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NEW RULES CONTINUED
Air Operations
Introduction
Although the French had very sparse resources in comparison with the use of aircraft in World War II, Korea and the "Second Indochina War," they developed a very effective system for coordinating air support and responding quickly to the needs of the troops on the ground.
Pre-planned air support included the provision of the ubiquitous "Criquets" over fixed positions or moving ground and naval units by day; "Luciole" flareships by night; and "credits" for pre-arranged ground support in set piece actions.
Ad hoc air support was facilitated through an Emergency Request Network by which ground units or posts running into trouble could quickly summons assistance, either from fighter units kept on ramp alert or from aircraft already in the air on their way to and from other targets. Since this system was, of necessity, not pre-planned there would always be problems of delay in arrival, the weapons load of the aircraft, which may, or may not, be appropriate to the task at hand and the duration the aircraft could remain over the target. To reflect these difficulties these rules use a system for allocating air support similar to that used in CF for allocating armoured support, i.e. you are likely to get what was historically available, not necessarily what you want. Toucans, Privateers and Boxcars do not perform ad hoc air support.
Aircraft Availability Pre-planned Sorties – aircraft type and number, initiative of arrival, weapons load and time over target, are determined by the umpire or as part of the scenario design. Emergency Requests – The umpire or scenario design will specify an Emergency Request number. Once an emergency request has been made dice against this number to see if aircraft arrive. If they arrive dice for aircraft type, weapons load and time over target.
Emergency Request Number This number will vary with the date of the engagement, reflecting the increasing availability of aircraft later in the war; and the geographic location, for instance aircraft would be relatively plentiful in the Red River Delta but rarer in the Highlands. Where aircraft are particularly sparse this can be reflected by only dicing every other or every third French initiative.
Emergency Request Emergency requests may be made by radio equipped PCs or CCs. Only one request (total ~ not each PC or CC,) can be made. It counts as an action and the commander making it cannot be suppressed and cannot undertake any other action that initiative.
Aircraft Arrival Dice at the beginning of each French initiative after the one in which the request is made (or in the appropriate second or third initiative as explained above). Add one to the dice if there is already a Criquet over the battlefield. If the result is equal to or higher than the Emergency Request Number the request is successful and aircraft will arrive on the next French initiative. So that the VM player does not know this throw the dice under a cup and reveal the bad news to him at the beginning of the next French initiative. Aircraft will continue to arrive in this manner every time the Emergency Request Number is equalled or exceeded.
Aircraft Type
Dice for aircraft type according to the location of the Tactical Air Group in Indochina.
Fighter will be Spitfire, King Cobra, Hellcat or Bearcat depending upon year. For Navy dice again – 1,2,3 = Divebomber (Dauntless or Helldiver) 4,5,6 = Fighter (Hellcat or Corsair)
Weapons
Load First
dice to determine if the aircraft was inbound or outbound from a mission
before it was diverted. Add one
if the aircraft is a fighter type in an area where they were kept on ramp
alert. A score of 123 indicates
that the aircraft was inbound. It
has already expended its ordinance and may only strafe.
On a 456 it is outbound. Dice
to determine its weapons load.
Aircraft
with multiple ordinances may use them all on one pass or split them over
several passes. Aircraft
except divebombers may always strafe. Time
Over Target Throw
a D6 and halve result rounding up. Then
add two for Criquets, add one for Invaders, deduct one (to a minimum of one)
for Spitfires. The resulting
number is : The
number of French initiatives that a Criquet remains over the battlefield. The
number of passes an attack aircraft makes over the battlefield in this
initiative. If
the game represents a night battle, and the request is for a Luciole, once
it arrives it remains over the battlefield for the rest of the game. If
an aircraft, except a Criquet, is available in an initiative the first
action that the French player must take is to perform one pass with it.
Thereafter the aircraft may continue to make passes up to its limit
or the French player may perform other actions, returning to the aircraft
passes at will. Aircraft passes
only result in lost initiative if: the
aircraft aborts its mission; or any
French units are “pinned” or worse by fire from the aircraft. However,
if the French player opts to carry out a non-aircraft action during which he
loses the initiative then the initiative passes in the usual manner and any
aircraft passes remaining unused for that initiative are lost. The
“Firepower Gap” Unless
there is a Criquet over the battlefield to coordinate airstrikes and
artillery fires the French player may not call down any mortar or artillery
FMs other than smoke in any initiative that airstrikes are being made.
Smoke missions may only be brought down on the intended target points
of airstrikes to mark the target. If
a delayed FM was due to arrive this initiative it is cancelled. Air
Attack Procedure Fighters,
Dive bombers and bombers may use a pass to acquire targets or make an attack
run. Acquisition passes, high
level bombing attacks, dive bombing, high angle rocket attacks and Criquet
observations are conducted at high level.
Straffing or attacks with rockets, napalm or low level bombing
attacks are conducted at low level. If
making an attack run the French player specifies a target point and the
entry and exit points of the run as specified below.
He then attempts to acquire the target. Once
the target point has been acquired, (or mis-acquired,) the aircraft
commences its run. The VM player
now fires flak as the aircraft proceeds on its run from entry point to
target point and exit point. On
reaching the target point the appropriate ordnance pattern is placed on the
table. The aircraft continues to
its exit point taking flak as it goes. Now
determine weapon error and fire effect. Target
Points The
target point (TP) for an attack run is a squad base sized area. If
the attack is directed by a ground observer he must have LOS to the TP and
cannot conduct any other actions that initiative. The chosen TP cannot be within the following safe distance to friendly troops depending upon the ordnance used:
If
the TP is mis-acquired the VM player may ignor these safe distances.
Target
Acquisition The
French player nominates his target. Both
the French and VM player then throw a D6 each and adjust as follows :
If the result is : French higher – the designated target is acquired. If the target is marked by smoke and the smoke is in the wrong place the smoke is still the target point. A draw – the pilot fails to acquire the target. The attack run is cancelled and the pilot conducts an acquisition pass instead. VM
higher – the pilot mis-acquires the target.
The VM player designates a new target.
If the original target was a squad in the open the new target must be
a squad in the open. If the
target was in a terrain feature the new target must be a similar terrain
feature and it may not be within a terrain feature that is easily
distinguishable from the surrounding features from the air, e.g. from
outside a fortified post to inside one.
The new target must be within 15” of the original target.
If there is no eligible target within this distance treat the result
as a “draw”. Obviously the
VM player will want to change the target to French units but if there are no
suitable French units within 15" he will have to target VM units. |
