Post
by fer » Thu Jan 22, 2015 11:54 am
Mail Man
Bravo SL: Fer
|- M: Lynche
Bravo was to set down next to the C-130 and occupuy higher ground to its north and south, but as we bailed out of the chopper I was told to concentrate my whole squad on the southern ridge. This made sense, as Alpha was taking up positions further north.
Although the southern ridge offered good, rocky cover, the fact that we were only two fireteams attempting to cover 270 degrees soon began to tell. Accurate enemy fire was pinning down my guys, and whilst we seemed to be winning the shooting match with aggressors to the south, another force from the east was cutting us down at a terrific rate. I myself was shot. Whilst bleeding out on the ground, I watched helplessly as a CSAT squad overran our position from the east.
Notes: Mail Man is a great mission, and a favourite from our Arma 2 era, but I suspect the increased skill of AI in Arma 3 makes it necessary to add some tweaks. Alpha and Bravo couldn't really support each other during that play-through, but even if we had been closer, I think some form of mortar support or light CAS might have been useful.
310 to Kavala
A2 FTL: Fer
|- AR: Lynche
|- AAR: Zensos
|- R: Eski
Comrade Lynche has pretty much covered this from the perspective of our firteam (we were A2, Lynch!). I absolutely love this mission, particularly the choice of terrain.
Weekend Warriors
CO: Fer
|- M: Eski
I loved this mission. Defence missions are hard to write because they require AI groups to move, which is more complex that putting down a few AI garrisons for the players to attack. Whilst there are some minor tweaks I would suggest, kudos to on_certainty for putting this together.
As CO, my plan was simple and in two phases:
Phase 1: Survive
Theory: Without knowing the direction of the attack (or if it would come from all sides simultaneously), my priority was to drawn the platoon together to that we could concentrate volume fire in any direction. Against AI, the obvious solution was to get everyone into the barracks, giving each squad clear instructions on which part of the buiding to occupy and fire sectors to cover. Alpha was given the north side of the building, Bravo the south. Just to provide a little optionality, MMG was pulled into the officer's quarters - my thinking was to set up some crossfire in the yard - but in hindsight all that did was pin the attachment in a space where it couldn't do much for the opening minutes.
Note: against humans, the barracks would have been a death trap if too densely occupied, as UGLs and hand grenades sent through windows are devastating.
Practice: We got all of Alpha and Bravo into the barracks, and whilst Bravo seemed to survive the initial waves, Alpha took a pounding. It would be interesting to know what factors applied at fireteam level - was it volume of enemy fire, were people standing too close to windows? I'd like to hear from SLs, FTLs and squad members on that. The net result was that after what felt like 10 minutes of very intense fire (rounds pinging off walls in the corridors), we'd experienced at least 50% casualties but held the building and dominated the yard.
Phase 2: Fix, move, eliminate
Theory: Once the enemy's initial assault seemed to slow and come from only 1-2 directions, it was no good just continuing to turtle. My plan was to split the survivors into two groups: one to continue to hold the barracks and act as a base of fire, and a second to slip out through and un-contested approach and manouver to find and hit the enemy in the flank.
Practice: We only had enough men to send out a fireteam, but they did exactly what I'd hoped - slipping out of the northern entrance, then circling around the complex to the west and hitting the remaining attackers in the flank.
On a personal note, my death at the end was completely foolish - I recovered a SAW and was engaging targets to the south from the upper-storey doorway of the barracks. Without weapons-resting my fire was ineffective, and I made matters worse by getting target-fixation and not ducking back into cover when the first enemy rounds began to land next to me. Idiocy!
Notes: I think providing a few fighting positions or bunkers around the perimeter of the complex might give the CO a few more options. With waves of enemies, it might even be fun to try splitting phase 1 of my plan into 'outer' and 'inner' sub-phases as our numbers drop.
