WELCOME TO FAMINISTAN!*
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USMC assault Faministan (Red)*
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Faministan (fictional)*
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Second decade of the 21st century*
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This is your final operational briefing.  You've all received copies of the operations order and I assume you have all read it.  If not, it would behoove you to do so.  I also assume you've alerted your men and issued the necessary FRAGOs...*
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OK, everybody's seen the video on the news and you all know what's going on in Faninistan.  I guess the noise in Washington has reached a fever pitch and, as throughout history when things go  to Hell somewhere, they've decided to "send in the Marines"*
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The overall plan is to enter the Faministan AO, establish a safe and stable area for humanitarian relief, disarm hostile militias and other forces and eventually effect ... change... in the central government..*
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Today is game day, gentlemen.   I'm not going to belabor the situation on the ground, you've all seen the news reports, starving people, government-sponsored attacks on religious minorities they don't like, A.Q. all over the place...   and so on.  Our mission is to kick our way in and create a condition where the humanitarian folks can do their magic.  To that end 4/7 Marines has received the following tasking: we are to enter the city of Budt-Fuq, kill all the bad guys there, and set up shop for our humanitarian friends. H-Hour is 0530 local.*
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You recon guys will go in first, as usual.  You're going in on the Thunderchickens.  The concept is for you to secure the old navy base and the airfield to the north.  Then you'll recon inland.  Try to find the bad guys and hit them with artillery.  Be careful and don't try to win the war all by yourselves.  The CG doesn't want you Osprey guys going past Phase Line Penny until the follow-on forces get there.  That goes for the LCAC group, too.  A few of the Ospreys have the new GAU-19 gun package.  Feel free to use it.*
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Now, we've had a few...problems with overhead reconnaissance so our intel. is a little stale.  The two critical issues are the island with the lighthouse in the harbor and the degree of fortification and obstacle construction in the city.  The A.Q. people were building up forts on the island and the local skinnies were doing the same on the mainland.  We don't know how much progress they've made.  Quick tip: expect the worst.*
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Oh yeah, the Civil Affairs folks don't want us calling the locals "skinnies", especially on TV.*
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Speaking of which, some of our friends in the Media, mentioning no names other to say that they're headquartered in Atlanta, decided their ratings are more important than our OPSEC, so our opponents now know we're coming and more or less where.  They have been moving fighters into the area for the past 48 hours.  Again, expect the worst.*
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Your objectives are four crossroads in the town, two mosques that are being used as arsenals... oh, do be sensitive in the mosques... and a bridge on the northern road.  This last is the axis where we expect most of the A.Q. and government reinforcements to come from.  You need to occupy the crossroads in town and secure them so the engineer folks can do their thing.  Once the engineers hit the beach, you LCAC and Osprey guys are released to the local commander's control for transport or whatever else...*
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More good news, there's been another...problem with some of the landing craft so you LAV scouts will have to self-deploy.  I know that means you'll be getting there about the same time as the main force -- deal with it.*
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We're not without friends though.  Our buddies over in Bloman have lent us two gunboats to help out with the lighthouse and whatever else may turn up along the coast.  Feel free to use them and any of the landing craft to help out.  They've all got guns...*
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The engineer force is tasked with getting your butts to the eastern-most Objectives and get to work on clearing them, ASAFP after landing.*
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The threat expected is mostly infantry forces, thus our armor forces are armed with the XM728 basic load.  This ammo isn't the greatest against armor.  The tanks will have a few HEAT shells but commanders should factor these facts into their planning. *
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Artillery and air support:  there's plenty of NGS so don't stingy with it -- but do be careful.  The Navy's busy counting their coffee cups or something so we have to provide our own air support, two Harriers with CBUs, we don't get any more of them.  The Air Force has brought a few Predators along with Hellfires and Paveways.  Those may come in handy.  We've also got two Cobras and OHs.  Since Faministan doesn't have a navy, there's not much for the anti-sub boys to do, so we've strapped a few Hellfires to two of their ASW birds, maybe the squids can do some damage.  They're not Cobras, though, neither are the Ospreys, keep that in mind when using them.*
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That's about it, gentlemen.  Make sure your people are briefed and squared away.  It's 2343 hours, we hit the ready-line NLT 0430.  Try to get some sleep, you may need it.*
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That is all.*
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SPECIAL RULES:*
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1).  No Osprey or LCAC unit may go any further west than Phase Line Penny (marked on the map with "==") any time before the first engineer unit (NOT the recon. engineers in the Recon group) lands from a landing craft.  After this the player may do with them as he wishes.  Note: this applies to regular movement, not "evasive action" or unintentional path finding funkiness.  Use common sense.  Breaking this rule incurs a one level victory reduction (decisive to marginal/marginal to draw, etc.)  Disobeying orders has consequences in my Marine Corps, mister.
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2).  All objective/VP hexes must be occupied by non-retreating/routed US units at the end of the scenario.  The same penalty applies for failure.
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3).  Engineer units (armored or leg) must be in or adjacent to obstacle hexes at Objectives WILL, MAUREEN and WEST  at or before the end of the game.  Same penalty.*
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All penalizes are cumulative.  I.e.: if you win "decisively" and violate all three special rules, you get a marginal loss.*
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IMPORTANT:  A PDF US-format operations order is packaged with this scenario.  It might be a good idea to read it.*
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Designer's notes:*
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This is the first of an open-ended series of scenarios set in the fictional country of Faministan.  Faministan isn't any place or country in particular.. Think of it as 2 parts Darfor, 2 parts "Blackhawk Down" Somalia, 1 part Iraq, with a dash of Chechnya and the West Bank/Gaza for spice.  The genesis was during the latest blast of Darfur tub-thumping some time ago when I started thinking about what could be done there assuming the will to do it existed...  Everything is fictional including the units involved.*
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Scenario and map design: Fred Reinheimer (basesugre@hotmail.com).*
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Version 1.0*
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09-Apr-08*
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