Grozovy Pass
Deployed as Bravo Squad Leader
Alright, mission's started, let's go-- or not, leadership is still sorting out TS issues? But Charlie's getting shot at! Patience Bravo, you'll get your chance soon enough...
Providing as steady and calm a leadership presence as I could, I shepherded Bravos 1 and 2 as we walked slowly through the woods on the southern ridge. The slow pace was very obviously grating on the nerves of some of Bravo, but we were able to work our way through half the forest in slow, steady bounds, obliterating what little enemy resistance we encountered.
And then I forgot to tell Bravo 2 to keep watching their left. Troops crested and AKS fire rained down on us from our above on our flank. I actually shot right across the face of Bravo 2's AR in order to hit a NAPA rocketeer 10 feet to his left and raising a rifle, thus netting my only kill this mission. Bravo 2, save one lone anti-tank rifleman, was slaughtered, with Bravo 1 taking some stray rounds in the process. I was steeling Bravo 1 to hold while I searched for Bravo 2's last guy as he writhed on the ground, wounded. My intent from that point was to pull up Bravo 2's survivor, fold him into Bravo 1, and disengage my entire squad westward to better cover. Unfortunately, our T-90 jack-in-the-boxed and the turret came crashing back down square on top of the hopes of every Russian soldier in the region.
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Mission Notes: Beautiful! Love it! We probably need higher numbers to actually take this one on, but fantastico!
Elsafi Defence
Deployed as AttackFor (OpFor) Bravo 2 AAR
Elsafi. Must've been named for the crazy lunatic who thought that building houses on a 30-degree slope was a good idea. In a way, I'm glad that we got ambushed by SuperU's clever reserve force - saves me the embarrassment of inevitably having my ankles eaten by a Takistani porch. Side note: Bandzai, that was a brilliant GP-25 round.
Mission Notes: Like much of Takistan, the terrain in this section of the map is almost exclusively geared towards MMGs / HMGs unless you can maneuver a squad in close via a valley like IndFor Bravo managed. The village, however, should have a nominal "keep control of this" trigger of some sort to make sure the mission has a center of conflict, or else it can get a little silly as we Benny Hill around one anothers' flanks.
Grishinokessel
Deployed as Alpha 3 FTL
Fighting woodland-camo'd AI in Chernorussian forests again. Egads. We set off on foot, and no sooner had we entered contested territory, then we slammed ourselves hard up against a company of mechanized US Marines, LAVs and Amtraks included. Absolute murder. Fer maintained a steady guiding hand for Alpha as a whole, but I was downed two times in short succession, and nearly ran into LAV fire a third time before Bravo ate the shells for me (thanks!). Alpha 3 shifted around on the squad's right flank, covering areas of opportunity and getting caught behind friendly lines more times than I'd like to admit.
One thing that stood out: Our assets were incredibly closely bunched throughout the entire mission. We deployed in a line, but ended up blobbing everywhere. At one point, I settled Alpha 3 behind a wall and prepared to guard against an enemy attack from the ridgeline directly in front of us... only to find Alpha 2 and MMG crowded into the same ten meters of wall I'd originally laid out for my fireteam's use. The effect of this bunching was that we were constantly either behind friendlies, or shooting across the front of friendly forces, and overall the world was a mess of confusion. And then I bit the dust to an M4 being shot at me through trees from 200 meters. Fer came on the channel, "Alpha 3, are you okay? Alpha 3? Oh no..."
Mission Notes: well, not much to be done - we're facing AI in a heavily forested section of Chernarus, and we're basically under fire the moment we step off from our spawn-point, and the AO is huge. Just need to throw more bodies at it across a wider frontage, that way it's harder to be flanked like our blob constantly was.
Fulcrum
Deployed as DefendFor (IndFor) Alpha Squad Leader
Ah, the proper number's advantage this time! Our kit, such as it were, bounced on our harnesses as we made a mad dash to reach fortifications before the enemy, and we were able to, amidst a veritable rain of dying choppers. Aziz's glorious air-defense network is working! Unfortunately, the air mobile troops who should have been slaughtered in all that wreckage had already dismounted and even then were approaching Bravo's defense of the Shapur-2 oil storage complex. Fortunately, the Russians decided to perch their support element and their HMG vehicles atop a ridgeline clearly visible to us at 500 meters as we crouched in our fortified town. I ordered all my carbine and bolt-action riflemen to engage and pepper the Russkies with bullets, and boy howdy did we. I could personally see two Russians go down hard at the base of fire position, and Bravo must have done their fair share of damage in close-quarters, as the Russians abandoned their plan and decided to punch right through our lines instead, banking on speed and the generous protection of their BTR-40's to simply rush the final objective.
When I realized this, I got Alpha hoofing it back to the stockpile in record time before Bodge even ordered a
general retreat consolidation of force, but it was too late. My bullets slayed two Russians at the door to the stockpile, but I was wounded by a third at the top of the stairs and slammed into the ground, writhing in agony. I rolled over to try and put the last of my magazine into the dastardly Russkie only to see him holding up a pair of exposed wires. "No!" I shouted as he crossed them with a look of triumph on his face.
The explosion was visible for miles.
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Mission Notes: So... it was actually quite counter the intent of the mission for the Russians to simply rush the stockpile with their armored vehicles and try to activate the timer before IndFor can return. While lucky and successful this time, steps have been taken that will encourage OpFor to work out how to isolate and reduce IndFor rather than go all Ender's Game on this mission.
~ Ferrard