THE GAME PLAN

A Complete Description and Rulebook of the June '98 MBX/CPX

By Riki Tikki



1.     Introduction

I probably should have sent this to you all back when I first announced
this MBX/CPX, but hey, I hadn't figured it all out *myself* until a few
days ago!  Also, as most of you can tell I have been up to my eyeballs trying to get all the briefs, maps, intel and stuff out to the teams by early this week.  

At any rate, the following is an attempt to explain how this game will work so that everyone understands what to expect during the weeks to come.  Some of this will be a repeat, but better to repeat and make sure everyone's in the same boat, so to speak.  Most of this document will address the MBX phase, which not only represents the bulk of the game, but also has different rules than most people may be used to, even those who have played a previous MBX.

The following "Rules" have been put together in sections, not necessarily in any particular order.  Making this thing read like a well structured cohesive work would take time, something I appear to be running out of at the moment!

I hope this will be helpful.


2.      Overview

On June 1, the U.S. Marines, escorted by a U.S. Navy task force will "set sail" for waters somewhere off the coast of Borneo, while elements of the Royal Malaysian Armed Forces will begin to move troops into Brunei and secure the country against would-be foreign invaders.  Both sides will face challenges during this time, such as gaining intel on the enemy's whereabouts, or knocking out key positions or units so they can not be used effectively on the day of the battle.

On June 27th the two forces will finally meet in the first major land battle of the war.  This will be the scenario behind the CPX phase of our excercise.  In the grand old tradition of most CPXs, players can expect plenty of confusion, chaos, and carnage.  The setup for the CPX, however, will be greatly governed by what happens in the four weeks prior, during the MBX phase.

As you probably know, in a CPX you usually play a mid-level field commander in charge of, say, two companies, a battalion, or possibly a brigade or even a division (the C.O.), generally receiving situation reports from the front every few minutes.

The MBX works the same way, except that you are one or two steps higher in the chain of command -- at a Divisional headquarters  or the bridge of a flagship -- where reports from the battlefield will be more along the lines of hour-by-hour than minute by minute.

During the MBX, ship captains, Air Force squadron leaders and other mid-level commanders at the point of conflict (played by me) will be sending reports to these higher level commanders of each team (played by you), who in turn send back orders to the subordinates in an effort to achieve their mission, as described by either the Chairman of the Joint chiefs for the U.S., or the Malaysian Prime Minister (both played by me). 

3.	Briefing

Each team has been given a  briefing, as well as a fairly detailed list of its forces.  The briefing fills you in on the background and current status of affairs in the Western Pacific theater, and states the mission objectives for each team.  The briefing also includes valuable information on enemy forces, terrain, timings and geopolitical factors that may impact on your mission planning and SOPs.  This should be considered a starting tool to planning your mission.  However, understand that there is still more information that is needed before you will be ready to finalize your plans.  But don't worry about it, the information is coming and you will have plenty of time to plan as the war unfolds.  More on that later.

4.      Organization of teams

Each player will assume certain "roles," or positions of responsibility within their team.  One role is the Commander in Chief (CinC), who is the captain of the team, as well as the topmost military commander.  The CinC then organizes his team so that everyone has an area of responsibility.  For example, one method might be to have one player be the Airforce cmdr. while another is Navy --- or, alternatively, the CinC could split up these responsibilities so each player commands, say, one squadron of aircraft and one naval task force.  There are also many ñstaffî roles that a CinC might ask players to fill as well, such as that of Intelligence Officer, Logistics Officer, Cartographer, etc., thus creating roles of experts who perform specialized tasks for the team.  There is no right way to do this.  It is entirely up to the CinC.

There are a couple of required roles, however, that have game-related duties along with the military ones.  One is the second in command, or executive Officer (XO).  The XO's role is largely defined by the CinC, but whatever other duties the XO is given, he must be responsible for keeping tabs on what is going on throughout the theater of conflict, so that he will be prepared to step in when the CinC is absent.  He is also the one the umpire will turn to for a quick decision if something important arises and the CinC isn't available.  This fulfills an important function for the umpire and the game as a whole, not just the CinC.

Another necessary role is that of historian.  The historian is responsibile for recording all significant events during the war, and putting together the team's AAR.  The AAR should not  be the sole responsibility of the historian, however.  I would like to ask that each player contribute to the team's AAR, giving their own account of what happened along the way.  The historian will combine his notes with the information from other players into a cohesive written report.  The CinC is also responsible for choosing the team's historian.

5.      Scope

The scope of this game is actually on two levels simultaneously.  On one level, is the broad-strokes planning stuff, where divisions and fleets are being deployed and are being given general, standing orders for engagements.  I call this the operational level, because it has to do with an entire operation -- a series of various tasks and missions in support of an overarching objective in a certain region of the world.  In this case, that objective is either the safe landing (US) or the opposed landing (OPFOR) of Marines in Brunei.  The planning and fighting that goes on during the MBX phase of our excercise will be mostly on the operational level.

Sometimes, however, there will be occasional ground combat to fight, although it will usually be modest in scale -- no more than battalion level at the most.  When this occurs, play will revert to the tactical level.  Reports will come in more frequently, and there are more opportunities to react and control your troops.  In other words, normal TacOp play.  The CPX, naturally, will be fought entirely at the tactical level.

6.	Time Compression

Because I am adhering to a fixed schedule (as opposed to a real war in which the schedule is determined by the winds of fate), I will need to move things along at a certain rate of speed.  This is to ensure that all forces are in place and ready to fight on Game Day -- the day of the CPX (June 27th).

There is no set rate of for the speed for this MBX, (such as ñ 1 day in real time = 4 hours in game time. î) Rather, the pace will vary according to how much we need to keep moving in order to have forces in place by Game Day.

What IÍm going to do is rapidly advance the game clock any time there is little or no combat, or very few sightings to report.  Kind of like the way you speed up the time compression in computer wargames like Harpoon, or U-Boat, so that you can hurry up and get to the next battle.  This means that you will probably be getting reports every day that are chock full of some interesting new events.  The events may simply be separated by several days of game time, because all the slack time has been ñsnipped out.î  

7.	Scheduling

Because important events will happen almost every day, teams must be as attentive as possible to their e-mail in order to have effective command and control of their forces.  To insure this happens, CinCÍs should establish some sort of schedule to make sure someone from the team "has the watch" (is online) at some point on any  given day.  There is no need to stay online for any length of time, just a need to check in briefly for any important messages.  

Often, the messages will just be radar contacts or reports of troop movements and no orders or decisions will be necessary.  Other times, however, an immediate response may be requested.  If the team has organized itself well, a lower ranked team member will know that the CinC and XO are not available to respond, and he (or she) must step in with orders on behalf of the team,  based, of course, on the CinC's intent.  The more organized a team is at this, the more control they will have, and the more likely things will go according to plan.

8.	Lurkers

As you are all aware, we have a fairly large "audience" out there who has graciously consented to being flooded each day by a tsunami of e-mail, so they can follow the progress of the two teams.  Unless for some reason players really have a need to speak privately about a personal matter of some sort, I ask that all communication you send regarding this MBX, whether it is to me or to other members of your team, be copied to all the Lurkers as well.  Lapses in doing so will leave them out of the loop and they will miss the sense of planning, decision-making (and chaos!) that occurs in these games.  So, please, include the Lurkers in all of your correspondence. 

The lurkers, however, have their own sacred responsibility.  Basically, it is to swear by the Luker Oath of Secrecy, which says...

Lurkers may not share any information whatsoever with any player, at any time during this excercise.  They may talk with Players about general tactics, as they might when posting messages on the TacOps list, as long as those tactics do not in any way hint at the kind of maneuvers or plans being made on either of the two sides of this game.  If I learn of any such behavior, the Lurker will be "dishonorably" discharged from this game.  (And I have the "Press  Credentials" to do it!)  If players are found to have used information provided by lurkers while playing the game, the entire team will be disqualified and the excercise will be terminated immediately.

I know it sounds strict,and I know I sound like a hard-ass, but it has to be that way.  You know the saying.  Loose lips... something, or other...

9.	Reserves 

Each team will have a pool of Reserves, or one-side Lurkers/Alternates who may be "called up" at any time for duty by the CinC.  Once a Reserve player has been promoted to Player, the CinC is asked to notify me, the umpire, of such, so that I can decide whether to recruit more reserves.  One of the main reason to have reserves is to fill in any scheduling holes which could otherwise result in some loss of control during the MBX.

10.	Mailing Lists

Keeping your mailing lists organized is absolutely essential in an MBX.  It is imperative that we are all receiving the information that we should in order to keep abreast of the situation.  Mailing lists must be carefully set up so that you can easily choose the group of people you want to receive your message.  

Everyone's e-mail program works differently, but in an effort to explain mailing list organization, here is how I organize my mailing lists, using the e-mail function in Netscape 3.01 for the Mac.

My address book contains the following mailing lists: (each a separate folder)

1. MBX/CPX  --- This contains all addresses of everyone involved in the MBX
2. US Team -- U.S. team members only.  
3. US Reserves -- US single-side lurkers
4. OPFOR Team -- OPFOR team members only 
5. OPFOR Reserves -- OPFOR single-side lurkers
6. Lurkers -- All dual-lurkers

I organize these 6 folders as follows:
1) Inside the MBX/CPX folder I put all of the other five folders.
2) Inside the U.S. Team folders, I put the U.S. Reserve folder.
3) Inside the OPFOR Team folder, I put the OPFOR Reserve folder.

(The Reserves should really be treated exactly like the rest of the Team, for communication purposes.  The only reason to keep the Reserves in a separate sub-folder is for organizational purposes, to help remember who is on the team full time and who is in the wings on standby.)

A few days before we start this MBX, I would like to run one final communications check to make sure each player has all of the correct names and e-mail addresses of all players, reserve playeres and lurkers.

11.	Mailing Protocol

In order to assist in sorting our mail, I have established a subject-line protocol to help identify and prioritize messages.  This will also help when trying to dig up an old message among fifty or sixty others!  In CPX terms, the subject line represents the 'channel,' so that we know who we're talking to and what sort of information to expect.  This protocol will be helpful to the players, but essential to the umpire!  Remember, however much mail you're getting, I'm getting more than double!

"MBX/CPX --"  Any general comments about this excercise. 

"MBX/US --" Any general comments or questions from the U.S. side, including chat between players.

"MBX/OPFOR --" Any general comments or questions from the OPFOR side, including chat beween players.

"MBX/US Orders -- "Any orders given by the U.S. Team.

MBX/OPFOR Orders -- "Any orders given by the OPFOR team.
  
The last two 'channels' are the Command Channels for this excercise, and will be given the topmost priority by the umpire.

The dash (--) after each subject header allows the sender to add a subtopic, thus helping with the identification of subject material even more. For example:

MBX/OPFOR -- Help! I need supplies!

If there isn't an "MBX/" at the beginning of the subject line, it will be shelved to a lower priority and I may not respond to it for some time.  If you want to make sure I receive and respond to your mail, make sure you use this protocol when sending e-mail.  Thanks.

12.	Maps

There are several maps you will need for this game, several of which you have received already.  Some maps are actual TacOps playing maps that can be loaded into either the Mac or the PC version of TacOps CE.  These maps are tactical in nature, representing a relatively small area of land (6 x 11.8 km).  Each f these TacOps maps are also available in GIF format so that people who do not have TacOps CE can still open the map, look at it, and print it.  You do not need to play or even own TacOps to play in this MBX/CPX, but you will need printed copies of these maps.

Along with the TacOps maps, there are also several Operations Maps featuring areas of operation, such as thecountry of Brunei, or the entire theater of operations in general.  These maps are in GIF format only.  (GIF format graphics allow printing on both mac and PC platforms. ) 

The maps you will need for this game are:

OPSMAP 1 -- Theater of Operation.  This map shows almost all of the regional area that you will be operating in during the MBX/CPX.  It also shows all significant bases and ports (or at least those that are known about at the start of the MBX.)  

OPSMAP 2 -- Map of Brunei.  This shows all important ports and towns in the country, including the airfield at Bandar Seri Begawan.

Map 501 -- TacOps Map.  This is a map of Bandar Seri Begawan.  Almost the entire map, other than the streets, parks and water, are coded as "urban" terrain.   This map is now under construction and almost complete.

BSB -- The GIF version of Map 501 (Bandar Seri Begawan) for printing purposes.  This map is available now.

Map 502 --  Playable TacOps CE Map.  There are three versions of this map, made for three different versions of TacOps --  version 0.1.5 for Mac, TacOps CE for Mac, or TacOps CE for PC.

Map502.GIF  -- GIF format of Map 502 which will allow you to print the map.  The most recent version has gridlines on it, which you will need to begin your planning.  Contact me if you don't have one with gridlines.  Chris Dingman put together his own GIF version with the grid numbers printed on it.  I recommend this version highly.

Map 519 -- TacOps Map.  This is a map of the coast of Seria, which features oil tanks and a processing/refinery area.  It was made from test art supplied by the Major in his MapMaker utility, which is actually a reversed Map 15 that has had its low ground flooded to create a coastline.  This map is still under construction.

Seria -- This is the GIF version of Map 519.  It is available now.

OPSAREA -- General map showing the entire Western Pacific Theater, including most of Indonesia and the Andaman Sea, west of the Malay Peninsua.  Not as useful as the other maps, but a good reference in case the conflict expands beyond OPSMAP 1 for some reason.

SITMAP1, SITMAP 2, etc. -- These are the names I am giving to a very important series of maps, which I refer to as a 'Situation Maps.'  These maps are similar to OPSMAP 1, but will be drawn on to show all known friendly and enemy ships and air units at various times during the game.  Think of these as occasional screenshots, like you might sometimes get from a very generous umpire <g>.  They will probably numbered, as follows: SITMAP1, SITMAP2, and there should be a time stamp on them.  These maps represent the big glass plotting board on ships that fleet commanders use to track enemy contacts as well as their own forces.  Expect a new SitMap every few days to a week or so, depending on what changes have taken place in that time.  No SITMAPs have been developed yet.  OPSMAP1 is basically your first SITMAP (all's quiet, no contacts).

13.	CPX Map

The map we use for the CPX will most likely be one of two maps -- Map 502, or Map 519.  As mentioned above, Map 519 will represent Seria, in the event the landing is there.  Map 502 will represent literally everywhere else!  As you can see, the beach in both of these maps is oriented similarly to the beach in OPSMAP2.  (Well, okay, the beach is actually northeast-southwest, not north-south -- but if you tilt your brain a little...)  Map 502 can represent either one of the large coastal cities with a major port (Murara, Tutong, Kuala Belait, or Miri) -- or anywhere in between.  If the chosen landing site is in between one of these ports, in other words, just a generic beach, the port that is shown on the map will be considered just a small port of little significance (in terms of being useful for unloading transport ships).  This built-in flexibility of Map 502 allows the U.S. to choose literally any point along the Brunei coastline.  (Sorry, OPFOR!)

14.	The MBX Experience (What it will be like)

As mentioned earlier, in the MBX you are overseeing not just a single group of men or a single ship in combat, but many groups of units throughout an entire theater of operation.  Your headquarters will probably not be at the actual point of conflict, but rather, on a flagship far offshore or in large headquarters in a city many miles from the action (Bandar Seri Begawan, Kuala Lumpur, Manilla, Guam, etc.).

The idea then, is to simulate the kind of activity that goes on at the very highest level of military operations.  If you can imagine a busy bridge of a flagship with a large plotting board,  radar suites, computers, satellite linkup aparatus, etc... or a large headquarters facility with dozens of personnel carrying out various tasks, from cryptography (codes) to cartography (maps) to radio traffic intercept stations, and lots of junior-grade communication officers running around with coded messages that might range from a garbled radio message from a damaged ship to a statement from the President... that's the feeling I want to create in this MBX.

There will be situation reports, radar sightings, visual contacts and so forth to keep track of every day, including  occasional maps showing the current known position of all ships and ground forces in the area.  There will be lots to talk about, and many decisions to make, big and small.  It will be a warfare of knowledge as much as guns, which should be quite well suited, I believe, for the less-pressured and more information-rich environment of an MBX. 

All this time, you will be gathering intel and analyzing it so that you can begin to formulate your final plan for your main assault, or main defense, of Brunei.  That's right! You do not have to start the MBX with your plans for the invasion of/defense of Brunei all set in stone!  In fact, with the scanty information you will have as of June 1st, that would probably be a recipe for disaster!  The key is to gain as much intel you can in the time allowed, so that you can formulate the best plan by the required deadline.  Right now, the deadline for submitting final plans for the CPX is June 19.

Remember that this is a quickly developing situation in which both sides must scramble to react to new information.  For the U.S., it is a rapid-response Marine assault that has been put together so quickly that much of the planning must be done during the voyage.  For OPFOR, war may have been in the cards for years, but they still will not know where or when the U.S. will strike.  They have to prepare for all possible eventualities, then start making choices as increasing intel helps to narrow down the possibilities.

15.	Making Plans  -- A Sequence of Decisions

Each stage of your final plan for Game Day will have deadlines associated with them.  For example, the first decision the U.S. must make (after organizing its staff and assigning commands, that is) will be to decide what equipment the Marines will bring with them (or, what they are leaving behind.)  This decision must be made by midnight Thursday, May 28  -- in time to load on board the boats by June 1st.  

As time goes by other decisions will have to be made, such as course settings for the fleet, default loadouts for air units, etc.  OPFOR, meanwhile, will be forced to make decisions along the way, too, though different ones from those the U.S. is making.  During this excercise, teams will be informed of which decisions need to be made, and when.

The most critical decisions, of course, will be your main deployments during the landing, which will be your setup orders for the CPX.  These plans must be submitted no later than June 19th.  Keep in mind, however, that a team that commits early to a plan will likely have better success (as long as the intel was correct and it is the right plan!)  This is because they will leave themselves with more time to plan other missions to support it.

16.	Giving Orders during the MBX

Because you are only in contact with a single commander or ship captain (or squadron leader), you are not equipped, nor would it be your job, to give orders to individual gun crews or pilots during combat.  All you can do is establish intent, SOPs, target priorities, and contingency plans -- things that your subordinates (me) can use to make sound decisions during combat in your absence.  Figure on giving any order you want but only down to the level of ship commander, or squadron leader.  After that, you must depend on those commanders and leaders to carry out your orders in a timely and capable manner.  

Example.  It is fine to say, "Create a task force of 4 ships (designate the ships and give the task force a name) and send them to point x and commence anti-submarine patrol.  Have Ship A and on the south perimeter of the patrol to provide AA protection."  It is NOT fine to continue with your orders, saying: "I want helo A from ship X to patrol in a zigzag pattern covering a 20 degree arc between 2 and 5 naut. miles from Ship Z, and I want helo B to...") This is the job of an experienced destroyer squadron leader.  He knows how to run an anti-submarine mission.  If your subordinates (me) don't do it the way you wanted, take consolation in the fact that the enemy subordinates (also me) is
probably screwing things up on their side, too. <g>   But chances are
your subordinates will know more about the situation (and I certainly will)
than you will, so his decisions will probabaly be more effective than
yours most times anyway.

17.	How MBX results effect the  CPX

Many of the events during the month of June will have an obvious effect on what will happen on Game Day.  Sinking an amphibious vessel, for examle,  would obviously mean fewer troops will make it to the battle.  Destroying bridges in OPFOR's rear could affect the speed with which enemy reinforcements can be brought in, or, depending on the situation, blowing that same bridge could help contain the U.S. from a breakout.

Some factors, however, are more conceptual, and therefore a bit more difficult to model.  For instance, what happens if OPFOR gets a supply of ICM to the harbor of Kuching?  How long would it take to unload it, ship it, get it to the front and distribute it to the artillery fire teams?  One day?  Two days? Three days?  Does the question even have a "right" answer, or could be be a range of times, depending on dozens of factors?  Heck, I don't know, and I'm sure I'm not going to know the answer to questions like that without doing more research than I have time for.  All I can say is, it will be a judgement call.  Sometimes my opinion will be supported by other people (by polling the Lurkers, perhaps), sometimes not.  All I can say, is that the "uncertainty principle" applies to both sides equally, so in game terms at least, it is fair.

18. Modelling Amphibious Operations

Assuming I have paced the MBX correctly, we should be reaching the beginning of the amphibious/helo-deployment stage of the U.S. Marine Operation sometime during the week of the 22nd.  At this point I will begin to tie the naval and air simulations (via Harpoon) and the ground deployments (via TacOps) together.  The MBX pace will probably slow down a bit, because there will probably be a lot of math to figure out, and perhaps some "lab tests" on the side to compute timings and combat results of things not simulat-able in either Harpoon or TacOps.  (Fire from shore batteries, for example.)

One important piece of data that I need to distribute over the next week or so is a "table of response times."  This would be a chart showing the various response times of various sizes of troops from any port (or capital) to any other port (or capital).  These figures would then be interpolated for points along the shore that are between two cities.  A few timings from interior towns and villages would be indicated as well, in case troops are moving to or from that direction.  This will give both teams a better idea of how much time they will have to successfully meet, or avoid, the enemy.

A method of calculating sea to land operations, at least the in-shore ones, will be to use TacOps units in stacks to represent large amphibious ships.  The size of the stack will depend on the size of the ship.  These "ships" can thus take many hits from missiles and artillery before sinking.  

I have also arranged to sub-contract out certain aspects of the fighting to an assistant umpire (Jerry Hall -- bless him!) if necessary.  Long range shore battery fire, for example.  This will provide me with raw lab results that I can then factor into the game.  This may even be something that can be done during the CPX itself.

Rather than give away too much of the game mechanics at this point, though, I would prefer to save that for my AAR after the excercise is over.  The rule of thumb is, if it can happen in real life, it can happen in this game.  And if it can't, I'll make up some lame-assed reason why you will have to change your plans. <g>

Someone asked me what would happen if all the amphibious ships were sunk?  Would there even be a CPX?  The answer is yes, there would still be a CPX, but it would probably now involve paratroopers or Special Ops Forces, and be designed to reflect the fact that the U.S. took a staggering defeat when its amphibious force was sunk.  For example, seeing the war is a lost cause, all that is left is for the U.S. to evacuate its diplomats and the Royal Guard in Bandar Seri Begawan, using the Special Ops Task Force to form a perimeter while newly transported helos do the evac.  OPFOR will have many advantages, including more ships at sea, due to the fact that Indonesia probably came in on Malaysia's side, while the U.S. will have it tough for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that their new assignment probably left very little time to plan the mission.

19.  On Reinforcements, Supplies, and Being "Creative"

This MBX/CPX has been designed to include many different types of combat elements, providing an almost infinite number of possible missions in a wide variety of terrain.  Still, players being players, even this is not enough.  Players always want more.  This is normal.  Ever heard of a General who didn't want more?  More is the American way.  And in this scenario, it is the Malaysian way, too.  So feel free to ask for more.  But ask yourself, how well did you put to use the stuff you already had?  If you ask for more troops, and get it, there's a very good chance I'm going to give the other side some goodies, too.  On the other hand, if you can achieve your goals without more freebies, any extras that come your way (because your opponent kept getting stuff) will be a bonus -- something you can sock away for times when you really need it.

Example:  In my first CPX, a U.S. mech/armored force was tasked with the demolition of factories in OPFOR's rear, knowing that OPFOR reinforcements were coming , possibly by train.  The commander, rather than remove his demolition teams from rigging charges at the factories, ordered some mech units to destroy the switching aparatus at the rail yard several kms. away (a relatively easy thing for an M1 cannon to wreck, so I couldn't very well deny him that) and to go to the nearest curve in the rail and remove the rails, beginning with the outside rail first.  It didn't take an engineering degree to see what he was doing.  He effectively sabotaged the railyard -- without using his demolition teams, and potentially preventing the reinforcements from arriving as soon as they ordinarily would have.   I didn't think of those things, the commander did, but they were both within the objectives and used the equipment that he already had.  This I felt was a creative, but also resourceful use of his men and equipment. 

A not so commendable ploy might be to "invent" something that wasn't there in the game to begin with.  Example: "Send divers to investigate sunken sub and take plans, codebooks, decipering equipment, etc. and bring them to headquarters for analysis"  In cases like this, I will just come up with a reason why it can't be done.  Creative solutions are cool, but let's not use creativity as way of fabricating an easy way to win the war!

20. 	Geopolitical Factors:

From time to time you will be receiving news from around the world, with some aspect of that news affecting your theater of operation.  Much of this will involve things like treaties, alliances, shipping and navigation rights, and so on.  You must use this information to establish Rules of Engagement and other types of SOPs that stay within the stated position of your country as proclaimed by the President or the Malaysian Prime Minister.

Many of these news clippings contain clues as to the kind of events that can be expected ahead -- even clues about the weaponry they may face or other sensitive information.  It will serve teams well to take a close look at the "newspaper" and keep up on foreign events.

21.	Intel 

There are three ways of gaining intel.  The first, and most important, is to analyze the information that you already have.  I am constantly working to provide a certain level of intel for both sides, whether they see it as intel or not.  Again, the newspaper clippings are a good example of places to find hidden information that could be useful.  The second way is to go out and get it.  Send a recon party to such-and-such a location to observe such-and-such an area, or launch an aerial recon mission with one of your air assets.  You can also do research on your own (as I had to do when creating this scenario) to find out more about weapons systems, geography, maritime trade laws, whatever.  These facts can sometimes affect the way the umpire will manipulate the events, since you are in fact providing extra research.

The Devin Doctrine:  What you cannot do, is "open negotiations" with foreign dignitaries, personally investigate leads in the assassination, or contact intelligence officers from other countries just to suit your curiosity.  First of all, that is the job of the State Department (US) , or your Foreign Minister (OPFOR).  Second of all, I am not going to just give you information that freely, simply because you ask for it.  If you are meant to have the information, it will be provided to you.  You can, however, always request any information on file with Forward Marine Forces, Pacific (FMFPAC, U.S.), in Pearl Harbor, or with R.M.A. headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, (OFPOR) but that's about it.  I would rely on these resources as a place to dig up relatively low-order, unclassified info, though, like ship specifications, or something.  Low priority stuff.

22.	Morale:

Yes, morale could be a factor. <COLLECTIVE GROAN, HEARD 'ROUND THE WORLD>  But it will not be a very big factor, and only invoked in severe cases.  <SLIGHT SIGH OF RELIEF BEGINS TO BE HEARD>  Without getting into that whole debate again, if I see a situation that looks like Dunkirk the way the Germans would have wanted it, with Marines being bombed and straffed and arty'd for hours on end, I can only imagine a lot of scared, hunkered down troops, not the effective little TacOps robots that fight just as efficiently as if they were on parade excercises at Camp LeJeune.  On the other hand, just as there will be ways to destroy morale, there will be ways to improve it.  Sending in reiforcements, air dropping supplies, or sending one of the brass (you guys) to the front to command them personally, all of these could be turnaround factors.  Yes, this will be very subjective on the umpire's part, but then, hey -- morale itself is a subjective thing!  Besides, I believe this MBX is a perfect testing ground for this aspect of warfare, since we are fighting a war at the operations/campaign level, not just a tactical one.

23.	Beyond the  CPX

My prediction is that if the outcome of the war, or at least its turning point, has not been decided by the beginning of the CPX, it will be by the time it's over.  However, if the battle turns out to be a draw, or very marginal, and, most importantly, we have been enjoying ourselves, hey, I have no objection to continueing the war again by MBX.  For me, that could only be the highest tribute I could ask for, that people are that enthused about the game!

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