Tuesday, April 7, 2015

The Shadows of Synneforos - ArmA 3 - AAR

We moved through low terrain, trying to stay away from open areas like the one shown to my left in this picture.



One more look at the tactical map. The listening post/camp is at the flag. We are shown as blue icons. Note the location of the safe house at Syrta.



I sometimes left my squad to scout the terrain ahead. In this case, I went a bit higher but there was no enemy contact.

Contact! Fortunately the enemy was far away. I decided not to engage: if we do, the urban patrol script will bring all the enemy force towards our last known position. With a lot of caution, we bounded through that open in front of us.

Using the binoculars to scout the terrain ahead and trying to find the spotted enemy.
The spotted enemy posed no immediate risk to our exfiltration but if forced us out of our planned route. In this picture, the bane of all covert movement: a road. I was just making sure it was clear to be crossed.

And then it happened: an enemy squad appeared on our right flank. They were unaware of our presence as we were prone. I let them move from left to right to ensure that all of them are targeted. At my order to fire, hell broke loose for them.

It was nothing short of perfect. A whole enemy squad eliminated at point blank within seconds. Can you spot us in the background?

Our cover blown, we quickly moved out of the area. We didn't know if any enemy squad was already aware of our position, so we made use of the mortar support we had a couple of kilometers away.

The enemy appeared to be searching for us.

Some of our indirect fire calls appeared to be taking a toll on the enemy ranks.

Urgency is a bad tactical advisor. We needed out and the options were few and bad. I am here looking for a cut in the mountain  to my left at which I would get my squad through.

The enemy was closing and I called mortar rounds almost on top of us.

One of my men fell. Note the enemy rounds lifting dirt to our right.

And eventually my number comes up ...

One last ambush, one last sweat and the last few drops of blood I spill over these hills. With a tiny grab of dirt from these ranges in my hands I roll over for a last look of the sky. I always thought I would never go down without a good fight but the day is turning so bright and beautiful that I find it hard to hate.

Dimitriadis comes to my side. Divested from his cap I can barely recognize him and I realize that we have fought the good fight for too long.  The shadows of Mount Synneforos throw a shroud on us as we run short on headgear and breadth,

It's 0551, early morning. And the day has ended.

3 comments:

NW said...

You got hit with a 9mm handgun, they must have been pretty close.

Anonymous said...

I love the way you put yourself into the moment like that. That's how I try to play. And as NW pointed out, you were shot by handgun wielding squad leader!

GH65 said...

Great post. Agree with Anonymous, love the way you put yourself into the sim. You make it personal. Keep it up.