Or how assumptions can screw you on
TG.
PL: Me
SF TL: Bigvalco
UH60 Pilot: Lowspeedhighdrag
Mech Infantry SL: Mosley
MH-6 pilot: Lewis
I took platoon lead for this one based on my previous playthrough. My basic plan was fairly simple: Special Forces would perform an air assault on the target area and make the actual takedown. The mechs, being armored 25mm deathdealers from Hell itself, would drive up the MSR to provide extraction of the package (Queen of Hearts), in addition to providing a reserve in case SF couldn't affect the takedown.
I intended for the SF team leader to take operational control of all the helos, although I don't believe this point was communicated at all well by me (my bad). And I violated my own "no micromanagement" policy by stating my specific intent for the Little Bird was to recon the target area. These two things led to some initial confusion on the helo/SF side of the house. My fault for not being clearer about my intent.
On the ground side, things went better, they got loaded up, moved with a purpose, held short about 500m from the target area (to prevent tipping off a response from the Republican Guard camp) and other than completely securing the hold short point, I had no issue with them. I'd figured the dismount elements, well, uh... dismounted to provide security, but for some reason they hadn't.
Where things began to unravel was with the SAMs. I tasked the Apache with taking them out and promptly put it out of my mind, figuring that it was a done deal with Hellfires. ASS U ME. A few minutes later MH6 has reported heavy fire taken from target area, HMGs abound on rooftops and bad guys all over. Not concerned, the Apache can take care of most of that after the SAMs. Of course, I'd jinxed myself just by thinking that and the very next radio message was the Apache pilot reporting they'd been hit bad and were going down.
Not a game breaker by any stretch, I cleared the SF team proceed on their helo insertion to the target area. Here is where another assumption came to bite me in the ass. I'd expected the SF guys to choose their own DZ (I seriously don't like micromanaging), but one keeping with my intent of landing them close to the target area and quickly executing the takedown. Instead they landed a full 500m away, as far from the target area as the mech infantry.
As a background to all this, the hold short point for the mech infantry was taking sporadic small arms and RPG fire and my Humvee occassionally caught a piece, which did wonders for my command ability. Not.
At that point, I realized that SF weren't exactly going to be able cover the distance and even if they could, they'd face a pretty stiff fight at the target area. Probably too much for 6 guys with nothing bigger than M4s and harsh language. So I ordered the mech infantry to proceed to the target area, intending to have them execute the takedown with SF in a supporting (if any) role. No grandiose tactics, just plain kick the walls down and if the neighbors complain about the noise, turn it up to 11 with a TOW.
That lasted approximately 150m before one of the Brads hit a OMFGWTFHFSROFL-sized IED. The blast was so big it
filled my Humvee windshield (100m away) with a huge mushroom cloud of dust and blew up the other Brad which was a full 20m away, in addition to wiping out Charlie squad.
My cunning plan blow to pieces, I just kind of sat there for about two minutes, trying to get comms back up with Charlie, hoping against hope that the squad had still been dismounted. They weren't, which made me a sad panda. I looked at what I had and what needed to be done and made the call that it'd be an SF takedown/air extraction. SF called for a medic, whch I conviently had on hand. I mounted up my medic and two survivors of Charlie who'd come from out of the woodwork and began rolling. I looked at the map to ascertain SF's location, while driving, assuming that the MSR only had one Xbox heug IED on it. I dropped the map and kept driving, when my screen froze, my frames dropped to about 0.25FPS, and I heard the sound of multiple explosions (or one explosion looped due to lag).
Sure enough, dead as fried chicken.
I don't believe the Blackhawk or SF team knew WTF had happened to me as they continued advancing until pinned down by hostile fire, continuously taking casualties until finally attrited in front of a big poster of Saddam. The admin, flying unscathed in the Blackhawk finally realized we'd been wiped out and ended the mission.
Lessons learned?
1) Communicate your intent clearly. Instead of giving directions that are understandable, give directions they can't misunderstand.
2) Bradleys, armored in real life, not really so much in
ArmA with huge IEDs.
3) IEDs- if you find one, there's probably another.
4) Real life isn't
ArmA. Don't carry assumptions from one into the other.
