Tacticon 2013 (Denver, CO, USA)

Tacticon 2013 in Denver, CO

(Note: All of my games used the Force on Force ruleset, published by Ambush Alley Games.

Game 1: Blackhorse Riders

The first game I ran was on Friday night. It was a scenario based on a Philip Keith book called Blackhorse Riders.  The story was based on events of March 26th, 1970, when a company of soldiers were isolated and surrounded in War Zone C, near the Cambodian border. Another unit (Alpha Troop) was the only friendly unit even remotely close enough to assist the beleaguered company. The battle lasted hours (from 3p until 11pm) and we had the table surrounded my 7ft tall pipe and drape on three sides to encourage darkness. (My intent was to cover the top with black cloth and use LED lights as flares (flares were used historically to help the units fight their way back to friendly lines).

 There was a B-52 strike zone that the vehicles had to cross in the book. I was able to model this by using Pegasus Models craters that I found on Amazon.com and finished with Model Color paint, Citadel Sepia wash and their green flock. My friend Drew was nice enough to loan me his tree stands to use as jungle border.







 Unsuspecting Charlie Company as they recon their area...

The trap is sprung when the NVA player decides. (GM Note: Almost always the NVA player jumps the gun, but this is the soonest that anyone has done it.)  Note the two layers of bunkers, historically they were three or more deep.

The Charlie company player was very aggressive.  His name was Nathan, and he was a very savvy kid of 11 or 12.  He used his Sheridan tanks to destroy the bunkers, focusing on the ones with RPG stands. It didn't hurt that Nathan was rolling incredibly well!

Another bunker destroyed!

Charlie ended up fighting their way out, really not needing Alpha's (played by Nathan's dad Roger) help.

Game 2: ARVN in Trouble

In this game (played on Saturday morning) the ARVN stands were in trouble.  They had to hold on until relief forces of the 11th ACR rode in to rescue.

The NVA quickly hot spot jumped into the melee

ARVN not fairing well!

Here come the Cavalry, riding to the rescue!

They decided to close assault the NVA!

Tanks had to climb the hill in order to eliminate RPGs that were raining down on them.  The outcome was an NVA victory as the ARVN were wiped out to the last man.  Sad day for the ARVN Rangers.

Game 3: Knocking on Heaven's Door

 The NVA had set up a pair of mortars in Hill 223. They had been the ones harassing the 11th ACR in the last scenario!

The NVA sent reinforcements to protect them!

Third Marine Division was tasked to "take that hill" and they used their LVTP5s to do it.

T

Flanked by M48s, the Marines gave the NVA hell.

The NVA tried repeatedly to RPG or otherwise destroy the M48s.  The outcome was bad for the NVA.  The Marines rolled up the hill, killing all the way, and the NVA were unable to reinforce the team.  Marines eventually made it up to the mortars and rolled over the top; killing the NVA mortarmen!




I had a lot of fun this time running 3 games at this convention.  I am looking forward to the two conventions (Ghengis Con 2014 and Tacticon 2014) where I will focus on SCI-FI scenarios (with a riot game or two for good measure!)

Happy Wargaming!

M.