One of the highlights of the OCS game system for me is the integration of air operations into the ground campaign. Not only do players get to affect their ground battles with the air units (a common trait of games of this scale), but the air units themselves get to function in an air superiority battle, there are basing issues to be dealt with, the player can develop combat air packages, and all these matters (and many more than I can take the space here to mention) are not handled in some overly abstracted "how many points you got on CAP?" method--you get to actually do them.

The rub is that many players get bogged down into using their aircraft merely as flying artillery and rarely move beyond the defensive in any sort of strategic air campaign. Literally, both players use their air force to ward off the enemy air force while bombing selected ground targets. Not a bad thing in and of itself, but it ignores the greater issues (and rewards) of running a continuous and unrelenting air campaign.

For this article, I will be drawing heavily upon the ideas expounded in The Air Campaign by Col. John Warden. This book, the key document in the planning of the Gulf Air War, examines exactly those items players need to be thinking about when planning their OCS air campaigns and is liberally illustrated with World War II examples. I suggest that players read and reread this magnificent volume. I can suggest no better volume for the wargamer who wants to really get a handle on the conduct of air war at the operational level. (Fighter pilot wanna-be types will need to look elsewhere for the kind of tactical detail they want.)

The "Usual" Game

My first description here will be of the usual game--one in which neither player has really thought through his air operations to any greater extent than "airplanes are nice to have and use." This type of thinking is not unexpected--given that the training players get out of their games rarely extends above the "here is an air point; use it" level. Regardless of its cause, here is the way I see many players using their valuable air forces in OCS games: Fighters (when used at all, some players keep them on their air bases at all times...) are sent out in Combat Air Patrol (CAP) stacks which attempt to protect a portion of their troops (a spearhead, for instance). On occasion, a pair or several fighters execute a mission to clear out an enemy CAP. A small air battle ensues where one or both sides vacate the hex and the enemy CAP is either reduced or it isn't.

There is only one purpose for a CAP in these games--deny the enemy the ability to hit targets in the interception zone with impunity. In the first edition rules, players were able to set up CAPs which gave the map an all-or-nothing feel--an area un-CAPed could be hit, one with a CAP could not. With the new rules (all optionals in place), a CAP presents an area where air strikes can still go, but with reduced effectiveness.

Brief Aside: Some players noted the new rule allowing only one aircraft to intercept to mean that their CAPs were useless (since the interceptor would always be outnumbered, etc.). This is not so: the main purpose of the CAP stack is to DG incoming air strikes, not to ward them off by mano-a-mano combat. Likewise, other players (used to the OCS 1.0 "perfectly sealed CAP areas") have panicked when they found their CAPs to be pervious. The permeable CAP area is a better reflection of reality. Unless an incoming raid consists of something "easy" (an unescorted Stuka comes to mind), players will do best to forego the first-edition tendency to intercept--let them come, but attack at x1/2.

Once whatever CAPs the player wants are placed, the role of the rest of his air force becomes that of flying artillery. Enemy stacks are DG'd early and often. This can be for offensive purposes (targets of attacks or overruns) or defensive (blasting enemy spearheads or counterattack forces). Regardless, enemy units are the target and they are bombed into the stone age. Unfortunately, this rock-banging sort of play never generates any sort of better condition for your air war--conditions where you can do what you want and he cannot do anything. This last is the goal of a properly run air campaign.

Defensive vs. Offensive

As outlined above, the typical game includes a "defensive" air campaign. In the defensive campaign, the player is most interested in protecting his air bases and ground units from enemy interference and uses the bulk of his air force to that end. As a result, the airfields and some ground units are protected (to a greater or lesser extent depending on the air force involved). Unfortunately this ordering of priorities does little to make the air war progress beyond this point.

Two players facing off both with defensive strategies for their air campaign (a common way to play) rapidly develop a sort of air truce--the air forces trade their ground blows but neither player really tries to gain additional ascendancy over the enemy. Players used to defensive air thinking are also those who delude themselves into thinking that the first player to move after no-flight weather has a "massive" advantage--from their defensive mind-set, I suppose they are right--but the player running an offensive air campaign will have so crippled the enemy that there will be no enemy air force with which to take advantage of this situation.

So, what does the offensive air campaign offer that the defensive one does not? As seen above, the defensive air campaign rapidly generates a situation where both players have some protected areas and other places which can be hit with impunity. Aside from the occasional air-to-air combat due to contested CAP zones or CAP clearing flights, there is no momentum to one side or the other to actually win in the air. The situation might change very slowly, but it will rarely see the kind of broad shift in power which will result in the opposing player cursing under his breath whenever the weather allows flight. If he doesn't cuss up a blue streak and complain about how "air is too strong in this game," you have not pushed him hard enough.

In the offensive air campaign, your goals are to bring that about. In the simplest terms, you are to smoke his air force right out of the sky and gain the ability to do anything you want--while crippling his ability to do anything at all about it. An offensive air campaign can make this happen; a defensive one cannot.

Air Campaign Priorities

I hope I have convinced you that there is little to gain from a defensive air campaign and much to garner from an offensive one. Once set on the course of an offensive campaign, the player must realize two things. First, there is a distinct possibility the whole thing might go sour and you'll find yourself on the receiving end of the whole thing (especially after your opponent sees how you have the gall to smack him around a little). Second, once you start, you can't stop--you must keep the punishment on. To stop would encourage the enemy (the guy across the table you got angry at you above) to take to the offensive himself to get you once again in the predicament you were trying to get him into.

Furthermore, if you fail to keep the pressure on, he will probably be able to regroup and rebuild a bit to come back as a contender. I say that because invariably, players let up the pressure on opponents who are not nearly as close to destroyed as they (or the opponent for that matter) believe.

Where to start? In a legitimate offensive air campaign, your initial objectives will be to destroy the enemy air force. In addition to taking out the weak links you find and the occasional bomber, the emphasis here is in air base strikes. Identify which enemy air bases are filled with inactive air units and target them. Wear down any protective fighter cover they might have and then pound the base repeatedly for the next few phases. You should be looking for that AB or better result on the GS vs. Facility Table in separate strikes at the end of the Movement, Exploitation, and Reaction Phases. Plan your strike packages to hit the breaks on the table (I like the 11-20 table myself with its 50-50, but you might want more--also take care to pad the attack a bit to keep an occasional flak hit from ruining the mission).

Grind each base in turn--if you can smash several in each phase the more the better, but be careful not to try too much at once and leave yourself open to his return blows. Remember this is a continuos process--make sure you can sustain the effort. If you overuse your force you might end up short in a later turn (due to insufficient refit) and you might give him a lull without your actually wanting to stop operations. Also, a large number of inactive aircraft means you are ripe for his return shot.

Take care not to add too many enemy bases to you tasking list at once. You can't hit them all with the kind of ferocity you want, and you'll have to "un-CAP" each base so you might over-stress your limited fighter assets. It will take a few playings for you to develop the feel for how much is enough but not too much. I wish I could give better advice on this. I think the natural tendency is to hold back too much--so the correct amount would be more than you think. Usually, you want to push harder than you think you can and certainly a little bravado is in order--convince the other guy that what you are doing (110% effort) is actually just a sampling of you air power. It won't be long before he convinces himself all is lost--at which point you have won.

If you get a chance to raid an air base with ground forces, do it. Driving a tank battalion through an unguarded air base will lead to all sorts of quality kills on the cheap--especially so since you have a chance at the active air units and the inactive ones are guaranteed toast. Except where guys forget to guard their air bases, this sort of thing is pretty rare--but when it does it can be most satisfying.

Holding the Other Guy's Head Under Water

We've all seen the grade-B horror movie where the serial killer/psychopath/guy-from-down-the-street is all but dead because our hero has his head under water and the hero relaxes his grip because he feels the body grow limp. What happens? Right: the killer leaps up from under the waves and grabs the hero by the throat. (Those who saw Fatal Attraction saw this trick ad nauseam.)

At any rate, this is exactly what you want to avoid in your aggressive air war. Once the pressure is on, never let up until you have bombed the rubble more than once just to make sure. I would say that if he has anything which can fly left, you are not done--but I do draw the line at Po-2s. I refuse to spend the rest of the game trying to hunt down the last of those silly little aircraft.

The possibility of distraction is enormous. The enemy might look down and out. Your opponent has been whining for a while now. You see some juicy ground targets. A little bit of use on other targets might not be so bad. Worse, the first few times you might actually get away with it. Then, there's that killer leaping out of the water at you... and, trust me, your opponent will be absolutely delighted to rip your throat out if given half a chance, to give you back some of what you've been dishing out.

Remember two things from this article: run an offensive air campaign and never let up the pressure.

Ground Attack vs. Interdiction

Colonel Warden stresses the role of aircraft in interdiction much beyond their use in simple direct support operations. Yet gamers habitually pound ground targets with their air force and rarely (if ever) use interdiction. Certainly I'm thinking more about the old interdiction, not Serious Interdiction (SI) from the optional rules. Much of the kind of interdiction Col. Warden refers to is actually strategic interdiction--keeping raw materials from getting to factories or the product of the factories from getting to the combat units. In an overall sense, he is most certainly right--these can be the things that win wars--but at our level interdiction is somewhat different.

What the OCS player is most concerned with is what the current military calls "Battlefield Air Interdiction" or BAI. BAI is used to help the ground battle commander by isolating the battlefield. For the game player, this entails keeping enemy reserves (and aircraft) out of the current fight, keeping enemy units in the battle zone from participating at the full capabilities, and in assisting the operations of friendly units. Of these, the first can be done either by attempting to DG enemy reserves (an iffy proposition at best) or by placing SI hexes to inhibit movement into the battle area. Aircraft can be kept under control by the proper use of CAP stacks.

The second can be done using either Barrage attacks versus enemy stacks or by setting up SI positions such that retreating units are automatically DG. This concept deserves some thought--the difference between a DG attempt by barrage and one that is guaranteed using SI is important and little used in the play I've seen. The "assist" the air units can give to ground forces usually takes the form of the above operations--although there are some rare times when critical resupply or reinforcement occurs from the air.

The DG of reserves from the air is difficult, takes a large amount of air resources to accomplish, and drives players to play hide and seek with their reserve markers. It places a premium on keeping an eye on the reserves in the area (trying to "cheat" on the fog of war because reserves conveniently wear a big yellow flag announcing to the world that they are reserves). Not only is it hard to find and hit all the reserves which might influence the local battle, but even if you do find them all, chances are you won't be able to scratch half of them with the air assets you have.

For this reason, I recommend using SI wherever possible to inhibit reserve movement in the area. While Tunisia is loaded with choke-points, they still exist in EatG--bridges and the like come to mind. Also, SI can function in two of the three prime areas concerning BAI in the game. If you haven't had a chance to look it over, I recommend a couple of minutes of thought about it. SI can be used to a major advantage once you control the beast.

Air Superiority

As stated above, the purpose of air superiority is to gain a position where you can do what you want, where you want--and the enemy cannot. That is the goal and Col. Warden strongly suggests that it is the number one priority of the air commander until it is accomplished. To this end, I recommend the pursuit of a strong offensive air campaign against the enemy air bases which continues with almost 100% effort until the full goal is reached--an absolute minimum of effort should be siphoned off into other activities, such as close air support.

You can deal with the ground strikes to any degree you like after winning the control of the air--but win that control first. The alternative (mixing ground strikes with the air superiority battle) might mean not enough forces to accomplish either job. Remember, every Stuka doing a hip shoot is a Stuka not hitting an enemy air field.

"That's nice, but I got stuck with the crummy air force..."

I can hear the guys now stuck playing the Russians complaining that the advice above is fine for the fascist slug they are playing against, but what about them? The key here is that all of the above works with either side (even those qualitatively and quantitatively disadvantaged). Doing it with the underdog requires a bit more skill and finesse than doing it with the better stuff, but it most certainly can be done.

Even after being pushed well down the slope in the air superiority battle and facing more German aircraft than any human should be asked to, Dave Powell still put his licks in (with the Russian air force, so there are no doubts...) on an air base owned by the Reich. Thankfully, this strike was not followed by others as he was too far gone to mount that sort of effort; the damage to the Fat Boy's air force would have been dramatic. The thing to remember is that he could have done so. Even when you own the Russian air force, you can still get in there and pound those bases.

Remember two things: he has fewer aircraft than you do, so every wound hurts more; and every dog has his day!

Best of luck to all of you as attempt to secure control of the skies in your next game!