We had another game of FoW Vietnam last night, the third one to be precise. This time we changed the scenario and did a VC assault with the American defending a vital supply road.

I'm getting a better hang of the FoW rules, but that did not stop my VC from being hammered to bits by the Americans' superior firepower. I started my attack at night and at least avoided the choppers for two turns. But night fighting is a double-edged sword, as I found that my heavy support weapons ofen couldn't roll well enough to actually see anything to shoot at.

At least this time I managed to inflict some serious casualties blowing away a Sheridan and a bunch of ACAVs and M113's but I still couldn't get an assault to succeed. The American massed firepower is very scary.

Part of it is me still learning how to utilize my forces, especially the support elements. How they should be bought (as independent companies or HQ support options?) and how to actually use them. Attaching HQ support to infantry companies makes them more survivable because the enemy can no longer target them individually, but it's hard to concentrate on their main function and once the infantry inevitably gets blasted, the support goes with it. Maybe larger independent formations would be better.

I probably should also put even more terrain on the table to negate the American's range advantage. I should probably get some elephant grass done.

As as aside, I think FoW is getting choked with special rules. The basic rules are relatively simple (except maybe assault), but especially the Americans come with a bewildering array of special rules. This might be okay if you've played long enough to remember all the basic rules easily but I'm not yet at that level and quite frankly having half a dozen special rules on top of, say, the regular artillery rules does not really help.

Maybe we should try Cold War Commander with the same figures. Then I could even take a few T-55's...