Operation Hammerfall (Mission 1 pt 1)

Those who served:

Caverick
Berklesnort
Plancake
Ivan
Powderman
Malcrntyne
---

The calm, glassy ocean glittered as it reflected the lighthouse on the eastern tip of Stratis. Our inflatable boats cut through the night toward the enemy held island. Out there in the pre-dawn darkness were three AA emplacements that would make mincemeat of our invading force.

BLUEFOR needed the best.
Unfortunately they were in Somalia, so they sent us instead.

Coasting in to the beach, we climbed a hill and RVed with some local partisans. They offered us some supplies and a tip-off about some intel, but were too timid to aid us in our assault.

Stealthily, we moved up to the lighthouse. A complex sprawled before us, ringed by patrols and towers. Several men were playing cards around a table near a campfire, and beside them loomed a hulking Tigris, our first objective. Closer to the lighthouse, a contingent of enemy camped beside a house. Inside, according to the partisans, was valuable intel.

SPLAT took up positions. Plancake, Berklesnort and Powderman moved to overlook the intel base. Malchrntyne and Ivan drew beads on the enemy snipers at the main complex, and I readied my MRPL rocket launcher. Everyone sounded off when ready and awaited my rocket, the signal to fire.

I aimed for the top of the AA's turret, and let fly. There was a chatter of fire, and soldiers dropped like dominoes while the ordinance was still in the air. The MRPL punched through the enemy armour, and our first objective erupted.

Malchrntyne and Ivan picked off the enemy fighters and sentries. Plancake's group moved into the camp firing, Powderman breaking toward the main complex as Plancake doorkicked the house and found a laptop. A quick download, and we had the locations of all 3 AA and enemy strongholds on the island.

Switching to my Mk18, I ran down the hill to join Powderman. Our assault of the complex was ragged and undisciplined, but effective. In moments we had cleared the compound and found three striker vehicles. Berklesnort, our repair specialist, soon had them combat ready.

Saddling up, SPLAT's convoy headed up the mountains to the west. A radio tower winked in the distance, and we saw an opportunity to disrupt enemy communications.

Leaving our vehicles hidden in a gulley, we approached the hill. A two-man patrol along the road was easily KIAed, then we moved to the tower.

A group of soldiers ringed a campfire, and they hadn't heard us take down the patrol. We assumed firing positions, designated targets, and there was a short firefight as we took them out.

To the north we could see the second AA Tigris near two buildings and a campfire. Beyond it, in the distance, was the lights of Camp Rogain. We cleared the area, and Plancake laid a satchel at the radio tower base. He thumbed the switch, and enemy soldiers all over Stratis lost Facebook.

To the west, an Ifrit armoured car sat parked next to a four man roadblock. If we were stealthy enough and had good enough aim, there was a chance we could take them out before they could reach the vehicle.

We were, and we had.

So far, things had all gone SPLAT's way. That changed in short order when an enemy armoured patrol approached from the south. SPLAT scattered into cover. I found a position where the embankment was steep and they wouldn't see me until it was too late, and readied my launcher.

An MRAP with a HMG idled into view.

I punched a rocket through it at close range.

My elation was short lived. A T-100 tank had been right behind it, and its turret swing toward me. I ran for the lip of the hill and safety, but heavy machine gun slugs cut me down.

While I lay screaming, SPLAT fought back. Ivan took out the tank's track with an AT shot, and its crew bailed out into a hail of fire from my comrades. Malchrntyne brought me around, and Berklesnort set to work on the tank with his toolbox. Soon we had a combat-capable T-100 at our command.

We consolidated our arsenal, preparing for the attack on the second objective. Suddenly, in the distance, we heard the ominous rotors of a helicopter gunship.

Continued in part 2...

Operation Hammerfall (mission 1 part 2)

Those who served:
Caverick
Plancake
Berklesnort
Powderman
Malchrntyne


Continuing from Part 1

The chopper prowled the skies above us. We stayed out of our vehicles, not wanting to risk the wrath of its rockets. Plancake had a launcher with just one AA shot, our only answer to it. The chopper came over the top of us, and he saw his moment.

The rocket detonated ten metres behind the helo, right over my head. Hit by the shockwave and shrapnel, the chopper started to fall. Its pilot autorotated and steered for the flat area to the west of the radio towers, and we ran toward it.

The pilot brought the helo down roughly in a gulley. He was hit by fire on exit. His crewman ran into the scrub, and winged one of us before I got him. The chopper, damaged and without fuel, was ours.

Having taken out their air cover, it was time to assault the second AA position. Malchrntyne and Berklesnort took overwatch, Plancake ordered (AI) Ivan into position with his AT, and Powderman and I used a gulley to approach the objective unseen. Moving from rock to rock, we reached the back of the smaller building undetected. Plancake counted us down, and SPLAT attacked.

Powderman and I sprang around the corner. Before we could fire on the men around the campfire they collapsed and the AA tank exploded. Plancake, Berklesnort and Malchrntyne had done their work well.

Powderman and I turned our attention to the buildings, checking the smaller one then doorkicking the larger from two directions. The house held three prone soldiers who fought back hard, hitting Powderman as he took a couple of them out. I mopped up and brought him around.

As we exited the building, an enemy patrol came down the road to investigate. I heard their bullets tug the air around my ears as I threw myself back through the door. Our boys on the hill, however, were still on the ball and took them down.

We readjusted our gear (Powderman grabbed a scope and I liberated an RPG launcher), and we turned our attention to Camp Rogain. It was a formidable emplacement, bristling with soldiers, AT and armour. Malchyrntyne, our marksman, thinned out a couple of their troops at long range but this drew attention. BIG attention. A tank roared out of the base, coming our way.

It was moving fast, but stopped at a large rock coming down the hill and I saw my chance. I launched an RPG across the valley, trying to allow for the drop. I got lucky, hitting the rock and washing fire over the tank. As it spun to move around the rock my second shot scored a direct hit.

Morale and adrenalin surging, SPLAT charged Rogain with Powderman leading. I reached the entrance of the camp and was firing on one of the four soldiers atop a building when he shot me. By the time one of my squadmates had brought me around, we were mopping up. Rogain was ours!

Driving a truck back to the radio towers, we assembled the strikers and other vehicles we'd commandeered for our attack on "the golf ball", the helo base to the south.

We moved in convoy, stopping just short of their grenade launchers' range. Previous attacks from the northeast and west had proved unsuccessful, so we crept through the forest to a small rise to the base's southeast, and attacked from there.

Eliminating their tower lookouts and snipers, we went to work on the main force. They fought back hard, however, and topped off the counterattack with armour. Two APCs drove us back, inflicting heavy casualties. Fortunately, while they hammered my teammates I had time to lift my RPG launcher again, and got them both.

SPLAT regained the initiative and pressed the attack, running into the compound and using the buildings as cover. I took out two shooters, burst into the HQ, secured the bottom floor and then found a sniper on the roof.

Some static guns gave us a small amount of trouble, and then the compound was ours.

Plancake and I then drove a refuelling truck back to the downed chopper. Once it was gassed up, we assessed our chances of getting it off the ground. It was at an awkward angle and among the trees, making a takeoff a guaranteed disaster.

Plancake, Powderman and Berklesnort, however, wouldn't give up. While Berklesnort repaired the helo, the others used trucks to bulldoze the trees and nudge it into a flatter position.

Nervously, I climbed into the pilot's seat and warmed up the engine. My teammates cleared to a safe distance as I hit the throttle, and with a scraping of leaves I was airborne!
[There was actually a bug whereby if the host dies inside a vehicle or static emplacement, they could not be revived or respawn, so I took some risk flying it]

I flew the helo back to the golf ball for rearming. Soon we had an arsenal of two attack choppers, a T-100 tank and some armoured vehicles, all prepped for our final assault.

Operation Amber Phantom

Those who served:

Caverick
Plancake
Berklesnort
Malchrntyne
Ivan

Mission file: via Steam Workshop

--------------

Our insertion helo buzzed across the icy waters and through cold, gray dawn toward northern Altis. Somewhere ahead, in the morning mist, enemy troops were being briefed by a high value target (HVT). After two previous failed attempts, S.P.L.A.T had determined that the dawn would be their last.

We were inserted near a small forward outpost, from which we geared up.

Setting out in two 4WDs with .50 cals, we didn't have far to go before we were spotted by an enemy patrol. I jumped out to engage but Malchrntyne peppered their car and took them out:

The roads were heavily patrolled. Another car charged us soon after, spitting fire. Ivan hit back:

We stopped on a hilltop with a good field of fire, and were able to take out a third patrol. Moving southwest, we got eyes on the enemy's AA emplacement. It was heavily fortified:

I picked off a few sentries and we closed in for a fierce battle. It culminated in Plancake taking out the AA with a close-range AT shot, and we mopped up.

Having opened the way for our flyboys to back us up, we turned our attention to a town suspected of harboring our HVT. We dubbed the town "Gelato".

As Berklesnort and Malchrntyne began to snipe at the troops in the town, Ivan roared into the AA emplacement in an Ifrit he'd liberated.

I jumped into the gunner's seat, and we jostled down the hill to give OPFOR what for.

Between the snipers and the armour roaming the streets, we soon routed the enemy and cleared the town. A solid victory, but when we'd doorkicked the buildings there was no sign of our HVT.

I commandeered a nice civilian car and proceeded to the second town. However I sped ahead of our convoy, rounded a turn and ran smack into two gun emplacements. I was hammered out of my car and onto the road, and lay there as my comrades flanked and eliminated the threat.

We proceeded to the next town. I took out a sentry, but when the fighting got fierce in the center of town SPLAT withdrew to a safe distance as I called in an airstrike. The fast mover streaked in from the north...

...and proceeded to sprinkle his payload over the empty hills to the south of the town.

Oh well, look like we had to do things the old fashioned way.
We moved into town firing, calling out targets and doorkicking in pairs. Things went well until Plancake and I entered a main street and were cut down by a fierce squad with an MG. Berklesnort and Malcrntyne thinned them out but were cut down too, and at last there was only Ivan. The mission hung in the balance, but he was able to take out the MG and revive us.
Some more doorkicking, and I found what looked like our HVT skulking in a back room. Unfortunately he turned out to merely be an officer. He met the same fate anyway:

We were now certain he was in Syrta, sorta. We attempted the direct route there but ran into an ambush. Fighting them off, we resolved to go back through Gelato. I found a very nice car, and Berklesnort put on some Dexys Midnight Runners as we drove there in air conditioned comfort.

Ivan sped past us and ran into two patrols. I was forced to tarnish my beautiful car by ramming into an OPFOR soldier that threatened him, and we dismounted to join Plancake.

Ivan and Malchrntyne captured another Ifrit, moved to enter Syrta and were blown up by three emplacements lining the road. Plancake spun his car off the road and we took shelter from the bulletstorm behind a house. There were a buttload of enemy up there, and our boys were bleeding out.

Time to call the flyboys in again, and see if they could redeem themselves after the previous letdown.
The big boy swooped in with some laser-guided bombs....

...and was promptly blasted out of the sky. Man, those OPFOR were good.

Once again, it fell to the ground pounders. Plancake, Berklesnort and I edged along walls, threw frags and fought back. Time was running out, so I gambled on a charge. I went past the first emplacement, hit the second and reached the prone figures of Ivan and Malchrntyne. I spotted a soldier behind some sandbags, and we hit each other.

Time ticked away for Ivan and Malchrntyne. Plancake ran to me, shot my assailant, and revived both of them with 7 seconds to spare.


Regrouping, SPLAT entered Syrta. An intense house-to-house battle began, eventually forming a front along the town's main east-west road. We stuck together, calling out directions and angles and coming to each others aid. We were pinned down, we flanked, we chased down stragglers, and inflicted heavy losses, but the HVT eluded us.


We divided into teams and kicked in doors, marking the off on the map as we went. It looked like the rat had slipped through our net.

I stopped and thought. Where had the fiercest fighting been? On a hunch I went back to the east-west road, went through a body-strewn building and atop some stairs I found an unopened door. I burst in, shot his personal guard, and there he was.

Extreme prejudice took over.

We now had to haul butt to the extraction point. We found a chopper, but it turned out to have bingo fuel. Driving cross country, we reached the EP.

Clambering onto our helo, we lifted from Altis to fight another day. A day our HVT would not see, as promised.

2012: Operation Phantom Destruction Shahkhar

Mission File

Those who served:

Richard
Caverick
Dan
Christian


FIRST PART: 22/2/2012

We found ourselves driving through the dark for a sneaky night insertion in two HMMVs whose drivers had thoughtfully turned the lights on! We took the wheel, killed the lights and RVed near an oil refinery with some private military contractors (PMCs) who were supposed to help us but did jack diddly squat.

The insurgents found us pretty quickly. Dan took to the roof of a house and directed fire, Richard had a very handy sniper rifle with a night vision scope. Once we took out a small force and the crew of a pickup with a 50 cal, we commandeered it and zoomed over the desert to recon the objectives. Three of them were in a large military base guarded by at least 3 T-72 tanks! That made us go for the other objectives first :)

We blundered into a patrolling armoured car. We'd already taken out its gunner, so Rich hammered its wheels with the 50 cal and it ground to a halt. The driver jumped out and started running around with his AK. The 50 cal was very unwieldy and Rich was having a hard time hitting him, so I chased him in the pickup. He sprinted along a high fence running the length of the oil compound, but I got ahead of him, spun around and slammed him against the wall. To everyone's total shock that section of the wall toppled over- and on the other side was the warlord's son and 10 of his personal guard! Rich got the drop on them with the 50 cal, Christian arrived to support and in moments we'd wiped them out:

We then entered the compound and a very tense cat-and-mouse clearing operation began. No less than four times I shot a mooj that was drawing a bead on a squadmate:

We were all hit at various times. At one point Rich and Dan had been shot, Christian and I were wounded and couldn't walk. I had to roll all the way across the compound to revive Dan, then got caught in another firefight where I couldn't see them and got two guys by aiming at muzzle flash.

When that was all over none of us could walk, and none of us were a medic! Fortunately we could still drive and operate the vehicles, so we took out one of their pickups:

Then cleared a nearby village that had an ammo cache and loaded up. You can see Rich reviving Dan on the roof:

Around that point someone dropped out and came back in as a medic, so we could stand up again! We satcheled the last of the objectives at the refinery:

And took the fight to the military base. It was a long drawn out battle, but when I located the crate with the launchers the tide turned. I got two of the tanks and Dan got a third:

We then hit the base. To give you an idea of the confusion of battle:

Christian had to drop out around this point. I crept around so I could see in the gate, saw the Warlord standing amid his retinue and dropped him with a shot. I cleaned up most of his guard before they forced me to relocate. Dan had to leave around then. Richard had been hit so I went to help, but after taking out another 5 or so guys they hit me too.

Because we felt we were so close after so long (it was now after midnight) we cheated a little- Rich quit and reconnected, then revived me. We fought hard and it looked like we'd cleared the base, so I went in and RPGed their command center (one of the objectives), but that triggered another wave of troops and they got me (I saved the game).


SECOND PART: 6/3/2012

I was shot in the save game, so I lay there for ANOTHER 20 or 30 minutes staring at the sky. Everyone else was shot by a vehicle we missed (Rich took it out and revived everyone), then mopped up the remaining resistance and revived me.
We then tried to blow up the objectives with rockets (with limited success) before Rich located the other SUV which had satchel charges. We then ran for a Chinook and WON THE MISSION!

Flashpoint Flashback: 2007 and 2008.

I thought I'd start to write up the History of SPLAT, which got me thinking about some of the good times we had. I dug around and found some notes of the old Operation Flashpoint days. Enjoy!



--------------------
4/10/2007

Dang, that was a cool time.

The bad: We got our butts kicked around our ears, and failed to accomplish a single mission. We still don't know a lot of the basics- I jumped into a tank in that counterattack mission, and couldn't make
the turret even turn!

The good: We fared MUCH better than before. Our skills are obviously improving. I saw us take out more than 20 soldiers, a couple of APCs and a few vehicles.

The best moment I had was when Richard and I were back to back in the hostage rescue. Once we attacked the truck, the reds had sent a wave of soldiers down the hill at us. I had to hold them off while Richard faced the other way and took on the BMP.

I now have a good idea how to beat the hostage rescue. Given that nobody read my last plan, or it was too complex for them, I've made it simple: every soldier has a position and an arc to cover. I'll
explain it in another post.


18/10/2007

What a strange night. Ventrilo turned out to be a dud. A few of us couldn't hear each other, and it even stopped my Roger Wilco working after a restart! It wasted three quarters of an hour, during which some of us gave up in frustration.

Eventually we started the "Oil Wars" map. Because it was a convoy attack, I confused it with the desert one. In the desert one, you're pretty much dead unless you adopt a particular strategy. I tried to
scrape up some idea of working as a group and then we appeared in a grassy gully, rendering any ideas I had irrelevant.

More surprises were to come. Roles that you could select included commander, grenadier, two LAWs, a medic, a machine gunner and one I didn't recognise- "hunter". Given that we were hunting tanks I thought I'd give it a try- maybe they had satchel charges or something. I appeared with our squad holding some kind of gun with an obscure, european sounding name. The second weapon mode was "ball". What the...?

Keeping to the cover of the gulley, S.P.L.A.T moved up on the convoy (which had stopped for a smoko). Just as it all hit the fan, It dawned on me that what I was holding was a shotgun. I was a hunter! You know, a HUNTER hunter, the ones that usually face nothing more deadly than a mallard duck. I felt like I was in a firefight armed with a damp kleenex. Still, I declared it was Commie Season, and managed to fill two commie soldiers full of buckshot. Then a T72 tank came at me, shrugging off a couple of LAW shots from McQ. I decided to stop feudin' and run for the hills. I didn't make the first hill, but apparently my brains and several shards of skull did. The Sarge
got a crime scene photo (can you upload the pic, Gav?).

I then switched to the grenadier for the next game, and had a bit better luck. Highlights included making a run for the convoy, bursting through the bushes to the vehicles and finding The Sarge
already there! What a lead-from-the-front kind of guy. I managed to shoot a Commie off his back, and saw Glenrock take down more than 8 troopers (my bro's always been a pretty good shot) before I got hit. That danged tank was a problem, and reinforcements kept coming over the hill in a BMP.

I quit out of the game to help Bruce come back in. He picked the grenadier, so I ended up picking the medic instead. Who would have thought this selection would turn the tide of battle?

The medic starts with a sniper rifle!

S.P.L.A.T moved into position in the gulley. Straun was on my left, and as he readied his LAW to hit the tank, I asked him to hold fire. Through the scope, I spotted three guys standing in front of the tank
wearing brown helmets. It was the tank crew, meaning there was currently nobody in the tank. And if I could STOP anyone getting in the tank...

I dropped the first two before they could move. I hit the third one in the leg as he climbed in, but didn't stop him- the tank revved up and came at us. Plan A had failed, so McQ sent a Plan B his way. One LAW shot doesn't normally stop a T72, but it did this time. We tried to get to the tank, but the reinforcements coming down the hill overwhelmed us. One of their soldiers jumped in the tank, and it was all over.

The next game had a real movie moment for me. I bellied a bit closer this time and dropped all three tank crew. As we all engaged the main force of soldiers, I relied on everyone else taking the heat. This enabled me to keep focus, and I shot another two that ran to the tank and tried to climb in. Once S.P.L.A.T eliminated the main force, McQ made a brave run for the tank. A hidden russian shot him down just before he reached it. McQ was quickly avenged (by Nagrom or The Sarge, I think). Were there any more russians hiding? If any of us ran into the open, would we be gunned down too?

We had to try, the reinforcements were due any second. I jumped out of the bushes and ran for the tank. I'd almost reached McQ's body when a silhouette appeared against the sky at the top of a ridge. It was the BMP! I was caught in the open like a roach on lino.

Suddenly the BMP exploded in a fireball, taking a good chunk (actally several chunks) of the reinforcements with them. Straun had saved the day with an awesome LAW shot at long range!

I jumped in the tank. By this time Nagrom had liberated a truck for democracy and driven it down to The Sarge. I went to pick up a gunner. Things looked great- we'd eliminated the convoy and their
reinforcements. S.P.L.A.T was saddling up to take the fight to Ivan!

Then Nagrom and The Sarge were taken out. I tried to use the gun myself while driving, and put a couple of random shots over the mountains. It was very hard to use. A couple of enemy LAW shots
landed close to my wildly zig-zagging tank and damaged the gun a little. Glenrock climbed in and took the gun, but he didn't have any more luck with it than I did. I then took out another three soldiers
using the undocumented third armament- the wheels.

Time to advance to the next objective. I consulted the map and saw that the refinery was to the south. Our tank had trouble on the hills, however, so I decided to circle the mountain to the east. This
caused me to slide down a steep slope and into the path of THREE russian tanks! I poured on the ramming speed but they got us before we reached them.

At this point Real Life loudly intervened and I had to go. Still, I had a great time, it was pure co-operative stuff. We started to work together a bit more, and many people had some great hero moments.

Gavin's comment: My vote for shot of the week goes to Straun for his steadiness under fire to take  out the BMP at long range, fantastic.  For me the bit that stands out is when Cav and I were sneaking through the truck and Cav saw a Commie and I didn't and let fly.  I RL I just about hit the roof in surprise and I'm sure there was a couple naughty words.


25/10/2007

Another mixed night. I had Ventrilo issues, which I ended up sorting out via the tips I posted.
Then we had server issues.
Then I had family issues. I know which are harder to solve :)
Then I came back in and everyone was playing the tank mission (anyone care to post what happened?). We started getting ready for a mission, and my laptop went into hibernation! Seems that the cord had become unplugged earlier, and I'd been running on battery power for a while.
Then when I got back in, everyone lost the server (Ken had a blackout at his place!)

It really seemed like the night wasn't meant to happen.

But after that, things picked up and picked up big. We played Oil War. The first time we ran at the bad guys and shot stuff, and were all killed.

For those who weren't there last night, get this:

We tried again, putting a little more effort into working together. S.P.L.A.T wiped out the convoy AND its reinforcements without taking a SINGLE casualty!

The winning strategy for this bit seemed to be:
-Stay behind the TREES, not the bushes.
-Medic (sniper) shoots the tank crew and anyone who climbs on.
-1st LAW is plan B for the tank, then takes out BMP.
-Grenadier targets first truck
-MG targets second truck.
-2nd LAW targets first truck with rifle.

We did that, and held position until they were all dead.

The Sarge then jumped in the tank. Straun (who had taken out the BMP long range again!) ran along with his LAW, and they looked for the tanks we saw earlier. Glenrock and I then ran over the hill and
looked for the fuel dump. McQ suffered from the worst lag mankind has ever seen and drove off toward the forest looking for wildflowers.

The Sarge and Straun found the camp first. The commies shot Straun, then The Sarge took the camp single-handed in the tank.

Glenrock and I went too far to the west. I saw a truck trundle along a road and into the distance (not realising I was seeing the mission fail), then Glenrock and I joined up with The Sarge.

...where we were set upon by EIGHT TANKS! Yep, count 'em. EIGHT.

Glenrock and The Sarge were wiped out in moments. I survived only by bolting into the forest. Straun (seagulled) tried to direct me to his body and its LAW, but we couldn't find it. I eventually ran out and took on eight tanks with a machine gun. Splat indeed.

Then after that I remembered the mission briefing: if the russians flee, they will arrive with reinforcements. If Glenrock and I had moved down to the road before the others got close to the camp, we could have taken out the truck and denied them the reinforcements. I also think that ammo crates at the fuel dump have LAWs.

After that we tried Gav's tweaked hostage rescue. We won the mission, but only did it the same way a small stream wears down a mountain. Highlights were seeing Ken and Christian barrel into the commie camp in jeep and gun firing all over the place. Lowlight was being the
first successful test of my brother throwing a grenade :)

Plancake, meanwhile, quit when there was a blackout at Ken's place (he thought everyone else could get onto the server but he couldn't). He tried the other convoy ambush in the desert, and took
out the entire convoy on his own (commanding AI)! Next time I'd like to try it with him directing.

By the way, I took two screenshots (one of the convoy wiped out, one of Ken & Christian in the jeep) but wasn't able to upload them last night. I'll put 'em up when I can.


26/10/2007 (Richard)

So Alison is out tonight and Jess is tucked away safely in bed so I think to myself, 'What a beautiful night for a stealth raid!'

I'm currently playing my way through the Campaign missions as a bit of fun (the cheesey cut scenes are too much for me so I just escape through them to get to the mission!). Anyway, tonight I get up to
one called Sabateur.

The mission is to sneak into a Ruskie tank base armed with a couple of satchel charges and blow up one or more tanks parked in the yard. Oh, by the way, you need to sneak past a few dozen guards to get there.

So, I begin the mission. Its dark and stormy, just like tonight for real! Perfect! I advanced across the fields towards my first objective, a town with an ammo dump that needs to be taken out
(whilst remaining undetected!). So I belly forward to the edge of the town. There are three guards patrolling south of the town, so I avoid them. There are 3 Urals (trucks) parked on the edge of town
right near the ammo dump with another three guards posted here. No avoiding conflict here! Still prone, I inch forward and line the first guard up in my sights, only to have him turn and start his
patrol round the town, right in my direction! Two silenced shots later and he's eating dirt. A quick switch to his companions show that my cover's still intact and, with some quick trigger work, they
join their comrade.

A quick scan of the area convinces me I'm clear, for now, but there are plenty of patrols, including a tank and UAZ doing the rounds! I need to move fast. I dash across the road, past the Urals and drop a
satchel charge in the ammo dump almost without stopping. The woods just south of the village will provide good cover and a good vantage point to watch the town go boom! But as I race up the hill I can hear the distinctive sound of a T-80 tank track on bitumen. Head down and legs pumping I make it to the tree line and turn around just in time to see the T-80 pass right next to the ammo dump, what
luck! A quick press on the trigger device and the ammo dump does a nice impersonation of a fireworks display... but the T-80 just keeps on driving! Bugger, now I'm for it!

Turning quickly I dash deeper in the woods, concerned that Ivan'll be hot on my heels. Luckily I was far enough away that no-one knew where I was, but the ants nest was certainly stirred up plenty. Time for objective 2, the tank platoon.

After a couple of minutes of hard running through dense forest I finally reach the edge of the forest conveniently located at the side of the tank platoon. I can see a squad of five or six Reds running out the front of the compound and down the road towards the town... their mistake! In the compound itself I can see five (yes 5!) tanks lined up and a helicoptor on a landing pad. There are a
few guards around, but not many. Now I'd heard rumours that for this mission you could either sneak in, set the charges, sneak out and blow a couple of tanks... or you could sneak in, board a tank and
use it to wreak havoc on the rest of the tanks! Option 2 sounded like much more fun!

So, I'm in a crouch-run into the side of the compound, headed for the nearest tank, when all of a sudden the platoon siren goes off, the whole compound erupts in Ruskies and I'm down to my last 2 shots in my trusty Heckler-Koch! I'm almost at the selected tank when round the corner steps Ivan. There goes my last two bullets, the last two HK rounds I fired in this mission, right into Ivan's chest.
I reached the T-80, and frantically fumble with the Action Menu to try and find "Board T-80 as gunner" before I feel the cold hard steel of AK-47 puncture my hide. Done. I'm in a tank as a gunner.
Now the strangest thing... the tank starts to move! I think 'Bugger, one of the Ruskies must be in here as a driver trying to get me away before I can do to much damage'. I try 'V' to switch views and find
the second weapon view from gunner much more useful! I can actually see and target things.. but the tank is still moving! I fire two rounds into the nearest tank before my T-80 starts to climb the
nearest hill and the angle prevents me from aiming at any of the other tanks. Finally I realise that the movement is caused by me! I can drive at the same time as gunning! Albeit a little strangely...

When in a tank as a gunner, left and right swing the body of the tank, and forward and back accelerate and decelerate (or reverse). Anyway, once I got the hang of that, I turned that puppy around and headed back to the base. Suffice it to say that 5 minutes later there were burnt out carcasses of 4 other tanks and 1 helicopter that had not managed to lift off in time littered across the
compound. Switching between Sabot and Machine Gun (using spacebar) also allowed me to mow down any peskie Ruskies that got in my way.

Then I thought, what about that other T-80 down by the town? Time to go and find out. So, with a little messing about I managed to direct the tank back to the Town to see the tank disappearing out the other side. On the way through the 3 Urals made nice target practice and I finished off the Ammo dump that had not been completely destroyed by my original diversionary attack. Finally I caught up with the other T-80 and plugged two shells into it's ugly hide. Now, time to ditch this tank and complete the mission by meeting my Resistance contact.

This time I switched to driver for the journey back, much easier to manouver and got back to the compound. As I drove into the compound; intending to park this tank, drop some charges under it and blow it sky high; I noticed a nice big fuel tank on the left of the compound, perfect! I drove the tank right up next to the tank, got out and dropped two satchel charges between the T-80 and the fuel
tank. Then I looked up and saw the hill rising behind the base and thought, 'That'd make a beautiful photo!'. The result is what is now loaded in the Pictures section under My Own Private Idaho. Enjoy!

Cheers
Richard

P.S. I met the Resistance contact and completed the mission.



1/11/2007

Quite a night. For those who couldn't make it:


************ WE WON OIL WAR!!!! **********

Here's the night from my POV.

My parents came over and stayed for dinner, so I couldn't get in thegame until a quarter past nine (my Dad was pretty impressed with my virtual face).

When I got in, we ambushed the oil war convoy successfully but had to destroy the tank. I got in the UAZ with Glenrock and drove us down to the road, so we could ambush Ivan and hopefully stop him calling in the tanks. We took up positions, but suddenly my laptop went into hibernate and kicked me out! The power cord had fallen out and I hadn't noticed. Argh!

The next game went totally pear-shaped, we didn't even take out the convoy. I was one of the first to die, and used the time to get a couple of pictures (I'll upload them in the next couple of days). One
is of Straun shooting prone, one is a close-up of my cooling corpse, and the third is a recon shot of the oil dump. I was amazed by how many people and vehicles are there- you can see two UAZs, some special forces guys (Spez Natz) and what I first thought were BMPs.
They're actually armoured cars that aren't in the original game but were added in a later patch (like the Steyr AUG, Kozlice hunting rifle and laser targeter). They're called BRDMs:

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/download/brdm/brdm.html

Anyway, the next game we were more focused. Nagrom (sniping) picked off the whole tank crew, and kept the crosshairs on the tank (shooting all would-be drivers) while we took on the main force.
Glenrock took point, then took several points to the upper body and head. Straun did his signature move with the reinforcement BMP, and we mopped up.

Things looked pretty good, but then took a turn for the worse- we had a blue-on-blue situation. Plancake commandeered the tank and Straun ran over to take the gun, but the tank slipped on the hill and crushed Straun!

I was over at the UAZ when that happened. McQ had just climbed in the UAZ. I suggested to McQ that he get Straun's LAW, but Ventrilo chose that moment to give us a minute of silence in memory of Straun. McQ drove off without me, I never found out what happened to him.

I guess I should have gone back for a truck, but I ran after McQ for a couple of hundred meters and then decided to proceed on foot. I went over the hill and found the same road as before, and got into
position with my LAW. It was now down to just Plancake and I.

When I checked the map, I saw that the commies could take TWO roads out of the oil dump, so I hiked down to the crossroads. By this time I could hear all hell breaking loose at the camp as Plancake attacked. Nagrom was giving us some intel (while bellowing and operating a jackhammer, from the sound of it), and reported that two commies had jumped into vehicles. A BRDM sped down the dirt road at me, and the sucker was FAST. I had to fire my LAW from the hip while standing, but hit it and took it out.

The other guy was smart. Instead of coming down the road he went cross-country, bypassing me to get down the hill and onto the blacktop road. This meant I could only see the top half of him, and
he was racing perpendicular to me- the worst possible shot. I hoisted the anti-tank onto my shoulder, led him and fired. I saw a big puff of smoke, but he kept going downhill. I struggled to load my
last round, hoping to get another shot off as he sped up the sealed road.
When he got to the road, however, he slid to a stop. He'd been rolling on momentum alone, I'd killed him after all. I went and checked him out to be sure. The driver was all crushed against the twisted windshield, it was quite a mess.

I then proceeded up the hill. I could hear gunfire and explosions from the oil dump on the other side. Nagrom said a Russian was heading my way, so I knelt with my AK and waited.

He didn't appear, but I noticed a lump on top of the hill that didn't seem quite right. I looked a little harder and saw two prone guys pointing weapons down toward the dump and Plancake. I put some lead into them, went up to them and shot a third hiding between them, then noticed their mp5s and satchel charges- they were Spez Natz. I ran down to the oil dump as the game declared that we'd taken and held the objective. Another win for S.P.L.A.T!

After that we played some free-for-all deathmatch in a town, reminding me why I don't particularly like deathmatch. I spent much of the time trying to get back down a ladder, standing in an attic
with my empty hands marching up and down. When I finally got out I either waited in cover for ages seeing nobody, or ran across roads being shot by everyone else who was waiting in cover and seeing me. I quickly became bored and spent my time driving tractors and arcing grenades randomly over the town.

8/11/2007

It was an interesting night. The squad was understrength- only four of us could make active duty.
McQ, Nagrom, Straun and myself armed up and took to the desert to ambush Ivan's convoy. We had several goes at it: McQ commanding and laying mines, Nagrom sniping and laying satchels, and Straun and I with RPGs. We could usually take out the convoy ok, but then you had two choices: make a stand among the rocks (and ammo dump with extra satchels and RPGs) against a tank, two BMPs, a HIND gunship and a horde of soldiers, or run across the road to the hidden truck and
make a run for the second objective. Of these two the first seemed to be more feasible, but we couldn't quite do it. I think if we had more players we'd stand a good chance, so let's flag it for next time.

After that we thought since we only had 4 players, why not do some of the missions you can only do with a smaller number? So we played the 4 player "Shadow Killer" Spec Ops mission. The four of us blackened our faces, donned our balaclavas and went in all sneaky.

We had two obectives. The first was to infiltrate a commie-held village and blow the ammo dump. The second was to hit a convoy and take out the fuel truck. We approached the town a couple of times in pre-dawn darkness, picked off some patrols and hid from the tank that patrolled with headlights sweeping the area. And then got slaughtered. I managed to shoot an anti-tank soldier and grab his weapon, but then got shot.

The time after that Bruce made it to the ammo dump and blew it up in a very pretty display, but we didn't get any further.

After that we went tactical. McQ found a spot with a good field of fire and provided overwatch, taking out patrols and giving intel. I laid a charge on the road and hid in cover, and Straun and Nagrom went for the first objective. Nagrom got close but was taken out. Straun waited among the houses, then ran across the road directly behind the tank, into the ammo dump, and blew himself up with the objective! His sacrifice was not in vain.

We then waited for the convoy. Nagrom gave seagull recon, but I couldn't be sure exactly where I had laid the charge. I went out to lay more but then the convoy appeared, roaring through the village at speed. I went back to cover and held my finger on the button. I only had one shot.

And then, just as in real life, things went awry. The fuel truck veered off the road!

I didn't know what to do. I saw a vehicle then swerve onto the road, but couldn't see what it was in the dark. McQ had said it looked like an armoured truck, but I could only see headlights. Should I push the button? And where exactly was the charge, anyway?

I hit the button. It blew up behind the vehicle, who revealed itself to be the truck as it swept past me- and kept going! I gave it a squirt with the mp5 out of panic as it slid to a stop. The driver spilled out onto the road, dead. "Objective Completed" winked onto my screen.

I didn't stop to think about it- time to run like hell. We had to find a car and exfiltrate to another town.
I ran across the road and was cut down. Didn't even see who did it.

I seagulled my way around the fuel truck. It seemed a long way from the satchel charge crater, so I think I must have missed it and then got the driver with a lucky shot. The luminous dials in the truck
looked pretty cool, too.

It was now down to McQ. As he ran across the open plain, the sun rose! the whole area lightened, and his cover was gone. McQ poured on the asthmatic running.
The car was hidden well in bushes. McQ couldn't find it, but fortunately he had two seagulls coordinating (turn around, go left etc). He jumped in the car, sped up the road and even turned the
headlights on as he floored it to the town.

Mission Won! The third win for SPLAT!

Good times. I tried to get a screenshot of the "mission accomplished" screen but mistimed and got that book zooming up, so I didn't bother posting it. Greg, you said you got a shot or two. Can you post them?


17/11/2007

so I got on the net Saturday night to do some work, and found that Straun was keen for combat. McQ chimed in, so what can I say? Democracy needed me.

I hosted and we tried some more of the Tour of Warfare co-op mission pack. Terrorists had taken 3 American civilians hostage. Greg, Christian and I found ourselves with blackened faces cutting through the night in a chinook chopper (great cutscene). The green light winked on, and we jumped out for a parachute insertion!

After forming up, we did some recon on the terrorist position- an old aircraft hangar near the sea. We each chose targets, counted down, and they all dropped in unison, it was beautiful.
McQ took point with me right behind him. I took down a terrorist as he was lining up McQ, then swung my mp5 into the open hangar door.
Behind a cessna I saw three terrorists- I dropped two, and the third shot me with his last breath. Straun was killed too, somewhere around then.
I kept a seagull's eye on McQ, warning him of two terrorists approaching him from behind. I then flew into the hangar to recon, but missed seeing a guy hiding in the hangar's office. Fortunately
McQ was still equal to the task, taking him out. McQ freed the hostages, planted some charges in the warehouse, and I took a screenshot as he blew it sky high. The truck outside went as high as the roof, and we won.

We next tried convoy ambush. We came close a few times. Straun is getting a rep with that LAW- he even took out the Hind gunship! Greg got a before photo, I got an after. One time we took out the convoy, and Straun and I reached the truck. I took the wheel, Straun unfolded his map, and we sped toward the objective. Unfortunately a tank shell sped even faster :)

We ended up playing a new mission called "Return to Eden". It has three teams storming a hill, then holding off a tank counterattack, then locating and destroying a Chilka AA gun, then calling in
choppers, then securing an airport. We came close a couple of times. It's a danged fun mission. Highlights included me shooting a commie off Straun (bullets hit the ground all around him as I shot the commie through bushes, going just on muzzle flash) and watching the Cobra choppers flaming to the ground screaming mayday (we hadn't taken out the Chilka yet).

The conclusion we reached was that we need more of the team. I think if we had a couple more people we could split into teams a little easier. I think if I run and grab the truck in convoy ambush and drive it back to the rocks, we'd have a much better chance, and Greg has a plan for the Eden mission I'd like to try.

23/11/2007

Kind of a frustrating night in a lot of ways. We fought valiantly in the convoy ambush but never made it to the second objective. Highlights include:

-McQ taking out the convoy several times single handed- he's got the mine/satchel thing down pat.

-Glenrock tipping off the approaching convoy by launching a LAW into the desert while trying to crouch :)

-Nagrom and I speeding away in the truck, getting hit with a shell from the BMP- and both surviving! We spilled out into the sand wounded. I was then machine-gunned by the BMP as I made bullets ptang off its armour, but it then left and didn't see Nagrom. Unfortunately he couldn't walk, and I last saw him crawling off through miles of desert (what happened then, Bruce?)

We then played Return to Eden, and it was a slaughter- for us! Most of us didn't make it off the beach. The last time I ran to the right and made a run for the Shilka. I managed to destroy it, was then shot and just after that Ness used the phone and killed my connection.

Was anyone able to call in the choppers? Did we win?


31/1/2008

Last night Straun, Glenrock and I took up arms.

First we tried ShadowKiller. We didn't really work together, and all got picked off eventually.

The second time we worked together. I snuck around to the fuel dump, Glenrock placed a charge on the road while Straun provided overwatch and kept patrols at bay. I blew the dump, then the convoy approached. Glenrock's charge damaged the fuel truck, but it kept going... straight into my backup charges, which launched it treetop-height.

Two objectives down. We then only had to survive, which proved too much for Glenrock and I (I picked off a few troops but was overwhelmed when my mag ran out, Glenrock was found by a BMPs
spotlight and then some lead).

Straun then bravely ran away (brave, brave Sir Robin), found the car and floored it to Arudy. Mission won!


We then tried ET but ran into all sorts of problems involving automatic downloads, then punkbuster, then some kind of port 80 thing which remains unresolved.

When all this threatened to kill the night we went back into OpFlash and tried the night mission with the house on the hill (TOW episode 6). In spite of there only being the three of us (Straun with sniper
rifle, Glenrock with M60 and myself with LAW), we took out a patrol of about 8 guys, then successfully took the house, then destroyed two BMPs, then picked off a few more patrolmen before we were all taken out. Not a bad night's effort- if we had a couple more guys I think we could do it.

Blur Traces

Mission: 

Blur Traces

Those who served:

Caverick

Malchyrntyne (Christian)

Berklesnort (Greg)

Ivan

And featuring the triumphant return of Jiang (Josh)!

--

We lay in the grass on a hillside. The forest across the valley flickered with the flames of our downed helo, and smoke spiralled into the starry night. Our pilots could have been dead in the wreckage, or have fled like us, we didn't know.  An enemy helicopter prowled over the forest, searchlight sweeping the trees. Its loudspeaker blared that escape was futile, and that we should surrender.

We took stock. We each had our silenced rifles, but no NVGs or heavy weaponry. On the other side of a hill a campfire beckoned, and we made our way toward it.

Several OPFOR soldiers manned a small outpost between two buildings. They seemed to be well supplied- if we could take the outpost it could give us the goods to escape.  We bellied closer, counting off numbers and assigning targets. We were preparing to fire when their sentry spotted Greg. They both fired, and both went down.

I crawled to Greg and soon had him back on his feet, and we scrambled to take cover behind one of the buildings. I pressed the assault too soon, trying to use the other building to shield my approach, but was hit and respawned.

We switched tactics, flanking to the south. A couple of us laid down a base of fire from longer range while others (myself included) bellied in and threw grenades into the camp. Soon it was clear, and ours.

Once I had a sniper rifle with a nightstalker scope in my hands, I figured it was time to see what had happened to our pilots. The enemy helo had left, so we crept across the valley and into the forest. Our chopper had settled into a gulley, a few flames still flickering amid the wreckage. My scope showed the heat signatures of two OPFOR soldiers alongside it.

Christian arrived next to me in a rustle of leaves. He took the right soldier, I took the left, and they died in unison. I moved in to see the blue glow of a laptop. What information did it hold?

Suddenly shots rang out- it was a trap! I fell next to the laptop as tracers criscrossed through the trees. We eliminated the enemy force, I was patched up, and I could get a look at our prize. Some quick hacking and their recent files started to download.

It was grim news. Our pilots had been captured and were being held somewhere in the region of Thronos, the castle atop the highest peak on all of Altis.

We hiked out of the forest and across the fields until we were within sight of the castle. Two enemy snipers watched for us.

Once we'd found good firing positions Ivan, Christian and I lined them up and fired. I hit one but the other ducked out of sight. We waited for a counterattack to pour down from the castle, but it never came.

Christian and I moved up the road toward the castle, watching for movement and heat. Suddenly we were showered with explosives and shrapnel. An enemy armoured car had approached from the east along the road behind us, and caught us napping! Greg attempted to get to us but was also cut down. Ivan and Josh were forced to wait for it to pass before bringing us around.

Humbled, we approached the mountain. Thronos loomed in front of us.

I crept inside, Christian at my back. I dispatched one OPFOR trooper, and Christian engaged in a shootout with another as the armour came back and blanketed the rest of SPLAT with HE. Once it was gone I revived them, then we all cleared the castle. Just as Ivan dispatched the last of the castle defenders with a well-placed grenade the armoured car appeared and blew us all to hell!

Dusting ourselves off at the spawn point, we dejectedly walked to the supply dump and started gearing up again. That car was INSANE. I didn't know how it could-...

The sound of an engine interrupted my musing. No way. No @#$ WAY...

I spluttered a warning to my comrades, too late. Grenades showered onto the supply dump as our evil nemesis found us. I survived the initial barrage by diving behind a house, and was readying a rocket when it got me too.

Humiliated, we trudged back to the supply dump. The Hellcar had gone. I swore I heard cackling floating across the valley.

Having cleared the castle of Thronos, we deduced that our pilots must have been held somewhere in the town of Dreokastro. We hiked cross-country toward it, staying away from the roads.

The torches of patrols probed the rocks around the hilltop town. SPLAT hit them from long range while I successfully used the rocks to creep up and get into one of the buildings. I attempted to use this to cover the approach of my comrades, when I was suddenly machinegunned by... that accursed car.

We all inflicted heavy casualties at this point, but I lay in a doorway through it all, bleeding. My sense of helplessness was eased by the deep thump of an explosion as Ivan put a rocket into our armoured nemesis. The Hellcar was no more!

Once I was revived we pressed the attack house to house. I shot two guards at the chapel, burst inside and found our missing men!

We secured the surrounding area (with difficulty), then I selected a clear EP and called in our extraction chopper.

We all jumped into the helo, but one of the hostages paid no attention and started wandering over the hills looking for wildflowers, obviously in PTSD. What had those bastards in OPFOR done to the man during his captivity?

I got out of the chopper and with some coaxing got him to climb in, but then its pilot refused to take off. What on earth was going on?

I radioed for another chopper, and it soon arrived. however once Ivan climbed in the pilot took off and tried to kill him, hitting a tree and a building before coming down on a fence.

We tried again, but were met once more with refusal from the pilot. 

The terrible truth dawned on us. The enemy had intercepted our transmissions, and had sent their own chopper!

Ivan wreaked a terrible revenge for them trying to kill him, shooting the pilot at point blank range. I threw him out on the dusty road, climbed into the cockpit and we lifted off Altis. Angry bullets came our way as the valley dropped beneath us and we flew to freedom.