Scenario Design & Discussion

Just playing around with scenario ideas and asking for a "reality check" on some of them... Generally, what has to happen for the UN to go beyond saying “We are not amused” and to actually do something like putting an armed coalition together? I’m guessing that the reasons include: * A country invades another country without having a good reason for doing so—it cannot just make one or two attacks, it has to be an invasion or an ongoing assault that is causing large numbers of casualties and the attacking country shows no sign of letting up on its enemy * A country invades another country and, even if it has a good reason for the initial invasion, it starts…

Here's an excellent After Action Report by Peter Frank. It is re-printed here with permission from the author. In the most natural way I'm playing with my own country: The Netherlands. In the mission orders I found an interesting remark about the superior AAM's (Air to Air Missiles) and the superior AEW. After a few minutes of hard thinking I found the solution and it worked quite well in the game. Started off with sending 2 Apaches airborne from Gilze-Rijen bound for the French Demolition team in The Hague. At the same time two pairs of F16 equiped with AMRAAM airborne from Leeuwarden, along the coast to the South. The first pair went feet dry app…

The 263rd NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! Liberation of Antilles This is the fourth scenario in the "Hugo's Folly" Battleset. Elections in the Netherlands Antilles have seen gains for the political party seeking closer ties to Venezuela and its President, Chavez. The Government has fallen and the legal status of the islands is unclear; with Curacao an independent nation within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Aruba, and Bonaire seeking a similar status, and the three smaller islands of St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, and Saba being municipalities within the Netherlands. Early this morning, Venezuela carried out a sudden invasion of the ABC islands.…

The 267th NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! NAVAL INFANTRY The war between NATO and the CIS is in full swing, but neither side has gained an advantage over the other. CIS submarines have done well against ANTO shipping, but CIS ground forces in Europe have not matched the successes of their naval cousins. The CIS surface fleet has been kept in reserve since the leadership knows that the NATO surface combatants are more powerful than they. Early on in the war planning, it was decided that the surface fleet would be used only on special missions and recalled as quickly as possible. While this theory goes against traditional doctrine, its advantage …

Just a few quick questions... 1) Am I correct that using this setting means an "attack" like a patrol or a strike does not result in the destruction of a unit but making it change sides when it has taken enough "damage," or does something else happen? And it only works if one is using certain weapons like paratroopers...I think it would count as a database error if one could "board" a ship with Harpoon missiles. 2) How well does this work in ANW 3.10? Or do I need to wait for 3.11 to come out? 3) Could this be used against a submarine? (I'm thinking of scenarios where the idea is to force the submarine to surface to prove it was really in waters it had no…

"Battle Stations. Battle Stations. All hands man Battle stations. This is not a Drill!!" We're having a Harpoon III contest and you're invited! MATCHPLAY Harpoon3 players are challenged to try this series of scenarios from either side. At the end of each game, send me the saved game file and I will send you the next scenario. It will be customised and based on the results from your previous game. Overall, there are three scenarios for each participant; three playable by France and three playable by the Dutch side. Players' results (losses to you and your enemy, Victory Conditions met, ammo expended, and ROE violations) will be tabulated and sent to…

The 42nd NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! Carrier Exercise Halfway through 2008, Europe started to realize that the Asian nations' sustained economic growth would eventually lead to a strong new powerhouse. Asian countries already built or bought several very effective carriers and, with China laying down both a 45000 ton and a 96000 ton aircraft carrier, Europe decided that carriers would become critical in the future. While England's 2 new carriers are still years away, the time was ripe for some serious exercise. This scenario has been designed for play with any combination of 1 to 4 players. Author: Freek Schepers With over 320,0…

Fellow Harpooners, I have a theoretical scenerio in the works where Iran invades Manama Bahrain in retaliation for EU sanctions. (I figured the 5th Fleet HQ and the US Embassy would be good targets.) It appears that on my machine the more units their are in the scenerio the slower the game runs (slewing doesn't work well.) So since I wanted to have red targets in the Straits of Hormuz, Tehran and on Bahrain, would breaking up the scenerio into two or three smaller scenerios would make it run any smoother? Thanks to all as usual. Steve

Slam Dance The 5th new scenario of the year! New World Order battleset #4 - Part 1 - The War with UBAN - Indian Ocean Persian Gulf - #4 SLAM DANCE In September 1995, one of the West's not-so-secret desires was fulfilled. Saddam Hussein, the mother-of-all dictators, was assassinated. However, this apparent good fortune has also kindled one of the Western world's darkest fears. In the chaos following Hussein's demise, the "rogue nation" of Iran has taken political control of Iraq. This new nation has further amalgamated with Yemen, Syria, Egypt, and Libya in a new military and economic confederation known as the United Brotherhood of Arab-Persian Nation…

The 79th NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! Somali Pirates 2008 saw a huge increase in pirate activities in the Gulf of Aden and Western Indian Ocean. In the absence of an effective government in Somalia, whole fishing families took to piracy and hostage-taking as a means of income. NATO's navies, vastly over-designed for the task (with poor HumInt and even poorer ROEs), are forced to carry out the oldest Navy mission of the alliance, keeping the Sea Lines of Communication open. The task of preventing attacks by pirate ships nearly indistinguishable from regular fishermen is virtually impossible. Ships operators refuse to let their shi…

AAR: Baltic Tide By Dave Steinmeyer Baltic Breakout - every NATO commander's nightmare - was about to come true. I immediately turned on the SAM radar of my I-HAWK batteries in order to have some semblance of an air picture as I would not have any AEW support from the E-3 Sentries. The picture did not look good. The Mk43 Sea King from Rygge combined with the Danish Hercules MPA [Maritime Patrol Aircraft] would be more than adequate for the surface surveillance role. However, I was severely lacking in air search assets. Combat Air Patrols [CAPs} were formed over Lubeck Bay and Kobenhavn. The Swedes were out in force. I sincerely hoped that they wou…

Related to my last post, here's a possible breakdown of Asia in 2020... China: Continues to grow as a global power India: Continues to grow as a regional player capable of global power projection In response to America having less global influence (not so much an American decline but that other nations like China are catching up), Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia have all taken steps to increase their navies and are more capable of handling convoy missions, anti-piracy missions around the world, even projecting power to an extent with helicopter carriers, etc. Iran, Yemen, North Korea, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Vietnam focus on building up their ai…

39th Scenario this year! Dave Steinmeyer has posted his third scenario, Power Sweep. For a guy who just started designing this year, this promises to be yet another classic. Only a handful of units, but this scenario should by no means be considered easy. Take that attitude and you'll soon find yourself on the wrong end of a 533mm torpedo! The war has not been kind to the Soviet navy; especially their submarine forces. In order to protect their remaining submarine units, the Soviets have been forced to begin escorting their less capable boats with first-line SSNs. In this engagement, a Soviet SSN is guarding two other units as they proceed south…

53rd Scenario posted this year! Another installment in the Harpoon 3 Battleset based upon Brad Leyte's "New World Order - Cyprus Affair" series, has been released. This is starting to look like a weekly TV Serial! SCARECROW - Scenario #5 - New World Order Campaign #2 [The Cyprus Affair] When the NSC made good on its promise to deliver SA-10 Grumble SAM systems to the Greek Cypriots in the spring of 1995 despite Turkish protests, the stage was set for another conflict in Cyprus. The presence of the advanced weapons shifted the delicate balance of power as it put nearly all aircraft operating from the Turkish side of the island at risk. NATO was emba…

The 55th new scenario of the year! The seventh installment of "The Cyprus Affair" battleset has been released. NEW WORLD ORDER SERIES: THE CYPRUS AFFAIR CAMPAIGN #2 When the NSC made good on its promise to deliver SA-10 Grumble SAM systems to the Greek Cypriots in the spring of 1995 despite Turkish protests, the stage was set for another conflict in Cyprus. The presence of the advanced weapons shifted the delicate balance of power as it put nearly all aircraft operating from the Turkish side of the island at risk. NATO was embarrassed when regular Turkish forces stormed the island a few months later. It had not been aware of Turkey's intent to re…

The 25th NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! Alone in the Snow Sweden's neutrality lasted only as long as the Reformed Russian Republic had no need of anything that Sweden had and not a moment longer. The determined resistance of the United States' 1st Special Forces put the R3 theatre commander behind schedule by 36 hours. Behind schedule has never been a comfortable place for a Russian Commander and this commander was determined to be uncomfortable only for a very short period of time. His plan to get things moving again involved turning Norway's southern flank. But, in order to do that, staging bases closer than Germany were required. Unfortuna…

File Name: Rio Negro Response 1982 File Submitter: Mgellis File Submitted: 21 Dec 2011 File Updated: 27 Jul 2012 File Category: Scenarios DB Used: HUD 4 Official Release Authors: Mark Gellis Battleset: No Information What if, in 1982, the President had ordered punitive strikes against Guatemala for ordering the Rio Negro massacres? What if Cuba (and perhaps the Soviet Union) had decided to help protect their fellow socialist state from American aggression? Click here to download this file

The 3rd NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! Somali Convoys 2008 saw a huge increase in pirate activities in the Gulf of Aden and Western Indian Ocean. In the absence of an effective government in Somalia, whole fishing families took to piracy and hostage-taking as a means of income. NATO's navies, vastly over-designed for the task (with poor HumInt and even poorer ROEs), are forced to carry out the oldest Navy mission of the alliance, keeping the Sea Lines of Communication open. The task of preventing attacks by pirate ships nearly indistinguishable from regular fishermen is virtually impossible. Ships operators refuse to let their ship…

Quick question... Is there any way to set a ship in a scenario as being "damaged"--out of fuel, with 50% damage, etc.? I can edit the weapons down to the bullet, pretty much, with the Logistics menu, but I don't see anything to let me edit the amount of fuel a ship has, its damage percentage, etc. Any way to do this, short of creating a custom database with a damaged version of the ship? Thanks. (I suppose the other option for a disabled ship is to make it its own side, unplayable by a human player, and just give it orders that will make it act as if it is disabled--low speed, maybe setting a Nav zone all around it that it cannot penetrate, etc.--but I don't kn…

File Name: Pledge 4: Eagles over Latakia 1982 File Submitter: Mgellis File Submitted: 19 Aug 2012 File Category: Scenarios DB Used: HUD 4 v1.1 b10 Authors: Mark Gellis Battleset: No Information During the 1982 war with Lebanon, an Israeli task force of missile boats is ordered to destroy Syrian naval vessels based at Latakia. (Image of a Saar 3 missile boat, by קודקוד צהוב, and "made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.") Author's note: I had a few occasions when testing the scenario where the scenario did not load properly and made it impossible for me to launch aircraft. I believe this error has been correct…