36 comrades put on their best costumes and make-up for tonight's session, which was live-streamed by comrade SuperU. Apparently, we were absolutely HUGE in Japan, and my inbox is now full of sponsorship offers for the Third International Fighting Brigade of Takistan in the name of Che Guevara. Maybe. Still, it was a great session, and as ever the Party is grateful to all loyal comrades who made it along. I hope you enjoyed the session too.
We began with a hard-fought victory in Downhill from Here, and whilst comrade CO Lietuvis didn't survive to savour his victory, the remnants of his platoon took the village and held off an enemy counter-attack. Next, in Swept II, a desperate platoon of FIA guerrillas under comrade CO SuperU fought their way to within touching distance of the waiting boats ... before being massacred on the sand. Afterwards, a wild comrade Wafflynumber appeared, wrested control of the platoon, and led it to victory in a nocturnal run of Clearance Sale. With far too much victory in evidence, the Party sent the platoon to defend a village that had been completely surrounded by the enemy. Sadly, some people (I'm looking at you, comrade Kefirz), lost their faith in the Party and died. Actually, everyone died. However, my contention is that this was because they had insufficient faith in the Party. Then we were into after-party territory, which involved police death squads and kart races around western Altis. So, the usual.
As ever, please post your thoughts, feedback, screenshots and video here - comrade YouTube Hero SuperU doesn't just produce our video idents, but provides leadership and guidance to propaganda artists. We also have a new YouTube channel that he manages so if you have any content you think should feature then let him know and he will sort you out, for more info check out this thread!; more guidance on video editing for Folk ARPS is provided by comrade Ferrard Carson. Posts in the AAR threads really help us (the hosts and mission makers), both with understanding how we can improve the experiences, and showing potential comrades what our sessions are like.
I gotta say, I really enjoyed this session.
Working with Fer in the mortar team was pretty cool. I'm not sure how many kills I got in the end, but from the reports during the mission I imagine it was pretty high. Of course, I wouldn't have had any if not for Fer's excellent spotting!
Overrun was great too, I thought we had a genuine chance at surviving until Waffly bombed us back into the stone age. Coincidentally, its the second time I've been in a building collapse in Overrun due to danger close artillery.
So after I missed the workshop due to technical difficulties, I didn't feel brave enough to go back to FTLing (let alone Squadleading) last night and instead I had a run as a general packhorse. I started out as machine gun ammo guy, got promoted to rocket and machine gun ammo guy to inherit the role of machine gun carrier (still with rocket on my back) after Homercleese died the revolutionary's death. Later on I got rid of my (Homercleeses) machine gun and picked up an assault rifle, with the warm blood of comrade Draith on it.
I ended that round with no rounds and no rockets left, so I call that a success.
After that I had a fairly short run as a rocket-carry man and got shot down on top of a tower that we just cleared (hint: the enemy was outside looking at the tower, not inside looking out)
And after that, for the final mission for me this evening, I devoted myself to touching comrades to make the pain go away. No-one was particularly happy, it seemed, but there were no complains either and that's enough to make me happy!
All in all a very enjoyable session with everyone and maybe next time, I will pick up commanding (or nervously suggesting things to) comrades for make general goodness of agrarian utopia again.
Downhill from Here Deployed as Alpha Squad Leader
As the mission began, our enthusiastically named "IFV" dashed forwards only to enter an HMG duel with a Strider. That it lost. In the meantime, Bravo down in the valley blazed away whilst I bounded Alpha forward fireteam by fireteam. As incoming fire slackened, I had the entirety of alpha book it down the hill and advance down the road to the comforting mass of a rock, warm in the Altian afternoon. From there, my squad split its attention in twain, with two fireteams engaging contacts down the valley and a third firing well over Bravo's heads at an enemy squad some 500 meters away that was plinking at us just as ineffectively as we were plinking at them.
Bravo slid onto a ridge from which they could provide effective fire, and we pressed forward to a small settlement on the road - clearing the buildings, we set up camp and waited for Bravo to maneuver to another ridgeline closer to Topolia itself.
Soon we found ourselves halfway to Topolia, only for our CO to attract the attention of something nasty, leaving me in command. The overall plan was still viable, and Alpha pushed right up to the outskirts of Topolia, with Bravo on the ridge to the west, where a loosely organized squad of enemy infantry crested the ridge to our east, behind us. I managed to shout out a warning and empty a magazine in response before AAF bullets ended me.
Amusingly enough, my death was marked by a distinct halt in our battlefield momentum. Alpha milled about aimlessly around my corpse until Comrade SuperU stepped up and "encouraged" everyone to advance under threat of Makarov.
Swept II Deployed as FIA Alpha Squad Leader
Comrade SuperU took the CO reins on this one, and I once more became a squad lead under him. With Alpha tasked to rear-security and supporting fires, I set about preparing my squad to engage in close combat - my intent throughout the entire mission was to draw the CSAT fireteam close and wipe them out in one fell swoop from almost point-blank range by establishing reverse-slope defenses wherever possible.
It didn't work out that way. Alpha was sent on a wide flanking maneuver and was the element that crested into an AAF patrol responding to Bravo's fires. We put them down, but not before losing one of our number. Upon successfully securing the road, we covered Bravo's rear as they assaulted into an abandoned military compound, then were ordered up into the tower itself.
This move, however, attracted the attention of a player-manned HMG strider. One of my fire-teams took a perplexing long, looping path to the south and was cut down to just its leader, and when the remainder of Alpha dashed for the compound, the majority of us were cut down by .50 caliber rounds out of the fog.
And then we were witness to a cowardly retreat glorious assault on the AAF beachfront greeting delegation.
Clearance Sale Deployed as Alpha 1 FTL
At the head of a fireteam, this time, I strode confidently into the low brush and open fields to our southwest. As we advanced, I spotted a patrol of enemies to our front and another to the right - a worrisome geometry, and one that I tried to push us forward and out of. It was not to be, and my fireteam was pinned by fire from two angles, then torn apart by a GMG Ifritini on the prowl for NATO flesh. Having exacted its pound and then some, it wandered off to later haunt Bravo and Charlie, but A1 was no more.
Overrun Deployed as Alpha Squad Leader
CSAT came. Our platoon was halved, and the survivors cowered in the church and prayed for deliverance. Deliverance came in the form of Wafflynumber's danger-close 120mm rockets collapsing the church around the entire platoon.
Raidolo Deployed as Copper #7
We rushed the precinct station, A1 surging into the ground floor while A2 charged the top, where Fer and I found SuperU and Wafflynumber staring resolutely down the hall... away from the door we'd just opened. I extended my arm fully, pretty much touched the back of Waffly's head, and blew him away. Fer died to a dastardly balcony druggist, but that foe was vanquished, I believe, by Zitron.
Racethunder XL
We closed out the night with a Racethunder in which a number of us took the racing action underwater. Turns out, kart races are far less pulse-pounding on the ocean floor than on the streets of Kavala
~ Ferrard
"Take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turnin' of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurtin' before she keels... makes her home."
~ Ferrard