The boy Henry and I had a test play of some home-brew modern rules today (2 sides of A4) based on Bolt Action mechanics. This seems to work well for what is a game, rather than a simulation, and we really had fun.
The scenario was the Gulf during Operation Earnest Will, circa 1987. Henry was the Americans and I played the Iranians. The ORBAT was:
USN
USS Simpson, OH Perry class
USS Elmer Montgomery, Knox class
IRN
INS Joshan, Kamar class
F4 Phantom
We both had merchant and comm-air to confuse things. The game started with radar 'tracks' deployed.
10:15 – I had deployed my F4 and my first move was to travel along the air corridor. Unfortunately this took me too close to the US ships; I was able to identify them but I was well within their area defence zone. Simpson failed to get a firing solution but Elmer Montgomery blasted away with her 5" for all she was worth.
10:30 – I scrammed my F4, getting the hell outta Dodge, settling back down some 50 miles away from the US formation.
10:45 – I decide to go for the USS Simpson; my F4 screams in but is taken down by an SM1-MR. I was shaken, but I now had the drop on the Americans; both ships were active and my Combattante II was still lurking unseen. I had some frustration as I was unable to get a solution on the American ships but…
11:15 – Joshan acquires the USS Simpson and fires 4 Harpoons. 2 are taken down by Simpson's defensive fire and one misses, but one hits home, causing heavy damage. During the confusion Henry very wisely elects not to fire at an Airbus A320 passing overhead.
The Joshan turned tail and sped off, the Elmer Montgomery in pursuit, but a deteriorating situation on the Simpson forced her to turn back to help. By 11:30 the situation was critical and at 13:45, after a couple of bad dice rolls, the Elmer Montgomery started taking survivors off the stricken ship, which sank shortly later.
All in all a fun game; Henry grasped the idea of passive detection by equating it to the Lord of the Rings ("it's like when Frodo puts the ring on; Sauron can see him") and we played pretty much in real time, though if Mrs Jones hadn't arrived back from town mid-way through and wanted to chat it would have been quicker. The pace felt good and there were times when there was some real pressure to make decisions.
Nick