Jan 18 Thu / PoE2 (Angels of Woodland)

[John CANavar]

1stMIP squad deployed to battlefield from 2030 EST to midnight.

I had the privilege to command very responsive and reliable fire team leaders and members like Coridon, E-Male, Mosely, Grunt, Calvin, BigGaayAl, Finestyle, EnglishRebel and SWAT (Did I forget a name?). Special thanks to my medic Mosely for his terrific medical assistance performance.

Woodland battle. We decided to go for the central flag which has rich natural resources and well-known for its beautiful woodland women, doubling its importance in ticket count. And no surprise it was heavily defended. Worse, formidable 5th under the command of my nemesis Lucky Shot was one of the defenders. We captured the flag with friendly backup at some point but before having a chance to meet an angel and have a drink, enemy collapsed on us and kicked us out of the heaven. You will pay for it next time 5th... Crooooommmmmmm !

Berezne was fun as usual. We had our tight defense at back german flag (next to UCB) to stop Bleak's two or three attempts of "hit 'em from back, hit 'em hard" tactic which involved one jeep, three suicidal guys moving at full speed from our UCB side Calvin, you owe me three and you know what I mean.

We did pretty good during both Carpathian rounds setting North Cabin as base of operation and controlling East Farm with fire team Alpha. We launched an almost-successful attack on East Cabin but due to my exhausted brain power and fatal attraction to enemy mines, it failed.

It was another controlled chaos and well-regulated game pace night for us. Thanks all for the good times.

1stMIP will be back to free the angels of woodland from the 5th and its evil allies...

[WhiskeySix]

I was on 2142 for a few rounds, but then switched over to PoE2 for a round before bed. I had a great time on Fallen with Bleak, Rockford-69, YourName#23, TwilightOfDeath, Azreal, and PierreLaBoef (a couple of where-you-been guys!). We were Ukrainian for the round and ultimately ended up loosing, but it was still fun. At one point, we made a nice infiltration from South Cabin to attack North Cabin from the North, carefully splitting the gap between OpFor-held Lumbermill and Crash Site. As I was giving orders to move to the waypoint, and stay in a close formation to avoid detection, someone said "follow the yellow-brick road", refering to the line to the waypoint - I couldn't have summarized it better... and follow we did!







With orders of "return fire only", Twilight and PierreLaBeof (our two assaults) took point and led us through the gap at a walking pace. A few contacts were spotted on both East and West flanks, but fire-discipline was maintained and we continued North to the waypoint.







Finally, after sending the squad north along the out-of-bounds line, they attacked an undefended flag while I came in from the south.



The flag dropped immediately, though not without casualties, as John detonated a batch of C4, critically wounding half the squad. Fortunately, our medics quickly got all three back on their feet within seconds. After securing the flag we held it against a couple of assaults from Santa's squad, before finally being overwhelmed.


It was a good time with the a well disciplined, cohesive squad! GG!

[John CANavar]

Originally Posted by WhiskeySix

The flag dropped immediately, though not without casualties, as John detonated a batch of C4, critically wounding half the squad.

And the research begins on "detonate and forget: no revive C4s" at 1stMIP labs...

Great example of using the proper formation and RoE Whiskey.

[Grunt 70]

I was in late for the last two rounds. Great Games...I've been playing a lot less of BF2 lately due to Armed Assualt but I tell you BF2 can be very fun when the squad's a rockin. Thanks for the excellent AAR's John and Whiskey

[Lucky Shot]

That was a lot of fun around the Watchtower flag. Our guys were instructed to hold the Watchtower in an aggressive stance towards the enemy crawling out of their earthen tunnels at the mine. At times the fighting was intense, however we were able to draw upon a second 5th squad at times to hold the high ridge west of the Watchtower under MoreGooder. This allowed us to concentrate on the northern hill overlooking the mine and from time to time the western hill between us and MoreGooder. Everything was running on all cylinders from the revives to the resupplies. That was a great game for my squad.

Berezne was a brutal one for our squad. Everything we did was a struggle. We couldn't hold a flag, we couldn't capture a flag, we couldn't drive to a flag, we couldn't even get close enough to a flag to begin a true full fledged firefight. I tip my hat to the opposition for their dominance although I think the server emptied out after that round. I will say that my squad never gave up which I always appreciate a great deal and I apoligize to those guys for not being able to position myself where we could capture and hold a flag.

Lucky Shot

[E-Male]

I was Sargent (alpha1) under John.C's command for about ninety minutes last night. Still working on more concise language for giving orders and providing sitreps -- John.C continues to provide a fine example of proper command language without going over the edge of too much realism (which would simpy go over the heads of any but regular forces and reserve military personnel).

I had Calvin and Finestyle as my A2 and A3. At first I made the mistake of taking point in assaults, a mistake simply because I am a rather crappy shot and am at my best when enaging at a distance. Once I put Calvin up front we were able to keep it together better. I also find the best default position for A1 is not up front, unless he is a natural born killer and can command the fireteam as he engages the enemy.

The main issue or challenge when using fire teams is simply longevity. A fireteam must remain alive and together if they are to be of any use to the SL. Nothing more fustrating as an SL than to have fire teams constantly torn apart, as then any strategy becomes impossible to execute (beyond the most simplistic). Thus the absolutely single most important kit in a fireteam is the medic. Finestyle was once again extraordinary as my medic, and finished one round at some 98 points as Calvin and I keep him busy.

[BigGaayAl]

Originally Posted by Lucky Shot

That was a lot of fun around the Watchtower flag. Our guys were instructed to hold the Watchtower in an aggressive stance towards the enemy crawling out of their earthen tunnels at the mine. At times the fighting was intense, however we were able to draw upon a second 5th squad at times to hold the high ridge west of the Watchtower under MoreGooder. This allowed us to concentrate on the northern hill overlooking the mine and from time to time the western hill between us and MoreGooder. Everything was running on all cylinders from the revives to the resupplies. That was a great game for my squad.

On this map, I was trying out a tactic I'm using more and more ont these forest maps; zone defense (as John calls it) together with the imperative:Never attack with one squad.

My excellent squad (don't remember the members now) held one to three flags behind Lucky's squad. Whenever we had time we would guard the north of the watchtower, with orders not to bypass it. When we had other avenues of attack to worry about, I would post my squad right inbetween the flags, to cut off attackers & be able to respond very fast to three flags. When one would fall we were able to deploy rapidly. But if we did lose the flag and had one E squad or more spawning, we would NOT attack, but just hinder their advance, until a friendly squad would come by. Then I ordered my squad to take their flank in attacking. The squad performed admirably, and several times, we surrounded enemy flags, patiently closing in and letting the other squad rush in. Each of these attacks IMO were costing the defenders a lot of tickets, instead of costing the attackers.

I once heard that when you attack you should have three times the soldiers the enemy has, and in this light I started this experiment. It works very well so far on any infantry maps in poe, and is a good counter imo to the fact that many times in Poe you will be overrun by 2+ squads.

In short it consists of zone defense of back flags, with the SL staying back alone to watch over one of the flags.
And in attack you will always flank the enemy with an other squad, retreating/holding whey they are down, with possibly still the SL hanging back at the defended flag.

Unfortunately I got kicked then for SM. I sure wish the old script would still be one (I can understand it is open to abuse by one man squads though). It is just very hard when you start a new squad with lots of unknown pubbies in it, after a few rounds get good teamplay and discipline going, only to be kicked and have the squad disintegrate as often happens when it is beheaded.

Fortunately, I was able to switch teams after reconnecting and a spot opened in the 1stmip, which as always provided a highly enjoyable level of discipline. It is just soo much fun when the other fireteam is attacked and you get the order to shoot them in the back!