AAR [HLL PC] - Operation Final Grasp 19AUG23

[James.M]

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
S3 BATTLE STAFF
Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT​

Name of Combat Mission: Operation Final Grasp
Game: Hell Let Loose
Server Hosted on: Training Server 1
Date of Combat Mission: 19Aug23
Time of Combat Mission (Zulu): 2030z
Mission Controller: Second Lieutenant James.M
7th Cavalry Personnel Involved in Action: 68

Lieutenant Colonel Rob.Y
Major Dread.M
Captain Smithson.R
First Lieutenant Cameron.J
First Lieutenant John.K
Second Lieutenant Smith.V
Chief Warrant Officer 5 Dalton.D
Warrant Officer 1 Grizzle.M
Sergeant Major West.B
First Sergeant Sven.S
Staff Sergeant Phillips.B
Staff Sergeant Hermes.S
Staff Sergeant Adler.J
Sergeant DAmico.J
Sergeant Ackelson.K
Sergeant Crowley.T
Sergeant Balazova.S
Sergeant Anderson.P
Sergeant Thrawn.N
Corporal Burgin.J
Corporal OCulien.M
Corporal Henson.K
Corporal Cantrell.J
Corporal Smith.N
Corporal Coutu.M
Corporal Whaley.H
Corporal Warren.G
Corporal Bizutto.A
Corporal Groves.A
Corporal Ybarra.H
Specialist Price.B
Specialist Kiing.T
Specialist Moreau.M
Specialist Ching.H
Specialist Quake.B
Specialist Slagg.J
Specialist Chay.S
Specialist Rivera.A
Specialist Rousseau.A
Specialist Blade.B
Specialist Mitchell.B
Specialist Caldreas.B
Specialist Zulu.P
Specialist Willis.B
Specialist Argentini.E
Specialist Bischoff.E
Specialist Chhari.A
Specialist Corsino.D
Specialist Fields.M
Specialist Bischoff.E
Specialist Rasmus.M
Specialist Zincoff.O
Specialist Button.J
Specialist Choi.S
Specialist White.N
Specialist Guillermo.C
Specialist Tovarysh.U
Private First Class Lowther.B
Private First Class Watson.J
Private First Class Magnone.J
Private First Class Kugo.El
Private First Class Arfuso.V
Private First Class Katz.A
Private First Class Vostok.V
Private Noriega.D
Private Felton.J
Private Curran.J
Private.Leaf.J
Recruit Lee.N






PROS: We had additional Communities from the 3AC and 1st Marine join us for this operation. Many enjoyed the "no tags" and limited comms. We had a good turnout of 87 total. Alot of Troopers had fun.

CONS: Possible balancing in terms of players/Comms may be needed. Many who signed up for the Operation did not show up.

If you are missing from this list and attended, please notify Second Lieutenant James.M

 

[Rob.Y]

S3 BATTLE STAFF
Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT
​

Element Callsign: Axis SL
Element Leader: Lieutenant Colonel Rob.Y
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Lieutenant Colonel Rob.Y
Private First Class Katz.A
Corporal Warren.G
RTC.Ivan.A

Pros:

• Had a great time with the squad, did a great job!
• Op concept fun

Cons:

• Misscommunication on set-up phase, command slides did not include and threw us off. On me as well for not reading OPORD, was unaware I could make it until last minute and that on me
• Suggest giving the comms defect to the team controlling the center, make it harder on the winners helps move things back and forth

 

[West.B]

S3 BATTLE STAFF
Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT​

Element Call-sign: Recon Allies
Element Leader: Sergeant Major West.B
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Staff Sergeant Adler.J

Pros:

• Team worked well together, even though we had no command comms.
• Recon team was able to destroy multiple garrisons and ops in the rear areas.

Cons:

• Comms defiantly kept it less coordinated
• Map was difficult with the rule set.

 

[Cameron.J]

Element Callsign: Axis Recon - Able
Element Leader: First Lieutenant Cameron.J
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
First Lieutenant Cameron.J
First Sergeant Sven.S

Pros:

• Had a great time with recon, did a great job!
• Best Operation parameters I've ever been a part of, James is the best mission writer in HLL S3
• Amazing attendance, especially with outside guests

Cons:

• Miscommunication on set-up phase

 

[Phillips.B]

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
S3 BATTLE STAFF
Headquarters
7th Cavalry Regiment
COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT​

Element Callsign: Squad 5 - Allies
Element Leader: Staff Sergeant Phillips.B

7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:

• First Lieutenant John.K
• Chief Warrant Officer 5 Dalton.D
• Staff Sergeant Phillips.B
• Sergeant Crowley.T
• Specialist Moreau.M

Non-7th Cavalry Within Element:

• N/A

Pros:

• Good Concept
  • Fun/Interesting ruleset
• Outside Unit Participation
  • Cool to see others

Cons:

• Balancing
  
  • Allies down 6+ at one point
  • Purple Heart Lane difficulty scales exponentially
  • Attacking with the two above points, no communication, and no tags just doesn't work
  • Enemy Headstart due to miscommunication
• Planning
  • With communication a known factor, would've like to see squad assignments taskings
• Lone Wolfing
  • Map looked worse than a pub game

 

[DAmico.J]

Name of Combat Mission: Operation Final Grasp
Game: Hell Let Loose
Server Hosted on: Training Server 1
Date of Combat Mission: 19Aug23
Time of Combat Mission (Zulu): 2030z
Mission Controller: Second Lieutenant James.M
7th Cavalry Personnel Involved in Action: 87

Lieutenant Colonel Rob.Y
Major Dread.M
Captain Smithson.R
First Lieutenant Cameron.J
First Lieutenant John.K
Chief Warrant Officer 5 Dalton.D
Staff Sergeant Phillips.B
First Sergeant Sven.S






PROS:

CONS: Possible balancing in terms of players/Comms may be needed.

If you are missing from this list and attended, please notify Second Lieutenant James.M

 

[Anderson.P]

Element Callsign: Allies Charlie Squad
Element Leader: Sergeant Anderson.P
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Corporal Cantrell.J
Specialist Blade.B
Specialist Chay.S
Specialist Ching.H

Pros:

• Really fun concept
• loved having some guests with us, both parties seemed impressed with our mission idea
• Charlie Squad lead multiple attacks on point and drew large numbers away from points by harrassing

Cons:

• Need to balance teams out in some way. For a no/limited comms OP, SL's should be pre-determined as best as possible for additional planning
• When having guests, plan further out for that. That was a relatively last minute decision so it could have gone better HOWEVER could have been much worse

Suggestions:

• Let tanks be a mobile communication center (Tanks = Command comms within certain area)
• Temporary permissions to S5 PR to move guests into channel so mission controllers can be focused on attendance, roster, and mission details

 

[Bizutto.A]

Element Callsign: Axis SL Chalie
Element Leader: Corporal Bizutto.A
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Corporal Groves.A
Specialist Rasmus.M
Private First Class Magnone.J
Private Noriega.D
Corporal Ybarra.H

Pros:

• Super fun op! Really wanna see more of this. James did a KILLER job! Future is bring for the Cav
• Numbers where amazing! Having the other clan join was a great idea and would love to see more of it in the future.
• Charlie squad held defense like champions! OR kills it like always.

Cons:

• Need to make sure someone has op-board open and constantly reading it off rip so we dont mess up that set up phase again.
• Restricting comms for the team holding center point makes sense. Maybe even moving the bunker up more so the enemy team has an easier time blowing it up.

 

[Smith.V]

Element Callsign: Allies Tank "Aces High"
Element Leader: Second Lieutenant Smith.V
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Major Dread.M
Sergeant Thrawn.N

Pros:

• The concept was fresh and fun.
  • I especially liked the communications concept and no friendly tags.
• The historical basis for the operation was interesting.
• Allies performed their task admirably for the difficulty.

Cons:

• Balancing sides was a challenge; as a rule of thumb: always be weary of giving a defending team hard advantages over attacking teams.
• Consider adding "battle events" which can tune the operation's balancing as needed.
  • For example:
    • Limiting commanders' abilities as needed.
    • Reduction of heavy armor assets for one side.
    • Reduction of spawn points.
    • Limiting spawn points to garrisons.
  • You can use any combination of these to slowly balance a game out.

 

[Argentini.E]

Element Call-sign: Recon Axis
Element Leader: Specialist Argentini.E
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Specialist Bischoff.E

Pros:

• Solid teamwork with recon and tanks on western flank
• Recon team was able to destroy multiple garrisons and ops in the rear areas.

Cons:

• Allies couldn't regroup
• Map was difficult with the rule set.

 

[Button.J]

Element Callsign: Axis Tank "Swamp Thang"
Element Leader: Specialist Button.J
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Specialist Choi.S
RCT.Lee.R




Pros:

• The mobility of the armor for axis was a game changer.
• Wolfpack tactics of 2 tanks rolling together and working to cover each other made bringing down enemy positions and armor a quick easy job

Cons:

• Possible limitation of tank types for each team.
• No comms for figuring out spawns was chaotic at times.

 

[Anderson.P]

S5 After Action Report from 1st Marine Raider Battalion

MSgt Wright: balance teams in the manner of player count. Otherwise loved it.

GySgt Belcher: balance teams in the manner of player count. Lack of Nameplates allowed for more immersion and fun.

SSgt Thibeault: I had a blast. This is a completely different game when you take away Inter/Intra Squad VOX Chat and Nameplates. I loved it and would love to come back for more of these events.

SSgt Scinta (Coordination): Impressed with User EnragedHound reaching out and asking if we could run it. We were only able to field a squad for the evening on such notice.

Sgt. Smith: Enjoyed the Challenge. Minimum of 25 Meters for the Namplates. No Inter/Intra Squad chat was dope. Having to have a Medic/Machine Gunners/Support is excessive; Leave roles up to the individual Squad Leads. Otherwise had a great time.

Cpl. Muthas: Nameplate distance at a 25 Meters maximum. No Inter/Intra Squad chat was dope. Having to have a Medic/Machine Gunners/Support is excessive; Leave roles up to the individual Squad Leads.

Pfc. Farmer: Did not like not have Inter-Squad VOX comms aside from local VOX. Otherwise had a blast.

 

[Coutu.M]

Element Callsign: Allied Tank 3
Element Leader: Corporal Coutu.M
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Sergeant Balazova.S
Recruit Lee.N

Pros:

• Fun not having friendly name tags
• Made for a challenge to communicate with infantry.
• Awesome concept

Cons:

• Not being able to talk to other tanks
• Not being able to talk to command to order another tank or order the correct tank.
• Not clear what my armored tank was supposed to do.

 

[Ackelson.K]

Element Callsign: AXIS Tank 4 "Black watch"
Element Leader: Sergeant Ackelson.K
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
Specialist Guillermo.C
Private First Class Lowther.B

Pros:

• The added realism was a good idea
• Historical basis of the mission was well received

Cons:

• My tank crew was bumped last minute by a tank crew of "Guests"
• Some tweaking of the comms is needed

 

[Price.B]

Element Callsign: Axis Commander

Pros:

• Excellent concept with the nameplates and comms restrictions - makes me wish HLL didn't have nameplates at all. Really want to see more of this, both on night and day maps.
• Arty restrictions also contributed to the game being more about the gunfighting and armor duels, intensifying the experience.
• SLs and tanks showed great initiative and were able to keep constant pressure and held a strong line when I was expecting a very porous front due to the visibility.

Cons:

• Limited time meant we only got halfway through the briefing for the Axis team, and what we did get through was very rushed.
  • Last-minute roster changes (especially SLs) further limited OPORD understanding. Today was an exceptional case of last minute changes and no-shows, so it couldn't be avoided. Still had a lot of fun, and things mostly went according to plan anyway.
• It's been mentioned already, but capping middle and gaining comms creates a feedback loop on the balance of power.

Comments:

• The more complex the OPORD, the more time we should set aside for briefing. I only got through 5/10 slides by the time we hit start time and still had a lot of people not even in the game server.
• To give the losing team the ability to keep it competitive, there should be secondary conditions that let them negate one of the advantages, e.g. setup 'jammers' (bunkers) at predetermined points on the flanks to nullify enemy command chat or commander abilities. It's probably not feasible to toggle squad chats on the fly like that, but command chat restrictions are policed easily.
• As suggested in hotwash, letting the tanks communicate internally regardless of game state is probably for the best, in order to limit frustrations over basic things like spawn coordination or requesting new assets.
• Forcing the infantry to bunch up to maintain local comms range made bombing/strafing runs even more effective. While we really didn't use arty at all on Axis, I'm guessing it would've been very deadly and even more frustrating for Allies. Perhaps arty should be permitted only for the team trying to cap mid.
• Balancing these game mutators will also depend on map - this was a very open map where it's still hard to be strategically sneaky, even at night. Airheads and supply drops are easily spotted, so having comms is even more of an advantage.
• To simplify the ruleset, any comms restrictions should affect both teams equally. The comms (dis)advantage reaches into nearly every conceivable meta, making it impossible to really balance.

 

[DAmico.J]

Element Callsign: Axis SL
Element Leader: SGT.D'Amico.J
7th Cavalry Personnel Within Element:
SPC.Fields.M
SPC.Chhari.A
SPC.Zincoff.O
PFC.Vostok.V
RCT.Holtby.J

Pros:

• Very immersive, no tags made it fun
• Used smoke cover and squad coordination to build an AT gun on the road. I then pinged a tank and we killed the tank through the smoke before he could spot us. Top #10 HLL moment.
• The entire squad enjoyed the operation

Cons:

• Maybe consider handicapping the winning side rather than the losing side. For example, if the AXIS captures midpoint, initiate a radio "blackout" to keep immersion but still balance the team.

 

[Armitage.T]

LOCKED

Assigned to Armitage.T for processing.

 

[Armitage.T]

S1 Operations Updated