The Battle of Ia Drang

Air Cavalry in the Republic of Vietnam, 14-18 November 1965

By Phil Yates

Welcome to Vietnam, soldier! You will be serving with the First Team, the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). You will seek out
Charlie, and you will destroy him. Any questions?
We were watching We Were Soldiers, a great movie about the battle of Ia Drang starring Mel Gibson for those of you
unfortunate enough not to have seen it yet, and decided that we had to make some helicopters and refight the battle.
Battlefront Miniatures is so busy bringing you lots of new stuff for the Second World War, we really didnt have time
to expand into a whole new period like the Vietnam War. That was fine though, as we just wanted to fight one battle, Ia
Drang. This theme is the result - a stand-alone game bringing Flames Of War to the Vietnam War. It is a one-off thing,
so we arent going to produce a whole range of Vietnam War figures, just the ones we need for this battle. Dont worry
though, there are plenty of other manufacturers out there with Vietnam War ranges.
You will need the Flames Of War rulebook to use the intel briefings and missions for the Battle of Ia Drang, but
everything else you need is right here. The miniatures are available from our mail-order service on the WI website
(www.wargamesillustrated.net). Dont feel limited to the missions given here, or even the Battle of Ia Drang. The First
Team went on to fight in Vietnam for another ten years, so there are plenty more battles to research and fight. You can
use the forces given here with all of the missions in the rulebook and most of the ones on our website. You may notice
that some of the rules in this article dont come into play in the two missions presented, but they will make it easier to
work out how to play other missions. If you are feeling brave, you could even match up the Skysoldiers against a Latewar WWII Soviet force taking the part of the Chinese or a second-line Soviet force, or even see what effect modern
technology would have had on the Second World War and pit them against the Germans!
By 1965, the wars in Vietnam had been dragging on for two
decades, beginning in 1945 when the Japanese were thrown out
and French rule restored at the end of the Second World War.
The opening round had gone to the Vietnamese with the French
withdrawing in 1954 after the disastrous battles of Dien Bien
Phu in the north and Mang Yang Pass, between An Khe and
Pleiku, in the south. The country was split into a communist
Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the north and a capitalist
Republic of Vietnam in the south.
After the end of the Indochina War, the Democratic Republic
in the north continued low-level guerilla activities in the south
through the National Liberation Front (NLF- commonly referred
to as Viet Cong or VC) while recovering from the war and
building up its strength. By 1960, they felt ready to renew the
armed struggle and started sending units of the Peoples Army

Ia Drang contents
The Battle of Ia Drang . . . . . . . . . . . . pages 08 - 15
7th Cavalry in Vietnam . . . . . . . . . . . . pages 26 - 33
- Fielding Air Cavalry using Flames Of War
Helicopter Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pages 34 - 35
B3 Front in South Vietnam . . . . . . . . . . pages 36 - 41
- Fielding PAVN Regulars using Flames Of War
Hot LZ Mission. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pages 42 - 43
Indian Country Mission. . . . . . . . . . . . pages 44 - 45
Ia Drang Battlefield. . . . . . . . . . . . . . pages 46 - 47
Painting Guides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pages 60 - 63
Total War at Ia Drang. . . . . . . . . . . . . pages 78 - 81

of Vietnam (PAVN) south to engage the Army of the Republic

of Vietnam (ARVN). Despite the ARVN being equipped and
advised by the United States, they performed poorly against
the highly-motivated PAVN and VC units. The initial American
response was to send more equipment and more advisors. By
1964 there were 16,000 advisors (more soldiers than in an infantry
division) working with the ARVN, but their performance in the
field remained poor as their commanders were more interested in
preventing coups and looking good by minimising casualties than
in engaging the enemy.
At the beginning of 1965, the United States President, Lyndon B
Johnson, ordered a bombing campaign against North Vietnam in
response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in which it was claimed
a US destroyer was attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats.
In March, the US Marines were dispatched to guard the air
bases that the USAF was operating from. After attacks on these
bases, the US forces in Vietnam were increased again, rising to
200,000 by the end of 1965.

The Air Cav Arrive

One of the first units to arrive was the 1st Cavalry Division
(Airmobile), formed from the experimental 11th Air Assault
Division. It was believed, rightly as it turned out, that the
mobility that helicopters gave this unit would make it perfect
for striking elusive targets over a wide area of responsibility.
Unlike conventional forces, the air cavalry were not tied to roads
and could strike literally out of thin air. The Air Cav division
assembled at An Khe in October 1965, right in the middle of
South Vietnam, perfectly placed to take the war to PAVN units
in the Central Highlands on the Cambodian border.
Their arrival coincided with the start of an offensive by the
PAVN B3 Front. The battle started on 19 October with an attack
on the special forces base at Plei Me, southwest of Pleiku, by the
PAVN 33rdRegiment. While the Vietnamese gained a foothold
in the base, they did not overrun it. ARVN rangers were flown in
to reinforce the base until a column fought its way up the road
to the base. This was the response that the North Vietnamese

vietnam
1963-1973

On 28 October, B3 Front ordered both

regiments to disengage and return to
their bases on the Chu Pong Massif, a
730 metre-high mountain straddling the
Cambodian border. The retreat saw a
series of running battles as the Cavalrys
Skysoldiers sought out the retreating
Vietnamese. A Vietnamese regimental
hospital was overrun on 1 November,
and battalion-sized battles fought on
4and 6 November. By 9 November when
they finally broke contact, the PAVN
33rdRegiment was down to half strength.
The cost to the Cavalrys 1st Brigade was
over 250 men killed or wounded.

Operation
Silver Bayonet

had been waiting for. On 23 October, the

relief force ran straight into an ambush by
the PAVN 320th Regiment.
Things didnt all go well for the PAVN
though. The USAF responded to calls

for help with sustained air attacks

and casualties amongst the PAVN
forces were heavy. When the Air Cav
committed their 1stBrigade (Airmobile)
to the battle in Operation All the Way,
things took another turn for the worse.

Both sides then paused and regrouped

for the next phase. B3 Front had ordered
the 66th Regiment of the 304th Glory
Division on the Ho Chi Minh Trail to
lighten its packs and proceed to the Chu
Pong Massif by forced marches. They
arrived on 10 November, going into
bivouac and resting, preparing for battle.
Meanwhile, the 1st Cavalry Division
pulled the exhausted 1st Brigade out
and sent the 3rdGarry Owen Brigade
to a forward base at the Catecka Tea
Plantation near Pleiku for Operation
Silver Bayonet. The 3rd Brigade had two
battalions of the 7th Cavalry, Colonel
Custers famous command at the Battle
of Little Bighorn. B3Front greeted them
with a raid on brigade headquarters by 26
PAVN sappers on 12 November, killing
seven US soldiers and wounding 23.
The Garry Owens received intelligence
that the Vietnamese were located in the
area of the Chu Pong Massif. Colonel
Thomas Tim Brown ordered Lieutenant

Central Highlands

Chu Kan Yan

Chu Prong

Pleiku

Ham
Rong
Catecka Tea
Plantation

Chu Ba
Chu Lom
Chu Dalbal

Plei Rongol

7th Cav.
Command

Duc Co
ARVN
ambushed

K-8
Chu Go
LZ Albany
LZ X-ray

K-9
Chu Pong

FB Falcon

LZ Columbus

LZ Victor
K-7

Colonel Hal Moore to prepare his 1st Battalion, 7thCavalry for

an operation to see what was there. Reconnaissance identified
landing zones (LZ) coded (using the phonetic alphabet)
LZTango through LZYankee in the Ia Drang Valley at the
foot of the mountain. Moore selected LZX-ray for his assault,
planning to land at 1030hours on 14 November. LZXray was
a clearing in the tree covered river valley, roughly the size of a
football fieldjust large enough for eight helicopters to land at a

Plei Me

Unknown to either side, LZ X-ray was

right beside the bivouac of the 9th (K-9)
Battalion, 66th Regiment. The other
two battalions of the regiment were
nearby. The 7th (K-7) Battalion was on
the south eastern face of the mountain,
while the 8th(K8) Battalion was to
the west near the Ia Drang River. At
1017 hours, Lieutenant Colonel An, the
field commander of B3Front watched
in dismay as the artillery began a
20-minute preparation, right on top of
his K-9 Battalion. This was followed
by helicopter-mounted rocket artillery
and gunships as the UH-1D Huey
helicopters carrying Lieutenant Colonel
Moore and two platoons of B (Bravo)
Company, 1/7Cavalry swooped down on
the landing zone at 1048hours precisely.

First Wave Lands

As planned, Bravo Company secured

the landing zone. Half an hour later their
scouts brought in a prisoner who revealed
that three PAVN battalions were in the
Chu Don
area. Moore immediately changed his
plan, ordering B Company to scout the
mountain as soon as A(Alpha) Company landed, instead of
waiting for C(Charlie) Company as originally planned. By
1210 hours, most of ACompany had landed. They moved out to
take up positions in a dry creek bed to BCompanys left. There
had still been no contact with Vietnamese forces at this point, so
BCompany moved out to the west towards a finger of the Chu
Pong Massif.

Bravo Company secures LZ X-Ray.

10

time. Moore had one company of sixteen

helicopters available to carry his battalion
in to the landing zonenearly enough
to carry one company at a time. With a
round trip of nearly an hour, it would
take most of the day to bring in the entire
battalion. Fire support would be provided
by two batteries of artillery, firing from
Firebase Falcon, 5 miles (8 km) closer to
Pleiku, and helicopter gunships.

B 1/7

Cut off
2nd Platoon

Dry Creek
Bed

= Company

LZ X-RAY
Night 14-15 November 1965

= Battalion HQ
= Platoon

B 2/7
B 1/7

hq

mortars

D 1/7

A 1/7

Top of
Chu Pong Mountain

A 1/7 = A Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Regiment

B 1/7 = B Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Regiment
B 2/7 = B Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment
C 1/7 = C Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Regiment
D 1/7 = D Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Regiment

Vietnamese Counterattacks

B Companys lead platoons came under fire at 1245 hours, and

Lieutenant Herricks 2ndPlatoon, on the right, began pursuing
a fleeing Vietnamese squad to the right - straight into the path
of a counterattack by the Vietnamese C-11 Company of the
K9Battalion. Within 25 minutes Herrick and four others were
dead and his platoon was cut off on a knoll. Meanwhile, a senior
Lieutenant at the K-9 command post (the commander was with
K-8 on the banks of the Ia Drang) organised the cooks and
clerks to delay the other US platoon on the left, then organised
a counterattack against them with C-13 Company around 1330
hours. The Vietnamese battalions mortars started bombarding
the landing zone around the same time, hitting the last platoon
of ACompany and the first elements of C Company as they
arrived. On landing, the CCompany platoon headed south to
cover the wide-open left flank and the A Companys 1stPlatoon
was ordered to join BCompany and rescue the cut-off platoon.
C-13 Companys counterattack hit between B Company and
ACompany in the dry stream bed. With B Company heavily
engaged somewhere in front of them and the location of
ACompanys 1st Platoons unknown (it eventually turned out
to be on the far side of BCompany!), it proved difficult to
bring down artillery fire on the attacking PAVN troops. Instead,
3rd Platoon of A Company dropped their packs and charged.
They drove the Vietnamese back, but the cost was heavy. The
retreating Vietnamese suffered in turn when they fell back across
in front of the machine-guns of A Companys 2ndPlatoon.
The fire that greeted the rest of C Company when it arrived
at 1430 was so intense that the landing zone was temporarily
closed. By this time the Vietnamese attacks were heating up,
and the position on the landing zone was looking grim. The
new arrivals were just in time to avoid the whole force being
outflanked and overrun. The attempt to link up with Herricks
platoon was called off and B Company pulled back to the dry
stream bed. With almost his entire battalion engaged, Moore
requested reinforcements, receiving B Company of 2nd Battalion,
7th Cavalry just before nightfall.

C 1/7

Timeline: 14-15 November 1965

1000: Scheduled start of artillery preparation.
1017: Actual start of artillery preparation.
1030: Scheduled H-Hour.

1048: Moore and two platoons of B Company land.

1120: Prisoner captured. Rest of B Company and part of A

Company land.

1210: Remainder of A Company lands. B Company moves

towards finger of the Chu Pong Massif.
1245: Vietnamese C-11 Company counterattacks and
surrounds 2nd Platoon B Company.
1330: Part of C Company lands. Vietnamese C-13
Company counterattacks.

1430: Part of C Company and the Anti-tank Platoon land.

Remainder of C Company unable to land in heavy fire.
Further Vietnamese counterattacks.
1500: Attack on C Company beaten off.

1520: Remainder of C and D Companies land.

1545: A and B Companies pull back leaving 2nd Platoon still

surrounded.
1700: Lead elements of B Company, 2/7 Cavalry land.
0000, 0315, 0430: Attacks on cut-off platoon.

0650: K-7 Battalion launches dawn attack on C Company.

0745: Attacks intensify around entire perimeter, penetrating

CCompany lines.
0755: Moore orders Broken Arrow air strikes.

0800: 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry lands at LZ Victor and

marches the 2 miles (3.5 km) to LZ X-ray.
0910: A Company 2/7 Cavalry land.

1000: K-7 battalion begins to withdraw.

1205: 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry arrives at LZ X-ray.

11

The Second Day

The Vietnamese reinforced as well. K-9 Battalion had been

badly cut up in the counterattacks, but K-7 arrived to take over
the lead. Both battalions were scheduled to attack at 0315 hours,
but coordination problems meant that the main attack didnt take
place until dawn on 15 November. An hour later, at 0745hours
the attacks had penetrated C Companys lines and encircled
the LZ perimeter. At this point the Vietnamese B3 Front
began receiving reports of victory. With his force about to be
overrun, Moore used the codeword Broken Arrow to summon
every ground attack aircraft in the area to his aid. Despite one
aircraft hitting his HQ area, the attacks were effective. Around
1000hours, the PAVN forces started to withdraw.
Expecting to merely need to mop up the survivors, the
commander of 66thRegiment ordered his last battalion, K-8,
to join the attack that night. In this he would be severely
disappointed. LZ X-ray was heavily reinforced during the day
with the arrival of the rest of 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry at the
LZ, and 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry which had walked in from LZ
Victor. The survivors of 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry were flown out.
The two day battle had cost the Americans 79 killed and 121
wounded for a claimed 634 enemy dead and 1215 wounded.

Ambush at LZ Albany

Having taken and held LZ X-ray, destroying much of a

Vietnamese regiment in the process, the Americans could claim
victory. However, General Westmoreland, the highest American
commander in Vietnam, did not want to fly the cavalry out of
LZX-ray as he was worried that the media would interpret that
as a defeat. Instead he ordered both battalions to march out to
LZ Columbus and LZ Albany about 2.5 miles (4 km) northeast
and north of LZ X-ray on the morning of 17November.
Once they were clear, LZ X-ray would be hit by the B-52
Stratofortress bombers that had been pounding the Chu Pong
Massif throughout the battle.
Unfortunately for this plan, the PAVN K-8 Battalion, which
had been ordered to attack LZ X-ray the previous night, had
detoured to the north to avoid US air and artillery strikes. Worse

still, the remainder of D-1 Battalion (the first battalion of the

33rd Regiment) was guarding potential landing zones in the
area. Around midday, after 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry had split
off from the main column to head for LZ Albany, they ran into
a patrol from D-1 Battalion. The patrol alerted the PAVN forces
in the area, who promptly attacked off their own route of march,
throwing companies into the fray as they became available.
The cavalry column was cut in two, and casualties were heavy
by the time the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry, marching from LZ
Columbus, and their own B Company (which had been airlifted
from LZX-ray with the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry), airlifted back
into LZ Albany, reached them in the early evening. The battle at
LZAlbany had been bloody. The cavalry had lost 155 men dead
and 124 wounded. They counted 403 Vietnamese bodies on the
battlefield, nearly a full battalion.

Victory?

In the battles at LZ X-ray and LZ Albany the 1st Cavalry

Division had proved itself and the concept of air mobility. It had
carried the fight to the enemy and held the ground at the end
of the day, but the cost was high. While the PAVN estimate of
1500 to 1700 American casualties was high, the actual figures
of 305 killed and 524 wounded in October and November were
still dramatic, representing 5% of the division. In return the US
Army claimed 3561 PAVN soldiers killed and another 1000
wounded. Vietnamese sources give the number as 599 killed
and 669 wounded. Both sides claimed victory based on their
claimed successes against their own actual losses. In reality,
little had been achieved. B3 Front had failed to take any ARVN
or US bases, and was driven from its own Central Highland
base. However, within months of this setback, they were back in
action, operating from their old base areas.
Some had families waiting, for others their only family would
be the men they bled beside, there were no bands, flags, no
honor guards to welcome them home, they went to war because
their country ordered them to, but in the end they fought not for
country or their flag, they fought for each other.
Joseph Galloway

Illustration by Adam Hook from Elite 154 Vietnam Airmobile Warfare Tactics, Osprey Publishing Ltd. www.ospreypublishing.com

12

2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry arrives at the LZ.

Resources:

We Were Soldiers OnceAnd Young, Lt. Gen. Harold G Moore (Ret.) and Joseph L Galloway, 1992, ISBN 978-0345475817.
Moore and journalist Joe Galloway started this whole thing by writing about the battle they fought at Ia Drang.
We Were Soldiers, 2002, Icon Entertainment. Film starring Mel Gibson based on the book.

Chickenhawk, Robert Mason, 1983, ISBN 9780-552-12419-5. Excellent book by one of the pilots who flew into Ia Drang.

Osprey books: Vietnam Choppers: Helicopters in Battle 1950-1975, Battle Orders 73: The US Army in the Vietnam War
196573, Warrior 98: US Army Infantryman in Vietnam 1965-73, Warrior 128: US Helicopter Pilot in Vietnam, Warrior 135:
North Vietnamese Army Soldier 1958-75, Elite 38: The NVA and Viet Cong, Elite 154: Vietnam Airmobile Warfare Tactics,
New Vanguard 87: Bell UH-1 Huey Slicks 1962-75.

Websites: http://www.weweresoldiers.net/campaign.htm, http://www.lzxray.com/index.htm, http://vietnam-hueys.tripod.com,

http://www.tallcomanche.org/November_1965.htm, http://www.generalhieu.com/e66pleime-2.htm,
http://sites.google.com/site/vietnamcombatoperations/Home/vco-chronology

Morning of 17 November 1965

2/7 Cavalry splits off, continues

north by northwest, captures two
prisoners at 1157 100m east of
Albany clearing. Prisoners are
interrogated

Ia

ra

ng

LZ ALBANY

K-8 Battalion ambushes

2/7 Cavalry at 1315

2/7
2/5

Ia Drang Valley
B-52 bombers
strike Chu Pong
Massif 1117

LZ COLUMBUS

2/5 Cavalry
continues to
LZColumbus at 1058,
closes there at 1138

2/5
2/7

Chu Pong
massif

LZ X-RAY

Column departs LZ XRay 900.

2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry (2/5)
leads out, followed by
2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry (2/7)

13

Ia Drang Valley

Vietnamese attacks cut off 2nd platoon from the rest of B Company in the dry streambed.

14

Hog fire support helps to hold back the Vietnamese assault waves.

15

The Ia Drang Battlefield

The Ia Drang is a river in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

It is part of a river system draining into the Mekong River in
Cambodia from the highlands around Pleiku. The river valley
itself is flat and wide at around 6 miles (10 km) across. The valley
floor sits around 200m (650 ft) above sea level. The mountains on
either side rise dramatically from the valley floor to about 500m
(1640 ft), with the peaks around 800m (2600 ft).
From the air, the valley appears to be a sea of trees interspersed
with clearings that could be used as landing zones. However,
the view from the ground can be quite different. While there are
areas of dense tropical forest, a lot of the valley is covered in
more open woods with little undergrowth. In the dry season the
stream beds are dry (although in the Monsoon they frequently
burst their banks). The valley is not entirely flat. There are
plenty of knolls, rises, and even small hills scattered about. This
makes for an interesting variety of terrain to model.

Clearings

Easily the most important terrain feature in any battle featuring

the Air Cavalry is a clearing. Without a clearing, they cannot
land. You need to arrange your terrain to have a large irregular
clearing 16 to 24 by 8 to 16 (40cm to 60cm by 20cm to
40cm) in a suitable location for the landing zone. You should
also have one or two smaller clearings that can be used as
alternate landing zones.

Tropical Forest

The tropical forest is often quite dense and even tanks had
difficulty making their way through the worst areas. Use your
normal woods (rated as Difficult Going) for these. The trees are
mostly tall and spreading, so any trees except pines and firs
(and even them at a pinch) would be perfect.

46

Open Woods

Much of the rest of the area is covered in open woods. During the
playtesting and terrain development for Ia Drang we utilised two
different methods for representing open woods on the battlefield.
The first method simply declares the entire table, except where
there is other terrain, to be open woods. This requires you to
show your clearings as a patch of terrain. You can model a
clearing base, use a patch of yellowish felt to represent the
dry grass, or outline the edges of the clearing with trees and
bushes, or a combination of these as suits your tastes and terrain
collection. Scatter trees and scrub bases around the rest of the
table to show that the whole area is lightly wooded.
The second method is shown in the accompanying photographs.
Place your woods and forests as normal, but then surround each
with a belt of scrub and open woods. This extends 4/10cm from
the woods and can be shown on the table by placing patches of
elephant grass, bamboo, scrub, or trees around the woods. Make
sure you have your woods far enough from the clearings that
there is room for the belt of open woods as well.
Whichever way you show your open woods, use the Open
Woods rules on page 246 of the Flames Of War rulebook for
them. Open Woods are like normal woods, except that trees
are dispersed enough that teams inside can see and be seen at
12/30cm and fire artillery bombardments from inside it or
over it unhindered. The general lack of undergrowth means that
Vietnamese Open Woods should probably be rated as Crosscountry Easy Going, rather than Difficult Going.

Dry Stream Bed

Knolls & Low Rises

Treat the dry stream bed as Difficult Going that offers

Concealment and Bulletproof Cover from incoming shooting to
teams in it.

Visuals

A dry stream bed ran along the western part of the landing zone.
Moore used it to establish his defensive line as it offered cover
from enemy fire. This is where a good portion of the fighting
took place.

Chu Pong Massif

The Chu Pong Massif provided both the rationale and the
backdrop for the battle of Ia Drang. As it turned out, the fighting
only took place on a low spur of the mountain, so you could
represent it with a ridge or hill in the corner of the table or leave
it out altogether, but it is such a visual feature that we just had to
have it on our battlefield!

One knoll in particular played an important part in the battle,

sheltering the cut-off platoon for most of the battle. There were
other knolls and rises scattered across the battlefield. These are
easily represented by low, flat hills. The knolls tend to have
more undergrowth than the flatter parts, so treat them as woods
or forests and add some tree or scrub bases to represent this.
You can find Joe Galloways excellent photographs of the
battlefield taken during and after the battle on both the We Were
Soldiers (http://www.weweresoldiers.net/campaign.htm) and
LZX-ray (http://www.lzxray.com/index.htm) websites. The
movie We Were Soldiers is also a great resource as they spent a
lot of effort to make the set look like the battlefield.

The lower slopes of the mountain and the finger or spur running
towards the clearing are much the same as the surrounding
terrain and are treated as Open Woods. The steeper slopes are
almost impassable and are treated as Very Difficult Going.

47

Total War: Ia Drang

You can use the Flames Of War Total War rules to recreate the entire battle at Ia Drang. Gather your friends and field the full
1stBattalion, 7th Cavalry plus two additional companies of Airmobile infantry from 2nd Battalion. Or muster up the full 66th Regiment
of the Peoples Army of Vietnam.
Use the orders of battles on these pages to organise your forces as they appeared on 14 November 1965. You can download the Total
War rules from the Flames Of War website, www.FlamesOfWar.com and use the Hot LZ mission to replay the first day of the battle. You
might want to consider using a larger table or combining two tables to give each side more manoeuvre room for their increased forces.

Bigger Games - Bigger Victories

Total War allows you to bring the big game to your game table and involve more than one friend in the fun. You can bring big armies
to big tables, a fight to the finish with everyones miniatures collection involved. With more than one company to command the
possibilities are endless in developing the right strategies to lead your force to victory.

Tips for Fielding Large Formations

When fielding large armies make sure the battlefield terrain is

conducive to moving these formations. Too much terrain can
hinder moving a lot of figures, while too little terrain can make it
nearly impossible to close for battle as the killing fields are wide
open and infantry charges become almost suicidal. In addition if
you dont have enough room for all your forces to fit on the table
then they become prime targets for indirect weapons.
Also keep the total points used on both sides equal in terms
of how many points each player will command. This prevents
the game from slowing down while one player managing

3000points it trying to keep up with two players each managing

1500 points. Also if you have each player handling more than
2000 points apiece make sure you have allotted enough time to
play the battle to an acceptable conclusion. Strategies with larger
armies will take more time to execute, especially with infantry
dominated forces.
Finally, when playing on large tables it is always good to
have extra support materials like more than one tape measure,
artillery template, and sets of dice. With massive amounts of
men on the board expect to roll an equivalent amount of dice!

A Hog provides close fire support to Herricks Platoon cut off on the knoll.

78

Alpha Company

bravo Company

Company HQ
Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)
Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)
Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)

Company HQ
Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)
Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)
Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)

charlie Company

Delta Company

Company HQ
Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)
Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)
Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)

Company HQ
Mortar Platoon (Airmobile)
Scout Platoon (Airmobile)

vietnam
1963-1973

1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry

(Use a Rifle Platoon)

Anti-tank Platoon (Airmobile)

(Use a Rifle Platoon or make up your own platoon)

2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry

BRAVO Company
Company HQ
Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)
Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)
Rifle Platoon (Airmobile)

229th Aviation Battalion

The Preachers
Alpha Company (3 Platoons of 4x UH-1D Slicks)

Bravo Company (1 Platoon of 4x UH-1D Slicks)

Delta Company (4 Platoons of 4x UH-1B Hogs)

1st Battalion, 21st Artillery (airmobile)

Firebase Falcon
Field Artillery battery A (Airmobile)
(2 Gun Sections)

Field Artillery battery B (Airmobile)

(2 Gun Sections)

66th regiment, B3 Front

Mortar Company
Sapper Company
Recoilless Company
Anti-air Company (3 platoons)

K-7 battalion

K-8 battalion

K-9 battalion

Battalion HQ
C-1 Infantry Company
C-2 Infantry Company
C-3 Infantry Company
C-4 Infantry Company
C-5 Weapons Company

Battalion HQ
C-6 Infantry Company
C-7 Infantry Company
C-8 Infantry Company
C-9 Infantry Company
C-10 Weapons Company

Battalion HQ
C-11 Infantry Company
C-12 Infantry Company
C-13 Infantry Company
C-14 Infantry Company
C-15 Weapons Company

(allocated by Battalion HQ)

Mortar Platoon
Machine-gun Platoon
Recoilless Platoon

(allocated by Battalion HQ)

Mortar Platoon
Machine-gun Platoon
Recoilless Platoon

(allocated by Battalion HQ)

Mortar Platoon
Machine-gun Platoon
Recoilless Platoon

79

1430 15th November 1965 LZ X-ray

80

At 1430 hours Charlie Company landed under intense fire from the enemy. Within minutes of landing the Company was
met with a head-on assault which caused high casualties amongst the deploying troops. Captain Edwards radioed in that an
estimated 175 to 200 PAVN troops were charging his companys lines.

81

Painting Helicopters

The Bell UH1 Huey helicopter is synonymous with the Vietnam War, and the equally-distinctive measured thwop thwop of its
rotors is known to anyone that has been to a war movie about the period. The US Army flew two main variants in 1965. The UH-1B
Hog gunship and the UH-1D Slick.

SLICKS

The UH-1D was known as a Slick because, compared to the gunships, it had a clean appearance. It was called a Dog ship by the
pilots for the phonetic code D for Dog. While the UH1D could carry up to twelve troops under ideal conditions, in the hot and high
conditions of the Vietnamese highlands the normal load was just eight soldiers and their equipment.

It is a good idea to paint the door gunners

before gluing them in place. Paint the
interior a medium grey eg. 836 London
Grey.

Painting a suggestion of reflected

landscape in the windows looks good,
but try to be subtle, using muted colours.
If you dont want to paint reflections, a
flat neutral colour such as 816 Luftwaffe
Uniform is also effective. Finish with a
coat of gloss varnish.

Carefully apply the rotor markings in

several thin, even coats. Make sure the
number on the nose matches the last three
digits of the serial number on the tail.

All Helicopters come with metal

and clear plastic rotors, for you to
choose which set to use. Full assembly
diagrams included with each model.

60

Painting &
Modelling

hoGS

The older UH-1B helicopters were converted to gunships when the more powerful UH-1D arrived. The UH-1B was nicknamed Hog
because it handled like a pig when fully armed with rockets and machine-guns. While the Slicks could cruise at 110 knots (203km/h),
the Hogs could only make 80knots (148km/h)! The Slicks had to loiter around while the Hogs caught up and prepped the LZ before
they could land. The Hogs are equipped with the M22 armament system. This comprises an M134 six-barrelled minigun mounted in
traversable mountings on each side, and two XM157 rocket pods with seven 2.75'' FFAR folding-fin rockets each.

The upper windows were tinted green

to minimise heat and glare. Paint them
a medium green eg. 968 Flat Green,
followed by a coat of gloss varnish.

The Hogs ammunition belts are fiddly

to position. Taking your time, carefully
twist them into shape before gluing them
in place.

If you find the sharks teeth decal difficult

to apply in one piece, you may want to cut
it into pieces. Let each piece dry before
applying the next, and use a little paint to
cover up any visible joins.

61

Painting Uniforms
US INFANTRY
Flat Earth (983)

50/50 Middlestone
(882)/German Camo
Bright Green (833)

OR
Flat Flesh (955)

Chocolate Brown (872)

Deep Yellow (915)

Russian Uniform
WW2 (924)

Reflective
Green (890)

Brown Violet (887)

Black (950)

Khaki (988)
Black (950)

Gunmetal Grey (863)

Russian Uniform
WW2 (924)

Black (950)

At the time of Ia Drang, the Air Cav troopers would still have been wearing black leather combat boots, rather
than the lightweight canvas-topped jungle boots which later proved more suitable to a tropical environment.
The Mitchell pattern camouflage helmet cover was reversible, but it was commonly worn green side out at all
times, regardless of the terrain.

Command Team with

Col. Moore

Command Team

Weapon Team

Mortar Team

62

Rifle Team

PAVN INFANTRY
&
Flat Red (957)

Brass (801)

Khaki (988)

2:1 US Tan Earth (874)

& Khaki Grey (880)

Gunmetal Grey (863)

Beige Brown (875)

Stone Grey (884)

The standard field uniform of the PAVN was a simple loose-fitting design. From 1966 the standard colour was a
darkish green, but the troops at Ia Drang would still have been outfitted in a faded tan colour. Footwear consisted
of a simple canvas jungle shoe with a black rubber sole and toe cap. These came in tan, green and sometimes
black. The distinctive sun helmet was a similar colour to the rest of the uniform, while the soft bush hat came in
a variety of colours ranging from brown to olive green.
Uniform items faded heavily with use, and were not replaced until they wore out. One way of representing this is
by painting the shirt or trousers of some figures a slightly lighter or darker colour.

Command Team

LMG Team

HMG Team

Mortar Team

Anti-Aircraft Team

Recoiless Gun Team

Rifle Team

Rifle Team with Bazooka

63