Yup, absolutely great leadership Dredge. My Squad lead, Jack Bauer, also did a great job while me and Onyx coordinated perfectly as fire team leaders. So aside from Jack getting blasted by an RPG or SA-7, we held the line despite getting intense enemy contact. Angel and one of the other squads however I think took the brunt of the attack while our squad held off the enemy flanking forces as they tried to surround us. I can't wait to play it again with you commanding with the AI skill set to a higher level. I don't mind the green squad markers though as it really helps to prevent total chaos as in real life you can see your guy's faces and determine who's talking much more easily. So I see the green squad markers as making up for this fact. I mainly would just like to see the AI a bit harder as this time they didn't charge us quite as hard as usual and weren't as accurate with their gunfire as they usually are.
As far as your leadership, I like that you and the
TG admin people really made it clear that this was going to be a serious tactical mission with no antics. I admit that after the mission before that I was tired and really not in the mood for seriousness...but I forced myself to get in the right mindset. The little celebration at surviving all that at the end however as we waited for the choppers to fly in the last teams from LZ-Xray.
But really I think getting everyong serious at the beginning was critical and you and others did a good job of that. Ia Drang is probably the most demanding mission to command and so it also helped tremendously that all of your squad leaders were competent and were familiar with the mission. I would have taken only one idiot in a critical position to ruin everything. I guess you also probably noticed that the artillery spots were quickly taken up by veteran
TG guys. They did a great job even after one had a CTD as they were backed up by our mortar guys. We had a mission before where the arty and mortar guys had no clue as to what they were doing, and we were brutally slaughtered because there were not enough flares in the air and the enemy got right up on LZ X-ray in the dark with only enemy muzzle flashes to help our guys see their targets. So hopefully we can repeat the excellent job of the artillery guys.
The one critique I had was not making usage of the RECCE team. At the skill level we were playing at, they weren't needed. However at the hardest levels, I promise you that they will be needed to help spot enemies as well as to engage enemy squads moving below that big North mountain (Elyssia I think its called). The sniper especially is critical for providing long range fire support on the enemy that are danger close to LZ Xray. But it must be with someone who actually knows how to use the mil-dots on the sight and is a good shot with the DMR. My personal best score ever in ArmA2 was on that map with the DMR (52 kills). So the RECCE team is definitely a force multiplier.
I also would recommend that you have soldiers who aren't busy, place satchels deep into the treelines. I placed some on last night's mission and
wow, hell of a light show. However sadly I didn't place them far enough into the treeline so they were innefective at getting the guys deeper down in the defilade below my squad's position.
Still, until we get claymores and some clackers in a future mod, they make for a good substitute.
I also noticed alot of machine gunners shooting from the kneeling position. Machine gun fire *might* have been more effective if more of them took to the prone position just to the side of their sandbag where they could quickly roll back behind cover if engaged by the enemy.
At any rate, fantastic firefight!! I just wish everyone had the energy to have completed the last objective...but I think everyone was pretty tired by the time we all got back after such a successful evac of LZ Xray. A masterful withdrawl I might add. Trying to get some of our boys to disengage was tough though.
In the words of Forest Gump... "...and that's all I gots to say about that."
Chris G.
aka-Miles Teg<GD>
Team Leader of the Lost Brothers Mod
