Scenario Design & Discussion

The 257th NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! INTERFET-STABILIZE East Timor is an old Portuguese colony which was annexed by Indonesia in 1975. In August 1999, the citizenry overwhelmingly voted for independence, and, almost immedately afterwards, Indonesian-backed militia bacame active. By September, 250.000 people had fled the killings. In September, President Habibi of Indonesia finally agreed to the deployment of a multinational UN-peacekeeping force in East Timor so long as it was primarily Asian troops. While US, New Zealand, Italian, Singapore, Malaysian, and Norwegian troops began the long preparations for deployment, Australia was rea…

AAR: First Contact [spoiler Alert] By Ragnar Emsoy Reports were received from all throughout the Norwegian Sea: many unidentified ships and aircraft were spotted closing in on the Norwegian coast. Fighters had been scrambled, but we needed to conduct a proper surface search. As four Orion P-3s of the 17th Maritime Patrol Squadron prepared to launch from Andoya, most of the unidentified contacts were localized through ESM efforts. Some contacts were easily classified as Kresta cruisers and others as Sovremenny/Hangzhou destroyers. Northern Command ordered us to ascertain the identities and intentions of these contacts. While waiting for the P-3s t…

File Name: Pledge 10: The Cardiff Incident (2014) File Submitter: Mgellis File Submitted: 15 Oct 2012 File Category: Scenarios In 2014, a British task force must liberate a trawler seized under questionable circumstances by Ecuador. The captain and crew have been accused of everything from illegal fishing practices to being spies. The Prime Minister is reputed to have said, "When the time comes, we'll go to the International Court, and if I was wrong, I'll accept the consequences. But right now, the law be damned--we're getting our people out of there." Image: The Royal Navy destroyer HMS Dauntless (D 33). U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Se…

The 58th NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! Homecoming Coincidental with their attacks on Orland and Bergen, the Romanov's will also attempt to close the Suez and Panama Canals, and they will succeed. This will follow the successful decoying of substantial U.S. forces into the Pacific. (Alaska was, after all, unfairly traded away in 1867 for $7 million dollars; it was time for it to re-join a re-born Empire!) The immediate consequence will be the temporary isolation of the remaining forces in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Their greater than expected success in the Norwegian Sea will present them with an unprecedented opportunity, the outr…

I'll wait until we finish the scen to post my AAR...I regret not being a bit mroe conservative with my helo's at the onset and I'm poorly positioned now to defend my charges, but the situation is far from decided. And there was nothing little about the seas on my 'cruise'! Brandon Brandon came ashore from his little cruise in the Gulf and immediately came onto HarpGamer to look for a game of ANW. Can you believe this guy? He didn't even call his girlfriend before setting up a game with us. Now, THERE is a guy who has his priorities straight! [] We selected Matrix Siege made with the favourite database of Harpoon3:ANW, the PlayersDB. This sce…

File Name: Ralf's H3/HUE Standalone scenarios for ANW DB V 2.4.7 File Submitter: RKoelbach File Submitted: 22 May 2011 File Category: BattleSets DB Used: ANW DV V 2.4.7 (Dale Hillier) Authors: Ralf Koelbach My updated standalone scenarios for Harpoon 3 ANW/HUE and the ANW DB V 2.4.7. Battleset description file included in the zip. Click here to download this file

I played from the Israeli side and started off by breaking up my groups into individual ships and spreading them out in hopes of getting some ESM cross-detections. I saw that the PCFG Mivtach had no SSM armament and was thus the weakest of my assets so I chose her to be my "beater" to flush the game for my "hounds". After gaining separation from one another, I set the Mivtach and 2 other ships from the flanks on intermittent active radar watches so that only one would be active at any particular time. I felt that this would, hopefully, prevent me from total surprise from the Syrians. The Mivtach increased her speed to flank since she had the duty of 'sniffing' out the…

Here's Herman's half of the AAR...it pretty much sums it up, though from my perspective once I zeroed in on the sub I was forced to treat it like a cornered bulldog...let it expend its energy (torpedoes) before we got in too close with the ELMA's. A few too many beers and a bloody mary (BAAAAD Composite Warfare Commander!) led to some poor attention to detail that allowed a couple of my ships to be lost needlessly. That and the nine passes I made over the Kilo trying to drop ELMA's that wouldn't fire! But once the FSG's screamed in with the SET-65's his goose was cooked. Thanks to Herman for the great game and the scenario and Tony for the server. Brandon B…

File Name: ANW DB - ANW Battleset File Submitter: RKoelbach File Submitted: 22 May 2011 File Category: BattleSets DB Used: ANW DB V 2.4.7 Authors: Dale Hillier ANW Battleset for Harpoon 3 ANW/HUE and ANW DB V 2.4.7. Scenarios written by Dale Hillier. Rebuilt and partially updated for ANW 2.4.7 by Ralf Koelbach. Battleset Descrition File (dsd-file) included. Click here to download this file

I tried it from the Syrian side to see if I could have a different result from history. I was hoping to use the same tactic I had employed when I played as the Israelis. I wanted to have the lightly armed MCM and MTB act as "beaters" for my Osa "hounds". Unfortunately, from the disposition of the Syrian vessels, I realized that I could not use the MCM vessel as much of searcher since she was severely limited by her speed. The MTB set out at creep speed to allow for the Osa PGMs to catch up. Once they were positioned, the ships headed in a southwesterly direction under EmCon. Almost immediately, the MTB detected an Israeli ship visually. Knowing that this meant her…

File Name: Atlantic Clash - scenario for H3 ANW and the HUD 3 File Submitter: RKoelbach File Submitted: 6 Dec 2010 File Updated: 6 Feb 2011 File Category: Scenarios DB Used: HUD 3 V 1.5.0 of 2010-10-30 (Darren Buckley) Authors: Ralf Koelbach Battleset: No Information Hi Pooners, my first scenario for H3 ANW (HUE), since HUE has been released. It is written for and with Darren´s HUD 3 V 1.5 database. Story: What would happen, if a current US CVBG clashes with a strong Russian CVBG, centered around the CVN Kusnetzov and full of up-to-date Flankers and Fulcrums? This one is a nice duel I think. Be careful when using time compression Hope you´ve f…

File Name: Ralf's H3 ANW/HUE standalones for HUD 3 V 1.6.1 File Submitter: RKoelbach File Submitted: 22 May 2011 File Category: BattleSets DB Used: HUD3 V 1.6.1 (Darren Buckley) Authors: Ralf Koelbach Battleset containing my rebuilt/updated standalone scenarios for H3 ANW/HUE and the HUD3 V 1.6.1. Battleset description file (dsd-file) included. Click here to download this file

File Name: Okinawa (mod. version) V 1.1 for H3 ANW/HUE File Submitter: RKoelbach File Submitted: 22 May 2011 File Category: Scenarios DB Used: Harpoon 3 Standard Database (ODB) Authors: AGSI (modified by Ralf Koelbach) Battleset: standalone Modified version of the original Okinawa scen. Overhauled and updated to v 1.1. Harpoon 3 ANW/HUE (3.10), Standard Database. The Japanese side is even stronger now. Can you break their defense? Click here to download this file

Playing around with ideas... This is a revision of a World War III concept I was playing around with a few months ago. I've tried to trim it back a bit, maybe make it a bit more realistic. I'd be grateful for feedback on this one as a background for wargame scenarios... How plausible is this? What else might happen (or what might happen instead)? What am I missing? Here goes... What would happen if, in 1985, the Soviet Union joined forces with Iraq and Syria (and some help from India, which had a military pact with the Soviets at the time) and invaded Iran? The Soviet Alliance is able to seize control of most of Iran, including its ports and oil fields, in a few …

File Name: Salalah Station (1986) File Submitter: Mgellis File Submitted: 04 Feb 2013 File Category: Scenarios My fourth scenario of 2013... In 1986, the civil war in Yemen spilled over into Oman. Oman responded by firing mortar rounds into Yemen. The Soviet Union, Yemen's ally, moved ships into the area. The United States has been asked by Oman to move vessels into the area to help stabilize the situation. Image: CG 24 Reeves (public domain image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:E4-CG24Cruising.jpg) Click here to download this file

50th, 51st, and 52nd scenarios posted! Well, we've done it! Christmas comes early. Three new scenarios by three different authors have been released into the Harpoon community - two for Harpoon 3 and one for Harpoon Classic enthusiasts. These are the 50th, 51st, and 52nd scenarios to be posted to StrategyZoneOnline, ScenShare, FilesOfScenShare, and HarpGamer. That means 50 new scenarios have been produced for Harpoon Classic and Harpoon 3 and the year is not even over yet. Bravo, boys, and keep it up! Continuing on in his "Battle Ocean 90" series, Mark Gellis has posted his Hungry Lion [EC2003 NACV] scenario. Freek Schepers has released, Indian, the 8th scena…

The 124th NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! PIRATES The Malakka strait, Sunda Strait, and Java Sea are notorious Pirate waters. Attacks have increased to over 200 per year. Often crews of attacked vessels are put overboard, the ship is quickly searched for valuables, and then sunk. Many pirates are individual criminals, but organised gangs have emerged who have excellent Intell, and have purchased some of the hundreds of obsolete Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Australian 1960s and 1970s gunboats. While Pirates have no chance against modern naval ships, the Navies in the region have other priorities; and rumour has it that some Pirate gangs are headed…

File Name: Mission to Macedonia (2018) File Submitter: Mgellis File Submitted: 11 Mar 2013 File Category: Scenarios My seventh HUD-4 scenario of 2013... Macedonia has been plunged into chaos as rival factions battle for control of the country. The European Union fears that ethnic cleansing may take place and has decided to the only way to bring the warring parties to the negotiation table is to cripple the military capabilities of both sides. Image: French destroyer Forbin (Source: Image 090531-N-9988F-406; Author: Rafael Figueroa Medina, U.S. Navy) Click here to download this file

The 44th NEW Harpoon scenario in the last 12 months! H-Hour As the arctic daylight fades into mid-afternoon twilight, the tension along the Soviet/Norwegian border erupts into a heavy artillery and rocket barrage. The Norwegian defence forces have been preparing for this day for many years. It is now time to defend their homeland or suffer a second occupation in 50 years. 'Helmets On!' this is going to be a tough one. As the Norwegian commander, the best you can hope for is to inflict delay on the overwhelming force coming towards you. Destroy key bridges or tunnels to slow Soviet ground troops and inflict as many casualties as you can. As …

File Name: Nettle Meerkat (2018) File Submitter: Mgellis File Submitted: 24 Jun 2013 File Category: Scenarios In expectation of the June 28 release of the next version of the HUD-4, my 21st scenario for 2013... In the near future, with fish populations collapsing, tensions are rising around the world over accusations of illegal fishing. Fearing that Mozambique (which has recently acquired ships and aircraft from China) will take violent action against South African fishing boats operating in its EEZ, South Africa is sending two of its new frigates and a submarine to patrol the area... (My experience testing this is that it is not too hard to win, but …