In this thread I will post my After Action Reports. I make the maps not only to illustrate my stories, but also to get a better idea about how a squad moves and can achieve during a game.

1st July 2008 - Fools Road - Militia

Introduction

Today I experienced my first time commanding a complete battle in Project Reality. After getting my squad as the best of the team three times in a row and started to get even more lucky with a fourth one I had to step up in Qwai as our US team was losing badly and the previous commander didn't build anything. In the end I was suprised how long we held and we even recaptured Mine and Processing Facility. I got the idea that the key was placing a few assets and direct the squads just a little bit.

Once Fools Road loaded up I applied for Militia commander as I did not want a rerun of the previous battle and so began my first battle as commander.

Starting out
We started with a small team and had a few single or two men squads and of course a sabotage squad to take advantage of the rule change regarding the bridge. That left me with just 2 infantry squads and my orders didn't seem to hit home and probably rightly so. I told my SLs that I wanted a bunker at Hilltop Estate, but I started with Helicopter Air Base (see map) as that was the flag the squads were heading to. After that I quickly drove to Hilltop and made another bunker. So far so good.



First contact
Then I really started to feelthe lack of squads that could capture flags. We barely had enough to defend Hilltop and attack another flag. I still yet had to gain control over my squads so they mostly went on their own to start capturing train depot. In the meantime an APC and infantry were approaching Hilltop but the defending squad held them off. As there was little progress at Train Depot I got myself killed in the defense allowing me to spawn at main. I drove a truck through the trees, remembering why the Romans built roads and got a squad helping me to build a firebase. It was meant to help squads quickly reinforce the attack on Train Depot and help them get AT for destroying APCs.

I toppled my truck so it was again time to get myself killed, this time helping to attack. Didn't work out quite so well as I stayed in life only to drive a smoking technical to oblivion.

All that time sabotage squad was still near the British UCB and even seem to have started firing into it. I called them off and eventually they seemed to understand that their talents where needed elsewhere. Luckily after a while they got a new squad leader who talked more and gave me another squad to work with.

The turning point
Spawned back at main again and saw and got a report that the British had destroyed the bunker at Hilltop and were almost done capturing it. Luckily the militia were able to capture Train Depot just in time and so we only needed to get Hilltop back.

And it was at that point that I really started to notice the difference between commanding and squad leading. With the former you see a map with dots moving around and all you can do is ask for a situation report and possibly sent some reinforcements. As squad leader you notice the deaths of teammates, the bullets flying around your ears, making the decisions wether the press on or fall back. It is much more down to earth fighting. As a commander it was almost surreal so great was the difference, at least for me. I was a ghost with a diesel engine hovering between the battles and through the forest.

The squads were able to get Hilltop back and I started to praise the squads even more hoping that the grunts would understand that I was appreciating their efforts greatly.

After that realization I started to ask more often for situation reports, got them and started to give more orders to squads besides helping me build and the occasional attack and defend order. I drove another truck all the way to G4, apparently in the middle of a battle between squads and a nearby bunker. Still we were able to build another Firebase and by then my line of defense was established, see figure.

The beginning of the end
Although we had Hilltop Estate and Train Depot and the squads were all along the frontline (in a good way!) we still had to get Warehouse. And that flag was tough to get. I had one squad asking for reinforcements and eventually I could get practically all the squads on that flag. By that time I had of course no longer a truck as it got stuck between the trees at G4 so it again time to die like an hero. But no, I was then just joining in the capture of the flag and we started to gain control. Even so, we were still behind in tickets and our only way of winning was getting Village.

But by then all the squads were on the ball and it was more or less a steamroller of squads moving north and south of the road to village. Once we had that captured the British were bleeding and we won with around 37-0 tickets.

Afterthoughts

And that was my glorious end of my first time commanding a battle. It went pretty well and I hope that the SLs felt that I was supporting them and not being a typical new commander who doesn't the know what is going on in the field.

If there is a next time I will definitely be asking for more situation reports and trying to keep a good overview of which squad is doing what and how long they are trying to achieve their objective. As there is little tactics involved as the sequence of capturing flags is set in stone I have the idea that the concept of good commanding lies in knowing when your squads need support and how to develop a frontline and fallback point by placing bunkers and firebases. And to achieve that the commanders needs to ask situation reports and provide the squad leaders with feedback on how other squads are doing.


14th December 2008 - Jabal - US
On 14th december I led a US squad on Jabal. I made this AAR because this game was full with large movements and decisive victories (by both teams) as opposed to continuous fighting over small pieces of a map.

1. I do not remember the beginning well. We might have captured West Beach, but the game really started when we arrived with a chopper west of dam to build a FOP. The rest of team was already engaging the enemy in the east.
2. I requested a APC transport to the frontline but the drop-off point was too hot with the enemy on higher ground. My squad was eliminated entirely.
3. As the two teams started to reach a stalemate between the Dam and Bridge flag I led my squad on a southern route hoping to get behind enemy lines. We were spotted however by enemy troops and a vodnik in the far east and we were overrun.
4. This time we took the northern approach and we were able to complete the flanking manouevre. There was an enemy FOP near bridge so I knew that we had to strike decisively to avoid the enemy respawning. We held fire until we were right in the middle and only then engaged the enemy. The enemy FOP was taken out and with the rest of the team we mopped up the resistance around bridge.

With bridge taken, our team made a quick move to take Jabal.

1. Our squad went to Jabal but our APCs and other infantry had already done much of the cleaning. We helped in the capturing of the flag and killed a few remnants of the enemy defence.
2. Seeing that we are again locked in a stalemate at the bridge towards MEC main, I led my squad to the north west. We avoided contact with a APC and took out a vodnik. Securing the area I requested a supply drop and we build another FOP.
3. In the meantime the enemy had performed a flanking manouevre over the bridge flag taking out a squad and our firebase there. I had hoped that our team would have been able to defend Jabal. However, it seems that since they were locked into a stalemate near bridge, outside the capture radius, they did notice the enemy capturing the Jabal flag.
4. As we lost Jabal I requested an extraction and we redeployed near the Bridge flag.
5. Our team attacked Jabal for the second time and again it was taken. This time resistance was much greater and I noticed that my squad was the only one left. So I ordered a withdrawal to the south side of the city to await reinforcements. At that time I needed to go suddenly so the game ended there for me.

Great game with the team establishing effective frontlines pinning the enemy down and allowing my squad to flank the enemy multiple times.


19th december 2008 - Kashan - MEC
I led an infantry squad and below is overview shown of the movements we made as a squad. I divide this game into three phases (indicated by different line types); first assault on the bunker area (no. 1 & 2). From South to North Village (no. 3 - 7) and the ending move (no. 8 & 9).


Opening moves
1. Part of the team moved to South Village so I led my squad to South Bunker. I brought a truck so we were able to build a firebase inside while capturing the flag. Had to take a phone call while a US squad assaulted and when I came back I saw a black screen and the entire squad at main.
2. We took another truck and moved this time to the most southern bunker to build a firebase there. There was little support from the rest of the team and in the end we also lost that position while the US team took control over the entire bunker area.

From South to North
3. While we took a third truck (now it starts to seem like I am wasting them...) and turned left to move back to the bunkers I took another look at the map and noticed no friendlies near the bunkers or South Village. I expected South Bunker to be captured soon making South Village very vulnerable so I turned the truck and set up defenses there.
4. Soon enough we were under attack by a tank and AAV. I told my squad to stay hidden while the LAT and HAT tried to take them out but both were killed instead. Luckily the vehicles were not by supported by infantry so the engineer could lay mines while the enemy entered the village. The AAV was blown up by a mine while I killed the driver of the tank when he foolishly got into the machine gun position. The tank was then disposed off when a squad member got hold of a Spec Ops kit.
5. The engineer had reloaded the truck so I went off to the west of the bunkers to make a back-up spawning point while the rest of the team was assaulting the bunkers. The bunker was bugged and we didn't get it built. As the team neutralized South Bunker the CO ordered us to move up and reinforce the bunker area.
6. It went pretty smoothly as the US was pinned down inside North Bunker. They had a Black Hawk and Humvee inside. The first one made the assault especially difficult as the minigun seemed to be able to shoot through the concrete floors. A squad member suggested that there might be a spawn point near the north entrance, so we first cleared out the entire northern area before attempting another assault on the flag. This time we succeeded as another squad had gotten rid of the vehicles.
7. We made a quick dash to North Village and started to neutralize it, but I made the mistake of getting actually inside of North Village and we were all shot down by the armour on the ridge east of the flag. Instead I should have ordered my squad to stay low just west of the village where the terrain protects you against any eastern armour.

End game
8. North village is always difficult to hold so when we spawned at main we took another truck to move to US outpost to relieve the pressure on the bunker area as other squads were able to take North Village.
9. We build our last firebase at outpost and started to neutralize it when the game was won.

Notes
I cannot remember the name of the CO, but I think he was the deciding factor for us to be able to push back the US from the bunkers after a bad start. Kashan is an excellent map to practice your timing. Since the travel times are so large you need to take them into account when deciding to go back to the frontline or fall back to a undefended flag that is next in line. On the other hand it is easy to get a decisive victory if the team is able to get North/South Village and move to outpost as it takes the pressure of the two bunker flags freeing a large portion of your forces.