"Game 1 with new wargame board of Norwegian coastal invasion" Topic

pre-game rolling determined a very easy scenario overall for the first russian amphibious landing. not only was there a 72% material advantage in surface combat units but also russian rolled for a total of 20 backfire bombers in support. Add to that the fact that they also rolled for the easiest possible strategic goal, namely, to take and hold any three of the possible beach-heads (yellow paint), and this first game was bound to be a walk-over for the russians. well, they say, dont join in any fight youre not prepared for

the russian rollcall:
Kirov-class CGN
Ivan Rogov landing ship
3 Ropuchka landing ships
Sovremenny class DDG
Udaloy class DDG
2 Krivak-2 Frigates
2 Spetsnaz teams
20 Backfire bombers armed with modern strike missiles
Typhoon class and Akula class subs
Russians entered from the eastern board edge, in three groups.

Norwegian forces -
one lone coastal defense sub, seen here leaving port in Tromso, Norway
and one Nansen class frigate, valiant but doomed
[URL=http://s1061.photobucket.com/user/justice4blackbears/media/P1220012_zpsm9nlyx5t.jpg.html]

[/URL]

I do like the above/below surface playing areas, looks great.

thank you
time – one hour
two russian subs cover the approach of the precious Motherland fleet
thats akula and a doomed Typhoon submarine
[URL=http://s1061.photobucket.com/user/justice4blackbears/media/P1190041_zpsdcd97efc.jpg.html]

[/URL]

time 2 hours
here you see a small American squadron, of Burke class destroyer, Knox class frigate, and a Coronado class command vessel, entering the board from the northern edge and the Norwegian Nansen class frigate steams at full speed to defend her coastline. Nansen has aquired the leading russian squadron of destroyers and frigates but still cannot fire, as this is a peacetime scenario so far.

high above you see ten backfire bombers approaching at medium altitude
[URL=http://s1061.photobucket.com/user/justice4blackbears/media/P1220014_zpsmwswsxkh.jpg.html]

[/URL]

time – two point two hours
here you see the landing force still in deep water
the backfires fires two air-to-surface cruise missiles each at the four targets.

that about seven missiles per NATO ship
[URL=http://s1061.photobucket.com/user/justice4blackbears/media/P1220015_zpsdkv9s6if.jpg.html]

[/URL]

That does look really neat.

I suspect moving subs in the shallows, underneath the surface of the sea will be a bit challenging, though.

On a related note, while surfing the other night, I ran across a large-scale micro-armor project, where there were multiple tables, and superb looking terrain. Lots and lots of armor and aircraft on tap for defending the Northern lands from the invading Russkies.

Worth a look, on Google images.

yes youre quite right. the subs can only approach so far and then must stop because my hands are too damned big. but there is some evidence for such real-life action. its a rocky lee shore and it would be dangerous for large subs to approach very close to shore. anyway, they did their duty already

anyway
time – three hours
two of the US ships have been blown away by the russian bombers attack
here you see them burning before they sink
sad
[URL=http://s1061.photobucket.com/user/justice4blackbears/media/P1220017_zps2oxag5mg.jpg.html]

[/URL]

time four hours
here you see the russian destroyer squadron engaging the remaining two NATO surface vessels, the Nansen frigate and the lone Knox.
these two defending ships have turned to expose all their defensive weapons

to little avail

you can also see the landing force on the left, covered by the huge Kirov class Cruiser and an Udaloy anti-sub destroyer
[URL=http://s1061.photobucket.com/user/justice4blackbears/media/P1220019_zpsfn9ehhxq.jpg.html]

[/URL]

time -five hours
here you see Nato's last hope, the lone coastal defense sub creeping into position after slowly coming through all the fjords.. he is far to the right in this photo
The Nansen and the Knox have been destroyed from Kirov's anti-ship missiles, and are removed from table.
[URL=http://s1061.photobucket.com/user/justice4blackbears/media/P1220022_zpsbp8uv6me.jpg.html]

[/URL]

time six hours
here is a close shot of the landing forces in fairly tight positions as they make their final approach to norwegian shorelines
[URL=http://s1061.photobucket.com/user/justice4blackbears/media/P1220023_zpswi1kupmx.jpg.html]

[/URL]

time – seven hours
a good overall view of the tactical situation as the actual landing ships themselves make their slow lumbering approach to the shore. the Rogov has launched a flight of six transport helicopters with the two Spetsnaz teams to begin the beach assaults
five F-16's also make their approach as the Norwegian sub gets his bearings
[URL=http://s1061.photobucket.com/user/justice4blackbears/media/P1220024_zpsqf26dvv1.jpg.html]

[/URL]

time eight hours
just before the counter-attacks
[URL=http://s1061.photobucket.com/user/justice4blackbears/media/P1220025_zpsbrfus514.jpg.html]

[/URL]

game conclusion
F-16's strike two of the ropuchkas and score hits on the Ivan Rogov, damaging the rogov but not sinking her
the Norwegian coastal sub is the true hero, sinking the Typhoon and another Ropuchka.
nevertheless, the russians are able to secure three beaches and thus win the game.
[URL=http://s1061.photobucket.com/user/justice4blackbears/media/P1220026_zps8bfvwii8.jpg.html]

[/URL]
alas for the Norwegians. they learn to enjoy the caviar and fresh vodka and are nihilistic enough to accept a new way of life.

Quite impressive! Although I think the Russians would have a tough go getting to the mainland!

oh sure
but thats not part of this game
this is only the naval aspects of a russian landing
there would be hell to pay later on the roads to the cities

the really tricky balance hangs in the sea. if russians had not scored such excellent pre-game rolls for forces, they might very easily have never ever made it to the coastlines at all

just plain EVIL! Awesome looking report

Very cool concept and execution!

looks great

Very nice. What a great look you have achieved~!

its not really evil
its just a wargame
I thought this was a website for wargamers
forgive me if I was wrong

@gameboards – Saber6 was expressing admiration for your post, not denigrating it.

And may I add my appreciation. That gaming board is a thing of beauty. The amount of effort put into building this is inspiring.

thank you.
I tried to work a little bit every day on this board.
strangely enough, now that its done I am thinking about making an even better one

The inevitable questions: What scale are the models and are they scratch-built? And… What rules do you use?

sadly the scale of the models is nowhere near the scale of the map
the ships are one inch to two hundred feet
the horizontal map scale is one inch to two miles
the vertical scale is one contour to a hundred meters depths
weird
I use Harpoon rules and change, simplify, or add to them as needed to make a streamlined game
yes, I built all those little ships from clay
it took a whole summer

Bravo!