From the rules: “Somali Pirates is a wargame set in a hypothetical Coalition campaign to destroy the power of pirates based in Somalia, as well as to otherwise gain control of that country. The assumption of the game is that the pirates, in league with local warlords and Al Qaeda, have become strong enough to be an even bigger threat to the region than they are now. In response, various powers launch military action against them.“
I have set the game up and what follows is a replay. The game begins with a random number of Netwar Points. This game each side will start with 90 points. (I rolled a die and the result is 50 additional Netwar points for each side.)
The Pirates have all four of their factions active at no charge. Then the Coalition pays 20 Netwar points to activate the African Union, the Somali Transitional Federal Government, the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa, and the Joint Special Operations Task Force. The Pirates also expend Netwar points to build additional units. At this point both sides have 70 Netwar points left.
Turn One
Since both sides are tied in Netwar points, the Pirates have initiative. They decide to play first. I am not certain yet whether this is a good idea for them. During the Mutual Mobilization Phase, the Coalition player spends 10 Netwar points and purchases 4 Netwar chits. The Pirates buy 3 chits.
Somali Pirates Player Turn
All four of the Pirate factions move. The Somali Pirates have the Southern Somali Faction, the Puntland Faction and the Somaliland Faction as well as Al Qaeda. The Somali attack craft focus on raiding the coastal waters while a few ground units look to attack the Somali Transitional Government formations on land. Al Qaeda also pulls away from of Djibouti.
There will be some combat. In the Indian Ocean, Zone 9, the Southern Somali faction has a number of attack ships. These will perform a raid. This is done on the Asymmetrical CRT. I have divided the attack into two smaller groups. The first one has no result, but the second attack is a minor success, obtaining the Loot result. This nets three Netwar points. (67 points).
The Southern Somali pirates try the same method in Indian Ocean, Zone 6.
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The attack ships and mother ship combine into a large raiding force but this results in a Fiasco. One of the Somali units is destroyed.
The Puntland faction also sets its sights on raiding. A large group of attack craft enters the Indian Ocean in Zone 3. The attack ships divide into two separate forces. The first attack results in Hostages, earning 7 Netwar points. The second attack also results in Hostages and 9 more Netwar points. The Somali Pirates have tallied 83 Netwar points thus far.
Another raid in Indian Ocean, Zone 1, has no effect. The Pirate faction in Somaliland has also sent out a force of raiders in the Gulf of Adan West. This sea area has Coalition Task Force 151. It has an asymmetrical rating of “1” so it will reduce the effectiveness of the raid, somewhat. There is no effect.
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Next, the Southern Somali warlord leads a conventional attack against the Somali Provisional units deployed in Central Mogadishu. There is only a weak Somali garrison unit there. The attack maxes out the Kinetic CRT. The result is Overkill. The garrison is destroyed, and the Coalition gains 2 Netwar points.
Coalition Player
Next up is the Second Player, the Coalition forces. First, the com-mander of the African Union forces decides to move out from Kenya. Two infantry and a heavy unit move into Kismaayo. There are three pirate attack ships harboring underground there. The underground units do not contest control of the area. During the combat phase, the Coalition commander expends an ISR chit to allow the African Union forces to
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use the Kinetic Attack CRT against the Somali attack ships, which are underground. The combat result is Very Effective Action. The Somali ships are destroyed. The Coalition adds 6 Netwar points to his index (68 points).
Next, the Joint Special Operations Task Force launches two attacks against the coastline positions. Two units attack Mogadishu Harbor, using the Kinetic CRT. This results in Indecisive Action. As a result, the pirates add 4 Netwar points. (87 points). The other attack at Garacao goes no better. Another Indecisive result and 4 more Netwar points to the pirates. (91 points).
The commander of the Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa, launches a series of attacks. The carrier aircraft strike Bargaal, using the Kinetic CRT. This is effective and a mother ship is destroyed. The
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Coalition collects 5 Netwar points. (73 points). The other attacks against the pirates in Berbera goes nowhere, with indecisive results. The pirates gain 6 more Netwar points. (97 points).
At the end of the turn, the Somali Pirates have 100 Netwar points to the Coalition’s 90. The Coalition player pays 2 points (88 points) to continue to the next turn.
Turn Two
The Somali Pirates have the initiative again. They choose to go first. The turn begins with the Mutual Mobilization Phase. Both players secretly make their purchases. The Coalition mobilizes the US Naval Forces Africa,s a 10 Netwar point expense. Additionally, the US Africa Command is added at the cost of 10 more points. Four Netwar chits are purchased for 10 points.
The Somali Pirates spend heavily to fund their next round of activity. By the end, the Coalition has 58 Netwar points and the Pirates have 57 points.
Somali Pirates Player Turn
The pirate commander plans on more raiding activity along the coast areas to recover Netwar points. Ships deploy into the Indian Ocean, Bab el Mandeb and the Gulf of Adan. Meanwhile, ground forces from the Somaliland faction move into oil country to deal with the Provisional Government units there. Al Qaeda moves into Dir.
The raids in the Indian Ocean do not go so well. The pirates lose two ships to the fiasco result and the other raids have little effect. One results in hostages and the pirates gain 6 Netwar points. The Somaliland ships raid into the Gulf of Adan West. There they
meet the an Amphibious Warfare Group and Task Force 151. The pirates cower in the face of the Coalition’s ships; the raid has no effect. In Bab el Mandeb, the pirate ships face Task Force 150 and the multi-nationals, which results in another no effect raid.
Next is the ground efforts. The Somaliland technical unit attacks the Provisional 3rd Brigade at the oil wells in Nogal. The attack is low odds and the pirate forces are repulsed with a military disaster. The Coalition gains one Netwar point.
The Al Qaeda units at Dir uses Asymmetrical warfare against the Coalition units. The terrain in the area is rough, but this will have no effect. The Al Qaeda player expends an ISR chit and attempts a Spectacular Terrorist Attack. The Coalition uses the
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Then a carrier air strike against EYL results in a disaster. Several air units are damaged and the pirates gain a significant bonus in Netwar points. The pirate player expends an Info War chit to double the points to 16 Netwar.
The 1/101 and the 12th Helo (trans-ports) land at Bargaal. This is an urban area with a port. The landing seems to be unopposed. Then at Berbera, the CJTFHOA (Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa) launches a kinetic attack against the pirate base. This is a very effective action. The base and infantry unit are both destroyed. The Coalition player adds 5 Netwar points.
The Coalition adds points for control of areas. This raises his total Netwar points to 93 points. The Pirates also have some areas under their control. This raises the Pirate Netwar index to 87 points.
Black Ops chit to negate the ISR play. That puts an end to the terrorist plot!
So this turn didn’t go as well for the Somali Pirates. Although they gained 6 points to one in Netwar, they lost 7 points worth of units (the cost to rebuild) and it is still the Coalition’s turn.
Coalition Player Actions
The Coalition decides to make an effort to gain control of the Mogadishu Airport. Special forces units are sent from the Diego Garcia base. These units are airmobile and have the range to get to Mogadishu. Then, from the south in Kismaayo, the African Union sends a heavy and a light unit to join in the attack. Since the JSOTF (Joint Special Operations Task Force) can cooperate freely, there is no need to expend a Joint Operations chit. The 75th Ranger and the Task Force-A
special forces lead the way. The Kinetic CRT is used and the result is an Effective Action. One of the pirate infantry formations is destroyed. The other retreats underground. The Coalition gains a Netwar point.
Next, a carrier air strike is carried out against the pirate forces in Central Mogadishu. There is a warlord in the city and he doubles the heavy unit’s strength. The result is an Indecisive Action. In Mogadishu Harbor, the pirates have ships underground. The CIA units attempt to flush them out of hiding with a counter-insurgency mission. This attack is completely ineffective though.
The USNAVAF (US Naval Forces Africa) makes what appears to be an unopposed landing in the urban area of Xarardheerye. There is no fighting. Meanwhile, naval patrols are work-ing in various Indian Ocean zones.
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Turn 3
Three points are expended by the Coalition to continue the game. The Coalition has the initiative this turn and chooses to be second player. There are advantages to either, but the Coalition would rather have the oppor-tunity to react after seeing the pirate activity. Then both sides simultane-ously spend Netwar points for units and Netwar chits. The Coalition player buys three Netwar chits. The pirates spend, spend, spend on recruiting. By the end, the Coalition has 87 points to 60 points of the Somali Pirates.
Somali Pirate Player Turn
The pirates have a number of forces that are operating underground. Many do not want to come out into the open in areas where there is a large enemy presence. Various operations are carried out, however. The Somaliland
faction sends a number of ships out to raid in Zone 3 of the Indian Ocean. There is an enemy naval presence there, but they have poor asymmetrical values against raids. This time the raid is successful. The pirates take hostages and seize ships. This nets them 10 Netwar points. The pirates use an Info War chit and double the points.
Then a Puntland warlord leads an attack in the urban area of Garoowe. This area has one of the Somali Governments ad hoc brigades defending. The pirates use the Kinetic Attack CRT and destroy the Somali heavy unit, gaining the Pirates additional Netwar points.
In another raid, one of the mother ships is lost and the Coalition gains on their Netwar Index. The pirate player launches an attack against the government garrison on Mudug. There is valuable oil works here. The Somali
Government forces are defeated again and the pirate players Netwar Index climbs high. Another attack in Mogal is successful, eliminating the Somali Governmental units there. The pirates finally fail in an attack in Bossasso.
Pirate raids in the Gulf of Adan West yields no effect. In Berbera, the Somali pirates conduct a terrorist attack. This is a success and results in a Lead Story. The Coalition also loses the French 5th Marine Regiment. The Pirates now lead in the Netwar Index 100-83 points.
Coalition Player To start with the Coalition sends the JSOTF on a mission in Central Mogadishu. This attack goes fairly well, and the South Somali faction loses a technical unit. The base prevents any retreat however. The Coalition adds a minimal Netwar gain. Then a mother ship is destroyed in fighting at
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Turn Four
The Coalition spends 4 Netwar points to continue the campaign. The Somali Pirates have the initiative and want to go first. Both sides mobilize. The pirates recruit numerous forces which are dispersed throughout the area. The Coalition spends 20 Netwar points and mobilizes NATO units (based in the Mediterranean).
Somali Pirate Player Turn
The pirates launch ships from Puntland into the Indian Ocean. Here they perform raids and have outstanding success, capturing some ships. This earns them 8 Netwar points which they try to double by the play of Info War chit. The Coalition uses their Black Ops chit to negate this effect.
Next, the Puntland warlord leads his forces into a terrorist attack against the USNAVAF ships in the port at Garacao. To perform this operation, the pirates expend an ISR chit. The Asymmetrical CRT is used again. This time, things go south for the pirates quickly and they
Mogadishu Harbor. The Naval forces take out the pirate garrison at Haniye.
The harbor are Garacao is attacked next. There are several enemy ships there as well as ground forces. The battle results in sinking some of the attack craft and destroying an infantry
formation. An air strike against Eyl knocks out another group of pirate attack craft and a ground unit. The Pirates lose Netwar points. After cal-culating the areas under each player’s control, the turn finishes up with both sides back at 100 Netwar Index points.
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have a fiasco and consequently lose some points as well as units in the port.
The Puntland infantry launches an attack against the Somali Government Provisional units in Dharoor. These units are destroyed and the pirates collect Netwar points. The pirates in Somaliland launch an attack against the Coalition forces in Berbera. This happens to resolve as indecisive but the pirates claim four Netwar points.
Coalition Player Turn
The JOSTF begins with a kinetic assault on the Somali base in Central Mogadishu. The enemy base is overwhelmed and the Coalition gains Netwar points. An Info War chit is played to double the point loss. A second operation is performed by the JOSTF against the pirate forces in Dheye. This results
in overkill. The enemy infantry unit is destroyed. Nonetheless, the pirates gain in the Netwar Index.
Then the USNAVAF attacks the pirates in the Indian Ocean. The Somali pirates have made a mistake in having so many ships together. They pay for it this time too. Their entire fleet is wiped out along with a number of Netwar points.
Carrier aircraft fly a mission against the Somali base in Eyl. The USAFCOM (US Africa Command) manages to destroy the pirate base, but the overkill result neutralizes the Netwar effects. In Berbera, the CJTF Horn of Africa launches a massive Kinetic attack against the pirates in the city. The ene-my has a warlord present. Nonetheless, the Coalition wins and destroys much of the pirate force, but the overkill result gives the pirates some morale points.
The turn ends with the Coalition leading 99-79 in Netwar points.
Turn Five
The Coalition decides to extend the game, expending 5 Netwar points from their cache. Then the Coalition player decides to play second. During the Mobilization Phase, the Coalition plays the Somali Civil War chit. A die is rolled and this ends up having no effect. Although the Coalition does not mobilize any new forces, they do purchase four Netwar chits.
Somali Pirate Player Turn
The Somalis are starting to fall behind as the Coalition forces are learning how to deal with them. Several attack craft are sent out to the Indian Ocean. Here they encounter some of the USNAVAF forces. Despite the danger,
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these units perform a raid. This is rather successful too. Besides the loot, the pirates take hostages. This increases their Netwar tally by 8 points.
Another battle takes place in Berbera, where the Somalian warlord orches-trates a Spectacular Terror Attack. (A Spectacular Terror Attack is a type of Asymmetrical Warfare that the pirates can utilize). This results in another Lead Story. Some ships are damaged among the French Task Force. The pirates gain 11 Netwar points.
Coalition Player Turn
The JSOTF attempts a counterinsur-gency operation to flush the pirates out of Mogadishu Airport. The African Union formations lie in wait to perform a kinetic attack after the underground units are in the open. It wasn’t meant to be. The counterinsurgency opera-
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tion fails with no result. The African Union units in the same area end up waiting around. Next, the JSOTF and The USNAV Africa expends a Joint Operations chit allowing them to combine in their attack. They launch a High Value Target Operation against the Somali warlord in Shebele. This is a moderate success and the Coalition gains four Netwar points.
The Coalition Naval forces go after the pirate ships in the Indian Ocean. This results in Overkill and although the pirates lose some attack craft, they pick up some Netwar points.
The USAF Africa Command is on the ground in Dharoor. The Somali insurgents try to defend, though vastly out-numbered. As predicted, they are wiped out completely. The Coalition subtracts Netwar points from the pirates.
The CJTF Horn of Africa launches an all-out attack against the Somaliland warlord and his forces in Berbera. The pirates play their Tactical Edge chit to double their Kinetic strength but the Coalition rolls a “six”. This wipes out the entire force. The pirates also have the Terminally Stupid Algorithm chit. This allows for a re-roll. The Coalition throws down a Black Ops chit which cancels the pirate chit play. The warlord is killed, but it turns out that he wasn’t so great after all. (Rolled a “1” on his Netwar value!). The Coalition plays the Info War chit to take full advantage of the total victory. (24 points!)
Next, the action shifts to the area of Dir, where the NATO forces enter play. The Somaliland pirates have some units in the area, and they prepare to defend. The pirate player drops another Tactical Edge chit to double the kinetic strength of the Somaliland units. The Somali technical unit is destroyed, but the others retreat by going underground. As the last action, USAFCOM carrier aircraft fly in to perform an air strike against the pirates in Garoowe. This has no other effect than to give the surviving insurgents a 5 point boost in their Netwar index.
Both sides add their Netwar points for control of areas. The Coalition hits their index maximum at 100 Netwar points. The pirates have a total of 71 points. If the Coalition decides not to continue, then the Somali pirates will have to pay 6 Netwar points to continue with Game Turn 6. If they chose to end the game, then the Coalition will win a marginal victory. The Coalition may decide to pay to guarantee the next turn, hoping for a higher level of victo-ry. The pirates probably have reason to
continue to as things can turn around quickly due to negative press. Because of the length of this article, both players decide not to extend the game.
SummaryIt is clear that the Coalition can raise significant kinetic strength to win any battle it wants to, but nothing is guaranteed and even a marginal vic-tory on the battlefield may result in the pirates gaining on the Netwar Index.
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Somali Pirates Designer NotesBy Joseph Miranda
Somali Pirates in Modern War issue #3. The biggest issue in designing the game was in determining the system to be used. The objective was to show what might happen were today’s seafaring powers to launch a campaign to destroy the pirates who are using Somalia as a base for attacking merchant shipping on the nearby high seas. That’s an “asymmetric” situation if there ever was one. The pirates con-sist of lightly armed gangs, amounting to a few thousand individuals at most. Their “fleet” consists largely of civilian vessels armed with a few machineguns and RPG. Yet they’ve been able to sty-mie the efforts of the combined navies of several major powers to defeat them. Why this is so would have to be central to the treatment presented in the game. My first thought was to use a system similar to that of Russian Civil War, an updated version of which we recently published in Strategy & Tactics #267. That recommended itself mainly because of the chaos sub-system it used to determine command of forces. That fit in with my concept the game would have to include forces from several dif-
ferent powers as well as pirate factions. There would also be ground operations along with the main naval aspect, since the pirates are based on land, and any campaign against them would have to include those bases. That, in turn, meant drawing in the assorted factions currently fighting for control of Somalia. The idea was players would pick chits (what else?) to determine who controlled what on a turn-by-turn basis. The chits would give control not only of the various Somali factions (pirates, warlords, Islamists, the strug-gling governments of the country), but also of the anti-pirate coalition. On the other side are the various anti-pirate forces, termed the Coalition. They include the two major US task forces involved (CJTF-150, mainly counterterrorism, and CJTF-151, mainly for counter-piracy), as well as the European Union’s Atalanta naval task force, plus contingents from as far away as Russia, South Korea, China and numerous others. The downside to using the Russian Civil War system was its simplistic combat and logistics. The latter was especially critical, as a major factor for anti-pirate forces is building up a base structure in the region to provide
close support for their forces. That led me back to the old-SPI Oil War system. It dealt with a hypothetical US-led invasion of the Persian Gulf countries back during the Cold War. That situa-tion was close to the one I envisioned for Somalia Pirates, with amphibious and airborne forces seizing ports, setting up bases, then moving inland. It had the added benefit of a simple but effective logistics sub-system based on allocation of air supply. The shortfall of the Oil War system was it didn’t account for naval opera-tions. The assumption was US-NATO forces would sweep the navies of the Gulf states from the seas in short order. While there’s little doubt the navies of today’s anti-pirate coalition countries could quickly annihilate the pirate fleets, it didn’t seem to work for the game. The reason is, to put it simply: What is a game about piracy without combat on the seas? The system I therefore ended up using was a variant on the one I employed for Decision in Iraq (more about game that in a separate article). It has several central sub-systems. Netwar Index: each player has a Netwar Index that measures his
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Netwar Points (NP). NP are gained by controlling various regions and by destroying enemy units. The points are expended to mobilize units. That’s an approach I’ve been employing suc-cessfully for some time (for example, in Twilight of the Ottomans). Players trade off military gains for reinforcements, or simply bank the points toward reckoning victory in the endgame. Game Map: the map covers everything from the Ethiopian frontier to the western Indian Ocean, with Somali in the middle. I used areas instead of hexagons because units tend to operate within larger geographic areas, as opposed to holding individual pieces of terrain. Also, some of the areas are more critical than others and can be assigned higher Netwar values – such as Mogadishu. Areas also have Underground boxes, allowing Pirate units and Coalition SOF to operate among the populace, making them difficult to root out. That also neatly introduces insurgent warfare without a lot of extra rules. Command Control: each side is divided into several factions or contin-gents. For the Pirates, they’re divided geographically among the three semi-autonomous Somali states as well as Al-Qaeda. The Coalition is divided into major commands and national contingents. The way the game works is a player must execute all operations with one faction before initiating the next one’s operations. That presents an interesting dilemma. A player may have large numbers of units in play, but he generally won’t be able to combine them into a single attack if they’re from different factions. More is not neces-sarily better, and the game shows why. With all that in mind, what follows is a more detailed look at the game’s sub-systems.
Who Is Who
There are a lot of actors involved in the Somali conflict, and an anti-pirate campaign would bring in even more. With so many different contingents, logistical systems, and political agendas in-theater, keeping things sorted out isn’t easy. For the Coalition
side, factions include Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa, the Joint Special Operations Task Force, US Naval Forces Africa, the US Africa Command, NATO, China, the African Union and the Somali Transitional Federal Government. As well, the Coalition can bring in some private contractors to provide security. That’s a lot of command divisions, but it’s actu-ally a simplification of the structure already in place. For example, I folded both the US Army and Air Force Africa Commands into a single contingent. On the Somalia side, there are three main geographic groupings: Somaliland, Puntland, Southern Somalia, as well as Al-Qaeda. The Pirate player can bring in Al-Qaeda, which has some highly effective units, though at a considerable cost in NP. The Coalition player can somewhat overcome the command control system by playing special Netwar chits. By so doing, he can combine more than one faction in a single operation. Additionally, the Pirates have warlord units who can also create a temporary alliance of otherwise disparate forces. The system gets players thinking about joint operations in modern warfare, and also why it’s been so difficult for anti-pirate forces in the real world to gain a decision.
Order of Battle
A design assumption is the war isn’t only against the pirates, but is also having to be fought against the various warlords in the Somali regions from which they operate. While that’s stretching things a bit, it does reflect what will likely happen if things continue out of control in that part of the world, or if a major Coalition use of force pushes the Somalis into a general alliance. The Pirates get two types of naval units: motherships and attack craft. Those units can conduct sea raiding attacks that can bring in NP. The raiding is against commercial shipping not otherwise shown in the game, but accounted for by the Asymmetrical Warfare CRT (see below). Pirate craft can go up against Coalition warships, but the former won’t last long if they do. A better strategy is
to break off and head for base. On the Coalition side, patrol aircraft can be maintained “on station” in pirate-infested waters, thereby reduc-ing their effectiveness in raiding. On the ground the Pirates have militia, infantry, “technicals” (groups of up-gunned trucks) and warlords. Warlords provide a combat bonus, plus allowing for the aforementioned joint attack. There are also pirate bases, which are locales in which new units can be raised. Consequently, much of Coalition strategy centers on destroy-ing those bases and occupying ports to prevent them from being rebuilt. The Coalition can build up its own bases once it has seized ports. They’re are vital for bringing in reinforce-ments and providing supplies to units ashore. That’s where I put in the logistical aspect, something that’s vital in expeditionary warfare. The Coalition has a lot of different unit types. To sort it all out, I divided the units into four categories: naval, air, land and SOF. All units in a particular category operate in the same way. The main difference in the units is reflected in their combat and movement abili-ties. For example, SOF units have high Asymmetrical Warfare factors, but relatively low Kinetic combat factors (explained in detail below), while a tactical air strike has the opposite. Units can move either via sea, ground or air—and the latter includes ground units with airmobile capability. I “factored” many things into those factors. For example, several of the Coalition naval units have Asymmetrical Warfare values. They represent SOF and helicopters carried by their ships. Rather than having those represented by separate units and rules, it was easier to factor them into existing values. The order of battle has some offbeat forces. The US gets not only the usual range of marine, airmobile, mechanized and light units, but also CIA Special Activities Division cadre, provincial reconstruction teams (PRT, useful in counterinsurgency situa-tions), and Stryker brigades (useful because they have a balance of Kinetic and Asymmetric Combat abilities). There are a couple famous formations, such as the French Foreign Legion’s
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13th Demi-Brigade, stationed in the Coalition enclave in Djibouti. Naval units are at task force level—carriers, surface warfare, expeditionary strike groups—and include some specialized vessels such as the US Navy’s littoral combat ships and the future Zumwalt-class destroyers. There is even a “Q-ship.”Air units represents groups of aircraft and helicopters, including special operations aviation and long-range patrol craft, the latter being especially useful in interdicting pirate movement at sea. Airpower is powerful, but can’t hold terrain; so sooner or later you have to send in the ground troops. On the Pirate side there are some hard-hitting special units, such as Al-Qaeda’s 55th Brigade. It’s made up of veteran fighters from the wide world of terrorism.
Hyper Combat
The game has two types of combat: Kinetic and Asymmetric. Kinetic combat involves the usual firepower factors. Given the range and lethality of modern armed forces, I decided to make combat the same for all types of units: air, naval, ground and special operations (SOF). That simplified things, but the idea is, if a unit can see an enemy it can put ordnance on it, whether delivered by JDAM, cruise missile or sniper rifle. Kinetic combat results are pretty much all-or-nothing. In addition to eliminating enemy units, one side will gain NP. The CRT gives a slight edge in NP to the Pirates. That’s because any casualties the Pirates inflict on the Coalition are going to affect the politi-cal situation all out of proportion to their number. Look at the “Black Hawk Down” incident: even though US forces caused vastly larger numbers of casual-ties against the Somali militia, that action led to Washington withdrawing American forces from the country. In the game, Coalition forces can be eliminated but they’re automatically returned a die roll’s worth of turns later. What’s happening there is a small number of casualties, or damage to a ship, might cause the unit to fall back to refit, or its home government might temporarily pull it out of the theater. Coalition unit “losses,” therefore, actu-
ally represent national morale fluctua-tions. Pirate unit eliminations, in con-trast, represent the loss of personnel. The way the CRT is set up, combined with the ability of units to go under-ground, it shows the outcomes of con-ventional versus guerilla forces without the need for a lot of special rules. The second CRT is for Asymmetric combat. That’s a little more special-ized, built around specific missions. For the Pirates, they include Sea Raiding and Terrorist Spectaculars. A positive outcome gives the Pirates large numbers of NP. Coalition forces can conduct counter-insurgency operations and attack high value targets (eliminate the critical Pirate warlords) via Asymmetric warfare. That’s where it’s often better to commit the low profile (and low NP cost) Joint Special Operations Task Force than the heavier NATO and US formations. Again, the game shows the kinds of strategies that can be useful in fighting in this environment.
On the Ground
We’ve already conducted several playtests of Somali Pirates. One thing that pops up quickly is that, while the Coalition has a lot of military strength, it can’t cover the entire country or all the sea surrounding it. A Coalition contingent might be able to sweep a particular sector of sea and then seize
a couple ports, but Pirate forces in the countryside can quickly maneuver against overextended Coalition units, counterattack and then break off. The game is therefore one of cat and mouse, and the truly critical front is the Netwar Index, because that’s where players will ulti-mately win or lose the game.
