Hertog Summer Study: Game A Turn 3, 4 and Final Results

Putin, when realizing that he sold nuclear missiles to Malaysia

Malaysia has nukes.

Yup.  By mistake, Russia sold a surface action group of Sovremennyy-class Destroyers equipped with tactical nuclear weapons.  The SAG is currently sitting near Natuna Besar.  I'm not particularly happy.  Not only does this break one of my goals (keeping WMD out unless I also have it), it also means that Malaysia, already stronger than me, can destroy anything I have at will.

"I demand that Malaysia remove nuclear weapons, or I will seek my own."



China and Russia pull Malaysia aside and begin discussions.  I'm not invited.  Irritated, I add a reaction clause to hit the SAG with my theater ballistic missiles should Malaysia not give up its weapons.

I also decide I need some better allies.  The Philippines is still relatively weak and needs something that can strike offshore.  Now that I have a missile program, we can change this.  Japan and the US haven't really been interested in selling them anything.

Yup, I'm THAT guy.

Philippines and Vietnam sign on for missiles, which buys me some more brownie points I might need later.  With the money I make from the deal, I buy my own set of Medium Range Ballistic Missiles.

And why not?

Meanwhile, the US is now trying to enter the fray, given that sequestration has ended and they have the cash to build up.  By dismantling a lot of Army units, they freed up enough money to build a substantial force and push it out to the theater.

Turn 3 generates.

It looks calm...too calm.

Malaysia gave up their nukes, extracting a pretty hefty price from Russia.  I put the MRBMs in Papua for a few reasons.  One, they can reach the SCS without reaching farther north, so I can argue they are only defensive for the SCS region.  Second, I can reach US units in Palau and Guam.  I'm hoping to use this as some leverage if the Chinese go to war with the US.

There is an absence of Blue here

The US and China pulled forces back, but the US kept an AEGIS ship in the northern part of the SCS.  My missile sales go through to both Vietnam and Philippines.  Due to a game-ism, my SSK deal with Australia fell through, not exactly making me happy.

The more important world event is that Taiwan peacefully reunified with China.  China stationed a battalion of MRBMs on Taiwan, and now has access outside the First Island Chain.

In the last turn, we honestly expected to go to war...but it never happened.  Nobody felt confident enough to initiate hostilities, so it was just another Build Turn.  However, a lot of forces did move.

The final turn results

In the end, our world looked poised for war.  Every nation had more weapons.  Vietnam and Indonesia were not necessarily friendly to the US.  Indonesia  wound up with missiles and submarines.  The US wasn't in the SCS, but it was gearing up for entry.  China was stronger and owned Taiwan.

In terms of victory points, I achieved every assigned goal on my list.  I kept China from stationing units in the SCS, I kept them from going to war, no south east Asia nation had WMD, and nobody took over an Indonesian island.  Despite coming from a position of relative weakness, I had pulled off a fairly good victory on my terms.

How I felt most of the game. I'm the kid on the right

Had the game gone one more turn...I don't know if it would have been good.