This is something I have been working on this week, and I hope some people are interested in doing this with me. I wish you all a good read

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Real Combat Tactics

1.0 Introduction
2.0 How do we do it?
3.0 Communication
4.0 Formations
4.1 Column
4.2 Staggered Column
4.3 Line
4.4 Wedge
4.5 Echelon
5.0 Perimeters
6.0 Assault
7.0 Flanking
8.0 City combat



Introduction 1.0

The intent of this project is to bring back real world tactics into TG PR. Realism means complexity and
having to use more brainpower than usual, but once you get it going it will be the most fun you’ve
ever had in PR. Hardcore realism is not what I am aiming for (Leave that to ArmA), it is more aimed to
stop most of the “rushing forward flags” tactics and instead start using formations that are beneficial
for the squad, fireteams and so on.

So what will be needed in the first steps?

The thing I will focus on first is infantry, the grunts. Infantry are one of the most important units on
the battlefield. I will focus entirely on Insurgency game mode at first and after that I will let it
naturally evolve into an AAS tactic.

The squad will consist of 10 members all in TS with each other. Squad one, Bravo will be the support
team that gives suppressive fire (six members). Squad two, Alpha will be the advance team that
moves toward the objective while Bravo is providing over watch (four members).

Alpha:
Rifleman
Field Engineer
Fireteam Leader (Officer kit)
Combat Medic

Bravo:
Squad Leader (Officer kit)
Combat Medic
Automatic Rifleman
Rifleman AT
Rifleman
Grenadier

These teams will be in different squads, but everyone will be in a Teamspeak channel together (Strict
comms). These teams work with each other, together they are a squad.



How do we do it? 2.0

I plan to pull "all-nighter" with PR and gather people that are interested in this kind of game play,
get them into one Teamspeak channel together. When the insurgency map (Or AAS) comes up we do some
early game rehearsing at the main base and then move out! (Early game rehearsing is vital to mission
succes)



Communication 3.0

Communication is a vital part of any effective fighting force, it needs to be short, informative and
everyone has to know what it means.

How do you make really long names shorter? Just give the soldier a number. So instead of using
names we use numbers to say who we are, who we need and who we need to do what. An example
is: “six, engage that target right side of the tree” or “nine, put a grenade at prio one target”

Then there are military terms such as: Roger, affirmative, wilco, copy and so on… An example is if
Squad Leader gives an order to Alpha, the Fireteam Alpha Leader should respond something like this:
“Alpha copy!” or “Alpha wilco”.

The main voice chat that will be used is Teamspeak. VoIP will be used for Fireteam coordination to
minimize chatter in Teamspeak. Typically VoIP would be used when the two teams are separated and
Teamspeak when they are together.



Formations 4.0

There are several formations that can be used, only 4-5 will make it into this project.

Column 4.1
Column formation is the most basic formation that will be used. It is basically “follow” the leader kind
of formation. Alpha at point with the rifleman as point man of the whole column, Bravo will follow Alpha
(Travelling formation)



Green = Alpha | Blue = Bravo
The numbers are used to make communication in the squad easier.
1: Point man Alpha | Rifleman
2: Field Engineer
3: Fireteam Leader
4: Combat Medic
5: Point man Bravo | Rifleman
6: Automatic Rifleman
7: Squad Leader
8: Combat Medic
9: Grenadier
10: Rifleman AT

Staggered Column 4.2
Staggered Column is our next basic formation. See it as a zigzag formation (Travelling).



As you can see number 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 just fan out to the right.

Line 4.3
Line formation is the next one. It is the opposite of column, works great when providing covering fire
toward the objective (Engage).



As you can see the Squad Leader is in the middle of the Line, this makes for easy comms:

“Line formation Left and Right of Squad Leader, Alpha right and Bravo left”.

Wedge 4.4
Last but not least we have the Wedge formation. This will be the most complicated one to achieve.
See the formation as an arrowhead, this formation is excellent when assaulting (Engage).

Note: I keep both the medics with the Squad Leader so that they are ready to react to either side of
the arrowhead.



Echelon 4.5
There is also the Echelon formation, but we will keep that as an extra. There’s “Echelon left”
, “Echelon right” and “Echelon left and right”. This is a quote from http://dslyecxi.com/armattp3.html:

“Echelon formations can be established when traveling in an area where the threat
direction is overwhelmingly likely to be either to the left or the right of the line of travel.
These are basically just half-wedge formations, and they focus firepower towards the
flank that has been echeloned.”

Note: that I keep the two medics together with the Squad Leader.
Echelon left





Perimeters 5.0

We’ve been talking about formation for a bit now so let’s switch subject to perimeters. Once you
reach an objective and secured it you should set up a defensive perimeter. Depending on what the
Squad Leader wants it should either be around the objective or toward a specific bearing on the compass.

Let’s say that the squad has secured a two story house. Squad Leader stays inside or on the roof
together with his Automatic Rifleman while Alpha covers south and Bravo covers north.





Assault 6.0

Now that we have covered formations, fireteams and securing let’s see how an assault “should” look like.



Here we see a scenario where the squad is travelling toward a compound. Once Point man Alpha has
spotted the compound the Squad Leader orders a line formation south of the compound entrance
looking north.



The squad now starts to spot enemy targets, if there are no targets they start to spot potential
buildings where they hide. After that Squad Leader assigns priority targets, for example “The red car
is prio(rity) one” (It is critical to take that target out if something happens)

Now when all the preparations are done Alpha moves in to secure the compound.



When the compound is secure you set up a perimeter and so on…

A thing to bear in mind is that a compound may provide Bravo with very limited view, in this case
Bravo could have moved up together with Alpha and done something like: Alpha take right and Bravo
will take left of the compound.





Flanking 7.0

Another thing to bring up is flanking A.K.A hitting the enemy’s weak spot.

In this scenario our squad has started to engage an enemy squad north of them. Both squads are
putting heavy fire on each other and the Squad Leader orders Alpha to flank west.



Team Alpha moves up either by the cover of the terrain or by the cover of smoke. Once they are in
position to engage the enemy’s flank they do so. Once the engagement is over the enemy should
either be dead or fleeing.





City Combat 8.0

The insurgent controlled cities in PR are very hostile environments to the to the western world
soldiers. When you are moving down a road you can get ambushed by alot of different killing devices
such as an IED, bomb car, technical, molotov cocktails, etc. The narrow spaces, the "super mufflers"
on the bomb cars etc. make for a very deadly environment. To counter this you need to be covering
all the danger zones and do it slowy and methodically.

When moving down a street you should be looking everywhere at the same time, since that is impossible
you have your squadmates to help you. A simple rule is: Cover the area that your buddies in front
of you are not covering. For example the point man covers the front, number 2 covers over his shoulder
and so on.

Crossing a street is a very improtant aspect, do it quickly and safely. When I say quick I mean as
quickly as it can be while not rushing. You should cross a street one at a time while everyone else
covers you. If you are the first one to have crossed the street you should immidiatley cover down the
street where your squadmembers are not covering etc. dslyecxi.com has been a very valuable site for
information for me and it explains how to cross a street brilliantly here:

In our squad we have two fireteams who could travel either on the same side of the street or on oppostie
sides. I think traveling on both sides gives the most coverage and does not put your whole squad
into danger unless an IED is placed in the middle of the street. The street crossing would also be
easier since you are covering a larger area.

So how do you counter an IED threat? There can be an IED waiting to blow you up in the rocks on the
street. It could be in the destroyed vehicle that you are hiding behind, it could even be below you
since it practically looks like a rock. There really isn't any other effective way of countering the
IED other than moving around where you suspect there is one. Don't choose to travel bottlenecks
through bottlenecks and so on. Or you could just wait and try to bore the ambusher out. Any of those
two alternatives are good.