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Mgellis -> RE: CMO Scenario upgrade - Escape from Port Haucourt, 2022 (5/7/2020 12:01:25 AM)
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Okay, I played through this. Here is an After Action Report and some thoughts...
6:00. Scenario begins with a nice write-up of what the player needs to do. You may want to write it more like orders, but it is clear the way it is now. I like that you take advantage of one of the few places where a big river goes quite a way inland. (The relief layer is an easy way to see where the river actually is.)
6:02. Lots of contacts almost immediately. Small boats are in my way. Aircraft are moving in from the northeast.
6:04. I set a course for the Montgomery and my Blackjack done. Vipers are going up. (Note: Since the Vipers on Detroit are “Green Pawn” maybe give the one on Montgomery something more than just “Green” for a designation.)
6:07. Aircraft are identified as 4 F-7 Airguards. I am moving Green Pawn 1 and Green Pawn 2 to patrol the area around Montgomery.
6:08. Someone just fired a SAM at Green Pawn 2. The chopper evades the missile and spots a mechanized infantry platoon and another unknown mobile unit on the east coast of the river. I have also spotted four helicopters coming in from the West.
6:09. Airguards are starting to descend. Are they getting ready to attack? A CH-3 drone is spotted near Montgomery, about 5 miles E of her.
6:10. Airguards have turned on active radar, are at 500 ft., and are flying directly at the Montgomery. I have no orders requiring me to wait until I am fired on, so I will assume they are hostile and if they get in range I will start shooting.
6:11. The Airguards have been eliminated. The unknown ground unit is some kind of artillery battery, so eliminating it will be my next priority.
6:12. Detroit has confirmed two Nigerian vessels to the west. Rather than wait for them to show up and start shooting at me, I am firing anti-ship missiles. The helicopters to the W have been identified as Mi-24 Hinds.
6:13. The Hinds have turned NE towards Montgomery.
6:14. One Nigerian ship has been destroyed by an anti-ship missile; the other one is damaged and Detroit is firing a third missile to finish it off. The small boats on the Niger are being picked off one by one by Montgomery and the helicopters.
6:17 Other Nigerian ship sunk. Several SAMs are fired at Green Pawn 1 and Green Pawn 2, but all of them miss their targets.
6:19. All of the speedboats and the ground units have been destroyed. Both Detroit and Montgomery are starting to engage the Hinds. RIM 116s splash all of them in a couple of minutes.
6:24. A new ship has shown up to the West. It is moving E at 11 knots. Probably not hostile, but I’ll keep an eye on it.
6:25. The unknown ship is identified as civilian motor yacht.
6:26. Green Pawn 2 spots another unknown civilian ship, but it is quickly identified as a junk. (Note: Would there be junks near Nigeria?)
6:30. I send Green Pawn 1 to a position near Detroit so she can provide some assistance against further air threats if necessary. I send Green Pawn 2 to the E. She spots an unknown vessel far to the E.
6:32. A second unknown vessel spotted to the E.
6:39. One unknown ship identified as an FB57 Dogan. It is 70 miles E of the Detroit and it looks like it is just close enough to fire a missile. I have turned Detroit to the W and firing a missile at the Dogan. (Note: The Dogan is a Turkish ship. The Nigerian version of the FB57 is in the database. However, the most modern version says its long range missiles have “expired.” Possibly mention in the briefing that Nigeria has purchased new ones?)
6:42. The second remaining ship is also a Dogan and the second anti-ship missile from Detroit is on its way.
6:44. Green Pawn 2 just spotted some vampires! They’re probably headed towards the Detroit.
6:48. The first Dogan has been destroyed. Hopefully, its missiles will now go out of control and miss the Detroit.
6:49. No, too much to hope for. The vampires are headed straight for Detroit and Green Pawn cannot get a fix and fire her Sidewinders.
6:50. The seconds click by…Detroit kills one missile, then another, and then takes a hit! The fourth missile, fortunately, misses the Detroit, which is good because she is already at 63% damage, and she is on fire, and she is flooding.
Eventually, the fires are put out and the flooding is stopped. Detroit is still able to move, but she is crawling at only 1 knot.
I put the game on fast play at this point and somewhere along the line a couple of Alphas show up, but are splashed by the Montgomery’s lasers.
With about 2 hours to spare, Montgomery reaches the rendezvous zone. I end up with a Minor Victory. Mission accomplished but one ship seriously damaged.
Overall, this was very good. Fun, fast, and challenging. The first two times I played, Montgomery was destroyed in the first ten minutes and the scenario ended as a Disaster.
Some ideas for improving the scenario…
The generic Nigerian base should be replaced with an actual one for greater verisimilitude. You may want to replace the Turkish ship with Nigerian ones, and perhaps edit them so they have the right weapons.
After the first 30 minutes, the scenario is pretty much over. Maybe set things up so the Alphas attack around the two-hour point and the ships (if undamaged) reach the rendezvous point after about four hours. (But make the scenario capable of lasting eight or ten hours so a damaged ship still has time to get there…ideally, though, it will be over in only three or four hours.) This would improve the overall pacing of the scenario.
Again, I think this was very good. I hope my comments are helpful.
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