Scenario for testing - Midvintermörker / Midwinter Darkness 2012 (Sweden vs Russia)

[blh42]

The scenario is based on a modern war novel, Midvintermörker (ISBN 9789186649616). It concerns a clash between Russia and Sweden where the future of the island of Gotland is at stake.

This is my first large scenario and I'd like some feedback please

EDIT: Attachment replaced for new version.

[Jorm]

ok just played it

Spoilers follow



good fun scenario, some clever use of land units

I shot down 9 mainstays. perhaps you need to set them up so they are not so easy to get to ?.

there is no SAM defence for Sweden ?
the soviet invasion force sits in place just waiting for the swedish subs to get at.
I liked that i had to re-base my a/c as i ran out of weapons .
The fencers seem pretty single minded, is there a way to have then attack other land bases ?

all in all i enjoyed this one

[Pergite!]

ORIGINAL: Jorm

ok just played it

Spoilers follow



good fun scenario, some clever use of land units

I shot down 9 mainstays. perhaps you need to set them up so they are not so easy to get to ?.

there is no SAM defence for Sweden ?
the soviet invasion force sits in place just waiting for the swedish subs to get at.
I liked that i had to re-base my a/c as i ran out of weapons .
The fencers seem pretty single minded, is there a way to have then attack other land bases ?

all in all i enjoyed this one

The scenario as described by the author of the book, depicts the current Swedish armed forces quite well. The Russian forces are however drastically reduced in capabilities and intelligence in order to produce an interesting and somewhat balanced story.

I'll try the scenario during the day and provide feedback.

[blh42]

ORIGINAL: Jorm

ok just played it

Spoilers follow



good fun scenario, some clever use of land units

I shot down 9 mainstays. perhaps you need to set them up so they are not so easy to get to ?.

there is no SAM defence for Sweden ?
the soviet invasion force sits in place just waiting for the swedish subs to get at.
I liked that i had to re-base my a/c as i ran out of weapons .
The fencers seem pretty single minded, is there a way to have then attack other land bases ?

all in all i enjoyed this one

Glad you enjoyed it .

I don't consider it finished yet but need some valuable outside feedback to make it better, thus why i submitted it.

When it comes to units, I've used wikipedia as my main resource as it states most unclassified units and their organizations. I couldn't find any references to swedish SAM's other than that they only have one garrison and no references to any sam sites. Its probably classified.

I did consider using bombers instead of fencers but the western military district doesn't seem to contain any russian heavy bomber regiments. I may be wrong.

Other targets than land bases, I have considered and should probably include sea targets as well. This would need readying the returning Fencers with new load and new missions, I'm not sure if that's possible with the current game engine? I could probably cheat with other delayed missions and hidden units tho.

The last act of the scenario isn't finished yet where unexpected reinforcements arrive. I'll come to that.

blh

[blh42]

ORIGINAL: Pergite!
The scenario as described by the author of the book, depicts the current Swedish armed forces quite well. The Russian forces are however drastically reduced in capabilities and intelligence in order to produce an interesting and somewhat balanced story.

I'll try the scenario during the day and provide feedback.

Awaiting your thoughts

[Pergite!]

A few things so far:

1. I do not belive Sweden has any radars on BORNHOLM (Denmark)
2. I belive there is a typo on Gripen callsigns, arent they called "Stud" in the book, and not "Strd"

Great workl!
(Still playing)

[Russian Heel]

I did consider using bombers instead of fencers but the western military district doesn't seem to contain any russian heavy bomber regiments. I may be wrong.

None of the military districts contain heavy bombers, they all belong to Long Range Aviation Command and are attached to commands when operations call for it.

[blh42]

ORIGINAL: Pergite!

A few things so far:

1. I do not belive Sweden has any radars on BORNHOLM (Denmark)
2. I belive there is a typo on Gripen callsigns, arent they called "Stud" in the book, and not "Strd"

Great workl!
(Still playing)

Thanks

1. Wonder if i mistaken that one for another, was a while since i read the book. It could be a NATO linked radar?
2. Ah fixing

[blh42]

ORIGINAL: Russian Heel

I did consider using bombers instead of fencers but the western military district doesn't seem to contain any russian heavy bomber regiments. I may be wrong.

None of the military districts contain heavy bombers, they all belong to Long Range Aviation Command and are attached to commands when operations call for it.

I stand corredted. Ill incorporate those. Thanks!

[Pergite!]

OK, great work!

Some suggestions:

1.) The Mainstays should be dispersed and placed on a patrol track further south and east, there is no reason to have three flying on the same track.
In the book they kill them off when new they change positions and RTB (when IIRC there are three of them in the air).
There should also be some kind of trigger that makes them head home when their fighter escort gets engaged. As it is now, I was able to kill all the mainstays in pretty short order, two of them with guns, while they still where heading north over Gotland.(I am not sure how to set that up)

2.) Use heavy bombers and cruise missiles instead of fighter bombers. (Its nice that these aren't in the air at the beginning of the scenario, so there is at least a sporting chance that one could counter some of the destruction.)

3.) I do not know how true you want to stay to the story. In the book pretty much everything gets blown up from the start, including centralised air surveillance, making the player pretty much blind from the start (so don't give away the position of the invasion fleet). Then yet again, the scenario gets a lot more fun if there exists real possibilities to effect the outcome, as it is now. (If you want to stay true to the book I would probably have some additional comments). If radar coverage would remain, I suggest that you also add some maritime coverage.

4.) The Russianr navies operations in and around Slite needs improvement. Its only the landing ships that should get close to land. Supporting ships retain standoff, and ships tasked for ASW and ASuW duties need to take stations further out. If you search for soviet/russian doctrines you would probably get a good picture on how it would look. Then I guess the hard part would be to make the game AI recreate it.

5.) The texts in the special messages could be improved. Since the briefing doesn't (and shouldn't) say much, I would suggest to add a better narrative within the special messages. One things that needs to get corrected is the "radar destroyed" event, that states that the radar in Borgholm has been destroyed. I lost a radar outside of Karlskrona and got that message, which got me confused, since there aren't any radars in Borgholm (Öland) in your scenario.

[blh42]

Thanks for your thoughts Pergite!

1.) The Mainstays should be dispersed and placed on a patrol track further south and east, there is no reason to have three flying on the same track.
In the book they kill them off when new they change positions and RTB (when IIRC there are three of them in the air).
There should also be some kind of trigger that makes them head home when their fighter escort gets engaged. As it is now, I was able to kill all the mainstays in pretty short order, two of them with guns, while they still where heading north over Gotland.(I am not sure how to set that up)

Good point. I didn't really know what to do with them, hence the outcome

2.) Use heavy bombers and cruise missiles instead of fighter bombers. (Its nice that these aren't in the air at the beginning of the scenario, so there is at least a sporting chance that one could counter some of the destruction.)

This is what I've just done refining the scenario

3.) I do not know how true you want to stay to the story. In the book pretty much everything gets blown up from the start, including centralised air surveillance, making the player pretty much blind from the start (so don't give away the position of the invasion fleet). Then yet again, the scenario gets a lot more fun if there exists real possibilities to effect the outcome, as it is now. (If you want to stay true to the book I would probably have some additional comments). If radar coverage would remain, I suggest that you also add some maritime coverage.

This is being worked on at the moment. Trying to make the scenario with multiple outcomes.

4.) The Russianr navies operations in and around Slite needs improvement. Its only the landing ships that should get close to land. Supporting ships retain standoff, and ships tasked for ASW and ASuW duties need to take stations further out. If you search for soviet/russian doctrines you would probably get a good picture on how it would look. Then I guess the hard part would be to make the game AI recreate it.

Good point. Needs to be worked on.

5.) The texts in the special messages could be improved. Since the briefing doesn't (and shouldn't) say much, I would suggest to add a better narrative within the special messages. One things that needs to get corrected is the "radar destroyed" event, that states that the radar in Borgholm has been destroyed. I lost a radar outside of Karlskrona and got that message, which got me confused, since there aren't any radars in Borgholm (Öland) in your scenario.

I'm in the progress of doing that. I found the same Bornholm error personally

Thanks again for your participation!

[blh42]

Another update. I've been in contact with Lars W. who wrote the book and have gotten permission from him personally to keep the scenario name and everything without any conflict of interest. Always a good thing to check .

blh

[Bazza042]

I like the scenario but would agree that the 'documentation' really needs some 'improvement' both in the detail provided and in its 'English'.
I found the evacuation of aircraft message particularly confusing and I thought that a bit of the jargon was unlikely to appear in an official
briefing. Happy to help if required. However I would happily accept that your English is a lot better than my Swedish.[;)]

But these are details; thoroughly enjoyed the scenario.

[blh42]

ORIGINAL: Bazza042

I like the scenario but would agree that the 'documentation' really needs some 'improvement' both in the detail provided and in its 'English'.
I found the evacuation of aircraft message particularly confusing and I thought that a bit of the jargon was unlikely to appear in an official
briefing. Happy to help if required. However I would happily accept that your English is a lot better than my Swedish.[;)]

But these are details; thoroughly enjoyed the scenario.

Thanks for the feedback. How would you write the kind of evacuation order?

blh

[blh42]

New version of Midwinter Darkness.

Changes:
+ Swedish anti-aircraft units
Changes in radars
Different Russian attack pattern
Better English, i hope

[Pergite!]

Some additional comments to try and improve your scenario:

1. You misspelled airplane in the briefing.

2. In the book the Swedish airplanes are attacked on the ground by cruise missile strikes and bombers, not by any kind of sabotage. The sabotages conducted by the Russians are directed at power, infrastructure and communications. Everything pretty much happens at once in one giant blow. If you want to stick with the sabotage against aircraft I would suggest you add an event that explain for the player that sabotages and acts of terrorism are being reported all over the country, then a few moments later, report that airbases have been effected somehow. I also don't see any real difference in the Swedish side regarding numbers of aircraft before and after the event.

3. The Russians are still neutral for Sweden, although I have Su27s conducting their "baltic air-patrol", well over Swedish soil. Even if they do not engage anything, they should be considered hostile. A better idea is to restric them from violating Swedish airspace before any hostilities have taken place.

4. The Tu-160s are overtaking their missiles and are continuing heading inland over Sweden. Something is odd in that mission.

5. If you want to stay true to the story, then I suggest you remove those added air-defences, since they aren't ther, neither in reality nor in the book. The same goes for the assault on Arlanda. The only Russian ground operations on mainland Sweden that are in the book, are carried out by clandestine agents and spetznas iirc. Maybe you are mixing it up with Operation Garbo? (which also would make a good scenario).


Keep up the good work!

[Bazza042]

Hi,

I am enjoying the updated scenario although not too far into it at the moment.


**** THIS CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS ****





The problems I have with the Lulea relocation instructions are

a) Why do I want to move the fighter aircraft?

I am told other airfields are 'under attack' but at the moment Lulea is not.

So I think there has to be a reason given, either that they are urgently needed in the south or that they are likely to be attacked if they remain, say:

"We have intelligence that the Lulea airfield from which Gripens are operating are likely to be attacked in the very near future. You should rebase these aircraft urgently".

b) It's fine to be told to move them at my discretion but to where?

You've already said that (unspecified) airfields have been attacked.

Whilst I appreciate that you want to give the player the flexibility, might it not be better to say something like; 'acts of sabotage have taken place at xxx airfield(s)': this at least gives the player a 'steer' as to where his aircraft may be 'safe'.

Whilst this is detail, personally think that a strong narrative helps set the scene.



I've also enclosed a revised draft of your various briefings. I haven't changed the meaning (as far as I am aware) just slightly altered the English to make it read better.


BACKGROUND

This scenario has been created based on the book Midvintermörker / Midwinter Darkness by Lars Wilderäng (ISBN 9789186649616). The name and scenario is used with permission from the original author Lars Wilderäng.

SITUATION

For some time, Russia has been substantially increasing their offensive capabilities in the Baltic region. The recent purchases of two French Mistral class landing ships has put countries around the Batic sea on edge.

So far Sweden has kept its low profile and reduced both its defensive and offensive capabilities.

A recent dispute about the placement of the Russian owned gas pipe Nord Stream in conjunction with "acts of terror" by unknown parties has put the Kremlin in a position where they need to act...




SITUATION

A Russian flagged aircraft has just landed at Visby Airport. Shortly thereafter, all communication with the Airport has been lost.

FRA (Swedish National Defence Radio Establishment) has notified the high military command of a sudden radio silence within the Russian forces. Shortly thereafter the SIGINT ship, HMS ORION, stopped communicating with FRA. The General Directory of FRA is on edge and wants answers.

TASK

Investigate the communications breakdown with Visby.
Investigate why communications with ORION has failed. You have its last position on the map.

EMCON

Free emissions.

RoE

Don't fire unless fired upon.





General,

We've just learned that several of our JAS Gripen's fighter jets have been sabotaged and thereby our fleet has been severely reduced. However the jets at F21 in the north of Sweden have yet not been attacked. We suggest you relocate those aircrafts before they are lost. Other air bases may also still be at risk of further attacks.

TASK

Relocate fighter jets from F21 to destinations of your choosing.





Classification: Hemlig/TOP SECRET

The Prime Minister of Sweden has been assassinated.

The vice Prime Minister is currently being moved to a secret location by our special forces (SOG). They are currently using an unmarked civilian car to move her. The car is currently on the move towards the west, away from Stockholm. Do not draw any unwanted attention to her transport in order to avoid enemy contact.

TASK

Protect the transport without drawing any enemy attention. This is HIGH priority. The vice Prime Minister must remain alive.


Hope this helps.

[blh42]

ORIGINAL: Pergite!

Some additional comments to try and improve your scenario:

1. You misspelled airplane in the briefing.

2. In the book the Swedish airplanes are attacked on the ground by cruise missile strikes and bombers, not by any kind of sabotage. The sabotages conducted by the Russians are directed at power, infrastructure and communications. Everything pretty much happens at once in one giant blow. If you want to stick with the sabotage against aircraft I would suggest you add an event that explain for the player that sabotages and acts of terrorism are being reported all over the country, then a few moments later, report that airbases have been effected somehow. I also don't see any real difference in the Swedish side regarding numbers of aircraft before and after the event.

3. The Russians are still neutral for Sweden, although I have Su27s conducting their "baltic air-patrol", well over Swedish soil. Even if they do not engage anything, they should be considered hostile. A better idea is to restric them from violating Swedish airspace before any hostilities have taken place.

4. The Tu-160s are overtaking their missiles and are continuing heading inland over Sweden. Something is odd in that mission.

5. If you want to stay true to the story, then I suggest you remove those added air-defences, since they aren't ther, neither in reality nor in the book. The same goes for the assault on Arlanda. The only Russian ground operations on mainland Sweden that are in the book, are carried out by clandestine agents and spetznas iirc. Maybe you are mixing it up with Operation Garbo? (which also would make a good scenario).


Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the input!

Ive been battling with how the events in the beginning should occur but I think explaining it better is a good way as you describe.

Not sure how I should technically restrict the airspace for the SU-27s in the game but I'll try to figure something out. Having Russians as Unfriendly might also be a good idea.

The Tu-160's are behaving strange and I think it may be a bug or something. I've set them for ASuW (Ground) Patrol and hoped that they should had maintained distance. I also previously tried Land Strike but they still kept flying in over targets. Not sure what the problem is :S.

The air defenses was added after i surveyed Lars's blog and found a map detailing the current air defenses and thought it might be a good idea to add them however few they are just for the sake of the scenario and some realism.

Yes i may have confused my self with Garbo . Thanks for the heads up.

blh

[blh42]

ORIGINAL: Bazza042

Hi,

I am enjoying the updated scenario although not too far into it at the moment.


**** THIS CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS ****





The problems I have with the Lulea relocation instructions are

a) Why do I want to move the fighter aircraft?

I am told other airfields are 'under attack' but at the moment Lulea is not.

So I think there has to be a reason given, either that they are urgently needed in the south or that they are likely to be attacked if they remain, say:

"We have intelligence that the Lulea airfield from which Gripens are operating are likely to be attacked in the very near future. You should rebase these aircraft urgently".

b) It's fine to be told to move them at my discretion but to where?

You've already said that (unspecified) airfields have been attacked.

Whilst I appreciate that you want to give the player the flexibility, might it not be better to say something like; 'acts of sabotage have taken place at xxx airfield(s)': this at least gives the player a 'steer' as to where his aircraft may be 'safe'.

Whilst this is detail, personally think that a strong narrative helps set the scene.



I've also enclosed a revised draft of your various briefings. I haven't changed the meaning (as far as I am aware) just slightly altered the English to make it read better.


BACKGROUND

This scenario has been created based on the book Midvintermörker / Midwinter Darkness by Lars Wilderäng (ISBN 9789186649616). The name and scenario is used with permission from the original author Lars Wilderäng.

SITUATION

For some time, Russia has been substantially increasing their offensive capabilities in the Baltic region. The recent purchases of two French Mistral class landing ships has put countries around the Batic sea on edge.

So far Sweden has kept its low profile and reduced both its defensive and offensive capabilities.

A recent dispute about the placement of the Russian owned gas pipe Nord Stream in conjunction with "acts of terror" by unknown parties has put the Kremlin in a position where they need to act...




SITUATION

A Russian flagged aircraft has just landed at Visby Airport. Shortly thereafter, all communication with the Airport has been lost.

FRA (Swedish National Defence Radio Establishment) has notified the high military command of a sudden radio silence within the Russian forces. Shortly thereafter the SIGINT ship, HMS ORION, stopped communicating with FRA. The General Directory of FRA is on edge and wants answers.

TASK

Investigate the communications breakdown with Visby.
Investigate why communications with ORION has failed. You have its last position on the map.

EMCON

Free emissions.

RoE

Don't fire unless fired upon.





General,

We've just learned that several of our JAS Gripen's fighter jets have been sabotaged and thereby our fleet has been severely reduced. However the jets at F21 in the north of Sweden have yet not been attacked. We suggest you relocate those aircrafts before they are lost. Other air bases may also still be at risk of further attacks.

TASK

Relocate fighter jets from F21 to destinations of your choosing.





Classification: Hemlig/TOP SECRET

The Prime Minister of Sweden has been assassinated.

The vice Prime Minister is currently being moved to a secret location by our special forces (SOG). They are currently using an unmarked civilian car to move her. The car is currently on the move towards the west, away from Stockholm. Do not draw any unwanted attention to her transport in order to avoid enemy contact.

TASK

Protect the transport without drawing any enemy attention. This is HIGH priority. The vice Prime Minister must remain alive.


Hope this helps.

Thanks for your help. I'm used to accepting help as my dyslexia doesn't always put the words in the right order . I've used most of your recommended changes with some additional changes of my own.

blh

[Dimitris]

bump