Rapid Reaction
INDFOR CO: Fer
|- M: Toppometer
|- HVT: DanceMoox
Immobilised vehicles are low on my list of places I want to be when the enemy is approaching, so my immediate priority during planning was to relocate everyone to a compound with several characteristics:
- A central building that could serve as an Alamo.
- Compound walls to give us a rudimentary perimeter.
- Open approaches from as many sides as possible.
- Good terrain for an LZ within the perimeter or adjacent to it.
Since we had been ambushed in a linear town, the map suggested several options; however, the map doesn't tell you the nature of structures: a ruin looks the same as bunker. So I picked a compound at the north end of town and hoped for the best. The building turned out to be unfinished, with holes large enough to shoot rockets through.
Oh well, the compound walls were solid enough and there was a tiny bungalow in one corner that was quickly pressed into service as an executive lounge for our HVT and his minder, comrade Toppometer. There was open ground on at least two sides of the compound. A1 had responsibility for the northern approach, A2 for the south. At the suggestion of my FTLs, a handful of lookouts took up positions in nearby buildings. There was also a patch of level ground immediately to the north: this would be the LZ. My plan was very simple:
- Adopt a defensive position in this Alamo and keep the HVT out of sight.
- Rush the helo to an LZ next to the compound.
- Screen at least 2 of the LZ's open sides with smoke just before the helo touched down (one side was shielded by the compound).
- Transfer the HVT when the smoke was up and have the helo fly the fuck away.
The helo moved quickly, and it wasn't long at all before I was smoking the LZ and telling the HVT, comrade Dancemoox, to "Go! Go! Go!". It looked like we were going to get the HVT out without firing a shot! Unfortunately, the helo clipped a bush whilst touching down and its engine died (although from where I was watching, it was a cool landing).
Shit. Until that point we had had almost no enemy contacts, but with the helo escape impossible I had to consider making a fight of it or fleeing cross-country. In a bid to buy a little time, I moved everyone northwards, to a larger compound that sat just outside the town. This second location was more sprawling, with containers, worksheds, and an incomplete wall - but at its centre was a two-story house with solid walls and decent windows.
This was our Alamo. Again, I assigned A1 to cover the northern approach, and A2 for the south - but A2's FTL missed my initial order and remained near our original compound.
By now, we were being engaged by enemies to our south, who appeared to be pushing up the road and using the buildings (and our smokescreen!) as cover and concealment. A2 did a great job of holding the enemy's attention, even managing to relocate back to our compound at the same time, but the head-on firefight gave us no advantage. Looking east, the side of the hill was uneven - patches of dead ground suggested that a fireteam might ascend to the higher ground without being exposed to fire from the town, so I sent comrade Satire's A1 to do exactly that. Very soon, we were firing on the enemy from his front and his flank, the latter being from an elevated position. This was much, much better.
Unfortunately, at least one, perhaps two, of the enemy hadn't read the memo, and instead had snuck in to our compound from the north whilst all our attention had been on their comrades in the town. I reached the Alamo building just in time to get upstairs and join comrades Toppometer and Dancemoox as windows shattered around us. A1 was sending men back to reinforce our position, but any doubts about the enemy being close enough to beat them to the ground floor evaporated when the first of several hand grenades came bouncing up the stairs. I died on that landing.
However, the upper floor of the Alamo was successfully defended, and our forces went on to eliminate all of BLUFOR. Watching comrade IceRaiser move south, flank and then
execute 3 members of the last enemy fireteam was a particular pleasure.
Feedback on the mission: hugely enjoyable, but INDFOR's extraction helo definitely needs to be delayed somehow. I'd also like to understand what happens to the protection force post-extraction (I don't think we would all fit in the helo), and some explicit guidance on what happens if the helo crashes (as ours did).
) whereafter all we could do was shout "doctor, heal thyself". 
