<S!> To you Nash.. I had a blast. Thanks again for makin it possible.
Now Nash; one last request: send me yer snail mail addy; cause there's a present from Storm gonna be commin yer way.
On Rumble Tactics... as far as I'm aware; no cage's tactical plan survived contact with the runway. I had in hand a strat overview, and tactical plans from all Cage Leaders, they all sounded great. Even mine. Hell; I cracked this thing down into a list of possibilities; reactions; results; moves; counters... then when I knew they had the password I had to make smoke... kept me up nights worryin, it did.
When it got time to roll; they ALL got chucked in the crapper. They discovered, as I have; that in the cockpit; with the enemy's dots above you; it's too damn late for strat...
On rumble voice comms prior to the fight; I reminded all of em to brief their pilots on teamwork; to use wingman tactics and to fight as a group. I also cautioned 'em that staying alive was key to success; and to not be inna hurry to get into any fight with unidentified dots above it..
On basic cage layouts I installed a good squad, with a skilled leader in each to be that cage's core.. These guys were all skilled in teamwork; skilled in wing and section tactics and all of 'em had those skills tempered in the fires of bishland over the past coupla years. I had complete confidence in their ability to fight as good a fight as possible; they went in motivated to win; and they made it happen.
The walk on's and singletons just fleshed out those cages, and their contribution was critical too.. but the skilled core was already there in each one; and I never contemplated breaking them up or scattering them at random. The FIRST thing I did in the allied forum was make it possible for the squads to get themselves rostered as they saw fit; in the planes they wanted to fly, and gave them the authority to select the A/C from Hristo's list to be used in those cages.
To the largest degree possible; I simply delegated. Those guys knew how to fly.. in my mind all I had to do was point 'em at the plane lists; and then point 'em at the enemy with a "NO MA FURBALLIN DWEEBISHNESS" admonition. What a great buncha pilots.. damn, they made me so fediddlein proud.
Lastly.. yah I'd like to see more of these. they'll be even easier to do next time around. It was a shame the mission planner attempts went sour, would like to know why they failed. Squad duels sound like fun.. but my passion will remain for these Big Rumbles with over 100 fighters in the air; man; whotta show! It can always go either way..... and I can't wait for next years.
Hristo.. you are sadly lacking in Military Training.. or if you had any; you forgot it. [edit]It was within your prevue to establish your cage rosters and prepare.. you had time. Over a Month! You selected the planes; had your pick, I never ever questioned it; asked for a change or made a single modification. As overall Axis Commander; it was your responsibility to see to it your pilots had what they needed in hand to win... YOUR responsibility. The failure of the Axis to put up a good fight was not because your crews skills were lacking... YOURS WERE. Take responsibility for your lack of action, your complacency; your decit.... and apologize to those Axis crews fer lettin 'em down. They came to fight.. you never gave 'em the tools to do it with.
My DI would preach over and over.. (punctuated with whacks from his chicken stick and many hundreds of PT field laps and thousands of push-ups) the following refrain:
YOUfediddleINIDIOTS!!!! HOWMANYfediddleINTIMES I GOTTA TELLUGIRLS ABOUTTHE fediddleIN '7P's??'
PROPER PRIOR PLANNING PREVENTS PISS-POOR PERFORMANCE![/i] YAHBUNCHAfediddleIN donutHEADS!!! DROP; GIVE ME 20 MORE!
<S!> All.. and thanks for flyin.
[ 07-16-2001: Message edited by: Hangtime ]
