Hexsides and Hand Grenades

Over the past weekend, I went ahead and replayed  Scenario 5 ("The Horn of Africa") from Gulf Strike again and I think I'm starting to understand it a little better.  Here are some random thoughts that occurred to me while playing it over: 1.)  The Soviets and USA going to war over Somalia.  Really?  In hindsight, that seems pretty far-fetched.  In 1983, however, it must have seemed like potential flashpoints were everywhere.  I still remember this . 2.)   The Soviet CG tailing the US carrier group:  The Soviet player needs to be careful here.  Firing off at the carrier group right away as part of an interception in the First Action Stage's Initiative player's Movement Phase will certainly result in the US player unleashing B-52s against unprotected Soviet bomber bases in Afghanistan or near the Black Sea.   The Soviet player needs to air ferry his Tu-26 bombers to Yemen or Ethiopia before doing anything else in this scenari...

If you've read much of my blog before, you'll know that I'm a huge fan of Victory Games' Gulf Strike .  After it sat on my shelf for the better part of a year, I picked it up and got it on the table.  It's a real gem of a game and I unfortunately got distracted by something else before I could seriously delve into it.  One of my first write-ups on Gulf Strike dealt with Scenario 5 - an unfinished report that for some reason still managed to get a lot of love.  I've been feeling a bit red-faced from that, so I've decided to go at it again and do a complete playthrough of the scenario. Setup: In this scenario, Soviet-backed Ethiopians are launching a major offensive against Somalia from hexes C-16 and D-17 against D-15 and D-18.   Each game turn, the Ethiopians will inflict 1 hit against these objective hexes, which will fall after incurring 4 hits.  The Americans can prevent hits from accumulating by inflicting 3 hits on the Ethiopian hexes C-16 and...