London Assault Plan -- 2029

Scotland

Strategic Architect: Bruce Edward Zieger -- Lasombra antitribu

Opening Comments -- The Why: The last time the Sabbat came to Glasgow, they sent a pack of combat specialists to kill or capture Archon Brian O'Reilly. Brian and his combined forces gave the Sabbat a bloody nose by foiling the assault and killing two out of four of the pack's contingent. Now we are going to London to give the Sabbat some broken bones by eliminating a Sabbat pack of undisclosed value, presumably in London's East End.

Target: An undisclosed Sabbat pack, located somewhere in the East End of London.

The Plan: The plan is simple, a straightforward by the numbers: distraction, insertion, attack, distraction, and exit.

Mid-discussion Comments -- The How: The plan is a D.I.A.D.E (distraction, insertion, attack, distraction, and exit) strategy. A combined force of Kindred totaling 8-12 will be broken down into three teams of four vampires coordinating as a fire-team. Each of these three teams will leave Glasgow by separate routes, travel to within twenty kilometers of London and go to ground in randomly selected, but pre-screened hamlets the night before the assault on the East End pack. The following night, they will awaken, wait one hour, feed and prepare, and then move to pre-selected staging points for insertion.

The Insertion: The primary team, coded as Alpha, will move to a point one-half kilometer from the target pack's lair or feeding ground and wait for confirmation that the other two teams designated as Beta and Gamma are in their assigned positions. Alpha team's purpose is to carryout a terminal assault on the selected East End pack's lair or feeding grounds, eliminating all members of that pack and bringing back proof of the kill, if possible.

Beta team's purpose is to act as reinforcements in case the target pack has reinforcements of its own; this team will be located one kilometer from the designated staging ground, so that if they are needed, they can converge and support team Alpha upon request.

Team Gamma's primary purpose is to act as a cover for Alpha and Beta team's retreat from London should the London Sabbat decide to pursue the primary and secondary assault teams outside of the London area. Gamma team's designated staging area will be Ford's Dagenham Stamping Plant, which is now closed for the foreseeable future. Dagenham is a large suburb of East London. It forms part of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and is located approximately 11.5 miles (18.5 km) east of Charing Cross and around 9.5 miles (15.2 km) east of the City of London. It was historically an agrarian village and remained mostly undeveloped until 1921 when the London County Council began construction of the large Becontree estate. The population of the area significantly increased during the 20th century, with the parish of Dagenham becoming an urban district in 1926 and a municipal borough in 1938. It has formed part of Greater London since 1965 and is a predominantly residential area, with some areas of declining industrial activity, including the Ford Dagenham plant. The southern part of Dagenham, adjacent to the River Thames, forms part of the London Riverside section of the Thames Gateway redevelopment area. The Ford Dagenham Stamping Plant will not only serve as Gamma's staging ground, but also the assault op's final fall-back position within the East London area. If the operation goes awry, then this is where the surviving members of the three teams will meet to depart the area, presumably by speed boat.

Team Alpha will move to within one-hundred meters of the pack haven or feeding grounds, then radio the other two teams of their position and circumstances. Then they will call for the primary distraction, which will be a the detonation of a medium sized EMP on the western border of London's Heathrow Airport. Given the state of English security procedures and the camera-network that covers the entirety of Greater Metropolitan London, it would be problematic at best to try and place it within Heathrow Airport itself. But, given the magnetic yield, area of effect and power of a modern (circa. 2029) EMP, that simply is not necessary. The EMP can be placed within range and detonated by mortal agents of the assault groups.

With confirmation of the Airport EMP's detonation, Alpha team will detonate their own EMP within the pack's domain or hunting ground to eliminate any potential mortal observation of the assault itself and to neutralize any technological defenses and communication that the target Sabbat pack might have. At this point, Alpha team will move in and terminate the target pack. They will leave behind a lead shielded staging area where they can regroup for retreat; the staging area (within .5km) of the target pack's haven or hunting grounds will have one car or truck, several motorcycles, additional ammunition and weapons, rations (blood bags or victims), replacement armor and undamaged communications gear. From Alpha's staging ground, they will proceed to Beta's staging area to regroup with that team and retreat to team Gamma's staging area in Dagenham.

Before leaving its staging area, the team should do a quick cleanup and destroy the staging area.

Obviously, it will be necessary to have four separate routes of escape from team Alpha's staging area, but it would not be wise to split the surviving team members up in enemy territory. The extra escape routes exist to give Alpha as many options as possible. Alpha team's rendezvous with Beta will occur at the Beta staging area, which will remain uncertain until we have specifics for the target pack. But, once regrouped, both teams will leave the area together and leave by one of four pre-determined escape routes for Beta team. Beta team's staging area will be lead shielded, if it is within the blast radius of the EMP, regardless it too will have extra supplies, rations and escape vehicles.

Each staging area should be defensible with four escape routes possible should they come under assault themselves.

Once all the survivors have retreated to the Gamma staging area, they clean up the staging area and proceed together to the docks where speed-boats are waiting and fueled by mortal retainers. By sea the combined group will proceed 350km (218 miles) around the southern coast of England to the port of Bournemouth for refueling and refreshment. From there, the task-force will travel 340km (212 miles) south-west to the the port of Hugh Town on St.Mary's, Isles of Scilly where the group will go to ground for the day.

The following evening, after verification that the Sabbat has given up pursuit, the group will break up once again into three separate groups and return to Glasgow by separately selected routes. Should the Sabbat pursue the task-force to the port of Hugh Town, then the group can retreat to Star Castle for a final battle. One group's retainers should be waiting in Hugh Town at Star Castle to re-provision the group in the worst case scenario. It might also be possible to call in reinforcements to Star Castle in this situation.

Hugh Town is the main and largest settlement on the Isles of Scilly. The town is situated on the island of St. Mary's located on a narrow isthmus which joins the peninsula known as the Garrison with the rest of the island. The main street is the main shopping area on the islands and business is quite reliant on tourism. There are also banks, hotels, pubs and a small hospital. There are several beaches. A notable building is the Star Castle, which overlooks the town and is now a hotel.

The principal harbor of the islands is located on the northern edge of the town and is the terminal of the ferry to Penzance, currently the Scillonian III and the cargo vessel Gry Maritha. The original quay was built in 1593 and an extension (or offshoot) began in 1836 to Rat Island under a contract of £4,000 to William Martin of Penzance. Martin resigned in November 1837 and Augustus Smith organized the completion. The enlargement of the harbor produced an increase in harbor dues as larger and deeper-draughted boats were now able to dock for loading, unloading, repairs or victualing. In 1889 Augustus Smith's successor T A Dorrien-Smith extended the pier a further 250 feet eastwards, at his own expense, so that the West Cornwall Steam Ship Company ships could dock. Despite Parliamentary opposition a Pier and Harbor Provisional Order Bill passed in June 1890 gave him revenue from the harbor dues.

Requirements:

The Participants

• -- Dietrich Kohl -- Black marketeer arms dealer, and enforcer of the Masquerade in Thessaloniki.

Maps

• -- Isles of Scilly - Southern most Islands of the UK.

Websites

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosively_pumped_flux_compression_generator

The only obvious flaw in this plan is that your source of information, Cyril Masters, cannot provide so specific a window in which your targets will be feeding. The best he can do is every 2-5 nights. -Jamie