with Jukka Salonen
When we think of Marines and the Vietnam war, we often picture them in Olive Green battle uniforms and webbing. Tiger-stripe camouflage… The whole works. To a part this is true thing, but there is much more than that. This article is written with the thought that even though Marines are mean and green, there is much more to them, colour-wise, than that.The Marines entered the Vietnam conflict in 1965. When they arrived, they did not have camouflage, except on their helmets. The helmets used the so-called “wine leaf pattern” camouflage helmet cover. It was two sided: Green Brown and a cloudy brown pattern. This pattern was designed originally in 1953, and reminds of the older WWII patterns used in the Pacific theatre. This pattern was only made for helmets and shelter halves and used by both the army and the Marines. It was also copied by private companies in the far east, and along with the cannibalizing of old camouflaged gear, found itself sewn into other gear by custom tailoring.
The People’s Army of Vietnam viewed the area around Saigon as critical to winning the Vietnam War. Their B2 Front commanded the North Vietnamese forces in and around Saigon and the Mekong Delta. The battles there were tough and hard fought. Both sides made major offensives like the American Operation Cedar Falls and the North Vietnamese Tet offensive, but neither side was able to decisively beat the other in combat. In the end it was the North Vietnamese willingness to take casualties and keep fighting that won the war for them after the United States finally withdrew from Vietnam after seven long year.
We’ve had a bunch of people asking for downloads of a Quick Reference sheet and the Victory Points Sheet for ‘Nam so we have put up PDF versions for you to download and print off. Simply right click the links and save as and you’ll be ready to slug it out in your next ‘Nam game in no time. Head to the link below to find both links
Dane over at No Dice, No Glory has written a battlereport on a game he had using ‘Nam. This was his second game using the book and this time he opted to play the mission Up River. He faced off against Paul and his Local Forces in a 65 point game. Will the Riverine Forces come out on top or will the Local Forces overwhelm them? Check out the full article see how the battle went.
