Cholo Episode II
OpFor Bravo 1 AAR (mike-FTL, Guus, me, lwlooz)
Ordered into a set of buildings adjacent to the police station, mike had us split into two groups - one watching north, the other south. Trying to conceal myself a way back from the window, I soon spotted a few smurfs skylining on the northern side, followed by at least a fireteam moving down the slope towards cover on the other side of the street.
Told not to open fire as we were supposed to be a "super-sneaky" force, we impatiently waited until the UN launched their attack. It seems like our southern force started taking some fire, but mike and I managed to remain hidden. Sadly, our concealment was for naught as the UN cleared out the construction site across the road and landed a chopper for a rooftop assault, we were reduced to taking pot-shots at enemy whose cover was at least as good as our own, and soon our building was breached. Typically, this was the moment my flatmate silently appeared behind me and asked me if I wanted a brew. The resulting surprise caused me to spray my bullets in a graceful arc over Macaco's head, who repaid the favour by filling mine with lead.
Dash
Charlie Medic (SL: Draakon)
As the squad leads and medics begin the mission with no home/vehicle of their own, I was assigned to ride in the Jackal (oh god) driven by Killa (oh god) in the vanguard of the attack (welp).
Despite being the first element to come under fire, I impressed myself by my ability to jump out and run away really quickly. I then impressed myself even further by my willingness to run back to the Jackal and heal everyone who hadn't been quite so diligent in fleeing in the face of the enemy.
What followed was an intense 5 minutes of dodging HMG fire whilst wiping jam off people's faces. I initially moved to the east wall of the compound hoping to find an easy way in to rejoin the rest of Charlie, but a BMP broke cover just as I rounded the corner and I had the unpleasant experience of watching guys to the right and left of me get cut down as I dodged and weaved furiously. After pitching in to help a few fellows up, I made it into the compound and started healing Charlie as best I could, whilst Killa decided that the best defensive driving is
Offensive driving. It was amusing hearing his and Draakon's "energetic" debate on the subject, but sadly he was unable to embed enough corpses in the outside of the vehicle to act as an extra layer of armour, and was promptly shot out of it.
I noticed Draakon was walking wounded and, as we were on the northern end of the compound, I thought it was clear to run over and fix him up. Oops. Turns out there was a single EI in a bush far to the west who one-shotted me with a Lee-Enfield. I doubt Draakon even knew that it happened, even though I was right behind him at the time. I was slightly miffed at this inglorious death, especially as I spectated at least 3 comrades in the vicinity of my corpse who continued to enjoy non-perforated skulls for many minutes afterwards.
Running Rabbit
Bravo 1 AAR (Joseph-Sulphur-FTL, Lazer, me, BlackMamba)
Sometimes I finish a Sunday/Tuesday session and wonder why I bother with ARMA at all, seeing as I am clearly the worst player ever to have graced the server (Example: last week I'm fairly sure I wasted a whole AK clip trying to murder an enemy boulder). Sometimes, things go a little bit better. This was one of those times.
Sort of.
Bravo was given the task of working its way along the southern hills and providing fire support to the assaulting elements of Alpha. In reality, we had our hands full repelling the large numbers of EI that poked their heads out from behind ridgelines and charged up steep slopes out of our line of sight. Over the course of the mission it seemed as if we were taking fire from all directions, with individual fireteams and attachments re-enacting their own private versions of Rourke's Drift against screaming AI hordes while the rest of us fought to get into a position to support.
Luckily, the fireteam I found myself in was excellent. Our spacing, movement, communication and security were good, and Joe was a great FTL. The only point where we found ourselves in serious trouble was quite early on, when we enthusiastically blazed away at an enemy patrol at the valley below only to find ourselves under LMG fire from the opposing slope and the high ground to our south. Within the course of a minute we were all wounded, but somehow managed to drag ourselves back into cover. Huge thanks have to go to the Bravo Medic and the FTL who ran to our position to save us from bleeding out.
Once we stopped leaking vital fluids we continued as before, pouring down effective fire on a multitude of enemies. Taking up positions slightly to the east of Imarat, we were preparing to supress the remainder of the defenders when we noticed that Lazer had launched himself 200m into the air. Although his acrobatics were impressive, he also happened to be dead at time and an SPG was extremely keen for the rest of us to follow in his graceful trajectory.
Taking a slightly more circumspect route, we happened upon a T-34 sunning itself in the valley below. As the newly-promoted AT guy, I was charged with flinging an RPG at it from range. I was as surprised as anyone when the tank exploded, especially as it initially looked like we had only succeeded in angering it. Pulling back from the road, I stopped for a moment to enjoy the scenery when I noticed a four man patrol heading towards our rear. Checking the map, I made sure they weren't friendlies and reported it in, only to realise to my horror that the four men were only part of a 10-12 man squad heading our way. We were incredibly lucky that they hadn't gone active, as much of Bravo was caught out in the open. As it was, we were able to charge into some defilade and gun them down before they could even react.
We pushed on, and Joe reported a worrying sight: two T-72s moving down the road towards Rabbit. I don't know if the warning got through to command or not, as minutes later we could hear the unmistakable sound of MBT cannon fire. With understandable urgency Joe ran towards the ridgeline to get a visual on the battle, urging me to follow. I pulled out my remaining RPG and followed behind. By the time we reached the ridge one of the T-72s was already down, but Joe knew Rabbit was in trouble and urged me to fire. The tank was behind a tree and, as I tried to line up a shot I saw the recoil of its main gun, followed by the sad message that the brave Rabbit was no more.
FUUUUUUUUUUUU...
I think Joe actually let out an agonising wail over Teamspeak. The T-72, sensing its job was done, commenced a victory reverse back up the road and I fired the RPG in desperation, narrowly clipping a compound wall as it disappeared from view and the mission ended.
I think I managed to get into the top 4 or 5 on the kill board, which wasn't too shabby for a bog-standard rifleman, even with the T-34 kill. I'm amazed by how much better my marksmanship is when I'm not equipped with a member of the AK family, which is probably an indicator that I should practice more. But, despite the respectable score and decent performance, I can't help but wonder what would have happened at the end if I'd been a little quicker, if I had waited to switch weapons until we were on the ridge, if my aim had been true. The brave occupants of Rabbit could still be alive and we could've made it all the way to Garmsar.
The truth is I failed my comrades, I failed the Party, and nobody had to tell me what to do to make amends (even though the Party did. Repeatedly. Via a number of communication methods. Including pigeons.)
But first...
Crash Site Take One
BluFor Bravo AAR (FTL: Wires)
It was an audacious plan. SuperU, deploying his usual mix of foolhardy derring-do and carefully considered ignorance of facts, decided that the safest way to get BluFor down in one piece and in one group was to land at the airfield conveniently placed to the north-west of the crash site. In AN-2s.
As the C-130 seemed to be in a slightly easier location for OpFor to reach, speed was of the essence. Bravo would be first in, piloted by Dannysaysnoo, and closely followed by Draakon and Alpha. We sprinted to the planes and strapped ourselves in.
There was a lot of grumbling from the back about how tightly people were squeezed in, but I would've traded any amount of uncomfortable closeness for my seat at the front. For one thing, I could tell how slow we were going. I could also see how low we were going. And how the propeller was spinning in rather an erratic fashion. And how our pilot had favoured a perpendicular approach to the landing strip.
(NOTE: The conversation that follows is entirely imaginary and in no way indicative of real people, events or accents)
Strang: Oh dear, this isn't going well.
Danny: Relax! Och, thes isnae mah first time behin' the yoke, dinna ken?
Strang: Isn't it more conventional to land on the runway?
Danny: Thes is real Scottish flyin'! Hauld oan, I'll jist pit 'er doon.
Strang: But isn't that it? The grey strip of ground on our right?
*MASTER ALARM SOUND*
Danny: ...Mebbe
Strang: I can't help but notice we're not slowing down.
Danny: Mebbe.
Strang: And that we just ran out of airfield.
Danny: ...
Strang: And that we're approaching some rocks. At speed.
Danny: Ah shoods probably dae somethin' abit 'at shooldnae ah?
Despite every member of Bravo being injured, we did indeed all manage to get out in one piece. And were in a concentrated enough group to welcome Zitron's arrival with the surviving members of OpFor.
"Isn't that the enemy plane? Shouldn't we, y'know, shoot at it?"
"Yes. Yes we should."
We assumed he had been coming in to land as the flyby was low and slow. As we peppered the plane with small arms fire a few members of OpFor fell out, with at least two parachutes opening. Not knowing if they survived or not, we folded back into the woods to await the rest of the squad. However, Zitron (apparently) met a fiery death and the mission was called. Woot!
It was run a second time with helicopters but I had to leave. Great session though. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a Party-mandated appointment with a bottle of vodka and a Makarov.