7/21/2019 COMBAT LANCER (Rolling Thunder Campaign)

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BattlePlan 9

CombatLancer

A

Campaign

Game

or

ROLLING THUNDER

By JamesE. Meldrum

Operation

Combat

Lancer

was the

operational

debut of

the US$'s

F-l11

fighter-bomber

which

took

place

n March,

1968.This

operationmay

be simulated

as a

short campaign

game

using Group Three

Games'

RollingThund.er

san experimen-

tal

vehicle.

Unless

otherwise

noted,

all

rules from

Rolling Thunder

are

in

effect.

(In

any situation where

the

variantmaterial

presented

n

this article conflicts with

the

game

ules,

the

game

rules

will

take

prior-

ity in resolving the dispute.)This scenario

is

conducted in

the same

manner

as the

campaign

scenario

ncluded in

the

original

game.

Campaign Game:

Operation Combat Lancer

Background:

In March, 1968

detachment 1

of the

428th TFS,

464 TFW flew

six

F-111

fighter

bombers o

Takhli RTAFB

in Thai-

land. These

aircraft were

the units

partici-

pating

n

OperationCombatLancer, whose

objective was to demonstrateand evaluate

the

F-111's

performance

n

combat.

According

to the United States

me-

dia,

this operation turned out lo be a mili-

tary disaster

since three of the six

partici-

pating

aircraft were lost. Investigations

later revealed

that

the

F-111

had

been

rushed nto

production

and combat before

it had

been

ully

tested.Examination

of the

F-l11

wreckage evealed

hat the crashes

were

causedby the

failure

of a weld in

the

tailplane.

During Operation CombatLancer,F-

111

aircraft were

assigned o

missions

against argets ocated in

the

Route

Pack-

age Five area which included northwest

and west

central North Viet Nam.

All

missions

were

conducted t

night, without

escort,

and

were

designed o seewhat theF-

111

coulddo on

its

own.

Unfair criticism from

the

media

drew

plenty

of unfavorable

attention to the

F-

111 which

obscured he

fact

that

this air-

craft was,

once

manufacturing

defects

wgre

corrected, an outstanding

combat

CombatLancer

aircraft.

PotentialTargets:

Die

Victory

Points

Objective

10/12 Yen Bai airfield/

ammodepot

6 Tien

Cuong

RR

yard

Phu

Tho

bridge

Viet Tri

power

plant

Ho Lac

airfield

Xuan Mai

army

base

l0 Don

Suong irfield

10 Bai Thuons

airfield

Restrictions:

1)

No

USAF aircraft

may enter

op

hexes

adjacento

theChinese

order.

2)

USAF

aircraft

may

not

attack

guns,

missiles,

aunchers,

r

radars

ocated n

populated

ac

hexes.

Note;The

weatheroption

ustbe

sed.

USAF Forces:

Six

F-111

aircraft

Note:

Only

four F-I11 counters

re

pro-

vided

n

the

game,

o

players

will

be

orced

to use wo F-4

counters.

When

heUSAF

player oses n aircraft, emoveoneof t}te

F-4

countersuntil the only U.S. aircraft

being sed

n

the

game

re

F-111s.

USAF

Aircraft Armament:

F-IIL

: 6 cannonburst

4

Sidewinder

AAMs; 4

Sparrow

AAMs; 12 x 7501b

bombs; r 2 LGBs

or

4 Bullpup

ASMs.

Nore;F-l1ls

mayalways earmedwith

a

cannon.

NVAF Defense: As in

the

1967168

ce-

nario.

NVAFDiscretionary orces:As in the

1961

68 cenario.

NVAFAircraftArftwment:Asn

the

1967/

68 scenario.

Victory

Conditions:

l) The

U.S.

player

eceivesnumber

f

victory

points

equal

o the

number

given

for

each target

isted in the

sectionon

potential

USAF targets.

n

addition, he

USAFplayerreceives

alf

of theVPs isted

for

a target f it

suffers50Vo

r more

dam-

ase.

2) The

USAF

player

eceives

VPs

or

eachNVAF aircraftdesftoyed ither

n

the

air or on fhe

ground,

and3 VPs

or

every

radar, AA

gun,

or SA-2

launcher

de-

stroyed.

3)

TheNVAF

player

eceives VPs or

each

-111

destroyed.

4) Victory is

judged

on the basis of

victory

points.

The

player

having

he

arg-

est otal of

victory

poins

at the endof the

game

s

thewinner.

Special

Rules:

1) The

campaign cenario

n

thisarticle

consistsof

five night missions

played

consecutively.

2) The

weather ption

must

be used.

3)

Keep

a tally of all USAF

osses;he

USAFplayerhasonly srxF- 111aircraft.f

a// six aircraftare

ost

before heendof

the

fifth mission

he

game

ends

mmediately

4)

Since here

areonly our F-ll1 air-

craft

units n

the

countermix,

wo

aircraf

(only)

may

be

retumed

o

play

afterbeing

destroyed.

heirloss

tillcounts

orvictory

determ

nation

purposes.

5)

The

amountof damage uffered y

eachmrget

s

cumulative nd

must

be

re-

corded.

6)

At night,

only

MiG-2ls may nter-

ceptandonly 57mmand85mm

AA

guns

may ire - deduct accuracy ointswhen

resolvingAA

gunfire

combat.

1)

All F-111s

are based at

Takhl

RTAFB.

8)

Only the designated

argets

may be

attacked.

Variations:

1) Try

playing

his campaign cenari

underdaylightconditions.

2) Allow the

USAF

player

o useone

EB-66.

3)

Allow

the

NVAF

player

o substitut

MiG-19aircraftor MiG-17s.

4)

Allow

theUSAF

player

o strike ar-

gets

located

only

in

the

Hanoi

and

Haiphong

reas.

5) When any USAF aircraft

is sho

down,

players

may

elect o

play

scenari

five

(search

and

rescue) n

an effort to

rescue

he two-mancrew. After complet

ing

this scenario,he

next

strike

s

played

followed

by another search and

rescue

operation

f

an

F- 1 I is lost.

Roll

r-2

a

J

4-5

6

612

8

9

10

10

8