Treading cautiously: modern naval war in the Straits of Hormuz

I've written about Dave Schueler many times in the past.  He is a good friend and a great gamer.  Daveshoe recently had one of his board games, U-Boat Leader on submarine warfare published, and that is huge news.  Congrats to him.  He is also one of my favorite co-conspirators.  We got to know each other well through our early dabblings with the WWII air game Mustangs, our work on the Golden Age Air Racing, Thunderboats and many other naval and air projects. Dave is a great teammate, he understands game systems, and there is no better designer of scenarios.

Cyber-Hobby LCS-4 is a highly detailed 1/700 model of a mine warfare version of the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship

In any case, Dave and I have been chatting up an Enfilade naval scenario.  We originally thought we'd rerun a WWII naval game we'd hosted at ConQuest several years ago.   We've been reconsidering this, however as the crisis with Iran becomes ever more topical.  While we've done an interesting Strait of Hormuz game in the past, we're considering another.  With the new Littoral Combat Ships entering service and miniatures available from P.T. Dockyard and Cyber-hobby models, the period is available to be gamed.  We'll offer a menu of ship choices to the United States and probably a combination of Revolutionary Guard and Iranian Navy vessels to the Iranian players.  There will likely be objectives beyond reducing one or the other side to splinters.

Throndor class missile boat test firing new Iranian missile

Frankly, I find the entire Iran/Straits issue quite troubling.  By the time of Enfilade, the advanced sanctions and potential boycott of Iranian oil will be nearing implementation by the European Union and the United States.  Threats of war and rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran are likely to be regular features in the print and electronic media.  Is this a topic we should avoid for a convention game, or is a good game just a good game?

PT Dockyard goodies arrive!!

As I explained last week, I took advantage of the PT Dockyard Black Friday sale to order some new goodies. Among the arrivals was the Littoral Combat Ship LCS-1 Freedom. It is intended to provide support for coastal operations. Unfortunately the navy never reached a consensus on design, and the cost for the two completed LCS designs were ridiculously over budget. So much so, that the Littoral Combat Ship was cited by John McCain as an armed services boondoggle in the second presidential debate.

The model is pretty cool. It's huge compared to my other modern vessels, and comes with a helicopter in both stowed and flying mode.

I also ordered and received two of the new, but small Iranian vessels, and a pair of Fairmile B's. I've included a picture of the Freedom at its launching in 2006, as well as a size comparison shot of Freedom with an Iranian missile boat.

One more quick item. I received notice yesterday that the Puyallup Wargamers, a group of Warhammer Ancient Battles enthusiasts are now being chronicled by a blog. The blog is kept by Dean Hachimantaro and is simply entitled WAB Corner. If you are interested in WAB, the Puyallup Wargamers are very active, and are quite prolific. They have armies for the Dark Ages (using the Shield Wall supplement,) the Punic Wars, Samurai, and they are working on Hundred Years War armies, all well painted in 25mm. If WAB is your thing, I encourage you to keep tuned into WAB Corner. It is linked in my Blogs of Note.