Winning with the White Star

[Zanoni]

Hi all,

Just taken up TMOCB and played three solo games so far (the lock down effect!). In all three games I've used the 'Average' USMC force with assets of a Carrier Unit and Extra Men. The first and third games saw them take on the VC while in the second game they fought the NVA.

Games 1 and 2 resulted in 'Really Good Win's" for the Communists while game 3 was a mere 'Proper Win" for them. In the first two games I was perhaps overconfident in the USMC's abilities, in the third I played them more cautiously and they did do better for a while before losing an entire unit in the last couple of moves.

So far I have noticed a couple of things:

1) The White Star Platoon Leader is extremely vulnerable as he only has one accompanying base and can't stack with another unit. It seems quite easy to kill him by assaulting him or even by shooting at him (in the second game he even died searching a village as he was ambushed and the ambusher's threw two 6's out of 3 dice!).

2) After the first couple of turns when there are not many Communists around it is hard to search villages as all the Communists have to do is get a unit either in a village or in proximity to a village in some sort of cover and 'down' making them very hard to displace.

It may well be that this reflects the futility of the Vietnam War from the White Star side well but I wonder if anyone can suggest some possible tactics for the White Star to use?

Thanks,

Zanoni

[Nick]

Great first post Zanoni. Welcome to the forum.

MoCB is my lockdown project too - I've been sorting out scenery and buildings the last few weeks. Starting painting some forces this week.

Nick

[Zanoni]

Thanks Nick, the project has been going for a while for me now slowly making scenery and gathering figures using 20 mm plastics but lock down encouraged me to start playing! I thought about using the TFL 'Charlie Don't Surf' but went for TMOCB instead in the end.

There are reports of my games on https://trooptime.blogspot.com/ if anyone wants to see exactly where I have gone wrong with the Americans so far!

Zanoni

[Colonel Kilgore]

Zanoni,

Welcome to the Forum!

MOCB is probably my favourite RFCM game - not that I am particularly good at it!


Stewart's really good with tactics, so may chime in later. I'll just chuck in a few thoughts now:
 - certain assets can add a base to the Platoon command squad, and so help with its vulnerability
 - the game is usually lost or won on caches - it's easy to get distracted by chasing a body count
 - the White Star artillery can be very useful
 - I'd drop the Carriers and invest those points elsewhere

The game is finely balanced and can go either way - your White Star teams must have been unlucky so far!

Best of luck, and enjoy the game,

Simon

[martin goddard]

Enjoyed the post Zanoni. We await Stewart's input here. He is always successful at Vietnam.   As Simon says, the artillery is useful too.

martin

[Colonel Kilgore]

Having checked the rules, I would go for the extra man, an Artillery Liaison officer and either the Tunnel Rats or the Kit Carson scout for the 8 asset points of an Average White Star force.

Looking forward to reading Stewart's thoughts!

Simon

[Big Mike]

Greetings Zanoni,
MOCB is certainly up there with the best of the RFCM/Peter Pig games. The troop figures, scenery, civilian characters etc help to create the period atmosphere of 'Nam, safely at home.
I agree that playing White Star can seem to be hard to win - especially as a solo player, I imagine. My experience of winning with an Australian force is to remember the mission objective and use your superior firepower. Col Kilgore should know a thing or two about fighting "Charlie" so his advice on using the assets is worthy of note. Just don't let him take you surfing on the Da Nang delta.

[Sean Clark]

One of the highlights of the last weekender was Big Mikes  Long Tan game. As a VC player, I can vouch that the White Star firepower is troublesome.

In the VC game the US have the advantage of fighting raw troops. Although dice can sometimes misbehave, the VC will lose firefights. Assaults are just about as deadly for both sides though. An extra base to go with your commander is wise.

Against the NVA it really is a tough game. Best get searching early on and get out quick (ie take 3 off the countdown every turn).

Use of artillery/air strikes is huge for white star as well. Hit those pesky VC for all your worth especially when denying you the chance to search. But do be careful of killing civilians.

I recommend a good Vietnam era soundtrack whilst playing, and remember. The night belongs to Charlie.

[Zanoni]

Hi all,

Thanks for the welcome and the suggestions, most appreciated and I'm relieved to hear it isn't just me that finds playing the White Star hard! I think they have been a bit unlucky so far and I probably have not grasped all the rules quite yet.

I confess I only use the M113's because I like the models, they do seem to be reasonably efficient but turning up late does not help and I suspect as several of you have suggested the asset points might be better spent on an extra team to attach to the platoon leader, either artillery liaison, sniper or able scout. Of course I am also tempted by using a helicopter but have not invested in one yet! I bought the Britannia Games patrol boat as well but the game has no use for boats I think?

Sean - I do indeed play the games with the soundtrack from 'Full Metal Jacket' then 'Apocalypse Now' on.......

I'll probably play again next week so will let you all know how it goes.

Cheers,

Zanoni