Project Reality Scrim 6/2/2007 - EJOD Desert, Ghost Train

[jmaker]

[dawolf]

Alpha squad on Bravo team rocking the jungle!



Thanks for squadleading troublesome and for the great teamwork everybody in the squad and on the team!

[khaerus]

Oh, man, I'm hurting after the Scrim.... I want to do a good write-up on what went wrong on the USMC Ejod Armor Squad, because I'm sure it's there that we lost that round. (Sincere apologies to Freeno, BC, Pen, or Axis if they feel differently. I hope you guys don't think I'm being disloyal.)

I will say this: I don't think we did outrageously badly, necessarily, and believe me, we tried to do our best, and if anyone says otherwise, that's gonna sit poorly with me... But we got beat solidly.

My first impressions after my first TG scrim: an Armor Squad absolutely is the hardest type of squad to gel and make solid. We were 5 were tasked with running 4 vehicles, and I knew only Pen and BC's voice from before tonight, for instance. The chatter was hard to sort through, and we weren't excessive. I know Freeno had it worst as SL, getting the Com orders in addition to hearing his SMs, as well as the TS chatter. As we went, we started to get some standardized calls out (I became K, as in my gunner calls "K forward") but man, we needed more practice.

As the guys who adopted me into the 5th will attest, I'm not so great with armor. Thrown into an Armor unit with argueably the biggest chance to affect the outcome of a Scrim on the map in question, with relatively unknown teammates, I will say I (and we) got hammered. I'll also say that I'd line up again with Freeno, BC, Pen, or Axis any time, 'cause I don't think it would happen again. We learned too much for that...

It was a good time. And we did lose that round by only 30 tix... close, but still a loss. Despite however many tanks I could lose on a battlefield....
Thanks all. It was fun.

Sorry.. I should have done this first, and I wanted it to be obvious, but I edited it in:

Thanks to guys who took real time to put this together and monitor it and all that nonsense. And Lucky's "handwritten" roster, well, that just made me laugh.

[ikill4aliving]

The admins closed the server down before we could get the pics of all the players involved...



Scores at the end of Ejod^



Squad 4 holding down the east part of the river on Ejod^

[Santa]

Ejod Desert was a disaster for Bravo team. In our think tank session, I wanted to do a strategy of holding East city and having our squads hold the 4 roads into east city. Armor would have an easy time patrolling between the 4 roads and snipers would have good overwatch. I was outnumbered in this thinking though, so we went with an aggressive strategy to try and take both east and west cities.

I really think we lost this match before it started because this strategy just doesnt make sense. Two fronts is never a good idea, and when one of the fronts collapses the armor becomes exposed and ineffective. When our armor started getting destroyed, they took both cities from us and setup a great defensive wall. Perhaps our armor squad could have been more effective, but i really think it was more the situation that hurt them. They could not get anywhere because they had no infantry support after our fronts collapsed. If we had a single defensive line from north to south along the east city, our armor would have always been supported by infantry. When you are setup like this, you can systematically destroy all of their armor without losing your own. When this happens, THEN you get aggressive because they are spawning all the way back at their main base. This match was a great example of why armor needs to be supported by infantry. We got a 70 or so ticket lead when our armor was around infantry, and that lead shrank when the two were not supporting each other.

Razersedge was supposed to be the CO for Ghost Train, but could not show because of work related stuff. So i stepped up for it. From our think tank session, we had a plan to keep about 8 people on defense of south bridge while the rest of the team attacks north bridge in smaller squads. I disliked this strategy because its entirely too risky, so since i was to be commander I completely scrapped it.

I told everyone our SLs would be Vicious, trouble, freeno, and cougar, and we would form a defensive line. Vicious took the far west, trouble took the hills west of the South Bridge, Freeno took up position east of south bridge, and Cougar took up position to the far east. From here, we would let them attack us and waste tickets, and I would attempt to move squads around as needed to flank and keep a man advantage in our battles. As the game progressed and I got more comfortable, I kept seeing more places for the squads to flank. One squad would hold off the enemy, while the other one ran in and destroyed the RP. This proved very effective and got us a 41 ticket lead. I was constantly updating my team on our ticket advantage, because i did not want them to get lazy. I hope it wasnt annoying, but keeping SLs informed about where we stand overall helps them keep their head in the game.

But then the server decided to rear its ugly head. We went down 19 vs 24, and Alpha team launched a big attack on South Bridge. We lost a lot of tickets, putting us below the magic number of 33, but we retained the flag. Even then, we lost a squad leader due to RL stuff (freeno) and I couldnt seem to get that squad going where i wanted them afterward. The rest of the team was getting man handled, and Cougar suggested he go to North Bridge to stop the bleed that was sure to start soon. With about 2 minutes left, he went up there to capture North Bridge and probably would have done it with more time. We won by 12 tickets (i think). Those last 10 minutes where disconnects hurt us big time, and squads got out of position because of it, really hurt us and i feel brought us below the 33 ticket threshold. Argh!

[Morganan]

I wanted to use basically the exact same strat as you for EJOD for basically the exact same reasons as you wanted to. (make Ecity the key to our attack since it offers the best defensive positions overall.), but was overruled. As for your armor, your armor dominated us until you lost your units on the hill west of west city. Once that happened we were able to deploy our armor defensively in forward positions and honestly it was a turkey shoot for us after that. I don't intend to throw salt in anyone's wound, but for almost half the round we had a tank sitting unmanned on the hill west of west city due to "technical reasons". We basically didn't have 2 tanks up and forward until I switched to driving and moved the one tank to E-city and then down to Ruins. The key was the troops on the west hill, once they were gone were were able to utilize our armor and aggressively hunt your apc's, which stand no chance vs. tanks.

As for Ghost train, we all knew that strat was coming, and while I personally feel that strat is "cheese" in a pub game, admittedly in a match it is fair game. My team unfortunately had no desire to play defensively, even after I gave them orders to (with the exception of the 1st MIP, and even their patience was tested with no action for 45 minutes). We honestly should have started the map on pure defense, as technically we were already ahead before the map even started. Unfortunately I am not sure my team had the patience to make your defensive strat work. After 20 minutes or so of not seeing a soul you really wouldn't have had any choice but to advance already being "behind" and we would have had the opportunity to turn your own "strat" against you. Quite a few people thought laying RP's out of bounds was against the rules, but whether it was or not we were playing a match, which should have some different rules then the typical public game. I saw how you deployed your team and I must say you had them supporting each other quite well, excellent deployments!

We should have had a gentleman's agreement there Santa not to search for RP's, as I am sure we both spent a considerable amount of time wondering "is that an RP or just a white tree-trunk?". :O

[tHa_KhAn]

I missed out on EJOD due to a scheduling mishap, but Ghost Train turned out to be a very interesting match.

Our team did grow very weary of defense upon seeing a greater than 33 ticket deficiency on the scoreboard, I think it was near 50 at one point. At that point there was some grumbling and an offensive was launched. This turned out to be important since our only chance at winning rested on the assumption that Bravo would get bored and charge us despite having the victory wrapped up. Squad 1 pulled off the impossible and seized the hilltop over South Bridge, allowing the other squads particularly 3 and 4 to grab the flag. The relentless assaults turned the ticket difference in our favor and the final grab of the flag and following bleed for a minute or 2 sealed the deal.

All and all the opening strategy was sound, however for some reason we lost all the firefights. I think this was due to mainly unfamiliarity with the squads to the commander. Some squads were better spearheads than others and it took until later in the round for that to sort itself out. In the end it all worked out and that is what is important.

[Bc2ID]

EJOD-

Our armor was utterly decimated due to the MEC armor imbedded along the western walls. Add the light infantry along the wall and we had a recipie for disaster. Overall this was still an exciting round and I agree with "K's" suggestion that we could have done better. As the round progressed we got our act together and started to pull it together as their tanks moved from their defensive positions. I think that the round would have ended sooner had the Mec tanks stood still. In retrospect my plan for EJOD included securing the western hills, this would have eliminated the troublesome (sorry 4u) Mec armor and allowed us coverage superiority. I do not like the idea of tanks in the city....as that should secured by INF.

Ghost-

I agree with everything that was said except for the squad leader problems. Khaerus was disconnected twice and I took up the lead. At this time our defensive position was being flanked on both sides. We lost the Western hill top and the US had breached the eastern bridge. So sorry CO, we were doing our best to hold on to both fronts. Add in to the mix a bunch of new players, players dropping in and out, and voila you have your assesment. Our understrength squad held south bridge for a very long time and even took it back on several occasions. When you are collapsed from both sides the on the field assesment was to beat back the breach from the east as Sq4 had been overrun. We still were in a defensive position, but until Sq4 respawned we had to commit. If we did not then you would have had three squads out of position instead of one or two. We had repelled the east and moved back to south bridge only to find out that it had been turned grey. We quickly took it back before being overrun again. We were in the midst of re-taking the flag until the time ran out. Not much you can do there..... This was a great round and a fine win for our team. Everyone worked together and eventhough I fell asleep twice....it was my favorite round. Good defensive battle!

Khaerus- outstanding job you and I were the only stable squad members as others had to drop for RL issues. I'd squad with you again anytime.

[Acid]

I was very disheartened upon re-joining Alpha team's TS channel towards the end of the round and hearing our CO, Morganan, getting completely overruled by his squads on decisions, and complaints of squads not following orders. This is a TG scrim, there should be absoloutly no reason to not follow the rules set in place on the public server. The rules are clear, and we had a CO with a plan it seemed like, but most of the team walked all over him and did their own thing.

[Tempus]

You are absolutely correct. Those SLs should be reported to me, as they have some explaining to do.

[Lucky Shot]

Originally Posted by Acid

I was very disheartened upon re-joining Alpha team's TS channel towards the end of the round and hearing our CO, Morganan, getting completely overruled by his squads on decisions, and complaints of squads not following orders. This is a TG scrim, there should be absoloutly no reason to not follow the rules set in place on the public server. The rules are clear, and we had a CO with a plan it seemed like, but most of the team walked all over him and did their own thing.

There was at least one admin on both teams. If this was an issue, Finestyle would have taken care of any issues with the Alpha team.

Lucky Shot

[BLKOPS|Supercracker]

I had an blast. I didnt get in until 1/2 way though EJOD and I couldnt get my kit and get in a position to do anything, which was a little frustrating. I also couldnt get anything going on the long range game in Ghost either. I faired better tho. It was a close game and Ghost was FUN!!!! Squad 6 Bravo side was really working together, etc.

I didnt get as many confirmed kills as I would have liked, but with the tree and tall grass cover on Ghost it is VERY tough with a marksman kit. However I got Bravo side a LOT of spots on the east side by little bridge.

[stonie]

My first scrim,

Our preparations did not deserve a medal.
But thanks to the Commanders XClipsx and Morgaman, we managed to adjust very quickly to the numbers and situation.

Clear orders where formed and ingame communication went very well/

EJOD:
I volunteer to be SL for squad 1. Together with:
SlingBlade, Acid and Lokki, we where ordered to put up resistance at West City.

We managed to keep the flag grey for some amount of time, but the US forces where greater. I managed to kept myself in hiding for a long time so, my members could spawn and harass the enemy.

It took a while before Squad 2 was able to assist us to turn the flag.
I must say the US sl's did an incredible job at calling out artillery on the West City. Many times it took out 90% of my squad.

Eventually with some armour support and more south defence we were able to hold the flag.

Ghost train;
I joined a sqaud wich was lead by StickyJeans, together with Redbane, Calvin and Vendi.
We crossed the river very quickly, encountering some light contact.
Some smoke and coverfire made it easy to cross.

Very quickly we were ordered around, to destroy some Rally Points.
Sticky Jeans provided an awesome spot for a rally point, which gave opportunity to cause some mayhem behind enemy lines.

Chinees had pretty solid defence, I did not notice them crossing the river.
It took our army until the last 11 minutes of the round to capture North bridge and start the bleed.

It was a great fight and won so close, but I think our prayer before the scrim, did the trick.

Until next time

[tHa_KhAn]

Originally Posted by Acid

I was very disheartened upon re-joining Alpha team's TS channel towards the end of the round and hearing our CO, Morganan, getting completely overruled by his squads on decisions, and complaints of squads not following orders. This is a TG scrim, there should be absoloutly no reason to not follow the rules set in place on the public server. The rules are clear, and we had a CO with a plan it seemed like, but most of the team walked all over him and did their own thing.

Perhaps you not there long enough, while I can't speak for all squads. It appeared all squads were following orders based on the plan I had read in teh forums. I was in squad 3 on defense for the first half. The problems arose when as a team we nearly took the south bridge objective, but did suffer some heavy losses. The CO made the decision to call all squads back. Again, I was not an SL so I couldn't hear the CO's VOIP but at one point every single squad was in a defensive line covering the whole map. A thing of beauty really. HOwever, then we noticed the ticket difference. We would lose. We knew Santa was smart enough to get his side to just sit and ride it out.

We were given orders that would have caused us to sit for 35 minutes and lose just staring at jungle. We were down on tickets and did not have bleed. The enemy had no incentive to attack and our team sat in a defensive line for a few minutes without any shots fired and it became appearant that the Bravo team was content to sit. Our CO was rolling the dice that they would get bored, but the problem was they didn't need to get any tickets. They had nothing to gain by attacking so they didn't. We were sure to lose by sitting. Our CO voiced his opinion that an assault would be fool hardy and just a waste of tickets and we were silly for suggesting such a thing.

We were faced with 2 options. Follow orders and be sure to waste a half hour of our lives just sitting in a video game and lose the match or work as a team against CO orders and try to accomplish our goal to win. Our team did the latter and it worked out.

Again I can only say things about what I heard and what i saw. The 1st MIP and 12th squads were on defense to start and we followed those orders. The other squads were sent to attack and they appeared to follow those orders. After the intial roll out I can't say if each squad was following their specific orders and it sounds like they weren't. However, at the point in the match where Acid is referring to I just covered above.

[John CANavar]

Alpha Squad Leaders,

Am I hearing this correct?

Not following CO orders? At TG? During a scrim?

What is going on gentlemen? Since when such a thing became normal here?

If you have confidence and plans, you step up and become a CO. If you dont, you are NOT the CO. So dont play one during a big battle like this.

As a SL, you can always make suggestions. But after that, it is NOT your job to take control in your hands and do whatever you think is right. CO is the boss and you will follow his orders. Period.