______HOVERTANKS!*
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______US/Thailand *
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________vs.*
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_______Malaysian Muj.*
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_______Dry Season, 2010*
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_______50 turns (but it probably won't take that long)*
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_______OBJECTIVE FIGWIT, Kra Isthmus, Southern Thailand*
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__US forces, principally US Marines with Army aviation support, have been deployed to Southern Thailand to support Thai troops in their operations against Muslim Guerrillas infiltrating
from rural Malaysia*
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___"All, right, Colonel, have a seat.  The twidgets at the CIA have located the operations base the Muj have been using to harass our forces. CINCUSFT is calling it OBJECTIVE FIGWIT.  Don't ask, I don't know what it means either.  It's a village with extensive rice paddies on our side and dense jungle on the other. The Muj have moved a battalion sized force into the area along with their families.  Your rifle company will be deployed by helicopter to carry out an attack on this objective. Thai infantry forces and some Marine scouts and snipers have already been inserted into the area.  Your main force will deploy by helicopter.  The Army pukes don't want their precious Chinooks smacked around so they're going to drop you and leave you there.  There is also a small detachment of SEALs making their way in from the south.*
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___"Since the attack on the San Antonio we have a brace of LCACs gathering dust in Prachuap so one of the squids came up with a use for some of those M-1 tanks the Army dropped on us -- mount them on the LCACs and make hover-tanks -- Believe it!  Anyway you get to try them out.  Expect them from the south.  An artillery battery will be deployed to support you about twenty minutes after your main force lands.  The Transportation Battalion is having some @#$#&@# problem with their LTVPs so they'll be late, expect them from the south.  You're also getting some of those new HIMARS rocket launchers, eventually.  There are some Thai engineers coming as well.  You've also got a AC-130 gunship available and Thai observations helicopters -- these guys aren't Cobras, be careful with them.*
___"The Muj  have a number of mortars and some tough infantry.  They may have some light armor as well.  They also have civilians there.  Be careful of them.  They don't like us either.  Avoid engaging them but you are cleared to do so if necessary.  Our scouts report FO teams hiding in the tree lines.  I would suggest you deploy smoke generously.*
___"Your mission is to attack and occupy and secure OBJECTIVE FIGWIT, destroying all ammunition stocks, artillery units and military vehicles you find.  You will also engage and defeat any Muj forces you encounter.  Intel thinks they're out playing about in the jungle right now so maybe you'll have an easy time.*  
___"But don't count on it.  You're a big boy and you know your business.  Get your plan together and alert your men.  Any questions? OK, get to work then.  Good Luck."*
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This scenario has been tested as a 1-side game with the Marine/Thai side as the Human player.*
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___Designer's Notes.*
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___It occurred to me a while back that we have the ability to make "Hammer's Slammers" style hovertanks now.  It would be possible to mount an M-1 tank on a US Navy LCAC and shoot the gun over the gate without too much trouble.  The main issue would be the weight of the extra armor that would be required to make the kit-bash viable.  (Some of this could be alleviated by removing redundant equipment from the tank (engine and drive-train. redundant commo, driver, etc.))  Despite their name, these boys are NOT tanks and commanders should be cautious with them.*
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There is no penalty for engaging the "civilians" but they are ammo sucks, some units may engage them during opportunity fire (especially if the target decides to move) so it may behoove players to disable weapons with limited ammo before going to the next turn.  LAVs
seem to regard the water buffalo herds as a special threat for some reason...*
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The "Normal" LCAC represents a prototype with the uparmoring but no M-1 on board*
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Finally: yes, I know the LCAC/tanks make the wrong sound when they fire their main guns.  There's nothing that could be done outside of including a custom OOB file (I'm not sure even that would work...)*
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Version 0.90*
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8:44 PM 7/18/2007*
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This scenario uses the Rice Paddy map bundled with SPMBT with minor alterations*
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Players are free to distribute and/or modify this scenario as long as attribution is made and no profit is made.  GPL.*
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All warranties disclaimed.*
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Design by Fred Reinheimer (basesurge@hotmail.com).*


