Shadow Pack, together with Swamp Fox and others, pull out a great victory for our team, ending the day with a draw against 2:1 odds.

For the first game of the day, our team was to set up a Forward Operating Base (FOB) and keep it secure for 90 minutes.   Shadow Pack (designated Sierra Whiskey) and our third squad (designated Sierra Yankee) set up a highly defensible mountaintop position with the FOB tent (the main enemy objective) well concealed in a large rock formation.  With Sierra Yankee on one side and Sierra Whiskey on the other, with our sniper/spotter elements in a high observation post, we sent Swamp Fox (designated Sierra Xray) to the opposite side of the valley as a distraction force.

It was a heated battle for Sierra Xray, diverting most of the enemy to their location.  Eventually, Sierra Yankee was drawn into the combat as well, leaving only Sierra Whiskey to defend our FOB.  While maintaining maximum stealth, we heard the approach of an expeditionary force flanking our rear position.  We were able to redeploy our defenses without alerting the intruders and engaged them from multiple angles.  Unfortunately, another small force came at us from the opposite direction and two out two of our 6-man defensive squad.  Still by the end of 90 minutes, with all squads engaged in combat, EndEx was called and we successfully held our objectives due, in large part, to the distractionary efforts of Sierra Xray and Sierra Yankee.

Mission 2 was a large-scale Assault game.  Instead of capturing a line of flags, we had to capture pairs of flags, on opposite sides of the valley.  So, with Sierra Yankee on one side of the valley and us (Sierra Whiskey) on the other, we had to keep in close radio communication to coordinate the capture of the flags.  It sounds complicated on paper, but is a great large-scale adaptation for one of my favorite games.  There were four sets of flags to capture, or four assault lines to work through.  We sent Sierra Xray on a Deep Strike assignment awaiting the other teams to do their part.  The objective was to hold 3 or more assault lines by EndEx in 2 hours.

All teams were quick to race for the middle of the battlefield, each team holding two assault lines each.  We then engaged the enemy in the middle.  We were quickly spread thin across a battlefront and held a stalemate for the majority of the scenario, neither side able to advance further.  Finally, with only 15 minutes left in the scenario, Sierra Whiskey regrouped and pushed the enemy at the far end of their defensive line.  We successfully fought our way in and cleared the enemy lines while Sierra Xray held them in position.  Finally, the combined force of Sierra Whiskey and Sierra Xray pushed further to capture our third assault line.

When EndEx was called, we thought we had three of the four assault lines captured, earning us a victory.  However, there was some dispute about when the flags were captured and in what order they were won.  So, without having referees to monitor each flag, we conceded a draw for this mission.

In summary, all of our squads worked well together despite our limited communication.  We planned and executed well and pulled out a satisfying victory for the day.

Our only drawback was in inter-squad communications.  Each squad had one inter-squad radio to keep in touch.  If that person was killed, comms were lost until they respawned.  I can't stress enough the importance of radios for all players.  First, when coordinated tactics are needed (which, in the case of Shadow Pack, means ALWAYS) it is important for every player on your team to be in constant communication.  Second, when someone respawns, it allows them to report in for orders and to give their ETA on regroup.  This way, an entire team does not have to hold up for one or two respawning players to keep their unit cohesion.  All members of Shadow Pack are required to have functional radios every game day, whether Operation, Skirmish, Training or just a pick-up game.  Coordinated tactics are used at all times.

Still, it was a great day of tactical gameplay for Shadow Pack!