Comrades in Arms Discussion Board

3. Fair point.. Things were tense


4. you was alive at that point, I did see you get shot down shortly after, then I was killed shortly after that, but brad was facing team Alpha who were in the opposite direction we were walking... I could be wrong, we were surrounded by enemy fire.. but I'm 80% sure we were heading away from team Alpha... apologize if I am wrong about the direction


5. Thats what confused me, I pressed my MK4 tilde key, nothing came up, I really did try to identify that target and all targets we came across... I remember you saying "stop shooting at alias"... but was too late at that point... Sorry Alias : (    I will make sure I pay very close attention at our uniform at the start of every lesson


6. I didnt hear you ask who had explosives... I must have missed that, sorry, I should have spoke up... the conversation was quick)


... I see you miss that shot, but to be fair... the guy was very close to the building and you only had the chance for about one shot before he was out of site... I didnt have a clear shot on him... but dont think he cause much of a problem anyway.


I think in such a tense setting, mistakes will happen... especially by us new guys


I leaned a lot from that mission, all points taken on board


We learn by our mistakes... its a shame we all died in the process...

There is a way to quickly set up the timer fast? Because i started to set the timer from the moment i heard it from Variable and Alwarren, but it takes a while to increment it via action menu, and to set up a 5 min timer with increments of 40 sec takes i little of scrolling. And i had to be extra-careful, the command to increment time is so close to Touch off command and action menu could be deceiving... one scroll later and i'm history
However i had time to set up the timer for only one charge before ordered to move.


When I was out of range for charges and moved to get control back, I didn't move more than 10-15 meters, it was dark and hard to tell the distance tho, I was intrigued about the fact i can't get the control over the second charge, i had my eyes kept on the action menu, i was expecting from moment to moment to get the touch off command, i didn't know is possible that you can't blow up your charge, never saw that bug before. As Alwarren recommended afterwards, if i would've known about this king of bug, i wouldn't have moved more than 5-6 meters.

(02-12-2016, 01:25 PM)alias link Wrote:There is a way to quickly set up the timer fast?

No, it's action menu increments, and thus a good way to get you killed.

(02-12-2016, 01:15 PM)treendy link Wrote:4. you was alive at that point, I did see you get shot down shortly after, then I was killed shortly after that, but brad was facing team Alpha who were in the opposite direction we were walking... I could be wrong, we were surrounded by enemy fire.. but I'm 80% sure we were heading away from team Alpha... apologize if I am wrong about the direction

I did not hear Variable say anything of friendly fire. Alpha was slightly to our right (north-west) of us. I was heading more or less that direction, not exactly since I wasn't entirely sure were they where, but I had a pretty good idea. They had obviously moved and were closer than I anticipated, but still, there were enemies between them and us.

Quote:5. Thats what confused me, I pressed my MK4 tilde key, nothing came up, I really did try to identify that target and all targets we came across... I remember you saying "stop shooting at alias"... but was too late at that point... Sorry Alias : (    I will make sure I pay very close attention at our uniform at the start of every lesson

I realize it is difficult, especially with the darkness, although at that time a flare was up, but Alias was beneath a tree so he was difficult to spot, which is why usually mk4 helps in that respect.

Quote:6. I didnt hear you ask who had explosives... I must have missed that, sorry, I should have spoke up... the conversation was quick)

You must have heard the answers, though? I mean, as I said, there was a conversation, not a mere question, going on around it.

Quote:... I see you miss that shot, but to be fair... the guy was very close to the building and you only had the chance for about one shot before he was out of site... I didnt have a clear shot on him... but dont think he cause much of a problem anyway.

If I had taken the guy out, we would have remained hidden.

Quote:We learn by our mistakes... its a shame we all died in the process...

I am sure we will all remember this mission for a while.

(02-12-2016, 01:25 PM)alias link Wrote:There is a way to quickly set up the timer fast? Because i started to set the timer from the moment i heard it from Variable and Alwarren, but it takes a while to increment it via action menu, and to set up a 5 min timer with increments of 40 sec takes i little of scrolling. And i had to be extra-careful, the command to increment time is so close to Touch off command and action menu could be deceiving... one scroll later and i'm history
However i had time to set up the timer for only one charge before ordered to move.

Yes, I know how difficult it is. Last time we played Volga Boatman I placed two satchels next to a live Shilka. I was nervous as hell, and "touch of" and "place explosives" is right next to each other.

But you were moving away from the bomb already when I asked you whether you set the timer and you said "no"...?

Quote:When I was out of range for charges and moved to get control back, I didn't move more than 10-15 meters, it was dark and hard to tell the distance tho, I was intrigued about the fact i can't get the control over the second charge, i had my eyes kept on the action menu, i was expecting from moment to moment to get the touch off command, i didn't know is possible that you can't blow up your charge, never saw that bug before. As Alwarren recommended afterwards, if i would've known about this king of bug, i wouldn't have moved more than 5-6 meters.

I misinterpreted your comms. You said "I am down", I asked you where you are and you said "I am back at the camp fire", so I assumed that you had run back all the way.

I didn't know about this bug either, it was news to me, but as I said, the fact that you had control over one charge means you should not need to move very far. I know, it can happen, at the time that it happened I was pretty mad because I thought you had run all the way back to the camp.

Quote:I am sure we will all remember this mission for a while

Agreed.. the perfect mission, the tenseness probably caused many mistakes, looking forward to re-trying it!

(02-12-2016, 01:56 PM)Alwarren link Wrote:But you were moving away from the bomb already when I asked you whether you set the timer and you said "no"...?

Yes, sort of, i know i said something not sure what tho , because i didn't have the time to set the timer for both charges. I should've been more clear. I assumed you knew that because i've told you when i was setting the timer for one charge, but with so many things going around is easy to miss messages.
On general note I'd say this mission should be played when we are fresh tho, i tried to be as exact as possible in execution, communication and short to keep radio chatter to minimum, the comms were already tense and and i was preoccupied not to blow up myself and the team , but even so mistakes can be made due tiredness.

The confusion on gear on my side was, in lobby before mission I thought alwarren got me mistaking with treendy, also we had a short discussion in role assignment of what treendy role was (explosive expert) moving into the mission we reached the trucks and alwarren asked me to lay explosives, so straight away I'm thinking does he mean treendy, however I should of checked my gear before which I had not, then once checked I could see I did have explosives even though I was a rifleman, I should of check upon entering the mission

with regards to the friendly fire incedent, after my team leader told me to open fire as no friendly where around, of course I did, but upon taking 1 man out, he then rolled on his front and crawled away, leaving me confused if this was enemy ???  I absouluty need to work on my identification of frieindlies/enemy's, I don't have much experience outside of the vanilla game let alone new units rhs etc would be good to have some examples to look at? Will google today for examples

Akala situation

I was gunner in Variables tank with Lego driving. Great vehicle experience and smooth co-op between team members. Mission started well and we effectively eliminated number of infantry, technical vehicles and a BMP-1. When moving forward, tank was destroyed by BMP-1.

Variable reported static MG next. I had my sights on it. When I was about to pull the trigger tank was hit. I missed the shot, and few second later secondary explosion in ammunition container destroyed the tank. I checked the culprit from death cam. BMP-1 to left, at a distance. It totally hit us 'out of nowhere'. I tried to do thorough scanning but it totally missed our radars. Hard to say if it was a hit to front or side armor plate but I found it silly that obsolete Soviet period hardware (AT-3/AT-5) can 1-shot modern state-of-art MBT with chobham armor. Well, modernized BMP is still respectable threat and maybe Takistanis have upgraded their stuff. Like someone put eloquently, running a tank feels like riding a fragile aluminium foil  fuel truck with zippo on your ass.

Hello Tanoa 3

Basic setup: A (myself, Manuel in UAZ and Varanon, Suchy, Treendy in luxury minigun SUV) and B (Lego in command) had to drive convoy of 5 vehicles 10km distance to aircraft (and C-team under Evans, unless he was bilocating to our UAZ magically  8) ), repair it with the convoys repair truck and take off. Can't be too bad?

If riding a tank feels vulnerable, try to keep 3 technicals, one SUV and one golden goose Ural Repair alive on a 10 km hell march on zigzag roads and coordinate that. I'm not usually a fun of convoy missions but in this case author, ALIAS, had balanced the mission well. There were moments of intense action, total panic, calm countryside driving, and Benny Hill material with a zigzag C-130. 

I had no real intel of what we are dealing with and, I admit, I was still shellshocked of the previous adventure aka previous part of the mission. Search for my AAR in debriefing thread and read it at your own risk. I was concerned of Charlie being overran if we loiter, losing our trucks if we are careless. My initial plan was to avoid major towns and use smaller roads just to play it safe.

At mission start we downed a helicopter with accurate MG fire from our vics. Excellent job people. Another issue came at a village..well..village X. We came under fire but decimated the enemy technical. I also heard report of infantry, and I had absolutely no idea what we are up against.

Tactically smart idea would have been to scout carefully on foot before villages and before risking our vehicles to fire, but we had also enemy vehicles approaching us from behind. It would have also been nightmarishly long mission played that way and I had no idea what onslaught would be coming for Charlie and oud plane. I decided to bypass the village from east, put pedal to metal and take our chances. I can't praise the gunners of enough. We gathered convoy, repaired damage and moved on.

Next tough spot was at junction ..well.junction Y. We took out technical at the junction but came under fire from the east. I told Lego's vics to put pedal to metal as rest of us put smokes and peppered the threat with nice lightshow of tracer fire. I have no idea if we hit anything, but repair truck made it, thats what counts. Varanon's field repairs under fire saved the day.

In next village I made a bad call. We approached it too recklessly. Charlie had informed us of mortar support available. I should have halted convoy, observed village from distance and used mortar fire to take out the technicals within. We lost one of our vics there, and had moment of general confusion.

My initial plan was to avoid capital and main highway and cut through the forest. The forest road looked suspicious but driver of repair truck said 'Go for it, it has been done before'. Ok. We came under fire again, teams put pedal to metal and made it to forest. That call probably saved us from lot of trouble.

We reached plane and had LR skirmish with hostiles far in north in treeline. I called in mortar fire which resolved the situation. Variable repaired the plane and famous mercenary pilot Unnamed in controls we had a perfect takeoff like in movies without any hiccups or silly incidents none so ever.

A-actual thanks all teams of great work. We wouldn't have made it without SUVs minigun support,  Lego for managing other team, gunners of all vics for top notch job. Variable did the most boring but absolutely mission critical role as driver of the repair truck. C-teams moral mortar support was heart warming. 

Notes from leading point:

UAZ's are loud. I had hard time hearing radio. This was also nightmare to lead. Not because of other people or the mission but for lot of things to consider. Several vehicles, balancing rush/carelessness, trying to make it fun for everyone, thisandthat. Blergh.

We had skeleton screw for each vics but leader isn't probably best choice for driver.

I decided it is least hassle if I drive UAZ myself. It has some advantages. Example: Order 'Ok, all teams, follow UAZ' is hell of a lot easier to execute when you are in controls instead of first having to explain your fancy move to driver.  However try talking to LR while driving crippled 3 wheeled Soviet trashcan while under fire. Leaders job is to lead and keep strings at hands. It is also difficult to maintain SA while in vehicle. For example in RL you can always check mirror, glance over shoulder. Not so easy in Arma.

30m frogs

My diver team was guilty for friendly fire incident. I was team leader and fault is mine. I did not do good enough job to make sure people stay in formation and understand where to fire. I apologize for the incident. Underwater combat is a mess but lets try to do better next time, including me.

Second try was much better but the mission completion was a bit..awkward. I would have preferred exfiltration and then end the mission.

Winter's pack

It is very easy to give advice when you see all from sky. Heres my 2 gold dragons from seat of Olympos.

Start was good job everyone although I was sure we have rubber boat collision : D First mission turn point was eliminating the single sentry. He was returning to UAZ when you started firing but only wounded him slightly. He made dash to UAZ and surprised other team from behind, managed to kill one (several bursts, audible shots) of you before he was cut down. Thing here was not the call to eliminate sentry. It was perfectly justified. Letting him get away to fire audible shot was the thing.

However mission was still , at this point, perfectly winnable. I puppet mastered the enemy and they had no real idea where you were. Unless audible shots/fire/explosion or squad leaders alive seeing you for certain time gave you away, they had no real information.

For example first guards and Shilka went to investigate the spot where you had fired audible shots. Not where you actually where. Nothing was found, and Shilka was destroyed at the hut from behind. This was a good move. Most severe threat was neutralized and enemy had still no solid fix where you were. Mission was, still at this point, winnable. Variable kept it cool and there was still no panic.

From my view crux was at the camo net and one of you being separated, apparently by a bug. This caused more delay, which enabled enemy to pin one team down. Enemy squad leader was already starting to call in mortar fire, but other team moved in danger close and you were saved. However at this point winning was already extremely difficult. In the end teams were separated and decimated by BTR.

Difference to previous try: Last time you went about 60% to mission undetected. This time you were detected during first third. It did not fail the mission but made it more difficult.

From authors point of view:

Mission is tough. It is one of toughest to situational awareness. There is some margin for error but time works eventually against the player. If movement/momentum stops, more disadvantage there is. That stresses coordination and people responding sharply.

(02-12-2016, 02:29 PM)Brad link Wrote:with regards to the friendly fire incedent, after my team leader told me to open fire as no friendly where around, of course I did, but upon taking 1 man out, he then rolled on his front and crawled away, leaving me confused if this was enemy ???

Jesus, when I command "open fire", you don't turn sideways either to shoot the guys next to you. Of course you should always id your targets before you put them in the ground.

Quick notes from fresh memory:

Brief post chat AAR turned out to be a very good experiment. It takes only couple of minutes, free speech, constructive spirit and everyone learns.

CSI OPFOR

I was Ammo bearer in Alpha under Evans' command. Textbook performance in first 2/3ds. Very good bounding overwatch and movement. Only issue was chain of command. No one noticed for several minutes that A-actual, aka Evans, is KIA. It led to confusion, cluster, and we completed mission only because there were relatively few enemies left. I thought he was just pondering next move, until we learned he was killed.

Good practise is, first person to notice it, announce in group as soon you see leader go KIA. Simple 'Leader KIA'. Takes < 3 seconds. Often we are in urban grid or we have no LOS to leader.  As soon people knows it, something can be done about it.

Day on a farm

Weather conditions in this are challenging, but illumination flares helps a lot. Start in the farm is confusing, but setup of the mission is very simple. This time enemy fireteam managed to flank on you which caused casualties, but you handled that one.

The task about locating and destroying enemy mortar team was easy to miss and acting leaders missed it. I gave you verbal warning as curator but it was already too late. Some of you managed to take it out with long range rifleworks, but it had already adjusted fire and gotten rounds to air which destroyed supply trucks.

Technically: Mortar fires several 'bracketing' rounds, which are possible to spot with audio/visuals, when you know what to look. You have 3-5 minutes to locate it, and eliminate it one way or another.

I adjust mission parameters slightly to give more time to figure out the situation at the farm, and give more clear notification, possibly voice script,  about the mortar task.

Lead the charge

Again, weather isn't easier, but it was least of concerns. This mission was witched.

http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=27846

Vote it, if you can. You were supposed to have friendly tank platoon on your left flank to support you but the buggers refused to move. I manually added new support, which refused to engage enemy armor until at point blank range. This effectively destroyed the Bradley to mission start and it made it much more difficult. Etzu, Mjolnir and Lego had a long wait in the lobby. Mission author was not pleased.

Another issue was the medipack was missing from medics loadout. Medic is a standard RHS medic. No custom loadout scripts is used. I can't explain that. Brad did not have support module synced. Den also ran to RHS MG bug with wrong ammo. Curator placed AI also had considerable issues. Some people had to reconnect to get the briefing visible.

I will dig into this, but my guess is, something just didn't initialize right.  We had two 'mission failed' bugs at mission starts before this. I recommend if that happens to people, restart server, just to be sure.

I had constant red chain with > 500ms and I missed the apparent curator call about the issues. Even if I had provided medikit, the Waypoint bug essentially screwed the mission.

We play missions as a default once, and I want them to be played as they are intended by author.  I should have announced this right away and recommended abort.

Akala Situation

Finally beat this. Excellent mission by Etzu.

B-actual (that's me) thanks Manuel, Suchy and Unnamed for patience and absolutely top notch job. From my viewpoint all teams did great, especially A-actual aka McGregor, in a very tough mission.

It isn't like I haven't gotten lost before, but I don't usually read map this bad. One can't expect a trained team leader to tell difference between blue line and green line in broad daylight. As a icing to cake, after finding right line, we checked buildings on wrong side of a road and almost resulted a little blue on blue in process. Not like this. 

There wasn't really that much to do for us, some short firefights and plenty of hiking but overall it was quite pulse raising experience considering we lost 2 vehicles and survived. It always feels good to complete a tough mission after several attempts.

Prodigal Son FHQ

Ugh. Bloody. Anyone surprised?

This is one of my favourite snack missions. Nice mood/setting/milieu, tough challenge with sane odds and several ways to complete.

B-actual (guess who) thanks Phantom, Valhalian and Alwarren for another top notch job and Misha for giving us very clear orders and letting us take our time. Our sneak and surprise attack to BMP crew was almost flawlessly executed (Fuck, Alarm! Chargeeee!!!! isn't probably best military command unless you serve in Wellingtons army). We also got the BMP running, killed the Hind with it until it was resurrected (you wouldn't believe me if I told you), took a little urban stroll with it, broke some walls, and got nuked to particles. 

If I can suggest very small changes (I stress this is certified FHQ quality as it is and works just fine)

- Add ACOG/UBL and couple of illumination flares, maybe 2-3 40mm HEs to team leaders. Usually TL's have such a loadout, and it would give us a bit more LR punch, notch of firepower and alternate option to deal with certain encounters. Illum flares arent technically necessary but they are my personal pets.
- Adding one marksman to other team with just a basic..say...M14 might be ok. This is so-so and I can really see both sides of this. This isnt a sniper mission, point is to go down and get dirty but it adds some tactical options and isn't unreasonable slot considering we are Force Recon. 
- Keep the Hind. I'm with Phantom with this. It really isn't unreasonable obstacle and this is supposed to be tough. Add 1-2 Iglas to 1-2 crates or add enemy AA specialist. That forces player to keep moving and put pressure to locating launchers.

Seriously, I like this a lot and can't wait to try again.

I must say, i really liked the quick debrief after the mission.
The idea was great and IMO it actually worked as we thought it would.

Agreed with Stag's assessment, the brief AAR was definitely a good thing.

CSI Opfor

I picked this one since we rarely ever play it.

Our approach was mostly obscured by a lot ridge line right at the edge of the AO, so we didn't really see much. The first enemy contact was literally 15 meters in front of us. From there on, we were right in the middle of everything, and while everybody did an admirable job, we quickly got decimated. When I tried to retreat further back the building I picked for cover was occupied by no less than four enemies. While we got them all, we paid dearly for it, including our beloved leader (a.k.a me)

Day on a farm

Had a few technical difficulties at the start, Val kept getting disconnected, so the start was slow. Boy, this really deserved the predicate "The night is dark and full of terrors". The fireworks at the farmhouse was quite dazzling, and once we were in lock-down position, we were flanked by a sneaky team of sneaky Russians on our right flank that we luckily were able to dispatch.

The mortar was hard to spot but I saw it through the sight of the static TOW launcher, but by that time it was already too late.

I agree that the Mortar task was easy to overlook, especially in the hassle of setting up the defenses. Varanon did a good job, but it was pretty much chaos there and hard to keep control.

Lead the charge

The night was dark and full of arty fire. When we waited at the insertion line, we had the pleasure of watching our artillery pound half a platoon of Russian mechanized infantry into the ground.

Due to the waypoint bug our armoured support was delayed, causing the loss of Buffalo-3.

The fight in the forest was brutal. Most of the time we were jumped. I have NVG's, so switching between optics caused me some trouble because of the ACOG not having night vision.

Still, we managed to push through, with most of our team intact, and not even a medic since Evans' backpack was missing the Medikit. Good job to everyone involved.

The Akala situation

First of all, absolutely excellent job done by my team, with Den as the driver and Varanon as the gunner in the Abrams. We managed to stay alive up until the end, took out the two tanks and the Shilka, and generally kiced ass and chewed bubblegum. Really good job.

The only time we got hit at all was when we drove back to help the Bradley that was stuck, and thinking about it it was stupid of me not to just jump into Zeus and fix the problem with that. We would have been undamaged otherwise.

The mission started out a bit lame for us. McGregor was taking a very cautious approach, and quite frankly, I don't think that any other sort of approach would work. McG did a great job in leading this one.

In the end, we made it across the bridge among the smoldering ruins of the checkpoint. Good mission, and again, kudos to my tank crew.

Prodigal Son

The stealthy approach to the compound worked, and frankly, I wonder what exactly spotted us. I suspect it was a perimeter guard, since there was one a bit to our right and up the hill slope, as I later saw from my post-mortem camera. I got killed by a grenade when we assaulted, probably because I just stormed in Alahu-Akbar-Style lobbing grenades at the crewmen.

But we did prevent them from manning the APC, which was the whole point.

When the Hind came, Phantom took shots at it, but it is incredibly hard to hit it; unfortunately, the following strafing run of the Hind helped Phantom to an extra serving of lead followed by premature exitus. Fortunately, the APC crew managed to damage the chopper good enough so that it went down. Unfortunately, the gunner is obviously an engineer, because he got out and repaired the chopper. The Pilot was obviously a bit itchy and took off immediately without waiting for the gunner to get in. The gunner was squished by the front wheel of the hind, so the hind was back in the air but without teeth, and didn't pose a challenge anymore.

It could have gone very different, and at one point, the mission was on the edge of a knife really, namely when the BTR came up. The BMP managed to neutralize it, but the crew and infantry got out and one of them had an RPG-7... good bye BMP. If that hadn't happened, there would have been a good chance to finish the mission.

Bottom line, I agree with the changes that Stag proposed.

All in all, good games yesterday.

I was not the one shooting the hind, I think it was either Stag or Val. I was just the first to enter the BMP to make sure no AI get in it then disembark later to not be easy spotting for hind. I was long dead before then and was in spectate mode since the hind killed me. I will say that's the closest we got to beating the mission. It was so close.

First throwback thursday complete. I am tired as heck, but still adrenalined from Game of Drones so some quick recaps from memory.

Flycatcher FHQ

If the mission is legendary even before it is played (by me), expectations are huge. This was certified FHQer and despite some minor technical issues and fashion statements we got the mission on road. We had to do several transits on open with several long range firefights. We eliminated at least two high threat vehicles but in final transit Alpha got pinned down in the open. In the end it was only me and Oukej left with infantry at 300m and vehicle with GMG pinning us down. I don't have to write how it ended.

I loved this and can't wait to try this again on a next TT night (with minor technical fixes).

Winter's ground

This was relatively recently completed but TT night was a success with high player count and this was only one available on the list for the numbers.

Again it is easy to provide AAR / feedback from the sky : )

McGregor did good job in a tough mission. The mission really doesn't let you prepare. Leader has to adjust and cook the plan on the fly. It is relatively straight forward and it isn't that difficult, but the overall chaos/mood puts certain pressure to leader.

Certain units got stuck (surprise) and approach was careful at the start. Skirmish at the beach took longer than I expected but you eliminated the vehicles, aka biggest threats well. Rest was clearing few stragglers, and one BTR which wasn't so dead after all  8)

At point Yankee you located and eliminated enemy mortar team which was about to correct fire for effect. At the Combat Logistics you pondered a bit of a mystery, found some tactical bacon, delivered ammo trucks for artillery and got caught pants down by two T-72s steamrolling to camp. The only thing that saved you was certain RHS armor issue. Tank got to take a shot at the command truck, for somehow it barely survived. However it was left crippled which in end contributed to mission failure.

After that the artillery opened. Earlier as a curator I gave option for leader to pinpoint origins of enemy Grad battery. Estimate was a bit off, and simulated counter battery mission failed to destroy the Grads (thats why you play Winters Pack ^^ but thats besides the point). As a result incoming artillery was a bit spiced, and it cost you casualties.

In the end you were clustered up, and enemy forces managed to flank you and surprised you from behind, eventually leading to decimation of the already weakened command truck and thus failing the mission. 

This was, like certain other Winter mission, a tough one and I think people did well in stressing situation as night was dark and full of terrors.

People reported of FPS issues, and I will take a look of it for next iteration. Thanks all, especially our visitor Oukej for professional feedback.

Some shots:

Startling discovery...



Taking cover from artillery fire...



Situation in the end:



Had that truck blown up, where you were, due artillery shrapnel, etc, it would have killed entire squad. If you know arty is inbound, bigger spacings. I know, there wasn't that much cover, but something to ponder.

Oh, and McGregor, send me a PM where to ship the beer. I am not joking. 

Game of Drones FHQ

'The best overcame their flaws, did their duty and died with Tavor carbines in their guerrilla hands. The others..the others played the Game of Drones'

-Ser Stag the dead.

In moment of insanity I promised to lead this and was also in command of team Lion. Valhalian, my trusty partner in crime,  was in command of other team, 'Dire Wolf'. Find a way to shoot down 2 drones. How hard can it be? I loved this mission. Great setting, milieu, a bit of fog and for once something different than 'clear village, defeat counterattack'. 

If FHQ mission is called Game of Drones, and it has a castle, it is something you just have to try. I didn't expect to win, but I had to call out that card.  Result was slaughter at the castle walls. Anyone surprised? 

Mission started relatively well. My team spotted drones on the sky with sharp eyes. For a brief moment I considered attempting to take one of them out with small arms fire, but they were too fast for that.

We gathered up, caught our breath, and then moved to final ruined hilltip to line up on a castle. My team heard of strange noise to west. I was hoping it would be drone command vehicle. Team Dire Wolf held the high ground as my team investigated. Single AAF soldier was trying to fall a tree with a quadbike. He was aware of us by now as we got to point blank range, and I had to eliminate the wretch.

Upon returning to hill fire was opened from the castle. Team Dire Wolf was to provide covering fire, draw enemy fire, as my team would flank the enemy. We moved by hillside in column and managed to stay in cover but took fire upon final approach to castle wall. We didn't have time to stack up properly as I saw a .50 cal at the corner. We managed to eliminate it and some infantry, but I was likely killed with a friendly grenade in chaos. Lesson here, do your best to watch friendly fire. It could have bounced or just bad luck and situation was just damn hectic. Happens but something to note. 

My team had 50% casualties, but the biggest threat was eliminated. Dire Wolf started assault, but was decimated from enemies flanking them from the sides.

I still think castle approach is viable tactic. With bit better execution my team would have been able to breach it. We likely take casualties, but I believe it is at least theoretically winnable and can be done.

One thing about comms folks:

When leader speaks, others stop. Period.

Especially if leader tells you to 'Clear comms', you stop talking.

Especially if leader tells you TWICE to 'Clear comms', you STFU, pardon my ancient Valyrian.

We had bit of a this already on previous mission where Varanon was talking to helicopter as others were talking. I could have been culprit there myself, but if you notice boss talking, stop, unless it is absolute critical emergency.

I was explaining my plan to Valhalian on local when I heard constant talk on either SR or local. It was tough mission, I really had to concentrate and it is annoying when you hear blablabla on other ear same time. Critical information could be lost.

Yeah, it is easy to overlook, I sometimes accidentally do it myself, but pay attention to it. If leader tells CLEAR COMMS, and you are talking, it means you. It isn't personal. The man is just trying to lead. One day it could be you.

Overall my team did good in tough mission, and I definetely want to try this again!

Thanks guys, good games on first but hopefully not last CiA Throwback Thursday!