Scenario Design & Discussion

Some tags employed for scenario description, it can be employed by any scenario designer for sake of standardization and simplification in upcoming scenarios: Air Intensive Scenario Afghanistan Alternate Cold War Database Arab-Israeli Wars ASW Scenario Bald Eagle China Cold War Scenario Colonial Scenario Covert Operations Drone Scenario France Scenario Gabriel Global War on Terrorism Scn Historical Scenario Israel Iran Komar Korean War Kriegsmarine LCS Scenario Michael Barkai Missile Boats Morocco Osa Phoney War RB-57 Saar Science Fiction Scenario Six-Day War Spain Scenario Spanish Civil War Scenario Special Operations Strategic Reconnaissance Submarine Scenario Spook S…

"The failure to implement a comprehensive peace treaty between Japan and the Soviet Union after the end of the Second World War has acted as an obstacle to the resolution of an outstanding territorial dispute over the Kuril Archipelago. In recent years, the Russian attitude toward the issue appears to have moved toward one of consolidating control rather than giving up the territory. Now, the Russians have moved significant military forces into Etorofu, and it appears they are bent on consolidating their illegal hold. A Japanese fishing vessel has gone missing in the area of Shikotan. The Japanese Self-Defence Forces have been mobilized." Such is the backdrop for Brad…

Sara's Day - a "How To" Guide for Achieving Victory in HCE. [spoilerS APPLY] Part 1. The Scenario 'Sara's Day' is scenario 3 in the HDS III MEDC/HDSB battleset. This scenario is legacy, and does not use the updated HCDB database. It is the fifth day of World War III, a conflict between NATO and the Warsaw Pact (and their allied or client states) across the globe. Three days previous, the Soviets pummeled NATO partner Turkey into submission, seizing control of several airfields and installations intact, while a joint effort by Syria and Egypt (and supported by the USSR) exhausted the Israeli Defense Forces. A few survivors have escaped into Greece and Italy…

(linked from our current events sub forum) https://defence-blog.com/russia-warns-of-possible-military-action-in-baltic-sea/

Yesterday on TV, I saw a documentary about the Al-Basrah Oil Terminal off the coast of Iraq. Has anyone designed or considered designing a scenario regarding this current situation? And is it even possible? Just being honest, I don't know about the databases to know if there is a way to create the sort of situation that forces in the Gulf are currently facing. Obviously, some sort of civilian airplane attack on the Terminal is not possible, with no civilian type airplanes in the database. Are there any ships that can be created that would be able to try and attack the terminal? The defending forces while centering on a CBG, the primary defens…

HDS1 4.0 Sichelshnih, turned out for me the best scenario for a long time, it really surprised me, I started to feel like doing an AAR half way through it, thus I have no notes for the first part but I have some save games to work from. I'm playing blue side. Scenario background is the US 2nd armored division being surrounded in Germany, at Willhelmshaven, need to be evacuated in 3 days, shipped to the UK via sealift. Victory conditions look interesting, game time limit is 3 days AND at least 12 transport ships (MRCH) must embark at W.haven (be on station for 1 hour) AND at least 10 MRCH need to reach the UK coasts (onsta 1 hour) AND W.haven port has to be protected for …

Was there an AAR on IOPG 8.0 Regional Power? This is Bangladesh, Thailand, and Indonesia against India in the Bay of Bengal. The blue side seems so hopeless I wonder if anyone ever played this through? Here is how it went this time. --------------------------------------------------- Blue forces are about 30-35 surface units, few old British and Chinese built frigates, some 25 PTMs assigned to 6 surface groups, two Indonesian Type 1300s submarines and 16 Super Puma helicopters from the Indonesian AFB, Sabang. Two groups, AAs and ABs are postioned 100nm east of Calcutta, ACs, PTMs only, are in the Palk Straight between India and Sri Lanka, the rest is scattered sout…

World War in the Pacific An After Action Report By: Beargrowlz Scenario: Third Idea Battleset: WestPac Scenario Author: Brad Leyte I received orders to protect a number of Japanese surface groups, the Japanese mainland and destroy enemy presence on Naha (the southwestern tip of the Japanese islands) and the Kurils (Northeastern tip). (One note here, the orders call for retaking objective YYb in the Kurils, but there is no YYb. I assume the author meant objectives YYb and or ZOa, also in the Kurils). The tasks looked daunting at first. With only one United States CVBG available, and at that over 1000 miles from the Japanese Home Islands and to the west of G…

"AAR: Forced into the Corner Designer: Brad AAR by Ralf The scen created by Brad is a very tough one, no single second for recovering. There is constant naval and air combat action. I really enjoyed being pushed into the corner! Here are some hints which might be helpful for creating Corner V 2.0: 1) There are more than 1.000 aircraft involved - 600 + red and 400 + blue. This number is very difficult to handle both for the machine and the human controlling it. I would suggest cutting the numbers down to a maximum of 200 red and 100 blue ac. 2) I won by fulfilling the minimum victory condition kill of 100 aircraft. This was accomplished early in the game…

AAR “The Thanh Hoa Bridge” Rabbit10.SCq Battleset WestPac Game Engine: HCE b22 Database: HCDB 07-02-27 (Brad Leyte) Designer: Tony Eischens Tested by Ralf Koelbach 07-04-14 1. Introduction “The Tanh Hoa Bridge” is a scen dealing with a well known situation during the Vietnam War. The player has US side and he must destroy the important bridge. The whole area is heavily defended with a SAM belt, lots of AA guns and many, many aircraft. And there are no Tomahawks, no HARM missiles making your life easier. Maybe these conflicts led to their birth…. 2. Playing it 07:23 Sub contact! Right beside my carrier group! 07:25 Two Hawkeyes with CAPs…

One of my favourite scenario to come back to every now and again. In this case I was doing some code development and testing for my Toolbox and got quite distracted, and generally beaten to pulp. https://harpgamer.com/harpforum/files/file/562-back-door-2/ After a good start, but insufficient discipline in setting up AA defense and AEW, at 3hr.15 min game time I threw in the towel with my main asset and centre of effort decimated [Initial Start] Actual Date=7/07/2024 16:42:49 (Report Generator=AARdata.dll v 1.5.0.6, downloaded from Harpgamer Forum) Battleset=HDSJ Scenario=C:\Matrix Games\HUCE\addons\mine\EC2003\backdor2.SCo Player=Blue [Sessi…

SPOILER ALERT (Note played in latest beta GE 2010.019, that might make a difference) Opening the game (playing blue) paused: it is just after midnight in calm conditions with three surface groups of patrol boats comprising 2 groups of three Saar (gabriel SSMs 12 mile range) and one group (AAS) of two Dabur ("pop-guns" only) cruising about 45 miles out from Latakia, the two Saar groups being close to each other and about 20 miles north west of the Daburs. No enemy are detected other than Latakia but intelligence indicates two or three fast missile boats (long range styxs SSM) are deployed. The Saar groups are both conducting a similar curved patrol taking them in a l…

AAR Bullies Bumping Bellies I was browsing the Harpgamer download scenarios and this scenario from Rainman caught my eye, it turned out to be one of the most challenging scenarios I've played for a significant time. Many thanks to Rainman for sharing this with us. Bullies Bumping Bellies- Turkey vs Egypt 2020 In the summer of 2020, the situation in eastern Libya deteriorates to the point where Egypt and Turkey feel they have to get involved. This explores what happens next. This scenario is designed primarily to be played from the Blue (Egypt) side, and is quite challenging, even for experienced players. Also can be played from Red (Turk…

With the current Russia Ukraine war I decided to step back in Harpoon time to 10 Sep 2014 and take on the CV32 scenario "Eastern Questions" The scenario description: The cease fire has been broken by the hostile actions of the pro Russian separatist rebels in the southeastern parts of Ukraine. Fighting erupted again in the last several hours. The rebels are refusing to abandon their weapons and are laying claim to the self-proclaimed regions of Luhansk Peoples Republic and Donetsk Peoples Republic for themselves. The Russians have meanwhile strongly protested the assertion that they caused the airliner shootdown, describing it as a subversive and disgusting NATO…

AAR Korean Gulf Designed by Mark Gellis Game Engine: Harpoon Classic 2002 Gold; v. 2003.16b3 Database: HCDB-07-04-14 Mark´s latest scen is a typical Mark Gellis scen: - small is beautiful - all is very neatly arranged - the scen is well-balanced - the timing is very good - the scen is full of subleties Mission: You have to push a convoy from Abu Dhabi to the Arabian Sea. What´s up? You face stiff Irani resistance from aircraft, ships and submarines. How things went for me: In the first attempt; I managed to sink two red SAGs and a sub. I downed six ac, but ran aground with two ships after having lost two others due to missiles. …

AAR Patriot Lane Battleset EC2003 MEDC Database: Brads (does not run with the HC ODB!) Designer: Brad Leyte Tested by Ralf Koelbach "Patriot Lane" is the successor to "Forced into the Corner". The theater of operations is now more concentrated which improves both game performance and the possibilities of micro-managing the units available. It makes much fun to play this scen, but it is very hard - I lost. My problem was that I did not know why I lost because the orders required me to save my ships which I accomplished. Thus there seem to be some other victory conditions related to the number of bases to protect. Maybe they should be mentioned? …

As part of the run-up to the release of Harpoon Commander's Edition, I've decided to dust off some After Action Reports that I did for Harpoon Classic's first battlesets, GIUK, NACV and MEDC. It is hoped that, besides enjoyment of a Cold War era story played out in Harpoon scenarios, this series of AAR's will stimulate one or more of the community's scenario designers (old and new alike) to fashion new Cold War scenarios for the Westpac theater. Enjoy. Scenario 1: NACV 1.0 – Any Port in a Storm Background Although war at sea has been raging for several days, many merchant ships have not yet made it to safe haven, and additionally, many NATO warships have…

AAR: Alone in the Snow Original Scenario / HDS-II GIUK HC 2002 Gold 2003.16b3 AAR by Ralf Koelbach After having failed winning its H3 ANW rebuilt (done by Herman), I tried the original HC scenario. When I started and looked at my aircraft I was shocked a little bit – no AMRAAMS. The same situation as in Herman´s “clean” rebuilt (before he made the AMRAAM-update), of course. Well, I went for it and was curious how the HC game engine would perform in contrast to the H3 ANW engine. The result was similar: In HC 2002 Gold I was outgunned to – the Sky Flash armed Gripen were wiped out of the sky by Fulcrums and Flankers. Very aggressive AI behaviour – great…

AAR The Second Crimea War, HDS 1 Battleset, Med, Ukrainian side This is an interesting setup. written back in 1992, there was some prophecy in it. The Ukrainian Navy is much more powerful then it ever was was in reality, though. In this scenario Ukraine has a Kiev Class Carrier and a Kirov Class Battlecruiser. On we go. Shortly after scenario start my two AKI Okean recce vessels are sunk by missile attacks. Some of those missiles were Shipwreck SSMs. Thus coming from either an Oscar Class SSGN or some heavy cruiser. Other missiles were air launched, indicating that there are Fulcrums. Few minutes later: The first air-to-air engagement: I lose one Flanker due to a…

AAR Tsetskli Scenario design: Brad Leyte Tester: Ralf Koelbach Another scen playing in the MEDC area. And another real tough one! Until now I have not been able to win it. The situation: You are to support our small forces at different bases. You have strong naval and air assets...but virtually no time. I failed many times, using many different tactics. One tactic was to throw all TLAMs at the red bases in order to suppress his air activity. But too little, too late: Red always managed it to attack effectively first our bases, destroy enough of them an win. Another one was a desperate counterattack with those limited air assets on the endangered bases, b…