Now in the sweet, sweet summertime, I write my seventy-fifth in a series of posts on the Vietnam War. See here for the previous post in the series and here to go back to master post.
The other day I played another very small scenario and a hypothetical at that. Four turns total – hardly worth remarking on, except that its been such a long time since I’ve played any Squad Battles so I felt that I should at least acknowledge it.
The scenario is, according to the Tiller‘s designer’s notes, “motivated by the personal account of Hank Calonkey.” This strongly implies a lack of written, published sources – which is to say, something that I might be able to reference for myself. It also is, like some other Tour of Duty scenarios from Tiller, a deliberate stretch of the parameters of the Squad Battles engine. In this case, the engagement is a result of an imagined unintended meeting of two like-sized units while patrolling in the darkness.
![](https://ettubluto.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/night1.jpg?w=1024)
The key here is the brevity and closeness (via darkness-induced reduced spotting distance). The initial engagement, on turn one, is between point units only and which, as you can see above, turned out pretty well for my guys. After this exchange, any play through will have the opponents maneuvering as each player tries to bring the full depth of his command against the enemy. You might notice that I’m trying to flank left. What you can’t see is that so is the enemy.
In the end, I had several more unexpected meetings in the darkened rice paddies. In one or two cases, I found that I accidentally over-extended a position, having failed to anticipate the movements of the enemy. I won a minor victory, which suggested to me that I did alright but I could do better. Losses seemed disconcertingly severe, leaving me wondering what the point of it all was.
Yes, it is a lesson in how to maneuver in the dark and how to prepare for the unexpected. As such, replays probably won’t be worth much. But am I really learning anything meaningful about night fighting in Vietnam? Or am I only learning about the Squad Battles system?
Return to the master post for more Vietnam War articles. For more flight simulator fun, continue on forward.
![](https://ettubluto.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/pexels-photo-410895.jpeg)