Scenario Design & Discussion

AAR: Indian Expansion [spoiler Alert] A Harpoon 3 scenario By Paul Bridge Defence Minister Singh had no experience in military matters. He had been appointed for his connections and his political shrewdness. He saw his opportunity to rise further in the Indian government with his latest scheme. He sold the cabinet on his vision for India to rise above her former masters and prove to the world that the Indian Ocean was for the Indians. His plan called for their former imperialists to be lulled into a false sense of security at the negotiating table while the real voice of negotiation would be spoken by the air force and the navy. He proposed a surprise at…

File Name: Black Moon Sailing (2014) File Submitter: Mgellis File Submitted: 06 Dec 2012 File Category: Scenarios Israeli forces must intercept a Turkish merchant vessel believed to be carrying weapons and other supplies for Hamas. Image: A port bow view of the Israeli Navy's guided missile patrol boat INS Hetz (Sa'ar 4.5). Source: http://www.defenseimagery.mil/ Author's Note: This scenario takes advantage of the feature in H3/ANW that allows one to board and take control of a vessel without sinking it--to win this scenario, you have to complete a boarding/takeover mission (among other things); simply sinking the merchant will not be enough. Clic…

Blast from the Past Ever wonder how difficult it might be to have a submarine creep up onto the beach for reconnaissance? Well, here's your chance to find out. This is the first Harpoon 3 scenario that I ever wrote. It's been damaged and unavailable for most of the year, but we've finally been able to repair it and now present it to you on StrategyZoneOnline for use with the PlayersDB. Beach Reconnaissance Soviet submarines have scored many successes in the Atlantic convoy lanes through the profligate expenditure of torpedoes and missiles. By the third week of the war, many submarines are suspected to be low on fuel and munitions. However, the number…

SPOILER ALERT MATCHPLAY #4 for Harpoon ANW 3.7.0 Scenario designed by Freek Schepers Reporter: Taitennek. Side: Netherlands. I have only limited aircraft under my command. 86 fighter/attack, 12 of them are armed with AMRAAM. My orders are to establish local air-superiority over NL and central UK, destroy Luton EW System, 10 ground targets, 100 aircraft, and sink 2 ships. I must prevent more than 15 NL facilities from being hit. [For comprehensive orders visit PlayersDB Scenario Depot]. Date : 29 September 2004. Time : 04:00:00 Zulu Time. First I plotted course for my frigates and submarines. Stanfornz and TF38 will group together west of Den Hel…

The 63rd NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! Svalbard Oil Battleset The discovery of the third largest oil and gas reserves on the planet near the Svalbard Islands led to a dispute with Russia, who has mining rights and maintains settlements on Spitsbergen, claiming that the islands belong to the chain of islands of Franz Josef Land. Svalbard Oil 1: The Blockade In a surprise move Russia landed troops in Longyearbyen ten days ago and occupied some of the major oil platforms. Norway filed a protest with the UN and requested formal NATO assistance, which immediately was granted. NATO is now assembling forces to break the blockade around the Sval…

File Name: ColdWar File Submitter: Herman File Submitted: 6 Nov 2008 File Category: Scenarios DB Used: Y2kDB v10.0.0 Authors: Klaus Behrmann Battleset: Stand-alone The End of the Cold War Something went entirely wrong, and it happened so fast that nobody could recall immediately when and where it started. The Soviets were under the impression that NATO was preparing for an attack on the motherland and decreed that securing Iceland for a prolonged war was vital to victory; thus they mobilized each operational vessel in the Northern Fleet and managed to occupy the Faroes as a prelude. NATO then, too, scrambled every available asset in the North Atlantic, and w…

File Name: SvaOil1 File Submitter: Herman File Submitted: 6 Nov 2008 File Category: Scenarios DB Used: Y2kDB v10.0.0 Authors: Klaus Behrmann Battleset: Svalbard Oil Svalbard Oil Battleset The discovery of the third largest oil and gas reserves on the planet near the Svalbard Islands led to a dispute with Russia, who has mining rights and maintains settlements on Spitsbergen, claiming that the islands belong to the chain of islands of Franz Josef Land. Svalbard Oil 1: The Blockade In a surprise move Russia landed troops in Longyearbyen ten days ago and occupied some of the major oil platforms. Norway filed a protest with the UN and requested forma…

I'm brainstorming various ideas and I'd like a reality check on this one... "Water War Template" Basic concept: Water is already reaching dangerous shortages in some places. Especially when the territory is disputed, and perhaps if it is not, but still temptingly close to a border, a nation might decide to seize territory. This is not an invasion--it is simply a land grab. But it is land with a river on it (or both shores of a river that both countries share). Naturally, the country that has lost territory will be upset and will try to get it back, perhaps the help of allies or an international (perhaps UN) coalition. I imagine that any valuable resource i…

File Name: SvaOil2 File Submitter: Herman File Submitted: 6 Nov 2008 File Category: Scenarios DB Used: Y2kDB v10.0.0 Authors: Klaus Behrmann Battleset: Svalbard Oil Svalbard Oil Battleset The discovery of the third largest oil and gas reserves on the planet near the Svalbard Islands led to a dispute with Russia, who has mining rights and maintains settlements on Spitsbergen, claiming that the islands belong to the chain of islands of Franz Josef Land. Svalbard Oil 2: NATO Strikes Back The attempt of the Royal Norwegian Navy to settle the dispute over the Svalbard Islands with rather limited resources was a failure, though the two Norwegian submarines…

Again, I'm looking for a reality check on some scenario ideas... Here's what I imagine. What if a nation decided, for some reason, to engage in full scale poaching? It sends a fishing convoy--fishing boats and patrol boats or even warships as escorts--into the EEZ of some other country (presumably one the aggressor believes it can treat this way) and proceeds to do a serious amount of fishing. This might be a disputed territory or it might simply be an act of aggression by a nation that thinks it can get away with it. (And, because of food shortages, collapsing fish populations due to overfishing, etc., it may believe it has to get away with it.) I suppose the…

File Name: Perisher File Submitter: Herman File Submitted: 6 Nov 2008 File Category: Scenarios DB Used: Y2kDB v10.0.0 Authors: Klaus Behrmann Battleset: Stand-alone Perisher Special The USA have agreed a joint exercise with Canada to simulate the forced entry into a hostile country, using moderate air force assets, shore batteries modeling Silkworm launchers and frigates simulating missile boats. Canadian diesel submarines and one British SSN are participating; for the British commander this is a Perisher Special giving him the opportunity to try out an attack on a sophisticated carrier battle group. These scenarios have been tested with the Harpoon 3.6 …

The 259th NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! MATRIX LANCE Baltic Sea game of cat and mouse. The passages of the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom [GIUK] Gap remain an intense focal point even in time of peace. This scenario is a re-make of a Harpoon Classic scenario from the Harpoon Designers Series II and has been re-made for Harpoon 3 with the consent of AGSI. CIS 231015FEB93 CCCCCCC From: Baltic Fleet HQ, St. Petersburg To: Capt, Red Winter Subj: Operation Matrix Lance 1. Acknowledge receipt status report 0200Z this date. German government confirms loss of Goteborg. Operation Matrix Shield has been terminated. NATO surface vessel…

Does anyone know of a resource for the US Navy (or any other navy, but I'm especially interested in the US navy) that says where ships were deployed, what squadrons they were assigned to, etc. during certain years? I mean, you would think somewhere there should be a year-by-year order of battle, right? Considering how expensive ships are, one would think they would keep track of that sort of thing, and perhaps even write it down somewhere. And especially for something like the 1980s and 1990s, where it hardly matters where the ships were, since it was 20-30 years ago. So it's not like they need to keep it secret. Right? Mind you, while I'm sure it must exist so…

File Name: South of Gwadar (2018) File Submitter: Mgellis File Submitted: 20 Apr 2013 File Category: Scenarios My thirteenth scenario of 2013... In the near future, Pakistan and Iran have become increasingly friendly. There are reports that they are planning to attack one of the Gulf states. An American carrier battle group must move into position, gather intelligence, and discourage Iran and Pakistan from starting a war. But will the Eisenhower and escorts now become the targets? Image: Guided missile destroyer USS Forrest Sherman (DDG 98) fires its five-inch gun (Source: Navy Image ID 070111-N-4515N-509; Author: Mass Communication Specialist Seaman App…

In Harm's Way [spoiler Alert] A Harpoon 3 scenario By Mike Mykytyn I assumed command and promptly launched air patrols to survey the situation. Immediately a band of gunboats was spotted lurking in the islands in the Strait of Hormuz. Cute. Those band of pirates were in an area that was off limits to me but I knew that it would not stop them from attacking me. I would need to keep a wary eye on them so I sounded General Quarters and jamming turned on. A second helo was investigating the mass of shipping in close to Bandar Abbas. It managed to identify some other gunboats before it was blown from the sky like a clay pigeon. Bummer. Do not make that mistake again…

The 282nd NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! Beida-La Boom History is replete with interesting surprises. The mercurial leader of Libya, having made much of his reputation as a foe of the West, ultimately decided that the future of his country (and his own future) might be secured more easily by adopting a policy of moderation. He was promptly ousted and forced into exile. The new regime is openly hostile to the West. Its ultimate goal is to dominate North and Central Africa and it has started an agressive campaign of purchasing weapons from nations such as China, North Korea, Russia, and Iran. In addition, it has purchased materials ne…

Here's an epic AAR by Dave Steinmeyer. It is re-printed here with permission from the author. AAR: Malakka [spoiler Alert] - Thailand A Harpoon 3 scenario By Freek Schepers Ok, as I take my initial inventory of what I have available, I'm none too happy. The ONLY air assets ready to fly are a pair Sea Kings out of Port Blair. No options but to launch one. Other than that, I've got 6 Falcons and 4 Tigers on Ready5 out of Korat and Surat Thani respectively, 6 more Falcons Ready30 at Takhli, and one Orion Ready30 at U Tapao. It's gonna be pretty damn hard to get a clear picture of what's going on initially. Now for orders... I send the Indian carrier…

Here's another AAR by Dave Steinmeyer. It is re-printed here with permission from the author. AAR: Indian [spoiler Alert] A Harpoon 3 scenario By Freek Schepers As I started the scenario, I had a bit of trouble locating all of the transports I was supposed to have. I eventually found the thirteenth as part of one of the FFG TF east of the base. Here's what I did, I sent ten ships NW at flank to get the hell out of Dodge before the hell I figured was gonna break loose did so. They were to link up with the CG/DDG TF off the Horn of Africa. That part of my plan went off without a hitch. The two remaining transports were sent at flank to the ENE to link up …

The Taking of Sakhalin, from the HUD3 GC1 battleset AAR by Mark Gellis I am taking the role of Japan. It is 1994 and I have to escort amphibious ships to a landing point on Sakhalin. The Russians, not surprisingly, are eager to stop me. They have a task force in the area and some submarines, including an Oscar, according to my intelligence briefing. I have my task force, a trio of submarines, and about 20 aircraft at Sapporo. Before starting, I set up patrol missions for the submarines, as I am playing at full realism and will not be able to control them otherwise. I’m sending all three on sub hunts. This scenario was prepared for the HUD-4 (v1.1 b1…

File Name: Gallic Spark (1984) File Submitter: Mgellis File Submitted: 27 Jun 2013 File Category: Scenarios My 22nd scenario of the year... In 1984, a coup took place in Guinea. This scenario assumes that French businessmen were arrested by the new government, charged with espionage, and executed. France wants revenge... (As is often the case, the real challenge, and part of the Victory Conditions, is not just achieving your goals but doing so with minimal losses. This scenario has already been updated to the new version of the HUD-4, v1.2, so you will have to download that. With other scenarios, remember, since a new version of the HUD-4 is out, y…