Command: Modern Air/Naval Operations ("The Harpoon that Never Was")

Miguel Molina has posted a new revision of the Command community scenario pack, the compendium of Command scenarios crafted by the user community. The new release contains nine brand-new scenarios:

They Came From The Museum, 2015: Soviet/Russian tactical aircraft have a long history of ‘inexplicably’ showing up in various conflicts under the hands of ‘rebel’, ‘advisor’ and otherwise non-official pilots. This scenario assumes that the “little green men” in Ukraine take this strong tradition one step further and piece together a hodgepodge air force from various odd sources, including a number of exhibits from the Luhansk Air Museum. How will these Cold War cast-offs and their mysterious pilots fare against Ukrainian air defences?

The Battle of Langkawi, 1973: By 1973, the communist insurgency that erupted in Malaysia has taken control of most of the state of Kedah. They have captured a number of artillery pieces, armored cars, and other military equipment, including a number of aircraft. An international coalition, led by the UK, and including forces from Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore are assisting Malaysia in its fight against the insurgents. However, the Soviet Union, China, India, North Korea, and Cuba have all recognized the self-declared People’s Republic of Kedah - and will actively assist it against blockades of its ports in the Kedah region, including the island of Langkawi.

The Clash Of Titans II, 2018: India started the year with intensive naval activity in both Indian Ocean and Arabian sea. The brief Indian incursion into littoral waters of French island Reunion was condemned by French diplomacy. Further diplomatic tension eventually resulted in a double embargo between France and India. A week ago, the French CVBG led by the Charles De Gaulle CV left Toulon naval base and headed to Suez. INS Vikramaditya with its escorts was ordered to head towards the Gulf Of Aden. Politics will continue by other means from now on.

Closing the Kurile Gap (The War That Never Was) - US, 1989: The Soviet Pacific Fleet would have faced a difficult problem with geography if the Cold War ever went hot. Their largest base, Vladivostok, faces the Sea of Japan. Any units transiting to the Pacific either need to pass through the narrow Tsushima Strait, flanked by likely-hostile South Korea and Japan, or they need to head northwest and pass through the disputed Kurile Islands. The other major Soviet naval base, Petropavlovsk, opens to the Pacific. However, it is located at the end of the remote Kamchatka peninsula and has long, vulnerable supply lines. This scenario examines the Soviet Pacific Fleet’s ability to break out through the Kuriles, and the US Navy’s role in plugging the gap.

Closing the Kurile Gap (The War That Never Was) - USSR, 1989: The Soviet side of the above scenario.

Those Who Face Death, 2014: In this hypothetical “from the headlines” scenario ISIS has captured much more intact military equipment from the Iraqi and Syrian Armies; they also have the technical capabilities to put it to use. Expect to see American, Iraqi, Syrian, Iranian military equipment. You are hunting a convoy of artillery and APCs heading to Mosul from the south before turning west towards the Yazidi camp at Mount Sinjar. You will need to airdrop supplies and parachutists to the Yazidi camp to achieve success. You are sending British and American aircraft from bases in Turkey, Kuwait, and Cyprus.

Log Bridge, 1989: World War III has been raging. The fighting over Keflavik has been so heavy that what remains of the airfield, currently held by NATO, is unusable. At the same time, the fighting in Europe has pl aced demands upon available resources that preclude either side sending long range aircraft to attack or defend Iceland. The fate of Iceland will therefore be decided by a decisive surface battle. The big guns are coming out - literally.

Nuclear Storm, 1991: Desert Storm is underway, and the unthinkable has happened: Saddam’s forces have launched chemical attacks on coalition troops, with significant casualties. Now a retaliation is in order - to illustrate within limits that some lines are not to be crossed.

No Time for Mischief, 1995: Mischief Reef is in a disputed area of the South China Sea. In 1995, China angered the Philippines by occupying the reef and constructing structures on it, ostensibly as shelters for fishermen. In history, the matter did not escalate into violent confrontation. This scenario assumes the government of the Philippines has taken a more aggressive approach, assuming that if worst comes to worst they will be backed up by the United States.

As always, the community scenario pack is available for download at the WarfareSims download section: http://www.warfaresims.com/?page_id=1876

Reading the Community Scenario pack updates reminds me of watching the part of Wargames where the WAPR/Joshua is cycling through the available nuclear war plans.

I tend to think of the schultze games, First Strike and the Dropkick series myself as candidates for Joshua. Now if some PC strategy designers would actually pick up some of those board/war games and give a good look at Ultimatum too we might finally get a good strategic nuclear war game on the PC. We’ve got DEFCON and that’s great but a deeper take is an unfilled niche.

Tom Mc

The summer is upon us, and Command’s creative community is in full swing. Miguel Molina has posted a new revision of the community scenario pack, featuring a blistering fourteen new scenarios!

Busy Day in Burundi, 1976: Widespread unrest has followed a sudden coup in the country, with rebel groups gaining control of military equipment. With the toll of civilian deaths increasing, an international coalition led byFrance and theUnited Kingdom has positioned itself to take action. SAS teams on the ground must cooperate with air support to hunt down rebel strongpoints.

Homerun, 1956: From 1952 onwards, RB-47 recon variants of the new B-47 Stratojet bomber started overflying the north of the Soviet Union in photo-recon and ELINT missions. By the mid-50s these flights were getting to be really hazardous as Soviet air defences were becoming both more capable and more agressive. This is such a mission.

Indonesian War #1 - Convoy Lion, 1995: In the 1990s Indonesia became increasingly aggressive about protecting its territorial rights, hunting downrebels in various provinces etc. Itsoccupation of Timor has been marked by increasing reports of violence and oppression. This includes an effective blockade of the island, which has led to shortages of food and medicine. The BritishParliament voted to support "all reasonable efforts including the use of force to compel Indonesia to allow humanitarian aid toreach Timor."The Australian government passed a similar measure the same day and Australia has been given operational control of the mission. A hastilyorganized convoyescorted by*British and Australian naval units is now en route to the island of Timor. Indonesia has responded by stating that attempts to enter its territorial waters without permission will be treated as an act of war.

Indonesian War #2 - Air Battle Over Java, 1995: Indonesia attempted to stop the joint Australian-UK convoy and hostilities took place on April 17, 1995. As a result, the British and Australian governments have decided to eliminate Indonesia’s ability toattempt further attacks againsttheir ships and aircraft. The first and perhaps most important step in achieving this goal is to cripple Indonesia’s air force.

Indonesian War #3 - Spartan Goes Hunting, 1995: After inflicting serious losses on Indonesia’s navy and air force, the governments of Australia and the United Kingdom have decided to employ commerce raiding to put economic pressure on Indonesia and force them to sue for peace. As part of this, the nuclear submarine HMS Spartan been given a free hand.

Better Bullets (AMRAAM), 1987: With development of the AMRAAM missile undergoing the all-too-common teething problems, an exercise is being held to justify its importance. This is an exercise presenting the possibility of a hostile air power using a similar missile against the USAF. The opponent is armed with advanced AMRAAMs and crewed by expert pilots, so expect a brutally difficult fight.

Better Bullets (SARH), 1987: With development of the AMRAAM missile undergoing the all-too-common teething problems, an exercise is being held to justify its importance. In this variant the opponent is armed with SARH weapons only (like the AIM-7 and AA-10) and crewed by expert pilots, so expect a difficult fight.

Kuril Islands, 1999: Japan has established a major seabed-mining operation 20 nmi west of the island of Kunashiri. Hostilities between Japanese Maritime Defense Force (JMDF) and Russian forces have broken out over economic rights concerning the Kuril Islands.* Russian Naval forces have established a formidable blockading surface and submarine units also supported by several squadrons of long range strike aircraft based out of airfields. You are in tactical control of all U.S. forces which include USAF land-based aircraft and JMDF forces in the area. You must defend your forces against attack and take control of as much territory as possible, until a United Nations settlement can be negotiated.

Offensive CAP Belarus, 2015: Backed by Russia, Belarus has invaded Poland’s eastern provinces in force. Further Russian forces will be brought into action when the Belorusian Army’s offensive stalls. The USAF 555th Fighter Squadron (555 FS, 24 F-16C) and the Polish 40th Tactical Squadron (40.ELT, 24 Su-22M4) have been tasked to strike key logistic and support sites in Belarus to complicate enemy reinforcement efforts. They will be supported by a NATO E-3 Sentry and four EA-18Gs from the US Navy’s VAQ-139. Your task is to provide air cover for the operation using the 18 Typhoon FGR.4s of 1 Sqdn RAF. Enemy air activity is expected to be heavy.

Bay Of Bengal, 1999: India has mobilized amphibious assault forces again Sri Lanka. The US embassy in Sri Lanka is urging all Americans to leave the country. The Indian CVBG is operating in the Gulf of Mannar. Russia and China have deployed naval bombers to India. Indian submarine activity in the region is significant. Sri Lanka fears Indian military buildup in preparation to final invasion force and collapse of the government. The United Nations has requested that a U.S. CVBG be sent to the area to stabilize the region. All Indian naval forces are considered hostile.

Operation Black Buck 1, 1982: The Falklands conflict begins in earnest. As the Royal Navy Task Force*arrives to enforce a 200nm exclusion zone around the islands, RAF Vulcans fly the longest-range bombing mission in history to date, to fire the opening shots of the war.

April Storm #1 - The New Eastern Front, 1996: Boris Yeltsin was removed from power in late*1995. His replacement, a former general in the Red Army, has set an aggressive tone for the new Russia. In the first week of April 1996,*Russia and Belarus invaded parts of eastern Poland.*About one quarter of Poland is now under Russian control. The UN has been unable to effect any change. NATO has warned Russia that the current situation is intolerable and that it must withdraw from Poland or face serious consequences.

French Forces in the Gulf of Sidra, 1981: France frequently skirmished with Libya in various flashpoints in northern Africa (e.g. Chad) during the 1980s. In this hypothetical scenario, Libya raises the stakes by directly attacking a French naval task group in the Gulf of Sidra.

Boston’s Brawl, 1963: Hostilities broke out between NATO and the Warsaw Pact in late 1963. A small force centered on the missile cruiser Boston is tasked with prosecuting all WP forces in its patrol area, between the Falkland islands and Argentina.

As always, the community scenario pack is available for download at the WarfareSims download section: http://www.warfaresims.com/?page_id=1876

With the new additions, the number of total released scenarios now stands at 262!

You’ll be glad to know this has been fixed and will be included on the next update.

[MOBs, anti-torps, superfrags, gunships and much more: Command v1.08 Release Candidate now available

](http://www.warfaresims.com/?p=3835)

Read about that like 10-15 years ago. Idea is to have a floating runway that the Pentagon could park in certain locations. Not meant to be a carrier, but an airstrip large enough to accommodate land-based planes.

You wouldn’t want to park it within arms reach of a potential opponent, but it’s be handy in lower-risk waters.

The most awesome game I never get around to playing :(

[25% off on Steam until June 22!

](http://store.steampowered.com/app/321410)

Only 60 bucks yay!

Hey guys, looks like this is a milestone of the Steam minigame in the current Summer sale, and might have an even deeper discount at 10 AM Pacific time, so keep an eye out.

http://steamcommunity.com/minigame/

Yup. It’s on sale now for $40.

Holy hell that’s tempting as hell.

It’s worth it if you are at all interested in this stuff. Thought it’s not a game I pull out to relax with (heh) it’s a deep simulation that is constantly evolving. For forty clams it’s a steal.

The 50% discount is for just 47 hrs yet.

I’d desperately like to pick it up, but even at 50% off it’s still more than I had budgeted for the entire steam sale. I have some pondering to do.

I would consider it at that price if I knew there was a decent tutorial or something that would allow the totally ignorant to ease in. Right now it looks like something I would install, look at in confusion for 15 minutes or so, and never start up again.

Baloogan has you covered: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3607586

It is daunting. If you’ve played Harpoon back in the day, or stuff like Dangerous Waters, or hell stuff like Falcon 3.0, you can probably figure out enough to get started. But the depths of the game are indeed, well, deep.

[BAE Systems signs agreement to use Command

](http://www.warfaresims.com/?p=3885)