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Old 02-10-2014, 06:29 PM   #21
cosmicfish
 
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Default Re: Mission for Spec Ops - Opinions?

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Originally Posted by safisher View Post
That's my issue with the WMD factory attack. No one really cares if we strike them. Especially in Syria. Better to make the SAD op about either a) confirming it exists at that site, b) preventing them from making more by capturing those capable of manufacturing it.
Or perhaps inserting some kind of tracking agent into the materials, so that the producers can be used to reveal the terrorist distribution network... in which case no one better even know they were there!
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Old 02-10-2014, 06:30 PM   #22
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Default Re: Mission for Spec Ops - Opinions?

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If they do miss their helicopter ride, how would they get out on their own? Just walk over the border into Israel? (I imagine that border is pretty well militarized) Maybe Turkey? Steal a boat to Cyprus?
If they end up needing a Plan B for exfiltration, the 10 miles to the coast or 20 miles north to Turkey will probably look a lot more attractive than 50 miles south to Lebanon. Coastal options include local boats that can take them to Cyprus, up to Turkey, or meet up with a spec ops submarine. Turkey seems likely to be willing to help, if they don't have to do so publicly.
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Old 02-10-2014, 06:33 PM   #23
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I thought about this a bit more and it occurs to me that Hezbollah might not be your bad guy of choice for Lebanon in 2014.

Frankly, the place is a mess. Hezbollah is currently under pressure from what the West would call "jihadi" forces. This is because of Hezbollah's relationship with Syria. There's a lot of regional politicking with Saudi Arabia/Turkey/Iran stirring it up. A more interesting scenario might be an "enemy of my enemy" situation.

Hezbollah, using Mossad or Shin-bet intermediaries, wants a jihadi site taken out. Obviously, they'd rather not have the Israelis do it. However, they do need it done. America is almost as bad, but moving a step away might help keep Hezbollah fingerprints distant from the op. For Hezbollah, the ideal is that the site just die with no one knowing what happened. For Israel, chem weapons on border go away. For America, blowing up jihadis with chem weapons.

For the jihadis, dropping chem weapons on TelAviv from Lebanon provokes a cataclysmic response from Israel, depriving Syria of allies and helping to define their struggle as Islam vs. Israel.

To be honest, that part of the world is so weird right now, a Bond villain with a Bond plan to do Bond things wouldn't be beyond suspension of disbelief (except Moonraker...don't do that).
That sounds great, except the PCs will still be doing the same thing; who asked their bosses to order a raid is above their pay grade. Something like that as climax to an Espionage campaign might work. Perhaps once the players as CIA agents have arranged the under the table alliance, they can write up new characters to do the actual assault.
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Old 02-10-2014, 06:37 PM   #24
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Default Re: Mission for Spec Ops - Opinions?

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If they end up needing a Plan B for exfiltration, the 10 miles to the coast or 20 miles north to Turkey will probably look a lot more attractive than 50 miles south to Lebanon. Coastal options include local boats that can take them to Cyprus, up to Turkey, or meet up with a spec ops submarine. Turkey seems likely to be willing to help, if they don't have to do so publicly.
A
If the coast is only ten miles, yeah. But how many people would be needed to do the raid in the first place? A large enough party to overcome the garrison might not get out on a sub.
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Old 02-10-2014, 08:36 PM   #25
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Default Re: Mission for Spec Ops - Opinions?

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That sounds great, except the PCs will still be doing the same thing; who asked their bosses to order a raid is above their pay grade. Something like that as climax to an Espionage campaign might work. Perhaps once the players as CIA agents have arranged the under the table alliance, they can write up new characters to do the actual assault.
If the source of the mission is Hezbollah, they might be willing to provide support of some sort. Information, infiltration assistance...a way out of dodge. A lot of problems can be solved when you've got local help. The PC's, and the people meeting them locally, might be double blind to the actual arrangement, but that just makes it more like a thriller novel. Abdul doesn't know who these guys are, just that his cousin is paying him to take them out on his fishing boat and meet a certain Turkish freighter. The PC's don't know who Abdul is, just that they have to meet him by 6am local or the boat will be gone.
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Old 02-10-2014, 09:22 PM   #26
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Default Re: Mission for Spec Ops - Opinions?

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If the source of the mission is Hezbollah, they might be willing to provide support of some sort. Information, infiltration assistance...a way out of dodge. A lot of problems can be solved when you've got local help. The PC's, and the people meeting them locally, might be double blind to the actual arrangement, but that just makes it more like a thriller novel. Abdul doesn't know who these guys are, just that his cousin is paying him to take them out on his fishing boat and meet a certain Turkish freighter. The PC's don't know who Abdul is, just that they have to meet him by 6am local or the boat will be gone.
I see what you mean. Yeah that'd work. It may be underutilized(the preparing of it would make a great Espionage campaign). But it's good enough for the purpose.
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Old 02-11-2014, 01:48 PM   #27
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Default "Why not Tomahawk?" Options --

Remember that all the world knows we have Tomahawks and that the US of A can zap any above-ground facility.

The answer is obvious.

I'm not sure about the geography near Latakia but if some element of the local government wants to preserve a CBW facility putting it underground -- way underground -- would be logical. While the US does have nifty deep-penetrating bombs I don't think that Tomahawks carry them. You'd need to send one or more aircraft over (think said bombs are too heavy for current drones) and that would be a problem.* Also, if only the entrances were dug from the surface and the rest of the facility was branched out from the entry shafts, target planners might not know exactly where the key production areas are within the facility or how deep they are. (Both data are necessary for a successful deep strike with bombs. If not available, you could well just blow holes in the ground and not affect the facility.)

Of course, a ground-penetrating nuclear weapon would deal with such a facility but there'd be a few minor political consequences with that . . .

So you have two reasons to send in a ground team. One would be to get into the plant and determine the lay-out for the bomb-strike planners. The other would be just to blow up the entrance shafts (and release chemical weapons) to make use of the facility out of the question. (I wouldn't want to dig into a chemical-weapons production facility that had been blown up -- too much chance of a leak and hard to mine in a MOPP suit . . .

*Sending over an F-22 or B-2 would be doable but there's a chance, even faint, of a loss (and at c. $2 billion a pop a B-2 would be a pricey loss.) Also, it would be pretty obvious who had hit the facility (gee, how many nations in the world have bombs that could go through 100 meters of earth and blow up reliably . . . ) So if you send in a ground team, suitably politically sanitized, you could claim it was almost anybody.

Assuming, of course, that the opposition does not capture anyone alive.
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