Caribbean Tinderbox - Western Caribbean 1984

[cf_dallas]

Episode 1, a prelude to The Match Is Lit (tm.asp?m=4077402).

A bit of context... 1983 was a pretty dark time in the Cold War with both sides doing a lot of things the other perceived (accurately or not) as really threatening. In this alternate history, while things are already insanely tense Fidel Castro decides to try to regain face after the Grenada slap-down. It's time to forward his own interests and dreams of Socialist brotherhood, while tweaking the big bully on the block.

Episode 1 is supposed to be a relatively minor dustup between Cuba and a fairly unprepared United States. Episode 2 (The Match is Lit) goes on the assumption that Reagan decides to play the tough-guy card, and Andropov's replacement (another hardliner, clearly not Gorbachev and more capable/energetic than Chernenko) pushes right back. Bad things ensue.

Just like the last one, this one has only been partially play-tested. It's meant to be a bit of a chaotic mess.... Let me know what you think!

(RELEASE 1 uploaded Nov. 10)

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30 January 1984



Relations between the United States and Cuba have deteriorated further since the conflict in Grenada at the close of 1983. Fidel Castro’s strident rhetoric has been matched by bellicose speeches by Ronald Reagan, and the two nations have severed any remaining diplomatic links.

Revolutionaries on Guatemala’s Caribbean coast have requested assistance from their fraternal Cuban brothers-in-arms, and Cuba has resolved to support them with a deployment of naval and ground forces. While the Soviet Union’s hard-line leadership hasn’t openly supported the effort, they are very interested in seeing the United States receive a bloody nose.

Transport ships departed Cienfuegos 16 hours ago and so far have met with no harassment. Take charge of the Cuban deployment and safely see the troops delivered to Guatemala while fending off any intervention by the United States.

Total Units: ~120 units total; 11 ships, 52 aircraft in player control
Scenario Time: 36 hours

[cf_dallas]

Anyone had a chance to pick at this one yet?

[AlexGGGG]

Yeah I got me kicked and all LSMs destroyed at first two tries. Not enough early warning, or too few CAP aircraft, or too far from base (not enough loiter time on station for reasonable CAP).

[cf_dallas]

Anyone else take a shot? I may have some time to work on this over the weekend.

[stolypin]

This one has been on my list. I'll try to get to it this weekend.

[stolypin]

ORIGINAL: AlexGGGG

Yeah I got me kicked and all LSMs destroyed at first two tries. Not enough early warning, or too few CAP aircraft, or too far from base (not enough loiter time on station for reasonable CAP).

That was my result also. I had CAP in place but they were distracted by an A-37 attack to the west which left my landing squadron completely undefended.

I want to give it another play, next time paying better attention to my CAP.

I really like the theme/setting of the scenario. It's nice to play the other side.

[cf_dallas]

ORIGINAL: stolypin


I really like the theme/setting of the scenario. It's nice to play the other side.

That's a big part of why I'm doing them this way... it's pretty tempting to write "the Russians are the bad guy, go crush them with a CVBG" scenarios but it's a bit too similar to a lot of prior games and fiction.

I also don't want to cross streams with Gunner's fantastic work or with the Northern Inferno DLC. I'm setting these up to be played by the opposite side, chronologically I'm about halfway between NI (1975) and NF (1994), geographically I'm trying to stay away from the North Atlantic.

That said, here's what I've got sketched out so far... ideas for further developments are welcome:

1) Caribbean Tinderbox, 30 Jan 84 - Cuban operation in Guatemala
2) Match is Lit, 1 Mar 84 - Soviet operation in IO/East Africa
3) *To be named*, 1 Mar 84 - Soviet SEAD/DEAD in Alaska
....

Then what? It's kind of hard to stay away from Europe and the Atlantic, and I'm struggling a bit for realistic ideas.

[Gunner98]

The IO/East Africa has some real possibilities. Whenever I get round to that area I was looking at the place breaking up into multiple wars running in parallel: Ido/Pak, Iran/Iraq, Tanzania/Kenya - with NATO and WP scraping it out and trying not to get intertwined in another war (and failing of course [:D]

You could go to the Pacific, the Sov's finished up a base at Cam Ranh Bay in the late 70s, was supposed to house bombers and a good hunk of the Pacific fleet. Might bother the US fleet which still had bases in the Philippines I think


I'll try and give this a play but am falling behind on my own schedule.

B

[cf_dallas]

I finally got back to this one... Release 0 was a rushed piece of junk. I've made significant updates in this version. Better briefing and communications with the player and more reasonable opposition forces, and I think the timing's been improved too.

Updated version here, and in the 1st post. Let me know what you think!

[Lionheart]

Chad,

I'm enjoying this scenario very much but after four attempts I still haven't achieved anything like a victory, but I'm getting closer!

The main challenges (not criticisms) are:-

1) The Pegasus hydrofoils attack the two missile boat groups with harpoons causing utter devastation in a classic pincer move, but I found they could both be distracted by detaching one boat from each group to draw them away.
2) The small A-37's and PC-7's flying low and slow are quite difficult for the Migs to locate and engage.
3) The PC-7's from Mundo Maya have a very useful 'shield' flying through the Belize exclusion zone on their strafing missions.
4) I moved a lot of fighters to Puerto Cabezas as the CAPs are just too far from Cuba to be effective.
5) I haven't managed to get more than 2 boats in the Landing Squadron safely to the Landing Area.

Many thanks!

Mark

[cf_dallas]

Well.... This one's meant to reward some level of patience and "picture-building." If you go in guns-blazing, you're likely to get shredded by the Pegasus boats and air attacks.

I'm really glad you enjoyed it enough to play 4+ times!

My pointers:
- yes, you have to forward deploy fighters
- as nice as it would be to maintain radar silence, your landing sqdn escorts have the only decent air search radar on your side
- before you start shooting, be 100% certain you a) have some MiGs on station with enough fuel to meet any reaction from the USAF units, and b) know the location of the Pegasus's and have a plan that kills them, ideally before they fire.
- holds your landing sqn well offshore until dawn, so that your attack aircraft can recon and eliminate any shore defenses before you come within range. The Guatemalan army has 105-mm howitzers, which are pretty effective in close quarters.