TABLE #6
Operation Galahad: Communications Difficulties
Complexity	Game Master	Game Type	Players
Moderate	Tom Barclay	SG/FMAS	4-6
Description
2137 The Eurasian Solar Union declares war against the New Anglian Confederation due to "the hostile actions and intents of the imperialists". Five years of intense warfare known as the First Solar War follows throughout the inner colonies and the Outworlds. The important NAC Outworld base on Lancelot is taken by an ESU Naval Infantry Assault Division. 2149 Buoyed by the success of Dryland, the NAC and NSL militaries launch Operation Galahad, a joint strike to regain Lancelot. The ESU defenders, led by General Lech Pawodowski with the 57th Combined Division, beat back attack after attack as NAC and NSL troops are poured into the battle. After seventy days of spirited resistance Pawodowski surrenders with full military honours leading the remaining one hundred and forty survivors of his Division into captivity. Scenario: Colonel J. George Stewart-Murray, MVO, OB, DSO of His Majesty's 22nd Special Aerospace Service had been tasked by Brigadier Thomas Pakenham, KCVO, DSM to lead his operators in a preparation operation that would help to pave the way for the rest of Operation Galahad, aimed at retaking Lancelot from the ESU. The operation would begin with a stealthy covert insertion into the upper atmosphere by the Special Boat Service in the new Spectre II stealth interface transport. The Spectres would drop the operators at 50km and the operators would descend in free-fall to 10km. At 10 km, personal glide-packs would be deployed and the unit would glide down to a silent, unnoticed landing at the designated LZ. This would be the easy part. The objective after landing and reorganizing would be to raid and destroy a key communication center that would be used by the ESU to coordinate a response to the upcoming NAC landings. Of course, the task wasn't just as simple as destroying the communications node or else they could have tasked one of the RN's Ortillery units to do the job at the outset of the assault. Nothing that simple for the SAS! Brigadier Pakenham wanted the cryptographic data load to enable NAC Fleet Intelligence to decrypt every transmissions made by the ESU Forces in the opening stages of the invasion. THAT was why it was a job for the SAS. Of course, being the magnanimous sort he was, Pakenham would also gladly accept any other intelligence acquired during the operations - orders of battle, battle plans, etc. Extraction would be provided by the SBS once the key intelligence was secured and the demolition of the communications nexus was exectued. The Planners had high hopes that a majority of the operators would extract intact. But then, they always did...... Players in this game will have a chance to experience a game which begins with a stealthy approach and then transitions to a lethal assault. Can the players get the job done despite the ESU patrols and the security at the site? Can they prevent the warning getting out? And can they survive to extract their captured data? This game will have a role-playing element as the scale of the forces involved is smaller and the first phase of the game focuses on stealth and not being detected. If you are a suppressed role-player, this might be the game for you (and you might clear your suppression during the game!).