Dystopian Wars Campaign Guide

PACIFIC CYCLONE
PA RT 1 O p e r at i o n s i n t h e pac i f i c a n d e a s t i n d i e s - o c to b e r 1 8 7 1 to f e b ru a ry 1 8 7 2

Welcome, seasoned commanders to the third Dystopian Wars Campaign Guide! After the transformation of the tranquil Caribbean into a major warzone, and the explosion of the World War into Belgium and the British Isles, our attention now turns to the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, and the impact of the great conflict upon this region of the Dystopian world. Unlike the battlefields of northern Europe, the Pacific theatre is an area of vast contrasts. Great fleets sought to locate and strike one another across the immense, trackless waters. Yet the battles on land, mostly confined to small island chains or narrow slices of mainland Asia, saw clashes as ferocious as any in Belgium or the British Isles. The operations in the Asia-Pacific region saw several key events that would influence the course of the wider war. The earliest and most important was the official ending of the so-called Northern War which had existed in spirit if not reality between the Federated States of America and the Russian Coalition since the accidental attack on a Russian naval flotilla by American forces in 1869. Although events elsewhere had precluded the slide into general war between the two powers, relations had remained tense in the theatre. Only the potential of the Empire of the Blazing Sun as both a threat and a target, combined with intense mediation by the Kingdom of Britannia, allied to both powers, had prevented an escalation. The second major event was the entry into the war of the great Chinese Federation, with the Russian Coalition their primary target. For the Blazing Sun, full Chinese commitment would help a great deal in reducing the Russian threat to their home islands, allowing them to pursue other objectives elsewhere.

The Empire of the Blazing Sun had long maintained an agreement with the Hawaiians to use the great harbour as a key staging post, the outermost eastern stronghold of their Pacific dominion. But with Oahu in their hands, American forces could dominate the Pacific However, several events had conspired to prevent that venture taking place. The first had been the accidental engagement between American and Russian naval forces off Alaska the so-called Bering Incident of summer 1869. A flotilla of the 18th Federated Fleet had been engaged in Operation Midnight Sun, scouting out favourable routes for the planned offensive against Hawaii and the neighbouring Midway Atoll. Unfortunately, the flotilla ran into bad weather just south of the Aleutian Islands, territory of the Russian Coalition. Amid this confusion they encountered a Russian Far East Fleet taskforce sailing out of Archangelsk-Novy. Ironically, as the American intelligence services later learned, the Russians had an almost identical objective to the Americans. However, with both sides trying to maintain a low profile and expecting to run into hostile forces at any time, both fleet commanders chose to shoot first, ask questions later. The actual engagement was very short, but still long enough to cause significant diplomatic and physical damage.

FEDERATED STATES OF AMERICA THE REPUBLIC STRIKES BACK

It had been an American objective to launch a large offensive across the vast Pacific since the nations declaration of war upon the Empire of the Blazing Sun back in 1868. While President Adams public motivation had been to act in support of the Kingdom of Britannia, he and his government also had less altruistic intentions. Action against the Blazing Sun offered the chance to win a significant prize the nominally independent kingdom of Hawaii, home to one of the largest and finest deepwater harbours in the world on Oahu Island.

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Although never officially declared by either side, the Northern War was not entirely bloodless, as rogue elements fought several skirmishes in what was then a thinly-held region for both powers. Relations had been so icy that the FSA chiefs of staff had realigned the bulk of American forces in the west northwards to deal with any possible Russian reprisals. The early part of 1871 had also seen a much more serious event for the FSA military command. A joint Blazing Sun - Prussian offensive came crashing into the Caribbean. The fierce clashes that had ensued had demanded a rebalancing of American forces. The Caribbean situation, though contained, remained a running sore for the FSA military. Surprisingly, Hawaii had not been employed by the Blazing Sun as a staging post for the forces sent across the Pacific prior to their Caribbean assault. The FSA intelligence services could only surmise that this had been to avoid any premature enemy detection of force build-ups. Although this had meant that there had been no increase in the Hawaiian garrison, continued delays to H. Matthew Godwins Panama crossing zone project meant that the Americans still lacked a means for rapid cross-ocean transfer of surface forces. This was further complicated by the Caribbean conflict and the loss of the Falkland Islands by the Britannians. The only option left had been to delay action until fresh independent forces had been built up in California. However, by late 1871, not only had this build-up gone better than either Adams or his senior commanders thought possible, diplomatic relations with the Russians had thawed considerably. The Prussian assault on FSA territory had given both powers a common enemy. Although neither truly trusted the other, the normalising of relations between them was simply a very practical idea.

likened this to placing a foot on the throat of a sleeping man, and gently shifting ones weight not enough to provoke a savage response, merely to make him squirm and struggle. The Empress and her Council agreed in principle. However, High General Kojima stated that the Blazing Sun could not carry such an operation of this scale alone. Defensive measures against any aggressive moves by the FSA had to be maintained, especially around Hawaii. To some degree, this installation would soon benefit from outside help, from a most unusual quarter - a fleet from the League of Italian States, allies of the Prussian Empire and an Imperial Bond partner, was en route from South America, having resupplied in Chile. There were mixed feelings on the Council about this development. Unlike the Prussians, the Italians had a reputation for politicking and self-interest, and the Blazing Sun had had few dealings with them. Nonetheless, the Empress and her advisors were pragmatic; any assistance was appreciated, no matter how dubious the source.

THE EMPIRE OF THE BLAZING SUN BAITING THE BEAR

In Edo, the Empress Shinzua and her Council of Seven had been deliberating on the means by which they could further aid their allies. Honour demanded that the Prussian intervention in the Caribbean, which had ultimately proven vital to the continued Blazing Sun occupation of territory there, be repaid. The attack on Britannia by the French had further aided in stabilising the situation in south-east Asia. However, with the Prussian Empire now beset on two fronts by the Russians, the Empress felt that some means had to be found of striking at the Tsars Asiatic territories. Surprisingly, it was the normally cautious High General Shinji Takeda of the Army of the Shield who suggested a plan, a limited offensive against three key targets, within easy reach of the Japanese home islands. These were the southern Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, and most significantly the major fleet base of Vladivostok. With the bulk of Russian forces engaged in Europe, the High General of the Shield maintained that this would both ease pressure on the Prussians by creating a threat the Tsar could not ignore, while also making retribution very difficult to achieve due to the immense distances involved, and the favourable geographical position of the Blazing Sun heartlands. Takeda However, a single Italian flotilla would not alter the balance of power closer to the Asian coast. For that, a far more powerful ally was required; the Chinese Federation. The Council knew His Celestial Majesty had not forgiven the Russians for their attack on the Federation in the 1830s and 40s, and the Federation already supplied considerable economic aid to the Blazing Sun. By December of 1871, the Empress and her court had indeed managed to secure Chinese support for operations in the Yellow Sea and around the Korean Peninsula against the Russians. Although negotiations had been ongoing since mid-1870, and by the middle period of 1871, the Blazing Sun position had been greatly strengthened by their success against the Americans in the Atlantic. With the possibility of war between the FSA and the Russians seeming more unlikely with each passing month since the Bering Incident, the cautious Guangxhu Emperor noted that his realm

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might in future be placed at risk of further Russian aggression. However, direct military alliance demanded the Emperor sacrifice a key asset to avoid potentially serious disputes with the Blazing Sun. That asset was the fugitive Blazing Sun General Oni.

waters around Alaska, provided that they did not engage in actions that could be interpreted as aggressive towards Russian assets. Furthermore, no aggressive patrols would be mounted by Russian warships near the FSAs Pacific north-western coast. Vladimir added one further caveat that neither the Britannian or American governments were to make this message generally known. His hope was that the Imperial Bond would believe that higher tension still existed between two of the partners of the Grand Coalition, which would in turn influence Blazing Sun defensive dispositions. However, he made no proposal of a formal agreement for military co-operation, as the Russians had made with the Britannians, having no desire to lock his empire into too many treaties. For the Americans, surprise was total suddenly, at a stroke, the Northern War was over. Some FSA commanders, including Admiral Hilton, Federal Navy commander-in-chief, suspected a ruse, but Adams, assured by the Britannians, decided to take the Russian monarch at his word. Although he did not instruct Marshal Gorshkov, commander-inchief of Far Eastern forces, to move any additional reinforcements to the area, the Tsar did decide to tighten up discipline among the front-line commanders by dispatching a substantial morale team from his Oprichnina political guards. In time, this decision would have a dramatic effect on the Russian situation in the Far East, but not the one the Tsar intended.

ONIS ODYSSEY
Since early 1869, the Emperor had played host to Oni and the remnants of his army, hiding them from the Blazing Suns search teams. They had been a great asset in the early modernisation of the Chinese forces. However, with Chinese-Blazing Sun relations growing closer, the Emperor realised that Oni would soon become a political nightmare. Knowing that any discovery of his deception by the Blazing Sun might damage his reputation, the Emperor advised Oni that he would have to find another sanctuary. However, he agreed to provide Oni with a flotilla to carry the remainder of his army. The dissident General was disappointed, but unsurprised. He had no quarrel with the Chinese who had provided vital shelter, and knew that with the political tide turning, the Chinese Federation was no longer a safe sanctuary. He led his remaining followers south once more, taking a ship under cover of darkness and heading south. The Emperor advised him to head for Free Australia, but had no idea if Oni would heed his words. The departure of the last Wani renegades was a huge relief for the Celestial Court. Unfortunately, it did leave the Chinese armies without the crack troops they had come to rely on for any aggressive military requirements. But the Emperor considered it a fair swap. He was confident his armies were now in a much better position, and the Blazing Suns official military could provide far more significant aid than a smattering of renegades from its ranks. And so Oni remained at large, but the Chinese-Blazing Sun pact remained strong. However, unbeknownst to the High Generals, the Tsar had his own plans in hand for the Pacific, which was destined not only to collide head-on with their own, but also compound their problems with the Americans.

PACIFIC CYCLONE
While also dismissing the possibility of a formal treaty with the Russians, President Adams considered the unfortunate Bering matter resolved. Soon after receiving the Russian assurance, he ordered the Federal Navy and Air Force to reactivate preparations for the long-delayed American Pacific offensive Operation Cyclone. It would not just be the Empire of the Blazing Sun who would end up on the receiving end of the FSAs wrath. Ever since the mysterious and devastating attack in June 1871 on Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, American authorities had been investigated who could have perpetrated the night time raid. The assault had crippled the defences located there, allowing the Blazing Sun Sword Army 8th Division forces to land on the island against little opposition and triggering a gruelling conflict that had cost both sides dearly. Investigations of the area after the evacuation of Blazing Sun forces had turned up a number of damning clues, the most compelling of which was a thin coating of Sturginium dust present on the remains of some structures that had been attacked by weapons described as blue-green light beams. Inevitably, suspicion had fallen rapidly upon the Covenant of Antarctica. The Americans had submitted a formal complaint in August 1871 to the Covenants one remaining foreign embassy, in the city of Canberra in Free Australia. Fully aware that they would not get any response, the FSA State Department also used the opportunity to plant agents of the Staverton Security Company in Canberra. What they gleaned between August and their secret crossing of the border into Britannian-ruled Royal Australia was highly significant.

THE RUSSIAN COALITION THE END OF THE NORTHERN WAR

Tsar Vladimirs ambitions had always been focused on attaining Russian Coalition dominance in the west, humbling the Prussian Empire and Ottoman Dominions in the process, before turning his full attention eastwards. However, he had never neglected his eastern borders, realising that his long frontier with the Chinese Federation, together with the Federations links with the Blazing Sun, meant that the risk of an attack here was growing. While he could do little about the situation on his land borders, other than ensuring that the garrisons in key areas were kept well-manned and supplied, the cities of Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, with their vital links to the Alaska Oblast, were potentially much more vulnerable to a Blazing Sun attack. Such action required as much security as possible, so in October 1871, the Tsar sent an extraordinary message to Adams through the Britannian ambassador in Washington: American warships would be permitted undisturbed passage through Russian

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Shortly after the end of the major fighting in the Caribbean, a strange new island, reportedly of a similar size to Puerto Rico and almost entirely snowbound despite the local climate had been reported some six hundred miles south of the Cook Islands. This landmass had apparently been occupied and installations set up on it. Warships and other craft of unfamiliar configuration had been sighted nearby. Stranger, the islands location was in an area of the Pacific previously noted as totally empty. Rumours in Canberra spoke of mercenary contingents under contract to the Covenant preparing to sail to the region. Back in Washington, the FSA chiefs of staff made the assumption that the strange island was indeed a new Covenant asset and a potentially perfect target for a punitive reprisal raid. The Cyclone plans were revised to allow for such an operation, which was named Operation High Jump.

Sturgeon had ordered the immediate formation and dispatch of an expeditionary fleet to claim and occupy this bizarre place, dubbed Hookes Reach. The fleet, travelling part of the way by teleportation from the Newton Pinnacle Static teleportation arrays, would convey a large research team, as well as several large prefabricated fortifications to begin investigating this odd new landmass. War Master Schneider had already activated forces of the 5th War Fleet Cogent Paradigm in preparation for a special mission to the north. This was named Operation Mistweaver, aimed at acquiring technology developed by Markov for his Russian masters. Schneider had determined that the best target for such a raid was the Russian Far East Fleet, which had undergone significant modification, but whose remote bases offered the best chance of a clean getaway for the raiders. However, Cogent Paradigms prime mission remained the defence of Hookes Reach against outside aggressors. The effect of the American protest to the Covenant told Sturgeon and his advisors in no uncertain terms that at least one great power was now actively out for retribution against them, and while Antarctica itself might be beyond the means of any outside force to assault successfully, Hookes Reach certainly was not. And so, in the dying days of 1871, all the great powers set their plans in motion, as a great cyclone swept over the vast waters of the Pacific.

THE COVENANT OF ANTARCTICA PIERCING THE VEIL

The American assumptions about the odd island were more accurate than they even realised, other than that its appearance was the deliberate doing of the Covenant. Scout units from the Antarctican Vigilance continental defence forces had in fact discovered the island in the July of 1871, before anyone else had become aware of it at all. What astounded Lords Sturgeon and Leonidas were the circumstances in which the island had been spotted in the first place; the scout aircraft crews had watched the island appear from thin air!

A Dystopian Wars Campaign Guide

Copyright Spartan Games 2013