Playtest: Swan Lake (2024)

[DeHav]

Hi all, this is my first scenario so be nice

I wrote this a few months ago, but never got around to wrapping it up. I decided to quickly tie it off and share it now, as I bitterly regret not putting out my 'Wagner starts a Russian civil war' scenario before it almost happened IRL.

The full background/premise is in the scenario description but here is the summary:

In this modern North Sea carrier battle, you are in control of an urgent NATO operation to intercept nuclear-armed mutineers. Following a coup in Russia, a fanatical Putin loyalist seizes control of the Northern Fleet and sets sail for the British Isles. Determined to unify his country through war with NATO, only one thing stands in his way: the Royal Navy.


Yes, it's another NATO vs Russia carrier battle in the North Sea. There is major time pressure and it can become a bit of a knife fight in a phone booth, which hopefully keeps the format interesting. It's certainly not perfect (especially the briefing/messages) but hopefully you guys will enjoy it.

Feedback is very welcome.

Edit: File updated on 2023-10-09.
Edit 2: Submitted to CSP on 2024-01-09.

[HalfLifeExpert]

A couple things:

1) This battle isn't in the North Sea (which is the sea between the UK, Denmark-Norway, and Netherlands-Germany; i.e. South of where the PoW is located.)

The actual name of the sea where this battle will take place is the Norwegian Sea.

2) No Royal Navy F-35Bs? Where are they? is the QE off somewhere else in the world holding all of them?

[DeHav]

A couple things:

1) This battle isn't in the North Sea (which is the sea between the UK, Denmark-Norway, and Netherlands-Germany; i.e. South of where the PoW is located.)

The actual name of the sea where this battle will take place is the Norwegian Sea.

2) No Royal Navy F-35Bs? Where are they? is the QE off somewhere else in the world holding all of them?

Good point on the North Sea. I’ll adjust the terminology.

The RN F-35s are on the PoW. 12 aircraft is a standard deployment, and while the UK has more this is supposed to represent everything that could be mustered with less than a day’s notice. The idea is that the PoW was still preparing for a deployment so many airframes would be stuck in deep maintenance etc.

If you mean the fact that the aircraft are RAF on the db entry, that’s because the RAF shares them with the Fleet Air Arm. There are no dedicated Navy F-35s.

[DeHav]

Very minor update, new file in first post:

- Changed the WRA for Meteor/AMRAAM to NEZ for more sensible engagements
- Very minor updates to the description/briefing

I'm still keen to hear any feedback - I'll be submitting to the community pack shortly.