Kodan Black Posted January 19, 2015 Posted January 19, 2015 Volunteer in the civilian world tends to be used like "I volunteered to..."; but in the military we often use it as "I was volunteered to..." and that can be confusing to non-military people when we talk to them. How can a word have 2 opposite meanings? It is just something you get used to. At the start of our day Dez and I were told to report to the Captain in charge of TIE operations aboard ship, he is the commanding officer of all us pilots. Getting called to his office isn't usually a good sign, though we hadn't had anything go wrong so we were perplexed. We certainly weren't going to even consider we were being called in for praise! Upon arriving he informed us that a rebel base had been located planetside and that we were to participate in the assault. We were instantly excited as we had never done air-to-ground attacks before, but he quickly dashed our hopes as he told us we would not be in our Interceptors. The rebel base was located in a mine that was outside a small town that had several processing plants. Important processing plants. The ground was uneven and rocky so it would be impossible to use walkers and because of the close proximity to the processing plants the Lieutenant in charge of the assault had requested forward observers to aid the pair of TIE bombers assigned to the assault in making sure their attacks were precise. The Captain told us to get to the quartermaster and draw our gear and get to the main hangar to hitch a ride on one of the shuttles ferrying down the stormtroopers that would be assaulting the base. We were going to be positioned at the edge of town in a high overwatch position with the Lieutenant leading the assault so he could designate targets for us to relay to the bomber pilots. We'd be glorified radio operators, but we had little choice since the Captain had volunteered us for the duty. We grabbed our gear and got to the shuttle, during the short flight to the planet Dez and I did "rock, paper, scissors" to determine who would spot and who would be on the radio. After I won I told him that he had a much better radio voice anyway, his raised middle fingers indicated he felt otherwise. Once in position we got a general view of the terrain and quickly saw the beginnings of the assault. It wasn't going to be very secret as the stormtroopers had no choice but to pick their way through the rough terrain to the mine entrance. Right away it was a slow progression and the Lieutenant quickly realized that the rebels were using the terrain to their advantage as they fought a delaying action while the remaining rebels inside the base made their way to some secret exit. He told us to have the bombers hit the rebels so his men could get inside the mine. I looked at the battle and told him if we hit the rebels that his own men would take similar losses due to the proximity, but he said they were "acceptable losses" if that meant we got inside. I suggested we use a thermal detonator run between the rebels and mine entrance to both take some rebels out while simultaneously destroying any traps they had set up. The Lieutenant agreed and Dez radioed the orders to the bomber pilots. Except they weren't carrying thermal detonators, they had been told to only carry heavy bombs which we couldn't use due to the processing plants being too close by. Apparently the Lieutenant had ordered that because in typical ground pounder thinking bigger is always better. When I informed the Lieutenant of this oversight he became incensed and said to tell the bombers to use their "guns or something" as his men had to get into that mine before the rebels all escaped. By now I'd figured out this Lieutenant was fully incompetent. I knew that having the bombers strafe the rebels would do nothing because they were too hidden by terrain, it would also prevent the stormtroopers from advancing as they couldn't advance into the area being strafed. But I had Dez call it in anyway, he made sure to relay it as "the ground assault commander has ordered you to strafe" so that they pilots didn't think we were the ones requesting such a pointless action. I was willing to let the rebels escape in exchange for not wasting the lives of our troopers. Ultimately the assault succeeded in securing the base; eventually. Intelligence estimates put the base at containing 50-60 rebels and associated supplies. We killed 5 rebels (the ones who sacrificed themselves in the delaying action), captured zero and found no supplies or intelligence worth having. I had to give grudging respect to the rebels who fought against superior numbers in a fight that they knew they couldn't win so that the majority of their people could get free. We lost 8 stormtroopers with 6 injured. Dez and I submitted after action reports that earned us praise from the Captain and likely were contributing factors in the Lieutenant losing his rank and becoming a line trooper in the same unit whose lives he had treated so casually. He had better hope that his new commanding officer is better than he was. Overall build of hotel: Please critique and judge. Quote
MKJoshA Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 I really like the details you have on your hotel. Especially those 1x1 round tiles, they look perfect! I think the clone armor is out of place here, but I understand if it's because of parts limitations Quote
Kodan Black Posted January 21, 2015 Author Posted January 21, 2015 Yeah, I was questioning using the clone armor; because I wanted to make it clear he was the lieutenant I decided to go with the clone armor over the generic stormtrooper armor. I know it isn't ideal. Sadly I just have regular stormtroopers or 2 different clone troopers (the helmet on this one looked more like the normal stormtrooper which is why I selected him). Thanks for the feedback! Quote
MontyPython Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 You're builds are getting better and better. Nice work with photography too! It's nice to see SoNE alive again! Quote
Kodan Black Posted January 23, 2015 Author Posted January 23, 2015 You're builds are getting better and better. Nice work with photography too! It's nice to see SoNE alive again! Thanks, the natural light really helped with the photos. Alas that isn't always easy to come by this time of year. Yeah, I love all the SoNE builds. Great to see lots of inspiration and new techniques. Quote
Shadows of Nar Eurbrikka Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 Judges have awarded you 3 XP! Quote
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