Scenario Design & Discussion

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…

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…

Here's another After-Action Report re-printed with permission from the author. For the first time since the Slag in de Java Sea in 1942 a joint UK/Dutch TF was going to war under Dutch command. Our mission was to prevent an invasion of the ABC-islands and reinforce them with marines. Initial operations went easy. Venezuala appeared to remain neutral and only some C130s were detected. US Navy recon units were out in force. I started flying my recon planes to find the two invasion forces that my intel had reported might be under way. I detected some patrol craft and a few separate destroyers and after 2 hours my recon plane was fired upon by a destroyer. The fi…

Here's a nice report from Liuzg150181 re-printed with permission: Taken from my blog entry: http://liuzg150181.tripod.com/blog/ "Perhaps almost always, a pc game session against a human player - especially up against a veteran with tactical and strategic cutting-edge - would be much more pulsating and exulting than against the built-in AI which is more often than not of absymal or haphazard performance. No, the game is not about killing whales using harpoons(so environmentalist please don't flame my blog!), or that matters. As clarification the 'Harpoon' game is air and naval combat simulation game based the board game conceived by former naval officer Larry B…

Here's another After-Action Report re-printed with permission from the author. The conflict started quite, French planes were buzzing overhead and I managed not to annoy them into hostility. I used the quite of the pre-dawn morning to drop Gurka's around the three Dessert Forts. Egyptians were not known for night-fighting after all. They were reinforced during the day but communication problems with my Indian friends prevented good damage reports, so as the conflict went on I supported them with flights of hunters in an attempt to breach the Forts to 50% damage. Fighters were dispatched overhead BP Torrey Canyon and the BP refinary. They strafed some dows …

The 124th NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! This scenario has been tested for compatibility with Harpoon ANW. 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…

Here's another AAR by Dave Steinmeyer. It is re-printed here with permission from the author. AAR: Beach Reconnaissance [spoiler Alert] A Harpoon 3 scenario By Herman Hum I plotted my course for the first Named Area of Interest (NAI1). It's the one that's furthest SE. My course took me N, then I turned and approached the coast at right angles. After a few minutes, I got my first contact, a goblin to the E of my start point. I never really got a track on him, and lost him shortly after. The next pair of contacts as I approached NAI1 were both a skunk and a goblin to the NW. Again, I lost the goblin pretty quickly. Then I lost the skunk. Next…

The 8th NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! Eyes and Claws (Act I) This is the sixth scenario of the PaSon battleset. These scenarios are designed for beginners. They presume that the USSR did not collapse back in the early 90s. In fact, the Cold War went hot and NATO and the USSR got their shoot out. They met with their best equipment and fought it out. All scenarios of this battleset use the same map, starting with using smaller parts of it. The complexity and thus difficulty of the scenarios increases steadily. Eyes and Claws introduces new tactical elements. You will learn how to coordinate aircraft with ships and submarines. Aerial ref…

I had a crazy thought... Why not have a competition for small scenario designs for the HUD-4? Each round would have some general rules but some room for creativity--e.g., "A French task force with two warships and one light combatant vs. two groups of three or four gun boats and/or missile boats, anywhere in the world." Or, "A German convoy with two warships and six merchants must make an opposed passage against a nation with one destroyer-sized ship and 6-12 aircraft to use against them." In each case, we're talking relatively small scenarios, with each side having only a few vessels and/or about a dozen aircraft. Designers have 24 hours to produce the scen…

File Name: The Battle of Bissau (1981) File Submitter: Mgellis File Submitted: 09 Feb 2013 File Category: Scenarios My fifth scenario of 2013... A revolution in Guinea-Bissau has put Americans at risk. With only days or hours before Americans are executed on trumped up charges of espionage, a hastily assembled task force must seize control of the well-defended city of Bissau. (I'm quite pleased with how this one turned out. It is definitely possible to win, but you have to manage resources carefully and play smart...or else!) Image: A U.S. Marine Corps Boeing CH-46 on the Guam (U.S. DefenseImagery photo VIRIN: DF-ST-84-09763, Author: TSgt. Mike Creen)…

The 260th NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! BALTIC BREAKOUT Instead of a peaceful transition in government, the Soviet Union, instead, undergoes two very violent and aggressive overthrows in one week. In the confusion during the change of government from communism to democracy and back to communism controlled by military leaders, a general war is started against NATO countries. Two key naval units, though, aren't told in time. The Admiral Gorshkov and the Chernova Ukraina are still docked in the Baltic shipyards. Though the whole world is caught off guard, the German Navy puts up whatever patrols it can. Most units are sunk in the initial att…

The 54th new scenario of the year! The sixth 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 rec…

The 38th NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! The Svalbard Incident Following the demise of the "Evil Empire", the West believed that the "Red Threat" had completely evaporated. However, those same Western governments failed to anticipate the profound effects that hunger and poverty would have on the people of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The government of the CIS, faced a hungry populace on the verge of rebellion, realized that the West either could not or would not provide the massive capital outlays required to end the depression within the CIS. This left the government with the belief that only two options remained: allow the …

The 273rd NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! TRADE BARRIER The rise of the European Community in the mid-1990's had a dramatic effect on the political and economic divisions in the world. Following the prolonged recessionary period which ran rampant throughout the world during the early 90's, the EC was the first economic body to rebound and the recovery was astonishing. What some felt was retribution towards the United States for "forty years of tyranny," the Community took steps to ensure that the Western Hemisphere took a back seat to the new world economic superpower. Soon enough, the EC's actions against the United States and Canada led to d…

The 283rd NEW Harpoon scenario of the year! Nicobar Vengeance Friction has been growing between Indonesia and her neighbours. Amongst other issues, Indonesia claims that other nations have been illegally fishing in her waters while other nations accuse Indonesia of not doing enough to reduce piracy. Four days ago, an Indonesian submarine in the waters between the Nicobar islands and Sumatra sank an Indian merchant vessel that it mistook for a commercial fishing boat. Sixteen Indian sailors were killed in the incident. Author: Herman Hum With over 93,000 PlayersDB scenarios downloaded in the last 31 weeks alone, the PlayersDB has proven…

File Name: Defending Dili (2018) File Submitter: Mgellis File Submitted: 23 May 2013 File Category: Scenarios My 17th ANW/HUD-4 scenario for 2013... In the near future, a civil war is raging in East Timor. Indonesia has formally recognized the rebels and Australia is concerned it will enter into the conflict. The Australian government makes the decision to move forces into the area and to protect the city of Dili if Indonesia decides to attack. Image: Two RAAF F-18s (Source: U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Matthew Bruch.) Click here to download this file

The 46th NEW Harpoon scenario in the last 12 months! Sea King to Chile Incident One of the most mysterious events of the war happened on May 16th, when a Sea King was found burning and abandoned near Punta Arenas airbase. The British claimed a 500nm navigation error but, after the war, it became clear that SAS Special Forces had been planning a raid to take out the Exocet-armed Super Etendard aircraft which had sunk Sheffield and Atlantic Conveyor. Speculation on the nature of this operation still ranges from SAS-Hercules aircraft landing on Rio Grande airbase in order to destroy the planes on the ground to the setting up of covert radar facilities t…

SPOILER ALERT AAR Old versus new #2, Part 1. Before starting the game, I always explore the scenario [Where is what] and make notes on paper; I launch the aircraft I need in the first stage [mostly, available AEW/EW/ASW and fighters] and re-arm aircraft if necessary; I plot course for the naval taskforces and submarines, plot ASW-missions with the formation editor, etc. etc... It is always a challenge to engage the massive and technical advanced Armed Forces of the USA. In this second [of 3] scenario, I play Europe. This scenario is btw, one of my favourites: +++ Here are the Freek’s orders: #2.0 BATTLE FOR EUROPE This is the secon…