[Elite] Downtown Spetznaz by LTS-1GT & Hoz

Review by Denz

Mission

This mission was reviewed on Veteran and Regular difficulty settings, a challenge even on regular difficulty. I initially reviewed this mission on veteran difficulty first as always - no chance. Not so far anyway!

You are tasked with leading an assault on a well defended supply base and destroying the supplies loaded on trucks for dispersion to the forward units plus eliminating the base's machine gun defenses. You can see how well it's defended by the wreckage the Armoured Cav's assault left behind (my assumption to help get into the role).

We tried every conceivable angle of approach into La Trinite, trying to find an easy way in to no avail (kudos to LTS-1GT-the mission designer). We then split the squad into an assault group and a covering gun group armed with the MG and scoped weapons (1 x M21, 3 x G36) and gave each fire team a liberal sprinkling of AT weapons (this could have worked because of our different playing styles. My mate is a sniper at heart while I alternate between caution and all out guns blazing).

We found the best thing was to have one of the AI with the AT4 on a "hold fire" until the T80 made its appearance so as not to waste it on a BMP. Using the above method we began to make some head way.

After several attempts and switching down to regular difficulty, we found the best way was to head directly north from the insertion till you get to grid reference: Ga36 then turn directly west. This leads you to a dense little line of trees and bushes which makes a nice forming up point.

After crawling through the bushes, this is when the shooting begins. The enemy armour appears now and gets destroyed leaving us with the stresses and strains of combat in a built up area. Gaining entry to the town this way gives the gun group a slight rise (from the tree-line) to overlook the assault groups approach.

What follows is different every time. I, as the nominated assault group leader tended to bring my two grenadiers and my law trooper in to the north-west portion of the town - still under the protection of the gun group and position them around the square with the fountain. Then taking one of the grenadiers with me it was pure tension, stalking through the streets taking out advancing spetznaz and trying to locate all the enemy machine guns.

It can be quite daunting heading up a ladder exposing yourself to flanking fire. The only good thing is the OPFOR MG at the top is always looking the other way so you can plant a satchel charge right next to him and he won't notice (well, not so far they haven't). Luckily there are plenty of spetznaz for you to kill which was my main source for all the satchel charges needed and you will need a fair few.

Clearing the town can take a while, all the time steadily moving up you support so you always have a safe route if things get hectic and they can real quick! There seems to always be another sniper just waiting for you and it's so frustrating to die now after so much turmoil. The controller bounced off the floor a few times I can tell you.

Once the town is clear of enemy infantry its time to blow those supply trucks and get out of there. Job done!

Special

None.

Overall

I really enjoyed this mission. I thought it had just the right balance of tension and tactics. It took many, many attempts for us to finish it. The first time we completed it took us just over 2 hours. Now I have to complete it on veteran difficulty!