Another fun time on the server today, this time with Grip and Delaney. Delaney and I tried to get a game going, but his connection kept fumbling. This was probably just as well, because
I was fumbling with figuring out how being an admin works.
Fortunately Grip arrived just in time to save the day. First mission was "Frog Fishing," with Grip as team leader (and admin). A group of NATO Black Ops try to steal an Su-25 Frogfoot off of a small island with an airfield. After hitting the beaches we shredded through the Russian infantry in a camp to the east of the airfield and grabbed rockets. An alarm sounded and an enemy Mi-17 was deployed. Now we had to cross a large open field to get to the hangar and the Frogfoot. This didn't work out so well. Shortly after I destroyed a Shilka facing away from us, an enemy squad started shooting at us from about 250 meters behind and to our right. There were a few soldiers in a copse of trees in front of us, as well. At such range, it was hard to hit the enemy with our silenced M16s, and they could put out a much greater volume of fire. Grip and I were killed in quick succession. Delaney survived for a few more minutes, but the spectator system confused me and I didn't see how he died.
We decided it would be fun to try the mission again. Once again, we massacred the infantry at the camp and grabbed rockets. Rather than moving through the open, we took advantage of the dip in the ground next to the coast. This time, no Russian squad showed up behind us. This was a relief, but after emerging back onto the field, we found that the copse of trees between us and our objective was occupied with many enemies, including machine gunners. Once again, we proned or knelt and exchanged fire with them at extreme range.
Delaney was killed. Grip and I retreated back onto the coast. We moved further west, taking us closer to the copse without being in its line of sight. As we moved up onto the flatland, a Russian squad came into view about 75 meters front of us. At this range, our silenced weapons and quick mouse clicking were more effective. We slaughtered the Russians and I fired on the Shilka with my RPG. I missed both shots, and I was deathly afraid that it would turn around and wipe us out. But it didn't, and Grip nailed it with his launcher. We called in air support, moved up to the hangar and observed an empty Shilka on its west side. Grip boarded as driver and I manned the guns. We approached the Frogfoot. I
carefully wiped out the adjacent infantry--can't let Shilka bullets hit the plane! Grip told me to shoot down the "hind," and I guess he was using the term loosely to refer to the patrolling Mi17. But I was confused, and by the time I figured out what he was talking about, the gunship was hurling rockets at us! Luckily, between my fire and that of a supporting AH1, the Mi17 was shot down without hitting us.
Grip drove the Shilka up to the plane and hopped out to commandeer it. He noticed that the Mi17 that I shot down was now obstructing the runway! I drove over to the wreck--it took a while because of my incompetent Shilka-driving skills. Finally I sent that Mi17 wreck skidding away from the runway with Shilka cannons. I drove back to an empty Hind. Grip and I took off at the same time and flew circuitously back to base to avoid additional AA. We made it back to friendly airspace...and then...mission failed!!?? Apparently Grip had a "rough landing" at our base.
Pfffft, HQ is so picky about the condition of captured enemy hardware. We had had enough of that mission. Next up was Clean Sweep, WGL-style. I went for an M249 SAW, and Delaney carried a LAW. Grip led again. We advanced up to the plateau on which Montignac is located and killed the Russian guards. Waves of infantry spilled piecemeal toward us, in front and off to the right. We wiped them all out. After all the infantry dumb enough to march into our kill zone were dead, we advance to the closest building. I thought it would be a good idea to cover the left flank of that building. As I moved into the bushes on the left, I caught a split second glimpse of prone Russian infantry that I could probably have spat onto (can you do that in WGL?). They shot me after that split second. D'oh! From inside the building, Grip and Delaney killed off more infantry.
A moving BMP was audible but not visible. Grip looked around. Russians hiding somewhere shot at him but couldn't score a hit. The two regrouped and moved northwest, in between two buildings. The BMP sounded closer, but no enemies were visible. Delaney got his LAW out. Finally it popped onto the street and drove right past our heroes! It didn't open fire, and Delaney was looking in the wrong direction. Some infantry did finally open fire, though. Delaney and Grip were both killed by a rifle grenade.Â
Next we loaded a mission with a novel for a briefing book (I know, look who's talking). We were crashed Spetznaz in some kind of fundamentalist Christian dystopia, and were supposed to find Russian spy contacts. Grip wasn't able to load the mission and had to disconnect. I took over as leader--or should have, but the game didn't agree, apparently thinking that Grip was still leading. We couldn't find the "spies" anyway. We got fed up and and loaded Hostage Rescue instead.
With Grip still unavailable, it was just Delaney and I to rescue the hostages and Entre Deux. He led this time, and I carried LAW. We snuck up on the town from the west (I believe, I wasn't paying attention to map). We got very close and Delaney identified targets. He targeted me at an officer standing at the crossroads, and I fired the first shots. We wiped out a bunch of infantry at close range. I had to kill a few who snuck up on
us from behind. Then a BMP showed up from behind them. With the LAW launcher, I should have been the one to kill it, but there were so many infantry around and its barrel was pointed right at me. So I cowered behind a tree, and then the BMP instead nailed Delaney with its main gun. I was killed about 30 seconds later by infantry. I consoled myself, figuring that we had been just two soldiers against a buttload of mechanized infantry.
And that was it. Grip came back but Delaney and I were both tired. Still had lots of fun, and looking forward to playing tomorrow. If this trend continues, I'm going to have to have multiple volumes for the next installment. Hope you all enjoyed this. ;D