Harpoon war game

Harpoon (1989)

Categories: strategy games

The classic war game from 1990s that was used as tool for US Navy cadets to learn the tactics in modern naval warfare. Harpoon simulates different scenarios of Cold War turning into World War III with the emphasis on the clash between NATO and Warsaw Pact. The simulated areas were Europe, North Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean (including the Persian Gulf) and with different scenario packs it simulated different countries in different configurations - in some US and UK forces were facing USSR invasion, while in the others France or Italy were facing f.e. Libya. The scenarios prepared by the game creators were simulating Soviet attack on NATO in Europe - from attack on Norway to invasion on Iceland and attacks on United Kingdom. In all of the scenarios not only the warships were available, but also the naval air force (land and aircraft carrier based), which simulated all the aspects of modern naval battles. The scenarios were various - from simple skirmishes between small naval forces to full scale operations that involved aircraft carriers, nuclear weapons and submarines.

As naval strategic simulation the strong point of Harpoon was flexibility - we had chance to take part in scenarios on both sides of the conflict (f.e. NATO or Soviet Union), but also the game was expanded with scenario builder that allowed to create any sort of scenario using any available locations and weapons. This gave the infinitive number of scenarios that can be simulated in Harpoon. Of course with time some of the simulated weapons were retired from service, some of the new weapons and technology changed a lot in modern battlefields, but unfortunately Harpoon is still one of the best available simulators of modern naval battles even though the graphics are old-fashioned and the situation in the world has changed.

Harpoon videos