Persian Incursion Goes Serious?

FoGN* Michael Peck has another excellent article on wargame - real-life crossovers with his FP article about Persian Incursion.

Persian Incursion is basically two games in one. There is a highly detailed military game of a seven-day Israeli air offensive in which Israel plans and executes its strikes while the Iranian air defenses try to stop them. But there is also a political game that unlocks the military aspect. Persian Incursion assumes that an Israeli attack is only possible if one of Iran's neighbors -- Saudi Arabia, Turkey, or a U.S.-influenced Iraq -- either publicly or tacitly allows Israeli entry into its airspace for the strike on Iran. (The rules state that though Israel could chance an initial airstrike without an agreement, it would need permission for follow-up attacks.) With that in mind, the game comes with various starting scenarios, such as a super-radical Iran that scares its neighbors into allowing Israeli access, or Turkish support for an Israeli strike (note that the game came out in 2010, before the current Israeli-Turkish spat). So I choose the "Saudi Connection" scenario, in which the Saudis permit Israel to do the dirty work of taking down their Shiite archnemesis.

For other things we've covered about PI, check out these links:
GrogNews: COA Analysis: Iran-Israel
GrogNews: Cue the Updates to Persian Incursion!
GrogNews: Unboxing Persian Incursion
GrogNews: Origins War College Staff Wargaming - Persian Incursion
GrogNews: Origins Staff Wargaming: Persian Incursion (videos)
GrogNews: Origins Staff Wargaming - Lessons Learned
Larry Bond talking about PI at Connections, liveblogged at GrogNews: Connections 2011, Day 3, Morning Panel
Larry Bond's slides from his PI talk at Connections are here


UPDATE: There's a parallel article at Danger Room. Sadly, the reader commentary doesn't improve any.

By: Brant


*Friend of GrogNews