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"The Men of Company B" Modifications for Indochina


The following are a set of modifications and additions for The Men of Company B, the US period Vietnam ruleset by RFCM/Peter Pig. This is not a complete ruleset, and you will need a set of The Men of Company B to play. 

The rules are given by section, and if no entry is present then the existing rules stand unchanged. The original set is aimed at "search and destroy" missions, and Les Gars will also use this as the basic scenario. Other scenario ideas will also be discussed. 

Section 0 of the rules (background, weapons, etc.) is mostly irrelevant to our period. See the rest of this site for equivalent French Indochina details. 

The Rules Modifications, by Section

1. No change 

2. Throughout the rules, substitute "VM" (Viet Minh) for "VC" (Viet Cong) and "CEFEO" (French Expeditionary Corps) for "US". 

3. No change 

4. No change 

5. No change 

6. Don't forget to include Calcaires (rough, limestone hills arising from flat terrain). Treat these as rough hills. 

7. Major alterations here: 

1. Order of Battle for VM Forces
1. Regular VM Units
There must be at least 5 small-arms armed groups 
There may be no more than 5 heavy weapons groups 
No tanks or vehicles are allowed 
Regular VM may use on-board artillery 
Regular VM may use off-board artillery in the same way as CEFEO forces 

2. Regional and Militia VM Units
There must be at least 5 small-arms armed groups 
There may be no more than 4 heavy weapons groups 
At least 1/3 of stands must be militia 
No tanks or vehicles are allowed 
No artillery allowed

2. VM Points Costs
Regular (Bo Doi Chu Luc) group with small arms = +15 
Regular (Bo Doi Chu Luc) group with Mortar (max 2) = +25 
Regular (Bo Doi Chu Luc) group with HMG (max 2) = +25 
Regular (Bo Doi Chu Luc) group with Recoilless Rifle (max 2) = +25 
Regional (Bo Doi Dia Phuong) group with small arms = +12 
Regional (Bo Doi Dia Phuong) group with Mortar (max 1) = +20 
Regional (Bo Doi Dia Phuong) group with HMG (max 2) = +15 
Regional (Bo Doi Dia Phuong) group with Recoilless Rifle (max 1) = +22 
Militia (Dan Quan Du Kich) group with small arms = +10 
Artillery Piece (no tow - may not move!) = 40 
Booby-trapped Zone, Light = +20 
Booby-trapped Zone, Heavy = +40 
Porter Group = +6 
Liabilities as per main rules
3. Order of Battle for CEFEO Forces
1. Regular CEFEO Units
There must be at least 4 small arms groups 
There may be no more than 1 company commander group 
There may be no more than 4 heavy weapons groups (HMG, RCL/bazookas, mortars) 
There may be no more than 2 tanks or armoured cars 

The groups can be elite (Legion, some Marsouins and Africans), regular (most Marsouins, Africans, some Indochinese) or poor quality (most Indochinese, some Africans).

2. Group Mobile
There must be at least 4 small arms groups 
There may be no more than 2 company commander groups 
There may be no more than 4 heavy weapons groups (HMG, RCL/bazookas, mortars) 
There may be no more than 3 tanks or armoured cars 

The groups can be elite (Legion, some Marsouins and Africans), regular (most Marsouins, Africans, some Indochinese) or poor quality (most Indochinese, some Africans). Tanks and other AFVs may not be poor quality.

3. Paras
There may be no vehicles 
There may be no more than 2 heavy weapons groups (HMG, RCL/bazookas or mortar) 

The groups can be elite (BEP, BCCP, most BPC, some BPVN) or regular (most Indochinese, some colonials).

4. AVN (Vietnamese National Army)
There must be at least 4 small arms groups 
There may be no more than 1 company commander stand (French) 
There may be no more than 1 tank or AFV (may not be elite) 

The groups can be regular (some "elite" units) or poor quality (most AVN troops).

5. GCMA (Tribesmen and CEFEO Advisors)
There may be no more than 1 company commander group (CEFEO) 
There may be no more than 1 heavy weapons group (CEFEO) 
There may be no more than 3 CEFEO stands (including command and weapons) 

GCMA (tribesmen) are poor quality, but move as VM stands

4. CEFEO Points
Elite group with small arms = 17 
Elite Company Commander group = 23 
Elite group with HMG, mortar or RCL/bazooka = 23 
Regular group with small arms = 10 
Regular group with HMG, mortar or RCL/bazooka = 15 
Regular Company Command group = 15 
Poor-quality group with small arms = 6 
Poor-quality Company Command group = 9 
Poor-quality group with HMG, mortar, RCL/bazooka = 9 
Armoured Car (Panhard, Coventry, M8 Greyhound) or Bren-carrier = 25 
M5 Stuart tank = 25 
M4 Sherman, M8 Scott or M24 Chaffee tank = 40 
M3 Half-track (can carry 3 groups) = 15 
Artillery Piece (typically 105mm) and Tow = 40 
Crab (unarmoured, can carry 1 group, and moves at infantry speed in water, or normal vehicle speed across swamp/paddy) = 15 
Alligator (can carry 4 groups, and moves at infantry speed in water, or normal vehicle speed across swamp/paddy) = 30
8. A few changes here: 
1. Mostly as per original rules, but note that Hearts and Minds missions were rare for the CEFEO! 
2. Only paras may deploy anywhere on the board (as there were no troop carrying helicopters in Indo!), all other deploy on table edges.
9. Mostly as per main rules - but the roll for VM to activate zones (9.3) should be 4,5,6. 

10. Unchanged 

11. The cards are basically OK - just substitute "VM" for "VC", "CEFEO" for "US", and "ANV/GCMA" for "ARVN/MIKE". 

12. There are a few changes to the movement rules: 

1. Normal moves are: 6" for infantry groups and slow vehicles, 12" for fast vehicles. (Trucks and armoured cars count as fast on-road, and slow off-road. M5 Stuart, M3 half-track, Bren-carrier and M24 Chaffee count as fast in all circumstances. M4 Sherman counts as slow in all circumstances). Rest of section unchanged. 
2. No change. (NB Calcaires are impassable to vehicles). 
3. No change - NB includes GCMA troops. 
4. No change.
13. Not much to change here, but: 
1. Unchanged 
2. Substitute "M5 Stuart" for "ACAV" (It has only light armour, and a small-calibre gun plus HMGs, but no transport capability). Other tanks are mainly M4, M8 and M24. M4 counts as "tank" for all criteria here, but M24 has only light armour (as per M113 or armoured car in main rules). M8 counts as per M24 here. 
3. (NB typo in original! - this and the subsequent sections are misnumbered) Ranges unchanged. 
4. Firing method as per original rules. Factors are: 
+2 to Firer's dice roll for:
Firer is tank (M4 or M24) or artillery piece 
RCL/Bazooka firing at tank or other vehicle 

+1 to Firer's dice roll if:
Elite quality troops (VM regulars, CEFEO paras & Legion, etc) 
Short range (1/4 or less) 
Heavy weapon firing at infantry 
Target on road/track 
If VM activated this turn (ambush) 

-1 to Firer's dice roll for:
Poor quality troops (GCMA, most ANV, VM militia) 
Long range (3/4 or greater) 
Target in template (village, jungle, paddy fields, calcaires) 
Poor visibility (night, monsoon, etc) 
Firer pinned 
Target is lightly-armoured vehicle (M3 half-track, M5 Stuart, armoured car, M24 Chaffee, Alligator) 

-2 to Firer's dice roll for:
Target is tank (M4)

5. Unchanged 
6. Unchanged 
7. Unchanged 
8. Unchanged 
9. Unchanged
14. Only Artillery Strikes are allowed (This, in fact, covers off-board artillery or fighter/bomber airstrikes). These arrive on a 5,6 - otherwise as per standard rules. An on-board artillery piece may elect to fire indirect rather than direct (as per normal firing rules). If used for indirect firing, an artillery strike of only 1 card is used, but arrives on a 2,3,4,5,6. The opponent may attempt to shift this area as per the rules for second cards. 

15. No change to morale rules. 

16. Unchanged. 

17. Unchanged. 

18. No real change - ignore ARVN/Korean rule. 

19. Unchanged. 

20. Unchanged. 

21. Unchanged. 

22. Ignore this - see the rest of this site!. 

23. Options to be added - watch this space! 

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