The few, scattered clouds did nothing to obscure the brilliant blue of the Indian Ocean. For the crew of “Lima”, an Orca I flying boat of No. 3 Squadron of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm, it was another tedious day of flying long range recon out of their new base on Socotra Island. To the north, along the rim of the horizon, lay the coast of Mongol-held Yemen. So far, the day’s flight had only turned up a few small dhows and a pair of square rigged cargo brigs from Indonesia. It was a beautiful day for flying, though.
Petty Officer Richard Nethercutt snapped out of his reverie when his observer, Petty Officer Laurel Saltwell shouted excitedly, “Look, over there! Three o’clock. There’s a whole fleet out there!”
Nethercutt banked the ungainly aircraft to get a better look. A vast armada was spread across the shimmering waters. “No shit, Laurie! Jim,” he added to the plane’s third crewman, radioman Leading Aircraftman Jim Frist, “Sighting report! Unknown fleet approximately 450 nautical miles bearing approximately 40 degrees true from base! Am investigating!” Kruger turned the plane and put it in into a shallow dive toward the heart of the massive assemblage of ships.
Laurie Saltwell frantically shuffled through her ship recognition manual. Several were familiar Roman designs: not very helpful, half the warships in the world were built in Roman yards. A few black puffs appeared. Whoever they were, they weren’t friendly. Wait . . . look at that big bastard. “That big one over there,” she announced. “It’s a Tamil battle cruiser. There’s only one like it in the world with that turret arrangement! Take this crate down a bit so I can get a look at their flag.”
The pilot banked as hard as he dared as he swooped over a small escort. A dozen machine guns opened up on the plane, well out of range. Laurie turned her binoculars on the fantail of the craft. “Red flag with some sort of black device in the middle . . . it’s gotta be them.”
The Tamils? Nethercutt thought, who the hell are the Tamils? “Um, Frank, the task force is believed to be Tamull . .. “
“T-a-m-i-l,” interjected Laurie, who took a moment from scanning the armada to look up the correct spelling.
“Yeah, and let them know they are hostile. Unless they just randomly chose this moment to start practicing.”
”Aye, aye,” Frank acknowledged as he furiously tapped the Morse key.
BREAK BREAK BREAK
3L FOR LIMA SENDING
DATE/TIME: 1216 HRS SOCOTRA LOCAL, 18 SEPTEMBER 2046
ALL STATIONS ALL STATIONS
HOSTILE TASK FORCE SIGHTED 450 NAUTICAL MILES BEARING APPROXIMATELY 40 DEGREES FROM HADIBOH. LARGE NUMBERS OF WARSHIPS POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED AS TAMIL. WE HAVE BEEN FIRED UPON. WILL SHADOW.
And so it began . . .
The Socotra Campaign is a human-moderated play-by-email wargame set long in an alternate universe, after a nuclear apocalypse. The nations of the world are striving to see who will dominate the world that they are rebuilding.
In the Indian Ocean lies the strategic island of Socotra. Long held by the Mongol Empire, it has recently been taken by the United Kingdom of America, which is desperately trying to build up the island as base to control the sea trade along the East Coast of Africa, the Red Sea, and Persian Gulf. Feeling threatened, or perhaps merely lusting after the potential of the African trade route, the Empire of Tamil Eelam, based in southern India, has launched an invasion fleet to take the island away from its new owners. And on the Arabian Peninsula, the Mongols plot their own revenge . . .
In this struggle, players will play the part of the commanders of the soldiers, sailors, and airmen battling for this nautical crossroads. Orders will be sent to the GM, who will adjudicate the results, which will be posted on the web, along with any messages to other players, orders, or proclaimations. To create a true fog-of-war, players will be restricted to communicating through the GM rather than each other. Only information available to that commander will be known to him or her.
Turn-around times will vary. No knowledge of any game rule system is required by any players. Some knowledge of World War One and/or Two equipment and tactics will be very helpful, however. The GM is always able to help with advice and technical help as needed.
Orders will be phrased as an actual military order rather than in the abstract. Players will be able to send orders, after action reports, and communications to each other via the GM as needed.
Exercise your planning, political, strategic, and tactical skills. Play "The Socotra Campaign."
The game will commence when the critical positions listed are taken, and final preparations are complete. Estimated start date is mid-October.
Click Here to See the Socotra Game Positions Now Open
Information available to all players.
