Shipwreck Scenario Playtest

Hi all. I had a chance to put my Gnomecon Shipwreck scenario through its paces Saturday evening with the help of Dennis, Ziggy, James and Mike. Long story short, I need to fix a few things. Short story long.... keep reading.

The setup

Alternative Spring 1986. A Soviet transport ship carrying military hardware is on its way to Libya during the height of Khadafi's adventures in terrorism. NATO intelligence has learned of this shipment and sends some ships to intercept. 

The players

NATO - Two US ships; a Kidd-class DDG and a Perry-class FFG, an Italian Lupo-class FFG and a German DD. These three nations all have a bone to pick with Libya over the recent bombings in Rome and Berlin. Ziggy took the US ships and James captained the Europeans.

USSR - Three ships including an Udaloy-class DDG, an updgraded Kashin FFG and a state-owned transport ship. Mike would take charge of the Reds.

Libya - Three ships - the Dat Assawari FF and two Nanuchka Missile boats. The Libs also have four Su-22s armed with two AS-7 each. Dennis got to play the part of the Libyan C-in-C.

The game gets underway. The "good guys" had to get photographic evidence of the missile onboard the transport before they could open fire. The Soviets are simply not allowed to start firing. The Libyans are most interested in seeing the transport arrive in Benghazi.

US helicopters buzz the Russian "peace convoy."

A KA-27 and AB212 face off while running recon for their forces.

And the gloves come off! The American's start things off by launching six Harpoons at the Soviets. The Soviet FFG responds by loosing its four Styx. The Libyans release a full salvo from their Nanuchkas and frigate - that's an ungodly 16 from them. The Italian and German ships get in on the action by adding some Otomats and Exocets to the mix! Oh, and the four Su-22s have just arrived in the lower-left corner of the map (just out of frame).

First blood goes to the Libyans for knocking down the Italian helicopter.

The Libyan missiles quickly sniff out the Saggitario whose defenses aren't quite up to the task. The Italian missiles impact on the lead Nanuchka, with similar dramatic results. 

Moments later the German ship Bayern is hit and destroyed by Otomat missiles from the Libyan frigate. The other Nanuchka also sinks after at least one Exocet hits it. The Soviet air defences prove to be quite stout and knock down all six of the initial US salvo. The US defenses struggle to cope with ten incoming missiles and two planes. 

The American ships do well to knock down eight incoming missiles but two of the big rockets from one of the Libyan missile boats plow into the USS Scott and cripple her. The Su-22s loose their missiles but all fail to find their mark. The US gets a bit of solace when one Harpoon runs the gauntlet and smacks into the Soviet cargo ship. The Traktorsky is crippled. Just what the Americans wanted!

With the planes and missiles cleared, we moved onto turn 6. Ziggy rolled his repair die for the Scott - no repair this turn so he's still dead in the water. Mike rolled a repair die for the cargo ship.

And that "10" will send it straight to the bottom!

We all had a good laugh at that.

So, NATO accomplishes its goal by stopping the shipment but takes major losses in the process. Libya comes out OK - sure they lost the shipment and two missile boats but they have caused major embarrassment for the West. The Soviets lost a 30-year old transport ship and some factory-seconds SA-7s but score some major pride points with their terrific defensive showing.

From a scenario perspective, I need to check the AA defenses on the Lupo - James thinks the missile launcher's ROF is gimped. I trust his judgement. Even with that change, I may swap the Kidd out with a Ticonderoga. That Libyan salvo is just ridiculous - Ziggy and James really had a bad time with it. I also found some misprints on my hand-outs and other minor quibbles so I'm really glad I did this - forking out for pizza is a small price to pay for a working scenario.