War Over Vietnam Operation Rolling Thunder V

Bien Hoa, Republic of Vietnam March 2, 1965: This scenario covers the first mission of Rolling Thunder, an air operation orchestrated from Washington, DC by a White House that micro-managed the air campaign right down to selecting targets, ordnance and attack routes. In keeping with the doctrine of “gradualism”, certain obvious targets (such as North Vietnamese airfields) were kept off limits in order to threaten “future” destruction.

The scenario begins with several flights en route to one of two prepositioned ingress points: the South Ingress point which services the route packages of both the Bien Hoa and Korat flights, and the East Ingress point which services the route package of six flights (18 total aircraft) of A-1E strike packages coming from Bien Hoa.

War Over Vietnam: Thanh Hoa Bridge

Thanh Hoa, Vietnam: While this tutorial mission featured the infamous "Dragon's Jaw" bridge that chewed up and spit out so many American pilots and aircraft during the course of the war, the Thanh Hoa Bridge scenario is the first instance of the famous target in the regular game.

  

Your flight starts (as in apparently most if not all of these scenarios) near the objective already in an attack profile with several waypoints already plotted out for you. Also as with any mission, you are free to override any of these suggestions and plot your own attack.

War Over Vietnam: Operation Flaming Dart II

Dong Hoi, Vietnam: This mission presents you with two targets that you must do enough damage to within the allotted two hours to achieve a decisive result. Like the previous mission "Pierce Arrow", this cannot be done in the first pass (best case scenario is a draw) and will require you to return your flights to a base, reload and attack again.

  

There are three aircraft carriers on the map, the Ranger, Hancock and Coral Sea; however as in the previous mission there are closer options available, such as Nakhon Phanom and Ubon, which is what I used during this mission to support the strike on the two targets - Chanh Hoa Barracks and Dong Hoi Port.

War Over Vietnam: Operation Pierce Arrow

Vinh, Vietnam - This mission presents you with three targets that you must do enough damage to within the allotted three hours to achieve a decisive result. This however cannot be accomplished in the first pass (best case scenario is a draw) and will require you to return your flights to a base, reload and attack again.

  

There are two base types in this mission which require some care in the use of the auto-return function. First up we have the big sexy carriers down in the lower right corner of the map, the USS Constellation (CVA-64) and the USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14). The problem here is one of distance.

War Over Vietnam: The Dragon's Jaw

Thanh Hoa, Vietnam: This scenario is a hypothetical attack on the North Vietnamese Ham Rung Bridge by the US Air Force flying out of the Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand. The mission starts with your forces airborne over Laos and en route to The Dragon's Jaw in Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam.

  

I honestly tried to follow the tutorial for this mission written by Adam Parker, but dare I criticize a fellow combat writer by suggesting that mixing war fiction in with what purports to be instructions on how to play a war game is something that should be avoided at all costs.