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 We'll, it's been a long road but we have finished the 2nd Squad Challenge. We started out with 6 squads originally, we lost 2 Squads along the way and that left us with 4 squads competing for the Title of "Best Squad" in Squad Challenge II. The squads who hung in there and fought in every round were the 91st Sturmbattation (the defending champions from Squad Challenge I), 101st Airborne (competing for the second time), 250 Hispana (first time competing), and the 13th Infantry Regiment (also competing for the first time).
The challenge went something like this: Each squad took turns in a match attacking and defending a set of farm buildings just east of Jodoigne where a flock of sheep can be found in the game. Thus calling the challenge "Saving the Flock". Each squad got 1 hour to achieve their objective of successfully defending or capturing the farm house as they took on each role. The Axis team (the attackers) had 21 Infantry, 5 tanks, and 3 APC's. The Allied team (the defenders) had 21 Infantry, 3 tanks, 2 atg's, and 3 Trucks. This was a single death challenge, so once you were killed, you were riding the bench and had to cheer on your team via chat and team speak.
We has some great match's between the squads. Many of the match's came down to the last minutes. I think that the 13th Infantry vs the 101st was one of the best match's in the challenge when the 101st defended the farm house with only 7 players and the 13th had 20 or 21 players attacking. The 101st held off the 13th Infantry till the very last few minutes of the match and almost pulled of one of the biggest upsets in all the match's combined from both Squad Challenge I and II. When we went into the last round the scores were very tight and it came down to the very last match of the Squad Challenge to determine who the winner would be. First place won by one point and second place beat the third place team by only one point that’s how close the scores were when the Squad Challenge ended. I filmed every encounter with Fraps and you can find all the movies posted here in this thread. I'd like to post some of the comments about the Squad Challenge by those playing in it:
"It was a great event which tested tactics and squad communication."
"lol - it was so hard to try and command from the lobby, had no idea what was happening, who was alive, who was near the farm. I rushed to get smoke on the a-13 near the farm but he spotted me or ei told him, and he got me :( Would've maybe had a better chance if I had layed low"
"Id say is its probably the best online gaming experience I have had. The fact that you have a real fear of death increases immersion so much, and this also allows for proper tactics to be used. The matches when evenly matched, and even when outnumbering the enemy, were incredibly exciting. These events show what this game is capable of and also promote teamwork and improves the skill level of the squads involved. Can't wait for the next one!"
An AAR on the 13th vs 91st Squad Challenger:
We were defending first and had decent numbers. We were unsure what sort of numebrs the enemy had but were confident of holding the farmhouse with what we had. The first 20 or 30 minutes were very tense waiting for the first signs of axis movement or audio. It was a great test of nerves!
Eventually our scouts picked up 38t audio to the north which began to build more and more. It sounded like 4 or 5 enemy tanks were rolling in on our positions. Enemy infantry was then spotted near the town. Our tanks and ATGs were in vulnerable positions, most of which were taken out, our last 2 pounder was repositioned with a good flank shot on the approaching tanks only for the enemy squad leader to take him out. I was a second too late, but I managed to take out the enemy commander with my Enfield.
Things looked grim for the 13th now with all axis tanks still alive. Our defenders at the farmhouse stood firm though, and picked off the approaching enemy infantry from their covered poistions.
The tanks rolled in closer and so our scouts fellback toward the farmhouse on the flank of the attacking infantry. We were able to pick off the infantry as they ran behind the tanks in the open as well as ambushing them in the dense cover near the farm.
The final stage of the defense was chaotic and a real test of our skills. We weren't sure if any infantry had managed to enter the farm so we began a mortar barrage to try to clear the building. We destroyed the farm and that's when Jammy announced we had successfully held the farm!
The attack was planned quickly. We went with different tactics to 91st, but proved to be an extremely difficult task.
91st had deployed their tanks and ATGs in excellent defensive positions and managed to do what we did not do. They took our all of our armour meaning our infantry must attack with no support.
Knowing roughly the numbers that the enemy had, we knew we had to try sneaking in but due to the limited routes to target with suitable cover, we were picked off easily as we did not concentrate our forces enough.
The squad challenge is a great event which with evenly matched numbers, provides a very exciting and nail biting couple of hours. It gives us a chance to use some real tactics that are often not used in the live game.
I hope more squads show interest in the future as its a good way to promote squads and is a good training exercise too.
Well I guess were down to how it panned out for Squad Challenge II:
It's my pleasure to announce that the 91st Sturmbattalion has won Squad Challenge II and have successfully defended the title from Squad Challenge I and now have back to back victory's in the Squad Challenge. Congratulations to the 91st for their 2nd trophy and to the 101st Airborne, the 13th Infantry, and the 250 Hispana Squads for playing. I hope to see all of you back for Squad Challenge III and a few more squads get involved and have a bigger competition between them and see if any of them can keep the 91st from winning 3 Challenge titles in a row.
Jammyman
Special Events Team
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