

"Must foot heavy weapons deduct 4" from movement in order to deploy or pack up?"

I strongly believe the answer is yes due to the entry on the modifiers chart on page 75 and the statement on the QRS under foot movement. I believe the contention is also supported by several other rules, hence the plethora of questions.

That therefore is the way I have played it since 2009 when I first acquired the rules. However recently on another forum I have been strenuously informed by Julian Bonney that I am playing this wrong and that there is no deduction for foot HW packing up or deploying. This deduction only applies to towed guns including AA. Given that Mr Bonney has built quite the reputation on this site in the last 15 months, I searched high and low for this amendment yet can not find it anywhere.

Having played almost all RFCM rules over the past thirty years and never seen such a major divergence from the written word I decided to pose the question of the rules writer and his team. I should be most grateful if this single point could be cleared up for me.

Tony

Dear Martin,

Could I ask for some very simple clarifications about Foot Mounted HW. The questions follow my cross referencing the various paragraphs concerning HW.

1. They are defined as HMG, Recoilless Rifle, Mortar, Missiles.

2. All foot HW have to deploy to fire and pack up to move.

3. All foot HW when deploying or packing up pay the 4inch movement penalty

4. HMG may fire in the turn it deploys others may not.

5. HMG may fire and then pack up

6. Recoilless Rifles may not pack up if they have fired

7. May Mortars and Missiles fire and then pack up

Many thanks

Tony

Played those 20 years ago but preferred his SCW take on the original Square Bashing. Excellent games.

Tony

Yes I have seen them, and read this forum form cover to cover.

The reason i ask is that I have had 4 "armies" + all the paraphenalia from the last set of rules for at least 15 years and probably nearer 20. However as my life until recently was very peripatetic none of it has ever been painted and mostly it has sat in store for years on end, along with many other projects! Therefore I am just getting my painting etc in some sort of order. Spring next year is fine. Has waited this long will wait a little longer.

Is there a potential timeframe for these new rules yet? I note that play testing started in August/September and I have seen the posted videos. I think I have searched everywhere else for an outline of a release date but can't find it anywhere.

Tony

Martin,

I just wanted to use this forum to say congratulations and thank you for the latest iteration of MOCB. Really good, very evocative, an absolutely playable set of rules, delivering an excellent game full of tension and surprises to both sides. Thoroughly enjoyed and definitely amongst the very best Vietnam rules I have played in the last 30 years or so.

Tony

Dear All,

looking for help and a, I suspect, easy rules clarification on unit composition. I am definitely not a rules nazi, however coming back in to the game after some time away and with the new rules I have found a discrepancy which I would be grateful if someone could answer. On page 15 in para 11.1; point 10 states there may be no more than 3 heavy weapons per unit. Point 11 in the same list defines heavy weapons as RCL, missiles, mortars and HMGs and states there may be no more than 10 in an army including those on vehicles again including technicals.

However on page 19 in para 11.3 Sample Armies  Unit C of the People's Popular Front Army has 4 HMG technicals.

Simple question which is right? I would like the latter to be right as grouping heavy weapons into support companies feels right but I will live with whatever the answer is.

Tony

Thank you both. It is also how I understood it but it was the use of the termini technici that confused me. Unit for both a single base and the normal usage s one of the 5 groups of bases.  Tony

It is quite probable that I am being particularly thick here and missing some very obvious point that is highlighted elsewhere but......

On page 57 under "New Unit Leaders" the second paragraph refers to birthing new units. I understand who gets new leaders and in what circumstances and I understand how the second paragraph rule would work to birth a new unit; i.e. create a leader from the old unit swapping out a normal base and adding up to one other normal base from the old unit and then having that new unit take its turn presumably moving away from the old unit to avoid "overloading squares". HOWEVER what I do not understand is who can do this? I can see a logic that says VC can do this easily .. "Bo take three men and...". I could even extrapolate that logic out to more formal military organisations both White Star and the NVA; "Corporal Kowalski etc" but is that what is really wanted, particularly for the US side, continuously splitting its sections amoeba like into smaller and smaller units.

Massive preamble, simple question: Who can form new units by birthing new leaders?

Tony

Saloon Keeper and that suits very well. Make the money, enjoy the distractions and stay alive. Deadwood here I come

Tony