02-09-2014, 01:01 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Los Angeles
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Mission for Spec Ops - Opinions?
As I'm working on updating the pre-gens for this game, I thought I would also throw out what I'm mulling over for the actual mission for y'all to chew on.
NOTE: If you are playing this game at Strategicon's OrcCon 2014, reading further will be very, VERY spoiler-y! This is still pretty bare bones, but the gist of things: The primary objective is to take out a chemical weapons storage facility within Syria, specifically about 10 miles East of the port city of Latakia on the shore of a lake there. The facility is somewhat isolated, and normally garrisoned by a force of 400 soldiers. However, a recent push against the city of Aleppo 100 miles NE by the Free Syrian Army has temporarily drawn off the bulk of those defenders. Only about 30-40 remain, and the CIA SAD has decided to use that window to take out the facility (there may be simultaneous ops going against other sites at the same time, but that doesn't really affect the game). The team will board a private (CIA) charter flight in Israel, destined for Turkey (a night time flight). En route, they will gear up and parachute out to an LZ a few miles from the facility. After destroying their chutes (thermite? just bury them?), they will make their way (hopefully) undetected to the facility, neutralize any defenders they encounter there, photograph whatever they can/grab hard drives etc., and use Semtex charges at two foundation locations to collapse the building. Once accomplished, they must make their way to a remote site for exfiltration. As there can be no external communications (for concern of being overheard and tied to the U.S.), they must be at the site when the chopper arrives (a re-purposed Russian Mi-26) or they're on their own to get out of the country. Optional (basically depends on how we're doing on time): On the way to their exfil point, they spot a small convoy carrying a High Value Target like a high-ranking Syrian officer, known war criminal, Hezbollah lieutenant, something like that. Do they have time to take him out and still make it to the LZ!? The defenders of the primary installation will be standard soldiers of the line -- their main threat is that there are more of them, but presumably the PCs will have the element of surprise. If the team is just mowing them down effortlessly, there may be a small squad of more seasoned troops in the mix with better training and weapons (yes, I'm one of those hippy GMs lol). The convoy defenders will be tougher, more like peers to the PCs. A few of the myriad things I'm unsure of:
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02-09-2014, 01:48 PM | #2 | |||||||||
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: Mission for Spec Ops - Opinions?
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02-09-2014, 02:51 PM | #3 | |
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Heartland, U.S.A.
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Re: Mission for Spec Ops - Opinions?
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02-09-2014, 02:52 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Los Angeles
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Re: Mission for Spec Ops - Opinions?
I was thinking more of an "implosion," like when they collapse a building on a city block, to bury everything under tons of rubble, but I do like the idea of a pre-operational production plant. Feels like it "means more" if they succeed. Cool!
No thermite, makes sense. Cut/jam comms, makes sense - maybe even the power as well, particularly if the enemy N/V isn't up to par. Not sure yet whether to lean towards the PCs doing it themselves or having an NPC team give 'em a hand (actually, even as I type I'm thinking that any time the PCs can do more firsthand, probably the more fun!) I was blindly ballparking the squad speed at 5mph on an average marathoners speed of 6.5mph, but yeah, 3mph might be better to work with. Lebanon seems a good bet -- maybe I'll even move the whole operation south and put the exfil LZ in Lebanon instead of Syria itself. Mm, having to cart along a prisoner for those last few miles could make things interesting!
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02-10-2014, 02:55 AM | #5 |
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Re: Mission for Spec Ops - Opinions?
Naismith's rule is 4mph over level ground + 1 minute per contour line if that helps, and is meant to be a good walking pace ... not unreasonable to expect special ops to beat that, but given heavy kit and night ops you might take it as your baseline.
For plot complications, add in a meeting with FSA troops, which just happen to include one or more high value Al Qaeda members, thus adding to their dilemma (and, meta wise, acknowledging the moral complexity of the conflict). Pickup could easily be boat out to a submarine - or pickup by the Israelite Navy, or even just exfil to an area that's clean enough for a Pave Low to come in and scoop them up. Hell, you could even use skyhooks if there are still any kicking about... |
02-10-2014, 07:39 AM | #6 | ||||
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Re: Mission for Spec Ops - Opinions?
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02-10-2014, 11:31 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Oct 2010
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Re: Mission for Spec Ops - Opinions?
The other posters have already covered your questions, and I like the idea of the post-mission opportunity.
One thing to keep in mind is you should always be ready to throw a monkey wrench into the operation. Most covert ops never go as planned, and the mark of this caliber of special operator is the ability to improvise and deal with the unexpected/unplanned. And one more thing about cutting the hard lines. Be careful of the timing. Do it too early, and security may figure out that something is wrong and be more on their guard. And once the guards figure out they can't call for help, be ready to deal with people trying to make a break for it. This means the team should be able to deal with vehicles trying to escape. |
02-10-2014, 12:13 PM | #8 |
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Re: Mission for Spec Ops - Opinions?
Another good wrinkle - the site is actually online and blowing it up will send the whole grid square NBC red...
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02-10-2014, 02:06 PM | #9 | |||||||
Join Date: Oct 2004
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Re: Mission for Spec Ops - Opinions?
The US generally uses Tomahawk cruise missiles for that, historically. I would think the ops for SAD would more in line with either on-site covert intel which can't be trusted from either source, or hostage taking, or hostage rescue. If the group goes in on foot, have them do some recon of the site (take samples of the chems, or photo the barels, etc.), rescue some international aid folks being used as hostages, and/or capture a chemical scientist. If it's just an attack, the missiles could do that, IMO.
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02-10-2014, 03:12 PM | #10 | |||
Join Date: Oct 2010
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Re: Mission for Spec Ops - Opinions?
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It's gonna be really hard to maintain plausible deniability if you level a facility in sovereign nation nation with a cruise missile from an Arleigh Burke class destroyer. What I get from the OP is that this op is supposed to be covert, hence them trying to bring weapons and gear that don't immediately ID them as US/NATO. Quote:
Though lighting conditions on the building may cause a problem. They would also need a another ground team to cut the land lines to the building. Quote:
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covert ops, special ops |
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