The newest Command LIVE scenario, the eerily timed The King of The Border, has been released.
New Command Scenario for Testing: Western Bastion
I have a new Command scenario for testing, Western Bastion. Here you can choose between either “actor” (older western) or “character” (eastern) nuclear submarines to try and enter the Gulf of Mexico against strong NATO opposition.
The relevant thread is here , be aware that it’s a rough draft as of now.
The 1990s Technothriller Flail
Having started the Fuldapocalypse Review Blog and being a natural reader, I’ve consumed a lot of books this year. Many have been technothrillers published in the period following the USSR’s fall and Gulf War. With the strongest foe lost, there was a big flailing around for opponents. Besides the traditional and still most credible Russians and Chinese, the foes also included, and were certainly not limited to:
- Real-life regional opponents like Iraq and North Korea
- Japan
- Western Europe
- Drug dealers
- American militias
- “Middle Eastern Coalition” amalgams
This was not always a bad thing, and the quality of the book depended on a lot more than just how weird the opponent was. And I like weird, unconventional opponents. One of the joys of Command’s scenario editor is how a fight against such a foe can be made just as easily as a great power megaclash.
Aircraft paint schemes
A lot of aircraft paint schemes are in either the “dull but practical” or “deliberately showy” category. Then you have one of my personal favorites, used briefly by Moldova for MiG-29s.
This Fulcrum, in the process of being shipped to the US as part of a purchase deal, has a very green color scheme. A lot of Soviet-era aircraft have a “ground color on top to help camouflage when viewed from above and blue underneath to help when viewed from below” paint scheme. This has a dark green on top and light, seafoam green on the bottom color.
MiG-29s have displayed some very interesting color schemes over the years, and there’s a site that has chronicled them with excellent illustrations. I like interesting footnotes like this.
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words: OPFOR Strike Package
From page 313/chapter 10-19 in the Heavy OPFOR Operational Art handbook, a look at a strike package in a concise, illustrated way.
This sample package features 20 MiG-27s supported by ten MiG-23s, six MiG-29s, and eight Yak-28PPs. The latter have a particularly unenviable job, specialist aircraft like themselves are always in low supply and very high demand.
For the “other side of the hill”, discussing high-intensity NATO air operations in a similar time period, I recommend Air Battle Central Europe.