Chains of War 9 - Korean Ground Game 9/7/18
Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2023 4:27 pm
It transpired that the US airstrikes in the Nightmares scenario had succeeded in killing Kim Jong Un and many other leading DPRK regime figures. Nonetheless, the North was unwilling to throw-in the towel and, encouraged by Chinese successes, it threw its fully-mobilised army against the South. For their part, the US and South Korean air commands sought to forestall this offensive with a pre-emptive strike.
This is an entirely land-air scenario, with no naval units involved. The briefing rates it as easy and this is basically true, but it doesn’t seem like it in the first couple of hours!.
You can only play the US/South Korean/Japanese side. To achieve your loosely-defined objectives, you have a variety of aircraft on South Korean bases, including lots of F-16s and Apache choppers, some F-15s, a squadron each of Phantoms and A-10s, attack and recon UAVs and some AEW planes. In Japan, there are some tankers supporting a range of assets, notably two B-1 and two B-2 bombers and a half-dozen F-22s. You also have SAMs and radars for defence in Korea. Perhaps to reduce clutter in an already complex and hectic scenario, there are no US or South Korean ground combat units. As a result, the ground war is rather abstract, with the air force responsible for parrying the North’s thrusts.
North Korea has an almost inexhaustible supply of tanks and mechanised infantry moving towards the front. Along the DMZ, they have a wall of AA guns and MANPADs, with batteries of Guidelines deployed further back and more advanced defences, including KN-06 SAMs, around Pyongyang. Massive numbers of conventional and ballistic rocket artillery pieces are in position to shell bordering regions of the South and your bases therein. Supporting this, the enemy have squadrons of obsolete MiG-17, 19 and 21 fighters/fighter-bombers, backed-up by more modern MiG-29s, MiG-23s and some Frogfoot strike planes and Hind choppers.
You are told to prioritise North Korean front-line airfields, SAM sites, artillery, mechanised and armoured units and are warned that high-priority tasks will be notified as the game progresses.
9/7/18 22:00Z (07:00L): I started with four Reaper UAVs in exposed positions near the front line, so I had the three that realistically could strike and run (the other one was too far away from any targets). Their Hellfire missiles did some damage to enemy artillery, but using them meant dropping below 15k’ and one drone was damaged by a Gimlet MANPAD.
The North Koreans then struck with everything they had. KN-09 ballistic missiles were primarily used against radars and I-HAWK sites, destroying several for -100VP each. Conventional artillery bombarded our forward bases at Camp Mobile and Rodriquez Range, persuading me to withdraw the 16 Apaches there to safer territory in a hurry (thankfully without loss). Practically the entire Northern air force then came over the border, swamping the few F-16s that were in position to stop them. Theoretically, our best fighters were AIM-120D-armed Falcons and Eagles in Japan, but they did not have a prayer of getting there in time. The F-16s on-station had AIM-120Bs and Sidewinders and necessarily got embroiled in a close-ranged melee that gave the North Koreans a fighting chance of doing damage. As a result, we lost 5 South Korean Falcons and a retiring Reaper for 13 Farmers, 12 Frescoes, 8 Floggers, 2 Fulcrums, 5 Frogfoots and 2 Hinds. Enemy bombing wrote-off another radar, a couple of I-HAWK sites and an AvGas tank.
Meanwhile, some Eagles with Taurus missiles did some belated damage to the KN-09 launchers. However, with our aircraft losses costing 100VP and North Korean aircraft scoring nothing, we were left with a hefty deficit of -1,200.
As more F-16s reached the scene, they attacked the retiring enemy survivors and destroyed another Frogfoot and 6 Hinds.
Heavy AI processing of North Korean artillery fire seriously affected game performance in the early stages.
08:00L: F-16s and Japanese F-2s began to arrive from Misawa and attacked E coast targets, destroying lots of artillery and mechanised infantry while sweeping away some MiG-21s that tried to intervene. Artillery sites score 100VP each and tanks or APCs 10 each. Other North Korean units score nothing. As the North Koreans had already committed much of their air force, I saw little point in attacking forward airfields, especially as I would get nothing for hitting planes on the ground. There was plenty of artillery and this scored the most for the least effort.
Apaches, with formidable numbers of Hellfires, supported by A-10s with stand-off cluster bombs, largely annihilated a large armoured column that was moving towards Seoul in the West. The first special mission arrived and we were able to destroy an outsized (17-point) infantry company that was trying to cross the Imjin River. More choppers disposed of a Northern special ops unit that popped-up near Seoul’s Gimpo Airport, scoring a handy 100VP. On the debit side, we lost four Apaches to MANPADs.
09:00L: Continued strikes on the massed North Korean artillery began to wear it down and reduce the amount of incoming fire. Two more Apaches were lost. I was trying to ignore the MANPADs and AA and concentrate on the targets that scored points, but it proved difficult to stop choppers going Engaged Offensive and wandering into range of enemy air defences. I would Unassign them, try pulling them back, only to see the Engaged Offensive setting come-on again.
Even ordering RTB didn’t always work.
A further difficulty was caused by Apaches cranking after firing (which you can’t overrule on the Doctrine screen) and losing their laser guidance for Hellfire shots, making the missiles go blind. You really need the helicopters, as most of your fixed-wing aircraft have but a few munitions each and can only pinprick the masses of armoured attackers (even if they can mostly do so from a safe altitude and distance).
More enemy infantry companies attempted river crossings and were mostly destroyed, but there would often be no VP award for doing so. The longer the game went on, the more I ignored the repeated air support requests, which generally happened when I was concentrating on manually controlling something else. You can’t be everywhere at once and (it turned-out) there is no penalty for failing to carry-out these tasks (the outsized infantry company just vanishes after a time limit).
10:00L: It became a repetitive exercise in launching strikes against advancing Northern columns, with great execution done to the targets. The B-1 Lancers, with their large quantities of cluster munitions, were especially effective while their ammo lasted. By 11:00, the score was +3,930 and a Triumph, making the rest of the game a drawn-out exercise with victory assured.
11:00L: Some more Fishbeds tried to hinder our operations over the Sea of Japan. Outclassed as they were, they were eventually disposed of, but there were some silly issues with our AIM-120Ds. Essentially, the minimum range of the missile is greater than the range of the F-16 Block 50’s radar, making the weapon unusable except at short range when it doesn’t have time to loft before encountering the target. Kills were made this way or with Sidewinders, which gave the MiGs a chance. As the massacre of the Northern army continued, the score reached +4,760.
12:00L: Given that the North Korean armoured columns were mainly shielded from our helicopters by MANPADs and AA, I adopted a policy of bulldozing a way through to create safe corridors for other choppers to follow. This broadly worked, but I still had to be careful with choppers returning to base, as they would fly over unsubdued enemy air defences whenever it was left to chance and I lost a couple of them that way.
03:00L: The slaughter continued. There was a hiatus when a pair of Fulcrums intervened out of the blue and shot down three Apaches before any fighters could arrive. Another incident saw an infiltrating MANPAD team popping-up near Seosan airbase on South Korea’s W coast, well behind the lines. Thankfully, I pegged it before it could do any harm and a chopper used its range advantage to take it out.
04:00L: The Fulcrums returned and, this time, were destroyed by escorts, but not before they had claimed another chopper and an F-16. The game then wound-down and finished as a Triumph, with a score of +8,310.
Our losses came to 6 F-16s, 13 Apaches and 2 Reapers, plus 41 ground elements.
North Korea lost 61 fighters, 6 Frogfoots, 8 Hinds, 384 artillery, 226 tank, 285 APC, 100 infantry, 92 MANPAD, 42 SAM, 69 AA elements, 9 radars and a regimental HQ (one of the special missions that actually scored some VP). Presumably, this was enough to halt their offensive in its tracks.
This is an entirely land-air scenario, with no naval units involved. The briefing rates it as easy and this is basically true, but it doesn’t seem like it in the first couple of hours!.
You can only play the US/South Korean/Japanese side. To achieve your loosely-defined objectives, you have a variety of aircraft on South Korean bases, including lots of F-16s and Apache choppers, some F-15s, a squadron each of Phantoms and A-10s, attack and recon UAVs and some AEW planes. In Japan, there are some tankers supporting a range of assets, notably two B-1 and two B-2 bombers and a half-dozen F-22s. You also have SAMs and radars for defence in Korea. Perhaps to reduce clutter in an already complex and hectic scenario, there are no US or South Korean ground combat units. As a result, the ground war is rather abstract, with the air force responsible for parrying the North’s thrusts.
North Korea has an almost inexhaustible supply of tanks and mechanised infantry moving towards the front. Along the DMZ, they have a wall of AA guns and MANPADs, with batteries of Guidelines deployed further back and more advanced defences, including KN-06 SAMs, around Pyongyang. Massive numbers of conventional and ballistic rocket artillery pieces are in position to shell bordering regions of the South and your bases therein. Supporting this, the enemy have squadrons of obsolete MiG-17, 19 and 21 fighters/fighter-bombers, backed-up by more modern MiG-29s, MiG-23s and some Frogfoot strike planes and Hind choppers.
You are told to prioritise North Korean front-line airfields, SAM sites, artillery, mechanised and armoured units and are warned that high-priority tasks will be notified as the game progresses.
9/7/18 22:00Z (07:00L): I started with four Reaper UAVs in exposed positions near the front line, so I had the three that realistically could strike and run (the other one was too far away from any targets). Their Hellfire missiles did some damage to enemy artillery, but using them meant dropping below 15k’ and one drone was damaged by a Gimlet MANPAD.
The North Koreans then struck with everything they had. KN-09 ballistic missiles were primarily used against radars and I-HAWK sites, destroying several for -100VP each. Conventional artillery bombarded our forward bases at Camp Mobile and Rodriquez Range, persuading me to withdraw the 16 Apaches there to safer territory in a hurry (thankfully without loss). Practically the entire Northern air force then came over the border, swamping the few F-16s that were in position to stop them. Theoretically, our best fighters were AIM-120D-armed Falcons and Eagles in Japan, but they did not have a prayer of getting there in time. The F-16s on-station had AIM-120Bs and Sidewinders and necessarily got embroiled in a close-ranged melee that gave the North Koreans a fighting chance of doing damage. As a result, we lost 5 South Korean Falcons and a retiring Reaper for 13 Farmers, 12 Frescoes, 8 Floggers, 2 Fulcrums, 5 Frogfoots and 2 Hinds. Enemy bombing wrote-off another radar, a couple of I-HAWK sites and an AvGas tank.
Meanwhile, some Eagles with Taurus missiles did some belated damage to the KN-09 launchers. However, with our aircraft losses costing 100VP and North Korean aircraft scoring nothing, we were left with a hefty deficit of -1,200.
As more F-16s reached the scene, they attacked the retiring enemy survivors and destroyed another Frogfoot and 6 Hinds.
Heavy AI processing of North Korean artillery fire seriously affected game performance in the early stages.
08:00L: F-16s and Japanese F-2s began to arrive from Misawa and attacked E coast targets, destroying lots of artillery and mechanised infantry while sweeping away some MiG-21s that tried to intervene. Artillery sites score 100VP each and tanks or APCs 10 each. Other North Korean units score nothing. As the North Koreans had already committed much of their air force, I saw little point in attacking forward airfields, especially as I would get nothing for hitting planes on the ground. There was plenty of artillery and this scored the most for the least effort.
Apaches, with formidable numbers of Hellfires, supported by A-10s with stand-off cluster bombs, largely annihilated a large armoured column that was moving towards Seoul in the West. The first special mission arrived and we were able to destroy an outsized (17-point) infantry company that was trying to cross the Imjin River. More choppers disposed of a Northern special ops unit that popped-up near Seoul’s Gimpo Airport, scoring a handy 100VP. On the debit side, we lost four Apaches to MANPADs.
09:00L: Continued strikes on the massed North Korean artillery began to wear it down and reduce the amount of incoming fire. Two more Apaches were lost. I was trying to ignore the MANPADs and AA and concentrate on the targets that scored points, but it proved difficult to stop choppers going Engaged Offensive and wandering into range of enemy air defences. I would Unassign them, try pulling them back, only to see the Engaged Offensive setting come-on again.
Even ordering RTB didn’t always work.
A further difficulty was caused by Apaches cranking after firing (which you can’t overrule on the Doctrine screen) and losing their laser guidance for Hellfire shots, making the missiles go blind. You really need the helicopters, as most of your fixed-wing aircraft have but a few munitions each and can only pinprick the masses of armoured attackers (even if they can mostly do so from a safe altitude and distance).
More enemy infantry companies attempted river crossings and were mostly destroyed, but there would often be no VP award for doing so. The longer the game went on, the more I ignored the repeated air support requests, which generally happened when I was concentrating on manually controlling something else. You can’t be everywhere at once and (it turned-out) there is no penalty for failing to carry-out these tasks (the outsized infantry company just vanishes after a time limit).
10:00L: It became a repetitive exercise in launching strikes against advancing Northern columns, with great execution done to the targets. The B-1 Lancers, with their large quantities of cluster munitions, were especially effective while their ammo lasted. By 11:00, the score was +3,930 and a Triumph, making the rest of the game a drawn-out exercise with victory assured.
11:00L: Some more Fishbeds tried to hinder our operations over the Sea of Japan. Outclassed as they were, they were eventually disposed of, but there were some silly issues with our AIM-120Ds. Essentially, the minimum range of the missile is greater than the range of the F-16 Block 50’s radar, making the weapon unusable except at short range when it doesn’t have time to loft before encountering the target. Kills were made this way or with Sidewinders, which gave the MiGs a chance. As the massacre of the Northern army continued, the score reached +4,760.
12:00L: Given that the North Korean armoured columns were mainly shielded from our helicopters by MANPADs and AA, I adopted a policy of bulldozing a way through to create safe corridors for other choppers to follow. This broadly worked, but I still had to be careful with choppers returning to base, as they would fly over unsubdued enemy air defences whenever it was left to chance and I lost a couple of them that way.
03:00L: The slaughter continued. There was a hiatus when a pair of Fulcrums intervened out of the blue and shot down three Apaches before any fighters could arrive. Another incident saw an infiltrating MANPAD team popping-up near Seosan airbase on South Korea’s W coast, well behind the lines. Thankfully, I pegged it before it could do any harm and a chopper used its range advantage to take it out.
04:00L: The Fulcrums returned and, this time, were destroyed by escorts, but not before they had claimed another chopper and an F-16. The game then wound-down and finished as a Triumph, with a score of +8,310.
Our losses came to 6 F-16s, 13 Apaches and 2 Reapers, plus 41 ground elements.
North Korea lost 61 fighters, 6 Frogfoots, 8 Hinds, 384 artillery, 226 tank, 285 APC, 100 infantry, 92 MANPAD, 42 SAM, 69 AA elements, 9 radars and a regimental HQ (one of the special missions that actually scored some VP). Presumably, this was enough to halt their offensive in its tracks.