pmaidhof Posted December 12, 2009 Report Share Posted December 12, 2009 A three person off-shoot of my current gaming group has begun an attempt to tackle Gulf Strike Scenario 2 which depicts a mid 1980's invasion of Iran. One player is the Soviets, one the Iranians, and me, the other, is the Americans. After close to 30 years (1983), I have finally had an opportunity to set this up and play through a couple of turns with live opponents. We have completed five turns before pausing last night about midnight. The Soviets are advancing, from both sides of the Caspian Sea, toward Tehran agains slowly deteriorating Iranian resistance. US Special Forces have made some effective raids and strike coordination operations against soviet support units in northern Iran. After a couple of turns, the critical vulnerability of Soviet supply lines it becomes so clearly obvious to all involved. The trick now is getting sufficent effects on those targets. For the soviet player, how much force do you take from your vanguard to defend your transportation and supply units. If you lose the ability to supply your forces, then overwehlming forces at the front will amount for naught. I've co-opted the shoot the archer not the arrows to become shoot the trucks not the supply depots. The number of truck units are finite while supply depots are not. Soviet air and naval forces are taking every opportunity to mine various allied friendly points and the Strait of Hormuz. CV-63 Kittyhawk was able to shake the tattletale soviet cruiser at the start of the game, but goes down in Turn 5 to combined submarine and multiple backfire raids. The sub was sunk, one "regiment" of Backfires took hits and aborted by Tomcats on CAP, one aborted when intercepted by USAF F-15's out of UAE/Oman. The third regiment got though and a horrible ECM roll caused the loss of any US carrier (Enterprise) for at least two more turns. This puts serious concern for the US's precarious supply line from Diego Garcia to the Gulf. There is a handful of Soviet naval units, including a CVH, loitering of the coast of Yemen, only a US sub and DD, and a UK sub are screening them from the SLOC from Diego Garcia to the Gulf. For now they appear to be staying put. B-52 strikes are "the bomb". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyE Posted December 12, 2009 Report Share Posted December 12, 2009 Sounds like a great time Pete, looking forward to hearing more when next the battle is continued! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silent Hunter UK Posted December 12, 2009 Report Share Posted December 12, 2009 Sounds great, Pete! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmaidhof Posted December 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2009 Thanks guys, it is definitely the game that I anticipated all these years. Turns out though that in this particular we goat-roped it since we did not have overflight or basing rights in the UAE or Oman. Those forces should have attempted to resist. We are still determining if we can mirror the forces over to the east, Pakistan or even an Iranian Arabian Sea port, or trash 8.5 game hours to re-do. We'll see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmaidhof Posted December 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2009 Thanks guys, it is definitely the game that I anticipated all these years. Turns out though that in this particular we goat-roped it since we did not have overflight or basing rights in the UAE or Oman. Those forces should have attempted to resist. We are still determining if we can mirror the forces over to the east, Pakistan or even an Iranian Arabian Sea port, or trash 8.5 game hours to re-do. We'll see. Look like all three players have agreed in principle to accept an "assumed" Random Polictical Event to allow for basing rights at that United Arab Emirates port. UAE forces will not activate in defense of any foreign forces at that port/airbase facility. Looking forward to more table time on Friday. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmaidhof Posted January 16, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2010 We continued last night (December 19, 2009) though Turn 8. The Soviets are tightening the noose on Tehran. I'll leave it to Mark to elaborate the Iranian ground situation. The US effort consisted of numerous special forces operations. We are agreed that it takes quite the effort to keep it all straight...and legal. After realizing a error in placing US forces in Oman (Strat K-09), probably due to starting Scenario 1 last time, the US started to shuttle forces into Bushehr from K-09 and the supplehead at Diego Garcia. A concerted effort to target the Soviet logistical network in Iran was less than satisfactory. The Eisenhower CVBG arrived, decisions need to be made on how best to employ it without suffering the same fate as Kittyhawk at the hands of Scott's backfires. The Soviet Air Defense Table sure is nasty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmaidhof Posted January 16, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2010 Well fast forward to the end of Turn 16 last night. After linking up the western and eastern elements south of the Caspian, Scott's Soviets have finshed their consolidation as far south as Esfahan(A2732) and have apparently begun to focus on a massed, slow, movement through the mountains of Strat Hex G-06 toward the two cities, Ahvez and Abadan. It is here that much of what is left of Mark's Iranian army is setting into a defense. As the Americans go, CV-68 is conducting a painstakingly slow movement north on the Strategic map escorting the various LHA, amphib's, and transp's carrying the "heavy" forces of 24th Mechanized Division. The teeth of Soviet naval forces in the Indian Ocean have been eliminated. Once CV-68 links up with CV-65, mine sweeping in the straits will begin in earnest. Threat of Backfires is still a serious concern. Back on the operational maps, the US and Iran have begun to establish a logistics net from from Konark toward Kerman and Bushehr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmaidhof Posted February 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2010 Well...fast-fast forward to the end of Turn 27 last night. The Soviets are strung out but still looking like they will ultimately win after game ends on Turn 30. To what degree will be seen. One weak stack did reach the outskirts of Bandar Abbas, only to be destroyed in detail by a Marine brigade. Soviet backfire bomber squadrons have been the bane of the US. Two carriers have already been sunk as well as the majority of the two divisions worth of heavy gear intented for the ground fight. Oh the pain... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmaidhof Posted March 7, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2010 Ok, the December 2, 2009 - March 6, 2010 playing of Gulf Strike Scenario 2 is over. Turn 30 ended last night around 11pm. The Soviet (Player A) earned a Marginal Victory, by controlling at least 11 cities, including Tehran. The US/Iranian player(s) (Player thwarted either a Substantive or Decisive Victory as while the Soviets had all but two Iranian cities, including Bandr Abbas, he was unable to dispute or control the Strait of Hormuz. In the end, the long supply lines, US airpower, and a brigade of US Marines kept those Soviet units that reached the environs of Bandr Abbas from actually penetrating or taking it by coup de main. A long game, much fun, and a good learning experience of a longtime-first-time player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CV32 Posted March 7, 2010 Report Share Posted March 7, 2010 A hard fought battle, thanks for sharing it with us. Sounds to me like the results were a pretty fair guess of could have potentially happened in real life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmaidhof Posted March 7, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2010 And it looks like up next is Aegean Strike - Scenario 2, World War III: Southwestern Theater of Operations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broncepulido Posted March 8, 2010 Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 Interesting game results. Sounds to me like the results were a pretty fair guess of could have potentially happened in real life. I think that's we are looking for in simulation games, and also some historical depth, historical/military/technological research, and an occuped brain ... After the Falklands/Malvinas was increased the interest in modern period wargame, then came Light Division and Gulf Strike (tokens with group of planes and group of warships), and after the # Fleet series (In this last series, tokens with group of planes and INDIVIDUAL ships. I was fascinated in both games series with the planes/warships tokes, I analyze the tokens and I've created a full range of warplanes and warships in the same game scale in scrap cardboard, and constated the inherent gamescale limitations, and the advantages of the basic play systems), and yes,also the card game "Modern Naval Warfare", they were Old Testament games. After that came HARPOON, Harpoon was the New Testament. Now we're living the times of PC games, but Computer Harpoon variants are not the Apocryphal Evangelies, they're the Second Coming, the Kingdom of the Heaven in the Earth (yes, I know a certain Lord Fisher wrote something similar a lot of years ago about OBBs, BBs, BCs and BCLs, but it's the same general idea). Incidentally, I see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fisher,_1st_Baron_Fisher worth a reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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