Rainbow Six Rogue Spear Diaries Part Two

This is my ongoing exploration of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six series, played in release order, where I will chronicle my playthrough like a text-based Let’s Play. This time I continue Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Rogue Spear.

Having rescued people from a museum in New York, and stopped terrorists on a ship in Japan, 2001 was looking like another busy year for RAINBOW…

We had just been sent to Oman for Operation: Sand Hammer. Gunmen had taken over a seawater treatment plant, so we had to liberate it and rescue the hostages, before the terrorists decided to release a toxin into the local drinking water. Also, I wasn’t to be seen, lest they detonate a bomb and spread it that way.

After the debacle that was the previous default plan, I decided to plan this myself from scratch. I didn't want to retry this operation quite so many times… My plan was simple - kill all of the terrorists, and not have to worry about rescuing the hostages. Blue squad, led by me, was to head up a ladder and into the second building holding the hostages and at least attempt a rescue. Red squad were to sweep through the first building towards the second, murdering everyone - most critically the one holding the bomb’s trigger.

Deploying, I led my team to the ladder and up. By the time I was at the top, Red squad had engaged with the terrorists. I opened a door and went around to a gantry, where I shot a guy before he could turn around. We went through to the next building as a notice went out that the triggerman had been dealt with. I shot three men on the gantry above the hostages, then another one who was on the ground floor close to them.

Leading the team around carefully, we descended some stairs and reached the hostages. That’s where we were told that the mission was a success - 10 terrorists dead, all hostages alive, toxin unreleased. It took 1:41, and all RAINBOWs were uninjured. I would definitely have to plan my own operations from now on, given how silky smooth that went.

Which is where Operation: Lost Thunder began. A NATO helicopter had been shot down, and the officials within were currently the hostages of the Serbian army irregulars. I had to head to Kosovo and extract the hostages.

There was a warning about a sniper before I made my plan, so I tried to make a route which would allow me to take care of it before it did the same to me. Blue squad would go straight for the hostages, while Red squad went into the room marked as having a “heavy” terrorist presence, and then towards the hostages.

Once on site, we split up as planned, and we made our way past the checkpoints. Red soon engaged the enemy, but before I reached the sniper’s perch shots rang out and Red squad were quickly wiped out. I carried on, though couldn’t spot the sniper and so hoped that I could avoid him. My route took us past a few terrorists who we killed, but once we reached the hostages , I was shot. Unfortunately, since I hadn’t exactly hit one of the waypoints, the AI got confused and for a few moments the squad started going the wrong way.

When I took over again, I righted our course, but was soon shot by someone else. Taking over as a third operative, I led the squad towards the evacuation point. Unfortunately, all of the terrorists that Red squad had not killed were waiting for us, and I was shot and killed again - then the sniper shot a hostage.

Yeesh

Mission failure in 4:58, with 14 terrorists dead, two RAINBOW KIA and five incapacitated or injured. Only Andrew Burke survived - so of course I had to retry. I knew that the action worked - if only I could reach that sniper quickly enough! I decided to try finding and killing him, as I didn’t fancy going back to planning so that I could put a go code in.

Taking off at a sprint, I managed to spot the sniper and shot him before he could take out Red squad. Since I knew whereabouts to expect terrorists now, I carried on towards the hostages, killing a few men along the way. When we reached the hostages, I barely managed to save one from getting shot, and picked up the hostages. As we began to escape, I shot a terrorist ahead of us - just as Red squad appeared, having killed everyone else.

Mission success in 1:35, with 16 hostages dead and no RAINBOW injuries. Things were certainly going my way as we headed into Operation: Perfect Sword. An airliner had been stranded in Brussels by middle-eastern terrorists, and I had to rescue the hostages that they hadn’t yet murdered.

In the planning stage, I figured that the only reliable way I could get in and out of there with all of the hostages still alive would be for a single team. Of course, it would be led by Reserve 1. After following the fuel truck around to the cargo door, I planned on clearing it off all of the terrorists. Failing that, I had a route planned to take the hostages back to the extraction point.

Deploying next to a building, we waited for the driver to get into the truck, then followed alongside to stay out of sight. Well, I did - I’m pretty sure Andrew Burke was in full view the whole time… Just before the truck stopped, we broke for the cargo ramp and entered the plane. Unfortunately, the first terrorist we encountered shot me, incapacitating me.

Taking over Santiago Arnavisca just after two of the operatives said “Area clear”, I rounded a corner and was shot by a terrorist literally one wall away from where he had been stood. Thankfully, it only wounded me and I continued through the plane, killing another terrorist before I was incapacitated. I took over Daniel Bogart, and continued clearing the plane, getting into a Benny Hill-style situation where I chased one around a staircase with two terrorists, one of whom shot and wounded me.

Once the plane was clear, I headed to the hostage stood at the door, where I believed another terrorist was. After a quick look, I decided that I must have missed someone somewhere else, so went back and grabbed the hostages. As I reached the one at the door again, I spotted the final terrorist at the bottom of the stairs, so shot him. Mission successful in 7:04, 10 terrorists dead, two RAINBOW incapacitated and one wounded. Incapacitated was still alive, so I decided to honour Santiago taking 12 bullets, by accepting the success.

Another success meant another new mission - Operation: Crystal Arc. It was going to be a difficult one, as it involved sneaking in to plant surveillance devices and getting out of there undetected…