[Sat] 26 Aug 2017 (S.H.L.)
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2017 5:16 pm
... which, in case you're wondering, S.H.L. stands for: Sexual Harassment Lollipop. But I don't want to talk about that right now.
Missions:
We started with a bijoux run of Blanches I: Costno led the defenders, I led the attackers. I love the terrain of this mission, but it's always such a bloodbath when everyone is at the compound. I had planned to smoke the buildings and blind the defenders, but the range on my GPs wasn't perfect, nor was my timing, so I'm not sure it really helped. Egg's element was leading the assault, but he was down from 4 to 2 men just breaching the garden wall, so Teizen and me had to hot-foot it through the trees to join the attack. There was a lot of hopeful throwing of grenades, but as I crept down the east wall I saw a blue-helm'd chap coming towards me. I was first to fire and he fell, but I was shocked enough to pull back north and seek cover behind the wall. A few grenades later and I resumed my trip down the east wall, as Egg pushed further into the garden on the west side. I passed the body of the chap I'd shot earlier and noticed he was still alive. So I shot him in passing. Then I had eyes on the main building from the south-east and took fire from a shooter in the upper storey. This time my GP was accurate, but I think he'd pulled away earlier as I certainly wasn't credited with a kill. Meanwhile, Egg had begun to clear the main structure and the only remaining excitement was a friendly fire incident between Egg and Teizan (who had gone to the north of the garden to re-check it). VDV wins!
So then, on to Land on the Horizon, which was a bit different! This mission (liberated from the mainland and upgraded with contemporary technologies) saw us acting as HS/LD Americanski with both transport and attach LBs, and charged with taking out 3 randomly placed caches on Northern Altis. Our numbers meant that we had to tackle the objectives sequentially, so what was officially one mission turned into three for practical purposes. It was certainly a bit of a departure from our normal approach of 30 seconds of intense glory, but variety is the spice of life. Right? Right? RIGHT? Good.
Objective 1: I had our transport pilots Costno and Zitron bring their transport LBs in to the LZ in sequence, depositing Alpha and Bravo FTs in that order. Costno RTB'd to swap his LB for one with guns, whilst Zitron parked at the LZ to act as our quick exfil bird. Then, whilst my Alpha moved to an overwatch position on a hill to the north-west of the objective, Egg led Bravo (assault) to a treeline north-west of the objective (and much closer). Then we spotted targets (stationary guards, close patrols, patrols in open country) and prepared for the attack. Costno's AH dealt with enemies in the open terrain, whilst my FT suppressed the target compound with smokes and direct fire until Egg's men were close. Some quick satchel work later and Egg's team was lifting off again in Zitron's LB (which landed close to the objective), and Costno was busy swapping back to a transport, extracting Alpha from our original LZ. All enemies killed, cache destroyed, zero losses.
Objective 2: We'd all RTB'd, so I did a briefing on the airstrip that included a heart-stopping moment when we all heard the 'charge set' beep. I'm not looking at you, Boberro.
Anyway, this time I swapped the duties around so Egg's Bravo would set down first on a beach south of the objective (which was in wide open terrain), and his pilot Zitron would be the one to return for an AH. Costno, meanwhile, would loiter over the sea with my fireteam aboard, whilst Commander Teizan used the co-pilot's optics to spot ground targets. Egg's guys made it to their designated OP, but the terrain ahead of them was pretty flat and featured a lot of reeds. I think this made it a little harder for them to deal with the patrols and select a decent LZ for my team (a task I'd given Egg earlier). However, once Zitron's AH was on station the combined reports from Egg and Teizan started to bring results, though eventually I had to ask Costno to put my team down in a position where we could get a slightly different view on the objective (our LZ was on line with Eggs's OP, but to the north). It turned out that we were able to provide good overwatch on the objective, so we supported Egg's guys in as they repeated their rush/satchel/extract routine (this time with Costno flying them back to the beach LZ). Teizan or Wolf suggested we RV at the beach since objective 3 was close to the south, so everyone ended up on the beach - with one transport and one attack LB parked on the sand. Again, all enemies killed, cache destroyed, zero losses. And, we had beach loungers.
Objective 3: Someone - I'm totally not looking at at you, SK - bemoaned our languid mission tempo. So we did this last objective differently. Costno revealed that our LBs could carry more men than I'd realised. So Costno and Teizan crewed the AH, with me sitting precariously on a weapons spar, with the intent that they'd land me on the nearby power station so I could observe the objective. Everyone else loaded into Zitron's transport LB, with a plan to land just south of the objective and assault through some trees under Egg's leadership. Also, I might have had Egg relieve SK of his carbine and send him into battle with just a pistol. Maybe.
Costno's neat flying nearly put me down on the top of a storage tank at the power station - until at the last moment we realised that there were some angry men with rifles on the next tank. Some quick turns, and some bzzzzzzzzzz later, and I was being set down on the perimeter of the power station; then Costno did another orbit and shredded the last EI in the facility, after which I was free to climb a storage tank and watch the next phase like some kind of tourist on safari. In the distance, I saw Zitron land Egg's force, whilst Costno's AH raked the target area. SK bravely volunteered to lead the charge with is his pistol (right?), but the AH had destroyed all opposition. All enemies killed, cache destroyed, zero losses.
As I said, a bit different. Not just in the length and structure of the mission, nor in the fact that we had CAS; but also because I did fresh briefings between each phase and deliberately did things so as to minimise risk to us. I really enjoyed it, but understand if it's not everyone's cup of tea. Very much like to hear opinions.
Next up, Air Traffic Control, from Teizan. I wasn't 100% convinced this started as you had intended, Teizan, as when we arrived the AAA position was already under attack. That said, it wasn't so intense that we couldn't get into fighting positions, and I actually liked the chaotic nature of this opening. In contrast to the previous mission, in which we dictated the tempo absolutely, this was an experience that put us on the back foot from the beginning and afterwards did not let us recover. There's a Russian TV show / movie about VDV on a hilltop in the Chechen war (I think?) which this reminded me of, with enemy irregulars popping up from all directions and pounding our bunkers and fighting positions. I was injured eight million times, and by the end it was an Alamo situation in the big bunker (our Shilka having done great service before one too many RPGs caused it to brew up). A fun way to die (and be re-introduced to the lovely RPK!).
Finally, we went all guns blazing in a bloodthirsty run of EZPZ. Eschewing the sneaky plan of old, Teizan led us on a merry tour of the town, with the simple objective of killing EVERYONE. We advanced down streets whilst shooting cops and soldiers, we held intersections whilst shooting cops and soldiers, and it was all going pretty well. Then we lost 1-2 guys and attempted to take the police station. In fairness, we slaughtered most of the defenders - especially those who poured out of the main doors (straight into our fire). However, some cops on the ground floor proved impervious to bullets, and there our attack foundered. Arma was the victor that time.
As ever, it was great fun shooting EI (and you guys), and I hope you enjoyed it too. Hopefully, I'll be back from my summer travels properly next weekend, and can crank out some new missions.
Missions:
- Blanches I
- Land on the Horizon
- Air Traffic Control
- EZPZ
We started with a bijoux run of Blanches I: Costno led the defenders, I led the attackers. I love the terrain of this mission, but it's always such a bloodbath when everyone is at the compound. I had planned to smoke the buildings and blind the defenders, but the range on my GPs wasn't perfect, nor was my timing, so I'm not sure it really helped. Egg's element was leading the assault, but he was down from 4 to 2 men just breaching the garden wall, so Teizen and me had to hot-foot it through the trees to join the attack. There was a lot of hopeful throwing of grenades, but as I crept down the east wall I saw a blue-helm'd chap coming towards me. I was first to fire and he fell, but I was shocked enough to pull back north and seek cover behind the wall. A few grenades later and I resumed my trip down the east wall, as Egg pushed further into the garden on the west side. I passed the body of the chap I'd shot earlier and noticed he was still alive. So I shot him in passing. Then I had eyes on the main building from the south-east and took fire from a shooter in the upper storey. This time my GP was accurate, but I think he'd pulled away earlier as I certainly wasn't credited with a kill. Meanwhile, Egg had begun to clear the main structure and the only remaining excitement was a friendly fire incident between Egg and Teizan (who had gone to the north of the garden to re-check it). VDV wins!
So then, on to Land on the Horizon, which was a bit different! This mission (liberated from the mainland and upgraded with contemporary technologies) saw us acting as HS/LD Americanski with both transport and attach LBs, and charged with taking out 3 randomly placed caches on Northern Altis. Our numbers meant that we had to tackle the objectives sequentially, so what was officially one mission turned into three for practical purposes. It was certainly a bit of a departure from our normal approach of 30 seconds of intense glory, but variety is the spice of life. Right? Right? RIGHT? Good.
Objective 1: I had our transport pilots Costno and Zitron bring their transport LBs in to the LZ in sequence, depositing Alpha and Bravo FTs in that order. Costno RTB'd to swap his LB for one with guns, whilst Zitron parked at the LZ to act as our quick exfil bird. Then, whilst my Alpha moved to an overwatch position on a hill to the north-west of the objective, Egg led Bravo (assault) to a treeline north-west of the objective (and much closer). Then we spotted targets (stationary guards, close patrols, patrols in open country) and prepared for the attack. Costno's AH dealt with enemies in the open terrain, whilst my FT suppressed the target compound with smokes and direct fire until Egg's men were close. Some quick satchel work later and Egg's team was lifting off again in Zitron's LB (which landed close to the objective), and Costno was busy swapping back to a transport, extracting Alpha from our original LZ. All enemies killed, cache destroyed, zero losses.
Objective 2: We'd all RTB'd, so I did a briefing on the airstrip that included a heart-stopping moment when we all heard the 'charge set' beep. I'm not looking at you, Boberro.
Anyway, this time I swapped the duties around so Egg's Bravo would set down first on a beach south of the objective (which was in wide open terrain), and his pilot Zitron would be the one to return for an AH. Costno, meanwhile, would loiter over the sea with my fireteam aboard, whilst Commander Teizan used the co-pilot's optics to spot ground targets. Egg's guys made it to their designated OP, but the terrain ahead of them was pretty flat and featured a lot of reeds. I think this made it a little harder for them to deal with the patrols and select a decent LZ for my team (a task I'd given Egg earlier). However, once Zitron's AH was on station the combined reports from Egg and Teizan started to bring results, though eventually I had to ask Costno to put my team down in a position where we could get a slightly different view on the objective (our LZ was on line with Eggs's OP, but to the north). It turned out that we were able to provide good overwatch on the objective, so we supported Egg's guys in as they repeated their rush/satchel/extract routine (this time with Costno flying them back to the beach LZ). Teizan or Wolf suggested we RV at the beach since objective 3 was close to the south, so everyone ended up on the beach - with one transport and one attack LB parked on the sand. Again, all enemies killed, cache destroyed, zero losses. And, we had beach loungers.
Objective 3: Someone - I'm totally not looking at at you, SK - bemoaned our languid mission tempo. So we did this last objective differently. Costno revealed that our LBs could carry more men than I'd realised. So Costno and Teizan crewed the AH, with me sitting precariously on a weapons spar, with the intent that they'd land me on the nearby power station so I could observe the objective. Everyone else loaded into Zitron's transport LB, with a plan to land just south of the objective and assault through some trees under Egg's leadership. Also, I might have had Egg relieve SK of his carbine and send him into battle with just a pistol. Maybe.
Costno's neat flying nearly put me down on the top of a storage tank at the power station - until at the last moment we realised that there were some angry men with rifles on the next tank. Some quick turns, and some bzzzzzzzzzz later, and I was being set down on the perimeter of the power station; then Costno did another orbit and shredded the last EI in the facility, after which I was free to climb a storage tank and watch the next phase like some kind of tourist on safari. In the distance, I saw Zitron land Egg's force, whilst Costno's AH raked the target area. SK bravely volunteered to lead the charge with is his pistol (right?), but the AH had destroyed all opposition. All enemies killed, cache destroyed, zero losses.
As I said, a bit different. Not just in the length and structure of the mission, nor in the fact that we had CAS; but also because I did fresh briefings between each phase and deliberately did things so as to minimise risk to us. I really enjoyed it, but understand if it's not everyone's cup of tea. Very much like to hear opinions.
Next up, Air Traffic Control, from Teizan. I wasn't 100% convinced this started as you had intended, Teizan, as when we arrived the AAA position was already under attack. That said, it wasn't so intense that we couldn't get into fighting positions, and I actually liked the chaotic nature of this opening. In contrast to the previous mission, in which we dictated the tempo absolutely, this was an experience that put us on the back foot from the beginning and afterwards did not let us recover. There's a Russian TV show / movie about VDV on a hilltop in the Chechen war (I think?) which this reminded me of, with enemy irregulars popping up from all directions and pounding our bunkers and fighting positions. I was injured eight million times, and by the end it was an Alamo situation in the big bunker (our Shilka having done great service before one too many RPGs caused it to brew up). A fun way to die (and be re-introduced to the lovely RPK!).
Finally, we went all guns blazing in a bloodthirsty run of EZPZ. Eschewing the sneaky plan of old, Teizan led us on a merry tour of the town, with the simple objective of killing EVERYONE. We advanced down streets whilst shooting cops and soldiers, we held intersections whilst shooting cops and soldiers, and it was all going pretty well. Then we lost 1-2 guys and attempted to take the police station. In fairness, we slaughtered most of the defenders - especially those who poured out of the main doors (straight into our fire). However, some cops on the ground floor proved impervious to bullets, and there our attack foundered. Arma was the victor that time.
As ever, it was great fun shooting EI (and you guys), and I hope you enjoyed it too. Hopefully, I'll be back from my summer travels properly next weekend, and can crank out some new missions.
