stabcon

by [RG] Stabcon

This mission is using the standard RG mod pack

60 PLAYER MAXIMUM

OPERATION NAME: Gallahad

WARNING ORDER TASK FORCE RG
ISSUE DATE: 04/11/2020
ISSUING STATION: SEC DEF ALTIS
ISSUING OFFICIAL: UNKNOWN
COMMANDING OFFICER: CPT.STABCON


SITUATION
----------------------
The Altian regime has been struggling of late. After the events of Operation Altian Resolve, the Lemnos government had receded and called a cease fire. It is now clear that the ceasefire was used in order to build up their forces and move them around the island region unapposed. 
It is understood that opposition forces have pushed though the border on the island of Malden and have positioned themselves in the mountains. Gaining more land and driving out Altian forces with ease. They have since set up numerous defenses as well as an established air defense network along the border.
Whilst the AAF have managed to prevent them pushing further south, their situation in fragile at best. With constant harrasment from unapposed hostile aircraft, it is only a matter of time before their lines collapse.
RG have been requested to move in force and once again prevent this region from falling into the wrong hands.
The enemy is determined to secure this area. Intelligence suggests that land sea and air assets are all in use. RG's carrier group could be under threat.
 
Equipment:
4x LAV-25
1x LAV C2
1x M1129 Mortar Carrier
2x Wiesel AA 
3x MH60 Sea Hawk
2x Osprey
4x F18

Standard support and supply equipment and vehicles.
 
MISSION
----------------------
Operational Plan
To retake the mountainous region of Malden and secure the border, allowing for AAF forces to move in and hold.


Squad operational intent
 
GAMBLER
Identify and eliminate as many hostile locations as possible, as well as certain key positions identified via intelligence. Retake the region and hold for reenforcements.
 
TALON:
Move assets to shore
Provide AA cover for the ground offensive
Provide insertion for vegas
Maintain CAP around the carrier group
CAS/CAP once enemy AA is destroyed


 
VEGAS:
Locate and destroy Anti Air emplacements
Conduct SSE at enemy HQ
Assist Gambler in clearance
 


COMMAND AND CONTROL
----------------------
Platoon Command will be in direct control of the RG Task Force operation.
 

 
 

Signups are now open and it is mandatory to RSVP or post LOA  

by [RG] Stabcon

This mission is using the standard RG mod pack

60 PLAYER MAXIMUM

OPERATION NAME: Cold Snap

WARNING ORDER TASK FORCE RG
ISSUE DATE: 18/09/2020
ISSUING STATION: UNKNOWN
ISSUING OFFICIAL: UNKNOWN
COMMANDING OFFICER: CPT.STABCON


SITUATION
----------------------
Chernarus - ever the flashpoint of many conflicts is once again preparing for future battles. To the North lies a region known as 'Summa'. This region has long been abandoned and serves as somewhat of a 'no mans land' between opposing forces. With defenses and villages still standing dating from WWII. 
With the changing of the seasons, Opfor forces have been conducting a build of of men and equipment along the border. A request was forwarded to RG to bolster the Blufor defenses and assist in advising and training Blufor forces in the region.
Yesterday the weather took a severe turn which prevented much of RG's heavier equipment to be brought in and slowed down many Blufor movements. Opfor forces, well versed in fighting in these conditions have taken advantage of the lull in Blufor activity and pressed an attack into a key strategic position.
 
Equipment:
1x DAP
3x AH-6 Littlebird
1x Chinook
2x Warrior IFV
3x Land Rover

Rearm/Refuel assets are available
 
MISSION
----------------------
Operational Plan
 
RG forces are to retake the strategic village of Summa. Bolster Blufor Defensive lines and drive back the aggressor forces


Squad operational intent
 
GAMBLER
Assault Summa
Move in to defensive positions and prepare them for Blufor forces take over.
 
 
 
TALON:
CAS Support.
Reinsert
Supply defensive positions with equipment
 
VEGAS:
Assist gambler with assault
Identify key strategic points in lines and prepare defense
QRF


 


COMMAND AND CONTROL
----------------------
Platoon Command will be in direct control of the RG Task Force operation.
 




 
 


 
 

Signups are now open and it is mandatory to RSVP or post LOA  

Issuing Officer: Capt. Stabcon
RG Member: Sam
New Assignment: Sgt - Vegas Section Lead
Effective as of:  01/09/20

During his time at RG, Sam has shown great leadership potential, good working knowledge of tactics and procedures and is well regarded by his team. It gives me great pleasure to announce his promotion to Vegas Lead. The enthusiasm and willingness to learn will be both an asset to Vegas and the Taskforce as a whole.

Issuing Officer: Capt. Stabcon
RG Member: Cherokee
New Assignment:Corporal 2IC - Arrow
Effective as of:  13/09/20

Cherokee has adopted many roles within Arrow since he joined RG, with a good deal of experience at the squad level, we feel he is more than capable of supporting his squad leader in operations and leading his own fireteam. He will no doubt be an asset to his squad and Gambler Platoon in this new role.
 

Issuing Officer: Capt. Stabcon
RG Member: Zezzek
New Assignment:Corporal 2IC - Blade
Effective as of:  13/09/20

In a stroke of deja vu - Zezzek is once again taking on the NCO role. After spending some time in an acting position, Zezzek has shown his strengths and experience, as well as a boost in confidence in the role. I have no doubt Zezzek will be a valuble addition to the NCO line-up.

Issuing Officer: Capt. Stabcon
RG Member: Aatoshi
New Assignment: PFC
Effective as of:  13/09/20

Stepping down from a succesful stint as 2IC Arrow, Aatoshi has served his squad and the platoon with distinction. We will still see him on the field, but carrying a shovel and explosives rather than stripes. We thank him for his service to his squad and RG during his tenure.

Issuing Officer: Capt. Stabcon
RG Member: Caesar
New Assignment:  Reserves - VIP
Effective as of:  01/09/20

After many years of service, Caesar is stepping down from duties at RG to focus on real life commitments. We wish him the very best in his future and hope to see him return to RG ranks one day.

Issuing Officer: Capt. Stabcon
RG Member: Seanster, Obi
New Assignment:  Reserve
Effective as of:  16/09/20

After supporting the platoon and the Task Force as 3-0 for quite some time, unfortunately both members must step down to focus on real life commitments. We wish them both the very best and hope to request mortars and medical from them very soon.

The following members have hereby been discharged due to inactivity. They are clear to reapply following the standard method should their situation change and they wish to come back.
 

by [RG] Stabcon

This mission is using the standard RG mod pack

60 PLAYER MAXIMUM

OPERATION NAME: Altian Resolve


WARNING ORDER TASK FORCE RG
ISSUE DATE: 12/06/2020
ISSUING STATION: SACEUR
ISSUING OFFICIAL: UNKNOWN
COMMANDING OFFICER: CPT.STABCON


SITUATION
----------------------
Since RG left the Altian region, the local government has failed to maintain control. This has resulted in an Island nation split down the middle, quite literally. With a nation divided by ideology and split into different factions, an uneasy peace has been maintained up until recently. The government maintained control of most of the ports and resources, captiulating land and some airfields to the breakaway nation (unofficially dubbed Lemnos) This agreement is apparently no longer unnaceptable to the the newly formed independant nation, but most importantly their sponsors.
It is belived their sponsor nations wish to tighten their grip in the region, but with the Altian nation holding the land and valuable resources, they are now in the way of much larger powers. 
Fighting has erupted in the split capital of Kavala and elsewhere on the island with AAF forces struggling to hold back the aggresor forces. Not wishing to become involved in another civil war with a dubious outcome, NATO has requested RG move in to bolster the AAF and halt the attack of the Lemnosion forces.
 
 
 
Equipment:
6x MH-6M Littlebird

2x AH-6M

2x MH-60S Knighthawk

1x CH53E Super Stallion Cargo

1x CH53E Transport

Unknown AAF Assets dependant on availability

 
 
Rearm/Refuel assets are available
 
MISSION
----------------------
Operational Plan
 
To prevent aggressor forces establishing a foothold in friendly territory

Reduce sponsor nations capabilities in the region.


Squad operational intent
 
GAMBLER:
 
Insert into Kavala
Assist AAF forces in preventing enemy attacks from gaining traction
Press any advantage and establish further control in the capital.
 
 
TALON:
 
CAS
Reinsert/Resupply of ground forces.
 
VEGAS:
 
Conduct direct action raid onto enemy position to reduce sponsor nation capability.

 
ROE: TIGHT


COMMAND AND CONTROL
----------------------
Platoon Command will be in direct control of the RG Task Force operation.
 




 
 

Signups are now open and it is mandatory to RSVP or post LOA  

by [RG] Stabcon

This mission is using the standard RG mod pack

60 PLAYER MAXIMUM

OPERATION NAME: Operation Lammergeier II


WARNING ORDER TASK FORCE RG
ISSUE DATE: 12/07/2020
ISSUING STATION: JFCBS
ISSUING OFFICIAL: UNKNOWN
COMMANDING OFFICER: CPT.STABCON


SITUATION
----------------------
 Intelligence gained from Lammergeier I indicates that the situation in the region is far more dire than we were led to believe. Enemy forces managed to put RG forces under considerable pressure during the operation and whilst FOB Mike was defended and re-enforced, the nearest town fell to enemy hands and RG was forced to withdraw back to the relative safety of the FOB.
Vegas were successful in their mission to eliminate Suleman, (a local commader believed to be responsible for the resurgence of activity) however intelligence has revealed it is in fact a rogue ANA Colonel, allied with enemy forces.
With the rogue faction of ANA acting as e shield for the enemy, equipment and personnel have been allowed to move through Hysad to the north of the province and build up en masse in preperation for a large scale assault on NATO positions. A rogue faction is somewhat of an embarrasement for the local government and as such the situation should be considered eyes only.
Since Lammergeier I it is believed the enemy forces around the FOB have used this route to re-enforce Al Jebel in preperation for another attack.
NATO forces are preparing to assault the north of the province.
 
Equipment:
Various vehicles left behind by US units at FOB Mike
2x A-10C
2x Chinook
2x UH60
2x MH60
2x Blackfish
3x 105mm Howitzer

 
 
Rearm/Refuel assets are available
 
MISSION
----------------------
Operational Plan
 
RG forces are to clear Al Jebel of all enemy forces and disrupt enemy supply routes. From there, RG forces are to move north to join the NATO assault
Squad operational intent
 
GAMBLER:
 
Gambler forces are to clear the area of Al Jebel
Insert to the north of the province to secure the western flank of NATO forces
 
TALON:
 
Conduct CAS operations in support of Gambler and Vegas Forces
Provide logistical support 
Provide support for NATO forces if required
 
VEGAS:
 
Assault ANA positions
Disrupt enemy supply routes
Attempt to extract the ANA Colonel

 
ROE: TIGHT


COMMAND AND CONTROL
----------------------
Platoon Command will be in direct control of the RG Task Force operation.
 
 
 

Signups are now open and it is mandatory to RSVP or post LOA  

by [RG] Stabcon

This mission is using the standard RG mod pack

60 PLAYER MAXIMUM

OPERATION NAME: Operation Lammergeier I


WARNING ORDER TASK FORCE RG
ISSUE DATE: 12/07/2020
ISSUING STATION: JFCBS
ISSUING OFFICIAL: UNKNOWN
COMMANDING OFFICER: CPT.STABCON


SITUATION
----------------------
RG have been deployed to the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan to bolster NATO and Afghan forces. An increase in insurgent activity has put enough strain on NATO positions that withdrawal from strategic locations is having to occur. Informants have identified a man named 'Suleman' to be the epicentre of this latest threat. 

Due to the urgent nature of the QRF request, RG equipment is being supplied by deployed US forces.

After a recent wave of attacks from enemy ground forces and IED strikes, a unit of the US 75th rangers are to be relieved from their current location (FOB Mike 1) by RG ground forces.

 
 
Equipment:
Various vehicles left behind by US units at FOB Mike

2x A-10C

2x Chinook

2x UH60

2x MH60

2x Blackfish

3x 105mm Howitzer

 
 
Rearm/Refuel assets are available
 
MISSION
----------------------
Operational Plan
 
RG forces are to police and secure the area around the FOB. Conduct COIN operations and ensure the sustainability of FOB Mike

Squad operational intent
 
GAMBLER:
 
Gambler forces are to conduct clearance patrols around the FOB and investigate possible sites of enemy activity.

An element of Gambler is to act as a security force for Vegas objective.

Process any detainees.

Attempt to draw out any enemy forces in the immediate location
 
TALON:
 
Talon are to provide assets capable of conducting CAS operations within the vicinity of FOB Mike, for the duration of the operation.

A number of supply crate and equipment must be delivered to FOB mike to ensure sustainability.

Extraction of detainees 

React to operational requirements
 
VEGAS:
 

Conduct a search of Al_Jebel for material linked to enemy activity.

Detain civilians suspected of enemy activity and return to FOB.
Seize any equipment that could be linked with insurgent activity.
React to any intelligence linked with 'Suleman'

 
ROE: TIGHT


COMMAND AND CONTROL
----------------------
Platoon Command will be in direct control of the RG Task Force operation.
 




 
 

Signups are now open and it is mandatory to RSVP or post LOA  

Issuing Officer: Capt. Stabcon
RG Member: Rct Ostap
New Assignment: Pvt.
Effective as of:11/05/2020
 
 
Issuing Officer: Capt. Stabcon
RG Member:  Rct Mace
Effective as of:11/05/2020
 
Issuing Officer: Capt. Stabcon
RG Member:  Rct Darth269
New Assignment:Pvt.
Effective as of: 11/05/2020

After  a very successful recruit phase I am proud to welcome all 3 of the above candidates in to RG proper. They are now cleared to apply for permanent roles in a squad of their choice.

Our Response To Covid-19

To all our current members and friends.

Unfortunately, Covid-19 is effecting many of our lives. Even if you are lucky enough to not become unwell, other factors will undoubtedly effect you in some way. 

Whilst the world seems as though it is turning upside down, we would like to re-assure you all that we aim to keep providing you with regular sessions, a place to unwind and generally a little place that can remain normal.

That being said, we also appreciate the fact that life is currently very stressful for many of us and whilst we aim to remain a constant, we also realise that milsim by its very nature can be stressful. Life is intense enough at the moment and we do not want to add to it. We may not be able to mobilise in the real world to do anything, but we can certainly mobilise online to make things a little easier for all of us.

After discussion with some staff and leaders I have taken the decision to implement some changes for the forseeable future. We want to 'lighten the mood' somewhat, whilst still providing you all with a consistent milsim experience.

Attendance requirements are now relaxed. Whilst we still encourage you all to RSVP so we can co-ordinate missions, if you dont feel like attending, no problem, no one will say anything and your position is not at risk.

Wednesday training will be more focused toward small scale missions, or 'fun' sessions. PvP, Co-Op game modes or small ops linked to sunday missions. Some large scale training may still be organised, but this will only be conducted if relevant to a Sunday mission. If however squads or sections want to conduct an individual training, the opportunity is always there.

'Casual Ops' server will be bought back online ASAP. This will provide the community with missions such as Liberation, Antistasi etc which willbe running every day except for official sessions.

Restrictions on Sunday missions will be relaxed. We can now play as any faction, allow use of limited arsenal etc. Full instructions on this will be sent to mission makers soon.

It is important to note that our values and standards will not be relaxed, and while we will do our best to ensure you can have a great time with as little stress as possible, that will only be possible with your help and the right attitude.

Whilst this is going on, note that our TS and community is open to all. If you have friends who like the idea of milsim but dont want to sign up, bring them along for a taster, no commitment. Bring people on to our TS and Discord to hang out. Look out for your squad and section. If you would like to host a Zeus mission, but use different mods, reach out to us. At a time when many people are isolated, we should use the tools we have to come together.

Stay safe, stay at home, wash your hands,

I look forward to gaming with you all soon

Cheers,

Stabcon

Issuing Officer: Capt Stabcon

RG Member: Bonesaw8D

New Assignment: Private

After a succesful trial period Bonesaw is promoted to Private and is free to join a squad on a permanent basis.

Issuing Officer: Capt Stabcon

RG Member: lllBENlll, Whigital

New Assignment: Tech Staff

After long service with RG and many hours spent assisting and creating things for our modpack, I am please to announce that lllBEN and Whigital are now officialy recognised as members of RG's development team. We are lucky to have them!

As 2019 moves in to memory, I thought that instead of doing a retrospective of the previous year, it would be more important to discuss the year to come, the challenges we face, the things we can look forward to and what we as a community,will be doing to ensure that the time you spend with us will be the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences that the ARMA series has to offer.

Reality Gaming is entering its 12th year, this is quite the milestone for any online community, especially one centered around one particular game. Arma 3 itself well in to its sixth year of release. The fact that so many people still want to play it is impressive in itself and the community is still fairly healthy. 

However, despite us being in a good place with player numbers, it is important that we don't take this for granted going forward. Reality Gaming is in a strong position due to the work that's gone before it, our goal should be to continue to evolve and continue that work through this year. 

We must be under no illusion that the player base for Arma 3 is on the decline, attracting new members will be more difficult than in previous years, with hundreds of other milsim communities all trying to attract an ever shrinking pool of players. We must stand out from the crowd.

Before worrying about attracting new players however, we should also ensure that we are doing everything we can to keep your own interest and enjoyment at a high and not sacrifice the quality of our community and play sessions to grow  our numbers.

Our intention is to end 2020 on the same high note, if not better than we finished 2019.

It is easy to say 'we will do this, we will do that', however the point of this address is to explain to you how we intend to make good on this. 

There are multiple avenues that will need to be looked at and tended to. Targeting a specific thing and hoping it will be enough simply wont work. To make 2020 the best year yet will require efforts from everybody. 

Firstly we will be looking at training sessions.

I am a firm believer that training sessions are vital to the communities success and enjoyment of missions. However, I am happy to admit that often training can be overlooked and become more of a chore than a joy.

So what can we do to improve this?

Firstly, training maps will become more varied, although we will continue with a 'main' RGTA, you may well see other maps in use on wednesdays in order to train and practice on other terrain or with other equipment.

More organised training courses will be worked on and provided, in order to develop the skills of more players and allow more versatile equipment to be used in missions a wider range of people.

More 'fun' or PvP style sessions will be organised,with the hope of them having a training benefit, 

We may also look at linking training sessions into missions more closely, but more on that in a while.

In essence, we know that a lot of people do not see the value in wednesday sessions, we hope to change that to the point where if you miss a wednesday, you will notice the difference.

In the future I will be accepting requests from ANY member that has an idea for a training session. There is a lot of knowledge within the community and we should start to take advantage of that, as long as they are in keeping with the usual SOP's, but that is something for discussion later down the line. 

So, in summary, we intend to make Wednesdays far more relevant once again with more organisation and planning going into them than in previous months.

Missions are why we are all here.

One large take away from D11 was that the community enjoyed added levels of detail, immersion and atmosphere and that sometimes 'less is more'. Whilst large cinematic set pieces were loved, missions with more delicate pacing and details that were allowed to sink in made the whole experience better. Variation is also key to keeping minds interested. 

A big goal for us going forward will be to provide that added level of immersion and atmosphere. Less, yet more deadly AI and missions that challenge and engage everybody using a variety of equipment, terrains and objectives.

We are going to attempt to achieve this in a number of different ways.

Firstly, more mods. We will be introducing a number of mods that are purely for creative reasons that will allow us to do more. We will also be making more of an effort to give mission makers time to develop missions yet have more freedom with them. If they want to do a 3 mission campaign, sure, if they want to use a Wednesday to rehearse specific things for the mission, no problem. Also, if they want to include Wednesday as part of the overall mission, that's fine too. For example, recce the position Wednesday, to assault on Sunday, that kind of thing.

We may introduce things for specific missions, specific rules for example, more creative freedom for the commanders, fail states. 

We will be trying new things, some may work, some may not. We ask for your patience during this and for constructive feedback. we will also be looking to streamline debriefings so we can have more targeted and meaningful feedback on what works and what didn't.

I'll be speaking to NCO's and leaders in due course about what they would like to see and change during missions too so if you've ideas right now, pass them up the chain.

However, the key thing for keeping missions fresh is fresh ideas, and we can only do that with more mission makers. We have made this battle cry before, but if you have any interest at all in making missions for the community, you must reach out ASAP, even if you have zero prior experience we will help you, but you have to pro-active in it too.

Development is going to be a big area of focus. In order to keep up to date, using the latest and greatest of mods and to keep things fresh, development will likely be heavier than in previous years.

I've already said we will be adding mods, but you can expect the modlist to go through some changes over the coming months. We wont be growing the pack to ridiculous proportions, however we will be more inclined to add things in if we feel it will help missions and or immersion. Most of these will be simple workshop additions, but you may hopefully see more regular 3sync and steam updates.

We will be looking at changing our 'style' and perhaps introducing other load outs to keep our Sundays fresh.

So, in short, you can expect more mod additions, more changes to load outs and more toys. Although we realise for some of you, hard drive space is hard to come by, we believe we have to relax on our mod restrictions in order to maximise our play sessions. Even so, we wont be getting silly with it. So don't panic.

That being said though, development won't be possible without the community, the Tech team at the moment have their hands full, so if you can help in any way, step forward. If you can make textures, can work with configs or even just have time on your hands. We would like to know about it, there is a chance that you can help. Even just suggesting mods, scripts or things of that nature can be helpful.

We will see some changes quite early on, some will take longer. But rest assured any and all changes have been carefully evaluated.

Development of course is not just about mods. We also have to consider servers, templates and any other background stuff.

Again, if you would like to help with development in some capacity, please reach out.

The sections that make up the task force will be maintained in their current Orbat. However we must be open to changes should the need arise, however unlikely.

For now our target will be to strengthen the bond between all three. Allowing for cross training, closer operational support and in essence, a better working relationship.

More specialised training and more confidence in each other will allow for more in depth mission capabilities and more variety for each section. This will be more something that happens in the background, the end results should occur naturally for most of you.

As you can see, there are many plans afoot. Although some of my points above are very brief, there is or has been a lot of discussion behind the scenes and these ideas are fleshed out to some extent. 

Again, these changes will not happen straight away, these things take time. 

We will be opening back up persistent operations and are considering starting public server, and have a lot of ideas we would like to see come to light, but simply lack the man power.

But that is where you come in. We need the community at large to be more pro active than ever. If you want to help in some way, put your head up and say so. There is a tonne of things that need doing that can help grow and better this community. From recruiters and media makers to admin guys. If you can spare time, we can put it to use. Last year there were a lot of parties registering initial interest in helping out, yet nothing came from it. We need the community to step forward this year more than ever. 

Personal projects are welcomed and we would encourage you to pitch them, however don't be disheartened if they are rejected. We will look at various aspects of it and consider points such as 'ease of adoption, ease of use, need, and viability'.

A rejected idea doesn't mean its a bad one, just that it was not suitable at this time. So we do encourage ideas or projects to be pitched. Although, as stated man power is a premium so you must consider the amount of work during the pitch.

So, in summary.

Going into 2020, we will be focusing on immersion, variation and development of skills and assets, with the ultimate goal to offer the finest missions that Arma can offer. We need your help and your feedback to accomplish this and encourage any one of you to step forward if you can help in some way. The community is what we make of it, and i'm looking forward to seeing how we make this year better than the last.

Cheers

Stab

A  couple of weeks have now passed. Now the dust has settled and I've had time to reflect on a lot of things, I thought I'd write everything down and break it down step by step. In the hopes it can give you all some insight into the process, what we have learned and all that good stuff. 
This will no doubt turn into a lengthy post, so settle in, get a drink and snacks and prepare to do a deep dive into the madness that was D11.
 
 
 

The Very Beginning

Initial plans for a WW2 themed event were first laid out years ago. The idea back then was to do several different missions using differing factions focusing on different famous battles. I put together a test mission - Omaha beach landings to see if it could work as an overall theme or deployment.
 
Heres a video from back then when I was first developing the idea:
 
https://www.youtube....h?v=IFbRIeGx5xg
 
As you can see a lot of thought was having to go into just the landing itself to create some sense of atmosphere and immersion. After some time I managed to get a mission together.
 
Obi Luckily recorded it!
 
https://youtu.be/EtdVjT-Cako
 
 
Overall the feedback was extremely positive, but it wasnt without issue. 
In many respects I had bitten off more than I could chew, the mod selection wasnt quite up to scratch and Arma 3 itself was having a lot of issues around that time. My design plan was to use period accurate squad sizes and compositions, striving for as much realism as possible. After this mission played out It soon became apparent that to pull off a WW2 deployment would take way more effort than I first considered, and I realised some aspects of realism would have to be axed for a cohesive and not too disruptive experience for the community.
 
Due to all that, the plans were shelved, with little hope of having a full WW2 campaign.
 
Skip forward to D10, our first foray into Historical gameplay. That deployment was awesome and although it was not too different from our normal gear (auto rifles, jets, helicopters etc) it showed that the community would embrace something so different. The staff also learned a fair bit when it came to development of modpacks. With the feedback being so positive it encouraged me to try and pitch to have D11 be WW2 based.
 
The 31st May 2018 (right 2018!) it was decided to push ahead with developing a WW2 themed deployment and the brainstorming began. There was an awful lot to consider, mods, gear, mission design... so, so, much.
Surprisingly, even for me looking back, the intitial plan is very similar to what we ended up with. The below quote written by me in the first 'brainstorming pm' on that date:

 

1st session - opening ceremony - intro to basic kit equipment etc, essentially just have weapons and arsenal everywhere, let people have fun

 

2nd - Dunkirk - British kit, the fall of france (prologue)

 

Training - Intro the kit used for rest of deployment

 

North Africa

 

Training

 

D-Day - Rangers

 

Training

 

Market Garden - Airborne

 

Training 

 

Battle Of The Bulge

 

Training

 

Race To Berlin

 

Training 

 

War in the Pacific

 

Closing

Obviously it was changed and extended a bit, but from the off I wanted to make a deployment that could follow a cohesive path through the war and to try and tie it into 'RG lore'.

Next came choosing which mods would be used and built upon. Nothing could really be made or developed until we had settled on this, or at least not finalised. So for a long time there were rounds of testing and trying out various things until we had settled on a final list. At the same time myself, Caesar and the other leaders were discussing loadouts and requirements and going through hundreds of iterations of each role. And I do mean hundreds.

There are roughly 25 unique slots in any one camo/faction variant. I was (much to the dismay of the Villhelm) adamant that we should use themed gear (snow/camo/ranger etc) so, mutiply the unique slots by the 5 variants, on top of the numerous cycles/changes/additions to each one. It soon mounts up! Good job we started it so early on really...

Finally though, the various design choices were settled upon, the mods chosen and I could finally start building the missions! (I'll go more in depth on them individually later). The key philosophy was immersion and variation on each mission. Many a late night was had by myself and Caesar poring over the maps. Deciding on mission flow overall scenario flow etc. Around this time it started becoming clear that the initial plan would have to diverge somewhat simply down to limited map choice for various theatres. For example the Market Garden mission was dropped due to lack of suitable terrain to do a large scale drop that made sense. We really wanted to include a paradrop mission though, so the idea for Operation Albany was born through that. This happened a few times, what we would brainstorm sometimes wouldnt work on the maps we had, or it would simply not be a good experience for all if we had forced our initial ideas in.

A huge stumbling block for us was re insert and resupply - and due to that, Talon. With such a huge over reliance on air mobility in normal ops, we had to make absolutely sure a resupply chain could be set up on each mission before we even thought about unit placement and objectives. As well as ensuring Talon memebers would be occupied, see the fight or be involved as much as possible. Again, lengthy discussion were had with Talon leaders to get the go ahead on ops as we developed them, at times right up until the week before the mission was run.

Respawns too had to make sense and ensure people would not be out of the fight too long if they died. Keep in mind, this was happening before we had insta death enabled.

There was a tonne of things to consider on every mission. 

In reality, missions were being tweaked up until a week before they were ran. But the foundations were laid back in summer 2018.

THE HYPE BEGINS

As we spoke more and started to get into the nuts and bolts of the early development stages, it was clear that it would take a long time to get it 'just right' (or as right as we could at least), although, as summer hit, there were questions starting to be asked about the next deployment, so it was only right to tease a little bit (at the time we really couldnt tell that it would take quite as long as it did)

So, if you werent here back then.

I dropped a little teaser video

https://www.youtube....eature=youtu.be

Not realising at the time that people actually bloody new morse code! It was solved a bit quicker than I anticipated!

I decided to have a bit of fun with it though and made a small ARG type game for people to mull over

http://forums.realit...g/topic/2733--/

Theres the thread about it, it was pretty fun to create with clues leading to a mission file, which when played had intel in there to lead to a youtube video.

https://www.youtube....ature=emb_title

After that, the jig was up, the crowd went wild (ish) and then all went dark whilst we beavered away with development.... 

Until I got around to making another video where I would show a lot more of what we would be doing. Looking back at this video im pretty pleased I managed to cover a lot of what we did, from mod teases to the missions themselves, there was probably more hints in there than people realised at the time (even the cigs!)

Sadly, things went a bit awry after this, Arma and mod updates were breaking left right and centre and all dev staff  were tasked onto making sure the standard RG experience was prioritised (there are threads about this somewhere too. This was one of the main reasons for the lengthy gap in between the hype build and the deployment itself sadly.

An awful long time passed, development ticked a long nicely after a time and we were back on track, some mods were scrapped and others brought in which meant a fresh round of loadout changes and mission changes. real life also got in the way massively, work was busy for a few of us and meant we just didnt have an opening to run missions consecutively.

Eventually though, a time frame was set and plans were put in place were me and Caesar not here to run the missions.

Below is a document/brief I made so with that and the chats we had, people could run the mission were I not there and still keep to the 'vision' we had set ourselves.

https://docs.google....NZitiG-w6k/edit

Its not complete, or fully comprehensive, but coupled with me talking to people and walking them through each part, it hopefully shows how much planning and thought were being put in so as to provide the best experience we could.

Anyhoo I digress. Finally! We were ready to announce it was coming

https://www.youtube....eature=youtu.be

At this point (june/july 2019) Everything was more or less ready, certainly in Beta version, just lots of polish to do and finalise the date of launch in concrete. The video again gave further detail on what the deployment was all about, I used the RG units and mission files to make sure all was correct too (albiet things like weather etc hadnt been finalised yet)

Skip forward, more time passes, more testing testing testing,using so many mods did A definitely work with C, did this weapon kill this thing? did this truck work with this enemy? an awful lot of polish to make sure things went as smooth as possible. Sure some things were missed in the end, but honestly by this point it was becoming a 'now or never' scenario.

So boom, were ready to go!

I got a little carried away with the historical lore, but I must admit it was pretty fun to write, and I do love taking screenshots so any excuse right?

They can all be found in this sub forum if you've not checked them out yet. 

The date is set, lots of nail biting proceeds as we edge ever closer to the first mission.

I dont mind saying it, I was sh***ing myself. What if it all went wrong, what if things are so broken they cant be fixed, sure we can test, but you can never tell what 50 odd people on the server will do... what if they hate it? what if ive missed something, what if what if what if... itd had been nearly 3 years in the making.... holy anxiety batman!

Mission Breakdown

So it begins... (theodenking.gif)

Operation Dynamo, the incident where British and French forces pulled off a feat so grand, they couldnt quite believe it themselves. It is an iconic moment in history and I thought would be a good way to kick things off.

The design philosophy behind this was simple 'chaos'.

I wanted people to feel overwhelmed, confused, frustrated. Going from full auto to bolt action rifles, no radios, lacking in equipment in general. All these things.

What was in essense a standard defensive mission, was to be broken up by forcing the retreat, tying into the story of RG being the last defenders made sense. I also thought something fairly static would be a good way to ease people in with lack of equipment.

Tensions were quite high, the first mission of this grand campaign, 3 years in the making.... 

It went well! Better than I expected in fact. 

The major downside in this mission was the AI simply not behaving themselves, it was near impossible to get them to move up to close in and put the pressure on players in any meaningful light. However it felt like a great intro, dogfights overhead, the panic when enemy armour came rolling down the road so much going on it was tricky to focus. There were some performance issues, particularly toward the end, and some people saw a little more combat than others.  However we also learned how some things could be improved for future missions, such as resupply runs and CAS co-ordination, as well as from a zeus POV and amount of AI that could be placed at any one time.

Still one of favourite endings to a mission I've ever done

Here are some quotes from SQL's after action reports

 

 

Pfc Oryou continued firing with the Brengun carrier aimed south at an Armoured vehicle, to distract it from the AT gun that was reloading after a missed shot. The vehicle was lost and Pfc Oryou was injured heavily. Pvt Mereck managed to pull him out of the Vehicle while the AT Gun (operated by members of Cuttless) and save his life, However in the confusion the Entrenching tool was lost.

By the time I returned to the trench, things were calmer and most of the guys were tightly spread on the ramp. We spent the remainder of the time expanding Cutlass/Blade position before the Stuckas and half tracks came. The Sten II’s were largely ineffective throughout, but the Brens compensated for the most part. Fire superiority coupled with effective mortar support from 3-0 with Sgt. Kimbo’s forward observation, successfully fended off 3x halftrack troop carriers and several squads with Blade prior to being ordered to withdraw. As Blade withdrew, Cutlass held position to cover the retreat and were obliterated by enemy artillery; all members were KIA.

After the artillery had finished the Germans followed it up with a hail of constant bullets fired towards our positions, but the two AUR’s (Pvt.Mumbo and PFC.Shrapz) responded with equal tenacity, not giving up their makeshift firing positions, outside the relative safety of the main trench in order to repel the 1st enemy push.

What I loved about this was how into it everybody got, from roleplay to overall entrhuisiasm, it was great to see.

This was the first time I'd put music into a mission, it was an experiment, but with wanting to make the whole deployment 'cinematic and immersive' I thought it was a risk worth taking, seeing everyone run down the beach with the music playing was a glorious sight, which Shlee captured beautifully. Music used was Elegy for dunkirk, from the film Atonement

https://youtu.be/uDxSksLnXwg?t=9813

There were issues sure, but it was a great start!

Next up was Operation Albany,

The parachute landing at Normandy.

Initially our idea was to do a Market garden Operation, but with lack of decent terrain, we figured we could cover parachuting with this. 

It was interesting designing this

The map doesnt have an airfield, so we had to make one. It also seems odd to take off from the same map as you are dropping onto. We got around this by using a time skip after a longish plane journey which was to give the sense of time passing. 

Also using music again to establish a calm take off and plane ride, to cut to an array of AA and Flak fire when at the DZ also was designed to help with that transition

There was a whoopsie on this, but it was recovered very quickly and Im really grateful to how everyone acted when it went wrong.  Soon enough we were back in the air again.

The take off was glorious

https://www.twitch.t...837?t=00h01m08s

This mission was also a good chance to try out some night time action,

The drop was deliberately meant to be chaotic once again, with the hope that people would become spilt up and seperated. Although we didnt want much action during this phase, the enemy threat was kept light but enough to cause issues should they not be appraoched carefully. We wanted people to feel lost, tense and on edge. Flak is something weve never seen before and a nightime op without lots of illumination and NVG's is unheard of.

To make it so you could actually see, lots of testing was done and a script developed so we could set the lighting just right and still keep the actual date to be accurate. Without the script you couldnt see anything at all, and setting a full moon meant you could see too much and it lost the feeling of 'wandering in the dark'. It was a really nice touch that made it so much better and went mostly unnoticed! 

Transitioning to day once again allowed us to be a bit more creative with objectives and be in keeping with the 'story' . We didnt want to focus too much on the night time stuff due to difficulty levels. 

Moving to a daytime assault on the village of Neaville started the bloody nose that would run through most of the deployment, but it was a sight to see.

I learned here that for towns, less AI in better positions or deliberately fdefensive positions, are 10x more effective than hindreds more randomly placed ai. All ai on this village were placed to be as annoying as possible. But I may have put too many. It was a tough balance

I managed to record all this mission from Zeus perspective so you can see how it was ran

https://www.youtube....eature=youtu.be

There are some great recordings of the drop from inside tha aircraft, and the mission was a real blast to observe.

Next up we had Overlord,

Much of the design of this was directly from the test mission I had done years earlier. Although I had to add more things down and adjust my strategy somewhat.

For this mission once again, immersion, particularly the 'opening scene' was key. Ripping the opening sounds from Saving Private Ryanand cutting out most of the chatter was a good way to enhance it without physically creating more explosions and gunfire with ai units. 

It was a lot of fun timing the trigger activation so the whistles would sound at roughly the time you hit the beach....lots of fun...

However it worked pretty well in the end.

Friendly AI was spawned in to trigger the MG's and enemy positions into firing on them, to again enhance things but also to allow most people to get off the boats.

A lot of attention was payed to the MG's in the bunkers, I couldnt have them too accurate, or engaging too early as nobody would ever make it on to the beach let alone off it. Each MG nest had its values tweaked so they would not be too deadly, but i had to keep them firing too, D-day with no MG42's is no fun at all...

It was awesome seeing the bunkers cleared out on the ridge, and the amount of bodies at the sea wall... good grief...

It was designed to be a rough start, a slaughter in some respects, but not impossible, I estimated about 45min-1hour around that area and that was pretty accurate, allowing the push in land (using a time skip again)

I messed up with that though, as the time skip changed the tides! and now the respawn was under water. Something we corrected for future missions by scripting the respawn loaction to change.

The rest of the mission went well, perhaps a bit too drawn out  by me, but on the whole, mission accomplished and again, despite the deaths, feedback was great!

Thats it for now, I'll continue later....

Please see below for awards presented to RGTF for Deployment 11

Arrow:

All serving members of Arrow are awarded the following for their actions during deployment.

Bronze Uit Citation

5* Purple Heart

Hold Firm Award

Purple Heart - Individual

WW2 Service Ribbon

Operation Overlord Ribbon

WW2 Unit Citation

Parachute Ribbon

Personnel Awards:

Icarus:

Gambler Distinguished Service Ribbon

Signals Ribbon

NCO Ribbon

Reti:

Signals Ribbon

NCO Ribbon

Aatoshi:

Gambler Distinguished Service Ribbon

Combat Infantry Ribbon

Medical Recognition Ribbon

Support Merit

Blade:

All serving mebmbers of Blade are awarded the following for their actions during deployment.

General Unit Citation

WW2 Service Ribbon

Operation Overlord Ribbon

WW2 Unit Citation

Parachute Ribbon

Hold Firm Award

5* purple heart

Purple Heart - Individual

Personnel Awards:

Kimbo:

Signals Ribbon

Command Service Merit 

NCO ribbon

WW2 Merit

Shlee:

Combat Infantry Ribbon

Signals Ribbon

NCO Ribbon

WW2 Merit

Mumbo:

Combat Infantry Ribbon

Viktor:

Medical Recognition Ribbon

Outlive:

Support Merit

Eagle Eye Ribbon Spotting an bug in the modpack that slipped through the net

Zezzek: 

Support Merit

Whigital:

Combat Infantry Ribbon

Signals Ribbon

WW2 Merit

Cutlass:

All serving members of Cutlass are awarded the following for their actions during deployment.

Parachute Ribbon

General Unit Citation

WW2 Service Ribbon

Operation Overlord Ribbon

WW2 Unit Citation

5* Purple Heart

Hold firm Award

Purple Heart - Individual

Personnel Awards:

Jazz:

Gambler Distiguished Service Ribbon

Signals ribbon

NCO Ribbon

Callum:

Gambler Distinguished Service Ribbon

Signals Ribbon

NCO Ribbon

Black Betty:

Support Merit

WW2 merit

Barnes:

Gambler Distinguished Service Ribbon

Dussack:

All serving members of Dussack are awarded the following for their actions during deployment

Parachute Ribbon

WW2 Service Ribbon

Operation Overlord Ribbon

WW2 Unit Citation

5* Purple Heart

Purple Heart - Individual

General Unit Citation

Hold Firm Award

Personnel Awards:

Refurius:

Gambler Distinguished Service Ribbon

Signals Ribbon

NCO Ribbon

lllBENlll:

Gambler Distinguished Service Ribbon

Signals Ribbon

NCO Ribbon

Seanster:

Gambler Distinguished Service Ribbon

Combat Infantry Ribbon

WW2 Merit

Warthog:

Combat Infantry Ribbon

Support Merit

Oryou:

Gambler Distinguished Service Ribbon

Merit Of Valour - For maintaining a fighting position on several occasions, even when outnumbered and alone, allowing friendlies to manouvre to safety and saving lives.

WW2 Merit

Mereck:

Medical Recognition Ribbon

Combat Infantry Ribbon

Joketheman:

Gambler Distinguished Service Ribbon

Support Merit

lexxix:

Combat Infantry Ribbon

support

Jay3ff:

Support Merit

3-0:

All serving members of 3-0 are awarded the following for their actions during deployment

Bronze Uit Citation

5* Purple Heart

Hold Firm Award

Purple Heart - Individual

WW2 Service Ribbon

Operation Overlord Ribbon

WW2 Unit Citation

Parachute Ribbon

Personnel Awards:

Obi:

Gambler Distinguished Service Ribbon

Signals Ribbon

Command Service Merit

Gambler Man Of Deployment - Proposed by fellow NCO's and members of Gambler for overall excellence on the field, above and beyond what is expected of them.

Sireuz:

Gambler Distinguished Service Ribbon

Command:

Villhelm:

Unsung Hero Award

Distinguished Service Award

Command Service Merit

WW2 Merit Ribbon

WW2 Attendance Ribbon

Operation Overlord Ribbon

WW2 Unit Citation

Bronze Unit Citation

Caesar:

Unsung Hero Award

Distinguished Service Award

Command Service Merit

WW2 Merit Ribbon

WW2 Attendance Ribbon

Operation Overlord Ribbon

WW2 Unit Citation

Bronze Unit Citation

Pvt.Pete:

WW2 Merit Ribbon

WW2 Attendance Ribbon

Operation Overlord Ribbon

WW2 Unit Citation

Logistics Ribbon

Transport Ribbon

Bronze Unit Citation

Talon Service Award

Air Combat Service 1*

Greeny:

WW2 Merit Ribbon

WW2 Attendance Ribbon

Operation Overlord Ribbon

WW2 Unit Citation

Logistics Ribbon

Transport Ribbon

Bronze Unit Citation

Talon Service Award

Air Combat Service 1*

Talon:

High Command wishes to award all members of Talon, on behalf of Gambler:

Unsung Hero Merit

Support Merit

Vegas:

High Command wishes to award all members of Vegas, on behalf of Gambler:

Bronze Unit Citation

5* Purple Heart

Hold Firm Award

Gambler Distinguished Service Ribbon

With special commendation going to Williams for his efforts during deployment, stepping up to lead and command, even when not his duty. He is awarded the following.

Command Service Merit

NCO Ribbon

Further Citations and awards to follow

Awards will start appearing on profiles over the next week

So thats it.... Our journey through WW2 has come to an end.

Please use this thread to talk about the highs, the lows and anything in between. 

We'd love to hear about what you liked, what you didn't. Screenshots, clips and videos. 

Any and all feedback is useful to us going forward so feel free to speak your mind. I'll put out a rather lengthy debrief over the next few days, this space is for you to say what you want. Would be great to hear from our newer members too!

Operation Thaw

Date: 20th December 1944
Location: Ardennes Region
 
Situation:
German forces are conducting a large scale counter offensive throughout the region. Hand picked by Hitler himself, German units are well equipped and motivated. Allied forces are attempting to halt the advance where possible, however with extreme weather conditions hampering supply lines, the task is proving difficult. RG units, initially called forward as a reserve force, are to once again go on the offensive to attempt to retake ground recently lost. 
 

 



 

Mission:
 
RG is to halt the advance and attempt a counter attack if possible. If breakout is achieved, RG is to advance and secure a key bridge before it can be destroyed.
 
 
Execution:
Due to the dire situation, all RG units will be under central ground command.
RG forces are to convoy from the starting position in force. Moving north to retake previous allied defensive positions.
Once in a defensive posture, RG will prevent any further enemy forces from breaking through our lines.
If possible a counter attack should be made.
If a break through is achieved, RG are to advance North toward the bridge at Montherme, disrupting and engaging any enemy forces encountered en route.
The bridge is the ultimate objective, however any damage to enemy supply and forces will be considered a success.
 
Service Support:
 
RG will have the following equipment:
US Airborne Equipment
5x M4A3E8 Sherman
2x Sherman Firefly
3x Stuart Light tank
3x Willy GP (2 Armed)
4x M3A1 Half Track
1x M3 Scout vehicles
Various logistic Vehicles and supply
 
No Allied Forces are expected forward of our start line due to heavy losses.
 


Radios will be issued to Command and Squad NCO's only.

 
All troops should study and memorize the maps provided prior to mission start in the event of separation from friendly forces
 
 
 
Link to actual Operation: https://en.wikipedia...le_of_the_Bulge
 
Map used Ardennes_1944
 




 







 

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