What if Call of Duty: Black Ops centered on the Peshmerga during the 2014–2017 war against ISIS? (Full Concept & Script Pitch)[Black Ops 7]
Hey everyone,
We all know Call of Duty: Black Ops has always excelled when it tackles real-world geopolitics, grey-zone proxy conflicts, and gritty historical settings (Black Ops 1, Cold War, and Gulf War). But there’s a massive piece of modern history—one of the most intense and complex conflicts of our generation—that has never been fully or accurately represented from a local perspective in a major AAA campaign: the 2014–2017 frontlines in northern Iraq.
When the front lines collapsed in mid-2014, it was primarily local Peshmerga forces that stepped into the vacuum along a massive 1,000-kilometer line to protect cities like Kirkuk, rescue trapped civilians on Mount Sinjar, and eventually spearhead the outer breaches in the 2016 Battle of Mosul alongside coalition support.
I put together a full campaign outline and screenplay script concept titled Call of Duty: Black Ops – Lines in the Sand.
🎮 The Core Concept & Playable Perspectives
Instead of viewing the entire war through an exclusively external/Western lens, the campaign follows three interconnecting storylines:
- Commander Rebin "Rizgar" Kader: A veteran Peshmerga commander holding critical infrastructure around Kirkuk and Makhmour with limited gear against captured heavy armor.
- Shilan "Azadi" Botan: A frontline volunteer fighter operating in urban clearing and high-stakes evacuation corridors (Sinjar & Kobani).
- Captain Marcus Vance: A U.S. JSOC Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) embedded with frontline units to coordinate precision coalition air support.
📜 Campaign Mission Arc (Grounded in Real History)
Act I: The Vacuum (June 2014): Emergency defense of the Kirkuk oil fields and the Tel al-Ward bridge after local outposts were vacated, followed by the desperate Sinjar Mountain evacuation corridor under mortar fire.
Act II: Heavy Ordnance (2015): The introduction of wire-guided MILAN anti-tank missiles on the Makhmour front to counter armored VBIEDs charging across open desert terrain.
Act III: Gates of Nineveh (October 2016): The massive breach of ISIS tunnel networks, earth berms, and suburban defenses during the opening stages of the Battle of Mosul.
💡 Why this would work for Black Ops:
Grey-Zone Narrative: Captures the complex reality of proxy warfare, coalition air integration, local defense, and the human cost born by communities on the ground.
Gameplay Variety: Shifts between desperate infantry defense (limited ammo/RPGs), high-tech air-to-ground laser targeting, wire-guided anti-tank combat, and intense urban tunnel clearing.
What do you guys think? Would you play a campaign structured like this? How would you like to see modern historical settings portrayed in future Black Ops titles