A great evening Zoom meeting as "table e" gamed Gulf strike, with William's amendment three, but not his later fleet 2 additions. A fabulous evening with a great game that deserves the time we have all put into it.
GULF WAR SCENARIO (#1)
The raid on Qatar.
Iran is the aggressor in this scenario and except for the Soviet power projection forces introduced later in the scenario, supplies the totality of the ground forces available to the Iranian/Soviet commander. The initial thrust of the Iranian ground forces is to move through Kuwait and the Neutral Territory as quickly as possible.
The Gulf Council countries in this scenario cannot react in conjunction with each other until the subsequent Global Political Phase. Therefore, what is done prior to the violation of the Kuwait/Neutral Territory border is important. The Saudi Arabian AWAC unit presents a problem to the Iranian/Soviet commander as most air or naval operations will be
detected prior to mission completion. The Iranian commander has initially launched a series of anti-air missions with the express purpose of forcing the AWAC unit out of the play for the first game turn. These actions have brought Saudi Arabia into the council.
With the AWAC is forced out of play the majority of subsequent air and naval strikes target Saudi Arabia.
On the first game turn no other Arab forces can move until their territory is violated. Therefore the first attacks must not involve another Gulf Council Arab force unless it is necessary.
Turn 1 Begins
First a roll for Global Political Events to determine random events and other countries joining the conflict. "10" nothing happens. Next Unit Assignment stage, both sides determine what their forces actions will be in the coming turn. The Iranian player puts one group of mechanized and armor units just north of the Qatar border in Reserve mode, which will allow it to move and attack later in the turn. The rest of the Iranian ground forces are kept in Frontline mode so they'll be entering battle right away. The Qataris keep all of their forces in Frontline mode, knowing that everyone on their side will be standing and fighting in the very early stages of the turn.
The Qataris have only one airbase and they place a Mirage unit on interception and two A-4 Skyhawks on offense missions. Iranian air strategy is simple. F-5 units are kept on interception missions at each of Iran's air bases while F-4 Phantoms stationed at the bases nearest the Alliance border are put on offense missions. The Iranians put up an F-14 Tomcat on an Early Warning mission slightly north of the border with Qatar just to keep tabs on any potential Alliance air activity.
Next up, the First Action Stage. The first step is the Naval Movement Determination Phase. Both sides roll to find out how many naval units they are eligible to move and fight with during the first action stage of the game turn. The Iranians get 4 points and the Gulf States get 1 point.
With naval movement determined, it's time for the First Movement Phase. This consists of the First Initiative Segment, where the initiative player (the Iranians) moves his ground, air, and naval units. After that, the First Reaction Segment occurs wherein the reacting player (Americans and Gulf Council nations) will do the same. Finally, the Combat Phase begins and this is where ground combat is resolved (close air support strikes can happen here too). This entire process (from Naval Movement Determination Phase onwards) is repeated again in the Second Action Stage and then finally the Third Action Stage (where the reaction player gets to go first instead of the initiative player). In the End Stage, supply points are calculated and units have the chance to repair before the Game Turn marker advances one space.
The First Air Strike
The Iranian player's opening move in the First Movement Phase is to take out the Qataris Air Force. This is vital to the Iranian war effort because the Qatar player has two full squadrons of A-4 Skyhawks assigned to offense missions, presumably close air support for the coming ground war. The Iranians have three strike packages of F-4 Phantoms ready at the air bases nearest the Qatar border. The Iranian plan is to neutralize the air by either bombing the sole Qatari air base in hex 1046 (3 hits on an airbase eliminate it) or luring out the enemy planes and destroying them in the air. Complicating matters slightly is the fact that a Qatari mechanized brigade is stationed in the same hex as the air base and although its air defense capability is limited, it could still pose a threat towards Iranian strike packages.
The Iranian player sends out a strike package consisting of two Phantom units (one configured for strike, the other for escort) from Ahvaz air base. The Iranian Phantoms enter Qatar undetected and arrive at hex 1046. For the Qataris air base and mechanized infantry unit in the hex, detecting enemy planes in the same operational hex requires rolling a "7" or less on a 10-sided die. The Qatar player rolls and gets a "9" and "10" so the Phantoms enter hex 1046 completely undetected.
Without fear of interception, the Iranian escorts take a break and enjoy the scenery while the other F-4s attempts to bomb the airbase. Hits are scored by rolling equal to or less than the Phantom's Bombardment rating of "5". The Iranian player rolls a "2", which results in a hit on the base. The base is hit and the enemy player must also assign a hit to one of the air units at the base. Hoping to preserve offensive air capability for close air support later in the turn, the Qatar player assigns the hit to the Mirage unit. The air base defenses and the mechanized infantry brigade, fully alerted now, take parting shots at the F-4s. The Qatari ground units' anti-air defense ratings are both a measly "2" so there's not much chance for them to score a hit. The rolls are a "5" and a "7" so the Phantoms escape unscathed.
We held the game there, although all players are keen for next week. It's a Gulf Strike Renaissance among the group, with talk of 3mm scale forces being added, although we still need an Iranian player.
Before the next game can all players read the Quince amendment spreadsheet to avoid a repeat of the end stage resupply issues that caused such head scratching.
Good Gulf Striking guys!
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