Scenario Design & Discussion

AAR: Cuban Missile Crisis By Freek Schepers After reading and re-reading my orders and the accompanying Rules of Engagement [ROE] from SACLant, I immediately double-checked to make certain that all of my units had their weapons Weapons on Safe status and were locked down. I certainly didn't want to be the initiator of nuclear shooting war! I realized that many of my vessels were a long distance from the line that the President had designated as the limit of the quarantine zone. Therefore, I ordered all vessels in Guantanamo Bay to sortie. As well, much of NavSurfLant was currently positioned near Florida and Cuba. I elected to gamble and meet the freight…

As CinCPac: The screen was studded with numerous subsurface and unknown contacts from the very beginning. I re-organized my ships within their patrol zones and immediately launched ASW aircraft to prosecute the submarines. Two subs were detected in very close proximity to the Wasp and Yorktown ASW Groups and both died soon afterwards. Subs were being detected all around the board from my sub units. I guess that they must have been tracking them already. An AGI trawler was found near the Aleutians chain. A quick visit by a lone Crusader pilot put paid to his ticket with ammo to spare. These subs had teeth. DDG Byrd detected incoming torpedoes! The Essex t…

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…

I re-organized my ships in hopes of keeping as many escorts between the Queen and the threat axis. There were many unidentified vessels in the area so I had my Shackelton MPA investigate them and found many of them to be neutral. Only one vessel was from Indonesia but she was not operating in an openly hostile manner so I was not allowed to engage her. Instead, I kept a close eye on her throughout the voyage. My fighters positioned themselves as BarCap in hopes of intercepting any potential attacks from Indonesia. As the island was very large, an attack could conceivably appear from a very wide area. I kept my fingers crossed that I would have sufficient warning …

AAR: Force Z By Harold Hutchison HMAS Stuart found herself amidst three unidentified vessels. She immediately launched her SeaSprite helicopter to classify them. Unfortunately, one of her charges, Iowa Farmer, happened to be between her and one of the unidentified vessels. The merchant's master was particularly ornery today and refused all requests to turn his vessel to starboard and allow the Stuart to screen him. His reply was, "You're the [expletive deleted] Navy. It's not my job to get my [expletive deleted] [expletive deleted] [expletive deleted] shot off. You do your [expletive deleted] job and I'll do my [expletive deleted] job." With little choic…

Here's another excellent AAR. It is reprinted here with permission of the author:

AAR: Go Tell the Spartans [spoiler Alert] – Turkey A Harpoon 3 scenario By Stephen Mills Kemal reminisced over his last visit with his grandfather before he passed away. His grandfather had been taught by his grandfather, "Bir Yunanliya asla güvenemezsin." [You just can't trust a lousy Greek.] Once again, he thought, they had proven that their promises of peace were worthless. The briefing officer droned on about their treacherous attack across the Meric River. However, a determined and fierce response was underway. They would feel the rage and ire of the Turkish people and Kemal was proud of the fact that he would be an instrument of their vengeance while strap…

Here's a nice AAR from Freek Schepers:

AAR: Guinea By Freek Schepers My orders were to protect Her Majesty's dominion in New Guinea, a daunting task, indeed. I started by launching most of my Maritime Patrol Aircraft [MPA] to seek out and locate the Indonesians. As with most battles, the initial phase is always about Intelligence. As my MPA spread out from Biak, I was happy to see that they possessed radar more than adequate to search long stretches of water leading me to assume that this battle was going to be a milk run. Well, as every primary school child knows, you never "assume" anything because it makes an "Ass" out of "U" and "Me". The MPA spread out on their reconnaissance duties whil…

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…

Here's another excellent AAR. It is reprinted here with permission of the author: This scenario hosted at: SZO file archives - Home of the Harpoon3 PlayersDB FilesOfScenShare HarpGamer.com - Home of the HCDB.

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 …

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…

Here's another excellent AAR. It is reprinted here with permission of the author:

AAR: Interfet-Stabilize [spoiler Alert] Harpoon ANW scenario for the PlayersDB by Freek Schepers 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, Singaporean, Malaysian, and Norwegian troops began the long preparations for d…

INVASION OF ANTILLES Harpoon ANW scenario for the PlayersDB Author: Freek Schepers Jerome (a.k.a. Angle of Attack) came looking to try another scenario from Freek Scheper's Hugo's Folly battleset, made with ANW's most functional database, the PlayersDB. Having played the first one, we chose the second one in the series, "Invasion of Antilles" with Jerome continuing in his role of S. American aggressor. 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 w…

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…

I played from the side of the Lone Wolf first. I made it to the mouth of Polyarnyy and patrolled there for a few hours without detecting any enemy activity. I expanded my patrol zones until I detected a long-range sonar contact. I followed it up to learn that it was a Mirka patrol vessel. I then came across an entire ASW task force. Unfortunately, they were heading in the opposite direction. Humbug. All I could do was hope that they would eventually turn back towards me as it is nearly impossible to conduct a stern chase in a diesel submarine. As luck would have it, they did slow down and turn back towards me. I crept at deep depth with periodic periscope s…

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…

AAR: Matchplay #4 - Battle of Britain II [spoiler Alert] - Dutch A Harpoon 3 scenario By Freek Schepers The purpose of this scenario is to investigate war between pretty much the entire military forces of two modern countries. Holland has moved ground forces into Belgium and defeated French attempts to interfere. The Charles de Gaulle has been sunk and the French air force is licking its wounds. The UN has authorised all members to take steps to reverse this situation and the UK has taken up the call of duty. SITUATION The Campaign against Belgium and France has concluded. Flanders has rejoined the Kingdom. A daring raid against Denmark has …