Goddamn it. It was a trap. 5 good solider dead, including one of my elite sniper team, a major with 23 kills and 10 missions under his belt. The only one who survived managed to live due to the sacrifice of the support Cpl.
So the map starts out. Round 1, first soldier is sent in. 3 Mutons on both sides. A sniper immediately kills one with a headshot. The dude who triggered them is way out of position; in between the two squads and completely flanked by all 6, with no moves left. A few more shots are fired, a few soldiers are moved into position. The guy out in the open gets shot, panics, and then manages to not only shoot a muton (nonfatally), but to run back into strong cover. Awesome. Not so awesome, the mutons use blood call, bringing another pair of mutons. 2 more mutons down next turn, smoke grenades are deployed. Mutons are now closing on our position from all sides. If I was smart, I would have been gone by that turn. Some light muton fire; 1 dead. I continue trying to take out the mutons. None go down. End of my turn. Muton fire and a grenade take out 2 more squaddies. Another fumbling turn in which nothing of import was done by my squad. I should have been gone by now. A cyberdisk appears; the first I had encountered. A second grenade comes down, taking out the already wounded sniper, and heavily injuring the support behind him. The second sniper is panicked. Another turn lost. The sniper takes suppressing fire while the cyberdisk whirs overhead, dealing 4 damage. Figuring it was time to get the hell out of dodge 4 turns ago, I send in the support to provide a target for the encircling mutons. He managed to survive the firing with 1 hp, fired on the muton suppressing the sniper, and of course misses. The sniper then runs for the skyranger. The fire from the suppressing muton misses him; he makes it to the extraction point.
... Also of note; that's the same sniper who survived through all my previous stories of dead everythings.
That dude really knows how to live. (protip: the secret is in not dying) No one messes with Major Zed.