Silver Bayonet: Gaming the Ia Drang Valley

Proof of purchase.  Silver Bayonet has outstanding components and production quality.  The map is hard-mounted, a rarity these days - almost every game is published with paper maps.  Even the box is made of heavier stock.  A great value for the price.

A section of the map as seen in the game's VASSAL module.  This is the area around Pleiku and Camp Holloway.  There are a few clear hexes but the terrain is mostly broken hills, light jungle and mountain jungle.

I have blogged before about how I enjoy combining the reading of military history with historical wargames.  The Vietnam War does not loom large in my rather robust wargame collection (a lifetime in the making) but I do own several interesting titles.  In computer wargames I have John Tiller's squad level treatments at the war, Vietnam and Tour of Duty.  These offer relatively quick playing scenarios that show how the war was fought at the tactical level.

I also own The Operational Art of War III which features campaigns and battles throughout modern history.  There are many excellent Vietnam-era scenarios to play and I have enjoyed them a lot through the years.  The scenario on the Ia Drang ’65 campaign is a blast to play, realistic, and doesn't take very long to complete.  There are also a number of "strategic" level scenarios offered on the Vietnam Combat Operations site.  These incredibly intricate scenarios cover the whole war from when the first US Marines splashed ashore at Da Nang all the way (so far) through the invasion of Cambodia.  There is a wonderful PDF accompanying each scenario which presents every combat mission during the war; an excellent historic resource and a lot of fun play.

As far as board games go, I have enjoyed the old strategic-level game Vietnam 65-75 for years.  It is a fun and reasonably accurate game to play individual military campaigns from the war.  In its campaign scenarios it adds the weight of the political side of the war, pacification and winning hearts and minds, which, though interesting, slows game play down to a slog.  No Trumpets, No Drums offers a different strategic take on the war.  It has the advantage of including Cambodia and Laos on the game map.  This allows for a wider strategic exploration of the conflict as well as reflecting the covert operations in those two countries.  I really like this game a lot and will be playing it again soon in 2018.  I also own a copy of the Against the Odds magazine game Meatgrinder which depicts the valiant stand by the South Vietnamese army at Xuan Loc in April 1975 just before the end of the war.  I have never played it but have enjoyed reading the rules and the accompanying historical articles.

But my wargame of choice at the moment is Silver Bayonet from GMT Games.  I purchased the original version of this game back in 1991 and played it frequently at the time.  Last year GMT published the 25th anniversary edition of this game, which is devoted completely to the 1965 Ia Drang Valley campaign conducted by the First Cavalry Division (Airmobile) against Viet Cong elements and North Vietnamese regulars.  The game is fun to play because it offers several very short battle scenarios as well as wider looks at different aspects of the campaign, bringing it into a sharper focus which augments my reading on this important campaign.

There are short scenarios for each of the most famous Landing Zone (LZ) battles - X-Ray, Mary, and Albany.  These can be played in less than an hour and afford an interactive way to understand these battles outside of what my reading material offers.  They are created not only to reflect historic situations but also as building blocks for learning the basic mechanics of this game system.  Most everything hinges on two types of attacks: maneuver and assault.  To quote from the rule book: "At a very basic level, Maneuver Combat is used to leverage an enemy out of a particular hex or to soften the hex up for an assault.  Assault Combat is used to close with the enemy and destroy him." 

Each unit has an Efficiency Rating which allows for various tactics and functions to be performed.  On a 10-point scale, Special Force DELTA (Green Berets) and CIDG units have a rating of 8 and 7 respectively.  Most US air cavalry troops are a 6.  North Vietnamese and Viet Cong units (PAVN) are mostly 5's and 4's though there are a few NVA battalions rated at 6.  ARVN units are mostly 5's.  These ratings may be increased due to such things as having a leader or headquarters unit present.  They may be reduced due to such things as step-reductions incurred during combat.  

Defending units may attempt to refuse combat, avoiding it altogether, depending upon their efficiency rating and certain types of terrain. (This was a common problem for the US/ARVN [FWA] forces in Vietnam.  The PAVN would simply run away if the odds were not in their favor.)  But, if a unit is attacked by both maneuver and assault tactics it must stand and fight.  So a combination of tactics usually works best though there are times when only one tactic can be used due to the mixture of units involved or certain terrain effects. 

Over and above this the US has a lot of air power and artillery to bring to bear on the battlefield.  The PAVN units have mortar support which, though weak compared to the US punch, is more mobile and can be carried directly into assault combats.  This accurately reflects how the North Vietnamese used their modest but often effective artillery, particularly early on in the war when larger caliber guns had yet to make it down the Ho Chi Minh Trail system.

That reflects the bare bones of the game.  The campaign scenarios take longer to play but are worth it because they add, among other things, helicopters, hidden movement, patrols, and ambushes to the mix - which are the very things that make the Vietnam War so distinctive.
In addition to reading for my Vietnam War meditations, I played different scenarios of Silver Bayonet over the past several weeks.  This post contains some screenshots from the game's VASSAL module as well as some thoughts on the scenarios depicted and how the game allows the player to make historically accurate choices within game mechanics that capture the feel of the period.

Compared with the wide geography of the campaign scenarios, the battles at LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany, the bloodiest of the campaign, seem rather small.  Silver Bayonet offers short scenarios on these battles that can be played on special cards that accompany the game and feature only a small portion of the main map.  There is even a scenario entitled “Breaking the Siege (Duc Co)” which occurs in August 1965 before the game's other scenarios, which take place in October and November.  It affords a great look at how the PAVN fought the ARVN before US troops arrived.

Beyond these battles there are several wider scenarios.  Scenario two is entitled “The Lure and the Ambush (Plei Me)” features a situation similar to “Breaking the Seige,” only this time there are plenty of US cavalry and stronger NVA troops available.  Scenario seven, “Operation Than Phong 7”, offers a view of the cleaning up operations toward the end of the campaign.  

“Operation All the Way,” Operations “Silver Bayonet I” and “Silver Bayonet II” (scenarios 8, 9, and 10 respectively) introduce helicopters to the equation and give players a look at the various search and destroy operations of the Ia Drang Valley campaign.  Finally, scenario 11 features the entire campaign from October 19 through November 26, 1965.  It is entitled “Operation Long Reach” and features all the various elements of play in one, extended, combined game.

The rest of this post will look at playing “Operation All The Way” because that scenario gets the players into the thick of action with a majority of the rules and a lot of the helicopters quickly.  If you can’t get excited about how this game models helicopters then you probably won’t appreciate Silver Bayonet.  For me, the helicopters are cool and allow the player to vividly simulate the complexities of modern asymmetrical warfare.

There is no “front line” in Silver Bayonet, everything is a “zone.”  Hidden movement and helicopters are two equally potent strategic advantages.  So the PAVN player and the FWA player have aggressive possibilities built into the fabric of the game.  The FWA player must usually disperse US forces into the “hidden zone” to increase the possibility of locating something to attack. 

That can be a tremendous advantage to the PAVN player.  When the US searches for enemy troops he usually does so in smaller company-size fashion, creating opportunities to close rapidly on a company with a full battalion with mortar support; attack quickly and withdraw before the US artillery and air support can strike back. This game is fun to play from either side.

“Operation All The Way” begins with a common tactic employed by the PAVN throughout the Vietnam War in remote regions like the Ia Drang Valley.  A Special Forces (SF) base is attacked.  The ARVN sends reinforcements along a road to assist with the defense.  The reinforcing units get ambushed along the way.  Such is the deployment at the start.  The NVA have three battalions, two of which are set up to attack around the Plei Me SF camp.  The other is hidden along the road between the camp and Pleiku, ready to pounce on anything motoring down it toward the embattled camp.  Meanwhile the Viet Cong units are in reserve around the PAVN Hospital unit near the Cambodian border. 

The terrain around SF Camp Duc Co.  The map artwork is excellent.  You can easily see the towns and villages surrounded by mostly light and heavy jungle in this area.  Each hex is equal to one mile in this game's scale. 

The ARVN have assorted mechanized and infantry units in Pleiku.  Additionally, there are six CIDG companies split between the two SF camps.  A single company of US DELTA (Green Berets) at Duc Co, but that camp is not under attack at the beginning of this scenario.   Off-board, however, there are several gunships and transport helicopters with a battalion of air cavalry units at the US base at An Khe.  Plenty more are coming as reinforcements later in the scenario, which makes the NVA attacks at the start so important for them.  After the first couple of turns they will be forced to hide from all that US artillery and air power.   

Unit placement for the beginning of the "All the Way" scenario.  All PAVN units are hidden and the markers are rather concentrated to cover the impending attacks.  You can just make out the Duc Co Special Forces Camp in the upper left.  Note the Green Beret company stacked with CIDG companies there.  Pleiku is just off this section of map, to the upper right.  The Plei Me SF Camp is surrounded as other NVA elements await an ambush opportunity along the road leading to Plei Me. 

The scenario begins with a special pre-game attack by the PAVN upon the Plei Me. For this post I chose to launch a combination Maneuver and Assault attacks against both the SF camp and the lone CIDG company that is about to set up a patrol due north of the Plei Me.  Since patrols can only be marked in the Observation Phase of the game turn, the FWA (Free World Allies – mostly the US with ARVN support) player doesn’t get a chance to declare that yet.  In terms of sheer numbers, the PAVN overwhelms the CIDG troops, but this is not an ambush since the specially trained CIDG units are immune to ambushes. 

The terrain around SF Camp Plei Me is mostly broken terrain with forested hills and a few mountain jungle hexes.

In the sequence of play, Maneuver attacks are resolved prior to Assaults.  As a general rule, it is best for the PAVN player to keep units as concentrated as possible while hiding.  This maximizes the number of “dummy” hidden movement markers and makes them more difficult to discover, but when attacking it is best for them to be dispersed.  This affords some combat advantages and also means that direct bombardment by the US will fall on only a unit or two, not an entire battalion.

This is the Plei Me Camp area with the units set up.  All the Hidden Movement markers have been removed so the units can be seen.  Each PAVN unit should be marked with either a Maneuver or an Assault marker.  In this example, such markers are set aside in order to better see the unit counters.  The 6 air points marker should be placed on top of Plei Me in order to offer defensive bombardment support.  Once again, it is just placed on the map in this example so all the attacking and defending counters can be seen.

The PAVN begins the pre-game attack with the Offensive Bombardment Phase.  Two NVA mortar units totaling 4 support points are ready for the SF camp attack.  But the camp has a defense value of “4” which makes it impossible for 4 mortar points to eliminate any CIDG steps, though there is a 20% possibility of inflicting some fatigue.  Alternatively, the PAVN mortars (unlike US artillery) can participate directly in assaults like infantry units.  The problem with that is there is a limit to how many units can assault a given hex.  The PAVN player decides to bombard now and then commit to the assault if needed later.  Each artillery unit in the game gets a “first” and “final” fire during a given turn.  In this case the final fire might be a ground attack, we’ll just have to see.  At any rate a roll of 6 fails to do anything against the base.  "First Fire" markers are placed on both mortar units.

The two CIDG companies at Plei Me can only muster 2 defensive points.  Whereas the two NVA battalions can fully surround the base with 26 total attack points plus 4 mortar support points.  But the highest odds on the Maneuver Combat Table are 6:1, so it is pointless for the PAVN player to invest more than 12 points in the Maneuver attack, this saves up to 14 points (plus the mortars) for the follow-on Assault of the base.  The two battalions are slightly mixed in a few hexes, completely surrounding the Plei Me camp, in order for the PAVN to benefit from multi-hex attacks. 

With initial odds of 6:1 it seems impossible for the CIDG player to hold the base.  But there are several game factors to take into account before jumping to that conclusion. The first is whether or not the PAVN attack will be coordinated.  Attack coordination was not a specialty of the NVA or the VC at this stage of the war.  It happened haphazardly whenever troops were not under direct higher command.  In the game only about 30% of PAVN attacks will be coordinated.  In this case, however, the attack is coordinated by the presence of the PAVN HQ unit, which bumps the coordination possibility up to 60%. The PAVN rolls against the HQ Efficiency Rating and passes.  The attack will be coordinated and will suffer no negative effects due to command issues.

In Maneuver combat each side chooses a “lead” unit with which to compare efficiency ratings from the ensuing combat.  The PAVN chooses a company with a “6” rating.  CIDG’s are highly trained, possessing a “7” so this will result in a one column shift in favor of the defenders.  The attack will be downgraded to 5:1, still favorable to the PAVN.  If casualties are taken the “lead” unit must be the first step reduction.

The FWA player is not allowed to use helicopter or artillery support in this pre-game attack.  But the player does possess 15 air points.  6 are allocated to this particular attack, saving points for other possible actions later in this phase.  The PAVN allocates nothing, saving the mortars for the Assault Phase later.  The game is played with results driven by the roll of a single 10-sided die.  The FWA rolls a 3 on the Bombardment / Support Table for a result of “3”.  In Maneuver combat the results serve as die roll modifiers (DRMs) for the upcoming attack.

Next all the various DRMs will be taken into account.  Looking at the defenders we have a +3 from the air support and +4 for the defensive terrain value of the camp for a total of +7 to the die roll.  For the attackers there is a -1 because the attack is coordinated and taking place from 3-4 different hexes. Comparing the two results gives us a +6 overall DRM for this combat.  The game has a maximum of +3 or -3 for DRMs on any given combat so the die roll will be made at +3.

Thanks to US air support a roll of 1 becomes a 4 in this case which eliminates one step from a CIDG company and fatigues both units.  The hit ordinarily requires that company to retreat, but that is impossible since the camp is surrounded.  The second company takes a hit to satisfy the inability to retreat.  The two battered, fatigued CIDG companies hang tough.

This is how the same Plei Me camp area looks after the pre-game PAVN attacks.  Some units have been reduced, fatigued, or eliminated.

Most of the remaining PAVN factors will now Assault the position.  They can be augmented further by both mortar units which (unlike US artillery) can be used for ground attack as well as combat support, an advantage to the PAVN player.  This affords a combat strength of 13 against 2 remaining defense points.  

Once again, things seem hopeless for the FWA player.  In this case, however, there are 6 more air support points thrown into the mix.  Defensive bombardment counts as hits on the attacking units during Assault attacks, not DRMs like in Maneuver.  The FWA player gets lucky a rolls a 1 on the bombardment table which inflicts 2 hits, the maximum possible damage on the assaulting units.  This dilutes the assault from 13 points to 11.  

The attack is once again coordinated thanks to the HQ with a -1 DRM for attacking from four separate hexes. But the PAVN rolls a 9 which becomes an 8 for a ‘no result.’  The lucky, yet battered and fatigued CIDG units survive, the base holds, and the PAVN has been bloodied by the assault.  But Silver Bayonet allows for the possibility of a second round with each Assault attack.  Both sides roll against their efficiency ratings and this time the PAVN fails.  This is unlucky for the PAVN.  There was a 70% chance of capturing the base if the die roll against the efficiency rating of “6” had passed. 

Meanwhile, the PAVN check for coordination against the lone CIDG company to the north of Plei Me results in an uncoordinated attack, which grants favorable column shifts and DRMs to the defender.  Terrain also assists the company since it is sitting in a forested hill hex. Since the US was busy trying to save the SF camp, however, only 3 air points remain to support the defender in this attack.  Even though uncoordinated, the Maneuver result reduces and fatigues the company.  The follow-on Assault destroys the CIDG unit.  A victory for the PAVN at no cost in terms of causalities.

The pre-game turn is now over and the first turn of the game can begin.  The Plei Me camp is in dire straits and, even though they have been bloodied, the PAVN units still have enough strength to take the base.  But the scenario designates the FWA player as the “first player” so the first game turn begins with the US response to this deadly and daring attack.

Each game turn begins with the First Observation Phase.  This is when the FWA player rolls for air points.  The results can vary wildly from 30 to just 5 points, but 15 or 20 are the most common outcomes.  This is also when the FWA fly aircraft and helicopters to various hidden movement markers in an attempt to discover more PAVN units.  Patrols are set by SF and certain cavalry units.  These are also used to probe hidden unit markers.  That sort of activity is happening elsewhere on the map during this example of play.  The FWA player rolls a 5 and receives 20 air points this turn.

This is followed by the Reinforcement and Concealment phases.  Once again, these involve actions happening elsewhere on the map, not around the Plei Me SF camp.  It is with the Movement Phase that things start happening around the camp.  Knowing that Plei Me is on the verge of falling, the US will use all their available helicopters to attack the NVA units surrounding the camp and attempt to insert elements of the 12th Cavalry Regiment into Plei Me.

The US units enter play at the start of Turn One.  Once again, they should be placed on top of the Plei Me camp but are spread across the board in this view to afford a look at them individually.  Gunship helicopters support the insertion of two companies from the 12th Cavalry into the "hot" LZ.  It takes the large CH-47 chopper unit to haul in an artillery battery because those count double the transport costs -  four steps instead of two in this case.

Checking the US assets available at the off-board An Khe military base, we find that two UH-1B gunships, two UH-1D transports, and a couple of larger CH-47 transport choppers are ready for action along with three companies of the 12th Cavalry.  There are also four batteries of US artillery.  Plei Me is a “hot” landing zone (LZ) due to being surrounded by the NVA battalions.  This means that each ground unit transported there must pass a efficiency check when landing.  If it fails it becomes fatigued.  

Moreover, any helicopter is subject to Air Defense Fire (ADF), which could eliminate US units before they can land at the camp.  Normally there is 20% chance of hitting a helicopter but those two pesky NVA mortar units each add a +1 modifier which ups the chance to 40%.  A bit risky but, once again, superior US air power plays a decisive role.  ADF for the PAVN player may only be conducted if there are more steps of ground units than there are bombardment strength points of the FWA.

In this case the US may send two gunships totaling 8 bombardment points directly to the camp.  There are a total of 14 NVA steps surrounding the camp, so the gunships by themselves are insufficient to suppress the ADF.  But when the US adds 6 more air points to the mix (leaving 14 remaining for the turn), that equals the NVA step total and thereby denies this high concentration of troops the ability to conduct ADF.      

The US lands two companies of the 12th Cavalry in the Plei Me SF camp.  Both pass their efficiency checks.  This is followed quickly by an artillery battery (which counts double the transport points) landed by the big CH-47 unit.  Since helicopters are allowed to unload/load from the same mission hex, the two weakened and fatigued CIDG companies are loaded onto the transports and lifted back to An Khe base so that they can recover from their fatigue and eventually receive replacements to bring them back up to full strength.  A “first fire” marker is placed on the artillery battery to indicate that it was transported and will therefore only be allowed one actual fire for this game turn.  All the transports are placed in the “Mission 1 (Auto)” box of the helicopter display.  A second CH-47 is available for transport mission in other, less threatened, parts of the game map.

The newly inserted units will now attempt to inflict some damage on the surrounding PAVN forces.  Each company attacks reduced NVA units using Maneuver Combat at 4:1 odds.  They will not Assault, however, as such an attack, if successful, would require the cavalry company to advance out of the camp into where the NVA unit just retreated or was eliminated.  The FWA player wants to keep everything inside the Plei Me SF camp for now in order to take advantage of its defensive terrain.

How the Plei Me camp area looks after the initial US counterattacks.  The gunships continue to offer support and would ordinarily be placed on top of the "First Fire" marker at the camp.  The artillery battery is marked "First Fire" because it was transported into the camp. 

The FWA player chooses not to use any additional air points or the artillery battery’s “final fire” in these attacks.  It is safer to save this support for the PAVN side to the turn in case of further attacks on the camp and to assist with other possible actions taking place on the game map.  Any attack involving only US troops is always coordinated.  No efficiency check is necessary.  Each attack in this case receives a two column shift in favor of the cavalry units due to their efficiency rating of "6" being three points better than each reduced NVA company's "3" rating.  There are no other modifiers for these attacks, which will now take place at 6:1.  With no favorable defensive modifiers the two NVA companies will both be eliminated.  They can be rebuilt with replacement points and return to play via the NVA Hospital unit or the HQ later in the scenario.

The PAVN player now has the choice of reinforcing the attack on Plei Me with the remaining NVA battalion that wiped out the lone CIDG company earlier or of breaking free from the US troops and be placed once again under Hidden Movement counters (at the beginning of the next turn).  Since the insertion of US forces raised the defense of the camp from its original 2 to a much stronger 8 and added 4 points of artillery to the mix, a prudent decision would be to run away and fight another day.  Perhaps more importantly, this gives the PAVN a chance to hide (and thus protect from bombardment) the precious HQ unit for future attack coordination. 

Jumping ahead to the second turn, we find the ARVN mechanized “rescue” convoy still dutifully, if slowly, making its way down to Plei Me.  We will assume for this example that the 32nd NVA Regiment was not discovered previously.  It ambushes the convoy from a pre-selected position along a secondary road leading to the SF camp.  A total 17 points conduct one-round of Assault Combat against the mechanized units which places this attack in the highest possible column. 

The results of the PAVN ambush on the ARVN mechanized units traveling down to reinforce Plei Me.  This was a fairly successful ambush with the ARVN suffering two step reductions and the PAVN suffering none.  The ambush markers have been set aside on the map so the units underneath can be seen.  In game play they would remain on top of the ambushing counters.

DRMs are as follows: -1 for each additional hidden movement marker flipped for a total of -2, -1 for the NVA mortar unit assisting, and +2 for the defensive terrain.  A roll of 6 is reduced to 5 and both ARVN mechanized units are reduced.  The ARVN then gets a chance to bombard the assaulting PAVN hexes. 6 air points are assigned to a strike against one of the NVA companies.  But an unlucky ( for the FWA player) roll of 10 means no damage is inflicted.  Then the surviving ARVN units roll on the Assault table but do no damage due to their reduced state.  The PAVN successfully ambushes the mechanized units without suffering any casualties.  

They are, however, now exposed to FWA air assets.  Game Turn Three begins with an opportunity to subject the ambushing units to helicopter, artillery, and air bombardment.  It also makes the whereabouts of the rest of the 32nd Regiment pretty much obvious which means they can be subject to possible ground attack.  As the scenario progresses there is a variable but increasing chance of the 66th NVA Regiment arriving as reinforcements from Cambodia.  This extra regiment can greatly change the character of the game and really be a boast to the PAVN player, making another large-scale offensive possible.

Most likely, however, the scenario transforms into a game of hide (PAVN) and seek (FWA).  Until (if) the 66th arrives the PAVN has limited attack opportunities after the first three game turns.  The PAVN might strike out at an isolated US cavalry company here and there but generally it does not commit itself to the fullest extent as at the scenario’s start. 

This is an example of how Hidden Movement markers might be placed later in the scenario.  They are situated such that they do not have to move in this case (although their movement is certainly allowed).  The tactic is to keep the markers in place and move the PAVN units unseen on the off-board chart from marker to marker.

Unlike the concentrated nature of the Hidden Movement markers at the start of “Operation All The Way,” things fan out during the mid-game and the endgame.  The markers can form a “grid”-like area on the map and remain in place.  Although the markers are allowed to move, it is sometimes more effective to keep them stationary as the PAVN units move from one marker to the other without the FWA seeing anything (all the "movement" takes place off-board on the PAVN Hidden Movement display).  This is especially good for marching the 66th Regiment into the Ia Drang Valley without the FWA even knowing it.  And surprise is one of the PAVN player’s biggest advantages.

The Observation Phase is always important but never more so than during the endgame.  If cleverly played by the PAVN, it becomes a lot tougher for the FWA to locate anything to attack.  That can be frustrating, but it is also reflective of exactly how this type of warfare was waged.  Helicopters, planes and patrols are the only way to find them out there in the Ia Drang Valley.  It is truly a game of "search" and destroy.

This gives you a taste of Silver Bayonet.  The 25th anniversary edition is a superbly presented boardgame.  It features a beautiful, accurately detailed hard-mounted map like the wargames of old.  Its playing pieces and components, player aids and rule book are all first-rate productions.  The game offers a wonderfully intricate yet playable and realistic representation of the challenges and choices facing both sides in this campaign.  Its depiction of helicopters is rather unique and detailed.  As I mentioned in the beginning, Silver Bayonet has broadened my understanding of my recent reading on the Vietnam War.  I have enjoyed considerable hours these past couple of months playing this game and have discovered it has a lot of replay value.  All of this makes the game a worthy addition to flesh out any wargame collection.