GIUK

A submarine-only scenario without other diversions, inspired by some old scenario booklets of the Harpoon 3 series, good for testing submarines (specially the new ones of the HCDB-110831), submarine tactics, sonars, torpedoes and other ASW weapons. Perhaps the Western submarines are numerically over-represented, but it's reflecting the original and very reduced in number of submarines paper scenarios. Also it's configured as a vanilla scenario for lazy players wanting to enjoy a simple pastime, and with the aim of replayability thanks to the aleatority of the starting positions and of the units presence or not presence. I think it's playable at the 10 or even 30 minutes time compression ... before any contact.
 
Scenario Background:
The South Atlantic War is going very bad for the British side from a few weeks ago and the South American countries are openly supporting Argentine, menacing with the employ of military force and with the blockade of the British sea lanes southwards. As consequence most of the Royal Navy operational SSN are concentrated keeping at bay in port the other South American navies and preventing his intervention in the Argentine side. This movement has provoked the hard-line communists in the Kremlin to start a submarine feint againts the NATO forces in the GIUK gap, perceiving a good oportunity for start a war with any little casus belli as excuse and defeat the Western Alliance with the Royal Navy engaged in the South Atlantic, At the start of this covert WWIII in the North Atlantic on 1982, the bad weather and also the political uncertitude precludes the use of air and surface assets. To keep low the social unrest because the war, the opening naval actions are limitated to the discrete submarine operations, in a situation remembrance of the 1939 Phony War and of the 1994 Tom Clancy's novel Debt of Honor (where both Japan and the United States are in war against the other, but both governments are occulting the fact to his respective public opinions to prevent the collapse of the stock markets), but these underwater actions are not less decisive or murderous than on a full open war.
 
Enrique Mas, September 2011
 
Note: September 2011 editions were only for best setting of submarines speeds and depths.
 
Modification 23 December 2011: older variants of previous submarine classes replacing erroneous period variants (As Agosta (1980) replacing Agosta (1988)). Old variants of British SSN replacing some Oberon class SS. New submarine class replacing erroneous types (As Narval SS replacing Daphne SS).

The aliens have landed in the mid 1980s!
 
Can the US Navy save London?
 
This is a very small scenario to see how to defeat a limited alien force with one of my favorite CVBGs from the late Cold War.

A small basic scenario for the old GIUK HDSI battleset. Mostly airborne action but plenty of naval and ground targets that must be 'had'.

SLMM Pickings
 
A Harpoon Commander's Edition scenario for the EC2003 GIUK battleset.
 
This scenario is designed for play by the BLUE side only.
 
A month after the start of the Third World War between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, most of the Red Banner Northern Fleet has long since departed from its berths on the Kola Peninsula. But with many of the initial, devastating sea battles already fought, surviving Soviet surface ships and submarines are compelled to return to their bases to refuel and rearm. NATO has ordered the entrances to these enemy naval bases to be mined. The mission falls to the American attack submarine USS Providence and its French counterpart, Rubis.
 
This scenario is loosely based on the High Tide scenario Mining Mission for Harpoon 4.

Submarines Galore 1989!!!
 
A Harpoon Commander's Edition scenario for the EC2003 Battle for GIUK Gap Battleset and the HCDB-130818 1980-2015 Era Platform Database.
 
A submarine-only scenario without other diversions, inspired by some old scenario booklets of the Harpoon 3 series, good for testing submarines, submarine tactics, sonars, torpedoes and other ASW weapons. Perhaps the Western submarines are numerically over-represented, but it's reflecting the original and very reduced in number of submarines paper scenarios. Also it's configured as a vanilla scenario for lazy players wanting to enjoy a simple pastime, and with the aim of replayability thanks to the randomness of the starting positions and of the units presence or not presence. I think it's playable at the 10 or even 30 minutes time compression ... before any contact.
 
At the start of the WWIII in the North Atlantic on 1989, the bad weather and also the political incertitude precludes the use of air and surface assets. To keep low the social unrest because the war, the opening naval actions are limited to the discrete submarine operations, in a situation remembrance of the 1939 Phony War and of the 1994 Tom Clancy's novel Debt of Honor (where both Japan and the United States are in war against the other, but both governments are occulting the fact to his respective public opinions to prevent the collapse of the stock markets), but these underwater actions are not less decisive or murderous than a full open war.
 
Modification 10 April 2011, tough victory conditions changed to (both sides): Minimum Victory Condition eight submarines sunk, Total Victory Condition twelve submarines sunk.
 
Modification 11 April 2011, increased presence probability of some subs because previous confussion about percentile addition.
 
Modification 23 December 2011: some older variants of previous submarine classes now in the DataBase replacing erroneous period variants.
 
Modification 19 May 2014: some older variants of previous submarine classes now in the DataBase replacing erroneous period variants.Modified presence probability of some subs because previous confussion about percentile addition, the probabilities are now more evently distributed between the submarines, but the probability of presence of a diesel-electric boat is now half of the probability of a nuclear boat. SSBN presence probability increased.
 
Enrique Mas, April 2011

This is my first attempt at scenario making for a wider audience than myself. Just the old Gauntlet scenario from the original GIUK battleset, updated for EC2003 GIUK.
 
I had to tweak the air units a bit, and I still haven't gotten the sub close enough to fire torpedoes at me, but, the last time I tried this, a Fencer clipped a merchie with an ARM, and missed the Brave with 2 of the ASMs, but I still won.
 
Take a look at it, and see what tips you have for me. I'm learning as I go, remaking old scenarios. I'm not trying to do as much to them as was done in say, Fortress 3.0; my aim is making them work in a commondb battleset while still having them be enjoyable. So, this one shouldn't be too hard, since it was #2 in the original battleset for the game. A challenge I foresee down the road is some of the old canned scenarios that look like they were planned to do land attack with Mirage F1s and Exocets, for example. Those will take some major tweakery. Oh, be warned. The Nanuchkas will shrug off pairs of missiles fairly often, I've found.
 
Tips from the experts are welcome, especially as far as balance, etc.
 
Edit: a couple of tweaks to Vicond, formation, added support to play Red, so Blue has course(s) now.
Edit2: fixed an error

From 1993. An exercise in symmetry: you and the enemy have equal forces. Play Blue or Red - you make the difference.

From 1993. Prevent an invasion of Iceland while avoiding being blown to bits by CIS airpower.

From 1992. A 50th Anniversary tribute in the Far North.

The Headbutts
This is series of three HCE scenarios, intended primarily for beginning and intermediate HCE players. They are small, and playable from RED or BLUE in each case. I hope that these will serve as a training tool for beginners, and an overview of the relative capabilities of American, French, Russian, and British carrier groups around 2014 or so for more advanced players. "Historical" accuracy is a goal, so Tomcats, Backfires, Vikings, etc. are absent in this collection. A guide to the included aircraft and weapons derived from the HCDB 101213 database, giving weapon speeds, ESM details, etc. is included with each scenario. Please use this database as older ones will cause inaccurate play balance.
This package will be followed in time with much more difficult scenarios playable by one side only.
Butt1 USA vs Russia, South Africa. Easy (BLUE) Difficult (RED)
Butt2 France vs Russia, South Africa, Intermediate (BLUE) Intermediate (RED)
Butt3 UK and Denmark vs Russia, GIUK, Intermediate (BLUE) Intermediate (RED) and somewhat larger.
 
 
as always I look forward to your comments.
 
Good Hunting!
 
 

A second scenario in the line where France retaliates against the UK for dropping the European alliance in the war with the USA.
An intense air battle over the English channel with a few ships to add to the list of targets.
EC2003 battle set and HCDB-100308 database.
Updated 3 june 2010 to make you work a little harder to get victory.
Updated again 11 june due to unexpected problem with victory condition.

Hello, I present my first scenario "A nice little shootout". It presents a situation, when NATO exercises on Baltic turns hot.
It's small and quick, maybe with a little twist. Have a fun!
Uploaded a revised version, changes made to Blue Tovic#2 and position of Russian SAG (as reported it was running aground)

From 1991. One (possibly two) Improved LAs vs. a Soviet landing force.
125th rehabed scenario.

From 1998. Black ops in Greenland (if you can get there...)

Happy Time
 
A Harpoon Commander's Edition (HCE) scenario for the EC2003 GIUK battleset and the HCE World Wars (HCWW) database.
 
This scenario is designed for play by the RED side.
 
Until France had fallen in June 1940, the range of the Kriegsmarine's U-boat force had been constrained by geography. They had to make a long and risky transit around Scapa Flow in order to reach the Atlantic shipping routes. The capture of French Atlantic ports, however, now meant that the U-boats could carry consistent attacks on the Allied convoys. Operating on the surface and guided by radio communications, groups of U-boats could form wolf packs, focusing their efforts to find and destroy Allied convoys and thereby starve Great Britain of badly needed supplies. Furthermore, by Autumn 1940, previous problems with faulty German torpedoes began to be rectified, and in addition, the Allies began concentrating their convoys into a route that took them through the North Channel between Ireland and Scotland. This target rich environment made for fertile hunting grounds for Admiral Donitz's U-boat fleet. This was their 'Happy Time'.
 
Image credit: http://www.wreckhunter.net

Fortress Kevlavik - Nato side
A scenario for Harpoon Classic
Battleset GIUK (stock)
 
by
Ralf Koelbach
October, 14th, 2009
 
This scenario derives from a discussion at Matrix Forum regarding the original version. In those days scenarios were mostly written for two sides playable thus creating the balance problem.
 
Since this old GIUK 6.0 scen has always been one of my favourites I´ve written two modified versions - one focusing on the Soviet side, the other one on the Nato side.
 
This one is designed to be played from Nato side.
 
Will you stop the invasion and hold Kevlavik?
 
Have fun!
 
Ralf

Fortress Kevlavik - The Russians
A scenario for Harpoon Classic
Battleset GIUK (stock)
 
by
Ralf Koelbach
September, 20th, 2009
 
This scenario derives from a discussion at Matrix Forum regarding the original version. In those days scenarios were mostly written for two sides playable thus creating the balance problem.
 
Since this old GIUK 6.0 scen has always been one of my favourites I´ve written two modified versions - one focusing on the Soviet side, the other one on the Nato side.
 
This one is designed to be played from the Soviet side.
 
Will you break through Nato's defenses and unload your troops near Kevlavik?
 
Have fun!
 
Ralf

From 1991. The scenarios that make up this campaign are among my all-time favorites. If anyone knows who The Old Master is, I would really love to know if he ever finished the final two scenarios.

From 1992. Another breakout attempt by the Red Baltic Fleet.

From 1990. Prevent a boomer breakout; hard going.

From 1990. Baby flattops lead Norway invasion; good practice for beginners.

From 1991. An expansion of the "Doolitov's Raid" scenario.

Date unknown. High-intensity Icelandic invasion.

Date unknown. Death stalks the Norwegian Sea.

From 1997. The USN attempts to retake Keflavik against stiff Soviet opposition.