Does anyone remember that episode in Band of Brothers called "The Breaking Point"?

Easy Company was trying to take the town of Foy. Lieutenant Norman Dike was charged with leading the company towards the town, but due to his inept leadership qualities he stranded his men in the middle of nowhere while he took cover behind a haystack.

When his soldiers screamed for orders over the machine-gun fire, he responded helplessly, "I don’t know, I don’t know!"

Caving in to pressure to make a decision, he gave the following order: "1st Squad will move to a flanking mission around the rear, and we will provide covering fire."

"Aren’t we going to be a little exposed out there, Lieutenant?"

"WE WILL PROVIDE COVERING FIRE!"

He was eventually stripped of his command mid-battle, and Easy Company won the day.

I keep getting reminded of this scene whenever I play a heavily tactical shooter. The main reason for this is because whenever I’m trying to give orders on the fly, the enemy will have already flanked me quite nicely, and I’ll be desperately trying to take cover with bullets flying everywhere. Granted, the key advantage to these games is that you have unprecendented control in the pre-planning phase over what waypoints your squad will follow, what orders they will adhere to, and what Rules of Engagement to operate under. For those that enjoy planning, it’s a perfectionist’s wet dream.

I, however, do not have such patience.

I’m very much a seat-of-my-pants kind of player. I attribute this to my deathmatch upbringing. I would rather have them tag along and watch my six, rather than send them forward blindly and walk into unsuspecting traps. I guess going in myself is not the smartest thing to do, since the game ends if I, as the team lead, die.

But instead of organising dots on an overhead map, I would rather give orders on the fly, ordering my team mates to suppress while I make my way upstairs to flank. I’d rather designate waypoint by waypoint while I cover them from a distance, rather than watching my carefully laid plans go to waste from a single claymore mine.

It’s for this reason I’m glad that Star Wars: Republic Commando and Rainbow Six: Vegas are around. I’ve been giving them both a decent workout lately. And I don’t feel like a terrible leader when I’m playing them.