Thread: Al Kufrah Debriefing: Commanders this month, take note.

Date: April 20, 2008
Commanders: Atrovenator and Fossilbonespak
Location: Al Kufrah Oil Fields, Libya

I will start this off with two thank-yous. The first is to Fossilbonespak who was the commander of the MEC Forces, and the second of course is to my own team. You won the victory, straight up, with your ability to get organized and follow orders. Every squad leader was on the ball, even the ones I may have been a little harsh on. Every one of you helped pull off one of the best comebacks I've seen (from a 160 ticket, one base left situation) and owe yourselves at the very least a pat on the back.

I figured I'd tie this up in a neat little post because Al-Kufrah is scheduled for the monthly match, and both commanders for this auspicious occasion could do well to read over my own experience with commanding the map as they form their own strategies.

The terrain of Al Kufrah lends itself to sweeping advances and heavy vehicle warfare, but also is naturally a place where deceptive flanking maneuvers are made possible by the rolling dunes. The layout of the map and position of the sun are actually slightly in the MEC's favour from the outset. Even though the British forces control the northwest portion of the map and the 'high ground' there, the hilltops which overlook the southern approach are actually higher than the ones behind them, creating a silhouette effect for British Vehicles. This allows the MEC tanks to engage from a marginally longer range. Also, the MEC have the BTR on this map, which when unchallenged by hostile armour can be a -very- deadly dealbreaker. It outguns the scimitar or the warrior easily three times over.

The following is a play by play analysis of a complete british victory on Al Kufrah. I'm not posting this only to brag, but also for the benefit of the player community. I learned some things about force organization and command that I hope will be
reflected in this document. And making the maps was awesomefun anyhow.

[img width=700 height=700]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/thebard/Al_kufrahPhase1.jpg[/img]

Red lines are Armour, Blue lines are infantry.
My experience on Al Kufrah began when I started a tank squad which got two challengers and rolled eastwards out of the main, moving with the other challenger squad (lead by Bigdaddymac, as I recall.) Pulling up on the ridge northeast of the village (1) my squad began to scan for hostile contacts. Suddenly a flurry of shells came out of the desert from well beyond our visual range, we lost both armour pieces in seconds, and the other armour squad quickly met the same fate. Now we all know the sinking feeling of losing all your armour at the start on Al-Kufrah. It means a long wait for reinforcements. I apologized to my squad and went commander, deciding to bleed out the enemy and to give my team as much of a chance as possible. Also, it was a more inviting prospect than leading an infantry squad, which I enjoy, but had already done 4 rounds running.

The rest of our team continued the advance in APC/Softskin to cap village (2) and launch their assaults on (3) and (4) Oil Production and Oil Storage


[img width=700 height=700]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/thebard/Al_kufrahPhase2.jpg[/img]

This was from a commander perspective, the hardest part of the match. 4 or 5 infantry squads were charging to certain death, completely oblivious that all 4 hostile tanks were still up. I decided to spare them the details of that and simply ordered a full withdrawal. This of course was met with reluctance, but when it became increasingly evident that no support was coming, and all attacking infantry were pushed back/off their rallies, the squad leaders fell in line with my immediate instinct to bunker at village. Infantry pulled out of Oil Production (5) First and Oil Storage (6) second. (7) announced their presence in the desert by calling the incoming hostile tanks to village. I noticed at that point that I had a competent two-man sniper team spotting incoming for me, and ordered them to hold position. (8) was an afterthought, I noticed a squad with HAT, LAT and ENGI at the base and they took up and held a defensive position on that ridge. Which was good, because a tank from the south approach going to the bridge would have completely buggered any hope of defending.
(9) was me hopping in a truck and getting it to village in order to deploy a bunker.

Village was taken by the enemy after a drawn out battle, and I would assume they took up positions to block our forces from crossing the bridge, but that slaughter was averted by the arrival of our reinforcements. 5 Tanks popped in the base simultaneously and I made great effort to ensure that they were all crewed by the most competent squads I had.

[img width=700 height=700]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/thebard/Al_kufrahPhase3.jpg[/img]

I ordered 3 tanks north (10), 2 south (11) and once they had positioned themselves and eliminated the lurking hostiles around the main, I ordered the full force of infantry over the bridge) (12). I anticipate that at this time the MEC forces must have been thinly spread, with many elements rushing up from rear guard to get some of the last-minute fighting in. The irony is that from here on out, their disarray lead to a steamroller effect, resulting in no significant defensive efforts encountered.

[img width=700 height=700]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/thebard/Al_kufrahPhase4.jpg[/img]'

With the village captured, I ordered the armoured elements southeast on the flanks, (13) and (14) while I rushed the infantry into action to establish bunkers (15) and (16) at the weakly defended Oil Production and Oil Storage. (17), the sniper team provided invaluable coverage of the central area, allowing me to accurately designate any hostile armour/section contacts for my own tanks, and to precisely track their movements. Their contribution of intelligence saved many, many lives.

[img width=700 height=700]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/thebard/Al_kufrahPhase5.jpg[/img]

Having repaired all armour, and all infantry elements still possessing vehicular assets/bunkers to get the good kits from) I ordered a pre-emptive diagonal straight to the hostile main for three of my tanks. (18) The other tanks linked up with the infantry and conducted a coordinated assault on refinery with good sniper coverage and direct heavy fire support. (19)

[img width=700 height=700]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/thebard/Al_kufrahPhase6.jpg[/img]

With all elements mounted, there was a final assault on the MEC Main. (20) The widest gap in tickets (Around the 3rd phase) was about 100 tickets. By the end, we won by a margin of 22. The MEC Forces put up a hell of a good fight, but unlike the British whose main-base is eminently defensible, the MEC just couldn't hold on against the entirety of our team. There were hearty congratulations and GG's thrown around by all.

I unfortunately didn't notice the names of those snipers, but I think you're both up for a distinguished service commendation. If you're the snipers whose perfect positioning and timing helped win this match, fess up. The rest of you kicked ass too, including the leader of squad 7, in his 2 man tank. Despite the language barrier, we still managed to get things done, and that's impressive.

The entirety of the victory owes itself to the fluidity of all engaged elements, and their ability to shift rapidly from offence, to defence, to offence without losing formation or momentum. Skill, guys. You all had it. Be proud.

--Atro Out.

I am by far, one of the best Tank Commanders in the World. I am willing to say, whoever my gunner is, will probably have the Highest amount of kills on the battlefield.

Unless of course I am told to be the water boy.

I can't wait to see who's team I am on.

Originally Posted by ***COMMANDER***

I am by far, one of the best Tank Commanders in the World. I am willing to say, whoever my gunner is, will probably have the Highest amount of kills on the battlefield.

Unless of course I am told to be the water boy.

I can't wait to see who's team I am on.

Your skill at commanding armor is second only to your overwhelming modesty!

It sounds like that was one helluva battle. Kudos Atro, for putting together a nice AAR.

Originally Posted by Drogos

Originally Posted by ***COMMANDER***

I am by far, one of the best Tank Commanders in the World. I am willing to say, whoever my gunner is, will probably have the Highest amount of kills on the battlefield.

Unless of course I am told to be the water boy.

I can't wait to see who's team I am on.

Your skill at commanding armor is second only to your overwhelming modesty!

It sounds like that was one helluva battle. Kudos Atro, for putting together a nice AAR.

That AAR is pretty good, however I have a better one. I am sure not going to post it in this public forum so the enemy Commander can have his troops carry it out though....

I prefer to show it to them LIVE.......

Atro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:9

Nice job Atro.

LOL! I guess they want it done quickly...

I'd hate to ruin my reputation by showing my face in here...

..but ATC for BF2 would probably make your map-making sessions go much faster. It doesn't matter if they don't have the PR maps on there, since you can use the picture of Al Kufra that you already found.

Very good thread though.

I'll go away now.

...you have done this community a great service.

This program is the fucking shit!