Jerome (a.k.a. AngleOfAttack) and I tried out this hypothetical carrier battle between Argentina and Britain. TonyE watched us from the sidelines. Jerome took his usual side, Argentina.

 

We both started off cautiously as we didn't have many forces on hand. I think that both sides were trying to blind each other because we went after one another's recon assets right away. AoA got off to a good start by shooting down one of the helos I was using for reconnaissance and, to add to my humiliation, he also bagged the two Harriers I sent to avenge it! (I still don't know how he did it.)

 

 

I evened up the score by downing a pair of Super Etendards. It was a beautiful ambush as I had him nicely sandwiched between two flights of Harriers.

 

Other helos survived long enough to get a good idea where his carrier was so I launched my meagre strike assets. I only had 6 Harriers configured for bombing. As I know that I had not shot down all of his fighters, the appearance of a single Etendard or Skyhawk could easily shoot my strike force to ribbons so I had to detach 2 of my four surviving Harriers as escorts. It would prove to be a wise decision.

 

 

I took a long circuitous route to the target. The cost in fuel was, hopefully, going to be recouped in avoiding detection and opposition. I was successful on both accounts. Only when I was within 30 nm of the target was I detected and, by then, it was almost too late. However, one interceptor did manage to close on the escorts before exchanging missiles. Both Harrier and Argentine plane went down. However, the escort fulfilled his duty and freed up the strikers for a clear run to the target.

 

They quickly identified the carrier and lofted their 454kg bombs from maximum range and dove to the deck to evade. Black puffs filled the sky from the anti-aircraft fire, but no planes were lost. However, as they made their way back towards the carrier, they were jumped by another Argentine plane and one was blown from the sky before anyone knew the enemy was even around. The Harrier escort avenged him with a single Sidewinder and the rest of the trip home was uneventful.

 

The Veinticinco de Mayo flooded and sank on her own and I was awarded victory. A really superb game. The limited number of forces really demands that a player maximize his assets. The loss of even a few could mean the loss of the game.

 

Anyone looking for an MP game can drop a line here or look for us on HarpGamer pHp chat room or the HG mIRC chat room.

 

Eds finally found time to try and finish off Fish Stick Theory, made with the Harpoon community's favourite database, the PlayersDB.

 

 

As the grand facade of global borders changes in the light of new reformations, so too are changes being wrought on many smaller scale national boundaries. Plans for change and the conflicts bringing about this change are not limited to the high profile scenarios unfolding in Russia and the Middle East.

 

Thailand, seeing the large island on the extreme southern edge of their territorial waters as an attractive opportunity for expansion, decided to invade and expand their borders in the process. The Lang Kawi International Airport offered a valuable potential for increased air traffic with countries to the south. Thailand's claims to rights regarding shipping traffic and fishing in the area would be greatly enhanced. There was just one problem... Malaysia.

 

For whatever reasons that Thailand may wish to acquire the island, the same could be said of Malaysia by way of explaining why they may want to keep it.

 

Bypassing the possible channels of negotiation and commerce, the Thai government decides to use a surprise lightning attack to take the island. The Thai forces count on the fact that retaking the island would be very costly. Here, in this battle, the future of the Thailand-Malaysia border will be decided. The time is now.

 

After killing the Thai ships equipped with long-range Harpoon SSMs, it was time to close on the rest of them. However, they were still quite capably armed with CSS-N-4 Sardines and Exocets. The range may be reduced, but they would still be a prickly porcupine to deal with.

 

 

So, there we were. Staring at one another after we had each shot down a few planes from the other side. Ed's high-performance Falcons clearly out-matched my subsonic Hawks. However, I had my planes over my ships which were supporting them with radar coverage. Basically, it was a Mexican stand-off in the air. However, on the water, Ed was at a disadvantage. I was closing on his landing ships and he had to do something about it.

 

He tried to make attack runs at full speed, but we simply fired missiles at each other before retreating. Only when we both made manoeuvring errors did we end up inside each other's missile envelopes and get shot down. After a series of engagements, Ed only had 2 Falcons left while I had 6 Hawks and 4 Skyhawks.

 

 

With local aerial superiority, I ordered my Hawks in to strafe his squadron. They were lucky and managed to kill 2 missile boats and heavily damage a third, but the crippled boat was able to fire off it's CSS-N-4 Sardines before it sank.

 

Luckily, the targets he fired them at were either gunboats without significant missile armament or else had already fired off their SSMs, previously. Even though his boat was sinking, the missiles worked just fine and another Malay frigate and missile boat were soon blown out of the water.

 

 

Thinking that I had the situation well in hand, I ordered all my ships to flank speed to close with the enemy and destroy him with missiles and gunfire. Unfortunately, in modern warfare, things can change in a millisecond.

 

As I closed the range, I decided to use some of my Exocets to take care of his ships armed with long-ranged guns. Unfortunately, the Exocets refused to comply and kept tracking on ships already burning and sinking. Ed's guns had no such tracking problems. They promptly started blasting everything they found out of the water. One boat after another died under the hail of gunfire. As my ships turned to flee, I was awarded victory. Evidently, I had sunk enough ships before my started blowing up. Another 10 minutes under the iron flail and I am certain that victory would have been awarded to Ed.

 

Great game, Ed. Frustrating as all hell for me, but good tactics on your part. Thanks to HarpGamer for the hosting it on their server.

 

Anyone looking for an MP game can drop a line here or look for us on HarpGamer pHp chat room or the HG mIRC chat room.

 

AoA and I like this one so much, that we decided to try it, again!

 

Now that we had an idea of each others Order of Battle, we were more cautious. I sent my helos up early and found him in the same location as last time, the SW quadrant. As I had not bombers ready, I went back to trying to blind my enemy by shooting down his Trackers and helos.

 

 

One was caught easily in the NW, and another one chased in the SE when I stumbled upon Super Etendards. Two were quickly dispatched with Sidewinders, but a pair of A-4 Skyhawks were also present. These aircraft also carried Sidewinders just like my Harriers. I accidentally blundered into one of them and lost a Harrier.

 

 

I was incensed by the loss and chased his surviving Skyhawk all over Pebble Island with 3 Harriers. His Sidewinders kept me from closing and he couldn't break past his 3 pursuers to make it home to his carrier. The one to first run out of gas would lose the contest. Unfortunately, that happened to be me!

 

I don't know if it was intentional or accidental, but AoA had reversed my 'Sandwich attack' and now had caught my Harriers returning to base and low on fuel and nearly out of AAMs. He took full advantage of it and shot down all three while only losing a single Super Etendard. Damn, he used my own trick against me!

 

To add insult to injury, he shot down one of the two additional Harriers I hd sent to 'rescue' the embattled group. Now, out of 6 Harriers for CAP, I only had one survivor. The situation looked dire as my bombers became ready for operations.

 

I gambled and sent them to attack his carrier. It was a long-shot. He had many surviving fighters and I expected them to maul my strikers, but, as the SAS goes, "Who Dares, Wins". I immediately launched the bombers and sent them in at low altitude to evade radar. The range was only 70nm so they put the pedal to the metal in hopes of catching the Skyhawks still re-arming on the deck.

 

 

With visions of Midway in their heads, my pilots screamed in just above the wavetops. One Super Etendard was detected to the North, but, hopefully, it would not be able to make the interception before I released my bombs.

 

 

It was going to be a damned close race. Only one of the bombers was shot down on Ingress. The other five lofted their bombs and ran for their lives. The Super Etendard did make the interception and shot one more down before they escaped. Now, if I could hold on, victory was mine. However, AoA had plans of his own.

 

 

He had sent his own planes for a little payback. They had taken a circuitous route to my CVHG, but had been detected at maximum SAM range. SeaSlugs immediately took them under fire and did very well. Luckily, the ECM was keeping my ships' position hidden from him so the SeaSlugs, SeaCats, and SeaWolves ravaged his formations.

 

 

For a moment, it looked as though the attack had been beaten off. It was a false hope as AoA was only using the lull to bring in more Recon assets to localize my ships. Through great handling, he eventually closed to bomb range and let loose on two escorts, Alacrity and Broadsword. Both were severely damaged. It was small consolation to shoot down the rest of his strike because there was no way that either side could now win.

 

One the bombers were expended from both sides, we decided to call the game a draw since neither side could fulfill their ViConds. A superbly fought battle. I recommend that nothing be changed for this scenario. It is fun and challenging exactly as it currently is.

 

A really superb scenario. Thanks for a great game, AoA.

 

Anyone looking for an MP game can drop a line here or look for us on HarpGamer pHp chat room or the HG mIRC chat room.

 

Frans Koenz (a.k.a. Taitennek) and I decided to give Pebble Island a try.

 

This time, I took the Argentine side while Frans played the UK.

 

 

The first part of any battle is reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance. Both Frans and I took tried to hunt down and blind each other. Several engagements were fought from sporadic radar contacts. However, not all battles were clear-cut affairs. Often, I would move in to intercept his Harriers and hope to ambush them when they would suddenly turn around and send Sidewinders right down my throat.

 

 

A furball quickly ensued over the South Atlantic involving Harriers, Skyhawks, and Super Etendards. It was a total mess. In the end, 4 Harriers had been shot down for the loss of 3 Skyhawks/Etendards. It could very easily have been the reverse.

 

 

Frans kept trying to hunt down my helos. A pair of Etendard were sent to deal with this persistent pest. As they were coming up on his six o'clock position, the 'prey' suddenly turned around and unleashed a volley of Sidewinders at the ambushers. Final score, 1 Harrier down for the price of another Etendard.

 

 

After re-arming my Skyhawks with 1000lb bombs, I still had no definitive position on my elusive target. A radar contact had been spotted 3 hours earlier, but, since then, not a peep from the British task group. So, I surrounded the area with helicopters and Trackers and kept them hovering at low altitude until the bombers arrived on the scene. I fully expected him to shoot down a few of my recon assets, but I was willing to pay the price if it won me the intelligence I so badly needed.

 

As soon as one of the helos turned on his radar, the British carrier was found 40nm away from where I originally projected it would be. My six Skyhawks dove in from the stoop and made their ingress on the deck.

 

 

They popped just in time to release their 1000lb bombs on the Hermes. However, even their low level daring did not prevent the lost of one bomber as it was hit by a SAM. The other 15 bombs flew through the air and several hits were registered on the carrier as the Skyhawks turned to flee for their lives. SAMs would claim two more before they escaped. Unfortunately, one Harrier remained between them and the safety of their own carrier.

 

 

Two Etendard were already hunting for her and it soon turned into a case of the hunter himself being hunted. [The image that comes to mind is the cartoon of a small fish being pursued by a bigger fish who is, in turn, pursued by yet a bigger fish ]

 

Before the Harrier could kill my surviving Skyhawks, he was caught unsuspecting from behind by my Etendard and shot into the sea by Magic 2 missiles. As the Skyhawks returned to the carrier, the Hermes flooded and sank and victory was awarded.

 

Thanks to Frans for a really great game and to Freek for another fun scenario.

 

Anyone looking for an MP game can drop a line here or look for us on HarpGamer pHp chat room or the HG mIRC chat room.

 

Jerome (a.k.a. AngleOfAttack) will play any scenario that has his Argentine homeland in it so we tried out "Mayday", a re-creation of the Falklands affair. Jerome took his usual side, Argentina.

 

Keeping with the historical record, I sent DDG Glamorgan and frigates Alacrity and Arrow to bombard the Argentine positions at Port Stanley. As their naval guns outranged the shore batteries, they were able to pummel the invaders with impunity. However, this also meant that there were under observation from the defenders, too.

 

 

Harriers armed with bombs and cluster munitions closed on Goose Green to shut down the airfield. As they made their ingress at 30m off the deck, Pucara and other strike aircraft were just rising off from the field. A pair of Harriers tasked to the Offensive Counter-Air managed to whittle them down and suppress them long enough for the strike groups to release their ordnance and flatten the airfield. Unfortunately, like in real life, I lost track of the Pucara and only reacted when she was already within bomb range of the Glamorgan. Engagement by SeaCat and SeaSlug were sufficient to bring her down, but not before Glamorgan sustained nearly 40% damage. Argggh.

 

 

With their bombardment mission complete, the trio hurried back to defend the carrier group while the Harriers re-armed. There was quite a bit of 'phony war' going on for awhile. Ghostly images appeared on radar screens only to disappear soon afterwards. I knew that AoA hadhis recon aircraft snooping around, but they were hard to pin down and destroy.

 

Then, things began to happen in very rapid succession. Contacts started appearing all around the task force. Soon, it looked like a USN 'wagon wheel' attack with planes coming in from every direction. Had I not been sitting on the bull's-eye, I would have considered it quite pretty. My ordnancemen were feverishly servicing the Harriers in hopes of getting them back into action. It was going to be fiendishly close race.

 

 

With only 2 flights of Harriers to defend the task force, there was no way the pilots could do it themselvs. As the strikers neared, the task group went radar active to engage at maximum range with SAMs. However, the Argentines had their own playbook and dove down to 30m to reduce their exposure. This meant that they could only be engaged at approximately 30nm and a jet covers that distance very, very quickly at 400kts+.

 

SAMs and Sidewinders took their toll as the Skyhawks drove in. However, they tried to evade the SAMs and only prolonged their agony. Not only that, their evasive manoeuvres took time and allowed the SAM batteries to re-load and re-engage. As well, it bought time for the crews re-arming the Harriers on the deck.

 

The race was won by the sailors of the RN. They just as the bombers were making the final runs to their release points, the Harriers finished re-arming and launched immediately. A barrage of Sidewinders knocked the final Skyhawks from the air tantalizing near their targets. Nearly every SAM in the formation had been expended in its defense. Luckily, not a single bomb was dropped on them.

 

With no further offensive assets available, AoA conceded. This horserace was won by a nose.

 

Another phenomenal scenario from Freek Schepers. Thanks for a great match, AoA, and thanks to HarpGamer for hosting it on their server.

 

Anyone looking for an MP game can drop a line here or look for us on HarpGamer pHp chat room or the HG mIRC chat room.

 

For a third time, Jerome (a.k.a. AngleOfAttack) and I checked out "Pebble Island", a hypothetical carrier battle between Argentina and Britain. Jerome took his usual side, Argentina.

 

Since we'd played this scenario before, I decided to "switch things up" as we were both fairly familiar with the OoB and each other's capabilities. I elected to conduct a shore bombardment mission with my task group in order to silence his base on Pebble Island. It wasn't a great threat, but it did have a radar installation that supported his southern flank with early warning capability.

 

 

I picked up radar emissions to the West and felt that there was still sufficient time for me to smash his base before turning to deal with his carrier. I tried to shoot down some of his Trackers, but he handled his Super Etendards adeptly and killed two of my Harriers for no loss of his own!

 

After that, I decided to only operate under radar support from my own ships and ordered Alacrity to go active along with her jamming gear. My ships reached Pebble Island and quickly silenced the base.

 

 

Afterwards, it was somewhat of a Mexican stand-off. His planes would loiter just out of radar and SAM range while mine stayed under radar coverage of my ships. With the base out of commission, the task group headed off to intercept his CV. Since we both knew that the other side had planes configured with bombs, I decided to change the rules. Instead of conducting a bomb raid with Harriers, I re-armed all my planes for AAW and planned to engage his ships with Exocet and then gunfire.

 

 

AoA conducted a magnificently timed raid on my task group. He fired Exocet from a lone frigate and followed in behind them. It was superb. My planes expended their Sidewinders on the missiles and could not properly concentrate on the bombers. Two Harriers were lost to bomber defensive fire in this way. However, I had 6 additional Harriers that had been re-configured with Sidewinders and these made all the difference. Not a striker survived and all the Exocet were brought down without incident.

 

And then it was my turn. Exocets from Alacrity, Broadsword, and Glamorgan overwhelmed his escorts and killed them all while 3 struck Veinticinco de Mayo, herself. Having achieved the minimal 10% damage on the CV, Victory was awarded.

 

Thanks, AoA, for another great session. This is one heckuva nice scenario since we have been able to use three separate strategies in each of our matches. Thanks, also, to Freek Schepers for the scenario and to HarpGamer for the use of their server.

 

Anyone looking for an MP game can drop a line here or look for us on HarpGamer pHp chat room or the HG mIRC chat room.

 

Shemar found 40 minutes free and decided to try out ANW MP for a game. Since none of the Matrix scenarios work, we chose Dawn Patrol, made with the Harpoon community's favourite database, the PlayersDB.

 

 

Shemar played the Russians while I took the Norwegians. Both of our groups maintained radar silence as we groped in the dark for the enemy. Suddenly, one of my missile boats stumbled across an unidentified craft running at 24kts. Since this is much faster than most fishing boats normally operate at, I decided to investigate. Once I got into visual range, it turned out to be a Nanuchka-class corvette!

 

I immediately engaged with surface gunnery and activated the radar. I expected my little Hugin-class missile boat to be incinerated, but I hoped to take a few Russians with me.

 

Soon enough, radar detected faint images near the horizon. I elected to engage them with Bearing-Only-Launched Penguins since the guns would probably kill off the Nanuchka nearby. Soon after the birds left their tubes, an SS-N-9 Siren was seen approaching. Both Nanuchka and Hugin sank quickly.

 

Lucky for me, the Penguins also found a target at the end of their search. With two Nanuchka sunk, victory was awarded to the Norwegians.

 

Thanks for a fun game, Shemar. Welcome to the community. And thanks to HarpGamer for the use of their server.

 

Anyone looking for an MP game can drop a line here or look for us on HarpGamer pHp chat room or the HG mIRC chat room.

 

Shemar came looking for some revenge, tonight. We decided to try some ASW so we chose Matrix Knight, made with the Harpoon community's favourite database, the PlayersDB.

 

This scenario was labelled an exercise in hunting and protecting SSBNs. Both sides had one SSBN and each had to destroy the other's SSBN without losing his own.

 

 

I made the first contact with my Los Angeles-class SSN. I was just creeping along when the contact came in on the towed array sonar. After cutting back and forth across my path a few times, I was able to improve my targeting solution, but I never managed to pin-point the slippery sucker as he was only making 1kt and was running an ultra-quiet routine.

 

I closed to approximately 6nm range and decided that I'd have to fire before he had a chance to counter-detect my boat. Tubes 1, 3, and 4 were fired and I turned to evade the expected counter-fire. I was not to be disappointed.

 

 

I was certainly surprised when sonar reported a transient moving at 195kts! The nuclear-tipped Shkvall was heading in my direction so I beat feet out of the area at flank speed. Luck was on my side as the Mk48s caught the Delta IV. Two other USET-80s were also fired behind the Shkvall, but none of the three weapons ever got close enough to detect my boat before the Delta was destroyed.

 

Part one of the mission was now complete. Now, I only had to ensure the survival of my own SSBN for 20 hours.

 

I was not having much luck with my SSBN L'Inflexible. The first indication I had of enemy presence was the approach of two torpedoes! Arrgh. I ordered two F17 fired down the bearing of the incoming weapons and hope that their sensors would be sufficient to guide the weapons before I turned to flee.

 

 

Soon enough, a veritable swarm of torpedoes was approaching after I started making more nose with my evasive manoeuvres. They were Mk24 Tigerfish and they were doing 29kts while I was running at 25kts. My own F17 fish went active and immediately detected SSN Spartan running at 28kts. The Tigerfish didn't get close enough to lock onto my SSBN, but the F17 caught Spartan as she twisted and turned. That was a close one.

 

After slowing down and clearing the datum point, I resumed the patrol. Only once did I run across another sub, but was not counter-detected before I slipped away. After 20 hrs, victory was awarded. It could very easily have gone the other way.

 

Thanks for another great match, Shemar. Thanks also to HarpGamer for the use of their server.

 

Anyone looking for an MP game can drop a line here or look for us on HarpGamer pHp chat room or the HG mIRC chat room.

 

"Pebble Island", a hypothetical carrier battle between Argentina and Britain, has been so popular that Freek decided to make a variant for it so that players could enjoy it even more. Jerome (a.k.a. AngleOfAttack) and I decided to try it out. Jerome took his usual side, Argentina.

 

As the UK, my ViConds were, IMO, quite onerous. I had to:

 

1) Destroy the base on Pebble Island

2) Damage the enemy carrier by at least 10%

3) Protect two ships from 5% damage

 

It's like being told to go off to war and be sure not to get hurt! :laugh:

 

 

The only way to destroy the base effectively would be with naval gunfire. So, I sent the DDG Glamorgan and FF Alacrity racing in towards Pebble Island. Hopefully, they could accomplish their mission before the enemy could respond.

 

They went about their mission demolishing one installation after another when the enemy appeared. The Argentines appeared to be surprised by the presence of the Glamorgan as she managed to quickly bring down one Super Etendard with her Sea Slugs while Harriers shot down another along with two Sky Hawks.

 

 

The only surviving enemy aircraft were the helicopters. The Harriers began to chase them down. As they were approaching one fleeing helo, a thought suddenly dawned upon me. What if the enemy was leading me into a trap? The last time my Harriers were in hot pursuit of an 'easy target' over Pebble Island, I ended up losing 3 of them to an ambush! Just then, I lost contact with an enemy plane and decided to retire rather than risk 33% of my fighter force.

 

 

After successfully pounding the daylights out of the base, the enemy was finally discovered in the northwest quadrant. I immediately sent my bombers out to fulfill the second ViCond. I assigned a ForCAP of 2 Harriers to deal with any unpleasant surprises they might encounter. I also ordered two Sea King helos to turn on their active radar in hopes of luring the CAP away from the ships. This worked exceptionally well as no fighters were encountered on the ingress.

 

The strike force crept in at 30m altitude and managed to evade detection until the very last moment. They flew a dog-leg course in hopes of staying hidden from DDG Hercules for as long as possible and focused on what they thought was the carrier, the central ship of the formation.

 

 

As they made their run in, they soon realized that the ship they were aiming for was actually the Hercules, herself! The one ship they wanted to avoid and they were flying right at it. The accompanying fighters pressed the attack to draw the fire from the mission-essential bombers. One bomber and one fighter quickly went down to her SAMs.

 

Flak and SAMs got three more. Only three bombers survived to loft their 3x 454kg bombs towards the carrier and riddle her with gunfire before diving back to the deck for their egress. All three were shot down. There were no survivors. This was the most costly day for the Royal Fleet Air Arm since Korea.

 

 

The Argentines were still operational and decided to try their luck on the offensive. The enemy flew a brilliant evasive course and came in behind my AAW ships! (Damn, they pulled my own trick on me!) As the ships scrambled in vain to re-position themselves for the new threat, the SAMs started bringing down the strikers. Luckily, there were two Harriers on CAP and their 8 Sidewinders made all the difference. One exceptionally brave Skyhawk aviator nearly got into bomb release range before a final volley of Sea Wolf missiles blew him out of the air. It was all too damned close.

 

Althought the enemy was damaged, the ViConds had not been fulfilled. With no surviving air strike assets, the only thing to be done was put in an old-fashioned surface attack. Both sides were armed with Exocet SSMs so it was an evenly matched affair.

 

 

As TF Hermes approached, the enemy ships launched their SSMs at maximum range. My four Harriers had since re-armed and were flying CAP. Their Sidewinders once again made an invaluable contribution to shooting down all the inbound SSMs. However, after they landed to re-arm, one final volley from the enemy managed to get through and two struck Alacrity.

 

The UK riposte was quick in coming and British SSMs sank the Hercules, two other frigates, and damaged the CV. The British ships closed to gunfire range and sent her to the bottom to seal the victory.

 

Another great scenario from Freek Schepers. Thanks to AoA for the match and to HarpGamer for the use of their server.

 

Anyone looking for an MP game can drop a line here or look for us on HarpGamer pHp chat room or the HG mIRC chat room.

 

After months of manoeuvres, Pdqport (a.k.a. Toph) finally found time to try out ANW MP for himself. Since none of the Matrix scenarios work, we chose Power Sweep, made with the Harpoon community's favourite database, the PlayersDB.

 

 

This was SSN vs. SSN combat under the high seas. Chris took the Russians while I took the NATO side. Although he had only played H2 previously, Toph was quite adept at handling his boats and led me for a merry long chase before losing them one by one. The Tango-class diesel boat was especially hard to detect and localize.

 

Thanks for a fun game, Chris, and thanks to HarpGamer for the use of their server.

 

Anyone looking for an MP game can drop a line here or look for us on HarpGamer pHp chat room or the HG mIRC chat room.

 

Jerome (a.k.a. AngleOfAttack) was determined to find a way for his beloved Argentine homeland to win in the "Pebble Island - variant", a hypothetical carrier battle between Argentina and Britain, so we decided to try it, again. Jerome took his usual side, Argentina.

 

This scenario has a number of alternative starting points for all units involved and, this time, my carrier group was separated from her escorts (but not by a wide margin). I elected to put in a bombardment mission on the Pebble Island base as this was the most effective way to suppress it.

 

 

Enroute to the base, a SeaKing detected a small task group of two ships. I guess that if my ships were separated at the start of the scenario, the same might have happened to AoA! I changed plans and decided to attack this isolated group in hopes of overwhelming it before the enemy could congregate.

 

 

My DD Glamorgan and FF Alacrity sped towards the enemy at flank speed.and managed to intercept under the cover of the Harriers. The enemy tried to stymie my attack with a barrage of Exocets, but these were easily taken care of by the Harriers on patrol.

 

Once in range, both ships lofted their Exocets. It was a tricky fire mission as I had to ensure that the SSMs would not strike the Hercules escort. I needed for them to lock onto the carrier so I set a Pre-planned Activation Point that was behind the escort, but in front of the carrier. The attack was wildly successful as 5 out of 8 Exocets struck the carrier. Now, it was time to get out of Dodge City. The escorts turned tail and raced back towards the Hermes to await the Argentine response.

 

I thought that I was sitting in a good position with numerous Harriers on Combat Air Patrol with lots of Sidewinders to defend the Hermes when the Sea Darts started arriving. I had totally forgotten that the enemy had SAMs in addition to his SSMs. Soon, the Sea Darts had pretty much exhausted my supply of Sidewinders and Alacrity took a hit that damaged her by 17%. So long as a second ship didn't suffer the same damage, I could still win the game.

 

 

The Argentine carrier was still operational so she launched her Skyhawks and Super Etendard. Their attack was well coordinated and nearly overwhelming. However, I had just enough Sidewinders left aboard to finish the job. All strikers were killed inbound before they got to bomb release range. I had only 4 Sidewinders left in the magazine!

 

Although he still had some significant firepower remaining with his 2 other ships, they were too far away to prevent the bombardment of Pebble Island. Once the base was smashed, I was granted victory.

 

Another fun match from AoA. Still fun the second time around. Thanks to HarpGamer for the hosting it on their server.

 

Anyone looking for an MP game can drop a line here or look for us on HarpGamer pHp chat room or the HG mIRC chat room.

 

ANW welcomed another long-time Harpoon player into the world of Multi-player action. Karl (a.k.a. Mallard) has been playing since '92 and it shows. We played three matches of Dawn Patrol, made with the Harpoon community's favourite database, the PlayersDB.

 

I won the first game since Karl was unfamiliar with the set up, but he quickly evened the score in #2 and #3 by fighting me to a standstill. Neither of us won a decisive victory, but we also prevented one another from gaining their own victory conditions. The third game was particularly memorable as we were both using BOL shots to try and pin the other down. I was lucky to eke out a draw.

 

Thanks for the great games, Karl, and thanks to HarpGamer for hosting them on their server.

 

Anyone looking for an MP game can drop a line here or look for us on HarpGamer pHp chat room or the HG mIRC chat room.

 

Ed and I met up for our weekly ANW match. This week, we elected to try out Bart Gauvin's first scenario production, Ice Picket, made with the Harpoon community's favourite database, the PlayersDB.

 

 

I played the Soviets while Ed commanded the NATO forces. My orders were to prevent NATO from reinforcing the Jan Mayen Island outpost with a PhibRon.

 

Right away, one of my spy trawlers [AGI] picked up radar transmissions and one of my Victor III subs detected the distinct acoustic signatures of Tarawa-class and Wasp-class vessels and moved in to investigate. The AGI soon spotted a SH-2 SeaSprite helo coming over to give her a look. The pilot was very cagy and came in slowly while the AGI had trained a pair of Gremlin SAMs tracking her all the time. Closer, and closer, she came until she was just outside of maximum range. Crap. She fingered the AGI, so there was no further need for stealth. She went to flank speed and raced to nail down the position of the enemy PhibRon.

 

Soon enough, a pair of AH-1 SeaCobras came in on an attack run to fire Hellfire missiles. However, they got too close and one was brought down by a Gremlin. The AGI was burning furiously and listing, but still afloat and she had confirmation of the course and speed for the PhibRon. This was transmitted to SubSquadron 31 and the nearest Victor III calculated an intercept course. Unfortunately, the PhibRon was moving at a very high rate (24kts!) so there was no chance of the SSN catching it without moving at a high speed, herself. Captain Ivanov ordered the sub to full speed (23kts) and hoped that he would survive long enough to deliver his attack.

 

Once she transmitted her data, the AGI had outlived her purpose. When two Harriers from the PhibRon came to finish her off, she was determined not to go down without a fight. They Marine pilots fired Mavericks, but they also came in too close and one of them suffered the same fate as the previous SuperCobra and was blown from the sky by a Gremlin. The Mavericks found their mark and the AGI was soon sinking by the stern.

 

 

Captain Ivanov was approaching perpendicular to the course of the PhibRon. At his closest approach, he decided to let loose his Type 65-76 wake-homing torpedoes. Their phenomenal range meant that they could actually catch the large landing ships. He fired them on bearing-only launch.

 

As soon as they left the tubes, the NATO sonar operators must have heard their launch transient for a helo came out to investigate. The crew kept their fingers crossed and hoped to live long enough to deliver the rest of their ordnance. Once the tubes were re-loaded, a second, then a third, brace of lethal 650mm killer torpedoes were launched.

 

 

This also gave the helo systems operator sufficient information to further localize the onrushing submarine and a Mk46 ASW torpedo was dropped. Although nearly blind in their haste, K-305's sonar operator detected the high-pitched eminations from the approaching torpedo. As a final act of desperation, the K-305 fired the 3 USET-80 torpedoes in her tubes on the last generated sonar bearings just as the Mk46 struck. With 92% of their flotation destroyed, the crew blew the ballast tanks and tried to fight their way to the surface. The pressure of the North Atlantic ended their race at -190m when their pressure hull imploded.

 

Although they did not live to see it, their torpedoes ran true and first LHA Saipan, the LHD Wasp were struck by the massive Type 65-76 torpedoes. Both were lost immediately. The USET-80 torpedoes selected the CG Leahy for their terminal run and two were more than enough to leave her listing with here engine room flooded.

 

With his three High Value Units sinking, Ed conceded the game. Jan Mayen would get no re-inforcement this day.

 

Thanks for a very nice game and congratulations to Bart on the first MP session for his debut scenario. Thanks, also, to Harpgamer for hosting the server.

 

Anyone looking for an MP game can drop a line here or look for us on HarpGamer pHp chat room or the HG mIRC chat room.

 

Ed Higgins, Jeronimo, and I finally got together for a game last night. There aren't that many 3-sided games, so we elected to try Eric Weincam's EU-5 Tin Canary scenario made with the community's favourite database, the PlayersDB.

 

The Canary Islands are located just South of the Atlantic entrance into the Med. Owned by Spain, they have represented a strategic control point since the days of ancient Rome.

 

One of the islands, Grand Canaria, hosts a large Spanish military base complete with hardened aircraft shelters and underground bunkers. From this base, the EU can interdict any shipping moving in, or out of the Med. As long as Gran Canaria is functional, the US can not re-establish their LoC through the Med.

 

Russia has officially sided with the EU and has committed substantial surface forces to complement the French units already in the theater. Together they are prepared to oppose a pair of American carrier groups.

The strongest side was probably the USN so Ed commanded it while Jerome controlled the Russian CVBG leaving me the EU forces. This was quite a large scenario and would test the limits of the ANW server.

 

We started the battle and Jerome's submarines immediately detected unknown ships from their towed sonar arrays. Although no precise locations were available, we at least had a general idea where they might be and decided to throw the dice and gamble everything on a lightning-quick strike. A Carrier Battle group is phenomenally capable of defense and I had only a single squadron of Backfire. A coordinated SSM strike from the Russian CVBG and SSGN might be sufficient to overwhelm the defences of a single CVBG. We held no hopes of defeating both CVBG.

 

 

The bombers launched from the mainland while AEW helos and the E-2 Hawkeye rose from the ships at sea. The ECM environment was phenomenal with most of the radar screens turned to hash from the powerful Prowlers. We planned to roll back the CVBG defences with a series of SSM attacks to draw out the AMRAAM fire from the CAP and then kill the Hornets with Flankers from the Kuznetsov. Once the Hornet 'sheepdogs' were out of AMRAAM, then we would strike with the AS-6 Kingfish from the Backfire. We had an ace up our sleeve in the form of a Bear reconnaissance aircraft that had managed to creep into range north of the CVBG. Once the Backfire came into range, she would climb and designate targets for the Backfire. That was the plan, at least. However, the best laid plans of men and mice...

 

All was going well with the launch of the strikes. As the bombers passed over the Russian CVBG enroute to the USN CVBG (now identified as the George Washington), Flankers and Rafale fighters launched from the De Gaulle. Some were armed with ANS, some with ARMAT, and the rest were with MICA AAMs for escort. It was an impressive wall of aircraft, but the power of a US carrier air wing cannot be underestimated.

 

 

As the Backfire passed over, the Slava, BCGN, and Kuznetsov began to loosing Shipwreck and Sandbox SSMs on Bearing-only Launch. The odds of them hitting anything worthwhile were slim to none in the face of at least three AEgis-equipped escort vessels that had already been detected by ESM. However, they hoped to occupy the SAM defenses while the true ship-killing AS-6 Kingfish would follow behind them. This was quite appropriate for this was the land of the Azores and home of bullfighting; where the matador distracts the bull with a cape before issuing the killing blow.

 

The plane was proceeding well with Ed's CAP concentrating on the incoming Sandbox. After they had used up their AMRAAMs, Jerome's Flankers ate them up with Alamo missiles. In the fierce ECM environment, targets were hard to lock up for the SARH missiles that needed radar guidance to home on their targets. Still, the Hornets fought back and managed to exact revenge on the inbound Rafales and Flankers. The SAMs were doing a fantastic job on the SSMs. The Rafale ASCMs [Anti-Ship Cruise missiles] were likely going to be needed. The Backfire released their Kingfish and timed them so that the CAP would be too busily engaged with them to worry about the Rafale and Hornets approaching on the deck.

 

The inbound strikes got a slight respite when they finally managed to burn through the jamming from a Prowler that had been positioned far forward of the CAP. She was immediately killed by a volley of missiles and the radar picture cleared momentarily. It was long enough to splash 6 Hornets in quick succession for the lost of a single Flanker.

 

The AS-6 Kingfish were just a little bit late. This allowed Ed to nearly slaughter a flight of ANS-armed Rafale before they could release their missiles. The surviving Rafale immediately loosed his ANS missile on BOL in a "use'm or lose'm" gesture.

 

With over 40+ ASCM approaching the GW CVBG, things were just getting interesting when we had to call an end to the game. Ed conceded that he didn't think that he could win any longer even though none of his ships had even been hit, yet. Alas, we were unable to continue the saved game after the server was updated. Still, we had a heckuva good time while it lasted and can't wait to try it again.

 

Thanks for a very nice game, gentlemen, and thanks, to Harpgamer for hosting the server.

 

Anyone looking for an MP game can drop a line here or look for us on HarpGamer pHp chat room or the HG mIRC chat room.

 

The HUD3 server has been updated to 3.9.2 and the HUD3 database version in 3.9.2.