ANZAC M113 Callsigns: Australian APC Tactical Signs in Vietnam

Australian M113A1 - FSV - 42A - Blue Triangle - Denise - Nui Dat, South Vietnam - October to November 1971 - Banner

I’ve started looking at my ANZAC project for Vietnam. I’m hoping I’ll be able to start making progress on this in 2023. But I got stuck on the tactical signs for the Australian M113s. Despite having a few books on Vietnam, I had no information on the tac signs. So I did some research. I found two pretty good sources: Ian Johnston’s “Australian M113 Armoured Personnel Carriers in the Vietnam War” and M Heaust: M113A1 APCs at Long Tan 18 August 1966 and a bunch of slightly more dodgy sources. Then I added in a bit of guess work. Here is the result.

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Liberation – An A4 Insurgency Campaign

Liberation – An A4 Insurgency Campaign - Banner

I was looking at the tokens I designed in for Using Political Tokens for Military-Political Climate in an Insurgency Campaign and realised they weren’t very easy to make. They are round and double sided. Doh! So I decided to redesign them as square. And that led to doing the entire Campaign on an A4 sheet of paper. This campaign can be for any insurgency but I have the Portuguese Colonial War in mind. This is the third iteration on Simulating Politics in a Wargaming Campaign with Political Tokens – an idea I borrowed from Kapitan Kobold

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How does my Burmese battlefield look?

Burma 2780 Banner

I am always impressed by Brett Simpson’s Pacific War tables for Crossfire. He inspired me to improve my jungle terrain. More jungle will be useful for Burma, Portuguese Colonial Africa, and Vietnam. I made some steps before we played the Pick up game in Burma, but I wanted to make my tables even better. So I’ve been bolstering my crossfire terrain and now have Pagodas, rice paddies, Bamboo groves, boulder fields, rock fields, palm trees, ravines, depressions, Burmese houses, jungle undergrowth (not featured here), crests (not featured here) and cliffs (not featured here). Some of these I’ve posted about previously, and some are yet to come. Now, after all that effort, I wanted to know two things. Do I have enough jungle terrain to fill a table? Does my jungle terrain look good enough? So I got it all out and threw it on a 6’x4′ table. I can definitely fill a table. And I reckon the table looks good enough, not perfect, but good enough.

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ANZACs in Vietnam – Steven’s Wargaming Project

Project - ANZACs in Vietnam - Crossfire - Banner

When I was a kid, New Zealand troops were still fighting in Vietnam. I knew we had engineers, artillery and SAS over there. What I only realised recently is we also had infantry fighting alongside the Aussies. In fact New Zealand contributed one or two companies to an ANZAC battalion from May 1967 to Nov 1971. That is enough national connection for me, and I instantly started collecting figures for a new wargaming project. For Crossfire of course.

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Making Rice Paddies for Wargaming

Rice Paddy 872 - Village - Banner

2020 is the year of the Rice Paddy – at least I’ve declared it the year of the Rice Paddy. So I thought I’d make a few. I need them for Burma Campaign, Portuguese Colonial War, First Indochina War, and Vietnam War. Mine are for 15mm wargaming figures, but the same principles apply for other scales.

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French Ground Force Organisation in the First Indochina War (1946 to 1954)

French Ground Force Organisation in the First Indochina War - Banner

Jamie shared some great resources for the, the war in French Indochina (19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954). This has let me put together an outline of the French Ground Force Organisation in the First Indochina War (1946 to 1954). The main source is the thesis written by Major Peter Jackson on the “French Ground Force Organizational Development For Counterrevolutionary Warfare Between 1945 And 1962” and I’ve quote liberally from this book. At some point I’ll turn this organisation into a order of battle for Crossfire.

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How to use Sisal String as Long Grass by Barrie Lovell

Sisal String Grass by Barrie Lovell - Banner

Around 2000 Barrie Lovell published, on the Grunt! website, a tip for adding undergrowth to Crossfire / Incoming! bases. Barrie dyes sisal string and uses this as vegetation. Since Grunt! has disappeared I thought I’d republish the article here. Barrie had in mind Vietnam / Incoming! and World War 2 / Crossfire. But this is a good technique for the Portuguese Colonial War / Fogo Cruzado.

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Jungle Hell – An Incoming Scenario by Barrie Lovell

Scenario - Jungle Hell - Incoming - Crossfire - Banner

“Jungle Hell – The Battle of LZ Tusk and Hill 731” is a scenario in which the US 173rd Airborne meet the NVA 174th Regiment. Barrie Lovell wrote it for Incoming! / Vietnam and published it on the Grunt! website around 2000. As Grunt! has disappeared I have republished it here. All words and images are Barrie’s.

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Night Ambush – A Vietnam Scenario for Platoon

25th Infantry Division Tropic Lightning

“Night Ambush” is the scenario Julian Davies included in his Vietnam Era squad level skirmish rules called Platoon. The rules and this scenario originally appeared on the now defunct Grunt! website. With Julian’s permission I have republished them here. Mission November 1967, somewhere near the Cambodian border. The 2nd Platoon of Bravo Company 22nd Infantry, … Read more

The Battle of Long Tan – An Incoming Scenario by Matt Spooner

Map Battle of Long Tan - Banner

The Battle of Long Tan is one of the most famous battles of the Vietnam War, fought by Australian infantry against overwhelming odds. This is a Incoming! scenario by Matt Spooner and published on the new deceased Grunt! website, probably around 2000. Because Grunt! has disappeared I thought I’d republish the scenario here for the benefit of the Crossfire community. All words are Matt’s.

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Crossfire with the South Vietnamese Marine Corps – Barrie Lovell

In 2000 Barrie Lovell, the author of Incoming! Vietnam Rules for the Crossfire System, wrote an article for the Grunt! website called “Collecting Forces for Crossfire – Wargaming with the South Vietnamese Marine Corps.” Grunt! has disappeared from the web so I thought I’d republish Barrie’s article here. All words below are Barrie’s, all figures are from Barrie’s collection, and Barrie painted and photographed the figures as well. I recovered the article and copied the images from the WayBack Machine.

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