Portable Wargame in Vietnam

This is something I'd tried last year on a square grid, but this time I decided that I would try it on my hex board.

Set-up and rules modifications

The terrain is set up with a road heading into a small village that is to be captured by a US platoon. Jungle bases mark the line of the woods which follows the road, and the bases themselves are impenetrable.

I used the standard WW2 rules with the following alterations:
All infantry units fire with 1d6 except the M60 which rolls 2.
The Blooper and the RPGs ignore cover effects when firing.
The Vietnamese LMGs subtract 1 from the dice roll for the effects of hits on enemy units.

The US starts with 4 units, one including the commander, 1 with the M60 and 1 with the Blooper.
The NVA are placed in ambush by rolling an average dice to see how many units will appear, and then a d10 and a d12 to see which hex each appears on. The unit is placed in cover as close to the hex rolled as possible. I then roll for each NVA unit. On a 4+ they get an additional weapon - an LMG on a 1-4 and an RPG on a 5 or 6.

For this game I rolled a 5 on the Average dice, so 5 NVA units were placed - one right next to the Americans as they entered the table.

The US forces have to occupy both buildings before losing one whole unit to win.
The NVA obviously have to wipe out one complete unit.
The US are rated average, the NVA as poor.

The Game

The board seen from above. Although I ran out of plant-life, the jungle is supposed to run to the sides of the board. The village occupies 2 hexes each adjacent to the road. (I miscounted the number of NVA units, so the sixth on the top right was removed just after this...)

Surprise ambush in the flank!

two units turn to face while the unit with the HQ moves to outflank.

The outflanking operation is not without cost. Both sides take casualties in the initial stages.

The rest of the platoon takes on the next threat to appear.

The NVA garrison the village. On the right a unit is detached to remove the NVA in the woods.

The HQ unit, successful in destroying the ambushers rejoins the advance on the village. The NVA commander has fled his destroyed unit and joined his comrades in the village.

After a sustained firefight NVA commander is killed and the remaining unit is driven from the western village.

The firefight is taken into the village, with the blooper squad occupying the west. Note that both sides have weapons that ignore the cover penalty - the RPG and the Blooper.

Things don't go well for the US unit in the village, while the rest of the platoon are tied down by a flanking NVA unit at the eastern edge of the woods.

The final turn. The NVA are finally driven from the eastern village, but the blooper unit is destroyed.  

The Lt has no choice - casualties are too high, time to bug out.

Tactically speaking, I could have played this game a lot smarter from both sides, but I was just trying to get a feel for the rules and how they would work. The abundance of cover meant that most shooting was hitting on 6s, unless the unit had an RPG or blooper, and as such there were a number of rounds where firing really had little or no effect.
I'm thinking of rejigging the dice result so that a 4+ is a hit and rolling for the effect of hits will include pinning as an option. All units get 2 dice (3 for LMGs), but lose a dice if pinned.
We'll see how this goes next time.

Nate