MONTANA
Wide open and traditionally wild, Montana missed out on most of the rampaging refugee of the chaos times but still suffered pains of famine and strife.
1) NUCLEAR TARGETS
None.
2) ORGANIZED MILITARY FORCES
None.
3) NORTHCENTRAL MONTANA
Great Falls: The largest city in the area, Great Falls is now home to about 7,500 people. The Great Falls International Airport is strangely in good shape, though not functioning, and there are half-a-dozen 35-passenger commercial airliners here rusting but in flyable condition. Northeast of the city is Malmstrom Air Force Base. Groundbreaking for the base's Minuteman I ICBM complex was in March of 1961, and some work was done on the silos and command bunkers before the exchanges in October. No missiles were ever at the base, but a lot of valuable support equipment is still here. Some of these concrete holes are now used as food bunkers and shelters by locals and Indians.
Malone's marauders: The rugged foothills and wide plains of the Marias River valley north of Great Falls are the home range of a large band of White Supremacy survivalists, augmented with biker scum and mercenaries, led by a man named Malone. Malone was a former writer of pulp adventure books, mostly thinly veiled racist rantings, who had a vacation home up in these Montana hills. His fame, fortune and assumed skill made him flypaper for the dregs of humanity once the chaos came and he was quick to grow an army. Their HQ is in Conrad, with outposts stretching in a line from Fort Benton to the south, up to Harve, through Chester, Big Sandy and Box Elder to the east, Shelby to the north, and to Cut Bank to the west. Their numbers fluctuate but there are roughly 3,000 of them in various degrees of effectiveness. They are well-armed but have no heavy weapons save .50 caliber HMGs and light mortars. They are in constant conflict with local communities, the Great Falls militia and with encroaching Canadian forces from across the Saskatchewan border.
4) EASTERN HALF OF MONTANA
The plains of the east have always been dry, and the drought has made it even more so. Nevertheless, population pressures have stabilized and food supplies remain fairly secure for the time being. Several towns in this huge expanse of rolling prairies and river valleys are home to burgeoning White Supremacy enclaves, the most notable at Glendive in the far east. There are, however, long stretches where there is absolutely no human life and every town is deserted and looted. There are small survivor communities scattered about, such as Harlowton, home to a few hundred survivors, and Lewistown, home to a rabble of scavengers and refugees about 2,000 strong and armed with hunting rifles and pistols.
Jordan: Of special note in this area is the isolated town of Jordan, the site of a crash-landed but relatively intact B-52 strategic bomber and a repairable Beechcraft 18 light plane. The locals are in conflict with a local biker gang, and they are working to get the Beechcraft flyable, planning on loading the tail Vulcan cannon from the B-52, and smash the bikers from the air. The bikers go by the curious name of the "Road Knights for Jesus" and are led by the "Reverend" Peter Plitt. Needless to say, the group's actions are far from those of Christians.
Billings: The largest concentration of survivors in the eastern half of the state is at Billings. Today the town supports some 8,000 people and have formed a militia called the "Montana People's Protective Association" to defend the surrounding ranch land from interlopers and refugees. Recently there has been conflict with another band of wandering city refugees who used to live in the area who want to return but are apparently carrying the plague.
Canuck invasion: In recent months, the Canadians, mostly using relayed rail track, have been pushing into the northern edge of Montana as far south as Route 2. These cavalry troops are mostly from the Toronto Scottish Regiment based in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Their main purpose is to acquire food producing areas and loot. As they go, the isolated survivor communities along the border are given the choice of tribute or being "removed". Most have joined, but scattered anti-Canadian guerilla forces have started to spring up.
5) BITTEROOT MOUNTAINS
This rugged forest of towering peaks and lush valleys is now a veritable garden of Eden populated by bears, survivalists and Native Americans. As early as 1963, the Flathead Indian tribe, the largest and most militant in the state, decided to expand from their reservations and take over territory in the western half of the state lost to the white man in the last century. Most of the whites in the area either fled east or were killed, though there are still pockets of them throughout the area. Today, the Flatheads occupy and maintain a virtual empire stretching north-south from border to border. This border is vastly undefined, however, and real control only extends to line-of-sight.
Kalispell: Though they have abandoned the larger "white man's cities" within their territory, and they are mostly falling into disrepair, they have chosen Kalispell as their "capital". Abandoned during the post-chaos days, and then reoccupied from the south, the city is now home to some 6,000 Indians who hunt and farm the surrounding land and fish the large Flathead Lake to the south.
Anaconda: One of the scattered white enclaves is Anaconda, where a marauder band called the "Sons of Hayduke", led by a Pete Jones from Dallas, Texas is barely holding on, having gathered together a collection of several hundred bikers, outlaws and vagrants who just wouldn’t leave.
Butte: Another white enclave, where a wealthy Wyoming doctor has set up a clinic here in the ruins of the city. Despite him being white, this oasis is protected by all the surrounding villages and clans as the man is known for his sensitivity to the Indian peoples. The doctor pilots a World War I biplane.
Glacier National Park: The Indians have long ago given up this area at the northern edge of their territory to the survivalists and it is now held by a collection of White Supremacy nuts and punks. Numbers are about 2,000, with about half of them being true die-head hardcore militant racists and the rest just hangers-on looking for food. They have complete control over the park, having driven everyone else out and they have the guns to back their claim up. The old park ranger's visitor center off Highway 2 is their fortified HQ and the various luxury ski lodges and hotels scattered throughout the park are local centers of power, each fortified and well-stocked. The Prince of Wales hotel is one, the Many Glaciers hotel (held by 70 men) is another. The Granite Park Chalet was once only accessible by horse or foot, but the survivalists have cut a road up to it. Other survivalist outposts include the towns of Essex, Polebridge, and the Logan Pass visitor center in the center of the park. As well, they have some 800 prisoners, half women and kids, from the surrounding areas under guard working fields and providing labor. With the Flathead Indian capital of Kalispell being only 30 miles or so from the park, the survivalists are anxious to eliminate this threat.
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