[AAR] Nordic Storm PUBLIC - Pavlovsk Bay, 19/11/2013

[Heskey]

Hi all,

What follows is an AAR of a public game in which I squad led ahead of the Forgotten Honor Project Reality Campaign #2 - Nordic Storm, in which I am 2iC 1st Lieutenant of AEgir's 56 Airborne squad.

I hope you like this AAR, and give some consideration towards joining us.

After Action Report - Pavlovsk Bay, 19/11/2013

It's been about a month since I last loaded up Project Reality, and I thought it best to get a round in this morning and brush off my leadership skills. I joined =HOG= Mixed Maps, a US server being the most populated server at this time of the morning here in the UK, and jumped on TeamSpeak where I met Inkagnito by chance, who was also playing the same server.

I joined in as Insurgents at the end of a round of Fallujah West; Pavlovsk Bay was the !nextmap, and we were going to be BLUFOR:

North Route Layout (West Beach Fort + Old Barracks)

At 1:30, I set up Squad 3 - 56 Airborne and quickly clarify to the team that we are Infantry, not CAS. About 4 people joined the squad, including Inkagnito - nice and easy for kit allocation; Medic, AR, Breacher, Light AT. During the remaining countdown, I made contact with our team's transport squad and asked them to secure us an airlift to West Beach Fort which they agree to do.

As we spawned in, we we're ushered towards the Osprey and a little anxious of any pilot's ability to be successful with that beast, we set off and after a quick circle of the flag whilst putting the engines into reverse, the pilot landed us safely by the beach fort along the coast and dropped two crates at my request.

The squad pushed up against the walls of the coastal fort and grappled over, where a FOB was quickly placed and diligently built to allow our squad a reinforcement point should we come into contact with anyone at the first flag - the Russians had already captured Old Barracks, and so both teams were now after the same flag.

Losing West Beach Fort would have resulted in a ticket bleed for the US, and pushed us off the mainland making a counter-assault almost impossible. Without delay, the squad moved into the perimeter of the capture zone and took up 360o over-watch positions, with little sign of resistance.

I took up position in a bunker overlooking the southern woodland approach, and took a bullet that floored me, but our medic was close by and rushed to pick me back up again. I called out on the radio to Squad 7, our APC squad that was close by to swing back around through the southern woodland where enemy fire was coming from.

Then the mortars came.

Russian mortars barraged the fort as we captured the flag, volley after volley, destroying what little cover the stone bunkers had to offer. I ordered a withdrawal into the mountain bunker on the west side of the base, but quickly found that this shallow cave only needed a single grenade to bring death to the entire squad.

To higher ground! The cave we were in was under a large hill overlooking the flag zone and the surrounding area, with a prominent tall watch tower in the centre. I told the squad we needed to get out of the cave and take higher ground, to allow a better overview of the area, and a better firing position from which to defend the flag. As we climbed the hillside, we made contact with the enemy.

56 Airborne makes its way onto a hill, and clears out any Russian resistance

Numerous engagements took place on this hill as the rest of the team tried to assault the AA Battery to the south, often neutralising the flag and then losing their men. When the flag went neutral, the other infantry squads requested that we pushed up to assist. I declined, reasoning that if the flag is lost whilst we're manoeuvring, we might quickly lose the AA Battery, followed by the now-undefended West Beach Fort quickly afterwards. 56 Airborne would not move out until a 3rd flag in the AAS order was neutral, giving us time to move on to protect the AA Battery should the team's assault fail.

After some time, our team managed to capture the AA Battery, and neutralise North Bunker, in the centre of the harbour. Our squad instantly ceased our defensive role and pushed south to reinforce the Battery. Making the best use of our two medics, and trying to keep the team's tickets intact by not giving up when wounded unless unavoidable, we were now really low on ammo. I had no patches, no grenades, and only 2 clips of ammo left for my primary weapon. As we emerged from the forest overlooking the AA Battery, we saw that the base had been neutralised. No time to turn back now; 56 Airborne was on the attack.

We surrounded the base, called out targets as they cowered in trenches and peeked around shipping containers. Bang - one head shot, and one dead Russian. "They're in the bunker in the middle!" someone shouted as they were shot. The rest of the squad charged up to the walls of the bunker, and 4-5 grenades were thrown inside at various angles in quick succession. Once the explosions finished, the squad cleared the bunker and found 5 dead Russians... and 5 patches that were now sorely needed.

The AA Battery was now being reclaimed by the US, but the nearest reinforcement point was the West Beach Fort FOB we built at the start of the round. I called in a supply drop from our now solely Japanese transport squad, who dropped them in the middle of the base. Making the best of a bad job, I ordered the construction of a FOB on the western wall of the base; the furthest point away from the Russians offering the most cover to an otherwise overt FOB. I asked over all-comms channel for a squad to build a better FOB at the entrance to the north-west harbour wall - receiving no direct response, I later realised that this task was completed by one of the other Infantry squads lead by an Australian - my thanks to him.

56 Airborne secures the AA Battery and constructions its second FOB

The rest of the battlefield was now looking promising. Both North Bunker and Old Barracks were simultaneously in play, with with North Bunker in US hands, and Old Barracks in Russian hands, the Russians couldn't lay a finger on the AA Battery now.

Not losing momentum, the squad began to push West along the North road in the direction of Old Barracks. Along the way, we stopped to place a rally point, and I spotted two US supply crates sat in the middle of the open road. After a quick peruse of the map, I decided an overt FOB would be well-placed here, allowing a TOW to look down the open road - Russian armour had been a problem in this area so far, with little AT capabilities, and a defunct US CAS squad. Once constructed, we took two minutes out from bloodshed to have a squad photo taken.

56 Airborne takes a break to enjoy a brief Kodak moment?

VonSnoe joined TeamSpeak, and joined the squad in-game soon after. Then it was back to battle. As we ascended the ridge to our west, the squad was decimated by a Russian IFV that then took out the emplacements we'd just built. Both medics went down, and the squad was calling out for a spawn point. No, I said - two squad members still remain in the area; they can bide their time, pick up the medic kits, and then pick up the squad, saving us tickets, and time traversing the battlefield. During this down-time, I directed the squad who I had been congratulating and encouraging throughout the battle for their good efforts, to observed our squad score compared to the rest of the team.

56 Airborne soars above the rest

Once the squad was combat efficient again, we pushed down the ridge line, passing a US sniper along the way, and walked down the eastern side of the ridge where once again we came under fire from north of Old Barracks.

56 Airborne passes a US Sniper - "Watching, waiting."

These hostiles were taken out, and under covering fire I made my way inside the walls of the Old Barracks which seemed deserted. Unfortunately, the remainder of the squad was taken out and with a heavy enemy presence in the immediate area to the fire-fight outside the capture zone, it was not possible to revive them, and due to saboteurs, the nearest spawn point was a FOB at South Bunker.

56 Airborne suffers a catastrophic set-back, in the first engagement to spread the squad across the map.

Then the claxon sounded. How? We'd been doing so well and we had 40 tickets just moments ago? The other squads had lost North Bunker - -30 tickets for losing a flag completely to the enemy. I spent the last 10 tickets encouraging my squad to sign up to this campaign and join the regiment, which many of them said they would do (we'll see). In the final tickets, Inkaginto pulled the trigger and put a bullet in my brain, and the round was brought to a close.

56 Airborne's K/D ratio and team score, moments before the round ended



Dutch rears his head, and is quickly put in his place.



The Russians claim victory, but only by a whisker - perhaps if North Bunker hadn't been lost, the scores would be US 25 - 0 Russians



The final scoreboard



Was there ever any doubt?

Excellent game, but I don't think I'll be doing any more AARs (certainly not for public games) seeing as this has taken me about an hour to compose! In which case, I hope someone reads it and enjoys it!

[Midnight_o9]

Just so you know, I read it. I wish I could join the campaign, or play at all...
But anyway, good job, too bad you lost but at least you got a good game.

[Pronck]

Feels like reading a history book, I like it. By the way which Teamspeak are you on Heskey?