Hosts comment.
Surfin
I really like this mission, so having wolf update it was really nice! It is infantry focused, and i just feel like it has everything a mission needs. First of all, the scenery contains both rock torn hillsides, more open, bunker infested areas, a nice reed area in front of the town, then the actual town, and on the side of it all a nice beach and the blue sea.
Being "walled off" by having the sea on one side means that commanders have one side less to worry about, giving them at least something resembling a breather. But it all comes together so well. There are many nice places to have a BOF when assaulting both the bunkers and the city. Then it transitions to some nice CQB in a pretty small and manageable town, then some more open ground must be covered to take out people in compounds and in the end you need to break out the big guns to kill of the Mora.
The transitions through the different stages are fluid and fast (when we don't all die), and the concentrated AoO means there's something to do for everybody most of the time.
Also, the fire support is great. It enhances the battlefield quite a bit to have those mortar rounds drop on enemies both close and far.
I really hoped that we would get at least two full squads for this one, plus both attachments. In the end we came up just short, but managed the mission quite nicely regardless.
As you may have noticed, you all had a light loadout, which was done on purpose. I asssumed it would suffice. It seems Alpha ended up a bit short on ammo, how did it work out for Bravo?
Not me or Halop (I think) didn't hear anything about ammo conservation
This may or may not have something to do with a problem i've been observing/gnashing my teeth at. As you know we all listen in on SL - > FTL chat in teamspeak. Which is the way i prefer it. There are two very obvious pitfalls to this though.
- [1] FTLs thinking that their fireteam-members heard what SL just said.
[2] Fireteam members listening in on SL -> FTL and acting before FTL tells them to.
In situation 1 you end up with oblivious fireteam members, in the other, you end up with fireteam members who have already gone off somewhere before you told them to. Also, since we are playing as loose as we are, and there is no determined fireteam "behaviour" as such, ("a good thing"™)<- i actually mean it...., you won't know how your team members behave unless you've been here for a while and you somehow avoided all of those who occasionally have a good day and occasionally a bad one. It is a challenge to overcome, and actually pulling it off, so much people-vooodoo as it is, is enjoyable and quite frankly, impressive.
Alpha in the meantime seemed to spread out a lot during their assault on the first parts of the town and started to take casualties. We reached into problem number 3. Only alpha at this stage had requested 1 fire mission from mortars, which I could not confirm if it was successful or not. This meant that enemy had large concentration of troops (at least from my PoV) running around the town and with what Alpha being spread out inside the town lead to some casualties which also meant that they were again moving slowly.
It seems to me that we often underestimate just how squishy a squad really is when you come into a CqB-sequence. Especially when it comes to us, since most fireteams walk into the first CqB sequence with no real knowledge as to how the play of independence/codependence works for that particular group. That said, we've ninjaed some shit!
* TacticalSloth, you are indeed right that you guys were slow and behind schedule.
Brutal Draakon, just brutal!
But more seriously, from where i see it, Alpha had the harder task, which by nature would take more time and be more diffuclt to execute. Bravo had plenty of time as BOF, and spent their time in the hills, making long range plinking the order of the day until way into the mission. Alpha had to do make the transition CqB/Ranged/CqB in the first part of the mission, which takes a lot more micromanagement so you don't die/stray off course. (Also, if i'm not mistaken, Bravo was two fireteams with hosts as both SL and FTLs.)
(Though i'm not gonna suggest that we -never- succumb to way overlong plinkploink-operations to make our approach "safer" when we are explicitly asked to assault something.) I understand it from the "dying sucks because then the mission proceeds without me and up to 1 hour in limbo is not time well spent" perspective. But c'mon people, its pixel-war, it ain't supposed to be safe!
Just remember to shoot whomever says that your faith will shield you from the bullets first.....
Manhunt
To be honest, i hoped we'd be more players for this one. I really like the set-up, as you really don't know if Attackfor will go in guns blazing or just sit back and wait for the officers to escape. Also, having to protect two fragile assets like that really puts you on your edge as Defendfor. Both sides have to plan for recon, potential attack, defense, breakout attack, escape, encirclement, and subterfuge, all in one mission. (Erm.... you don't have to, but you get the point.....) The battle may be CQB or countryside, and feints can happen on both sides. So great fun.
It almost worked with tuesdays playercount, but i feel that this is a mission that would really shine at one of our 40+ sessions.
Also, A3 rain sounds lush!
Internecine
I always find this to be good fun, the slow creeping panic that sets in as muzzle flashes and shooting noises come closer and closer. It shows how much fun can be had with something that is both sparse and compact. Also, it scales pretty well.
Church of Kerry
A minimalistic Manhunt, come to think of it. (Or the other way around?) In hindsight i probably should have done this instead of Manhunt due to the number of players.
Hope you all had fun!
since its mandatory..