Downtown Wargame War Game

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Downtown - Board Game

GMT Games

	~~MSRP:$35.00~~ 10% Off Your Price: $31.50 You Save: $3.50 Plus Free Shipping and Handling within the Continetal United States

The Air War Over Hanoi, 1965 to 1972

DOWNTOWN is a board game of air warfare over Hanoi. During the Rolling Thunder (1965-68) and Linebacker (1972) campaigns, Hanoi and the Red River Valley was the focus of American air operations targeting North Vietnam's military, economy and Communist leadership. Against large ‘packages' of US attack and support aircraft, the Vietnamese deployed a formidable array of anti-aircraft artillery (AAA), Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs) and MiG fighter jets. Covering air operations from 1965 to 1972, Downtown recreates the clashes between American air power and the North Vietnamese air defence system. The United States player controls Air Force and Navy strikes into Route Packs 5 and 6 – the heart of the Vietnamese defences. Packages include forces of bombers, fighters, recon planes, jamming aircraft and ‘Iron Hand' aircraft for suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD). The US player's objective is to destroy ground targets. The North Vietnamese player controls concentrations of AAA, Fire Can radar-directed artillery and SAM . They can launch MiG fighters to intercept the bomber streams aimed at 'Downtown' Hanoi. The Vietnamese player must disrupt enemy attacks. The scale is 2.5 nautical miles per hex and 1 minute per game turn. Individual units are flight-sized air units (1-4 aircraft), battalion-sized SAMs (six SA-2 launchers), or multi-battery concentrations of AAA. Scenarios cover historical strike raids from the Rolling Thunder and Linebacker operations. Campaigns recreate actions taking place over the course of several days.

Game Components

(a) 40 page rulebook. The core rules are around 20 pages and the rest of the rulebook comprises advanced rules and designer's notes. There are plenty of examples and illustrations to smooth the way. The appendices include a track listing (all scenario names are based on period pop songs from 1965 to 1972), a reading list and, more usefully, tactical play hints. The rules are fully cross-referenced and indexed for easy look-up.

(b) 40 page scenario book. This contains the historical background to the air war as well as 6 pages of order of battle charts. These go into depth on the US orders of battle in a set of easy-reference tables. As an example of the game's completism these tables list the complement of every US Navy carrier cruise in TaskForce 77 between 1965 and the end of 1972. A two-page introductory scenario provides a programmed instruction approach to learning the basic game mechanics. This segues into the sixteen scenarios that begin in July 1965 and finish in December 1972.
The scenarios are varied and include:

Surfin' Bird: (Introductory scenario) October 1966. A route reconnaissance with Navy Skyhawks along the highways in Route Package 6.
Here, There and Everywhere: July 1965. Early USAF strikes against SAM sites around Hanoi.
Spirit in the Sky: April 1967. The savage battles for the skies over Hanoi and the strikes on the Canal des Rapides bridge.
Respect: August 1967. Recon runs with photo recon aircraft, "alone, unarmed and unafraid", up the northeast railway.
Superfly: 10 May 1972. The hardest day of the air war. The USAF and US Navy combine strikes against the hanoi defences and launch precision-guided bombs against the infamous Paul Doumer bridge.
What's Goin' On: 1 June 1972. The Combat Search and Rescue mission to rescue downed pilot Roger Locher, sending "Sandy" Skyraiders and "Jolly" helicopters to Yen Bai in a desperate mission to pick him up before the North Vietnamese army reach him.
Walk on the Wild Side: 18 December 1972. Finally, B-52 "BUFFs" go mano-a-mano with Hanoi's fierce SAM defences. Following the scenarios are three full campaign games covering several day's worth of operations over "Route Pack 6". Rounding out the scenario book is historical data on the US raids, a reference list of key dates and an explanation of how the detection levels (representing the many intelligence assets from 'Disco' to 'Red Crown' to 'Teaball') are rated.
(c) One 34 x 22" map sheet. Centred on Hanoi, this covers North Vietnam's airspace from the Tonkin Gulf to the Yen Bai airbase, from the China border to Laos. Based on a 1:500,000 Tactical Pilotage Chart from 1970, the map depicts the major rivers, highways, railroads, urban features and AAA concentrations, as well as the famous "Thud Ridge" and "Phantom Ridge" mountain spines used to mask the approach of USAF and USN raids.
(d) Playaids. These consist of two 17 x 11" double-sided sheets and one 8.5 x 11" sheet. These summarize all the rolls and print all the easy look-up tables in the game. One of the sheets (shown below) will be in full colour.
(e) Aircraft Data Cards. A playaid and historical resource, this lists the stats for every aircraft in the game (all 41 of them!) and provides historical data and three-view illustrations of the aircraft.
(f) Flight Counters. 280 double-sided 1/2" counters. A sheet containing all the aircraft flight counters in the game. These depict all the aircraft types in accurate period colour schemes. And yes, there are enough counters to run the 114-aircraft B-52 strike against Hanoi of 26 December 1972.
(g) Information Counters. 280 double-sided 1/2" counters. A sheet containing all the information markers for use in the game, including altitude markers, flight status markers and bomb attack counters. This also contains all the units for the Vietnamese ground defences, including S-75 Dvina SAM battalions, AAA concentrations and Fire Can fire control radars. Additional targets such as Early Warning Radars (Bar Lock radars) and North Vietnamese Army units are included.
(h) Log Sheets and Planning Map. For tracking the status of units and plotting the US raids.
(i) Two ten-sided dice.
Game Features
TIME SCALE 1 minute per turn
MAP SCALE 2.5 miles per hex
UNIT SCALE Flights and batteries
NUMBER OF PLAYERS One or two