==================================================================== *=*=* GHOST RECON WALKTHROUGH D VETERAN LEVEL *=*=* ==================================================================== A very short word from the author... Welcome. Ghost Recon is, in my opinion, the coolest game to date. Period. The unpredictability of the enemy contributes to the greatness of this game, and if they aren't exactly where I say the are and do what I say they'll do, please no hate mail. I've included the text of the briefings because it provides useful information and sets the tone of the missions. Squad members from a previous mission each earn a Combat Point and I like to keep Stealth at least one point ahead of Weapon, ignoring Endurance and Leadership altogether. Why? Because no one is going to get hurt. One more thing -- did I mention this walkthrough is for the Veteran difficulty level? Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. February 20, 2003 Jedi Writer (aka Ed Hassler) jedi_writer@macmail.com Copyright (c) 2003 All rights reserved. ******************************************************************** MISSION 01 - IRON DRAGON ******************************************************************** South Ossetian Autonomous Region April 16, 2008 05:45 =Briefing= "Welcome to Tbilisi, gentlemen -- I hope you got some shuteye on the flight from Bragg, because now that we're here we've got a lot of work to do. "Here's the situation: We've been deployed at the request of the Georgian government to help them deal with rebels on their Russian border. Our area of operations will be the South Ossetian Autonomous region -- 1500 square miles of small villages and rugged backcountry. The Ossetians have been skirmishing with the Georgian army for years, but lately the attacks have escalated to the verge of all-out war. Washington thinks that the Russians have engineered the current flare-up as an excuse to step in and annex the whole region. Our job is to cut the legs out from under the revolution before that can happen. "Our first mission is a raid on a rebel base in the Caucasus Mountains. A rebel leader named Bakur Papashvili has been attacking army convoys across the Terek River. You'll need to take out his guard posts first, then hit his main camp. You'll find Papashvili in the caves at the top of the hill where he's set up a command center. Take him alive if you can, but remember that he won't surrender unless all his guards are eliminated." =Objectives= 1 - Neutralize Tent Camp Troops 2 - Secure the Caves 3 - Return to Insertion Zone X - Capture Papashvili =Platoon= ALPHA: Loverso, Katunich, Bishop BRAVO: Reid, Schweitzer CHARLIE: Musingo TENT CAMP CAN WAIT Move clockwise around the map keeping to the outer perimeter. Switch to Charlie (sniper) and send Alpha and Bravo due west, not quite to the large rock at the bottom center of the map. Stay in the cover of the trees. Find the spot where you can see the bunker ahead to the west, depicted on the map as an elongated rock with a small one in front. Charlie shoots the enemy in the bunker and another appears in the clearing 25 meters south of the bunker. A third appears the same distance in the clearing to north. Easy pickins'. Continue west uphill toward the next large rock. Stop about halfway and focus the scope NNE on the uppermost cliff to the left of the pass more or less in the center of the sector. You'll be looking almost directly into the sun but you'll see a bunker and an enemy with a fully automatic weapon -- eliminate him now and save yourself a lot of grief later. Continue west to the left side of the rock you were heading for and use the scope to spot a small house sitting up the hill beyond the pass near the west edge of the sector. Two sentries stand on patrol -- shoot both. If given enough time, one will advance toward you. To the south of this pass, about the same distance as the house, is another bunker in a clearing. Head NW behind the trees and locate it with your scope. Kill the enemy. Bring up the other two squads, head for the house, and stop at the bottom of the hill. Crouch, move up the left side of the hill, and hit the dirt at the top. Face NE and stay as close to the edge of the perimeter as you can, crawling sideways to the NW. Zoom the scope and as you cross over the divide, two enemies will come into view. They're chatting and stretching and won't notice your presence if you pause every few seconds when they look your way. When the wooden crate is almost blocking your view of the guy on the left, shoot him. The guy on the right will duck for cover then reappear. THE CAVES Continue due north up the hill, proceed to the open area at the base of the mountains, and hug the west edge of the perimeter until you can see the lone guard behind the large rock outcropping in front of the cave's west entrance. Go prone facing east at the SE corner of this rock outcropping. Switch to Alpha and position Bravo just inside the mouth of the west cave entrance, then activate night vision and approach the east cave entrance. Shoot the enemy who appears in the cave, go in, turn left and shoot the other unsuspecting one. At the north end of this part cave are two short passageways leading to the inner cave room. Approach the one on the east and kill the unsuspecting guard, then move cautiously through the one on the west and kill Papashvili's bodyguard (dressed in black) as soon as you spot him. Don't capture Papashvili yet. Head for the cave entrance from which you entered and take up a position well inside its mouth. Here's what happens. When the cave is secured by killing the last soldier, the tent camp troops rush to the rescue of their commander. Switch back to Charlie and relax -- you don't have to fire a shot. The enemy will eventually show up from the east and run one-by-one into the east cave entrance only to be mowed down by Alpha. If Bravo is positioned outside the west cave entrance, they'll start picking off the enemy from a distance and the enemy will stop advancing. Same thing if you (Charlie) decide to pick them off. If that happens, the few remaining will be waiting at the southern tip of the slender rock to the east (see map). Once you've been notified that the tent troops have been neutralized, head back to the end of the cave complex and capture Papashvili by simply walking up to him. He'll follow you wherever you go. If you don't want him tagging along and want to pass him off to another squad, switch to a soldier in that squad and walk up to him again. He now follows the new squad so you may switch back to Charlie and continue the job of a sniper without having to worry about a cocky loudmouth POW. RETURN TO INSERTION ZONE The tent camp is deserted so save your tired feet and make your way directly toward the central pass -- the one with the dead gunner at the top. Position Alpha and Bravo anywhere except overlooking the valley below. Circle around to the west of the rock, toward the dead machine gunner's bunker, get prone and peer over the edge. Scope the two baddies in the open to the south and wax them both. Two more will come into view farther south. The last two enemy are waiting for your platoon near the insertion zone. Hug the rock cliffs to the north and proceed east around the perimeter. The first is standing a few paces to the east of the four tall pines. You can sneak up on him from your position to the NE -- he's expecting you from the west. Crawl over his carcass and pop the last one directly to the south down in the clearing by the insertion zone. ******************************************************************** MISSION 02 - EAGER SMOKE ******************************************************************** South Ossetian Autonomous Region April 24, 2008 02:15 =Briefing= "We've been tapped for a search and rescue. The Navy's been flying sorties against rebel positions from its carrier battle group in the Black Sea. Last night, the bad guys got lucky with a SAM and took out one of our F-18s. The pilot and the weapons officer both bailed out before impact, but the rebels picked them up shortly after they activated their beacons. "They're being held for interrogation at a farm near the crash site. Your job is to go in and bring them back out alive. Recon photos show the F-18 is still largely intact but heavily guarded. If it's possible to plant a demo charge and blow the plane, do it -- but don't jeopardize your main mission. "And try to minimize Ossetian casualties -- the Russians are already making a big stink at the U.N. about us being here and we don't want to give them any more ammunition. If Moscow decides to intervene, we're going to find ourselves smack in the middle of a major war." =Objectives= 1 - Rescue Pilot 2 - Rescue Weapons Officer 3 - Get to Extraction Zone X - Destroy Avionics =Platoon= ALPHA: Loverso, Katunich, Bishop BRAVO: Jacobs, Allen CHARLIE: Musingo =Notes= Jacobs and Allen replace Reid and Schweitzer in Bravo; Allen packs Demo Kit 1. AVIONICS FIRST HQ tells us that destroying the downed F-18 is optional but we're gonna do it first. The enemy knows our priorities and they'll be expecting us to approach from the south. Activate night vision, switch to Charlie, and head SW into the woods. As you ascend the gentle slope, a two-man patrol is directly ahead. When they're down, two more run toward you from the NW. Head NW through the trees and cross the stream from a point directly east of the F-18 crash site. Climb the far bank, go prone, and take out the two unsuspecting enemy by the hay bales in the field ahead. Stay where you are and seven more will appear singly and in pairs from the west and south. You may have to crawl a few yards in either direction to see one of them hiding in the trees at the edge of the field to the south or behind the hay bales to the west. Don't forget to reload. Switch to Bravo and position Alpha pretty much anywhere you want in the hay field, then stroll on in and plant the demo charge next to the F-18. FARMHOUSE Switch back to your sniper and lead the platoon down the middle of the field to the south edge and leave them there. Move cautiously into the trees toward the farmhouse. Stay in the cover of the trees, maneuver to get a good view of the north-south portion of the road ahead, then go prone. A patrol of five will come walking toward you shortly. When they're all down, take up a position in the ditch at the edge of the field east of the house and train your sights on the window. Switch to Alpha and approach the west side of the house. As you near the split rail fence (you might want to briefly turn off night vision) an enemy appears at the upper left window. The second is directly beneath in the room to the left of the front door -- he expects you to come through that door so enter the small portico to the right and open the kitchen door. Play it safe and plant a grenade from your M203 into the far room. Exit and move clockwise to the north side of the house. From a position just beyond the second tree holding the clothesline, line up another grenade shot to the upper left window. If you don't kill the third, cautiously continue around to the back of the house and nail him through the back window. Head back into the farmhouse, go upstairs, and rescue the weapons officer in the back room. Pass him off to Bravo and hold your position. BARN Switch to your sniper and head for the barn. A word of caution: both front and rear barn doors are open and the pilot is tied to a chair in the middle of the room so take care not to hit him. As the building comes into view, you'll see enemy patrolling outside -- pick them off one-by-one. Keep an eye on the loft window for a rifleman, then maintain a safe distance and circle counterclockwise until you spot more patrols at the back of the barn. Keep circling and take out the rifleman at the rear loft window. You may spot an enemy inside passing by the south door, and if you see him and decide to take a shot, remember the pilot directly behind. Otherwise, continue the wide arc and find him against the west wall. Another is in the NE corner, but you may have to circle all the way around the barn to get a shot at him. Or you could call in Alpha and give Charlie a break. If your sniper didn't bag the second rifleman in the loft, send in Alpha through the rear barn door, hook around to the left, walk up the stairs sideways, and take him out. When the last one is dead, rescue the pilot. The only thing between you and the extraction zone is a patrol of three on the other side of the stream. Switch to your sniper again (he's probably NW of the barn anyway), turn around, move NE toward the stream and wait prone as the enemy patrol comes into view. Once they're history, savor the cut scene. ******************************************************************** MISSION 03 - STONE BELL ******************************************************************** South Ossetian Autonomous Region May 2, 2008 10:00 =Briefing= "Word just came down from HQ, gentlemen. We have official confirmation that at 0600 hours three Russian armored divisions crossed the border and linked up with the rebel forces in the north. The Russian foreign minister has issued a statement condemning "international meddling in regional affairs." Looks like we've got ourselves a full-scale international incident. "For now the U.S. is still backing the legitimate Georgian government. Our orders are, quote, "to aid the Georgian army's defensive operations in any way practical." Short and sweet that means we've got the green light to blow stuff up. "First priority is to slow down the main armored column headed for Tbilisi. We've identified an ambush point about 60 klicks west of here where the highway crosses under a rail line. A Georgian command post is nearby -- if it's overrun their entire western flank will collapse. Take out the Russian advance patrols first, then the tanks. And keep your demolitions expert under cover until you need him -- those tanks aren't going to be stopped by anything less than a rocket up the tailpipe." =Objectives= 1 - Destroy Northeast Patrol 2 - Destroy Northwest Patrol 3 - Prevent HQ Breach X - No NATO Casualties =Platoon= ALPHA: Loverso, Katunich, Jacobs BRAVO: Allen CHARLIE: Musingo, Ramirez, =Notes= Jacobs moves from Bravo to Alpha replacing Bishop; Ramirez joins Musingo in Charlie. Allen packs Demo Kit 2. SPECIAL NOTE: This mission is difficult, so difficult that it seems almost like a separate game and I've spent more time here than on the rest of the missions combined. At first I thought taking out the armor from different locations was the key and then concentrating the battle at the NE end of the bridge, but the results varied wildly from a single wound to the loss of the entire platoon. Also, the safety of the NATO forces at Georgian HQ was never certain. The strategy here requires the destruction from the railroad bridge of both tanks as soon as they appear. The subsequent locations of the individual enemy soldiers will depend on how soon the tanks are destroyed. A lot of footwork follows, but that's a small price to pay for getting all our men out alive. STOP THOSE TANKS! The clock is ticking and you're under fire from three directions at once -- four if you count the armor. With a little luck, you can make it through with no casualties. It's important that you take out the armor as soon as possible, otherwise your NE position will be overrun and there's a good chance Georgian HQ will be overrun as well with NATO suffering casualties. The sooner the tanks are stopped, the less likely the accompanying troops will swarm up the rocky path and take the bridge or advance down the road. Switch to Bravo and send Charlie up the hill to your left, toward the SW end of the bridge -- position them at the northern point of the small triangular-shaped clearing and next to the wall of rock that forms the cliff. (On the map, the upper tip of this triangle is due south of the symbol that marks the bridge.) Send Alpha up the hill behind NATO headquarters to your right and position them at the NE corner of the large rock (resembles an arrowhead pointing NW on the map) closest to the cliff. Run up with Alpha (or ahead of them if you can) and head for the narrow path between the cliff and the large rock described above. As you approach the trail, stay in the cover of the rock then step sideways to the left and eliminate two of the enemy across the tracks. Alpha will take care of the other two and you'll be notified that the northeast patrol has been destroyed. (There are yet two more unseen enemy up the tracks to the NE and it seems these are invoked early only if Charlie gets too close to the bridge, likewise invoking two more in the SW. All six need to be killed in the SW to fulfill the second objective.) Run to the bridge, stay on the ties on your side of the tracks, run about a fourth of the way across, hit the deck, crawl forward, and in a few moments you'll see enemy at the other end running right to left. Kill them both if you can -- your fire will help Charlie take out the other two. Regardless of the outcome -- and this is the tricky part -- immediately raise to a crouched position and take a few steps over the tracks to get a view of the road to the north. When you see the two tanks, switch to your M136, aim at the top of each tank to allow for bullet drop, and take them out. Step back over the tracks and resume your previous prone position in the middle of the bridge -- Allen will provide cover for Charlie when the last two of the SW patrol appear. Once the tanks are destroyed and you see four dead enemy in the SW area, you can relax. FIRST HALF OF THE PINCER Switch to your sniper, cross the tracks, and head NW for the top of the rocky path on the side of the road. Crawl to the overlook and scope out enemy on the ridge across the road or on the road itself. The Russians will tend to stay near the destroyed tanks. Shoot only one, then turn around. You may hear some activity from Alpha as they finish off the remaining two enemy approaching down the tracks from the NE, but get ready to take out two more who appear out of nowhere on the tracks behind you. If you miss them, they'll come through the grove of trees after you -- Bravo may kill one of them so it shouldn't be a problem. The Russian troops on the road know your location, so stay low and wait for further orders. SECOND HALF OF THE PINCER Switch to Alpha. (Here's an interesting development: the final time I played this level to verify the validity of the tactics, the sixth enemy of the SW patrol had somehow crossed over the bridge unnoticed! Maybe he thought Allen was dead? Maybe Allen fell asleep? We'll never know. Cautiously check before you continue.) Take Alpha on the scenic route due north all the way to the perimeter. Pass between the two large rock formations (on the map the one to the east looks like the Batman symbol). Move counterclockwise around the one to the west and when the large grove of trees comes into view, slow down and keep low as you round the corner. There, across the field far ahead to the SW next to the low rocky wall of the cliff, are some of your unsuspecting tormentors. If you don't see them -- a consequence of taking out the tanks very early -- move cautiously across the field to find them. More are farther down the slope. CLOSE THE PINCER Switch to Charlie and perform a similar trek to the west perimeter. As you head north through the grove of trees, scope the opposite side of the road for hostile(s) expecting an assault from the road. When you've eliminated him/them, hit the dirt so the lead goes over your head and not through it -- several stealthy troops near the road will fire at your position and may come straight at you to try to spoil the party. Switch to Ramirez who's silent MP5-SD is lethal and fun to use at this range. Switch to Alpha and continue SW toward the breach in the low wall of rock and see if you can eliminate the remaining resistance down on the road, but you might have to return to the perimeter and continue down around the large wooded area. Be careful -- the Russians are well trained and extremely disciplined. If both Alpha and Charlie are pinned down, switch to Bravo (you might have to wake Allen) and send him off to finish the job. ******************************************************************** MISSION 04 - BLACK NEEDLE ******************************************************************** Republic of Georgia May 7, 2008 15:00 =Briefing= "The Georgians have stopped the Russians temporarily, but they're not going to hold out for long. The president and his cabinet have already fled the country to set up a government-in-exile. We're in country only for as long as it takes to get the rest of our people out safely. "HQ just got a radio call from a couple of Brits up near the village of Ahmeta. Their transportation broke down and they're cut off from the Georgian lines. We're sending you in by chopper to open up an escape route for them. You'll need to move fast -- in their last message they said they thought they'd been spotted by a Russian patrol." =Objectives= 1 - Secure the Crossroads 2 - Contact UN Troops 3 - Return to the Extraction Zone X - Keep UN soldiers alive =Platoon= ALPHA: Loverso, Katunich, Jacobs BRAVO: Tunney, Ramirez CHARLIE: Musingo =Notes= Tunney replaces Allen in Bravo; Ramirez moves from Charlie to Bravo. THE BRIDGE Switch to Charlie and head SW along the edge of the woods near the river toward the guard booth and take out either guard from a safe distance. The other guard will flee over the bridge -- you can demonstrate your marksmanship by hitting him on the run or wait until he stops on the far side. Snipe the guard in the far booth and another up the road runs into view. Summon the rest of your platoon and gather on your side of the bridge. THE CROSSROADS Cross the bridge, hook to the left along the river, move along the perimeter until you can clearly see the garage with the red car inside, and shoot the guy in the doorway. Do the same to his buddy who appears moments later on the right side of the garage and runs toward you. Head to the guard booth, then eliminate a third standing near the telephone pole to the left of the filling station. From your present position on the NE side of the bridge road, move cautiously along the perimeter until you see a fourth in front of the house, go prone, and kill him. A fifth, nearby, comes running toward you. Switch to Alpha and head for the filling station -- the sixth member of this sorry bunch is in the washroom in the NW corner of the building. You can either fire a grenade through the large center window or walk in and catch him with his pants down. I think his last words were "I'm out of paper." DON'T TAKE THE ROAD Switch to Charlie and head due north from the filling station into the woods. Turn right at the top of the long low rock (we'll call this Rock A) and follow its north edge a short distance until you spot the silhouette of a gunner up on the other side of the road about two thirds the distance from the crossroads to the village. Another is to the first one's left and may be partially hidden by a small bush -- his position will be obvious if he fires, shoot through the bush if he doesn't. Ignore the gunshots from the village and position yourself prone under the overhang of the northern tip of the next rock, the tall one near the road (we'll call this Rock B). After a short wait (be patient), a patrol of two comes over the ridge of the clearing far to the NE. (This patrol may instead be ascending the ridge, heading the other way.) When they're history, return to the west tip of Rock A and make a wide clockwise arc toward the path leading up to the mountains behind the very large rock to the north. You're looking for two sentries standing at the south edge of the large rock (we'll call this Rock C) NE of Rock B. Why all the skulking around at such great distance? Although it's possible to take them out from the wooded valley below -- or even up close from the side of Rock B facing the road -- these guys are sharpshooters. As you near the summit of the path, scope directly to the SE, and if you don't see them right away, sidestep back and forth until they come into view through the trees, then bag them. Continue around the path, then head due south (ignore the gunshots and whizzing bullets) to the southern tip of Rock B, hug the rock, turn the corner, then head NE toward the sentries you just shot. Notice on your left that Rock B gradually tapers to ground level. Stop here and don't go any farther up the hill but note the point, about six meters ahead, at which Rock B angles to the north. Return to the crossroads, call your troops, and let them in on a little secret. INTEL IS EVERYTHING Gather round the map, boys. Draw an imaginary line from the point described above to the fallen gunner across the road. If any of your people cross it, a Russian patrol of six new enemy troops spring into action. They appear at the beginning of the road to the west, stroll slowly through the crossroads, and if not fired upon or otherwise distracted, they'll mill about in the area between Rock B and the road but will go no farther. Below are a few scenarios you can try. When your men are set up where you want them, switch to the squad closest to this magic line and step over it. (After a few moments the gunfire from the village mysteriously ceases and the middle ring of the enemy threat indicator on your screen turns yellow in the opposite direction.) You'll have plenty of time to get back into position and switch to the soldier of your choice. Avoid the road itself -- you'll get creamed by the enemy in the village. **The Bunker** Position your entire platoon behind Rock A and duke it out head-on as the patrol swarms into the trees behind the filling station. **The Ambush** Put one squad in the filling station and the other in the house. You, as the sniper, stay at a safe distance and do what snipers do best. **Big Bang** Alpha and Charlie lie in wait behind the two buildings. Bravo squares off in the middle of the road by the garage and Tunney pulverizes the patrol with his M136. **Long Distance Call** Alpha and Charlie head up to the high country at the foot of the mountains -- you were just up there. (Hide Bravo somewhere they won't get in trouble. Nigel Tunney is either very brave or very stupid or both -- he just won't keep his head down and often gets killed trying to slug it out.) **Boring but Effective** If Ramirez brought Claymores, lay one at the patrol's point of entry. **Short and Sweet** Concentrate your troops on either side of the road where the patrol enters, then switch to Tunney and cut them off at the knees with the full-auto SA80. You get the idea... the possibilities are endless. OK, party's over, we gotta rescue the UN soldiers trapped in the brick building on the north side of the road in the village. Let go of that M136 and switch back to Charlie. Walk up the path leading to the fallen gunner on the south side of the road and peek over the top. (This of course is also a point that will invoke the new patrol; ditto for approaching the road from between Rocks B and C.) Straight ahead are more hostiles in the ruins shooting at our UN friends. From a prone position, simply pick them off one at a time. One or two of them may be concealed behind a portion of the damaged wall -- you may see their guns sticking out -- leave them for last. Rise to a crouch and put a shot through their now-visible heads. A round of head shots for everyone. Note: If you're not notified that you've saved the UN troops, ending the Level, circle counterclockwise behind the ruins, go to the other end of the village, and shoot the remaining enemy from there. SCENARIO TWO If you would rather deal with the enemy six-pack later, take your platoon through the wooded valley behind Rocks A, B and C and, as Charlie, pick off several of the enemy from the higher ground behind the village. They're at the SW end of the village and are hard to see through the fog, so scope diligently and move around until you spot them. One is a machine gunner. Unfortunately, the remainder of the enemy who come into vivid focus as you move higher to the west cannot be killed from here -- they turn their bodies as if acknowledging fire but won't go down. If fact, shooting at them triggers the Russian patrol, as does moving into the UN compound. Don't try to slug it out with the enemy from inside the UN building -- the UN troops may suffer casualties. Head for the flat area behind the UN compound, hoof it all the way to the end of the NE perimeter, cross the road where it descends, and make your way back to the village keeping low. Maneuver into a prone position where you can scope the enemy along the road in the village and pick them off. Then switch to Alpha, go in the back entrance of UN headquarters, and rescue the UN hostages. What's this? They refuse to leave? OK, to hell with them -- we're outta here. Now to face the patrol of six who know we're here. Too bad that fixed machine gun is, uh, fixed. You have two options. The first is to decide where you want to exchange lead with the patrol, but you no longer have the advantage of total surprise. (I chose the high area at the base of the mountain to the north of the crossroads and used the same route as described earlier to snipe the two sentries.) The second is a stealthy evacuation and return to the extraction zone. Tactics for both are identical all the way back to Rock B. Option 1: Switch to Charlie, crouch, carefully head back to the overhang of Rock B, then make your way up to the high area at the base of the mountain. Pick off the enemy and, if necessary, move to the low wooded area behind the crossroads or to the crossroads and then up along the rocks to find those who have hidden. Option 2: Order all teams recon. Take command of each squad and lead them individually to the overhang of Rock B, otherwise there's the risk that one of them will spot the enemy and open fire despite orders for recon only. Keep an eye on the patrol up by the road. Crouch, never stand erect, and stay in the lowest part of the terrain. When all three squads arrive safely, head for the west perimeter, then south to the wooded area west of the filling station. Watch the enemy and head out when they have their backs turned and are walking up the road. Lead the squads individually across the road and onto the bridge and move always along the perimeter. Once all three squads are at the extraction zone, the mission ends successfully. ******************************************************************** MISSION 05 - GOLD MOUNTAIN ******************************************************************** Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia May 14, 2008 09:00 =Briefing= "Time to get the hell out of Dodge -- intel says Russian troops have reached the city limits. The rest of our people have already been evac'ed -- you gentlemen are the absolute tip of the Dachshund's tail. The Navy is running a shuttle between our embassy and the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan out in the Black Sea. Two hours from now the last Seahawk will leave the embassy's roof -- you'd better be on it. "On the way there there's one thing we want you to check out. The Russians brought down one of our Seahawks on the last run -- hit it with a man-portable SAM before it reached the embassy. It crashed in a park just north of your position. We haven't received any communication from the crew -- no voice, no beacon -- probably there are no survivors. But your orders are to check out the wreckage and make sure. "Be on the look out for Russian patrols. And watch out for Georgian civilians as well -- there are plenty of refugees in the streets and we want to keep collateral damage to a minimum." =Objectives= 1. Secure the Bank 2. Investigate Crash Site 3. Go to Extraction Zone X - Avoid Civilian Casualties =Platoon= ALPHA: Jacobs, Loverso, Katunich BRAVO: Tunney, Ramirez CHARLIE: Stone =Notes= Jacobs is promoted to platoon leader; Stone replaces Musingo in Charlie. Tunney packs Demo Kit 1 -- there's an enemy tank in this mission, but its destruction is optional. CLEAR THE STREETS Position Alpha prone in the small brick courtyard to your right so they have a view of the intersection ahead of the buses. Two enemy will appear and as many as four more may appear from the far intersection and head toward you. Yet two more may also appear, but they head in the opposite direction and circle counterclockwise around the bank. More on that later. Let Alpha deal with them if you wish, switch to Charlie, and move clockwise halfway around the modern building with the low brown stone wall -- don't shoot the civilian who runs up the stairs from the front door. Crouch, move slowly until you can see the west second floor window, zoom scope and locate the barely visible fixed machine gunner who pans from side to side every few seconds. Take him out, stay in the cover of the wall, then go prone and crawl until the front entrance of bank is in your sights. Position Bravo in the small courtyard past the green car at the north end of the street and face them toward the white vans behind the bank -- they will provide protection for Charlie from the two aforementioned enemy. THE BANK Switch to Alpha. Do not go into the street with the buses -- there's another fixed machine gunner in the bank's second story east window. Although it's possible to step a few inches over the white line that marks the intersection and fire a grenade, we're gonna play it safe. Instead, move clockwise through the streets to Bravo's position and head for the bank's back door hidden by the white vans. Stand to the left of the door, activate night vision, open the door, and kill the guard inside to the right. There are four enemy at the front door and all of them may not venture out into the street when they hear the shout of their fallen comrade, so keep count of Charlie's kills. Crouch, go through the next door, face the front of the bank keeping your back against the wall, and move to your right just enough to see and shoot the silhouette of the enemy(s) beyond the teller booth. Aiming up and to the left, continue to your right and kill another guard on the upper left balcony. Head up the stairs to your right and kill one at the top. The remaining machine gunner is across the balcony in the room behind the single door in the SE corner. UNDERGROUND PARKING Before we mop up in the underground parking area, we're going to eliminate a patrol in the street in front of the Embassy. Take Alpha to the garage doorway down the street to the east, activate night vision, and peek down the ramp. Send Bravo through the alley behind the bank (don't shoot the civilians if you lead them yourself), hang a right, down the stairs, and wait in the alley leading east. Switch to Charlie, move down the street past Alpha, head north on the next street and get in position on the sidewalk next to the second car. (Don't shoot the civilian Bravo flushed out of the alley.) Using the front of the car for cover, shoot the solitary patrol standing in the street near two distant cars beyond the rear end of the bus. Another will appear shortly from between the bus and the Embassy wall. If you miss the first, he'll appear at the south Embassy gate, so stay put and wait for him. Switch to Bravo, exit the alley, hook right, and head straight for the north door to the underground parking area. Ignore the sentries on the roof of the Embassy -- they're too far away to notice. Activate night vision, move cautiously down the ramp, and kill the first enemy you see. Switch back and forth between Alpha and Bravo until they're all history -- they remain stationary so there's no rush. (Their number depends on how many came out and were eliminated in the first skirmish of this mission. In fact, if only a few came out and had we hoofed around past the back of the bank and gone directly to the south garage door, we might have seen a group of them walking down the south ramp.) Move Alpha through the parking area, hook up with Bravo, and wait against the east wall near the top of the south ramp so that you can see up the street to the north. Wait for a patrol of two to come into view -- they appear far beyond the rubble pile in the street, walk along the side of the distant bus, and eventually turn west on the far street and disappear from sight. If you miss them, they patrol a large route and will usually reappear in a few minutes. If not, you can find them later in the angled street by the bus. CLEAR THE EMBASSY Switch to Charlie, cut across the street, through the path between the building (the Milton Hotel) and the hedge, and head for the near pillar supporting the overhang of the circular drive. Find and shoot the two sentries on the Embassy roof -- one is easily visible atop the front wing and the other is on the main building with only his head showing. Watch the fire escape at the SE corner and shoot a third trying to descend. If you miss, he'll appear at the south gate. Switch to Alpha, head for the south gate, and shoot the guard in the compound at the front gate. A third is inside and to the east of the south gate. Charlie may take care of him. As long as we're here, it wouldn't hurt to check out the extraction zone on the roof. OLD HOTEL Take the platoon through the destroyed north gate of the Embassy compound, head up the diagonal street to the NE (don't shoot the civilian), and find the stairway leading up to the old hotel. Ignore the patrols ahead two blocks away and leave Bravo and Charlie on the sidewalk next to the hotel. Hook around to the left, go in the side door, head up the stairs, open the hall door, and move cautiously down the long hallway to the right. At the end of the long hallway is a sniper in a small dark room at the end of a short hallway to the right -- sidestep and shoot him, then back up into the long hallway and easily shoot two of his buddies as they run past from the left side of the short hallway. Look out the sniper's window at the patrols circling counterclockwise around the park with the downed Black Hawk. You can take out all six in any order you choose -- in pairs or as a group when they all meet in the street to the south of the park. CRASH SITE SHOWDOWN The area has been temporarily cleared, so head back down and take up a position facing the street at the top of the stairs in the alley SE of the park. Position Charlie directly north of the park, but be careful not to step into the park yet. Switch to Bravo and head up to the sniper's window in the old hotel and get as clear a view as possible of the front steps to the library (the neoclassical building with the fluted columns) diagonally across the street. Send Charlie to the middle of the park then immediately make another waypoint to move him back where he was in the street, thus preventing him from drawing enemy fire in the ensuing battle. With your SA80 on full auto, mow down the four enemy who come out the front doors of the library and rush down the steps. (If they're not stopped, they'll split into two groups and head for the park on either side of the library.) If you don't get all of them, the survivors will come up after you, so simply move to your end of the long hallway and wait for them. Go back to the window, mount your M136, and take out the tank rolling down the street south of the park. More enemy troops follow, you can help Alpha eliminate them, and the mission ends without having to go to the extraction zone. ******************************************************************** MISSION 06 - WITCH FIRE ******************************************************************** Izborsk, Russia June 6, 2008 02:00 =Briefing= "It's official - President Arbatov just appeared, "welcoming" the Republic of Georgia into the new Russian Democratic Union. Of course, no one's recognizing the annexation -- the Georgian government-in-exile issued a strong denial from their offices in Geneva, and the U.S., Great Britain, and Germany have all publicly condemned the Russian invasion -- but all the talk in the world isn't going to budge those tanks in Tblisi. "The big boys are convinced that Arbatov and his generals are engineering another "intervention". Satellites have detected major troop movements on the Baltic coast, near the Latvian border. Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia were all part of the old Soviet empire and bringing them back under Moscow's control has been part of the Ultranationalist agenda for years. "We're sending you in to gather intelligence about the coming attack. The Russians have set up a command post at Izborsk, an old medieval fortress a few miles from the border. Your mission is to infiltrate the post and recover any documents describing the Russian battle plans. Watch out for patrols -- there's been a lot of troop movement along the road. There's also a comm station inside the castle -- don't let the garrison radio for help, or you'll have a major firefight on your hands. "One final twist. There's a mobile SAM site nearby. Reconnoiter, and if it's lightly guarded, take it out with rockets." =Objectives= 1 - Gather Intel from SE House 2 - Gather Intel from NW House 3 - Get to Extraction Zone X - Destroy SAM Site =Platoon= ALPHA: Jacobs, Loverso, Katunich BRAVO: Tunney, Osadze CHARLIE: Stone =Notes= Osadze replaces Ramirez in Bravo. TANGO NORTH AND SOUTH Turn on night vision, quickly move Alpha down the short slope to the north, position them slightly to the west in low part of the V- shaped area (see map) on your side of the road, and hold them there. Ignore enemy fire (if there is any) from the SAM site -- they're shooting over your head. THE TRUCK Switch to Bravo, crouch, head toward the nearby house to the east, and look for the birch on your right near the end of the grove of trees. Go prone where you have a clear view of the sliver of road off in the distance to the SE beyond the field. Ditto for Charlie. Ignore the exchange of fire, if any, behind you. About two minutes after the mission begins, an enemy troop transport appears on this road heading north, so wait until it rolls into view then open fire. The truck halts as soon as you hit one of the passengers: kill all seven troops, then move in and destroy the truck with your M136 (optional). Taking out the truckload of hostiles now will save having to do it later when they're inside the ancient fort. THE SAM SITE Enemy soldiers guarding the SAM site to the north may sneak through the woods and attack, but if they do, Alpha should hold them. Switch to Charlie, scope the trees in the direction of the site, find the fixed machine gunner, and kill him. (If you can't find him, he may have left his post and was killed by Alpha.) Hit the dirt and wait for enemy fire to subside, then cautiously approach the road to the north and cross over at the west perimeter. Stay low and take out three guards as they approach (if Alpha has not done so), then carefully find and snipe the remaining machine gunner(s) at the SAM site. (There should be a total of six corpses, although several more may approach the site from the north depending on how the battle unfolds.) When all's clear, call in Bravo and destroy the SAM. Note: If you decide to let the truck pass, it stops at the SE entrance to the fort and the enemy troops get out and walk inside. If you were to follow the plan of action described below and allowed the truck to pass, the empty truck appears outside the north entrance and its former passengers come rushing out to greet you. CLEAR THE AREA OUTSIDE THE FORT As Charlie, continue north along the west perimeter -- you should not encounter resistance until the extraction zone. Stay close to the river and watch for enemy ahead in the trees. Snipe them from a distance -- they've got grenades. When you arrive at the nearby shack, head up to the north entrance of the fort and snipe three enemy off to the SE, then kill three more by the pickup truck to the south. Continue clockwise around the outside wall of the fort until you spot three near the east of the houses to the south and then another three warming themselves by a trash barrel farther down to the west. If some of them run for cover, wait until they come back into view - - there should be a total of six. Cross the road, head through the trees SE of the field, maintain a safe distance, head for the far house (an Intel Location), and eliminate two more on its south side. There's a ninth in the doorway. (If this last one is NOT in the doorway, it's time to call in your house-to-house pals. I'm sure they're bored to tears back there at the SAM site.) Enter the house, gather the intel on the table, and complete the first objective. THE NW HOUSE Gather your platoon at the SW entrance to the fort, switch to Alpha, march straight in (everyone's indoors), head for the house in the NW corner, walk up onto the front porch, and stand facing the door. The three inhabitants are each in one of the rooms: the first is in the front room standing near the intel table around to the left, the second is in the bathroom ahead and to the left, and the third is in the bedroom down the hall and to the right. Tactic 1: Open the front door, step into the vestibule, wait until they run to investigate (you might have to make a little noise by stepping from side to side), and take them all out at once by planting a grenade from your OICW/GL in the middle of the floor of the hallway (in front of the bathroom door, to the left of the sofa). The guy in the bathroom may duck back in, so fire another through the open door. Don't want to create a big mess? Use bullets instead. Tactic 2: Circle counterclockwise at a safe distance around the house, shoot number one through the window, shoot number two as he either steps into the hallway or as he stands in the bathroom, then move to the next window and shoot the third standing at the bedroom door, behind the table lamp. (If number two is still in the bathroom and you can't see him... uh, wipe his ass with a grenade.) PICKET FENCE HOUSE Drop in on the neighbors. Pretty much the same, but these guys are a bit more aggressive. If you go to the front door, they'll open it. If you head past the clothesline and get near the opening in the picket fence, one or two or all three of them will run out the front door -- they may fire at you or run and try to slip in the side door of the NW house! Very unpredictable. If you hustle to the back window, be prepared to shoot. Tactic 1: Shoot it out with them -- it's not difficult. The remaining man, if any, should be (as you face the front door) in the front room and to the right. Tactic 2: Position Charlie at a safe distance with a clear view of the door. Position Bravo in the hallway of the NW house. Take Alpha around back, duck, and let the fun begin. THE BRICK HOUSE Three men, three rooms, sound familiar? If you circle clockwise around the brick house, nothing happens and you'll have to go in after them. If you circle counterclockwise, approach the front door, then continue to the side door, two of them will make a break out the front door and head for the side door of the NW house. Tactic 1: Open the front door and go in after them. Tactic 2: Same as tactic 2 above except position Charlie in the cover of the communications ruins. ******************************************************************** MISSION 07 - PAPER ANGEL ******************************************************************** Lubana River, Latvia June 10, 2008 06:00 =Briefing= "Bad news. The Russians went on the offensive in the Baltics this morning, three days ahead of schedule. Satellite images show two main thrusts -- one along the coast to Tallinn and the other straight past Izborsk to Riga. Senior command is trying to field a defensive force from our bases in Germany, but they need more time. And, we're the ones who are going to provide it. "Your mission is to blow the bridge where the Riga highway crosses the Lubana River. This will seriously damage the enemy's ability to bring forward reinforcements and will slow their advance dramatically. Plant demo charges on both of the main pillars of the bridge, then clear out to the extraction zone. Don't try to engage the primary force guarding the bridge -- they'll eat you for lunch. But use your own judgement on the Russian camp near the river. If it's lightly guarded, take it out -- it'll only add to the disruption." =Objectives= 1 - Destroy East Pylon 2 - Destroy West Pylon 3 - Get to Extraction Zone X - Eliminate Camp Garrison =Platoon= ALPHA: Jacobs, Loverso, Katunich BRAVO: Tunney, Allen CHARLIE: Musingo =Notes= Allen replaces Osadze in Bravo; Musingo replaces Stone in Charlie. Allen packs demo charges and Tunney packs antitank rockets. HQ tells us not to engage the primary force guarding the bridge, that they'll eat us for lunch. HQ doesn't know we have two demo guys on this mission -- Allen for the bridge and Tunney for the tanks. Also, there's no big rush. SNIPE Switch to Charlie. Send Alpha west down the hill and position them near the end of the rocky wall to their left. (Look on a close-up of the map and notice how the rocky wall ends in a triangular point. Put your guys at the right side of the base of the triangle.) Switch to Bravo and go prone. Switch to Charlie, move toward the trees to the south, crouch, and watch for a Russian patrol of two in the distance. Shoot one, hit the dirt, then wait until the other shows himself. Head SW down the hill to the opening in the rocky wall and look for a patrol of three to the south down on the bank on your side of the river. If they're walking away, shoot as many as you can or let Alpha handle them. If they're walking toward you, shoot them with care -- one has grenades. (If they're directly below, switch to Alpha and pursue them along the riverbank, distract them, then alternate between Alpha and Charlie.) Another patrol of three moves south to north on the far bank and may not yet be in view. Wait for them or head south along the rocky wall and spot them through the next small opening. Shoot one then hit the dirt until their fire subsides, stay prone, crawl back to the edge, and wait until they come into view. A third threesome is to the south on your side of the river. If you can't spot them, head back to the first opening, and if you don't get all three (very difficult at that range with limited visibility), switch to Alpha, move south along the riverbank, and pick them off from behind the large rocks. When the coast is clear, move Alpha south to the bottom of the rocky trail leading up the cliff and move Bravo to the top. THE THING OF THE BRIDGE As Charlie, head east up the hill and then south along the fence until you spot the tanks, crouch, continue to the end of the fence, head for the lone scrub tree near the road, go prone, peak over the ridge, find a clear view of the armor, and snipe the five guards. Switch to Tunney in Bravo, continue south to the last grove of trees, avoid the opening in the rocky wall, and destroy the enemy armor. Aim carefully -- Tunney carries four rockets and there are two more tanks on the other side of the bridge. Move south and stop against the rocky wall just past the opening. Switch to Charlie and watch as a sixth enemy soldier crosses the road by the smoldering tanks and heads for Bravo -- take him out or let Bravo have the honors. If the sixth doesn't appear, we'll deal with him later. Otherwise, return to the rocky wall, and make for the opening a short distance beyond the last grove of trees. Go prone and pick off as many of the enemy as you can across the river. Three are on the high ground off to the SW through the mist; five are on the riverbank below and some ascend the rocky trail leading down to the river -- their location depends on how long it takes you to get back to the cliff. Wait and watch several minutes and keep your head down. If Alpha reports engaging the enemy, they're just doing their job -- up to six enemy from the camp garrison move south along the east river bank. Continue to the south end of the rocky wall, peek around, and take out several more at the far end of the bridge. For cover, loop around the closest tank and go carefully to the bridge and check for activity on the other side. If all's quiet, cross the road and find the steep rocky path by the falls leading down to the river. If the sixth enemy soldier didn't appear earlier, you may find him down here, so proceed with caution. Keep an eye on the far bank as well. Switch to Allen in Bravo, follow Charlie down the path, plant a demo charge on the east pylon, then retrace your steps up to the bridge. Ditto for Charlie and position him about halfway across. You can actually get right between the second pair of tanks before arousing them, but why press your luck -- switch to Tunney, advance two- thirds the way across the bridge to the second expansion strip and fire when ready. Send Charlie across the bridge, turn right, and take up a guard position at the top of the rocky trail. Follow him across, head down the trail, switch to Allen, and plant another demo charge on the west. Head north along the west riverbank and stop across from Alpha. Wave. SNIPE IN THEIR BACKYARD Switch to Charlie and go sniping. Head back to the road and follow it toward the extraction zone. Remain standing -- you want to see the unsuspecting enemy from the greatest possible distance over the rise. As soon as a head appears, shoot then run like hell in the opposite direction and duck behind the smoldering tank south of the road. In a few moments more will follow in the field to the north and on the road itself and you can pick them off one-by-one. If you count six carcasses (may be a seventh), you've got them all -- if not, repeat the procedure. When the extraction zone is clear, continue up the road and head for the first grove of trees west of the unpaved path leading to the Russian camp garrison. For a relatively unobstructed view of the camp, go prone behind the tall conifer SW of the tallest in the grove and fire away. Kill as many in the camp as you can (six or seven), then switch to Alpha for the final assault from the north. Retrace Alpha's steps north along the riverbank, keeping Bravo abreast on the opposite side. Make your way to the trees by the river ford, send Bravo through the ravine, ford the river, and circle counterclockwise on the high ground around the camp. Bravo circles clockwise. Any holdouts in the camp don't stand a chance. When they're all down, the mission ends. Enjoy the cut scene -- the bell tolls not for thee. ******************************************************************** MISSION 08 - ZEBRA STRAW ******************************************************************** Venta, Lithuania June 24, 2008 16:00 =Briefing= "The 1st Armored Division has managed to stop the Russian advance... but just barely. We've got reinforcements coming up from the coast, but they won't be here until tomorrow. Right now, the situation is very fluid -- if the Russians resume the attack before we're ready, we're not sure our line will hold. "The main concentration of Russian troops in this sector is near a little Lithuanian village named Venta. They've set up mobile artillery in the hills nearby and are using it to shell our position here. Your mission is to go in and take out that artillery. "The chopper will drop you at an abandoned farm just west of town. It's unlikely that your arrival will go undetected, so you'll need to establish a defensive perimeter quick or you'll be overrun. Once you're in place HQ will launch an attack down the main road. Hold the farm until you see our tanks, then link up with them and proceed into the village. Clear out the village, then proceed to the artillery batteries in the hills. One antitank rocket apiece should do the job." =Objectives= 1 - Secure the Village 2 - Destroy East Artillery 3 - Destroy North Artillery X - Protect Friendly Tank =Platoon= ALPHA: Jacobs, Loverso, Katunich BRAVO: Tunney, Grey CHARLIE: Musingo =Notes= Grey replaces Allen in Bravo. Specialist Susan Grey comes to us highly recommended. A word of caution, gentlemen: anyone caught crawling on a prone Ms. Grey will be subject to court-martial. CAN'T GET ANY WORSE Pouring rain, bad visibility, it all happens fast, no time to explain... Switch to Bravo and send Alpha south into the orchard. Zoom the map and find the quadrant marked by what resembles a reticle in the middle of the orchard. Place Alpha directly south of the yellow triangle marking the farmhouse and on a latitude of the horizontal line of the reticle. Put Charlie farther south on the grid line. Run to the window to the left of the front door of the bombed-out farmhouse, crouch at the bottom left pane, and mow down the three enemy advancing on the east side of the dirt road ahead. Ignore the firefight behind you, turn to your left, and wait for the other three advancing on the west side of the road -- shoot them through the doorway as they run past. Alpha and Charlie eliminate a patrol of four approaching from the east. DELAY AIR SUPPORT Avoid the entire area to the east of the farmhouse and the farmhouse road -- entering this area will initiate the air strike on the enemy tank south of the main road and a few moments later the friendly tank will appear. We want to clear out as much of the enemy as possible beforehand by drawing them out of their positions. I don't know what HQ has in mind, but advancing directly into the village is suicide -- many of our brave men and women died to bring you this information. Switch to Charlie and lead Alpha and Bravo north across the main road keeping everyone as close to the west perimeter as possible. Position your platoon where the west hill bulges north of the road (see map). Enemy troops in the field to the east will spot your movement and attack in a wide arc -- let Alpha or Bravo initiate the battle then join in. If you count eight Russian corpses you're having a good day (especially if one of them is the demo guy who left his post by the enemy tank just north of the road). If not, some of them guarding the north artillery have not come down. NORTH ARTILLERY HILL Order all squads to advance at all costs, otherwise they'll hold or head for cover once they spot enemy armor. Move toward the west passage of the artillery hill, scan the ridge from a safe distance, and snipe enemy one-by-one as they appear. Before you get up, check the field below the ridge for one who may have come down the south passage -- Alpha or Bravo may get him for you. When there's no sign of activity, head SE, ignore the tank parked north of the road (it becomes active only when approached relatively head-on), crouch, move cautiously up the east side of the south passage to the second rock, and look for the unsuspecting head of an enemy crouched behind the east end of the boulder NE of the artillery. (Ignore the artillery altogether -- you can stand in front of it and shout obscenities and nothing happens.) Shoot him, take a few steps forward so you can see over the rock you're standing next to, and shoot the head of another that appears in the distance about forty degrees to the right a few moments later. If no one is behind the boulder, creep east until you can see the head of the other. Take up a position above the boulder, crouch, and face east. Five more enemy patrol in groups of two and three in the field east of the artillery hill and, depending on their proximity when made your last kill, two, three, or all five will respond. Shoot them one-by- one as they ascend the east passage. Move east, find some higher ground with good visibility, and wait for the remaining pair or trio to come into view in the field below. If it's the trio and you'd rather not risk a stray slug from their automatic weapons, shoot one then take cover again behind the boulder. If all five show up, one may scurry to the left and circle around the rocks then reappear. Take care -- some of them have grenades. If one goes left and does not reappear, cautiously move east along the ridge, peak around the boulder due east of the artillery, and finish the job. Summon Alpha and Bravo to the top of the hill (either passage) but don't destroy the artillery yet -- doing so invokes the friendly tank and you'll sustain heavy losses trying to protect it. Leave the two squads there and head down the east passage. SOUTH ARTILLERY HILL Head south and find the shell crater with a small boulder next to its rim just north of the road. Across the road a patrol of three covers the area east and behind the south village -- if you see them clearly, wait until they disappear into the mist and then shoot as many as possible when they return into view. Four more guarding the south artillery come down the north passage. When all seven are down, find the heads of two more in the two nearest buildings of the north village. (If Charlie is overwhelmed, simply call Alpha, position them in the crater, and they'll neatly dispatch the two patrols. You can sit and watch or assist them.) Move up the north passage, circle clockwise around the perimeter of the hill (ignore the artillery), and find the lone Russian crouched under the overhang of the large boulder SW of the artillery. Two more patrol the field west of the west passage -- stay crouched and walk along the southern part of the west ridge until you spot them. Zoom the map and find the quadrant marked by a reticle on the long west ridge of the north artillery hill and position yourself below the vertical line of the reticle so that you have a view of the south village. Zoom your scope and find the enemy standing beyond the uprooted tree, between the two buildings at the yellow triangle marking the south village, and take him out -- you've just eliminated the other demo threat to the friendly tank. Another, in the west building, is difficult to see through the mist -- wait until he moves if you have a hard time spotting him. CLEAR THE VILLAGE Descend the north passage, run behind the south village (as you near the village the friendly tank and accompanying platoon rolls in on the road from the west), enter the first building through its collapsed SE corner, move quickly to its NW corner, and shoot the exposed enemy standing in the west building of the north village. Cross the road, take cover behind the partial low wall of the east building in the north village, and locate the last three enemy in the courtyard of the church. If you're able to kill all three, the mission ends successfully. One of the three in the church may duck and not reappear as the friendlies move through. Keep a bead focused on the church, wait until our tank and men pass safely, then switch to Bravo and destroy both artillery (optional). Regroup your platoon, take a break, and decide how you want to finish off the guy holed up at the church. Wondering about the enemy tank in the field near the insertion zone? As you approach the church, it's pulverized by an air strike. And the enemy tank north of the road to the west of the village? Our tank destroys it. ******************************************************************** MISSION 09 - BLUE STORM ******************************************************************** Nereta Swamp, Latvia July 3, 2008 09:00 =Briefing= "The Russians are stalled just south of Riga. 1st Armored is prepped to launch a major offensive as soon as the weather clears. We're sending you in now behind the Russian lines to disrupt communications before the attack. "Your target is a Russian listening post on the border between Lithuania and Latvia. They've set up their equipment in the middle of a swamp so you're going to have to get your feet wet. There are three main islands you'll need to clear. We think the listening post itself is on the eastern island, but we want you to sweep all three to be certain. Try to capture the commanding officer alive if possible -- he might have valuable information about the Russian defensive strategy." =Objectives= 1 - Clear Northern Island 2 - Clear Eastern Island 3 - Clear Western Island X - Capture Russian Officer =Platoon= ALPHA: Jacobs, Loverso, Katunich BRAVO: Grey, Ramirez CHARLIE: Musingo =Notes= Ramirez replaces Tunney in Bravo. Susan Grey and Henry Ramirez both have silenced MP5's and the success of this mission depends on stealth. SET UP AN AMBUSH Switch to Susan... ahem, Specialist Grey... in Bravo and head west through the trees. When you reach the log, find and kill the two enemy patrolling ahead -- they appear to the south of the distant roots of the fallen tree, walk east as far as the first boulder on your right, then return to the top end of the tree. The fog and your silenced weapons help keep you concealed and also won't attract attention from the enemy on the east island, within a stone's throw to the NE. We're going to draw off a few of them on our terms and here's the setup. Crouch and get into the hole at the roots of the fallen tree, then switch back and forth between Grey and Ramirez and position them so that Ramirez is under the trunk on the other side of the roots and they're both facing NE. Go prone and fine tune the two: pull Ramirez back a little so that he's protected by the roots as much as possible, Grey so that she's barely peaking over the top of the hole, then order Bravo to hold. Summon Alpha and Charlie. Switch to Charlie, position him prone to the west of the fallen tree such that he has a relatively unobstructed view under it to the NE and so that the boulder is about eight feet to his right, then order Charlie to hold. Switch to Alpha, move to the two rocks at the bank of the swamp passage leading to the east island, then fire off a few bursts NE through the trees toward the south tip of the island. Run SW to the fence, turn to your left, go prone near the bushy conifer such that no one in Alpha can see over the slight ridge, and order Alpha to hold. Why all the fuss? Everyone needs to get down and stay down -- this is Bravo's show. Switch to Bravo, peak out over the top of the hole, and wait for the enemy to emerge from the swamp. The idea is for Bravo to take them out one-by-one as they advance -- Alpha and Charlie are strictly backup. If no one shows for the party, repeat the invitation. Still no takers? Switch to Alpha and send a rocket-powered grenade and some Latvian obscenities to the NE. (Don't forget to put everyone prone again). Once more, the success of this tactic depends on everyone keeping their head down. If you can detect but cannot see the remaining enemy, switch to Charlie, move north to the bank of the swamp, then crawl east until you do. When the smoke clears, you'll have from three to seven fewer hostiles to deal with on the east island. Let's assume the corpse count is three. RUSSIAN OFFICER The wily Russian officer is tipping a few with his comrades in the farmhouse located in the center of the quadrant (marked on the map by the circled 1). Reports that he can be taken alive once he staggers back to the east island are greatly exaggerated, so capturing him is our next priority. We'll be traveling though the swamp around the comma-shaped deep water to the north and the U- shaped deep water farther north. Switch to Alpha, remain on hold, order recon, head toward the west island, wade into the swamp, and loop clockwise around the deep water, staying as close to the deep water as possible. Continue north through the deepest part of the swamp west of the east island (note the farmhouse to your left across the deep water) then loop around the deep water and head south for the building (catfish farm?). The Russian officer could be anywhere -- in the farmhouse at the top of the stairs that leads to a loft, standing in a doorway, or in fact trudging back to the east island. Regardless, fire a grenade from the south doorway up to the far wall of the loft to kill the two enemy -- the officer remains unscathed even if he's at the top of the stairs. Switch to Charlie, make your way to the farmhouse via the same route, resist the temptation to shoot hostiles on the east island, and escort the prisoner upstairs -- you might as well make yourself comfortable while you baby sit him for the remainder of the mission. EAST ISLAND Switch to Alpha, remain on hold/recon, retrace your steps, and take up a crouched position behind the low rock in the swamp at the south end of the U-shaped deep water -- the enemy bunker at the south tip of the east island is visible. Switch to Bravo, remain on hold, order recon, and join Alpha. Slip ashore a little to the north so as not to be detected by the bunker but freeze if you see enemy patrolling ahead up on the island. When they've disappeared into the trees, go prone halfway up the bank, crawl toward the bunker, order advance/engage for all squads, and take out the two inside. Due to the randomness of the enemy's movement, it's impossible to predict what happens next -- some may head your way or it may remain quiet. 1. If they head your way, set a waypoint for Alpha halfway up the bank; then remain prone, crawl to the top of the bank, and pick them off as they advance. 2. If all is quiet, head for cover behind the downhill side of the bunker. Switch to Alpha, order recon, head north in the swamp, pause behind the partially submerged boulder west of the tent, eliminate a small patrol, then rejoin Bravo. Switch to Bravo and take up a position in the center of the grove of trees (just south of the horizontal portion of the reticle on the map). Switch to Alpha, cross overland toward the east bunker, take out the three enemy inside with a rocket-powered grenade, order engage, hit the dirt, and finish off the remaining hostiles coming from the east with Bravo's assistance. In either case, carefully search the island for any remaining hostiles. WEST ISLAND Order all teams advance/engage and slog back through the swamp to the south end of the west island. Position Jacobs prone to the right of the burning trash barrel, equidistant between the barrel and the bush farther to the right, peeking over the top of the bank; Loverso and Katunich go to the left of the barrel, not quite to the top of the bank; order Alpha to hold. Switch to Bravo and position Grey prone to the right of the bush, peeking over the bank; place Ramirez to Grey's right and farther down the bank; order Bravo to hold. Switch to Alpha and (this may sound like cheating) look down and to the side to discern in your peripheral vision the figures of two enemy ahead on the island. Shoot at one of them then immediately switch to Bravo. The idea here is for Jacobs to draw enemy fire while Grey picks them off as they advance, similar to the ambush tactic at the beginning of the mission. Once more, everybody has to keep low. As Grey, watch for enemy to sneak through the trees on Alpha's left flank (Loverso or Katunich are there to cover) and watch your own right flank as well (Jacobs should have you covered). Wait a minute or so for any stragglers to appear. For those of you concerned about relying on the skills of a woman leading a platoon in battle... get over it. When all's quiet (about seven kills), switch to Alpha, order all teams advance, head straight up the island or move along either bank, find the log in the clearing, and wait at a safe distance for the last three enemy to appear. NORTH ISLAND Switch to Bravo, lead the platoon through the camp of the west island, slog north through the swamp, past the cemetery, to the unmarked island in the NW corner of the sector and dry off in the abandoned shack. Leave Alpha here, order recon, then slip back into the swamp for the north island. Pause in the water at the edge of the trees if you see a two man patrol ahead on the island. When the coast is clear, move clockwise through the water to the NE tip of the island, between the two partially submerged rocks, go ashore at the next rock in the water, position yourselves prone facing uphill in the mud about twenty feet from the water's edge, and order hold. Why here? This is as good a place as any and has a fairly unobstructed view up the hill. With nerves of steel, wait until the patrol is close and in clear view, order engage, and take them both out with a few deft shots to the head. Immediately order recon again, remain prone and motionless, and wait for an investigating patrol of three to walk down from the top of the hill. It's gonna take guts, but wait until they're almost on top of you, order engage, and take them out. (They have grenades: if allowed to scurry for cover, be prepared to kiss your ass goodbye.) If no one appears, continue clockwise along the bank, find and eliminate one of them, run back to the previous position, go prone, order engage, and take out the remaining four as soon as they appear. Order advance, meet Alpha at the island marker at the top of the hill, switch to Alpha, order recon, and finish the mission with a rocket-powered grenade down into the enemy bunker at the SW end of the island. ******************************************************************** MISSION 10 - FEVER CLAW ******************************************************************** Vilnius, Lithuania September 1, 2008 18:00 =Briefing= "Good news. 1st Armored won major victories at Utena and Rezekne, and the Russians are falling back on all fronts. One final push and they'll be out of the Baltics for good. Word is the Russian military brass is taking the defeat hard. They're blaming President Arbatov and the other political leaders -- there just might be a coup brewing. "We're sending you into Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital. The Russians have held it since the first week of the invasion and it's been the site of some significant action by the Lithuanian underground -- the place is practically in ruins. You'll be escorting a tank column into the heart of the old city to liberate what's left of the presidential palace and some other key locations. As the Russians learned in Grozny, sending armor into an urban setting without proper infantry support is suicide. The remaining Russian troops have their backs to the wall so they're not going to go down without a fight. Watch out for snipers and antitank rockets fired from the shelter of the ruins. And, as always, try to keep civilian casualties to a minimum." =Objectives= 1 - Secure University Square 2 - Secure Presidential Palace 3 - Secure Cathedral Square X - No friendly tank casualties =Platoon= ALPHA: Jacobs, Grey, Cohen BRAVO: Loverso, Katunich CHARLIE: Stone =Notes= Loverso and Katunich move to Bravo; Gray moves to Alpha; Specialist Lindy Cohen joins Alpha; Stone replaces Musingo in Charlie. HQ tells us we need a demo on this mission -- not so, gentleman. All nine Russian armor are of the small caliber anti-personnel type and pose no threat to our tanks. What we need is a small elite -- no, gentlemen, I did NOT say petite -- team to move fast and eliminate hostiles carrying anti-tank rockets. It should all be over in about ten minutes with Bravo playing a small support role. HINT: Bumping Ghost Recon's gamma setting up one notch for this mission may significantly improve visibility. DANGER ONE Wait for our lead tank's machine gun to subside, stay to the right of our armor, run east on the sidewalk, drop into the small stairwell, and shoot the solitary enemy in the Presidential Palace rear courtyard ahead on the other side of the street. Crouch, wait for the column, and continue down the street staying close to the second tank. Stop when the column stops and let our lead tank finish off the individuals and the enemy tank in the courtyard. Advance when the column advances, move ahead slightly and let the lead tank eliminate hostiles in the intersection ahead -- one or two may run south, so be prepared to deal with them. Use the lead tank for cover, and when it turns north, cross the intersection, move north on the sidewalk, take cover behind the small protrusion of the next building, and kill the rocket-toting hostile behind the pile of rubble at the far corner of the building across the street. While you're waiting for the column to destroy both enemy tanks in University Square (completing objective one), set a waypoint for Bravo near the small stairwell in the previous street. DANGER TWO Our second tank takes the lead: follow then wait as it wipes out more enemy down the hill to the north. When it begins rolling again, switch to Bravo, carefully approach the rear palace courtyard and kill any enemy survivors (there may be none). Enter the courtyard, hang a left into the alley then a right up the porch steps. Go through the open back door of the palace, run up the stairs, and head to the end of the hallway. Head down the short hallway to the left, turn right and notice a partially demolished room ahead in the NE corner of the palace. The enemy rocket man is just around the corner to the left. Retrace your steps to the hallway you entered from the stairs, sidestep to your right, and take out the enemy sniper at the opposite end of a long, similarly demolished room. Switch to Alpha and catch up to our tank column. By now it has moved west then south and destroyed enemy foot soldiers and one of the tanks guarding the palace. Kill any survivors (there may be none) near the parked jeep. Our column turns west in front of the palace and destroys the other tank parked in an alley, thus completing objective two. DANGER THREE There's no need to approach the palace, so run through the arched tunnel to the north, turn east down the wide alley, then north up a longer alley, and find the open doorway on the left. Enter the building, go up a short flight of stairs, then a long flight to the right, turn left in the dimly-lit room, find the near hallway, turn left and kill the unsuspecting enemy in the inside front doorway. Immediately turn around, hook around to the right, shoot out the plate glass windows ahead in the short hallway, and kill the final rocket-wielding enemy standing in the doorway to the right of the rubble pile of the building diagonally across the street to the NW. Back up almost to the end of the short hallway, make sure you're against the right (east) wall -- push a team member out of the way if necessary -- crouch, wait, and kill more enemy one-by-one as they enter through the large outer entrance. Some of them may try to rush you or sneak a shot from the street, so be patient and keep your eyes open and your finger on the trigger. Meanwhile, our column rolls into the plaza and eliminates yet another enemy in the SE corner. CATHEDRAL SQUARE Leave the building the same way you entered, head south then east into a narrower alley, pass under the small stone arched bridge, up the incline, but don't step out into Cathedral Square. Shoot the machine gunner in the bunker in front of the cathedral, wait for the column to arrive and destroy three enemy tanks lined up near the extraction zone and a forth to the south of the square, then move out into the square and shoot the other machine gunner to the north to complete the mission. ******************************************************************** MISSION 11 - Dream Knife ******************************************************************** Ljady, Russia September 16, 2008 03:00 =Briefing= "The last enemy units pulled back across the Latvian border sometime yesterday afternoon. Public support for the Ultranationalists has dropped like a rock, and there are rumors that the military has President Arbatov under house arrest. It looks like things in Russia are turning ugly fast. "Your next mission is a simple rescue. Ten days ago two U.S. soldiers were taken prisoner when their humvee was ambushed near Ludza. They're currently being held at a POW camp in Russia. Normally Washington would let them sit out the duration, but one of them is a senator's son. Your job is to go in and bring them out alive. "Security is tight -- searchlights around the perimeter, well-armed guards inside. Don't try to shoot your way in -- you'll never make it. Go in quiet with silenced weapons, secure the guard post, locate the soldiers, and get out. "And, while you're there, be on the lookout for one other prisoner, a guy named Moroshkin. Supposedly he's being held in the infirmary. HQ says that he's some kind of major dissident and that springing him would make more trouble for the Ultranationalists in Moscow." =Objectives= 1 - Secure an entrance 2 - Rescue NATO PoWs 3 - Go to Extraction Zone X - Rescue Moroshkin =Platoon= ALPHA: Jacobs, Cohen, Loverso BRAVO: Grey, Ramirez CHARLIE: Galinsky =Notes= Loverso and Grey trade places; Ramirez replaces Katunich in Bravo; Astra Galinsky replaces Stone in Charlie. Galinsky packs Sniper Kit 2 with a silenced M9. Yes, I know, Galinsky's SVD sounds more like a sonic boom than a rifle and HQ tells us to be quiet and not shoot our way into the POW camp. As far as I know, there's no one in the platoon good at Jedi mind tricks. The idea, of course, is stealth but not necessarily total silence. If an enemy fires off a shot or is allowed to escape, it often means the sirens go off and enemy troops assault your position. In some cases, guards execute the POWs and the mission fails. When outside the camp walls, avoid all searchlights. SECURE THE PERIMETER If your first few shots trigger a siren, don't despair. Several troops from within the barracks compound pour out of the Entrance 1 door and they're easy to pick off from the same position used to kill the three guards assigned there. We'll assume your presence goes undetected. Activate night vision, switch to Charlie, order all teams hold, move about 50 meters south until the two guards at the gate of Entrance 1 become visible, go prone, but focus your attention to the west. Take out an enemy patrol of two when they come into view, then swing your sights back to Entrance 1 and take out the two guards. Crawl forward until you can spot and eliminate the guard in the entrance tower. After a few moments, another patrol appears farther south. When they're down, wait a minute or so, then proceed south along the fence to the brick guardhouse, crouch and walk around it, then stand and shoot the unsuspecting guard in the back of the head through the window with your M9SD. Head toward Entrance 2 and proceed in the same manner as before: shoot the guards on either side of the gate then move in for the one in the tower. Eliminate the guard in the south guardhouse in the same manner as the previous one. Continue clockwise around the camp walls and ignore barking dogs. There's no need to stay in the cover of the trees, but avoid the embarrassment of meeting the enemy face to face out in the open, and of course stay out of the searchlights. Another patrol of two moves counterclockwise -- you'll encounter them somewhere along the curved west wall. When you get back to your platoon, lead them south along the fence, past the first guardhouse, across the drive, then head for the door just west of the Entrance 1 gate. (If Galinsky's solo work proves too noisy, use Bravo to clear the perimeter, although this will take a bit longer since you'll have to get up close and personal.) SECURE MAIN BARRACKS Switch to Bravo, crouch, go through the door, and head up the stairs into the tower. Order the other two squads up and make sure no one is standing. Stand briefly and peek to the west: two guards stand on either side of the inner gate and a third on the north side of the road walks slowly toward the gate of your tower (or he may be running around madly). Crouch, descend the inside stairs, open the door from an angle (it may already be open), go prone, stick your head out around the doorway, and wait for the walker/runner to get close. When he's down, crawl out the door and south for the cover of the barracks -- Ramirez may get stuck on the stairs, so switch to him temporarily and crawl to cover. Crouch and circle clockwise around the buildings, stop at the east half of the third one, position both Grey and Ramirez with their noses against the building, go prone, and shoot from beneath (you can crawl under if necessary) the raised building to take out the two guards. If Ramirez doesn't fire first, his view is obstructed by the support blocks holding up the building: position Grey with a clear view, switch to Ramirez again, reposition him, and assist Grey who by now has already killed one of the guards. (If one escapes and hides, retrace your steps, crawl past Entrance 1 gate, circle the barracks to the north, find him, and avoid being spotted by the guard in the inner gate tower.) When both are down, open the door to the inner gate tower, stand, step sideways into the stairwell, and get a clean silent head shot. POW GUARDS Ascend the stairs but do not shoot any of the four figures in the chain link fence enclosure farther to the west -- the two in the middle are the NATO POWs. You may have noticed your threat indicator glowing -- a solitary enemy patrols the buildings below. If you can't see him from the tower, go down the inside stairs, open the door, go prone, and wait patiently until he comes into view. Order, recon, crawl west toward the tent, peek around the right side of the crates, and take out the POW guard on the right. Immediately order engage, crouch, and take out the other as he heads south for the enclosure gate. Do not try to rescue the POWs. Move south, cross the road, head behind the two buildings, through the small alley created by the second building and the camp wall, and order Bravo to hold. Turn right, find and kill the guard standing in the far corner south of the hospital, back up into the alley, and wait for two more guards to investigate. SET UP AN AMBUSH Before we proceed to the hospital, there's something you should know. Notice the guard tower and gate to the north wing of the camp: the door is locked and no one's home. When you rescue Moroshkin or the POWs, ten enemy miraculously appear -- five on each side of the tower door and they try to kill you and the POWs. Nice, huh. Here's the setup. Switch to Alpha, make your way into the POW enclosure, and go prone behind the north half of the barracks building. Position all three individually partway under the building so that they're lined up three abreast and have a clear view of the door to the north guard tower. Alpha will eliminate the five enemy who appear to the left of the door. Switch to Charlie, make your way through the towers, turn left as you exit the second tower doorway, and take up a prone position on the east side of the four-vehicle garage so you also have a clear view of the target doorway to the north and set your sights just to the left of the tower gate. It's your job as Charlie to take out the five who appear on the right. HOSPITAL Switch to Bravo, head for the open front door of the hospital ahead. Walk in, open the closed door on the right and shoot the unsuspecting hostile in the next room. Exit as you came, enter the hospital's side door, open the next door, and surprise the second. Retrace your steps to the front door, move sideways at the open door on the right at the end of the hallway, and finish off the third. The sirens wail as soon as you rescue Moroshkin. Immediately switch to Charlie and pick off the five enemy -- one or two of them may try to break left or right. Also, beware that you're shooting through a bunch of picnic tables. When the dust settles, there should two piles of corpses. If the mission does not end, get up and move north along the wall and find and kill the survivors: one may be hiding on the north side of the building west of the picnic tables. If the mission still does not end, leave the camp and hoof it around to the extraction zone: any hostiles outside the camp walls that were not eliminated wait for you there. ******************************************************************** MISSION 12 - Ivory Horn ******************************************************************** Murmansk, Russia September 22, 2008 02:00 =Briefing= "Russia is falling apart. Arbatov is dead, as far as we can tell -- executed by the military as a scapegoat for the fiasco in the Baltic. Most of the country is under martial law, with soldiers patrolling the streets and curfews enforced in the major cities. It's unclear how much support the Ultranationalists really have in the military -- there are widespread reports of soldiers refusing to fire on civilians, or even to leave their barracks. "Our goal is to whittle down the base of support for the leaders of the coup. As a result, we're launching a series of covert raids against key military bases that are backing the Ultranationalists. Your first target is the naval base at Murmansk -- it's the headquarters of their northern fleet and a major operations center for their submarine service. Take a demolitions expert, and blow the sub pens and any other targets that appear promising. You'll have to move quick -- once the alarm is raised, base security will be all over you. "Good luck, you're going to need it." =Objectives= 1 - Plant Demo in Sub Pen 51 2 - Plant Demo in Sub Pen 52 3 - Get to Extraction Zone X - Plant Demo in Fuel Depot =Platoon= ALPHA: Jacobs, Cohen, Tunney BRAVO: Grey, Ramirez CHARLIE: Galinsky =Notes= Tunney replaces Loverso in Alpha. Tunney packs Demo Kit 3. Stealth plays a vital role in the success of this mission. CLEAR THE NW DOCK Activate night vision, switch to Bravo, and head up the ramp. Go prone, crawl toward the destroyer, and take out the two guards in the stern, then a third patrolling mid ship on the dock. Crouch and kill a fourth to the east by the freighter. Creep along the west side of the rail cars and find a fifth near the bow of the freighter, then loop counterclockwise around the shipping containers near the bow of the destroyer and eliminate a sixth. A seventh patrols (runs) around the portion of the dock east of the giant crane. Continue south and carefully locate and kill three guards patrolling around the two warehouses east of sub pen 51 by ducking in and out of the buildings. CLEAR THE FUEL DEPOT As long as we're this far, let's clean out the fuel depot area for Tunney. Put Bravo on recon, head south from the two warehouses toward the base of the high wall above which are two other large storage tanks, head east along the wall, then stop. Locate the guard patrolling along the west end of the fuel depot, wait until he walks to the bottom of the access ramp near the small well-lit guard shack, and kill him. Turn the corner and head south, then sneak up to the shack from the west and eliminate the two occupants. Head up the ramp, circle counterclockwise around the fuel tanks, and kill another. (Note: This large raised platform may be the only area in Ghost Recon where you can fall off and get hurt, so please use the ramps.) Go down the east ramp, head east, duck into the large doorway of the warehouse (one of three), in the SE corner of the sector, and wait and watch from the small north doorway for a solitary patrol. Check the west warehouse, then duck into the small doorway of the north warehouse and kill the guard in front of the building to the north. Judging by its reinforced construction and the racks in the lower level, this building might be used for torpedo or missile storage, but that's only a guess since I don't know the Cyrillic alphabet, don't speak Russian, and can't read the sign above the door. A passage below leads to the NE dock, but the door is guarded and there's an easier way. CLEAR SUB PEN 52 Alpha's going to love us. Continue around the east side of the bunker-like building then head NW as far as you can. Go prone as you pass the small ramp leading back and down to the sub pen and crawl to the low chain link fence overlooking the dock. Don't shoot at the patrol of two to the north -- wait for a lone patrol and then another. The guard near the door at the end of the passage from the previous building coughs and mutters: when the patrol of two disappears out of sight to the north, raise to a crouched position and look for him below where the fence jogs at an angle to the SE. You might have to stomp your feet a bit for him to respond and come out to see what's up. Head down the small ramp, open the door (make sure Bravo is still on recon), open the next door, and go prone. Crawl almost to the catwalk and take out the four individual guards. Two patrol the entire length of the catwalks on either side of the sub, so wait patiently until they're close enough for a clean shot. Two more, one on each side below, remain at your end -- the one down and to the right stays mostly in the lighted area, so turning off night vision temporarily may help locate him. Two passageways lead to the dock: one is at the base of the near catwalk stairwell on the left and the other is farther down near the end. Go ahead and explore if you like, there's no one else down here -- military budget cuts since the bad old days of the Soviet Union have taken their toll. For now, we're going to let the two remaining guards out on the dock think they're winning the war. ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE Once Tunney plants the demo on the sub in pen 51, the siren howls and an entire enemy regiment springs into action -- the Russians are not as unprepared as they seem. They emerge in three waves of nine from the inaccessible barracks area to the south through the opening in the fence near the well-lit guard shack next to the fuel depot. Each wave fans out in three columns of three individuals. One column heads NW to the two warehouses. A second runs straight north to the dock area south of the insertion zone. A third heads east around the fuel depot, arcs north, turns west at the connecting section of the dock, then continues north to the insertion zone. We will be waiting. THE SETUP Charlie heads south from the insertion zone and lies prone facing south at the top of the slight grade. Position Galinsky about two meters west of the railroad tracks with enough of her body over the grade line so that she has a clear view ahead. Order Charlie to hold. Her main responsibility is the second enemy column heading straight north. Bravo hikes back from sub pen 52 and goes prone on the edge of the fuel depot platform just east of the center access ramp. Put Grey next to the ramp, Ramirez to her right, both facing north and slightly angled to the west. Order Bravo to hold. Bravo's job is to stop the third column. Alpha proceeds to sub pen 51 and Tunney is poised with the demo charge. Alpha will be moving out to a position between the high wall below the large storage tanks and the westernmost rail car, roughly the same point from which Bravo dispatched the first fuel depot guard. Alpha's job is to take out the first enemy column as it heads for the warehouses. THE TIME LINE When Bravo and Charlie are in position, switch to Alpha, and plant the demo. Immediately switch to Bravo and bring up and zoom the map. Set a single waypoint on the vertical grid line adjacent to the west end of the rail car, equidistant between the car and the wall. Fifteen seconds after the demo is planted, our presence is detected and the siren goes off -- Alpha is en route to its destination. Forty-five seconds later the first wave of nine appears -- Alpha has reached its destination with two seconds to spare. Alpha and Charlie begin firing. About ten seconds later the third column reaches Bravo -- Grey fires at them as they approach on the railroad tracks, they disappear behind the tanker car, then both Grey and Ramirez resume firing. Mercifully, the enemy doesn't fire back. The next wave appears from thirty to forty-five seconds later and only after all nine are down -- if the next wave does not appear, one of the enemy in column three has eluded Bravo. If so, switch to Charlie, run north, locate the rascal, kill him, then run back and resume your position. NOTES With this setup you can switch to any of the characters with reasonable confidence that the other squads can take care of themselves. As Alpha, you can pick off enemy in columns two and three as well. As Charlie, you can protect Alpha from enemy that try to sneak around the corner by the rail car. And as Bravo, you can help avoid letting one slip past -- these guys are tough and they stagger and limp forward with a dozen or more slugs weighing them down. Additionally, Galinsky can swing her sights to the east and finish them off as they appear from behind the old brick train station if they disappear out of Bravo's range. Use the map often to get an overview of the battle. You gotta give them credit: the Russians have guts, but now they're splattered all over the ground. END GAME Switch to Alpha and plant a demo charge in the fuel depot. Take Bravo's previous path to sub pen 52, plant the demo, and leave through the far exit as described previously. Open the door at the end of the corridor, find the two oblivious enemy out on the dock, and shoot them. You can either head back to the insertion/extraction zone or finish off the last three enemy in the naval base. They're in the building with the satellite dish on the roof, NE of the old brick train station. Head around to the back and shoot right through the bulletproof window at the guy standing in the corner. Enter the front door, sidestep through the doorway to the right, and kill another through the open doorway of his office. Finally, go down the hall, sidestep right and finish off a third in the next office. Want to get out of this godforsaken place in a hurry? A round of rocket- fired grenades for everyone. ******************************************************************** MISSION 13 - Arctic Sun ******************************************************************** Arkhangel'sk, Russia October 3, 2008 04:00 =Briefing= "It looks like civil war. The Centrists in the government and military have formed an alliance against the Ultranationalists. We're getting reports of Russian-on-Russian fighting from Smolensk to Vladivostok. "We're continuing our strategy of raids against military bases that are backing the coup. Your next target is the air base at Arkhangel'sk. It's the test site for both the S-37 "Berkut", a new experimental fighter prototype, and the Ka-50 "Hokum", Russia's next generation attack helicopter. Your objectives are to plant demo charges in both the "Berkut" and "Hokum" hangars as well as completely shutting down operations in the control tower. "Intel indicates that security at Arkhangel'sk is light -- apparently there's been a sharp increase in the number of desertions since the coup -- so don't worry about trying to finesse your way in. Based on our analysis the best approach is a direct frontal assault. Hit them hard and fast and get out as quickly as possible." =Objectives= 1 - Secure Control Tower 2 - Destroy S37 Berkut 3 - Destroy KA-50 Hokum 4 - Get to Extraction Zone =Platoon= ALPHA: Jacobs, Cohen, Loverso BRAVO: Tunney, Grey CHARLIE: Galinsky =Notes= Tunney moves to Bravo replacing Ramirez; Loverso joins Alpha. CONTROL TOWER Alpha enters the base and simply runs north in the middle of the street east of the long two-story building. Go prone at the intersection and shoot the guard near the flagpole in front of the low building ahead. Six more obediently respond. Switch to Charlie, enter the base, run up the storage tank embankment to the left, and shoot the flight controller up in the control tower. (If Alpha spotted no one by the flagpole, Charlie's shot will surely rouse them.) Run north on the embankment and find and shoot the patrol of three ahead on the tarmac west of the KA-50 Hokum hangar. Run east (don't step on Alpha) all the way to the chain link fence, face north, and wait for another patrol of three to approach from the west side of the Hokum's sister hangar. Switch to Alpha, enter the low building (looks like an officers' lounge), explore if you wish, and exit through the west door. Head north down the alley, open the NE door of the control tower, and shoot the guard as opens the door in the far right corner of the room. Head through the open doorway on the far wall (ooh, love this carpet), head down the hallway, jog around the sofas, sidestep into the hallway at the far end, and shoot the guard by the door. Another controller is up the stairs in the tower, but we're going to spare him for now until the two targets are destroyed. KA-50 HOKUM Exit the building the way you came, run north to the east side of the KA-50 Hokum hangar, and duck into the open door. Head up the stairs to your right, go prone at the top, turn right, crawl to the edge of the balcony, and take out the three guards below. Call Bravo (you can set a single waypoint outside the door you just entered), switch to Bravo, head through the door, turn left, enter the hangar, and set the demo charge by the chopper. UNMARKED HANGAR Switch to Charlie, retrace your steps, head west to the north end of the storage tanks, and wait for another patrol of three to appear from around the northernmost unmarked hangar. Head NW and take out another three in front of the S37 Berkut hangar. Switch to Alpha, head for the door on the south side of the northernmost unmarked hangar, and repeat the Hokum hangar procedure. (You might want to put Alpha on hold and recon for this one -- the enemy is clearly in view across the hangar.) S37 BERKUT HANGAR Switch to Charlie, take up a position at the NE corner of the unmarked hangar, wait patiently, and watch through the open bay doors for three more enemy inside the Berkut hangar to walk into view from right to left. Shoot when they're on the left side -- you don't want one or more to duck for cover. Switch to Alpha, exit the way you came, hook left around the front of the hangar (don't step on Astra), head for the aircraft on the tarmac, and make your way around to the back of the Berkut hangar. Open the door in the NW corner, step in, sidestep to the right and shoot the fixed machine gunner in the SE corner of the hangar obscured by the box next to the jet. Hoof if back to the control tower, take off your boots and socks and feel the soft all-wool stain-resistant fibers between your toes, go up to the top of the stairs, down the short hallway, sneak up another flight, sidestep left through the open doorway, and kill the other controller. Too easy. ******************************************************************** MISSION 14 - Willow Bow ******************************************************************** Toropec, Russia October 23, 2008 13:00 =Briefing= "Early reports indicate that the Centrist forces are stalled in their fight with the Ultranationalists. Popular support for the Ultranationalists has withered away to practically nothing -- they lost all legitimacy when they executed the president -- but they still control a sizable chunk of the military. Acting Prime Minister Karpin has privately requested a NATO force to help the loyal Russian troops crush the coup. "1st Armored Division has already crossed the Latvian border and is headed for Moscow. Satellite images show the main Ultranationalist force massing near Toropec, about 200 klicks east of our current position. Your mission is to link up with them and spearhead the assault. Expect extremely heavy resistance -- armor, Spetznaz, the works. You'll need to take both passes through the mountains and hold them against all Russian counterattacks. But if we achieve a breakthrough here, the coup is finished." =Objectives= 1 - Take North Pass 2 - Take South Pass 3 - Take Top of the Hill 4 - Neutralize Russian Camp =Platoon= ALPHA: Jacobs, Cohen, Loverso BRAVO: Grey, Ramirez CHARLIE: Musingo =Notes= Ramirez replaces Tunney in Bravo; Musingo replaces Galinsky in Charlie. Musingo's M24 is more accurate than Galinsky's SVD from a crouched position and in this mission our sniper does not always have the luxury of going prone. Alpha plays a support role and Bravo freezes their butts at the insertion point. SPECIAL NOTE: In previous missions, a friendly tank pushes you ahead harmlessly if you get in its way. In this mission, it runs you over and you're dead. However, other squads and squad members will automatically move out of harms way. NORTH PASS Switch to Charlie, crouch, head NE along the fence, past our tank, stop where the fence ends, scope the near rocky peak to the south, find the enemy sniper about a third the way down on the left slope, go prone, and shoot him. You're looking through tree branches and if he's not there, stay prone, and crawl sideways to your left against the rocky cliff until he appears. Hug the outer cliff perimeter up through the valley, and as you approach the rocky outcropping north of the pass, one of our tanks pulls out. Hook left around to the opposite side of the outcropping, turn around facing south, go prone, find the microwave tower obscured in the frosty haze at the top of the hill, and scope the ridge to its left for the white silhouettes of two sentries. Shoot the one on the right first, then try for the one on the left. (We'll assume the one on the left escapes -- there's a good chance he does not come back into view for Charlie to take a second shot.) Set a waypoint for Alpha at the south tip of your outcropping -- the tank and the accompanying soldiers will come to a halt south of them and face the pass. Scenario 1 A. An enemy comes down the pass from the house (visible on the map NW of the North Pass marker): shoot him and wait to see if there are any more. B. Continue east along the cliff, up the valley, and go prone where a boulder blocks your path. Crawl between the boulder and the bush on the right and far enough to see up into the valley ahead where three enemy patrol. Watch for them to come into view, stay still, and wait patiently for them to walk back up the distant slope before taking them out. C. Climb up the right side of the steep slope of the next pass leading to the house, go prone when you see the roof, and crawl the rest of the way to the right side of the boulder at the top. Crawl to your right until you can see the distant ridge to the SW, zoom scope, and find and kill another enemy sniper. D. Switch to Alpha, continue up the valley, past the three new corpses, up the next pass to the ridge at the top of which is a section of the pipeline, order Alpha on recon and advance at all costs, crouch, and head for the left side of the boulder obscuring the microwave tower. Below is the house with five more enemy and they're either in the yard on the side of the house by the road (to the left) or in back and to the right mostly hidden by trees. Fire off two or three rounds in quick succession from the GL end of your OICW and retreat to the middle of the ridge. (If you get all of them, you're notified that objective one has been completed. If not, our tank will roll up and finish off any survivors, but you don't want to stick around because one of them may send a grenade your way.) E. Head under the pipeline and find the spot behind the bush on the left where you can see down into the outer valley -- about forty- five seconds after the North Pass is secured, a group of two then three enemy come up this valley. Step back from the edge, wait for your threat indicator to glow red, wait another five seconds, then step to the edge again and fire another OICW grenade between them. Take up a prone position to the left of the large boulder (almost under the pipeline) and wait for the group of three to appear one- by-one (making a big stink as they advance) from around the end of the rocky wall to your right. Scenario 2 A. More than one enemy comes down the pass -- in fact the entire platoon may descend and you're there mainly to protect the friendlies from enemy grenades. B. The enemy patrol of three may not come into view. Wait a while then fire a shot or two over the near rise to get their attention. C. Same as above. D. If the entire enemy platoon descends and is destroyed on the pass and objective one is complete, there's no need to fire down on the house. But you must proceed to the same point as described above to invoke our tank. E. The second group of three hostiles may not follow the first group of two -- they may instead approach the house from the North Pass road in the inner valley. By now our tank has arrived at the house and the enemy are either killed or pinned down below you on the other side of your ridge. Crawl to the edge and finish them off. TOP OF THE HILL Switch to Charlie, head for the North Pass road (south of the house), and set a series of waypoints for Alpha to meet you there. Switch to Alpha, head west up the road, and take up a position next to the wall of rock on your left such that you have a clear view of the area at the base of the pass to the top of the hill with the microwave tower. Switch to Charlie, cross the road, circle from the other direction, and stop as you approach the pass to the right leading up to the tower -- a patrol of two appears from behind the left side of the near boulder ahead to the SW. (If your threat indicator glows as you approach the pass to the tower, turn right, step sideways and shoot them at close range on the pass.) Continue up to the pipeline stairs near the tower, crawl up, and shoot the sniper at the opposite end of the pipeline to complete objective three. SOUTH PASS Cross over the pipeline, head for the other end, go prone to the left of the corpse, and peek over the edge: a bunker on either side of the road below guards the South Pass. Take out the enemy rifleman first then the machine gunner in the near bunker, then the rifleman and the machine gunner in the far one. Crawl sideways to the your right if necessary and shoot a fifth standing at the base of the ridge behind the far bunker, then a sixth up and to the right on top of the ridge to complete objective two. Crawl sideways to your right until you can see the small portion of the South Pass road in front of the chalet, then find a group of four enemy to the left of the chalet. (If you don't see them, wait until they return from the front of the building, out of view.) Pick off as many as you can through the V in the rock ridge in front of the chalet, then wait for any survivors to advance on the road. If any get through, let Alpha finish them as they advance up the hill. Climb over the near pipeline stairs, go back down the hill, and head SW to the dead end ridge east of the South Pass. Crouch and follow the outer edge (the bunkers are directly below on your right), zoom scope as it angles to the south, continue slowly, and search for a distant enemy standing due south in the V created by your ridge's sloped face and the face of the southern tip of the rock ridge across the road. Shoot him and wait patiently for two more to appear one after the other on the road below. Two more enemy are hidden in the trees on the southern part of the ridge across the road. (On the map, they're due west of the one you killed in the V.) Here are two tactics for flushing them out: 1. From a point about 4 meters from the south end of the edge of your ridge, search the far ridge SSW for a small boulder and sidestep back and forth until you see his legs to the right of it (the other one is farther back and completely hidden). If you can't find him, simply shoot into the trees a few times -- regardless of whether you score a hit, they'll both run south after a few moments and come after you. Take them out in the V or below on the road. 2. Head down from the ridge to the bunker on your side of the road, crouch on the wrong side of the bunker, and in a few moments you'll spot them running up the far ridge. If you miss, they'll return fire, and come after you along the base of your ridge (following the same route as the others) -- go prone where your ridge angles south and wait for them. These two pose a threat to the guys accompanying our other tank, which starts rolling up to the South Pass road as you approach the bunkers. RUSSIAN CAMP Follow the road to the plateau at the south end of the map and take cover behind the end of the rocky ridge that separates it from the next plateau to the east, the one with the shed. Scope NE along the ridge north of the shed plateau and find and shoot the guard partially hidden by a bush. Head up along the same ridge toward his corpse and find another by the ridge. Circle clockwise around the rock hill to the north, hug the east perimeter rocky wall, and make your way to the opening in the ridge overlooking the Russian camp. Crouch and take all of them out from left to right, near to far. When/if they start firing back, either cross your fingers or step to the right momentarily behind the cover of the ridge. One may hide behind a bunker, but sooner or later he'll move and give away his position. One may leave the camp via the east-west road and hook around the ridge above the shed plateau -- he's not hard to find. The mission ends when all eight Russians are dead. ******************************************************************** MISSION 15 - White Razor ******************************************************************** Moscow, Russia November 10, 2008 11:00 =Briefing= "I never thought I'd see U.S. troops fighting in Red Square on behalf of the Russian people. This is the final showdown, gentlemen. The Ultranationalists hold the Kremlin and not much else. We're going to finish this thing right here. "First order of business is a squad of U.S. troops pinned down just to the east of your current position. Make your way through the medieval quarter, eliminate any resistance you encounter, and relieve those GI's. From there head south through the GUM department store to get to Red Square. The street will be full of refugees so watch your fire -- remember that we're here as liberators, not as conquerors. "Red Square is heavily defended. Be prepared for armor. There's almost no cover, but fortunately the snow should cut visibility and give you an advantage. "Now get out there and do your job. Let's win this one and go home." =Objectives= 1 - Relieve pinned down troops 2 - Take Nikolskaya Tower 3 - Take Spasskaya Tower 4 - Avoid Civilian Casualties =Platoon= ALPHA: Jacobs, Cohen, Loverso BRAVO: Tunney, Grey CHARLIE: Galinsky =Notes= Tunney replaces Ramirez in Bravo; Galinsky replaces Musingo in Charlie. The streets are indeed full of refugees so take extra care. RESCUE OUR TROOPS Set a waypoint for Charlie on the west side of the street at the first intersection south of the insertion zone. Stick Bravo, for safekeeping, in the SE corner of the small park across the street. As Alpha, run east through the street past the large park with the broken fountain, crouch, zoom scope, and find either of the two enemy to the south in the intersection in front of the GUM department store. As the mission begins, an unseen enemy patrol of three walks north through the buildings SE of the insertion zone -- directly into Charlie's sights. When the patrol of two hears Charlie's shots, they follow and Alpha has two choices: take them out (be mindful of the many refugees) before Charlie fires or let them meet their buddies' fate at the business end of an SVG. Head south to the street in front of the GUM, then east again, and couch behind the rubble pile. Shoot the unsuspecting hostile standing beyond the parked car ahead on the left at the next intersection, then wait for four more to emerge, one-by-one, from behind the building in front of the car. Objective one is complete, but don't blow it by shooting the NATO troops as they, too, emerge. THE GUM DEPARTMENT STORE Enter the vestibule, make way for any fleeing refugees, activate night vision, wait until all of Alpha are inside then go prone, order Alpha to hold, stay against the outer wall, and crawl counterclockwise around the center vestibule barrier such that you have a clear view of the inner entranceway but remain as far from it as possible. A patrol of three guarding the entrance strolls back and forth in the arcade beyond and two other patrols of two and three make their rounds out of sight on the arcade's upper level. Wait for one of the lower patrol to come into view, shoot him, and pick off the two others as they enter. The other five may eventually fire a few grenades, descend to ground level, and venture in -- if you count a total of eight corpses, the GUM department store is clear and you can shop at your leisure. If you count fewer than eight corpses, circle clockwise around the vestibule barrier, face west, stay prone, crawl sideways toward the arcade, and peek left often until you spot another. Their location(s) will be, in order of priority, as follows: a) in the entrance of a short hallway about 30 meters west on the upper level, on the other side of the arcade directly above the rubble pile; b) in the entrance of a lit short hallway about 35 meters west on your level, on the other side of the arcade; c) against the wall, a few meters away, at the corner of your entranceway; d) farther west against the wall. Once they're down, you can relax and hunt down the remainder, if any. They will be: f) just around the corner in the lit hallway; g) at the opposite end of the same hallway; h) left, at the top of the stairs; i) approaching on the upper level west of the entrance as described above in (a)... a grenade from your OICW works fine if you're weary of face-to-face combat. If one of the patrols on the upper level is far enough away when the battle begins, they may not have noticed your presence and are easy to stalk. Order all squads advance at all costs (so no one holds when they hear the enemy tank outside) and move your platoon to the west end of the south upper level of the GUM -- could this be bigger than the Mall of America? Switch to Bravo, move counterclockwise around the exit barrier wall, and destroy the enemy tank as it turns around and begins to exit the east-west dead end street. (It patrols a small area and can be destroyed anywhere, but let's not provide more cover for the enemy to hide behind. Also, note the dead tank sitting off the left at the intersection, so don't waste a rocket.) Move Bravo back behind the exit barrier wall. NIKOLSKAYA TOWER Here's the plan. An enemy patrol of three circles counterclockwise in Red Square and covers a small area south of the GUM exit -- they cross the intersection behind the dead tank, inspect your street on the west end of the GUM, walk to the barriers at the end of the short east-west street, walk east around a rubble pile in Red Square, and return to the dead tank. Another patrol of two circles clockwise and covers a much larger area to the south. Two fixed machine gunners in bunkers are placed one behind the other north of Nikolskaya Tower. We want to take out the trio first, then the duo, and the machine gunners last. Switch to Alpha, order all squads advance, head down the north steps into the outer exit vestibule, go prone facing the dead tank, and wait patiently for the trio to appear from behind the dead tank. Depending on where they are when their tank is destroyed, they may pause and reflect before recklessly exposing themselves -- if they don't appear, fire a shot at the dead tank to get their attention. Alpha gets five easy kills if the duo follows, but more likely they're in the vicinity of the Kremlin and haven't noticed they're about to lose the war. Either way, switch to Charlie, crouch, go to the end of the sidewalk, and when you get to the end of the railing, head back downhill so as not to be seen by the near machine gunner in Red Square. Move out into the middle of the street, go prone, crawl ahead, and stop when you can see over the incline. Scope the area to the south for the duo and shoot them. If you don't see them and don't want to wait, find and shoot the near machine gunner (the one on the left) through the small openings between the dead tank's wheels and tracks. Check to see if the duo is in sight, and if not, shoot the far machine gunner. Shoot the duo from a safe distance and objective two is complete. Crouch, approach the corner of the GUM building by the dead tank, poke your head around, take out the two unsuspecting enemy near the newly-arrived tank to the NW, and then a third as he appears from behind the tank. Order Charlie to hold, switch to Bravo, step around the same corner, and destroy the tank. Move Bravo out of harm's way, switch to Charlie, and scope the top of the long low distant barricade behind and to the right of the tank for three enemy heads. Patience is the key -- sooner or later they'll show up. Take as many out as you can, then wait patiently again as they crawl and try to sneak up on you through the opening in the near barricade. Head for the newly-destroyed tank, then move out into Red Square and find and shoot the fixed machine gunner to the east. Find the shell crater about 25 meters NE of the tank, get in, go prone looking over the top and facing east, and wait for a patrol of two to appear in the distant breach in the rubble beyond the back end of the bus. Switch to Bravo, take up a position at the front of the car beyond the bus, and wait for the third and final tank to appear through the same breach. Switch to Charlie, crouch, head east through the breach, sidestep to the left around the rubble pile, and find another fixed machine gunner far ahead to the SE. Wait for a patrol of two to come into view, then shoot them also. Head north for the demolished main entrance of the GUM, walk east, find a bunker with a pickup truck and another beyond and to the right, queue the Star Spangled Banner, and shoot both machine gunners to end the mission.