I’ve been invited to participate in a high level wargame based on current events, where I’ll be roleplaying as the Iranian team starting two weeks prior to the initial airstrikes.We are using a heavily modified version of GMT’s Next War: Iran, which includes Israel and updated modern equipment. The simulation also features a significant political strategy component.Given the asymmetric nature of the conflict, the scenario feels quite fucked. Beyond the initial setup, do you have any specific recommendations for Iranian grand strategy or political maneuvering in this system? I’m looking for ways to maximize my leverage before the kinetic phase begins and any tricks that can come up to your mind.It frankly looks kind of hopeless.
>>64952834Yes, get a million speedboats with advanced missile systems and AI pornbos to seduce politicians and sink all the carriers
>>64952834Can you just say no when they add up the score? It works in real life but usually games don't allow that
Keep the IRGC from chimping out. If you've got simulation of which Gulf states are or aren't allowing bases on their soil to participate, fucking listen. Your closest thing to a hope is to turn it into a shitshow for the US as fast as possible, which means serviceman casualties. If they give you a realistic chance to hit an American ship, drop EVERYTHING to do it.
>>64952834Literally the only thing Iran has done with meaningful effect on their opponents is announcing the closure of Hormuz. So do that.
>>64952848USA's weakness is either the civilian part or the allies (arabs or europe).No idea how to use that though. On one hand it seems good to focus on USA's regional allies or to blow up some euorpean shit for them to bitch and moan in the open, but at the same tiem it might make them more willing to support USA.
>>64952834Keep up the economic pressure. The more expensive things get for Americans, the worse Trump will due in the midterms. Take pot shots on American and Israeli forces when you can, ignore the other Arab states so you can drive a wedge in their war support. And most importantly, try to stay alive.
Do something crazy. Like attack China. Then blame the attack on Israel. Claim Mossad agents snuck in and launched ballistic missiles at China. If that fails just blow up every tanker ship you can.
>>64952834if you want third parties to pressure the US and Israel into stopping you are going to have to keep the Straight of Hormuz closed for weeks if not months on end.to that end you'd probably both want to pressure other golf states not to allow US forces using them as staging grounds for attacks on Iran and concentrating assets in the south east of Iran.this will leave sites linked to the nuclear program and Tehran exposed
>>64952901no one will play with you again
>>64952922Should provide good role playing opportunities. An alternate would be to declare war on Azerbaijan, since Iran attacked them for some reason in the last couple of days. Of course then you’ll probably be drawing in Turkey, which still might be an improvement over US & Israel.
I’m considering a strategy of extreme dispersal and strategic attrition rather than a direct kinetic defense. Given that the Allied win condition likely requires a stable "successor state," I suspect they’ll be hesitant to level critical civilian infrastructure (power/water).I’m looking for feedback on this "Porcupine" approach:Manufacturing & Logistics: Since I can't build deep enough to outrun bunker busters in 14 days, I’m planning to decentralize drone assembly into urban basements and civilian centers. I’ll rely on "gray market" components (Chinese/Russian) via the Caspian and land routes through Pakistan/Turkmenistan. How do you handle the logistics of large TELs/missiles that can't be hidden in a garage?Economic Levers: My plan is to use drones and mines to keep the Strait contested and poke at regional oil assets. The goal isn't a kill, but to keep global oil prices high enough to trigger international political fatigue.Psychological Attrition: I’m considering "The Siren Strategy" low yield but frequent regular strikes on Israel. Even if they are intercepted, the goal is to trigger constant sirens to disrupt sleep, work, and morale until the domestic cost of the war becomes unbearable.The "Hollow Victory": If I lay low, scatter the army, and refuse to give them a "Big Battle" to win, can I just wait out the Allied political clock? If I let them claim a "victory" while keeping my machinery hidden, do I effectively win the long game once they pull out?Has anyone tried a "LowBoast/High Friction" strategy in this system? Any tips on protecting factories or managing the political "Will to Fight" track would be appreciated.
Mass light missile craft spamIf they go boots on the ground, Taliban the shit outta themJust send all ur missiles at Israel lul.
>>64952901Good point. Any realistic way to drag China into the conflict?
>>64952834Closing the straits using AShM or drones was always a meme since you need ISR for it. Your doomsday play is to sortie out with what ever you can and start laying mines INSIDE of the Persian Gulf. preferably around Iraq/Kuwait, letting the current carry them to the costal waters of the Gulf states. While cargo ships can and do run the straits with their transponder off, no one is going in when there are mines floating and an operation to clean them up is a massive undertaking
>>64952834>It frankly looks kind of hopeless.I agree, no way for the US to win this.
>>64952834Light speed uninterceptable bicycle message carriers relay perfect, real time targeting data to a thousand speedboats mounting anti shipping BrahMoses that dually are mad dogged but somehow target discriminate over the horizon.
>>64953027>>64952922
>>64952834Just dig down and wait.
>>64953031Just go to a news org afterwards and claim that you're being unfairly discriminated in your tabletop gaming scenario.
>>64952834Not sure what the objective you've been given to accomplish is or the scope of operations that your blufor is allowed to carry out but Iran's best course of 'victory' is in denying the US its objectives more than accomplishing its own. In a defensive war you don't have to win as such, just not lose for long enough.>>64952933The long game idea is good but you probably need to find out more about how this is being GM'd before you commit. Well realistically the long game is the only game but you know what I mean.
>>64952834disperse your military assets but keep them on hand to kill any protests as soon as they arise.keep the hormuz under that much threat that insurance costs are too high for real commercial use and fire a occasional bm and shasneed at some base.a revolution is the only way the american side is realistically going to win. just keep yourself in power.time is on your side
>>64952834Just be like chinks. Do nothing, suck big american dick to soothe and lower your predator's aggressiveness and be a good wage slave.Imagine you go to a shop and the shop gives you a loan so you can buy whatever you want. The shop then keeps giving you new loans so you can repay old loans and buy stuff forever. Basically you get everything for free and the shop is your debtee slave. That's China.
>>64952834Mine the absolute piss out of the straight and do whatever you can to be able to saturate it with missile/drone spam. Blowing your wad on Israel/the other gulf states is almost pointless as most get intercepted and if they don't, accomplish little.
>>64952834>iran has 11kg of weapons grade uranium per their own negotiators prior to current hostilities Make a dirty bomb, radiologically contaminate Mecca, blame da jooos.
>>64953219one of those iranian cluster ballistic missiles filled with canisters of powdered uranium would be a bad day let's hope they don't do that
>>64953219the heretics have moved past their al-Jannabi pastnow they avoid Mecca and Medina. maybe they can radiologically contaminate riyadh? idk
>>64952834Focus on Israel, avoid attacking other Arab states and try to frame all your actions as being anti-Israeli, with the goal of trying to rope other Arab states into joining you framed as a jihad as part of the third intifada. It was Saddam's plan in Gulf War I and it didn't work for him but honestly it's probably the only thing with any kind of chance of success.
>>64952901Attack India instead. Drag them into the war and then watch friendly fire incidents skyrocket.
What happened to that NATO board game creation competition?
>>64953219do shia muslims go to the mecca like sunni muslims? t. clueless american
>>64953270>Focus on Israel, avoid attacking other Arab states and try to frame all your actions as being anti-Israeli, with the goal of trying to rope other Arab states into joining you framed as a jihad as part of the third intifada.This is STUPID.The arab states are on the American gravy train, they have been for decades now, and they won't even consider switching sides, especially with zero actual pressure on them.What Iran is actually doing is much smarter, and it works precisely because the Americans and Israelis didn't bother telling the gulf states what was going down ahead of time (would have caused aura loss or something, I'm not gonna pretend to understand these guys)It works in that the gulf states, despite being bombed by Iran, are actually mad at the Americans for starting shit without having a way to wrap it up quickly.And bombing these gulf bases is also your main method of causing American fatalities, a key political objective to make the war unpopular in the USA.Anyway, OP is in a tough spot because simply put, the US-Israeli side has much more control than he does over how the actual war will go.Bomb the bases, do whatever you have to do to keep the straight closed (drones probably the best tool for the job), keep the IRGC happy because they de facto run the country, liaise with the Russians and Chinese for whatever you can get from them, and keep the Europeans out of it. That last point is the only one the actual Iranian govt has chosen poorly on imo.OP should consider it a victory if they manage to force US-Israel to launch a ground invasion, especially if they must do so without support from any European powers. After that, like I said, unfortunately you just don't have as much control as they do over the outcome.
>>64952834It's time for ethnic cleansing. Kill every non-Iranian in your country and you'll finally have a stable country.
>>64952834>glaze over new additions and modifications like it doesn't tip the balance and changes how winning conditions can be met>Make no attempts to add modifications for iran based on observation or speculation >Oh shits feels fucked without estimating why numerous dumbest plans like why go A and hold won't work>Think me a strategyAre you sure you want to play, win or be helped? It is a victory point game so just think of how to take and deny hex that matters.
I wonder if actually making a few dirty bombs using the leftover nuclear material, hitting a remote military target with one just to show you aren't bluffing would affect the public in the region. 'While dirty bombs would effectively kill almost nobody they can force an 2 year long evacuation of several square miles while the area is cleaned up.Would surely affect any city economy if used and it works even if intercepted over a city by something like the iron dome as it just needs to disperse some nuclear waste around. It would be very unimpressive but people freak out instantly when they hear radiation even if the average dose would only be dangerous if don't evacuate within a week or two. Besides the game I wonder if something like that would cause Israel to nuke Iran and what would happen if it was used on Dubai or some military base.The Iranian hypersonics as of now reach their target trough air defenses about 85% to 91% of the time so it would be quite reliable.
>>64952834the situation was as obvious now as it was 47 years ago, just surrender
Amass all forces in a layered central defense, resist the urge to missile spam Tel Aviv in counter/anger, and push overehelming sized drone waves on the most valuable targets.I'm assuming your task is to play out a "what if they were competent instead of turd IQ jihadists."Being handed an utterly unwinnable situation, your only options are play the game as a game and just get points, turtle and holdout to delay your real life opponent, or get dangerously creative and do ridiculous shit of the types mentioned in the thread.Personally I'm fond of a death zerg rush to deploy a 1,000 wave of shitsneeds at a carrier while dirty bombing Israel with the entire stock of unfinished uranium. You want the holy land you can have it. For the next 2000 years you can pat yourself on the back for keeping it.
>>64952933>requires a stable "successor state"Nero Decree this shit.
>>64952901Too hard, level Turkeiiyu-stanistan.
>>64952834Turn every scrap and dime into naval mines and vomit them into the ocean as fast as possible
>>64952834gas your civilians if you ever gain any advantage
>>64953219>dirty bombThey can make a nuke outright, it'll just be less efficient
>>64952834What's stopping the American player from YOLO and launching an actual invasion with boots on the ground? Game master fiat? I guess you could always do a Saddam and threaten to bomb Israel if it looks like America is going to invade, that should be enough to allow the GM to reign in an aggressive US player. Given that all those strikes on neighboring countries achieved absolutely nothing except reducing your arsenal, I think your best bet is just to sit tight and use the threat of using your stockpile to ward off any escalation.
>>64952834Increase the fuck out of targeting regional US allies' infrastructure like desalination plants, making the US look like dogshit allies to everyone who isn't wearing a tiny hat. Put a wedge between regional allies, the US, and Israel. Make US allies ask why they aren't getting the same treatment the juden get. Appeal to your fellow Shias in the region to put pressure on their government and escalate to uprisings in pro-western states if need be.This encourages US base closure.Continue bombardment of Israel.Mine the Straits of Hormuz.This will accelerate the US ground invasion.It will be incredibly unpopular at home from the get-go because the jews didn't bother to run a mass trauma event to spur enlistment/pro-invasion sentiment this time.Move to insurgency and asymmetrical warfare.In 5-10 they leave.Congratulations, you won.
>>64957943Iran is almost three times the size of Texas. Your supply lines are going to be fucked.
>>64952940Use bottom mines. Floating mines are for show, to let people know "there are mines here". Bottom mines are for sinking ships.
>>64952834>>64952933Depends on the rules and objectives of the wargame ofc, but big picture wise you only need to survive to "win". Any scenario where you end up still in charge at the end is enough. No need to try to naruto run head first into a carrier.Don't concern yourself with dealing militaty defeats to the US. If you have an opportunity go for it, but don't try to pry open US ships. Go for the oil infrastructure, make sure the straight gets as closed as you can. Don't go for far away stuff just because the manual says it's within range. try to put a tanker on the bottom of the straight. Your desired end state isn't a US admiral on signing an unconditional surrender on your shitty torpedo boat. For comparison: your "decisive victory" is 12% unemployment in the US and $14/gal gasoline. Re: US/israeli aircraft: you want to give them a scud hunting problem.Disperse and distribute launchers and stockpiles as much as you can as far apart as you can. Don't stay in one place. Scoot, shoot and reload and do it again. you have a big country, use it.SAMbush with whatever AA you have. You want the US to have to generate the maximum numbers of sorties as possible.This is a marathon and not a sprint for you. You want to draw this out as much as possible.Lean on the russians and chinese to get support.
>>64953270This is really hard to pull off if you're Iran; the Sunni arab nations hate your Shi'ite Persian guts almost as much as they hate the Jews (maybe even more). Plus, Trump spent his first term getting the arab governments to play nice with Israel under the Abraham Accords, and there seems to be a generational move away from the religious fundamentalism that drove the last 40 years (except maybe in Egypt). I won't say it's impossible, but it's pretty unlikely unless you have working nukes.
>>64952834I guess already try to have your naval forces sortied so they can at least put up some resistance. Submarines could definitely harass tankers and quickly put economic pressure.And while there's a gap in rocket/missile ranges, try to consolidate valuable targets and overwhelm them. Not just scattered attacks towards ports and hotels. Iran isn't going to get material support, but shared intel lets them know what bases have US/Israeli aircraft.
>>64952834use ground forces against us fobs and airfields in iraq, try to take hostages. thats your only hope. do general ripper esque communication and only move forces at night
Tell the Chinese that if they give you some hypersonic anti-ship missiles you’ll be willing to provide them with valuable test data.
>>64952834You are just fishing for ideas because you guys are clueless as to how to actually win against Iran.
>>64952834>GMT’s Next War: Iran,My god that looks awesome.
>>64952834Don't let your fleet sink in port like the real one. The ships are going to be sunk when it goes hot regardless, so sortie them while they still exist so that when hostilities initiate they can immediately screen (not just figuratively, make smoke with your sanctioned oil before that also burns/is stolen) your speedboats mining the Strait of Hormuz. Every hour it stays closed inflicts billions of dollars in economic losses, primarily to the warmakers rather than your Islamic neighbors. Make enough billionaires hurt and the nation-states they own will cry uncle and pull back.
Do you get to use the Iranian Tomcat?
>>64959834Oh, it's a ground invasion scenario. Well, fug, there goes 95% of the thread advice.
>>64964451In that case study Maori versus British tactics, Japanese WWII tactics, and maybe Vietnamese tactics. Probably heavy use of tunnels and concealed artillery/drone/mortar positions. Essentially force them into a very slow advance that prevents them from utilizing combined arms to their fullest.
>>64952834The wincon is so easy I find it hard to believe no one in the US military has not figured it out.Just occupy the iranian gulf coast. No more oil money, no more bothering the strait, permanent challenge to the regimes right to rule.The area is not densely populated, due to climate and geography there are no major cities, so next to no urban warfare. The minority arab area is can be liberated in its entirety, making arabs allies happy. Clearly and publicly state that you will give the non-arab part of the occupied territory back when Teheran becomes a democracy, further channeling the forces of change you want without having to march on the capital.
>>64952834Hot box IRGC troops with civilians, leverage goodwill with the Chinese and Russians and try to secure as much water and ammunition as possible.
>>64952834forget israel (too far and too well defended), attack the more exposed arab countries and sink all the fuel tankers you can find.if you're not going to win the only option left is to cause as much damage as possible.the hope is to cause enough damage to the markets that the US position will become untenable.i dont see other ways out, your chain of command will be dead in the first 12hrs of the war anyway and your country left as an empty shell.
>>64952847came to say thisit's the rules of asymmetric warfare, operate where your opponent has the least expertise and make it a war of attrition
>>64952834Just close the Strait. It demonstrably leads to impotent seething and plans to stop the war within a week.
HOLY SHIT ZION ARMY IS TOO STRONKIRAN BTFOOOGLORY TO ISRAEL AND THE 3RD TEMPLE
>>64953219dirty bomb contamination radius is 1/100 that of a nuke, In practice it won't do much except contaminate a few buildings and will result in WW3 with the entire world against Iran.
Iran can't really lose, can it? Just threaten the strait. What's the US going to do, deploy fifty thousand Marines to secure a fifteen by fifty stretch of coastline? And then another 50k for the next 50x15?It's not about who inflicts the most but who can most endure. Just go Vietnam on they ass.
>>64967736>Russia and China will totally teleport in materiel support to save Iran like they did for Vietnam!Thirdie-kun... I...
>>64967758Please point to the land border that Russia shares with Vietnam.
>>64967736That's actually exactly what the game scenario is.
>>64952834Blame everything on Israel and only attack Israel, not even the US even though they're bombing you. And make this known.
>>64967799>Ignoring China's land border that it shares with Vietnamgg anon surely the two communist nations weren't working together
Iran's one-and-only strategy is to use a combination of OWA drones and USVs to keep the Strait closed and hit vital infrastructure in the region to inflict as much economic pain as possible on the Gulf States, the US, and US allies. If you can keep the Strait blocked indefinitely, the economic pain felt by the Gulf states will turn into a serious political issue which will erode the stability of their regimes. It will also undermine what remains of Trump's support in the US. With enough pain, either Trump will TACO or the Gulf states will cry uncle. Everything revolves around keeping the Strait closed, though.
>>64952834Ah yes, the obvious honeypot. What do you guys think? CIA? Iranian? FSB trying to save the last member of the Ruski Mir?
>>64967758Russia is the biggest beneficiary of this war. They'll want it to continue for as long as possible to keep oil prices high and save their economy, and cause pain to the US and Europe which will hopefully limit their support for Ukraine. China is less likely to support Iran, but if they have eyes on Taiwan in the near future, they may assist to keep the US occupied and wasting resources on Iran that they could otherwise use in defense of Taiwan.
>>64967758Russia and China if they want can supply via Turkmenistan and all the US can do is try and cajole and threaten Turkmenistan, but it's not like we have a lot of leverage points. This is not as easy or as plentiful as by sea, and Iran's mountainous nature is detrimental but we're talking cheap home depot drones and the like rather than heavy scud missiles. We are basically fighting the Taliban except we don't have an allied government occupying their territory, we don't have boots on the ground (yet lol) and instead of being locked away in the hills of the Hindu Kush the Taliban is able to control a vital energy conduit and are so threatening that we are literally AFRAID TO SEND OUR NAVY IN RIGHT NOW TO CONVOY RUN IT. Because we know it would be a disaster. And our advice to the oil shippers is just>lol do it faggot>SERPENTINE! SERPENTINE>Some of you will make it!It's what >>64967837 said. Yuge mess.
>>64952834Hi Anon,Assuming this is real, how did you get into the position to play one of these war games, I'd much rather be on the organising/developing side but there seems to be very little on how to manage that aside from be a high up in the military/policy makingAny tips would be much appreciated>TQOffer all your oil to the chinese for small arms and anti armour weapons, completely disperse your military into small cells capable of producing their own drones and make the american attempt at a beach head to secure the straight an absolute miserySkip pissrael and dump everything into scaring the shipping and insurance companies by hitting ports and onloading points, the more you can squeeze the rest of the world financially the sooner the americans have to try and secure a beachhead which can be hopefully easier pickings for crushing support with casualties
>>64967871Russia can (and does) supply Iran directly via the Caspian.
>>64952834Do basically everything they're doing right now.Systematically demolish radars and missile defenses, target military infrastructure, mine the strait.>the scenario feels quite fuckedFor Iran? There's a reason the US hasn't wanted to do this for 40 years. Chill, bombard, and drone. Shoot anything that comes to clear the mines in the strait.The biggest thing to be prepared for is that wargamers are typically far more aggressive and tolerant of extreme losses than real commanders, and the impact on global commodity markets will probably be understated by the system.
>>64967875He's a fat old boomer with a military fetish taking a FEMA online class and acting like the TTX where you deploy some firetrucks is a wargame.
