READ ME FIRST

What is in this kit, why each document exists, and in what order to read it.

NIGHT ORDERS is a series of Command: Modern Operations scenarios drawn from real events. You play the duty commander of a standing watch cell: each episode is one crisis, one night, one watch. The documents in this kit are written the way a real headquarters writes them, but you do not need any military background to use them. This page explains how they fit together.

1Installing the scenario

From this kit

Open the Scenarios folder of your Command installation. With Steam: right-click Command: Modern Operations in your library, Manage → Browse local files, then open Scenarios (by default C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Command Modern Operations\Scenarios).
Create a sub-folder named Night Orders there, so that every episode of the series stays together.
Copy Night Orders 00 - False Colours.scen from this kit into it: ...\Scenarios\Night Orders\Night Orders 00 - False Colours.scen
Start Command, choose Scenarios, open the Night Orders folder and load Night Orders 00 - False Colours.

From the Steam Workshop

In Steam, open the Workshop of Command: Modern Operations and search for Night Orders.
Open Night Orders 00 — False Colours and click Subscribe: Steam downloads it for you, and updates it if a new version is released.
Start Command: the scenario is in the scenario list, under Steam Workshop.
The documents of this kit are not part of the Workshop download: keep this kit to read them.

Command: Modern Operations, build 1900.24 or later. An internet connection is only needed for the briefing picture and the links (operations room, briefing pack, and the link given at the end of the watch).

2How much to read

2 minutes — just play

Briefing Pack: the cover (situation in one page) and the Night Orders letter from the admiral.
ROE card: keep it open next to Command.
Install the scenario (section 1), load it, read the briefing, start the clock.

15 minutes — play it well

Everything above, then FRAGO 00 (paragraphs 1 to 5) in the Briefing Pack.
Annex G — Special actions: how you report and give orders in the game.
Annex E — Exhibits: what the intelligence officer already has on file.
Open the operations room (totobimbo.com/NO/OPS/00, Annex I) on a second screen: when a signal in Command ends with a traffic ref, enter it there.

Full read — for the curious

OPORD 26-300 once for the whole season (or its one-page Quick reference).
The rest of the Briefing Pack: intelligence summary (Annex B), assets, chart, decision log, glossary.

3The documents at a glance

Fig. 1 — From the season order to the end of the watch

4Why military orders?

One standing order for the season, a short order for each crisis. In NATO practice an OPORD (operation order) sets out the mission, the rules and the chain of command once; each new task comes as a FRAGO (fragmentary order) that only says what changes. You read the OPORD once; each episode you only read its FRAGO.
The rules of engagement (ROE) are what you may do, and when. Some rules are always in force (SW-1 to SW-4 in the OPORD); the FRAGO switches others on for one crisis, within limits. The ROE card puts all of them on one sheet.
Codewords are short reports with a fixed meaning. TRIPWIRE (contact detected), DAYLIGHT (identified), NIGHTJAR (action authorised), SHUTTER (stop), CLOSEOUT (end). In the game you send them with the special actions.
When two documents differ, the more specific one prevails for the crisis: the FRAGO over the OPORD, the full OPORD over its Quick reference.

5Each document: why it exists, where to find it

Where to find it. "Kit" means this kit (PDF, and the same page in html/). "Online" means the Orders tab of the operations room, where every document of the kit can be read as a web page.

Document	What it is	Why it exists	When	Where to find it
OPORD 26-300 — Standing Watch`OPORD-26-300` Season	The standing order: who you are, your mission, the chain of command, the standing ROE (SW series), the codewords.	It does not change from one episode to the next, so it is written once.	Once, before your first episode.	Kit: OPORD-26-300.pdf. Online: Orders tab of the operations room.
OPORD 26-300 — Quick reference`OPORD-26-300-QR` Season	The OPORD on one page.	Enough to play without reading the full order.	Keep it with the ROE card.	Kit: OPORD-26-300-QR.pdf. Online: Orders tab of the operations room.
Briefing Pack 00`Briefing-Pack-00` Episode	The cover and signal log, the Night Orders (the admiral's letter), FRAGO 00 and Annexes A to I: ROE, intelligence, assets, chart, exhibits, decision log, special actions, glossary, operations room.	Everything that is specific to this crisis, in one file.	Before you start the clock.	Kit: Briefing-Pack-00.pdf. Online: Orders tab of the operations room; also linked from the Command briefing.
ROE card and asset sheets`ROE-00` Episode	Rules of engagement, codewords, authority and limits of your units, on an A5 sheet.	The decisions of the game turn on these rules: you need them at hand, not in a 21-page file.	During the game, next to Command.	Kit: ROE-00.pdf (print it). Online: Orders tab of the operations room.
SPOTREP 00 and WARNO 00`published before release` Teaser	The first contact report (FLASH) and the warning order: a crisis is coming, prepare.	They set the scene a few days before the episode. Their content is repeated in the Briefing Pack.	Optional.	Published before release; their content is in the Briefing Pack.
Messages in the game`in Command` In game	Intelligence summaries, signals from headquarters, reports from your units, exhibits from the intelligence officer.	The crisis moves on during the watch: the game tells you what changes.	As they arrive. Your answers go through the special actions.	In Command (pop-ups and message log).
Operations room`totobimbo.com/NO/OPS/00` Off game	A web page beside Command: the full text of the signals (enter the traffic ref printed in the game), registers to investigate the ship, a chart with tools, and your watch log.	Command shows what your sensors see; the room is where the staff work is done. What you establish there can go on your file for Paris: enter each case note in Command with the special action J2 — Log case note.	Optional, during the game. It can be opened before, to prepare.	Online only: operations room (totobimbo.com/NO/OPS/00, linked from the Command briefing).
End-of-watch report`in Command` In game	“I HAVE THE WATCH.” The admiral's account of your watch: chronology, outcome, assessment.	It closes the episode.	At the end of the scenario.	In Command, at the end of the watch.

6In this kit

Briefing-Pack-00.pdf	Briefing Pack — Operation MASCARIN (FRAGO 00 and annexes)
ROE-00.pdf	ROE card and asset sheets (A5, print separately)
OPORD-26-300.pdf	OPORD 26-300 — Standing Watch (season order)
OPORD-26-300-QR.pdf	OPORD 26-300 — Quick reference (one page)
README-00.pdf	This page
html/	The same documents as web pages, to read on screen
Night Orders 00 - False Colours.scen	The scenario, for Command: Modern Operations (see section 1, Installing the scenario)