South West Alliance/Archive/Operation Roadkill
Operation: Roadkill
YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THIS ARTICLE BY PROVIDING LINKS TO SCREENSHOTS AND ANY RELEVANT TIMELINE INFORMATION IN THE DETAILED HISTORY SECTION
Definition
Operation Roadkill was first outlined by the South West Alliance as an effort to oppose the Mall Tour and strengthen diplomatic relationships among various groups in the south west. Roadkill was conceived in the SWA's Opulent Conference room and officially hatched on Feb 21st, 2009, in the year of Our Lord. The following parameters were outlined.
- The Mall is indefensible.
- Hold the Cheeke Necrotech and St. Alexander's Hospital.
- Maintain revives for the fallen.
- The ruined mall shall provide an entry point.
Theater of Operations
While the Mall Tour cut a path of destruction and sweet, loving barhah across Malton, the SWA resolved to make their stand in a narrowly defined area, namely The Cheeke Building.
However, there was a general consensus that should the building be consumed in the fires of mega-hordey zomb-on-human-action, the adjacent Tompson Mall and St. Alexander's Hospital would serve as fall-back positions/launch pads.
The Cheeke Building was therefore designated "Alpha Prime Omega Fortress of Solitude Number One: Classification Uber Top Secret", because of it's strategeric value as the nearest NT building, and on account of it being buttressed against Tompson, demonstrated here for the mentally impaired.
A Brief History
- Initial contact with the Mall Tour was declared on May 1st, 2009.
- By May 9th, the conflict was considered passe by the Tour and they officially moved on.
- In the intervening days the SWA focused their efforts on holding the Cheeke Building, reviving the fallen, hurting the lurching, FAKing the FAKless, and generally working to slow the progress of the Tour.
- During this time, survivors flooded out of the suburb, Tompson mall became ruined and infested with the undead, and the Cheeke building itself was over-run with break-ins topping out at around 64 zeds.
- By the 9th, the nearly 200 survivors present in the Cheeke Building had all but fled or been zombified, dwindling to a core of 64 dedicated breathers who ultimately organized and participated in counter-strikes.
- By the time the Tour announced it was moving on, the Cheeke Building had been reclaimed and the stage was set for a quick rebuild period, though many SWA forces were now depleted of ammunition and life.
- For more information, check out the Detailed History of Operation Roadkill.
Parties involved
Around January the 30th mumblings of a newly forming Mall Security Alliance had reached the SWA via TMS. While their general goal was to "provide regional defense for all malls within the city of Malton", they had expressed interest in opposing the Mall Tour. At the same time, the SWA was bolstered from it's recently successful Vitamin C operation and was looking for something else to do.
It was therefore resolved to help Tompson Mall, though in what form, no one new. In the next month, diplomatic relationships were established with Umbrella Corporation, pursuing the possibility of working together against the Tour. Additionally, Nixbank's Brotherhood of Steel was given an invitation to join the fray.
During Operation Roadkill, the Brotherhood of Steel, the SWA, many Lockettside survivors and DHDP's Ghost Squad fought with honor and a sense of accomplishment.
If your group participated, feel free to add your name to this section and add your accounts to the Detailed History.
Conclusion
In the end, Operation Roadkill was neither an overwhelming success or a dismal failure. However, being optimistic, we choose to classify it as a win. Part of the problem with contextualizing the operation was a lack of a clear set of parameters defining success or failure. Also, the outcome of the battle itself was mixed. For example, if we analyze the edict:
"Defend the Cheeke Building"
we see that this was only partially met. While holding the Cheeke indefinitely would have been awesome, it was probably impossible. On the other hand, it would have been nice to avoid ruin for a few more days and make more of a "valiant last stand".
In the end, it is all a matter of smiles and cries.
Smiles and Cries
You gotta control your smiles and cries, because that's all you have and nobody can take that away from you
- Officer Hoyt
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CRIES
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Lessons Learned
The Locals Leave Town
When the main force of the Mall Tour hit, the number of defenders in the Cheeke building evaporated. The appearance of 160+ defenders was an illusion, because non-affiliated survivors will generally avoid a siege.
Therefore, if any future operations are designed to defend a single building against a horde, it will be necessary to build a strong, dedicated force ahead of time that will commit to maintaining the barricades and staffing the premises with their man-flesh.
Know What the Deal is
In the future, our operations should have more clearly defined parameters with which to determine failure or success. Furthermore, we should favor missions that are more task oriented, involving coordination and movement over static defense against superior numbers. Perhaps the day will come again when the SWA will select a location to make more than a symbolic stand. When that happens, we would be better suited to build a broad and dedicated coalition well in advance of the confrontation.
Template Madness
Anyone who participated in Operation Roadkill, knowingly or not, has the right to display this spiffy template:
|
Operation: Roadkill |
| This user or group got squashed. defending the Cheeke Building. |
by adding
{{Operation Roadkill}}to their wiki page.
Anyone who helped with the operation with the intent to aid the SWA can display the following badge of valor and honorable service:
 |
South West Alliance Veteran |
| {{{User}}} is an SWA operations veteran. {{{Pronoun}}} participated in {{{Number}}} combined efforts. |
by adding
{{SWA Veteran}}to their wiki page.
