Gulf Strike - Turns 1 and 2

Joe and I have are at it again with the another huge Cold War simulation board game. Last year, we started a big game of 7th Fleet in which a WWIII type scenario escalated in the Eastern Pacific. This year, we started another game of Gulf Strike. This game focuses on Land, Air, and Sea combat in the Persian Gulf! The region is full of potential wargaming scenarios. However, these rules were written in the early 1980's so it reflects the best military analysis available from that specific time period.

The scenario we chose was one that did not involve forces from Iraq. The reason for this was to keep an otherwise huge game from getting even larger. As it was, we took several hours just to arrange the counters and setup the game. The following is a brief description of the political situation and lead up to the conflict.

In September of 1984, peace is concluded between Iran and Iraq and the three year war is at an end. (note: the real-life war lasted 8 years). Iran was able to come to terms with Iraq only with the death of the Ayatollah Khomeini... A dialogue of sorts began between the US and Iran, improving relations considerably., although not yet to the point of genuine cooperation....  The Iranians, under new leadership, began openly criticizing the Soviet presence in Afghanistan and the continuing war against the Islamic brethren. In addition to these verbal assaults, they openly supplied arms to the Afghan guerrillas and allowed units to train in Iran as well as establish bases for raids across the border... In June of 1985, US intelligence sources detected a large build-up of Soviet ground and air forces along the Iranian border and passed this information to the Iranians through diplomatic channels. Following a particularly stinging attack on Soviet forces in Kabul, Pravda announced that the attacking forces had been trained and armed in Iran... On 6 June, the Soviet Union invoked the 1921 Treaty of Friendship, which gave the USSR the right to intervene should a third party intrude militarily or use Iranian territory as a base for attacks on Soviet territory... And rolled across the Iranian border to terminate Iranian interference...The US has a minimal presence in the area and scrambles to support the Iranian defense. 

Clearly, nothing like this happened in real history. But, given the volatile nature of the whole region, there were some strategists that believed it could have happened. This creates a very intriguing "what if?" scenario that should be fun to play out.

The victory conditions are for the Soviets to capture as many of the 17 cities in Iran as possible and block the Straits of Hormuz either through mining, naval blockade or air superiority.

The Soviets start their invasion from the east and west sides of the Caspian Sea (note: current states of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan) and Afghanistan.

The Iranians setup throughout their country with most their war machine available because the game assumes the Iran-Iraq war was settled peacefully.

The US has a Supply Head and HQ in Diego Garcia. The USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) is stationed in the Indian Ocean with Goose and Maverick on ready five. A Soviet SSN is shadowing the carrier. The US is not activated until turn 2.

This time Joe is the Soviets, and I am the US/Iran coalition.

Turn 1:

• On Land: The Soviets start their invasion. They drive south into Iran, focusing the attack on the Iranian armor divisions the mountains outside of Mashad and Rasht. Supply lines are stretched to the limits. Three Soviet air-mobile division drops deep in Iranian territory and threatens Mashad.
• At Sea: Soviet subs begin attacking Iranian ships in the Persian Gulf, destroying a frigate and a destroyer, their main anti-sub units. The threat of aggressive Soviet submarines in the gulf limits commercial shipping. In a bold but reckless move, the Soviet SSN launches torpedos at CV-63, fails to sink the carrier and enables US units on turn 1. The Kitty Hawk responds with P-3 anti-sub planes. Combined with a US attack sub, the SSN is located and sunk.
• In Air: Soviet and Iranian air units take to the skies in bombing attacks against ground forces. No one has air superiority. The Soviet TU-26 Backfire bombers are available to launch anti-ship missiles but the US keeps all surface ships out of range.

Joe was clearly worried about supply line issues across the long stretch of norther Iran and has proceeded slowly and methodically across the border.

Turn 2:

• On Land: Soviets and Iranians continue to grind. The Iranian armor divisions continue to take a beating but stay in the mountains to limit casualties. An infantry division is destroyed. Iranian infantry from the south start mobilizing when they realize they've been deployed in horrible positions. The Afghan front is quiet and the Soviets thier have not crossed the border. An American special operations raid disrupts a Soviet supply depot outside of Mashad, slowing the Soviet advance. The Iranian air-mobile units drop behind an advancing Soviet infantry division, cutting off the supply and eliminating the division.
• At Sea: The US steps up its anti-sub mission in the Indian Ocean. All the Soviet nuclear powered subs are found and destroyed. The remaining diesel subs are enough to stop shipping in the gulf.
• In Air: Air units continue to support the ground forces. The Iranians use American made F-14s as Early Warning Detection aircraft and they are woefully inadequate for the job. Soviets are able to send jets on bombing missions without threat of interception. The Tu-26 Backfire bombers travel to Yemen, where they setup a new base at a friendly airfield. The bombers are now well in range of any units on the Indian Ocean.

This is a monster of a game! We are starting slow to learn the rules and get an idea of what to do. But we are having a blast doing it. I got a short video of the game play in progress.