AAR [HLL PC] Operation Hot Topic 12JULY2026

[Swanson.B]

Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT
Name of Combat Mission: Operation Hot Topic
Game: Hell Let Loose
Server Hosted on: Training Server 1
Date of Combat Mission: 12JUL2026
Time of Combat Mission (Zulu): 2359z
Mission OICs: Second Lieutenant Roderick.S & Corporal Fox.F
Mission Controller: Captain Swanson.B, Second Lieutenant Roderick.S
CRCON
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Number of Attendees: 46
7th Cavalry Personnel Involved in Action:
Captain Swanson.B
First Lieutenant Angels.N
Second Lieutenant Lewis.P
Second Lieutenant Roderick.S
Staff Sergeant Koalafied.C
Sergeant Rhoden.J
Corporal Baldrick.D
Corporal Doss.T
Corporal Fox.F
Corporal Kenton.W
Corporal Muller.AS
Corporal Mustard.C
Corporal Owens.J
Corporal Tilley.B
Corporal Williams.S
Specialist Aponte.A
Specialist Ashford.M
Specialist Austin.M
Specialist Baldrick.JR
Specialist Bonderant.F
Specialist Brown.LG
Specialist Cazeault.J
Specialist Eri.C
Specialist MacAlister.P
Specialist Simmons.T
Specialist Sinclair.M
Specialist Stevenson.A
Specialist Waffle.J
Specialist Walton.D
Private First Class Anthony.M
Private First Class Burgess.S
Private First Class Fenrir.J
Private First Class Garner.P
Private First Class Kokin.A
Private First Class McCann.C
Private First Class Perrier.J
Private First Class Rush.J
Private First Class Stewart.C
Private First Class Walden.M
Private First Class West.T
Private Fabian.N
Private Nguy.B
Private Smith.ER
Private VanBeek.W
Recruit Byrne.O
Recruit Sanders.J

 

[Swanson.B]

Element Callsign:
Element Leader:
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:


Pros:

Cons:

 

[Angels.N]

Element Callsign: Axis "Baker" Attacking Infantry Squad
Element Leader: First Lieutenant Nate Angels
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Specialist Declan Walton
Private First Class Morell Anthony
Private First Class Jim Perrier
Private Owen Byrne

Pros:

• Great squad communications. Pings were outstanding and the contact reports were great.
• Great command chat as well. We were able to do outstanding and planning our attacks and defenses.
• Pings all around was great.
• The whole concept of the operation was great for the whole squad and we had a lot of fun.
• The change of some rules were good as well and it was a good little transition.

Cons:

• Squad communication were just a bit crowded. Had to lower the volume a bit lol.
• A smaller Area of Operations for the number of troopers that showed up. (VERY MINOR)

All in all, we had a blast with tonight's operation!

 

[Kenton.W]

Element Callsign: Allied Fox Squad
Element Leader:Corporal Kenton.W
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Private First Class Burgess.S
Private First Class Fenrir.J
Private First Class Garner.P

Pros:

• Squad had a good time, comms were great and we accomplished what we set out to do
• Enjoyed the change of pace with the whole escort mission, I really like this concept but could use a little more development.
• We mainly worked with Angel's squad and I thought we had good synergy during the match.

Cons:

• The "traitor" should have been in the same faction as his escorts to ease up on the meta gaming that was happening on both sides and making the garrison/outpost set up less cumbersome.
• More people would have made this better.
• The rules changing was a complaint from the squad but they understand why.
• Iron the rules out and have different rule sets based on attendance

 

[Stevenson.A]

Element Callsign: Axis Dog Squad (Professional PFC.Rush Haters)
Element Leader: Specialist Stevenson.A
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Specialist Austin.M
Specialist Cazeault.J
Private First Class McCann.C

Pros:

• Very fun operation, unique idea that ended up amazing!
• We had an excellent strategy for hunting the enemy VIP, squad executed PERFECTLY.
• Excellent command strategies by 2LT.Roderick, allowed us to execute as needed
• Axis tank squad did an amazing job covering our rear in regard to the VIP slipping through.
• Squad combined for 11 Spotter kills, amazing job by my troopers.

Cons:

• Rule changes mid game is always a con, good changes were made but always takes a minute to adjust.

 

[Fox.F]

Element Callsign: Allies Commander
Element Leader: Corporal Fox.F
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Corporal Fox.F

Pros:

• Coordinating with the spotter while driving transport vehicle and trying to navigate the enemy infantry was quite fun.
• Good coordination between squads was good.
• Good rule changes mid operation to improve the overall experience.
• Squads had a lot of fun destroying and killing the spotter and their trucks.

Cons:

• I think the AO was too large for slow infantry pushes with the spotter. Was much more fun using the transport trucks.
• We need restrictions on camping the back spawns. I think they 2 or 3 squares buffer would be good.
• Maybe keep tanks to recon and or light tanks to allow for more maneuverability, otherwise too slow to help defend the spotter.
• Enemies could easily set up in a line to prevent the transport truck from getting to far. Given there are two spotters available, think it would be a lot of fun with two trucks and spotters next time.
• Maybe a map that's a little more drive-able?
• Maybe setup the map so the mid point cant be captured. (restricted AO)

 

[Waffle.J]

Element Callsign: Axis Squad 1 / Charlie
Element Leader: Specialist Jakub Waffle
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Corporal Best Tilley
Private First Class Mason Walden
Private Ethan Ronald Smith

Pros:

• Great Comms on the squad level
• Great movement within the squad
• Great control of the middle cap until ordered to retreat

Cons:

• The "traitor" should have been in the same faction as his escorts to reduce the meta-gaming on both sides and make the garrison/outpost setup less cumbersome.
• The rule change, which came only after we adopted the same strategy as the Allies, was not well received.
• Most of my guys felt they were in the back seat to the fun for most of the operation, as only one squad was on the VIP hunt.
• The Discord comms were extremely cluttered. You never had a moment where you had only one voice.
• About halfway through the operation, our commander issued the order to abandon the middle cap and to clear the C and D lines. The issue was that the enemy could permanently place their spawns deep within our defensive zone. This made his goal not realistic.
• When information or recommendations were given to our commander, they were ignored and/or shot down. There was no 2-way comms.

 

[Eri.C]

Element Callsign: Axis Tank Commander
Element Leader: Specialist Eri.C
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Specialist Simmons.T
Private First Class West.T

Pros:

• My armor crew had a lot of fun during the operation with very few complaints. They enjoyed the concept of the game and enjoyed hunting down the VIP.
• Infantry squads worked well with my unit to cover gaps/area that the spotter can sneak through.
• Commander did a great job at map awareness and covering key areas to prevent the spotter from making it through.

Cons:

• Possibly a different map choice next time.

 

[Fabian.N]

Element Callsign: Axis Squad 1A
Element Leader: PVT.Fabian.N
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Corporal Owens.J
Corporal Williams.S
Private First Class Stewart.C


Pros:

• Couldn't have asked for a better squad with it being my first ever Squad Lead.
• Excellent squad with great communication skills. Everybody meshed well as a unit and was on point.
• Was always mobile, aware of surroundings, and fluent with any change of pace happening.
• Unique and different type of game mode / objective.

Cons:

• Very confusing in the beginning and didn't seem to very well planned out.
• Large perimeters for the amount of people that we had.
• Every "reset" felt like we were just always being yelled at to instantly fall back like we have teleporting abilities.
• Command chat / discord seemed a bit hectic.

 

[Lewis.P]

Element Callsign: German Able (Anton) Section - VIP Escort Body

• Element Leader: 2LT.Lewis.P
  7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:

SPC.Baldrick.JR
CPL.Baldrick.D
PVT.VanBVeek.W

Pros:

• A good, out-of-the box idea
• Built-in challenges to keep players thinking
• Good map choice, lots of cover and hidey-holes for advancing unseen

Cons:

• Comms took too much mental bandwidth (running three channels)
• Spent more time trying to find the VIP rather than escorting him
• Players began "losing the plot" in the last third, just doing what they could, focus was waning

Suggestions:

• Consider keeping the VIP as a friendly recon spotter in white
• If VIP must remain enemy, then allow him to deploy his OP (in a slow advance) every 2nd column if he has advances thus far, and only when a friendly escort is "with him"
• If three channels for comms are to be used, insist that ONLY the commander and VIP use the Discord channel, and all other comms to be in Command Chat
• When you have a built-in challenge that you fully intend to be "harder than status quo" for a mission, emphasis to the troopers this fact (you DID say that you doubted the VIP will make it to the objective) but I think a lot of players were discouraged
• Possibly make it a BIT more possible to achieve and objective?

Another Idea for VIP Escort:

Have each commander also play "Aerial Reconnaissance"...with his hand being FORCED by the enemy commander to reveal the location of his VIP.​

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For example: the enemy commander launches his Recon Plane. When he does this, he announces in Discord that he has sent a recon plane. All of the players will hear the plane, so they get nervous. ​

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When he does this, the friendly commander MUST report the GRID SQUARE where his VIP is. He must do that in Discord so that the enemy commander can then relay that location to his troops. ​

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This process shares the same cooldown as the Commander Ability, so it cannot be spammed.​

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Final Word to Designer

• Keep this idea going! VIP escorts translate to all sorts of fun scenarios!

 

[Roderick.S]

Element Callsign: Axis Commander
Element Leader: Second Lieutenant Roderick.S

Pros:

• New concept operation
• Mission controller did well to adjust rules to make sure it wasn't stagnated and more balanced as it went on.

Cons:

• Some of the newer SLs had trouble following command's requests and wanted to do their own things instead of cooperating as a team.

 

[Rutkowski.P]

S1 Locked.