[Mode]

Buh-buh-but... Gnats! Sabres! Mysteres! Canberras! C-130 bombers! F-104s! Men with moustaches!

Don't forget the Hunter - possibly the most beautiful British jet design ever.

Anyway, wouldn't the logical next game after Bomber Command be about the 8th AF day bombing raids? A nice title would be Reichsverteidigung - I imagine an almost infinite number of ways to misspell or mispronounce it...    

[Lee Brimmicombe-Wood]

Don't forget the Hunter - possibly the most beautiful British jet design ever.

How could I have forgotten? Yes!

Anyway, wouldn't the logical next game after Bomber Command be about the 8th AF day bombing raids?

No, for two reasons:

(a) It has been done to death. Do I really need to reinvent the wheel? I'm not fond of treading old ground. The only reason I did a Battle of Britain game was that there was no game like the one I made--all the other titles being op-scale treatments with superficial raid resolution. I would need to find a novel hook--something no one else has done before--and I don't see that in the daylight raids.

(b) It's boring. Unlike the night raids, where there is a certain amount of cat-and-mouse and deception, the daylight raids make for more of a straightforward force-on-force battle, in which big raids biff their way past the opposition. There are a lot fewer decision points and even more attrition than the night game.

[EvilSpook]

I'm trying to decide what game to design next.

I would like a "modern/post WWII" generic game in the style of Air-Superiority/Strike where you model an entire air campaign (1-6 weeks or so). Scale could be like the Fleet series (time/air units) and Downtown (map scale).

The players should then plan and execute the air war and generate/defend against sorties, pusuing different objectives (dependeing on scenario), while managing resouces like ammo, aircraft and pilots...

It would be nice to choose whether (at what time, and to what degree) to strike the enemy airforce on the ground, fight it in the air, destroy his Command/Control, destroy infrastructure, troops, tanks or simply fighting a media war.

Different scenarios would be covering the Arab/Israeli wars, Indo/Pakistan, Gulf War, former Yugoslavia, and a few hypthetical ones...

I would buy it  

//EvilSpook

[jonjac]

What about an air war game about an hypothetical attack by Soviet Union against Sweden during the (late) cold war?

I would buy that!

[Micke G]

What about an air war game about an hypothetical attack by Soviet Union against Sweden during the (late) cold war?

I would buy that!

I was just going to reply in this thread and post the same suggestion

[Sten Ekedahl]

What about an air war game about an hypothetical attack by Soviet Union against Sweden during the (late) cold war?

I would buy that!

You beat me to it!. That is an idea I've been thinking about on and off for the past 20 or so years.

[Lee Brimmicombe-Wood]

Okay, so I need some education here. What would be the likeliest targets for the Soviets, and what approaches would they employ?

[Elias Nordling]

The general idea was that since the overland route went through Finland and then through an eternity of easily defended wilderness, an invasion of Sweden (as opposed to a shortcut towards Norway) would have to come from the sea. Likely invasion areas were the Gävle area, Norrköping, Södertälje and a land grab of Gotland. An invasion armada would be vulnerable to air attack, which is why the Swedish air force and its biffy attack squadron was considered the most valuable asset. Early detection would be of utmost importance of course, so the entire Swedish coast was plastered with radars. It was realized that the Russians had pretty few effective amphibious ships, so only a few hits were needed to pull the pmug out of the invasion. At one time , it was considered to arm the attack squadron with nukes, but they eventually realized it didn't really help much and would open a world of hurt.

[EvilSpook]

Okay, so I need some education here. What would be the likeliest targets for the Soviets, and what approaches would they employ?

This is my personal take on it...

From the 60-ies and on, Sweden was very much a NATO member.  More so than Denmark and Norway. The likeliest war scenarios was part of the all out WWIII. The following were considered likely.

* All out invasion of Scandinavia (Collapsing the Northern front)
* Limited campaign against northern Norway/Sweden to secure basing for ships and aircraft.
* Pincher operation against Norway - Attack in the north combined with a passage through southern/western Sweden towards Oslo.
* Attack on Norway - Passage through Finland/Sweden to avoid Lyngen defense.
* Invasion of Finland - Sweden would provide forces if the Finns fought.
* A separate attack on Sweden - was considered unlikely.

From the 70-ies to the middle 80-ies the political side of the NATO-alliance gradually fell apart. The military alliance however was still very strong. In 1985 Palme was faced with a failed neutraliy policy towards the Soviet union.  The Soviets regarded Sweden as a NATO member and he probably faced threats from the soviets regarding nuclear annihilation at the start of WWIII - this really freaked out the Swedish government.
Large NATO and Soviet excercises were held in the Norwegian sea/baltic during 1985 to emphasize the strategic importance of the area - and likely influence domestic policy in the Nordic countries.

NATO and the US played hard ball with Sweden on several military issues:
* SOSUS installation in the baltic
* Guaranteed overflight of cruise missiles and bombers over the entire Swedish territory.
* Use of Swedish arms smuggling routes to the middle earth and south Asia.

All these demands was not met by Palme in fear of the Soviets. Necessary missiles for Viggen (Aim-9L) was embargoed and there Palmes intended international (UN) career was uncertain. Also - after Able Archer (1983) - the US Nuclear retaliation was no longer likely and even conventional US intervention/support in case of war was doubtful. The Swedish political will to fight and risk ruin even more so.

Under these circumstances the following scenarios were more likely than before.  
* Separate Invasion of Sweden (Using Finnish transit, multiple landings, airborne troops etc.).
* Securing of bases and AD-network in Sweden (vs cruise missiles)
* Limited assault on Gotland/Åland.
* State coup (Kuppanfall) using Spetsnaz (Yes - Spetsnaz was the no.1 enemy in 1985!!!!).
* Suppression of the Swedish Airforce.
* Threats of Nuclear devastation in general (Likely in combination with Norwegian campaign.
* Various political or crises oriented operations (Swedish military was very provocative).

The situation was pretty messy for the Swedes and the Social democrats was bothered by internal politics as well. The Swedish military was openly accusing Palme of treason. Once Palme was shot in 1986 the government almost immediatly choose the NATO side politically as well, and the Soviet pressure disappeared (due to Reagan and Gorbachov).

Hope that gave som inspiration.

The problem for creating a game is that there are som many BIG uncertainties with HUGE impact. Will NATO intervene? Is Finland an ally or a speedbump? How long will Sweden need to order a mobilization...?
What are the Soviets up to?

Regards!
//EvilSpook

[jonjac]

* Use of Swedish arms smuggling routes to the middle earth and south Asia.

The problem for creating a game is that there are som many BIG uncertainties with HUGE impact. Will NATO intervene? Is Finland an ally or a speedbump? How long will Sweden need to order a mobilization...?
What are the Soviets up to?

But so much fun!

[EvilSpook]

* Use of Swedish arms smuggling routes to the middle earth and south Asia.

Yes - we sponsored Sauron and his Empire of Evil....

//EvilSpook

[Sten Ekedahl]

My idea is more of a pure air game, along the lines of BB, DT and EV. Almost everything in Sweden prior to 1985 is now declassified; radars, airbases, SOC's, air units, AA-units, etc. so it should not be too difficult to collect the OOB's. I can see the possibility of four scenarions, one for each decade starting with the 50's, reflecting the differences in equipment.

[Elias Nordling]

Yes, I can really see the naval invasion scenario as an interesting air game scenario, with a strong element of electronic warfare.

[Lee Brimmicombe-Wood]

* Use of Swedish arms smuggling routes to the middle earth and south Asia.

So it was you lot supplying the fucking Hobbits with Bofors!

[EvilSpook]

So it was you lot supplying the fucking Hobbits with Bofors!

Yep - it's where they got their name. (Haubits means Howitzer in Swedish).
The most famous one was "FältHobbit 77".

   
//EvilSpook