The Painted Thumb

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules. We have reached the final turns of the scenario. Turn 30 is the last turn, when we will count the number of cities captured by the Soviets and determine the margin of victory. The Soviets currently have 10 cities captured. The US is building a supply network in southern Iran. Can they reach the Iranian cities in time to help defend? Most of the air missions and ground assaults have been reduced due to decreasing supply for both sides. Turn 26 - US/Iran still have the initiative On Land: The last few Iranian infantry brigades move toward Esfahan. The Soviets assault the city of Kashan and capture it. This is the 11th city for the Soviets. This qualifies them for a 'marginal victory'. At Sea: The US LHA carrier with a compliment of AV-8 Harrier aircraft, moves northwest to the Iranian port city of Abadan. In the Air: Harriers launch air strikes against Soviet targets approaching Ahraz, but are ineffecti...

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules . The fighting continues. Air missions have been limited due to reduced supply points. Turn 23 - US/Iran still have the initiative On Land: US continues to build up supply lines further into Iran from the south. The Soviets do the same from the north. US makes an attack on the weakened Soviet brigades that have moved behind the Afghanistan border. 101st Airborne takes damage and does nothing to the Soviets. Soviets mass a huge force around the city of Arak and begin the assault.  Arak militia defends successfully and stays in Iranian control for another turn. In the Air: Backfire bombers travel far to the east over Soviet airspace to avoid AWACS detection and provides close air support for the fight in Afghanistan. US sends F-111s and an A-6 from the CV-68 to counter the Backfires but are damaged and fail the mission. At Sea: CV-68 moves into the Gulf of Oman and in sight of the Iranian shore. Turn 24 ...

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules . The fighting continues as both sides suffer from limited supply points. Turn 20 - US/Iran still have the initiative In the Air: US F-111 aircraft start bombing missions from Konark air bases. They hit the Soviets around Karmanshah in an effort to help the Iranian defenses. B-52s bomb stacks of Soviets around Karmanshah. Soviet Backfire bombers hit an Iranian hovercraft flotilla in port and sink it. The flotilla did not represent any strategic importance, except to help Soviets gain the initiative by counting more hits. On Land: SpecOps use Long Range Recon Patrols to help B-52s and F-111s hit Soviet targets at Karmanshah. Soviet Mechanized Divisions have Karmanshah surrounded and continue the assault despite US air support. At Sea: BB Wisconsin begins bombardment of the Yemen base to allow US carrier task group to pass the Arabian peninsula safely. Yemen base launches Su-24 bombers to intercept the BB a...

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules . The Soviets are moving further south in Iran. The Americans now have supply chain problems. There are two points of failure. A Soviet heavy cruiser is bombarding the supply head at Diego Garcia The supply chain has been broken at Konark. Turn 18 - In Air; F-4s bomb a supply depot in Afghanistan, further weakening the Soviets there. Soviet Backfires make a conventional bombing attack on Iranian Militia in Hamadan, but the militia gets some incredibly lucky rolls and put a hit on the bombers. This forces the bombers to retreat. Su-24s provide close air support for the assault on Hamadan and Qom. On Land; SpecOps raids destroy a truck unit in Afghanistan. Soviets push out the remaining militia and capture the holy city of Qom. At Sea; The Soviet CA is finally sunk by an American SSN. This is the last Soviet naval unit in the Indian Ocean. US heavy transport ships reach the friendly port in Somalia. ...

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules . The Soviets are flooding into Iran like an avalanche of steel. The Americans have brought in the third aircraft carrier into the battle space, USS Nimitz CV-68. Turn 16 - US brings in the major ground forces into the Indian Ocean. Two Mechanized and one Armor division are loaded on transport ships headed toward the Persian Gulf. In Air; B-52s bomb the remaining Afghan air base with long range recon provided by special forces. The base is destroyed including a Backfire bomber. More air attacks pound the Soviet Afghan ground units. On Land; Soviets continue the attack on Hamadan, Mashad, and Qom. Militia units are struggling to hold those cities. At Sea; American SSNs destroy the Soviet CG guided missile cruiser. Another SSN sinks a Soviet SSN. The most of the Soviet navy is sunk and that allows CV-68 to move north safely. Turn 17 - Due to the massive damage to the Afghanistan army, the initiative move...

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules .` Turn 13 On Land; Soviets have the initiative and rearrange forces to make a big push to capture Mashad. They've been trying to capture that city since turn 1 and have yet to capture it. The Soviets also deploy air bases on the evacuated airfields in Tehran.  At Sea; The Iranians reload two Fast Attack Craft (Kaman-class missile boats) with Harpoon missiles In Air; B-52s bomb the Soviet units outside of Hamadan. Turn 14 At Sea; Iranians send out the FACs in to the Arabian Sea. In Air; A combined assault from B-52s, F-4s and F-15s destroy one air base in Afghanistan. Two units of Backfire bombers relocate to the new bases in Tehran. While one Backfire remains in Afghanistan. MiGs from the Yemen base bomb the Iranian FAC and sink it. On Land; Soviets attack Mashad and destroy the Iranian armor division, militia and anti-air battery protecting the city. Turn 15 - American Reinforcments arriv...

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules . The Soviets suffer setbacks but it is looking good for them overall. Turn 11 On Land, An Iranian armor division is forced to evacuate Rasht but is destroyed by pursuing Soviet mechanized divisions. Rasht is captured. At Sea, Soviet SSGN launches a brutal surface-to-surface missile strike on CVA-65 and almost sinks it. An undetected Soviet sub moves into the Persian Gulf. CVA-65, seemingly without concern for the submarine threat, steams into the Persian Gulf. The Soviet cruiser launches SSMs at the Enterprise but fails to sink it. In the Air, Soviets deliver air bases and planes to the former Iranian airfield in both Rasht and Tehran. Iran counters with an interdiction strike. F-4s from the Mashad air base bomb the infrastructure in northeast Iran, cutting off a vital supply route to the Soviets in Tehran. Both sides are dealing with supply issues. The US base in Konark is cut off by Soviet subs in the g...

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules . The Soviet war-machine starts throttling up to full speed. The Iranians are taking far too much damage, and the Americans are still trying to get units into the battle-space. Turn 9 At Sea, The Soviets drive a transport ship to Yemen and drop off a Marine brigade to defend the Yemen base. In the Air, US B-52s continue to hammer the Yemen base. Soviet air units continue to bomb Tehran. On Land, Soviets surround Tehran and begin their ground campaign. Iranian militia are struggling to hold the city. Special Ops successfully ambush a Soviet column just south of Tabriz, thus delaying the assault on Kermanshah. At this point, we noticed a problem with the US Order of Battle. The Soviets would get victory points if they could deploy mines in the Persian Gulf. However, the US OB doesn't show any mine-sweeping capability at all! This seemed like an incredible disadvantage to the American-Iran alliance....

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the  Gulf Strike rules  . The tide seems to be turning toward the Soviet side. The Kitty Hawk is sunk and the Soviets are surrounding the northern Iranian cities.  Turn 7 At Sea, CV-65 USS Enterprise arrives in the Indian Ocean to relieve the damaged Kitty Hawk. US and Soviet subs continue their duel in the Persian Gulf.  In the Air, Backfire bombers fire on the Kitty Hawk again. The missiles strike the ship and the mighty carrier is laid low. On Land, the Soviet Afghanistan army attack Iranian forces in eastern Iran. In the north, Tabriz and Zanjan are captured. American Special Forces continue to harass the Soviet supply network, but attachment #4 from the 1/75th Ranger regiment is destroyed while conducting a raid in Yemen.  Turn 8 In the Air, F-5 planes from Tehran intercept Soviet ground attack aircraft. They push back a major air assault including bombing attacks from Backfire bombers. ...

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules  . We have completed turns 5-6 and the tensions are mounting.  More units are summoned to the Middle East to replace the losses and try to get an advantage over the enemy. Turn 5 In the Air, US supports the Iranian ground defenses around Tabriz with bombing attacks from B-52's. Soviet TU-26 Backfire bombers launch from the Yemen base but are intercepted by the F-14 Tomcats from the US carrier.  At Sea, in the Indian Ocean, a superpower carrier duel is taking place. The USS 'Kitty Hawk' launches its squadrons of A-7 Corsair and A-6 Intruder aircraft and attacks the Kiev-class carrier 'Baku'.  The Baku responds with anti-ship missiles and is supported by more missiles from the a nearby DDG destroyer. The Kitty Hawk takes hits but is still in the fight. Meanwhile, the diesel sub continues to blockade the Persian Gulf single-handedly, but a US Los Angeles-class submarine has been chasing it...

The latest report from our Gulf Strike game .  The "Soviet-Persian War" continues with increasing casualties on both sides. The Iranians are running out of supplies, while the Soviets are hitting the Iranian armor divisions with everything they got. Here is a brief recap of the events from turns 3 and 4. Turn 3: On Land: Continued grinding in the north. Iranians continue to take damage from Soviet ground and air forces. An ill advised counter-attack around Tubriz causes more damage to the Iranian attackers than Soviets. US Special Forces raid the Yemen base where the Tu-26 Backfire bombers are stationed, disabling the airfield for one turn. Soviet bombers start dropping mines in the Persian Gulf. The 82nd Airborne division arrives on Iranian soil in port city of Konark on the gulf but is out of supply due to Soviet diesel subs patrolling the straits.  In Air: The Iranian F-14 gets into a decent position to call interceptors from Tehran and this helps support the ground ...

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 t...

Cold War gaming is rising in popularity. The list of miniatures games for the time period include Team Yankee, FoW: Arab-Isreali wars, FoW: Vietnam, Cold War Commander, and Force-On-Force. But an interesting artifact from that era is the old Avalon Hill-style simulation game.  These games would include a detailed hexagonal map and cardboard counters to represent the playing pieces. Combat involved rolling dice and cross-referencing a detailed chart that would return the outcome of an attack. Each of these games were developed from a copious amount of historical research and were designed with the maximum amount of realism that could be achieved and still be played in about 20 hours. Most modern games try to hit the sweet spot of two hours to complete, but these games were meant to suck up an entire weekend. While simulation games probably won't sell in today's tiny toy and collectible card game market, for guys of a certain age (40+ years old) these were a hobby in and of t...

Life has caught up to me again and not much gaming has been done for a long stretch. Back in September, I was working furiously on my Glider Rifle company in a desperate attempt finish in time for the Late-War FOWSA tournament. Sadly, my wife got a call that a close family member was very ill. This prompted us to jump in the car on the day of the tournament and rush to be with family. I wonder if I'm ever going to attend this tournament. Here is short recap of the games I was able to participate in. MillenniumCon 19 was successful for another year. I'm part of the convention staff but could only make it to the con for one afternoon. While, I was there, I took part in the HUGE Ogre game put on by Desert Scarab. I was given the GEV-Ogre to command. Not one but TWO nuclear-tipped cruise missiles were launched and and the beautiful city of Monopolis was left burning. For details on the game, check out Scarab's blog here . There is a full photo gallery of the enti...