The Broken Hill Front

    World War VI was quite devastating for the Earth.  Not much more is said on this topic in the official SF3D/Ma.K background info, but for our campaigns we did a little chatting and decided that there was probably a small nuclear winter which gave way to an intense greenhouse type warming.  Melting ice caps flooded the old coasts, changed weather patterns and redistributed airborne soil and debris which could radically change environments.  Thus the healed Earth can be a bit different than the one we currently live on.

    Our first campaign is taking place in the official timeline in old Australia but in a backwater area of little importance.   There are 3 areas of concentrated military activity which can be called Conflict Zones.       

The Digger Conflict Zone juts into the new inland sea, called The Eyre Sea.  The IMA (Independent Mercenary Army) hold several mines and ore processing centers at the moment, but with the SDR having recently installed a new aerial warning and defense system in Northern Australia the continued IMA resupply by giant seaplanes and spaceplanes will become much more difficult.

 The Adelaide Breach Conflict Zone straddles with entrance into the shallow Mungo Gulf.  Having a spaceport with protected anchorages has allowed the SDR to maintain a strong foothold on both sides of the breach.  Newly arriving units are being fed from here northwards into the Digger zone, putting pressure on the IMA forces and holdings in that zone.

    At the start of our campaign it is September of 2884, the IMA  has most of the Canberra Conflict Zone under control with some SDR units holding out in a New Canberra under siege.  As the the noose tightens on the city the IMA Command has begun shifting forces to other areas, including reinforcing the North American armies.    This dispersion, coupled with the SDR advance from Port Adelaide, have brought our troops into conflict in the far flung edge of the Broken Hill Front.

    
 The above map is a very simplified form showing the various movement zones we are utilizing, as well as the general terrain type within these zones.  As there were both surviving records and continuous habitation of the area many of the place names have remained the same over the centuries (though they may not represent a future version of the original places).  This region was once very dry and scrubby, dotted with greatly distanced sheep grazing stations/farms.  Now there is a much greater abundance of jungle and forest as well as rich grasslands and agricultural areas.  The mines north of Broken Hill are once again in full production, with the facilities at Port Tandou providing easy export.  This area has been almost untouched by conflict, with the minimal SDR and IMA forces mostly acting to keep an eye on developments in the areas and only conducting patrol and harassment operations against each other when encountered.  A sort of "gentlemen's war" has been conducted between these long range patrol forces, with very limited combat and almost no collateral damage inflicted to infrastructure or civilian properties.  So far...