From: "Robert Furney" Subject: No Trumpets, No Drums Variants Here is a slight variant change to realistically represent the U.S. Navy's role in fighting in the Mekong Delta. It better represents the conflict than the game's usual manner. A. Additional Units. The players must create three additional Patrol Boat units. One Vietnamese, and two American. The first new American unit is available on Jan/Feb 66 and the other May/June 66. The Vietnamese unit is available the turn after the U.S. removes its last Patrol Boat. B. Movement Restrictions. 1. Patrol Boats may move within the Delta's swamp hexes at a cost of six movement points per hex. 2. Tay Ninh may be entered or attacked from hex 1237 without jeopardizing Cambodia's neutrality if still neutral. 3. No land units or any kind may enter swamp hexes. They must keep to the road in the Delta. Airmobile units cannot move land units around in the swamp hexes. 4. Ignore all and every trail hex that is in the Delta in the Combat Zone of Vietnam. Keep the others in Cambodia. In effect, these rules will force the American player to recreate the campaign as his historical counterpart did. It was slow and tedious as well as dangerous work for the Navy, not the Army. But they were successful. So successful that this was the last Combat Zone to fall to the Communists. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com From: Groggydice@aol.com Subject: [consim-l] Grognards NTND Variant As long we're talking about No Trumpets, No Drums, let me say that the variant offered on Grognards is totally ridiculous and inflates the importance of naval riverine operations out of all proportion by making land forces virtually worthless in the Delta. On the other hand, if one were to interpret the author's rule that "No land units or [sic] any kind may enter swamp hexes" literally, his patrol boat units won't have much to do, because Communist units won't be able to move anywhere either. As for the rule that airmobility can't be used in the Delta, I remember flipping through a book by a Delta veteran, and when he arrives in-country, he is told that the RVN riverine forces are good fighters, but hardly have anything to do anymore because ARVN now uses helicopers for virtually all transport needs, leaving the boats behind! The variant writer's closing remarks that the Delta campaign was "work for the Navy, not the Army," as if the South Vietnamese ground forces were an adjunct to a few river gunboats rather than the other way around, reflect his warped perspective. As for the US Navy being "so successful that this was the last Combat Zone to fall to the Communists," I'd say this was mainly due to the Mekong Delta being the southernmost part of the country. I do have a couple of problems with NTND's treatment of the Mekong Delta. First, in making the entire area swamp, not just the swamps proper. If one were to consider the rice paddies in the Delta "swamp-like," why aren't other hexes along the coast also swamp? I may have read something about the soil in this region being softer than elsewhere, and getting "mushier" during the rainy season, which may be the rationale for making the whole area swamp. Second, all corps areas generate the same number of replacements and reinforcements for players, even though IV Corps was more populous than the other corps areas. The American decision to keep US troops out of the Delta was one of the most important strategic choices of the war, and VG's Vietnam gives players the option of seeing how a different choice could have changed the course of the war. But because all corps regions are equal in NTND, there is no special advantage to concentrating on the pacification of the Delta. I realize that Grognards was not endorsing this variant by accepting its submission. If looking for NTND variants, I'd say the scenarios offered by James Meldrum in Wargamer #42 are a little better.