M01 Iron Dragon

Tbilisi, Georgia – Rebels operating in the South Ossetian Autonomous region are threatening the stability of the Georgian government. Company D, 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (5th SFG) stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the “Ghosts” are called in to bring stability to the volatile situation through the implementation of direct action assault.

The mission at hand is to infiltrate an area held by the rebel forces to achieve four specific objectives: 1) Neutralize Tent Camp Troops, 2) Secure the Caves, 3) Return to Insertion Zone and 4) Capture Papashvili (a rebel commander in the area currently holed up in the caves in a makeshift command post. The mission begins on Wednesday April 16, 2008 at 05:45 in sunny conditions.

As with any original Ghost Recon mission you can assemble a six man team broken up into a maximum of three fire teams. For this mission I am dispatching a light assault team, a heavy assault team and a designated marksman (sniper here on out you grunts). The light assault team consists of a rifleman and an automatic rifleman forming Alpha Team. The heavy assault team has the same and adds a demolitions specialist (not required for the mission but brought along for the experience gained) formed as Bravo Team. The sniper is alone as Charlie Team.





The key map image above indicates statics targets (red balls - RB), waypoints (orange balls - OB) and mobile or spawned targets (blue balls - BB).

It is important to note here that it is not necessary to go anywhere near the enemy camp to kill all of the soldiers there and achieve that objective. If you sweep down and to the left, then up the edge of the map to the caves, once you have Papashvili the troops in the camp will flood the cave area and you can eliminate all of them from a prime defensible position (OB8).

Your force starts at OB1, the insertion and the extraction zone. Start by controlling Team Charlie, the sniper, then order Alpha Team and Bravo Team to OB2. Manually move the sniper to a position about 30 feet behind these two fire teams and look for a clear shot to RB1, a sentry posted in a dugout overlooking the approach from the east.

After this sentry is eliminated, it will trigger a reaction from BB1 and BB2 units who will swarm the area from both sides of the dugout. This is a perfect opportunity to either use Team Alpha and Team Bravo as screens while you move back and forth picking off the enemy with the sniper rifle.
Alternatively, you can use the default PGUP key to cycle between units and suppress with the MG or devastate with the M203.

Once this automatic response is put down, move the sniper to OB3, a rock cut that has a line of sight to the slope across the shallow valley. At this point order Bravo Team (heavy) to OB4 and have them cover the approach corridor running NE. This position is just outside the AI detection range for RB3, a static weapon overlooking this approach to the enemy camp.

Order Alpha Team (light) to sweep past OB10, OB3 and move up to OB5 where they will wait for you to advance. While they are moving past OB3, use the sniper and eliminate all enemies at BB3, which is a guard house at the top of the slope. There should be several rebels milling about here, and usually on Elite Mode there are at least five.





While you are clearing these targets on the slope to cover the approach of Team Alpha, they will encounter RB2, a static automatic rifleman in a sandbag pit that is facing away from them if you assigned your waypoints for the AI to hug the exterior of the map (you did do that, didn’t you?)

This is an easy kill for Alpha and as long as you took care of business on the slope, they should be able to advance and hold station at OB5.

Move your sniper to OB4 where Bravo Team is waiting (usually best to loop around and behind them by going past OB10 and around the dugout RB1 so you can move up from their right position. Place yourself directly behind Bravo; acquire the RB3 target, a static automatic rifleman in a sandbag position on the outcropping of a cliff.


Once this threat is out of commission, move your sniper back up the way he came, following OB10, OB3, OB5 and arriving at OB6. Before moving out, order Team Alpha to move from OB5 to OB6 and cover due east towards OB7.

Depending on several circumstances, Team Alpha if under AI control may or may not engage the guards outside of the cave at BB4.

By the time you reach OB6, if they have not already put them down, switch to lead Team Alpha and move forward to BB4, eliminating any target you see. Leave the sniper at OB6 and order him to cover due east. Order Bravo Team (heavy) to advance to OB7 (they can wrap around RB3 and move west that way, but don’t have them go towards the enemy camp).

While Bravo is moving up, use Alpha Team to sweep around the rocks outside of the cave and kill anything that isn’t stamped "Made In America". Once you have verified Bravo is onsite at OB7, move Alpha to OB8, a key piece of highly defensible terrain which will make or break this mission on Elite Mode. Once the team is in the cut, switch over to lead Bravo Team, then order Alpha to move up to the middle of the rock cut and cover southeast. If they are far enough back into the cut, they will slaughter any rebels coming up over the ridge from the camp.



Move Bravo Team into the cave and eliminate all guards before you enter the deepest chamber which houses the rebel commander, Papashvili. If you enter that room before all guards are eliminated, Papashvili will engage you with a pistol and you will not be able to capture him. You will know when it is safe to move into the back room when you receive the secure the caves objective completed message.

Once you are in the caves eliminating targets, the enemy tent camp troops will rush the position from BB5 coming north and east along the top of the map, straight into the ambush setup by Alpha Team covering at OB8. After capturing Papashvili in the back room (simply move up to him and bump him and he will follow Team Bravo from that point) and before the AI is overwhelmed, switch back to Alpha Team in the cut and mow down the enemy soldiers coming up over the ridge.

At this point you will most likely need to leave the prone position and advance up over the ridge (make sure to reload both soldiers first switching to each and manually doing this). Grenades could work well here if you bothered to take them, otherwise you can use the crest of the ridge to pop up and down from the crouched position to take out the enemy that are laying suppressed on the other side.





Order Bravo Team back to the sniper waiting at OB6 and then order Bravo and Charlie to advance to OB5 then to OB3, where Bravo Team will hold position with Papashvili. Order Charlie (the sniper) to move up through the trees at BB2 towards OB4 while taking Alpha Team from the ambush spot at OB8 and bringing them east then south, moving to the east of RB3 towards BB1 and OB4.

Trust me this works – while the sniper is moving forward taking precision shots on the enemy that re-spawn at BB2 and BB1, you will move in for the kill eliminating everything that has a waistline over 42 inches. This is perhaps the second trickiest part of the mission, compared to what comes next. Once this plain is clear of rebel forces, move everyone up towards OB2. This is where the extra man on Bravo making them the heavy part can have the most benefit – someone to take a bullet and not the objective Papashvili.




The trickiest part of the mission comes next, with the re-spawn of at least five rebels in the extraction zone OB1. From OB2, take Alpha directly north to the rock wall then move east hugging the wall all the way until you arrive at a small ravine, OB13. This depression will present you with an excellent ridge that you can use to probe forward and eliminate any enemies you encounter.



Once the last rebel in the extraction zone is killed, you will have completed the mission even though technically none of your troops are all the way back to OB1. It is at this point that you will receive the objective completion for capturing Papashvili who has been trailing Bravo Team.



1 comment:

  1. This campaign was abandoned due to the files being lost during a system upgrade.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.