After Action Report CO40_Payback
by Dmitri, 10 September 2007

This is an after action report of Midhaven's Payback mission that took place on South Africa's SGS Armed Assault game server.
It's a take the island back coop. It doesn't feature random enemy spawns, just a straight forward mission with objectives and a set number of AI.
Game lasted roughly 8 hours, squad was never less than 5 (though dropped to 3 in the last 30 minutes). The watches show realtime, not game time.
Focus on not dying, rather than score.
Enjoy!

Page is image intensive! Approx. 4mb
Shot's taken from my perspective, gaps due to respawns.
My graphics are set very low.
Veteran mode enabled.
             

Enemy mechanized infantry is heading for Eponia. We lift off from RACS base, planning to cut them off in the southern Eponia farmland. Funkdoobiest flies us in low and fast.
We disembark near a wooden structure directly in the path of the advancing armour. The approaching rumble of the BMPs is clearly audible over the slowing MH-6 rotors.
Fizix prepares his LAW tube.
The first BMP breaches the ridge, in a very non-hull down position.
All BMPs destroyed, we hold our position, scanning the ridge and road for advancing infantry.
After a minute or two of quiet, we move up the ridge towards a rocky outcrop.
Only a single rifleman survived the BMP blasts. No casualties or injuries, and only in need of ammunition, we head back to RACS base.
Next stop Carmen.
Funk flies us in to our southern LZ. Low to avoid a shilka positioned in the fields near Obregan.
No fire taken.
"All Disembark."
The farmland between our LZ and the ridge above Carmen appears clear.
One hundred meters from the LZ, we're are surprised a by a lone infantryman moving out of a clump of trees.
We hit the dirt and prepare to engage.
Surprise is on our side as we hit the patrol's flank.
After taking out 6 of the men..
..we move forward, slowly circumventing the wooded area while covering it carefully.
Carmen appears below us. Fizix, Potter, and Razak taking up sniper positions to the East. Sniper Funk moves higher to the West, and MG Dmitri takes up a position between the two sniper positions hoping to stop any infantry that move from the town.
We spot as many of the infantry patrolling as possible, and then hit them from range.
Opening up on the town. A single infantry unit gets between the openings in our line and approaches our position from the rear. "Behind us!", Funk spins and takes him down with a single M24 round at close range.
With Carmen clear, we avoid moving into the town for fear of stragglers and simply regroup and head back to RACS base.
Our next target is SLA Command. Due to Shilkas in Bagango, we fly to a LZ 500 meters from the command and hump our way to the ridges to the north of the fortified position.
Eventually placing ourselves a single ridge away. Priority targets are two manned D30 artillery pieces. Snipers Jax, Fizix and Rifleman Razak move into a position to the west. The position gives them an unobstructed view of the soft target gunners.
Funk positions himself to the east of the other 3 snipers, and MG support plants it's M249 biped between the snipers.
           
After a period of observation and assigning targets, we hit the position. The D30 gunners drop simultaneously. Fifty cal gunners are next, followed by any infantry.
No fire is taken from the position.
We hold, waiting for enemy patrols to descend on our position - our luck holds as the enemy patrols remain oblivious to the 400 rounds fired at SLA command..
Observing and marking nearby T72 and infantry patrols, including two fixed positions near Bagango.
Our extended period of observation is interrupted by a patrolling T72 moving along our ridge. Bunched together, we remain prone, allowing the turned out armour to rumble by.
Once the vehicle is far enough away to show us it's vulnerable rear armour, we hit. MG and snipers firing first in the hope of taking out the turned out crew..
..a few seconds later Funk hits the armour with a LAW and the vehicle erupts skyward.
To avoid any infantry moving towards out position, we decide to move directly to our next target: SLA Watchtower.
A brief hike..
..and we're positioned to the rear of the towers. Rifleman Razak furthest down, covering the surrounding fields while..
..Snipers Jax and Funk move higher, taking positions in the surrounding hills.
We spot as many targets as possible, and then give the order to fire. The snipers in the tower going down quickly. A patrol of men appear from around the base of the tower hill. Scattering into the fields, MG and sniper fire drop 'em quick.
Under sniper cover, Dmitri and Razak move towards the tower. No hostiles remain alive. We loot the corpses, taking SVDs and a single Strella launcher..

..which comes in handy as we make our way back to SLA command. Bye bye Kamov.

 

Col. Flanders joins the squad, meeting us in the field with an M113 loaded with weapons and ammo.

We ditch the armoured coffin and return the short distance to our previous ridge position overlooking SLA command.

Another extended period of observation
(notice the time difference on the watches - 30 minutes).

Damned insects and the Midday sun don't mix.
We're briefly joined by another player, BOC_Phatso who arrives from RACS Base with a 4x4 filled with mmo.

Three play hours in, our first casualty. A T72 patrolling near SLA command goes on the alert. Headtrauma manages to knock out a track. The bailing crew are done away with, and unfortunately so is HT in the chaos.

We pull back from our ridge position, preparing for any patrols alerted by the T72's demise.
It isn't long before infantry appear on our former ridge position. Holding in a line formation, Fizix, Razak and Dmitri hit the troops as they crest the hill. Funk snipes from a hill position to our left.
               
Eventually the clear order is given. We move to a Ural knocked out during Headtraumas dance with the T72.

Desperate for the rail gun..ahem..the SVD, we start "throwing" bodies out the back of the truck. The only way we know how. Getting in systematically till all enemy corpses are out.

..Naturally, we were one member shy of removing the snipers corpse.
We move to SLA command.
Headtrauma climbs the command's comms tower and observes the fixed positions near Bagango.
Funk hijacks a D30.
Our commandeered D30 opens up on the Bagango fixed positions, hurling 122mm shells at the .50 cals and a D30 at the second fixed position.
Moving towards the obliterated first position.
Engine bug - the .50 gunners are dead. A double storey house overlooks Bagango. Ideal sniper position.
Jax takes up position inside the house.
Once the rest of the team are covering gaps in the surrounding wall, the snipers open fire on targets in Bagango.
It isn't long before enemy troops advance on the house.
Enemy infantry stream towards the house..
..but we've got the area firmly locked down.
After yet more corpse looting, we move from the house down into Bagango.
Bounding overwatch CQBrass Balls.
A hundred meters into the city, we finally get out our 7.62mm greeting. Headtrauma, Flanders and Funk flank our position, knocking out a T72 along the way. Fizix, Jax and Razak occupy a deserted bar, firing at troops spotted between the buildings. Dmitri charges up the middle, and as thankful that Fizix, Jax and Razak are sensible enough to provide cover :p.
We continue our close quarters advance through Bagango, this time in the direction of a live T72.
The vehicle is found, moving about inside a courtyard. While waiting for it to move into view, Funk and Headtrauma cover up and down the road.
Out of nowhere a straggler infantry unit takes HT out - chaos..
..calmed by a bullet to the infantry man's brain. The T72 and it's crew are done away with. We briefly gather around our fallen comrade, before setting off towards SLA Base.
Clearing a substation via handgrenade on the outskirts of Bagango. A straggler unit was encountered here during a previous game.

Following the power lines from the substation, we reach the wall of SLA Base. The base contains 2 T72, UAZs, a Kamov and three MI17s. These targets are all stationary. The M17s are quickly knocked out. We'll need to get inside to engage the rest..
Moving into the base through a gap in the wall. Dmitri crawls in first and becomes our third casualty, taken out by a UAZ mounted DHSK. Fizix is killed a short while later engaging units within the compound.
The T72s are eventually done away with and the base is secured. Infantry start to stream from the fields around Obregan. We're all kept busy fending them off..
..while Jax is kept busy healing the wounded.
               
..the many wounded.
Razak sniping from a rooftop position.
Returning from RACS base spawn point in a M113, Fizix channels Rambo. Moving along the outside of the walled compound taking down as many infantry as can fit beneath his tracks.
It isn't long though before an RPG round tunnels it's way into the APC.
Surviving the explosion, Fizix lies, very-unRambolike - wounded, near the wreck.
Everyone inside the compound races to the gap in the wall closest to the burning APC. Medic Jax meets up with Fizix while the rest of us cover.
Funk mans a DHSK UAZ, covering the gap in the fence as Fizix moves safely into base, all healed.
The rush of enemy infantry into the compound ends in a hail of bullets.
Heading out of SLA Base towards Mercalillo.
Safe at first..
..then near a hamlet along the road to Mercalillo..
..we spot the turret of a stationary BMP.
Decision made to flank to the rear of the BMP, rather than face it head-on in the open fields.
The BMP is taken out, somehow Funk is separated from our group and is positioned close to the burning BMP (white circle, image on lower left). We hit enemy infantry moving to his position, covering as he makes his way to us.

March to Mercalillo completed, we take a position near rocks overlooking the town. Only a T72 and a few infantry occupy it.
The rest having being killed by Blufor players not playing in our squad. A shilka stationed on the beach, and another shilka in the Obregan fields are knocked out by Funk and Flanders.
The farmlands between Mercalillo and Obregan are next. The end is in sight, with only Obregan and Carmen still occupied by enemy troops.
Dmitri and Jax take point, moving slowly through the fields.
"The misguided belief that compacted hay is a substitute for kevlar".
We reach a shilka taken out previously and observe troop movements in the fields.
   
Moving towards Obregan. Dmitri is killed while running around in an open field. Troops are moving all about us, and due to our indecision over engaging them and fatigue (it's past 2am, some of us had been playing since 5pm the previous day) , we start taking casualties fast. Fixiz and Flanders are killed while clearing around a barn.
Using the barn for cover, we take out any approaching infantry, with eventual, if bloody, success.
Dmitri and Funk become the victims of fatigue (ho ho :) and are killed by a very well concealed BMP inside of Obregan. Last remaining player alive, Jax, manages to destroy the armour (in doing so clears the town) while the remaining members of the squad respawn at base. We head off in an APC towards Carmen.
Quick work is made of the last three remaining enemy units. Two BMPs and a T72. Funk runs out of luck and is killed by one of the armour though. :(
Boom, the map is cleared. Seven hours of great, nearly deathless (up until the end) coop play.