Dog Days

2009-05-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

What a GAME!

I have to give it to Ferg, changing the Vietnam Patrol storyline every year really keeps the game fresh and exciting! I am STRONGLY pressing him to do the same thing for Fulda 2009.

Where to begin… Okay, let’s step back a few months prior to the actual game. Joint Venture (suggested tag for the Capital Offense/ Boxer partnership suggested by Runaway) had just teamed up to deliver victory at Gen Kill. Truth be told, that was a somewhat bittersweet win as it was against our good friend Bill “Greenman” Ford. I truly enjoy laying down the smackdown with Greenman (plus he is a brother Leatherneck).

After Gen Kill it was confirmed that Greenman would return as the Communist commander at VP 09. Last year, Boxer supported Bill as he commanded NVA forces at VP: Khe San. Although we fought hard, we narrowly lost to the Marines. So it was a no-brainer that we would give Green our full support this year to secure the first ever communist victory at a Vietnam Patrol game. The first in 4 tries!

Along with our Joint Venture brothers in arms, Capital Offense, and the usual suspects; Recon-1, Rogue Cell and TangoAlpha2 (and a host of others) we set out to deliver a beat down! Greenman is a VERY thorough planner but he is also flexible and willing to hear different ideas. As he began planning, Greenman opened up to his core unit commanders to get their input then put together his tactical plan. In the end, using the input of his commanders and lessons learned from many games at Command Decisions, Greenman put together one heck of a strategy!

One of Sun Tzu’s basic principles states “Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril.” Having great familiarity with the teams under him, the CD terrain, and the game producer, Green constructed a plan that provided maximum flexibility and took into consideration the core strengths of the teams under his command. He also, went a step further to collect information on his opposition. Bottom line, Greenman, established the bar so that unless his opposite number (Spaniard of Team Pale Horse) came with the same level of preparation, the US side would be at a major disadvantage from game on.

Sadly, Boxer went into this game light. With many of our regulars working that week-end (especially most of the Boxer Leadership) we arrived at VP 09 not knowing what to expect. Even, our venerable leader, Wendell “Runaway” McInnis could not make the game (although he tried!). It has been said that “adversity is just another word for opportunity” and several Boxers took advantage of the situation to Show Up and Show Out! Also, knowing that we would not have our normal complement, I asked Greenman if I could draft team Those Guys to help fill out our ranks, which he agreed to. So going into game, we had myself, Sonic-X, Phantom, Rocky, Evan, , Wallace, Bubba, Junior, Talen, and Seoul.

The Communist order of battle was as follows: Recon-1 was the 325th NVA Division, Rogue Cell and TangoAlpha2 comprised the Pathet Lao (Laotian insurgent forces), Capital Offense as Laotian bandits, and Team Boxer / Those guys Laotian tribesmen. Facing off against US Marines, Hmong Villagers/Mercs (who started the game neutral), and CIA operators. There was also a host of neutral role players, Harly Hunk played a Frenchmen of dubious character, who could either make the game harder or easier based on their mood. This lead to a very layered game with a ton of negotiations, back dealing, and double crosses!

Actually, I learned quite a bit during this game. This was actually the first role playing scenario game in which I had a some what prominent role. Bill had provided some great tips based on refereeing the air-soft game the week prior, but I still was not prepared with fake cash, Slim Jims, or other items with which to barter and bribe. Next time I will be better prepared. Role players we would encounter, in addition to the Frenchman, included a priest, a Laotian farmer with simulated farm animals (I didn’t know you could represent a sheep with a blow up kangaroo!), a drug dealer, and a number of twisted CIA men.

The game start had communist forces at Luke and Bravo while the US started at Sim. A number of role players had all ready entered the field and were in place prior to game start. Also, unlike many of the recent games at CD, this was a mission driven game (versus the normal taking and holding of bases) with multiple missions being run concurrently. This put a heavy premium on game and team management as Green had to anticipate missions and deploy his forces accordingly. Focusing just on bases or the opposition’s CP would have a negative impact on a side’s ability to win and the game played out that way. The bottom line, while tactics are important it is equally as important to understand how to play the game. This requires a thorough understanding of the game rules, how the field is laid out (game map), and who your opposition is. You can then meld this information with tactics to complete your strategy. During VP 09, Greenman hit on all cylinders in this regard and in my opinion, secured his victory long before the first paintball was fired (also a Sun Tzu principle). Some might say this approach is overkill, but I say let the results speak for themselves.

Game On! We organized ourselves into a 4 squad platoon; Rocky took command of the 1st Squad which consisted of him included Seoul, Hitman and Evan. Phantom took the 2nd Squad, which included Wallace, Bubba, Junior, and Talen. The 3rd squad was lead by Jeff “Chicken” Thom and was made up entirely of his team Those Guys. The 4th squad was lead by Sonic-X, which consisted of several friends of our family whom we had invited to the game. All in all we fielded a composite Boxer/Those Guys platoon of 17, 23 if you include the 6 family friends. For purposes of this AAR I will focus mostly on the first three squads.

Greenman tasked Boxer and Capital Offense as his primary reconnaissance and mission teams. Boxer’s initial mission was to move to the western side of the field in order to screen against any surprises at the beginning of the game and recon the western bases while Capital Offense would post up in the vicinity of Ambush Alley in order to begin running missions. Phantom and Rocky pushed their squads south along route 1 towards Hamburger. This would allow us to set-up a patrol base out of DZ-7 from where we could run recon and missions. The plan was to continue pushing Phantom’s squad to the south-east towards Sim if the road was clear. Meanwhile the 3rd squad, Those Guys, would move west then south (following route 5) stopping at Holiday and Duckett before moving to Hamburger to link up with the rest of the platoon. However, our initial plan had to be slightly modified as the 4th squad was somewhat slow in deploying and we received our first game mission, secure and hold Bentree until 1:30 pm. Rather than hold up the entire platoon, the first three squads got on their way while I finished getting the 4th squad onto the field.

Phantom’s squad became enmeshed in the heavy fighting around Rex and Alpha as US forces streamed out of Sim in an attempt to take those bases. Rocky’s squad began their movement up route 1 and Those Guys headed west towards Bentree. Once the 4th squad was ready, we headed past Luke to the DMZ with the intent of following Rocky’s s route up route 1. Those Guy’s reached and secured Bentree and then pushed out a small team out across the fire break to the Village. In addition to completing the Bentree mission we wanted to screen against Marine forces moving north from DZ 2 too cross the DMZ. Rocky’squad was making could progress towards Hamburger. Greenman radioed that he needed a runner to pick up a mission card at the CP. I decided to use one of our young guns with the 4th squad so I asked David “Hoyboy” Hoy if his son Connor could do it. So he crossed the firebreak to go get him and I never saw the 4th squad again for the rest of the day. Oh well!

By myself, I moved back to the CP since it was getting close to 1:30 and it did not make sense to move until that mission was completed and we had our next tasking. About this time Rocky’s squad reached Hamburger and I told them to hold there for the next mission. At 1:30, with the Bentree mission completed and signed off Those Guys moved back down to Luke in-order to stage for our next mission.

By this time, the missions were hot and heavy and the NVA / Pathet Lao forces were engaged heavily around Rex, Alpha and Sim as US forces seem fixated on this part of the field. This left most of the western side of the field open to our forces to run missions. So I asked Green what he needed and he asked me to go back up to recon Holiday and Duckett but that we did not have to occupy those bases. Had I known he was going to ask us to do this I’d have told Those Guys not to come all the way down from Bentree. Chalk it up to the Fog of War!

Once I linked up with Those Guys we began our movement via route 1 to Holiday. During this time, Phantom’s squad remained engaged in the central battle area with Rocky’s squad holding up at Hamburger, which by this time was beginning to attract the attention of the OpFor. My intent was to link-up all three squads at Hamburger. However, this was not to be. After clearing Holiday we moved on to Duckett where we encountered a tribe of neutral Hmong escorted by a strange Blue(max) foreigner. Our point element was the first to encounter them and as I moved up to the head of our tactical column I began to notice that there was a LOT of armed Hmong loitering about. As I move up the road I began to report to Greenman the numbers, “Okay we have 10 to 15 Hmong at Duckett, no make that 20, no 25…..”, you get the picture. Needless to say we were heavily outnumbered and outgunned. As I walked up the road I could see our point man talking to the strange Blue(max) foreigner who suddenly pointed his gun at us and screamed “Don’t come any closer!” Okay, what’s this about. So I walk up to our point man and he tells me that the villagers have agreed to let us pass through their village but that we could not stop for any reason. So I instruct the squad to keep moving through. While our guys filed through the village, I asked the strange Blue(max) foreigner who he was but he just grunted and told me I needed to parlay with the village head man. So I found him and began negotiations. Just as an aside, these 25 or 30 role players were actually real Hmong from Hickory area Ferg had invited specifically to play this game. I am told some were the children of actual Hmong fighters who had fought in Laos during the Vietnam War. Pretty Cool!

As this is happening I’m updating Greenman while David “9D” Thompson, captain of Capital Offense, is on the radio advocating we wipe out the village. However, being the former Marine I am, I decided on winning hearts and minds, but I should have wiped out the village… The village headman, though polite was very adamant. He did not want us in his village. I tried to connect with him by stating that we were all Laotian (don’t laugh, I was playing my role as a Laotian tribal leader) but he stood firm. So, we kept moving. At the southern end of the village I stopped our squad to assess the situation while 9D is on the radio “Burn the village to the ground!”. Of course being a Laotian bandit, he would say that, so I just ignore his advice (bad idea, as he is very experienced at this type of game). But my thoughts were interrupted as the strange Blue(max) foreigner runs up to me and shouts, “Didn’t he tell you to leave his village”. Again, still trying to win hearts and minds I meekly agree and move our squad out of Duckett along the rear tapeline. We were in a bad spot. Since I did not want to go back through the village but I wanted to keep track of the Hmong I had only two choices. Move east along the tapeline which would have taken us to the low ground by the creek. Bad idea if the Hmong turned out to be hostile, they would hold the high ground and could sweep down on us. Or we could move west towards DZ 2, however I didn’t want to end up in a DZ camping situation. So I decided on a compromise, we would sit in a skirmish line half way between Duckett and DZ 2. Compromises are always a bad idea, I should have just shot everyone and let the refs sort em out. Recognizing the poor tactical situation I was in, I decided to position the other 2 Boxer squads so that they could support us if things got hot, moving Rocky’s squad to just outside Holiday and Phantom’s squad just west of Alpha at bridge 4. Sound tactical move or so I thought! Well, here is where the fog and friction of war set in. First, Phantom was down to 2 men in his squad (I think it was Wallace). So I asked if Iron Man could provide some of his Rogues to help, which he agreed to do but it take time for them to get into position. Then the Hmong began to maneuver a small group to our rear (between us and DZ 2, I should have mowed em down). Then we spot a group of Marines dead walking into DZ 2 (this should have been my queue to go Rambo, but, NOOOOO! ) Still thinking like a Marine, I decide to form a U shape perimeter with the tapeline to our back, I felt that if it came to a fight we could hold out until help arrived…. Chicken must have been thinking, this guy is nuts! But he followed my orders and deployed his troops accordingly. Right at that moment the Marines hit us from DZ2. I immediately ordered Rocky and Phantom to attack Duckett. However, I was hit, then Chicken, and then another of his guys. Turns out that this group of Marines included the CIA man sent to convert the Hmong to the US side. For a very brief moment I thought something would be salvaged as the Marines and Hmong opened up on each other, but the CIA man acting quickly, secured a cease fire and began his work. I could hear another fire fight break out as the remnants of our squad duked it out with the Marines, but an opportunity had been missed to deny the US side of some points because I wanted to be goody, goody man! HERE ENDS THE LESSON!

After that debacle, we regrouped at DZ 7 and moved up to Hamburger with the thought of engaging the Hmong and Marines. At Hamburger, we ran into that shady Frenchman with whom I started a conversation. He was friendly, but when I asked for information he asked for money, of which I had none (memo to self). I radioed Greenman, who told me Iron Man may have had some cash, but once again wise 9D chimed in to say he didn’t think the Frenchy had anything worthwhile to offer since they had already obtained a printing press from him (which would be part of a later mission we would complete). Having all ready experienced the poor results of ignoring 9D’s wise counsel, I decided to leave good enough alone and move on. Given the 3rd Squad was fairly spread-out, I decided to have them re-group at Bravo. I’m not sure what was happening with Rocky and Phantom after the debacle at Duckett except that I believe Rocky’s squad became embroiled in a fight with the Marines.

After, 3rd squad regrouped Greenman directed us to a mission at Luke to support Recon-1 with a mission there. When we arrive, we found Carl of Capital Offense there with two others in a bunker with the printing press. The Hun arrived a few minutes later with the mission card, which directed that the printing press be set-up so that we could begin printing counterfeit cash. We had to protect the operation until 2:30. The mission was supposed to be run by Recon-1 but most of Hun’s team was engaged in fighting in Ambush Alley so we picked up the mission. By this time both Phantom (minus his squad) and Rocky’s squad had linked up with us. Those Guys took the firebreak side of Luke while Rocky’s squad covered the Bentree side. Phantom stayed with me.

While at Luke completing the printing press mission another mission came up that also needed our help. Greenman radioed that he needed someone to escort four TangoAlpha2 players to Hamburger so they could bring a mission card to their team which was up at Apache. I volunteered Phantom and asked Chicken to provide one of his guys as well. The problem was that the Marines controlled Alpha and Ambush Alley. 9D who was on the southern end of Ambush Alley wanted to try a link up so he could take the TangoAlpha2 guys the rest of the way. First, Phantom tried to cross the fire break below Luke but the immediately ran into a hail of fire and had to withdraw. The Marines were very wiley as they let them get into the open before opening fire. I saw several balls narrowly miss Phantom’s noggin! Okay, not good, so I radioed 9D to ask for a better route. He said try the wooded area near Leeville, however this area was crawling with stinky Marines as well! What to do, what to do!

Greenman finally decide a multi-unit operation to clear Ambush Alley was required. Using elements of Capital Offense, Iron Man’s unit and the group Phantom was guiding; a multi-pronged push started from both ends. After about 10 or so minutes the link up was made. What a great job all round and a great example of how effective communications can have a significant impact on a game! Mission Complete! We also successfully completed the printing press mission as I personally delivered the mission card into Ferg’s hands. Boxer had just help deliver a two-for… With all of the activity, I decided it was time to get our guys off the field for an hour break as I wanted to keep-em fresh for the night game. So I checked-out with Greenman. We would comeback on in time for the 4:00 mission. We had had a very productive morning.

If someone had told me we could have been as effective without many of our key guys, I would have been suspect. Nothing against Phantom or Rocky, but both were new to squad leader roles, with Rocky really being new to the team (this was only his second game). But BOY DID THEY STEP UP! Rocky, had a slightly easier job given he was leading his brother and his friend not to mention that both Rocky and his brother are active duty Marines. Phantom, on the other hand had to take on a number of missions where he was leading people he had never played with before or who where not necessarily mil-sim in their approach. I was really able to observe Phantom’s effectiveness later in the afternoon and during the night game. Also, teaming up with Those Guys turned out to be the right move. Of course, I was well familiar with how good Chicken and his crew was given they worked with me throughout all if Gen Kill. When you put it all together, we formed a very effective force.

In truth with all that happened during the morning and afternoon, I don’t remember what we did in that final hour of the Saturday day session. Perhaps Phantom or someone else remembers (I think we ran one more mission but I can’t say for certain). So we broke for dinner, with the Communist side comfortably in the lead.

During the night game the entire field was open but missions would be run between Bravo, Rex, Sim and Alpha. The objective being to see who could control the most bases at the end of the session. Our side started with Alpha and Bravo while the US side held Sim and Rex. Boxer, Those Guys, and Phantom Recon lead by Hambo started at Alpha while Greenman with Recon-1 and TangoAlpha2 covered Bravo. Capital Offense waited to come onto the field until the sun had gone down in order to take advantage of their NVG’s. Our plan was to have the three teams in Alpha hold the base while Capital Offense swept around Alpha turning east to hit Sim for the southern end using their green eyes. Junior, Bubba, and Talen moved to Sim to begin collecting info on the OpFor in advance of our major force and to harass the Marine CP. Wallace stayed with Phantom and provided a radio link to our recon team. This worked great because they were able to get down to Sim and provide some initial Intel before getting into a fight. GOOD JOB GUYS! The plan was for us to then rotate the teams in Alpha to hit Sim with Capital Offense until we owned the base. About 30 minutes into the game, Kevin from Shadow Group move into Alpha to take charge of the base defense which freed me up to coordinate offensive operations with Capital Offense at Sim. At this point Rocky’s squad moved out so they could get into position to hit Sim when Capital Offense was ready, however given their lack of familiarity with the field combined with the darkness they ended up at Hamburger.

Capital Offense kicked off their attack and the ball started rolling. At this point I decided that myself and Phantom should move to link up with Rocky’s squad. After linking up, Phantom and I moved up the route 9 to the low end of Sim where we linked up with Capital Offense’s Chris “Big Dog” Vargas while Rocky and his team moved up route 3 to the parking lot entrance to Sim. Capital Offense had already taken some of the trailers on the perimeter when we arrived. I deferred to Big Dog to take the lead since they had night vision and Boxer would support. With Rocky’s squad on the western side of Sim and us and Capital Offense on the Eastern side we were going to clear east to west. I also decided to bring up the rest of our force and Phantom called up Those Guys. They would clear the western side of Sim while Capital Offense cleared the middle using their NVGs. That’s where things went awry. First, as Those Guys moved up to the shacks on the Southwestern end of Sim they ran into a hail of paint and lost half their number. By the time they cleared that area they were pretty much combat ineffective and done for the night. That left myself, Phantom, Rocky’s squad and Capital Offense in Sim with whatever US forces remained, but we secured through the center of Sim. About this time CO started taking intense fire from the northwestern corner of Sim. Phantom tried to raise Rocky to tell him to hold fire while we cleared the rest of Sim to him, however he could not reach him. There where several more exchanges of fire but we still could not raise Rocky. Finally, 9D, Will, Phantom and I were in a shack on the western tree line taking heavy fire, when all of a sudden someone rushed the shack in a hail of paint. It was Rocky! We had just engaged in red on red friendly fire! Rocky had turned his radio down to get stealthy, so he never heard our radio calls and mistook us for Marines. As it turns out the Marines couldn’t stop us but we sure stopped ourselves!

After getting ourselves unscrewed at Sim we heard that Bravo had fallen, so we regrouped to retake our primary CP. Boxer took the left flank while Capital Offense took the right and we moved forward in a skirmish line. Rocky and his brother bounded forward under our suppressive fire to clear the trenches and then bunker tag the CP. It was a great move on their part! At this point 9D decided to deploy his team to all the bases with their NVG’s so that would not happen again. Boxer stayed to secure Bravo while Capital Offense took off to re-secure Rex and Sim. I don’t believe we ever lost Alpha.

We would end the night game in control of the field and would have had a large point advantage except that Greenman was barrel tagged by a very sneaky and enterprising Marine who had infiltrated our lines at Bravo and laid down behind a bunker like he was a defender facing Sim. Green, being a good General was out walking the lines when he came upon this gentleman who preceded to take him out for 100 points. OUTSTANDING MOVE! But the night game still ended with us comfortably in the lead.

Sunday started off wet and gray. The forecast called for rain and the early morning did not disappoint. The rain came down in buckets. Fortunately between the Capital Offense canopies and the one I brought we were able to keep dry until the weather eased up. The game was supposed to re-start at 9 am but Ferg pushed it back to 11. Numbers on both sides were way down, as many players had left after Saturday and some Sunday morning, including Rocky’s squad. Wallace, Junior, Bubba, and Talen would play some of the morning but did not stay until the end. Pretty much we operated with me, Phantom, and Those Guys. After all the running around on Saturday and the bad weather we wanted to stay between Sim and Bravo, but this was not to be. First as we arrived on field Rex had just been retaken by the Marines. So Boxer and Those Guys lead a push to retake the base. With that taken care of Greenman directed us to head up to Hamburger, up that damn hill again! Well so much for the best laid plans. So up we went.

To be honest I don’t remember much about our walk except that we ended up at Sim as 9D and Capital Offense was in the process of completing a mission to retrieve some type of box. The Marines were fighting tenaciously and it was shack to shack, trailer to trailer fighting! The paint was intense in both directions. However, slowly they were pushed back into the southwest corner of the base as Capital Offense crept closer to their objective.

One of the things I like about our Joint Venture is that I get to watch Capital Offense play from up close and regularly get to see what makes them so special as a team. The paint is flying hot and heavy and there is 9D, without a gun crouching behind a bunker at the very tip of the spear, directing fire, pointing out hostiles, and bunker tagging trailers and shacks. I move up to provide him cover fire (and really, to see how he was going to make this move without getting smothered in paint)! But, some hard charging Marines flanked us around the trailer we were behind and let loose a burst of paint which seemed directly targeted at my somewhat large posterior. Man, I felt like Forrest Gump as sump bugs jumped up and bit me in the buttocks! It must have been a funny sight watching me jump up and down… At first I thought 9D had been speared due to my girth, but fortunately I am still thin enough that one paintball did get by to take him in the shoulder. He then turns, looks at me and says “X, tell me you didn’t shoot me!”. But here’s the thing. He takes off and sprint all the way back to the Warsaw entry point to respawn and then back to Sim to complete the mission. He and one of his teammates then grab this big a@# box and then sprint out of Sim back to Bravo! Well, it’s good to be young and in shape. Next time 9D, I’ll eat and extra doughnut and spear you the run. At this point it seemed like a good time to take a break, so we headed off field for a 30 breather.

After a soothing drink of water, we came back on for the for the final battle, battle that it was. With the final mission being to see which side could take and hold as many bases as was possible. However, when we came back on the our side all ready controlled most of the bases. Not feeling like dragging my big old but up any more hills I told Phantom and Those Guys to just go get into a fight somewhere. I planned to sit down and chat with Greenman, whom I had not spent any quality time with, after all he will command the Czech Paras again for me at Fulda 09. So we were sitting and chatting on some bunkers with one of the Rogues, who was helping Green with command and control. Shooting off all of our extra paint at bunkers. Enjoying the breeze and each others company. Letting the final minutes of the game tick away. Note, Rex and Bravo had been unoccupied for some time and we thought both were securely red. Well, we were wrong! All of a sudden there was a burst of fire in Rex an two Capital Offense troopers come running out towards the entry point saying that they had just been shot out by someone hiding in the central bunker and that the flag had been turned blue! There was only like 5 or so minutes left in the game. We just sighed and geared up. Given I had just shot all my remaining paint in target practice, I had to borrow a pod from Greenman. Fortunately, with the two Capital Offense troopers now back plus Woodboss (also of Capital Offense) Green, the Rogue, and I set off to clear Rex. Smartly, Greenman fell to the rear of our makeshift squad, in order not to be taken by a stray shot and give the Americans another 100 points. The two Capital Offense troopers went to the left of while the Rogue took the middle (with just a pistol I think), Woodboss and I went to the right. At first we were going to Woodboss take out the bunker with a rocket, but the Marines must have seen him as they scampered out and behind the outside of the walls and began to try and keep us from the flag. Good Thinking on their part. We were going to have to earn the flag flip! The Capital Offense troopers laid down some suppressing fire as we continued to move on the right. All of a sudden, Woodboss was hit and headed back to the entry point. I started to go further to the right but moved slow because I could not see clearly where the Marine fire was coming from. All of a sudden there is a flurry of activity and shots from where the Marines where hiding. First one then the other raised his arm after being taken out. One of the Capital Offense trooper, I believe it was Carl, had flanked them on the left and gotten behind them. We flipped the flag red as the final rocket fired, ending the game! What a way to end! With just minutes left we had retaken Rex… But no! When the referee called Ferg to confirm that Rex had been flipped back red, Ferg said no, he had been late ending the game and the base should be counted as blue! What! However, after the initial sort of WTF, we all had to give it to the two Marines who had sneaked into Rex without being seen, flipped the flag, and just chilled out until they were discovered by the two Capital Offense players. It was a great move on their part and no one could argue that they deserved the points.

With that Vietnam Patrol 2009 was over. It had been a great game and tons of FUN! The final score was closer than we thought but it did not matter, the communist had won for the first time since this annual event had been started and Bill “Greenman” Ford picked up his first scenario victory at Command Decisions. It was a cool deal all around!

What more can I say that I haven’t. First, Big Ups to Ferg and Lee Ann for putting on a first class event, as they always do. One of the great pleasures of paintball is meeting new people and making friends, and I count Ferg and Lee Ann among mine. They are great human beings, great business people, and a hoot to know!

Next, to our brother and sisters in Joint Venture, Capital Offense, what can one say! You are THE BOBM BABY! Yawl throw it down and pick it up every game you play! No doubt you deserve every award, every accolade and every sponsorship you get. You are definitely the hardest working team in scenario paintball (besides Boxer that is)!

To team Those Guys, you guys have gotten my back two games in a row. Hey, if we had to go to war for real, you boys would be first on my list. Can’t ask for more than you guys deliver. Yawl are real TROOPERS and SOLDIERS TO THE CAUSE! I always want you on my side! See you at Fulda, I got something special for you. You will be hearing from me!

Congratulations to Iron Man on his MVP! You and your Rogues put it down, but more than that you put it out there on the field and MADE IT HAPPEN BABY! You were moving those team like they were chess pieces! To bad most could not hear you do your thing like I did over the radio. GREAT JOB BROTHER! Oh, and what’s this I hear about you and your Rogues rolling with NATO this year? No, sweat brother, its all in fun. See you on the OTHER side!

Finally, to my Brother Dawgs in Boxer, BRINGING HOME THE BACON once again baby!

Phantom, you GOT IT BABY! You know how to roll and roll you did. You are a true to life BALLER with skills to match! Leadership, tactical know how, and can lay down the junk on the funk when required. I’m glad we had an opportunity to roll like we did, because truth be told, I did not know you had it like that. I’ll be your wingman any time!

Rocky, WHAT UP KILLA! Man you are one of the most intense dudes I know! My man is tactically correct in ALL FACETS OF HIS GAME! I mean, Boxer got some Bad Boys for sure! I know Runaway must be feeling like Puffy, because we have some sure enough PLAYERS! You are for real brother. SEMPER FI!

And to all the other Boxers present yall did your thing as always and I am proud to call you my teammates, and to those who did not make the game. You missed a good one brothers but I hope to see you out there soon.

Peace and be well!

Kent “X-Man” Jones

Fulda Gap 2008

2008-11-12T17:08:00.000-08:00

Okay, so this is a few days late but it took me this amount of time to recover from Fulda Gap 2008 and get my thoughts together. I guess the best place to start is at the beginning as we were packing our stuff getting ready to leave Fulda Gap 2007. After a hard fought victory under the leadership of David Thompson of Capital Offense, we were packing up getting ready to head home when David approached Runaway and I in the parking lot and told us that Fulda 2007 would be his last as General of the Warsaw Pact. He then told me that he would recommend to Ferg that I take over his command in 2008. Talk about a great HONOR! I respect (and like) Dave as a person and a paintball player so it was very cool to have him recommend me as his replacement. What’s more he told me that Capital Offense would return as Spetsnaz in 2008. With that began our journey towards Fulda 2008.

Planning
As I stated in my after game comments at the awards ceremony we began our discussions for Fulda 08 almost immediately after the conclusion of the 2007 game. Now, I don’t want to give the impression that we were engaged in intense planning all year long, we were not. We just began to bounce ideas off one another (general and core unit commanders) and have intermittent discussions. Key in these early conversations were Wendell “Runaway” McInnis, Dave "9D" Thompson, Ted “The Hun” Pellech, and Chris “Werewolf” Molles. Other commanders would join in and add input later on but we spent several months just discussing lessons learned from previous games, strategy, and recruiting. However, as we drew closer to the game our level of effort and time spent on planning increased.

Our overall strategy for the game was to maximize our advantage in manpower by forcing NATO to fight us across the breadth of the field, thereby not allowing them to concentrate their force at any one spot, we did not want to give them a Thermopylae where in the words of King Leonidas in The 300, "our numbers would count for nothing!" Second, we would cut or at least strangle the NATO supply lines. We also wanted to attack the NATO commander's decision making process by presenting him with multiple decision points at once. Finally we would execute as coordinated an advance as any paintball army ever did.

The following is a summary of our key strategy points.

Cutting NATO Supply Lines
First there was what to do with DZ2. In previous games DZ2 represented a major obstacle and created major havoc since we could never really clear our rear areas of NATO forces even though we had had overrun Holiday and Duckett. Given DZ2’s proximity to these bases, NATO in effect had an endless army to throw against Warsaw Pact forces and those bases would change hands all day long stretching our forces in those areas to their limits (talk to Wolf and EGI). Thus we decided we needed to do two things. First, we decided to view the DZs as supply bases that could be cut off. We decided to task specific units with the dedicated mission of screening the supply lines coming out of the DZs outside of the 100ft exclusion zone. Our thinking being that even if we could never completely shut down the DZ we could attrit NATO forces coming out of the DZ to attack Holiday and Duckett before they reached their objectives, forcing them to expend paint, air, and energy getting to the bases, and then having to fight a pitched battle against a second set of troops once they got there.

The second thing we did was to present Ferg and the NATO Commander with a new rule for DZ2. That being that once we took Holiday and Duckett DZ2 would shut down to NATO forces except their 10th Special Forces. Our argument being that in a real battle once an area had been overrun the OpFor would not be able to magically respawn their army in that area. The other side of the coin was that all NATO needed to do was take back one of those bases and the DZ would reopen to NATO regular forces.

With our plan to cut the supply line coming out of DZ2 while at the same time having for the first time a chance to secure our line of advance, we began to see the battle for Holiday and Duckett as less of the meat grinder it had been in previous years. Both proved critical to our success. We used a similar plan on Sunday to cut the NATO supply lines coming out of DZ4 executed by SOVA. This proved to be a major part of why Sim City finally fell.

Based on some of the post-game posts there seemed to be issues with DZ camping. I took great pains to make sure that our guys were aware of the rules. Yes, we did purposely screen both DZ2 and DZ4, but our intent was to do so within the rules. If Warsaw Pact Forces were DZ camping it was by accident or on their own volition not due to any orders from our command element. I know we had one or two occasions that I am aware of where Warsaw Pact units maneuvered below Rte 9 near DZ4. In each case we moved them out of there ASAP.
But our goal was to strangle NATO reinforcements coming out of those DZs.

Nuke Strike against Rex
In previous years it had taken a tremendous amount of time and effort to neutralize FB Rex (Camp Lee) which yielded very little in terms of points or tactical advantage. Coming out of 2007 I knew I did not want to do this and decided very early to take Rex out with a tactical nuke. Even though it would cost us a points penalty I felt that the preservation of troops and resources far outweighed the points lost. I also felt that a nuke strike that early in the game might disorient NATO as well as deprive them of a jump off point to launch a counter attack against Bravo. I also decided to leave the low ground in front of Rex without any bunkers, creating clear fields of fire against anyone attempting to attack across that open ground. The denial of Rex meant that any NATO attack had to come out of the tree line into the open field in order to attack Bravo. This also worked very well as we were able to hold Bravo against persistent NATO attacks on both Saturday and Sunday with a relatively small force. Big kudos to Team TangoAlpha2 (the core team of the Dagger Force) which took on this mission. They in effect would become the hinge upon which the rest of the field would turn as both Army Groups pressed their attacks south and to the south east. Not to mention they tied down at least one NATO heavy tank and a large number of their troops.

Order of Battle
Given the success we were having with recruitment, I realized quickly that it would be impractical for me to plan with each individual team. So I organized the Warsaw Pact into two Armies, Army Group East and Army Group West. Army Group East consisted of 39th Guards, 117th Guards, 172nd Guards, and 51st Guards. Army Group west consisted of EGI and 120th Guards. Once we agreed to an overall strategy it fell to the Core Unit commanders to plan the activities of their regiments and subordinate teams. This resulted in two way planning cycle where the base strategy was pushed down but the tactical planning was pushed back up. It also broke up and distributed the planning process into manageable bits. This resulted in an almost 100% acceptance and knowledge of the plan and resulted in a much higher involvement of the subordinate teams in planning than we might otherwise have achieved. Particular credit goes to Herr Oberst Werewolf for the work he did gelling Army Group West into a cohesive and highly effective battle group as well as ensuring cross coordination with Army Group East.

This also included taking a very systematic approach to the recruitment and assignment of teams. We DID NOT haphazardly assign teams to units. Every core unit was built from the ground up looking at the core strengths and weaknesses of each team. We really worked to ensure that the regiments were balanced given the missions they would be assigned. This meant that we did not create one core unit filled soley with teams of berserkers whose sole desire was to seek and destroy! We made sure that the teams had complimentary styles of play. This meant matching storm trooper squads who would storm bases with mil-sim types that would be willing to hold ground.

This planning approach resulted in a highly flexible plan that accounted for different scenarios and really gave us the ability to react quickly to the flow of battle.

Dedicated Reconnaissance
I also decided early on to have dedicated reconnaissance teams whose primary mission would be to infiltrate behind OpFor lines and report on OpFor troop movements, unit strengths and locations, and provide pre-assault intelligence on primary regimental objectives. This mission fell primarily to Forefront which was part of our Spetsnaz contingent. This allowed Capital Offense, the core Spetsnaz team, the ability to focus on mission frag orders and direct action in support of our overall operations. Forefront was able to provide a constant stream of real time intel on the OpFor. While Capital Offence racked up on mission and base points. Capital Offense was also a great source of battlefield intel. Both teams were OUTSTANDING and were critical components to our victory. This combined with the constant stream of information coming into the CP from the regiments gave us pretty good situational awareness.

Tactical Communications
If there is one thing that is an absolute force multiplier it is good tactical comms. Most people make the mistake of thinking in terms of just radios, but that is only the beginning. Radios, like any other tool are most effective when you know how to use them. The number of radios on the field is less important than how they are employed. During Skirmish USA's ION we controlled a 1500 player force with 12 radios. At Fulda we used 6 radios (not including the radios used by subordinate units). Our tactical nets were structured to allow us the greatest flexibility while making it easy for information to flow up and down the chain of command. While at the same time keeping a minimum number of people on the radios to prevent confusion.

This ability allowed us to react quickly to a free flowing battle field situation and to coordinate our attacks so that they had greater impact. A perfect example was Runaway’s operation to relieve EPIC after they became surrounded by NATO forces.

On Field Re-Supply
As a command team we discussed a detail plan for on field re-supply of paint, air and water that would effectively increase our practical numbers on field. While we did not fully implement this plan, enough teams took advantage of staging supplies in our DZs that we were able to maintain some of our forces on field for much longer than we otherwise could have. It must have been a funny sight watching Runaway pull that chest behind him around the field, but those extra supplies came in handy! Otto can attest to that when he ran out of Nerfs at Bravo.

All of these things in and of themselves probably do not turn the tide, but when looked at in the aggregate these things worked together to create a much more dynamic and potent force than your average scenario army.

The Game

Due to my incomplete reading of the rules regarding the starting locations of 117th and 120th Guards we were forced to delay our attack by about 15 to 20 minutes in order to allow our units time to reposition. Our plan called for the 117th to launch an attack from Luke to Alpha, however since they had to start at Bentree they had to conduct a movement to their jump off point once the game began.

While some of the commanders were initially wary of this, it did result in some key tactical advantages, especially since the battle could not start until we crossed the DMZ.

First, the 117ths movement would clear our rear of any NATO Special Forces. This turned out to be a mute point as it appeared that 10th Special Forces was operating up around Bentree. However, it did give me confidence that our CP would not come under direct attack at the start of the game as it did the year before.

Second, the delay allowed us to bring our units as close to their max numbers on field before we actually started our attack. In my opinion this was significant. Allowing the units to get to their attack positions, get organized, get communication checks ect….allowed us to launch our attack in a much more coordinated manner.

Finally, it allowed us to launch our pre-planned nuclear strike against Rex so that the time between impact and when we crossed the DMZ was lessened. As I stated above, our intent was to force NATO to defend the entire field while presenting the NATO commander with multiple threats and issues simultaneously. In military parlance we wanted to get inside NATO’s OODA loop.

Our planned worked, sort of, per some of the commander’s concerns it was very hard to control some of the individual players even though I briefed each unit as they went onto the field about waiting for the order to attack. As the start rocket fired almost immediately fire broke out across the DMZ. I was hollering to the units at Bravo to cease fire. I think there were similar incidents up and down the DMZ. Fortunately NATO did not cross in force which gave us time to complete 117th Guards movement from Bentree unmolested. As soon as they were in position I gave the order to attack while at the same time getting time hacks on the tactical nuke headed for Rex.

Others will be better able to discuss the specifics of what happened in their sectors but I can talk to my view through the command net.

First, our recon teams began to immediately provide excellent intelligence on NATO units at our primary objectives. I had a very good picture of the numbers we were facing at Holiday and Alpha. Since our plan called for a 2 regiment assault on Holiday I felt confident it would quickly fall. Alpha was a different matter. In truth, my objective was not necessarily to take Alpha but to make as big a fight around Alpha as was possible to deny NATO the ability to send troops to the western side of the field. However, right from the start it seemed that we were pressing Alpha much more successfully than I had anticipated while the battle for Holiday seemed to be going much slower. On top of that I lost comms with the 120th Guards and basically had to rely on Wolf to coordinate Army Group West.

In front of Bravo, the Dagger force was doing a good job of holding back NATO. I had anticipated that once the tactical nuke hit, Dagger (39th Guards) would be able to move up to the tree line behind Rex but this did not happen. Between the two NATO tanks and the fact that NATO kept a large force of troops in that area even after the nuke strike, prevented us from moving up. However, this also worked to our advantage as it tied down at least one NATO tank and a large number of NATO troops for most of Phases 1 and 2. Central to this was a decision I had made not to place any bunkers in the low ground between Rex and Bravo. This meant that any NATO attack would have to cross open ground to get to our CP. This became a perfect elimination zone throughout the day, even though on one occasion they made it to the blue bunkers adjacent to Bravo.

The actions in front of Bravo and at Alpha followed our plan to a tee since we were able to tie up a large number of troops at those locations that could not defend against our main effort in the west. The fact that we were able to eventually take FB Alpha (Fulda) was extra.

The core of our strategy was focused on the capturing and holding of Holiday and Duckett to shut down DZ2. We never thought we could capture the entire field. However, with DZ2 shut down we felt we could hold Holiday and Duckett as well as our East German bases. From Duckett we would then try to take Hamburger which would open up DZ6 to our regular forces. With DZ6 open we would then cut the field north to south and force NATO to fight us in open space while we consolidated our defenses around the bases.

Well, as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men... Our attack in the west began to bog down around Holiday. EGI, which had been tasked with screening DZ2, had moved up to the area of DZ2 but had limited maneuver space because DZ2 butts up against the tape line. Since I did not have comms with 120th Guards, I cannot say with any certainty what was going on in their sector. The original plan called for EGI to attack along the western tapeline with the dual mission of cutting off the DZ2 supply line while at the same time hitting Holiday from the west. Simultaneously, 120th Guards was to come up on Holiday from the low side moving from Luke and catching the base in a pincer. I estimated that the two regiments totaling almost 100 troops would quickly overwhelm Holiday and would then be able to jump off to Duckett. However, we had also discussed a back-up plan with 172nd Guards that if the attack at Holiday stalled, 172nd Guards would send a heavy squad to hit Duckett from the east then support the attack on Holiday by attacking north. This forward planning would pay dividends!

Based on the radio calls it was clear that EGI had engaged a very large force around DZ2 and was taking heavy casualties. I distinctly remember Wolf’s calls that his attack was faltering and that his battle lines were failing. I immediately executed our back up plan to have 172nd Guards launch an attack on Duckett to relieve the pressure on EGI. Not having comms with 120th Guards I could only hope that they were still on task. In retrospect what I think happened is that when EGI stumbled on the NATO forces at the start of the game NATO began to mass in that area to respond to EGI. In effect EGI served as bait drawing NATO forces to them. This allowed 120th Guards to continue on to take Holiday while 172nd Guards was able to take Duckett. With DZ2 shut down to NATO regular forces we were then able to consolidate our forces and reset for the next phase. It would be interesting to hear the NATO perspective on how that part of the battle went. However, it is clear to me that the effort we put into planning and the willingness of the teams to execute those plans during the game was a decisive element in our overwhelming victory.

By this time the Spetsnaz main force (Capital Offense) had captured Apache and began to use it as a staging area for attacks against NATO forces in the south. The Spetsnaz recon teams, Forefront, continued to move about the field providing excellent intel. A quick note about Forefront, this was their first time at CD and their ability to maneuver around the field, behind NATO lines, without being compromised was just incredible! These guys really understand what being a recon team is about and their impact on the game belied their small numbers (6).

I don’t remember exactly when Alpha fell but at some time in the late morning we controlled the following bases Bravo, Luke, Bentree, Holiday, Duckett, Apache and Alpha. We were way ahead of schedule. In my planning I had accounted for us being behind by 200 points coming out of phase 1 due to our use of a nuke and the reasonable expectation that it would take us that long to secure Holiday and Duckett. But now I began to think about taking Hamburger in during Phase 1. Taking Hamburger would open DZ6 to our regular force but was a Phase 2 objective. However, given where we where in the game I decided to go for a full sweep of the western side of the field.

At about 11:30 or so I received a call from Warsaw Pact Command (Ferg) that the Czech paratroopers , under the command of Bill "Greenman" Ford, were getting ready to insert. This also meant that the 82nd Airborne would be hitting the field. I had already briefed Greenman that I would insert his Paras at the CP and that they should stand by to face off against the 82nd if they inserted on our side of the field or go to wherever they were most needed. So I told Ferg to insert them at Bravo. When the Czechs showed up they took up defensive positions around Bravo. I held them there for about 15 minutes to ensure that we were not going to get US Airborne in our rear areas. I called Warsaw Pact Command to confirm that the 82nd had in fact inserted, which was confirmed. Since they were not on our side of the field it was safe to assume they had been inserted on the NATO side. About this time word came that Hamburger had fallen to a mixed force of Spetsnaz and the 172nd (I think), but that NATO was counterattacking in force and it was doubtful they could hold out. I decide to split the Czechs and send Greenman and part of his unit to reinforce Hamburger while the rest remained at Bravo for base defense.

Beyond anything I could have hoped for we now controlled the entire western side of the field and we were still in Phase 1! For the rest of Phase NATO launched furious counter attacks against Apache and Hamburger. Army Group West pulled back and consolidated around Holiday and Duckett. At the end of Phase 1 (1300) we were given credit for holding Bravo, Luke, Bentree, Alpha, Holiday, Duckett, and Apache. Plus we completed both our Phase 1 missions. This was a great start! My original time table called for us to hold Bravo, Luke, Bentree, Holiday, and Duckett. With the 200 point deduction we would have been about 200 points down but well with striking distance of NATO. I was very concerned about over extending our units and opening us up to counter attacks but this never happened.

About this time I could tell units were reaching their limits on paint and air. Our encouragement of units to stockpile air and paint on field in the DZs had paid dividends but even those supplies were beginning to run low. So I decided to slow the pace consolidate our defenses and take the next hour or so to allow units to get players off the field to get lunch and recharge. EGI went to 50% on 50% off. 172nd started rotating their squads off, ect…. This seemed to coincide with a drop in NATO activity, which was just as well by me.

Sometime around 1430 the pace began to pick up again. We retook Hamburger and now began to press our attack on Sim City. While we continued to encounter NATO attacks across the field it seemed as though the bulk of the NATO Force had fallen back around Sim and Alpha. But since we held the high ground we definitely had the initiative.

Around 1500 NATO launched a major attack out of SIM with a large force of NATO infantry spilling out of the entrance near the entry point. They easily swept out into the middle of the field even though they were taking heavy casualties, when all of a sudden someone screams out they are carrying something. I take a look over the Bravo trench wall and I realize it is their back-pack nuke (not that it is even close to being back-pack size). I start yelling to our troops that they are carrying a nuke and we need to take them out. Runaway hears this and immediately organizes a fierce counter attack to intercept the nuke. He also reminds me that we need the Spetsnaz to disarm bomb as well as the disarming code. I call 9D, Dave Thompson and tell him we need his Spetsnaz, I then call Warsaw Pact Command to request the disarm code and I am told that capturing the bomb is the same as disarming it. Dave and Runaway begin to directly coordinate a mission to do just that. After a few minutes the call comes back from Runaway that the bomb has been secured and is on its way back to the CP.

This illustrates one of the Warsaw Pacts great strengths during the game; our communications was such that the commanders could easily coordinate attacks and missions across the field.

With the day drawing to a close it was clear we controlled the field as we pressed closer to Sim. NATO put up fierce resistance and launched counter attacks against some of the bases we held, but we were able to keep the pressure on them. Around 1630, NATO launched a nuclear strike against our Command Post, since only myself and Seoul were in the CP we were the only casualties. So we just went on down and respawned. With the CP irradiated we positioned ourselves near the bunkers at the Warsaw Pact entry point.

It was at this time NATO launched it final attack across that open space. The paint was coming in heavy but our defenses held. With that final push Phase 2 ended.

From a points perspective we completed the first 2 phases firmly in the lead. We went to dinner knowing we could put the game away during the night phase. With that knowledge I began to get a headcount of who would be playing that night. Fortunately for us we were going to have a pretty good showing.

Weeks prior to the game we had agreed on a general strategy for the night game. EGI would have base security at Bravo. We would send one task force to secure Rex, another task force working with the Spetsnaz to secure FB Alpha. Once Rex and Alpha were secured we would send the Spetsnaz to take SIM. A third task force would sweep around the western side of the field to hit Sim coming from the southwest in support of the Spetsnaz attack. This fell to elements 120th Guards. Simple, straight forward, and to the point.

Wolf‘s base security plan was beyond anything I could imagine. Supported by Rogue Cell it included spot lights and zip lock control of the entry points to our CP. Wolf had decided that no one was getting into Bravo unless he wanted them to, and that included me. I don’t think a force smaller than all of NATO could have taken that position.

The first task force fell under the command Runaway and would prove to be the most difficult objective of the night. While they were able to get to the outer trenches of Rex getting into the base proved to be very hard. NATO had taken up positions on the other side of the base and was pouring fire over the top. Also, Wolf’s spot lights served to skyline the Warsaw Pact troops whenever they stood up or poked there heads over the top of a trench making them perfect targets. The first task force would spend most of the night pinned down in front of Rex.

The second task force was comprised of Recon-1 and their mission was to secure FB Alpha after the Spetsnaz had captured the base. Spetsnaz moved out and quickly accomplished their mission, however, the link up between them and Recon-1 prove to be difficult. We went back and forth on the radio trying to get the two units link up but it never happened. Eventually, once I confirmed that Recon-1 one was at Alpha I instructed the Spetsnaz to move on to their next mission, securing Sim City. Later on I directed our Spetsnaz recon team, Forefront, to Alpha in order to complete a mission there as well as reinforce Recon-1. They would hold this position until the completion of the night phase.

The third task force, consisting of the Rats and Krisis (120th Guards) started a wide sweeping movement to the west, moving around Alpha, to Hamburger and Apache in order to position themselves to attack Sim in support of the Spetsnaz mission. Otto, of Team Krisis, stayed in the CP and provided comms to that element as they conducted the longest movement of the night. The only issue we had was that they came out below route 9 near the NATO DZ4 which constituted DZ camping. I immediately asked Otto to have them move into Sim and away from that area, which they did. Ferg called me to confirm that they had moved.

The final mission of the night fell to the Spetsnaz and 120th Guards to hit Sim. I also intended for 117th Guards (SOVA) to hit the Rex side entrance to Sim, basically boxing any NATO forces on 3 sides. It was at this point I decided to tour the front lines around Rex, so myself, Seoul, and Otto headed out across the field to link up with Runaway. When we arrived Runaways force was still pinned down. About this time SOVA announced they were coming on field and we went to meet them to bring them up to Rex.

Once there they solidified Runaway's position and we began to discuss them launching a frontal assault to clear Rex. They were clearly game but it did not make sense to send them into a meat grinder unsupported. The command group then returned to Bravo during which time a plan was worked out to subdue Rex by coordinating the spotlights under Wolf’s command with an attack by SOVA and the other Warsaw Pact troops in front of Rex. Also, a squad lead by Hambo of Phantom Recon Ops was tasked with a frag mission to secure the helicopter next to Rex (the second mission of the night phase) , which they did.

By 1000 we were in complete control of the field and given NATO’s dwindling numbers it was decided to end the game at 1030, which made sense. I know some people may have felt the game should have ended as scheduled at 2400 but it did not make sense to have so many people standing around with nothing to do in the cold.

With the night game called at 1030 it was clear we now held a lead that could not be surpassed even it NATO swept the field on Sunday, which was highly unlikely given the numbers were in our favor. When I came off the field to give Ferg his radio he just smiled and shook his head, we talked for a few minutes about the points (I believe one of the terms he used was monkey stomp). But it was clear that we were in a commanding position and that the game could potentialy turn negative on Sunday if I decided to press our advantage against NATO with the game set-up the way it was. It was at this point that I began thinking about ways to make the game fun and interesting for both sides. Knowing we would win no matter what happened there was nothing to lose in doing so and it would make sure that folks on both sides could walk away feeling good about the event.

On my way back to the camping area I mentioned this to Ninerref and he half jokingly suggested having us come onto the field in segments. Then when I stopped by Capital Offense’s camp site to chat with Dave I mentioned to him what I was thinking and he added in the 15 minute time interval for insertions and VOILA! The game structure for Sunday was determined. We would occupy 2 bases to start the game with 1 regiment each. We would then bring in the remaining regiments 1 every 15 minutes after the start of the game. I then ran into Harly and told him what I was thinking. Harly strikes me as a man of integrity and honor who doesn’t ask for or needs any favors. When I told him what I wanted to do he just said “if it’s what you want to do I’m good with it”. The next morning I briefed Ferg on the details and the game was set. I also asked Ferg to delay the game start to ensure that I could brief my commanders on the game change and ensure they had enough time to come up with a quick plan.

On Sunday morning, I made a round of the Warsaw Pact campsite to let the commanders and team captains know about the change. I know I didn’t get to everyone but I hit as many as I could find. We had a team captain's meeting at 0830 where we went over the game changes and strategy. Day two of Fulda Gap is supposed to find the Warsaw Pact on the defensive against an all out NATO counter-attack. However, the games changes I had suggested basically put us in a break-out situation with us controlling only 2 bases and NATO the rest of the field. We decided on a two pronged strategy. Army Group East under Runaway, consisting of the 117th , Czech Paras, 172nd would secure Sim and Rex. They would then move to take Bravo, expanding our beachhead. 15 minutes into the game the first element of Army Group West under the command of Werewolf, would enter the game and attempt to launch an attack up the northern side of the field to the west towards Bentree. We were to try and execute a basic envelopment, with Army Group East fixing NATO forces at SIM and Rex while Army Group West attacked west towards Meinigen (a 200 point bonus base) then cut across the field south, finally turning back east (aproaching from Hamburger and Apache) towards Sim trapping NATO between the two Army Groups.

Right at the start things started to go a little off track. As Army Group East units began to push out from Sim they began to encounter OpFor resistance which seemed to gradually pick up steam to the point where it seemed like NATO had launched an all out assault on Sim. Although I had Runaway on my command net, I dropped down to the Army Group East TAC net to listen to their battle calls. It was CRAZY! All their units seemed to be in heavy contact. EPIC somehow had become cut-off and surrounded and was calling help. Runaway quickly pulled together a relief effort that was a great example of small unit tactical leadership. Realizing friendly units could not approach EPIC without shooting into their position; he quickly ordered them to lay flat... It was a very interesting radio call to say the least...

Runaway “Okay guys you are going to have to trust me on this, go to ground and stop firing….”

I never heard EPIC’s response but they must have trusted him enough to do as told. Runaway then maneuvered two units from opposite directions to EPIC’s position firing into the OpFor over EPIC’s heads! The NATO force surrounding EPIC was broken and EPIC was able move out of that precarious position.

Army Group West also got off to an inauspicious start. First they started inserting earlier than planned and we had to call back several units which sort of gave away what we were trying to do. Then once that was addressed and Army Group West began moving again they immediately ran into a strong NATO force. Wolf’s AAR states this was at Holiday and Duckett but my recollection is that it was they made contact somewhere just beyond Luke, but that’s the fog of war! Anyway the resistance to Army Group West’s advance is building and I’m wondering how NATO is putting up such a big fight at both Sim and on the western side of the field. All of a sudden Runaway radios that Sim is close to falling. The next Army Group West unit to insert is Rogue and they are immediately rerouted to the defense of Sim. However it was too late. By the time they had moved up to the tree line behind Rex, Sim had fallen. Now we would spend most of the rest of the day beating back fierce NATO pushes from Sim towards Rex led by the Wallace.

Sizing up the situation, things were bad but still manageable. Runaway was seriously pissed that Army Group East had lost Sim but I told him we could still make that work to our favor as long as we held them at Sim and they did not overrun the CP. Runway went off and began organizing a defensive line that went from the entrance to Sim to the entrance to Alpha and then wrapped around with us holding Alpha. Army Group west had advance as far as Holiday and Duckett and engaged in heavy fighting that was whittling down their forces.

NATO was putting up one heck of a fight and applying massive pressure across the field. Side note, this is why I was for the game change. It gave NATO a chance to organize and concentrate their forces so that they could make a good fight. I believe this was a good thing for everyone involved and A LOT OF FUN!

By the end of the morning, the pattern was set for the rest of the day. NATO would launch consecutive charges out of Sim in an effort to break out into the open area by Rex. On several occasions they came very close to succeeding. The Wallace would come flying out of Sim guns blazing and scattering Warsaw Pact troops in it’s wake followed up by NATO infantry in force. This was a very effective tactic except that there was poor coordination between the Wallace and the NATO infantry. Had those actions been coordinated it is very doubtful we could have held Rex. Fortunately for us they never broke the code and we developed a simple tactic to offset the Wallace’s power.

When the Wallace would break through we would let him go deep into our rear. On at least two occasions he drove around Bravo and Rex blazing with his guns. At one point I was behind one of the bunkers at Rex when the Wallace fired its main gun trying to take the bunker out. Note, nerfs make a very interesting sound when fired from the Wallace’s main gun as they whistle overhead, sort of a heavy SWOOOOSH! But I digress. Once the Wallace broke through we always had at least one anti tank gunner standing by to deal with him while the rest of our infantry refocused on the entrance to Sim and mowed down the NATO infantry as they tried to rush forward. This proved very effective and allowed us to hold off the NATO attacks despite a yeoman’s effort on their part.

On the western side of the field things had gone from bad to worse. NATO had completely stalled our advance in that sector and was taking apart Army Group West piece by piece. Wolf was doing his best but they had just run into some heavy heat. Sometime around 1200 Wolf radioed that they were out of gas and he was pulling his army back to re-arm and regroup. NATO had stopped our Western advance cold. Now this was turning into a real challenge! My hat goes off to NATO for the spirit they showed on Sunday!

As Wolf pulled Army Group West back to the Warsaw Pact re-entry point I decide to task several units with running patrols up the Bentree side of the field. I know to some this may have seemed a bit excessive but it was necessary to avoid NATO back dooring us through Luke. But NATO never came that route, instead they seemed to shift most of their forces to Sim and to what appeared to be a screening mission between OP Romeo and Holiday and Duckett. But the space between Sim and Rex was the hornets nest, buzzing with thick cloud of paintballs.

By 1300 hundred Army Group West was preparing to come back onto the field. I told Wolf that I wanted him to try his push to Bentree again but that I’d try and get Spetsnaz recon out in front as his advance guard. But by the time the recon team was ready to go Wolf and Army Group West had already pushed off and was at Luke. Meeting minimal resistance. He then pushed his forces on to Bentree. Now that the Spetsnaz recon team had no mission, I directed them to hold Luke while Army Group West secured Bentree and then launched an attack across the DMZ to capture Holiday and Duckett. Also by this time the Czech Paras and other units had control of Apache and were pushing Hamburger. Once again we were beginning to gain control of the entire field.

At this point it appeared to me that the NATO commander had made an all out gamble to breakout from Sim, overrun Rex and Bravo and go from there. They made a valiant effort but I think our numbers among other things was to much to overcome. They fought hard and brought the PAIN, which made the game exciting, so I am not mad at them.

At around 1330 NATO made one last major push out of Sim towards Rex which we barely turned back. This actually signaled the beginning of the end as Runaway and Otto with the help of EPIC and others launched a final assault on Sim. This included to 2 air strikes called in back to back on the Sim trailers, Warsaw Pact units attacking from Rex as well as Apache, and one heck of a defense put up by NATO. One motivating scene was Otto and Runaway behind the Revelation pushing the attack into the entrance of Sim.

With less than a few minutes remaining Warsaw Pact infantry surged through the entrance to Sim and gained a foothold. The paint was so heavy you could see groups of 3 to 5 players being eliminated all at once. But the Pact was smelling blood and there would be no denying them. MGB of Boxer brought a large unit down from Apache and hit Sim in the rear. This sealed Sims fate as the defense began to crumble. All of a sudden I hear a cheer and ran to the entrance of Sim, the flag had been turned.

Apparently Runaway had lost his mind and decided to run out into the open, executing a perfect combat roll over the faux barb wire around the command shack at Sim, barrel tagged the structure and flipped the flag! One of Team Boxer’s younger members who witnesses this event commented that it looked like our team captain was running, tripped, and accidently flipped over the wire… sprawling out near the command bunker. It be nice to get confirmation as to which version is correct.

At this point I walked into Sim behind a wave of cheering Warsaw Pact Troopers. I walked up to the command bunker and announced over the command net that the Warsaw Pact general now stood at the center of Sim City.

At that point I cannot tell you what bases we held or what the score was, but it was one of those moments that will stick in my mind for a long time to come! While standing at the Sim Command bunker I ran into Rude Dawg. Rude Dawg has a very laid back nature (or so it seems to me), kind of good old boy meets surfer dude. He just smiled, nodded, and gave me a fist bump as the game ending rocket went off. What a perfect way to end the game!

What a game! It had eveything. Even though we did achieve a GREAT victory, NATO really recovered on Sunday to put up one heck of a fight.

First let me get a big round of appluase and cheers and let me extend my deep gratitude to Ferg and Lee Ann. I have said it before and I will say it again. They run a first class establishment, they care about the players and they care about the game. We have to remember that this is also a business for them. How many of us have been to events where the game producers and or field owners only concern was collecting their money?

Ferg and Lee Ann are true ambasadors and caretakers of the game. Was everything perfect? No, but what ever complaints we have pails in comparison to the experience they provide for us and at a great value as well. Those of us who attended ION know what high entry and paint fees are like.

Great job guys and thanks for all you do!

Next let me give a BIG SHOUT out to the Men of Team Boxer (my paintball Family). Brothers none of this happens without you! You are the well spring from which any sucess I have as a General springs! You are the foundation. But I must single out our Team Captain, Runaway for the support he provides me. Not to mention he is one of the best small unit tactical leaders I have ever scene in or out of the military. He is my personal Gunny Highway!

I also need to give a hug to my man David "Seoul" Kwan, who for the second big game helped me run the command post. Seoul, you are my right hand and my left. You helped me keep things straight. Thanks!

To Dread, Bro it is always good to see you and I'm sorry about Big Boxer flipping, I'll talk to HoyBoy about his lead foot. Also, BigUps for helping with the radios. MAn when are you going to make Boxer official!

And to Ninneref, for his unselfishness in accepting the role as Wolf's radio operator!

To the Core Unit Commanders and their teams, Dave "9D" Thompson and Capital Offense, Jeremy "Lurch" Byrum and EPIC UNIT, Ted "The Hun" Pellech and Recon-1, Eric "Lifer" Brooks and AFC, Chris "Werewolf" Molles, Bill "Greenman" Ford, and Rodney of ODX.

You guys are the BOMB! Literally! One of you once said that a scenario general is nothing without good team captains... you are right, except that you guys were great! Special props needs to go to Werewolf, you really stepped up big time bro and laid it down. You were truly my Most Valuable Core Commander.

And to my friends at Capital Offense, you guys are so much a part of the Boxer sucess that it would be hard to explain to those who dont know us. On top of that you guys are beyond a doubt one of the most DOMINANT scenario teams in the country. Now that may be unfair since I have only been exposed to teams on the east coast, but if there is better than you then my hats are off to them because they must we way off the charts! You guys simply deserve every award you win, period, end of story!

Now there were many teams on the Warsaw Pact and EVERY team delivered something to our victory, there is no way that it could have been as dominant if not for that. But I just need to holla at a few hard charging ballers.....

Forefront, what can I say. You guys deleivered on eveything we asked you to do and more. I am more than glad you were able to make the trip from Jersey. I REALLY hope you can make it next year!

SOVA, yall are for REAL! These cats out of Virgina are hardcore, diciplined ballers. They lay waste to all in front of them but more importantly when asked they stepped up into a leadership role and made big time contribs to our victory. In every game phase these guys played a decisive role.

TangoAlpha2, Wingman and his crew was deeply involved in the early planning and took on some difficult missions. I truly appreciated your patience and understanding as well as your ability to deliver the goods. Without you Bravo falls on day one. Great Job guys.

The Rats and Krisis, wherever you show up you have an impact, which is why I placed you with 120th guards taking on the mission of taking Holiday and Duckett. Your on field agressiveness and initiative make you a force to be reckoned with!

Rogue Cell, as a former Rogue I hope you know you guys hold a special place in my heart! Rogue has become one of the most consistently predicatble teams when it comes to a high level of paintball performance! You guys simply deliver the goods! Outstanding work on the western side of the field and with the base security during the night phase.

42nd Legion and Chaos Parade. For the first time in Fulda Gap we actaully fielded the Czech Paratroopers and you guys played a pivotal role in helping secure the souther half of the field both on Saturday and Sunday. Your willingness to go where needed, do what was required gave me great flexability as a commander once you entered the game. Excellent work!

There are so many teams to thank that this AAR would run on for ever. But you all deserve big props!

Well I'm done brothers...

See ya next year and points in between!

Kent "X-Man" Jones
Team Boxer
8th Guards Order of Lenin Combined Arms Army, Commanding

Invasion of Normandy (I.O.N) AAR

2008-07-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

Well, after recovering from 18 hours of driving (going and coming from PA) I am finally getting around to writing about Boxer's participation in Skirmish U.S.A’s Invasion of Normandy 2008 or I.O.N for short.

Last year, I.O.N. set a world record for attendance at a paintball scenario / big game with a paid attendance of 4300. However, due to issues controlling such a large crowd they decided to limit this year’s game.

If 3100 paid players can be called limiting!

However, before I get to the game let me provide some background on how Boxer arrived at I.O.N. If you have read my blog or posts in various paintball forums you will know that Team Boxer has forged a very close working relationship with team Capital Offense, one of the premier scenario teams on the east coast, captained by Dave Thompson.

Sometime after Fulda Gap 2007, Runaway (Boxer team captain) had a conversation with Dave about Boxer attending 1 or 2 Capital Offense games in 2008, at which point Dave suggested I.O.N since it was a major date on their schedule given their sponsor Planet Eclipse would be there in force. Also, Dave wanted to take advantage of our superior command and control assets to support his team’s effort. While Run knew we would not be able to bring a large contingent he figured we could put together a small communications detachment to act as Capital Offense’s command post. Subsequent to that, Dave mentioned us to the Allied Forces commanding general, Phil (aka Silence), who then asked if we could provide communications for the entire allied command. We readily agreed, seeing a great chance for networking and exposure outside of the North Carolina.

With those simple interactions, Team Boxer had stepped into a critical role as the communication detachment for the entire (1500+) allied team! This included providing radios for the command post and 10 company commanders, developing a communications plan, providing training to the command staff, setting up and running the command post, and ultimately becoming a key part of the tactical decision making process within the CP.

With the decision to attend made, we polled the team and identified 3 other Boxers (in addition to Runaway and myself) and 1 guest who wanted to go. But at the end of the day the Boxer contingent to I.O.N ended up being Runaway, SeoulBro, Sonic X an myself.

On Friday morning, Runaway and Seoul met us at my house; we loaded up my van with our gear and got on the road. Being the SUPERIOR trucking professional he is, Runaway stepped up and took on the driving duties all by himself. Thanks Run! That was huge because I am NOT a big fan of long distance driving (I don’t think Seoul is either). The trip was uneventful except for Sonic-X’s constant “Are we there yet?”

We arrived at Skirmish at about 7:30 pm where we linked up with Dave and his crew. We check in, picked up our paint and set-up our tent (although we had reserved a hotel room). At 8:30 we met with Phil and all the Allied company commanders to distribute the radios, conduct a brief communications overview and radio check. I must say Phil is one of the most organized generals I have ever worked with. I mean, given you are commanding 1500 people you better be! But he was very organized and had a plan for what he wanted to do. Although somewhat young looking, can you say Doogie Howser, Phil has a very professional approach and demeanor. In fact both Runaway and I speculated if he had any military experience. He reminded us of many a baby faced lieutenant we knew during our time on the point tip of the spear.

With that initial business out the way, Dave invited us to dinner with Capital Offense. While at dinner I received a call from home stating my mother, who has ALS (Lou Gehrig’s) disease wasn’t doing to well and that I may need to come back. Talk about letting the air out of the balloon! I let the guy’s know what was up and told them that myself and Sonic-X (my son) would get on the road first thing in the morning.

Not wanting to ruin the trip for Runaway and Seoul we asked Dave if he and his team could help with making arrangements for the 2 remaining Boxer’s to get home after the game. They’d need a ride to the nearest car rental or airport. Being the great folks they are, Dave and his guys (and gal, can’t forget Lady Lisa!) stepped up and said they do whatever it took.

Once again, thanks guys! It’s good to know someone has your back when the chips are down. We sat down to what was for me a gloomy dinner. However, alls well that ends well. After back and forth calls with my mom’s caregivers, paramedics ect… they were able to stabilize her and there was no need for us to leave. GAME ON! I was able to relax and enjoy the rest of the meal, during which we got into a discussion about the top 5 films of different movie genres. With some people showing their youth by not knowing movies like Bridge over the River Kwai or the original Rollerball! And Dave you’re crazy if you think you can include Major League as one of the top 5 sports film ever! It isn’t even in the top 5 baseball movies!

With the evening concluding on a positive note we headed back to the hotel for a good nights (albeit short) sleep at about 1 am.

The next morning, Runaway was the first to rise (he always is). We got up, cleaned up and donned our subdued digital camo with Boxer patches facing front! We also noted that with this game Seoul would qualify for his Boxer Tab (see Ranger Tab). Congrats Brother Boxer!

Given the game started at 12 pm, we had ample time but we wanted to make sure that we were at the field early enough to get on the field, set-up the command post and start taking radio checks from the companies at 11:45.

When we arrived at the field we stopped at the Capital Offense’s bivouac to park and break out our gear. In addition to our personal equipment and command post gear. All of which needed to moved down to the CP which was on the field of play. As always, Dave and the gang provided a helping hand to move our gear down to the field. When we reached the field entrance we had to wait for Phil to get permission from the referees for us to occupy the CP. When he game back with said clearance he also informed us that someone had desecrated our command post with fish heads and feces! Now we don’t know who would do such a thing but it was an early indication of the type of bad sportsmanship we would see throughout the rest of the week-end.

While waiting for clearance to hit the CP we topped off our HPA tanks and chronoed. Since the entrance to the CP was located by the chrono station and the HPA fill station was nearby we were able to get our act together pretty quickly. One thing of note is that with 3100 people I was worried that the HPA fill lines would be crazy! As it turned out it wasn’t a problem at all. The fill station was located at the entrance to the field, just off the invasion beach. They had both 3000 and 4500 fills and about 6 or 7 self serve stations for each. At no time did I see any type of line form and players could top off their tanks at their convenience.

We were finally able to get into the Command Post at about 11:20. This gave us 25 minutes to get our gear set up. Since we wanted to use ION as a rehearsal for our Fulda CP we really went farther than we had ever gone before in terms of gear. In addition to the map table brought by Silent (the Allied General) we brought 2 dry erase boards, dry erase markers, a clip board and writing pads, in addition to a water cooler, a chair and a cot.

Silent’s map table was very, very cool and something we plan on imitating, but that's all I can say on the topic otherwise I'd have to kill you (wink, wink Silent). Needless to say it was a very efficient and effective system!

We used one dry erase board to track each company’s status and the other board to track OpFor intelligence. However, the battle situation was so fluid that tracking OpFor positions and intel became a challenge (it changed to often), so we ended up using the second board to track ongoing and future missions. Since there was always 2 or three missions ongoing at any one time this turned out to be very helpful. Although there were a number of radio and telephone communication channels used by Allied forces we were responsible for running the main Allied command channel used by Phil and the company commanders.

This was a great experience for us because it gave us a chance to work out many things for our own command post in the future. We were able to see what worked and what did not. I think this will be huge at Fulda!

At 11:45 am we started taking radio checks from the companies. Let me say from the start, given we had never worked with the teams and commanders involved before these guys were on the ball with way they operated on the radio net. With just a little training they adjusted nicely to using alpha-numeric call signs and giving very crisp situation reports. This really reduced the radio confusion and chatter one might normally expect. Silent asked the commanders to report in every 30 minutes, which most did without problem. This was critical as it gave us very good situational awareness about both our forces and the OpFor’s forces. That combined with EXCELLENT recon work would prove very critical, especially on day two when we had to make up a big points deficit.

At 11:00 am the game kicked off. Silent and his command staff had gone to the beach area to oversee the initial landings. If you have never heard close to 3100+ paintball markers firing at once, let me tell you. There was this sudden ROAR that began to build in intensity, over which you could barely hear the yell’s and screams of the players assaulting the beach. Seoul went down with his camcorder to tape some of the landing. When he came back all he could do was shake his head in awe.

The beach assault would rage into the mid afternoon and would in fact turn out to be the critical part of the game. The Allied force could not get off the beach because of the heavy German fire coming from the tree line. I was told later on that the previous year the Germans had complained that they did not have adequate bunker coverage facing the beach. So this year they heavily fortified the tree line, including working out overlapping fields of fire! They had bunkers and at least 2 double A-5 gun positions which were concealed behind netting. Now I did not see this for myself, but given the way the Allies got hammered on the beach, it made a lot of sense.

The bottom line, coming out of the beach phase, which ended at 2:00 pm; the Allies were behind 20 to 0, nil, zip. That’s right; they had been completely locked out of the scoring during the initial phase of the game. This would prove crucial as we would eventually lose the game 108 to 90! Of course the rest of the first day did not go much better.

With the beach phase over the fight moved into the woods as the initial missions began to start. There were two types of missions in this game; a flag flip or prop retrieval. Flag flip missions required that one side move to a designated location on the field, find the flag station and then flip it to their color (red for the Allies and blue for the Germans). They then had to hold that position until the points were counted on the hour.

I didn’t quite like the way they did prop retrievals (but I may have misunderstood the scoring so if I am wrong someone please correct me). The mission would direct us to a location on the field to find a prop. It wasn’t clear to me that we always knew what we were looking for. Also, I think you had to located the flag station and turn it to your color. As with the flag flip at the hour the points would be counted at which point the referee would hand you the prop, which you then had to return to your CP.

However, what I did like was that Silent had all of the missions and their locations at the start of the game which he mapped out in very efficient time coded maps. This allowed us to plan our operations to maximize points and our actual positions on the field. This really came into play on day two when we basically crushed the Germans on the mission side all day long. We stacked our forces so that they could leap from one mission to the next. This also allowed us to effectively manage manpower by pulling companies for rest and re-supply during the day. Phil had set specific rally times for the companies so they knew when they had to be back on line ready to go. The Allied general was extremely organized and prepared.

However, as I was saying day one was all about the Germans as we never recovered from the shellacking we took on the beach. It was clear the allies were somewhat demoralized. But we kept fighting best we could, scoring missions wherever possible. This also was key, as it kept the score within reason.

During the first day several things became evident. First, the Allied general was one cool cat! He stayed cool all day long even when he was getting his hat handed to him. He effectively managed and motivated his staff and company commanders. I especially liked the way he used his command staff. They really had a good grip of what was happening on the field. Of special note was the Intelligence Officer, Travis Stitt. He operated just like the S-2s and G-2s I’d had seen during my time in the crotch. He was a fixture in the CP providing critical information about the field, OpFor positions and movements, friendly positions AND his intel was always ON POINT!

I never met the recon teams working for him but they did one hell of a job and they were always responsive. Need eyes on target? Travis would make it happen and we start getting real time intel. Not to mention the recon teams were able to score some flag points themselves.

All that said the highlight of the day was a massive German push against the Allied CP in the late afternoon. There are crisis moments in every conflict when you know things can turn on a dime and this was it for the Allies. With our forces dispersed, the German commander had shrewdly massed his forces for a major push. Actually we could see it developing based on intel coming from the Allied recon teams but with our forces scattered the way they were it was going to be touch and go.

The attack started up around the opposite end of the beach away from the allied CP. Allied recon units began reporting a large mass of Germans moving from that direction. We tried to rally our forces but with several companies off the field and others out on missions we were left with the base defense team (Team Deleware) and those troops who were recharging at the Allied respawn site. We began making urgent calls to get companies back on the field but the attack hit before we could fully muster our forces, and boy DID IT HIT!

I don’t know quite how many German’s were in on the attack but it seems like the entire 1500 were hitting the base. Runaway would later say he had never seen anything like it. He described the oncoming German wave as a huge, dark shadow moving along the ground. It was OUTRAGEOUS!

The roar of paintball guns was incredible! This is where I have to give MAJOR PROPS to Team Deleware. They were base security throughout the game. Now everyone knows most paintballers want to be in on the action! They want to be where the paint is flying heaviest. But this team patiently and dutifully stayed to their mission and guarded our CP. Needless to say, you didn’t want to approach the CP without being clearly identified because these cats shot first and asked questions later. But I was really impressed by their discipline. However, when the time came these men laid down some SERIOUSE paint and was the backbone of the CP defense, especially their captain who stood like the Rock of Gibraltar in the center of the defense. He rallied our troops and formed an impenetrable defensive wall. You could hear his voice booming over the roar of battle. Impressive, truly IMPRESSIVE!

The Germans pushed within feet of our CP, their goal to take down the American flag that flew out front. Several Germans attempted to grab the flag but were cut down in a crossfire of paint. At this point the a referee told Phil that he could retrieve the flag and pull it into the CP but that it had to be put back out before the points check point.

Now for those of you who know our team captain Runaway this will not be a surprise. Both he and Seoul grabbed their markers and joined the line. Runway flipped into command mode and began rallying any stray players he could find. But as our defense was pushed back and the situation grew tighter Runaway decided to make his move. After being told we could pull the flag back into the CP several American troopers tried to retrieve the flag but were cut down (just like the Germans). Seeing this Runaway, put down his marker and made his dash for the flag. How he was not hit I don’t know but he was able to get the flag and return it to the CP. As he crossed into our lines the Team Deleware team captain gave him a big bear hug.

While this was happening I was on the radio rallying our companies. Juliet Company had just completed a mission and was about 70 strong. Seeing an opportunity, I began to maneuver them so that they would come in behind the German force. It would be the classic hammer and anvil maneuver. Phil ordered that J Co attack directly towards the CP. Man I felt like I was in a movie! Only thing missing was Phil ordering the artillery to fire on our position. Every so often the J Co commander would report his position as he maneuvered his force behind the Germans. I was on the radio excitedly encouraging him. “Come on Juliet Co! It’s up to you!”

Like the cavalry in those old John Wayne movies J Co crested the (proverbial) ridge and hit the Germans from behind. This broke their attack and the Germans began retreating back through the beach. It was one of those moments that sends chills down your spine.

Through it all Phil (aka Silence, the Allied General) was calm and cool, managing the command staff and the fight. German paint is impacting the outside of the CP tent and my man calmly goes about his business getting the job done.

To be honest the rest of day seemed anti-climatic after we beat back that attack. The Germans had made an all out push to over run our CP and failed. Plus we picked up a few mission points to boot.

During the night phase, which lasted until 10:30, our friends at Capital Offense brought their after dark skills to the front. Using their night vision to score some much needed points. When it was all said and done we ended the day down by 30 points or so. Given the beating we took in the opening phase, Phil was still positive that we could come back. His optimism would prove correct (almost)! Tired and worn out the Boxer communications detachment headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

We woke up the next morning refreshed and ready to go. We got dressed and left the hotel at about 7:30. With the game starting at 9:00 am we wanted to make sure we got into the CP early. This turned out to be very fortuitous because when we go to the field we realized we had left the radios back at the hotel! Sh@l!T!

Man I tell you, Murphy sticks his head up at the worst moment! Runaway jumped backed into the van and head off to get the radios while Seoul, Sonic, and I broke camp and got the gear ready. Let me tell you those were some nervous minutes, by 8:30 Runaway still had not returned and we were getting very nervouse. Game on was at 9 and we still needed to re-issue the radios to the company commanders! 8:40 no Runaway and we can't reach him on his cell. Seoul looks at me and says get your stuff ready, as soon as Run arrives you get the radios down to the field and we’ll finish packing up the van. 8:45, there’s the van turning onto the field! Phewww! Now that would not have been the way to start the day. As soon as Run stopped I grabbed the radios and headed down to the field. Just in the nick time, the allies were beginning to mass at our respawn point. I was able to redistribute the radios to all the remaining Co commanders and get a radio check!

With that small disaster averted we moved into the CP and settled in for the rest of the day. From the very start things were very different. There was certain crispness in the radio calls of the companies that seemed to say this game was not done yet! Right off the bat we were accumulating mission points. One right after the other, we were collecting points in bunches. The thing to know was that the missions had different point values ranging from 1 to 3 points with one 5 point mission and a 7 points for the final battle. This would play a critical role in our strategy for the day.

One of the key things Phil did was to focus our efforts on the 2 and 3 point missions, only shooting for the 1 point mission when the opportunity arose or when recon could easily make those points. Of course, we tried to get all the points we could, but having a prioritization was key. The other thing he did was that he looked at the map and the way the points were laid out and put in place a rolling plan that allowed our units to move from one points phase to the next without having to reposition. This allowed us to use an economy of force approach that gave us the chance to send companies off the field without losing combat power. His approach concentrated our forces available at any one time. The highpoint of this approach was mid-day on Sunday when during the 5 point phase for Paris. I forget the exact time, but it was the only phase that had just 1 objective. This was big for us!

During the preceding phases we had leaped frogged 4 companies through various objectives so that as we came to the Paris points phase we were able to move what was left of 4 companies into Paris. I can still remember the cheer that went up in the CP when we asked for a headcount of the number of troops on the objective, and the answer came back “150 friendlies.” We knew then the Germans would not be able to take that objective away from us. During the course of the next hour so that force was whittled down, but because we had been able occupy the objective with a large force the Germans were in a no go situation.

This was also important because it allowed us to take 4 companies off the field in preparation for the final battle, which would be worth 7 points. At this point we were feeling pretty good. If we good win the final battle we might still pull off a great come back!

However, prior to the final battle there were one or two point phases to get through, so we began to retrograde our remaining forces in Paris to get as many points as was possible while at the same time looking towards the final battle and keeping those 4 companies in reserve.

Our strategy seemed to be working great. Even as we were exhausting the 4 companies still on the field (coming from Paris) we were resting the other 4 remaining companies while still scoring points. It was at this time that the Germans launched another massive assault on the CP. What were they doing! Were they making an all out gambit to clinch the game! The command staff started to discuss bringing in the 4 companies we were resting to defend the CP. But something just did not add up to me. Why would the Germans make a big push now? Especially after what happened the day before and with the big 7 point battle coming up. While they were applying pressure it was no where close to what it had been like the day before. I could hear it in the volume of fire. Seeing that we could hold, I recommended to Phil that we bring in our reserve companies in a defensive position around the CP but not have them engage the Opfor. Looking at the map I realized that as we had retrograded from Paris we had left our far left flank open with only one small company (Alpha) and a few recon units. Was the Opfor trying to draw our attention away from a back door attack?

Alpha requested to join the fight that was occurring in the Hood and in front of our CP; I think they got bored just sitting in a screening position. We reluctantly agreed, but I asked Travis to keep his recon team out there as they were now our only eyes on that part of the field.

With Phil’s blessing, one by one I briefed the reserve company commanders as to how we expected the final battle to unfold. I placed one company, I believe it was Tango, on our left flank to guard against an attack out of the west and had the other company move into position on the right side of the CP.

The Hood was the final points phase before the final battle so we decided to reinforce with the other 2 reserve companies (Charlie Co (led by Capital Offense) and I don’t remember the other). Looking at the map we were still in good position. That’s when the fickle game gods struck! For some unknown reason all of our forces in the Hood were told by the referee’s they had to leave! When the call came in over the radio we all looked at the speaker like it had just turned into a mound of fire ants. What the hell! Phil jumped up an immediately began to talk to the head referee to find out what was going on while we tried to get our people to hold their positions until we received clarification. But the damage had been done! All of our forces had left the Hood and the Germans had moved in right behind them. In effect our left flank had collapsed!

For several minutes we tried in vain to make sense of what had just happened but no adequate explanation was ever forthcoming. I don’t know that Phil was ever given a reason for why our team was kicked out of the Hood. This was just one of several incidents on Sunday that would leave a somewhat bad taste in my mouth about the event and the field.

Looking at the map again my eyes drifted over to the far western side of the field and sure enough Travis’ recon team began to report on a large German force moving in that area. Was this a coincidence or some sort of conspiracy? We’ll never know. But I find it very convenient that right as the anchor of our left flank (the Hood) collapses due to a referee’s call, German forces start popping up, moving towards that exact area from the western side of the field.

With the fall of the Hood there was no more thought of holding our remaining two companies in reserve for the beach battle. We had to throw them into the fight in front of the CP just to keep from being overrun and to deal with the Germans attacking from the west. We basically formed a defensive line stretching from our respawn point curving, past the beach tree line, around in front of the Hood and moving out towards the north west.

Then another crazy thing happened. Apparently, some knuckle heads on the German side were shooting marbles instead of paint. The day prior an allied player had been knocked out by a marble shot. Well just as all of the above was happening another allied player had was taken out by another marble! By this time there was no sense in staying in the CP so all of us (Boxer) left Phil to man the radio while we got our guns and went out to join the final 30 minutes of the game to do whatever we could to rally the troops.

All of a sudden the referees start yelling “CEASE FIRE! CEASE FIRE!” It took several minutes but they were able to achieve a break in the action (somewhat). As our forces began to back away from the line I saw a group of referees and several players huddled around the body of the baller who had just taken a marble to the head. He was not moving at all… I watched for several seconds more then turned back to organizing the allied forces. I don’t know whether they had to carry the player off the field or if he (or she) was able to do it under his (or her) own power, but that really summed up the sportsmanship we had seen throughout. I’ll comment on this at the end.

The thing was, while the Allies were pulling back from the area where the player was down the Germans where filling in. Then all of a sudden, without warning the Germans open fire further pushing back the stunned Americans. I stopped one of the referees to ask how that happened and was told that the cease fire was local only to the immediate area of the downed player but that the game was still on all over the rest of the field. I stood there shocked at his explanation! I had heard the call for cease fire go up and down the line not just in the area of the downed player. Further more the logic didn’t make sense. Why then the call for cease fire across the field? Also, if the cease fire was local why were the Germans allowed to take advantage of the situation?

Okay, okay, I’m not big on conspiracy theories and managing a game of 3100 people spread over several hundred acres can be a daunting task, but the whole situation didn’t sit right with me. A year ago I was at Camp Blanding for Viper Productions’ F.E.A.R game when a similar down player incident took place. In fact it was one of the players from the team I had come with. We had been instructed in the pre game brief that should we see a red flare go up that meant that there was a player down somewhere on the field and that the game was to come to a halt. Every player no matter where they were was to take a knee and wait until the all clear was given. Now this game had roughly about 600 to 700 players and I'm not sure how big the playing area was, but that game came to a stop and the referees were on anyone who had not taken a knee. If they managed to do that there, I believe the ION game producer and the referees could have managed something similar. Certainly in the immediate and surrounding areas were the player went down.

By this time there was no hope of pushing the Germans back although we tried. Using a bull horn I tried to get the Allied players to move to Germans left and then push, hoping to achieve a momentary surge that we might exploit but with les than 15 minutes left there was no hope of organizing such an effort far less pushing the Germans back far enough for it to matter.

The game ended with one last final indignity. As the final horn sounded and the referees began yelling cease fire I got on the bull horn and began telling the Allied players to cease fire and move off the field, which they did for the most part. The Germans on the other hand, in a fit of joyous outburst (I guess) began a pogrom of shooting. I mean their level of fire after the end of the game seemed higher than during those final minutes accompanied of course with the obligatory yelling, screaming and hooting. The thing was they were not firing into the air (as one might expect). A deluge of paintballs pelted Allied players as they moved off the field. In one disturbing incident I saw one of the referees running at the Germans yelling for them to stop firing. He must have taken several hits because I saw him violently throw his clip board at a bunch of German players. They just laughed and fired a few more shots.

I have played paintball for many years and in several states. I have never seen anything like that. You hear about the isolated incidents in the papers (paintball drive buys and such) but to actually be in a game where it takes place was sort of a shocker! Playing in the Carolinas, I have become accustomed to a certain level of sportsmanship. I have participated in games that did not have referees and depended on players honor and integrity. The Milsim test game at Command Decisions is a perfect example. And while I have seen tempers flare, the occasional wiping, or even instances of blatant overshooting this was just beyond the pale. The thing about ION was that there was a consistent thread of these types of activities throughout the game, starting with the fouling of our CP. Blatant and consistent overshooting, wiping and playing on on a scale to befit the 3100 people playing. Just plain meanness and viciousness, with people loading their hoppers with marbles, pepper balls, and re-balls. HEAVY overshooting. This wasn’t just poor sportsmanship it was in some cases CRIMINAL!

There were several incidents involving our friends on Capital Offense. One at the end of the night phase where a group of Germans bum rushed several Capital Offense players after the referees had called the game, shooting up the group as they move off the field. On another occasion, a Capital Offense player had his EGO damaged by a shot marble. In yet another incident a Capital Offense player had his position attacked by German players throwing a tree branch at him.

When I lived in Pennsylvania I played Skirmish from time to time (this was in the mid to late 90s) and I never experience these types of players or incidents. Of course Skirmish’s prices were high then too, but the players were cut from a different cloth. More like the players I know in the Carolinas today. So this was definitely a shock and a disappointment to me. I don’t think I will personally attend ION again or make an effort to play at Skirmish unless I hear they have taken tangible steps to prevent this. Of course, it may be out of their hands and this activity may be a function of a certain type of person from the New York/New Jesersey tri-state area that are attracted to this game, which is a shame because I met a number of talented and honorable teams and players from that area who were just the opposite.

However, except for those issues the game was quite fun. I thought the Allied side really showed heart in almost coming back. Phil, his command staff, and his company commanders deserve a ton of credit. You did a great job pulling it together and almost making it happen!

Phil when you general your next game, don’t hesitate to call on Boxer for support. As long as it isn’t at Skirmish.

Big shout out to Travis and his recon teams. You guy’s were OUTSTANDING and a big reason for our day 2 rally. I’m looking forward to Travis heading our recon effort during Fulda Gap 2008 (http://www.fuldagap.com/ ).

Runaway, Seoul, and Sonic-X: You guys were great travel mates and I really enjoyed the road trip. Of course Sonic-X is my son and he had no choice!

Runaway, once again you demonstrated yourself to be a talented and selfless leader of men. You shifted seamlessly between being a radio operator and getting out here and leading the charge when it was required. As always it is an honor serving as your XO and being your friend.

SeoulBro, my brother! I know you learned a lot during this trip but you stepped up and did what needed to be done. You never complained nor did you develope an attitude about anything we asked you to do. You showed what it means to be a REAL TEAM PLAYER and a TRUE BOXER. I’m looking forward to you being an important part of the command staff at Fulda.

Sonic, you’re my son and I love you dearly, enough said!

Bottom line, the MVP was about Boxer and the work we did as a TEAM. Nothing more and nothing less!

To Dave and my PEOPLES Capital Offense. What can I say that I haven’t said all ready? If I say to much more people might get the wrong idea!

As always, you guys ROCK! You made us feel a part of the Capital Offense experience. You brought us in, integrated us with your team, hooked us up with Phil, and were just plain GOOD (no GREAT) friends to us. Your hospitality is without bound and I thank you for it. That is why my MVT is as much about the Boxer / Capital Offense partnership as it is about anything else. You guys were the ones that brought us to the table and put us in a position to contribute. Not to mention you guys were once again a key cog in the machine! THANKS! THANKS! And more THANKS!

If I missed anything or anyone please forgive me, this thing has gone on too long all ready. So let me say adieu, until next time.

See ya out there!

X-Man

Shoot Out At Joe's

2008-06-03T07:12:00.000-07:00

This past week-end I made my first trip up to Joe’s cabin in Gastonia. The cabin is set back way off the road with a heavily wooded area immediately to its rear that seems to go back several acres. The terrain, lush green low vegetation and tall trees, which provides a shading canopy over the forest floor, reminded me of fields I have played in Pennsylvania like Poco Loco and Skirmish USA. The canopy makes summer play less of a bear since you are not in direct sunlight.

There was a good crowd of Boxers present, both human and canine, all enjoying the good eats, family atmosphere, and a great day for paintball!

First, CONGRADULATIONS to Joe on the new family addition and THANKS for hosting the get together!

Sonic-X and I arrived before the first game started but did not make it out onto the field. Runaway quickly briefed me that we would be running variations of a rescue the downed pilot scenario. It was a great small scenario and he added a lot of nice small twists and turns that made the game more challenging. Since I didn’t play in the first game, I’ll start with game 2.

Game 2 AAR
The second game flipped sides with Bam Bam’s team tasked with rescuing the pilot, while Yellow Jacket, MGB, Seoul, Sonic-X and I inserted first to defend against their efforts.

We moved out in a line formation to make it easier for us to search for the pilot while moving towards the objective. About 10 minutes in (give or take) MGB located the pilot. Since I was unfamiliar with the terrain and field boundaries I had to get feedback from MGB and Yellow-Jacket on the best way to deploy.

After getting their input I decided that Bam Bam's team would most likely move along the high ground on the right side of the field (if you are looking back towards Joe's house). We set up in an L ambush with MGB being the short leg at the bottom with eye's on the pilot. Sonic-X and I was located at the turn in the "L", with Yellow Jacket and Seoul making the up the long leg of the L with Seoul on the high side. My intent was to suck the other team into a pocket where we could attack them from 2 sides simultaneously. Since Seoul was the farthest forward and we didn't have radios I told him that if I yelled out "Irene" he should circle back behind us and attack up the middle of the field towards the pilot.

Our strategy almost worked to perfection. As expected, the other team attacked in force along the right side of the field, which made sense since that side gave them more room to maneuver and would not put them in a low ground position that would allow us to attack them downhill. A sound tactical decision. The key to the fight would be who saw who first. This is where the game turned. First I thought I saw movement around the pilot, which must have been a mirage since Run and Bam Bam stated they did not have anyone down there until much later in the game. I’m not sure who fired the first shot but I know Yellow Jacket started exchanging fire with someone. He started to move back but I signaled him to stop after he had moved about 15 feet backwards, at which point the firing stopped for brief time. Prior to that I heard random shots on the low side near MGB but guessed that the other team had put 1 or 2 flankers on the low side for security purposes who were just reconning by fire. A few minutes later I thought that I saw someone actually picking up the pilot at which point I decided to initiate contact. I started Yellow Jacket and myself moving forward. I called to MGB to see if he could put fire on the pilot but he did not respond. I could hear Yellow Jacket taking fire when I came into view of Bam Bam who opened up on me. I also saw that the pilot was still in place. I retuned fire and was going to start working with Yellow Jacket to flank when Yellow Jacket got taken out. At this point I started moving towards MGB’s last position hoping to hook up with him at the same time yelling out the code word “Irene” for Seoul to circle back. My thought was to consolidate our 3 guns on the low side to cover the pilot and potentially attack an exposed flank of the other team. Well Seoul never responded although I could hear a burst of heavy fire coming from where I had initially placed him. One of the guns firing was clearly Runaway’s dual A-5 so I assumed Seoul was engaged and wouldn’t be coming. All the while I’m exchanging shots with Bam Bam who was behind a tree about 40 feet in front of me. I decided to try a speedball bunkering moving on him by aggressively attacking his position while firing on the move to keep him pinned. However, I did not see Cameron above his right shoulder who took me out with some well aimed shots. I then heard Runaway talking to Bam Bam about securing the pilot which confirmed that Seoul had been taken out as well. Since I had not heard from MGB I figured he had been eliminated also. Bam Bam began to search the pilot but had some difficulty locating the other props. Cameron then completed the search game over.

Overall this was a well played game. Bam Bam’s team deployed with a very sound tactical approach, putting the bulk of their force on the high side where they could maneuver while placing flank security on the low side. This turned out to be key as MGB later stated he had eyes on their whole team but could not move without exposing his position because of the flankers. This is also why he did not respond to my call. He took the flankers out but by then had been spotted by Bam Bam in doing so.

Also, because of my phantom ghosts, I triggered the ambush to early. Based on Bam Bam’s comments I not sure they saw me until I started us moving forward. I know they saw Yellow Jacket because they were shooting at him but I was behind him on the low side prior to that. Had I not triggered the ambush when I did we might have caught them in a crossfire.

Finally, Seoul took Runaway by surprise but that dual A-5 quickly gave Run fire superiority and Seoul could not respond. Also, because of the noise and our positioning, Seoul never heard the code word for him to redeploy as we had discussed an held his position until he was taken out

As it was Bam Bam’s tactical deployment was the key to their success. The low side flankers prevented MGB from hitting them in their flank which might have turned the game. Especially if Seoul could have hit them on the other side while Yellow jacket and I closed the Box. Second, that dual A-5 when properly employed will cause problems for anyone on the business end.

On our end, the ambush was positioned perfectly but I triggered it to early. In any ambush situation patience is key, you must wait until the Opfor is clearly identifiable and within the kill zone. Also, there must be clear criteria for initiating the ambush, in the game above I could have set the initiation criteria as there must be 2 or more Opfor near the pilot or if the Opfor are about to uncover your position.. Finally, make sure you have good cover and concealment. I know both Yellow Jacket and I were too exposed and might have not been seen had we been lying prone (as opposed to kneeling) or were in more concealed positions.

Game 3 AAR
After a lunch break. We headed out for the third game, however, this time Bam Bam switched sides since Seoul had left for the day. It was MGB, Yellow-Jacket, Bam Bam and I against Runaway, Pete, Cameron, Mike, and I think 2 others. They had the numbers but we had the experience.

This time they went out first and we were tasked with rescuing the pilot. Runaway added new wrinkle in that in addition to performing basic first aid before moving the pilot we also had to fire off a rocket launcher to simulate popping smoke. Runaway moved out with his team while this time Yellow-Jacket lead our team.

Prior to moving out we talked about where we thought the pilot would be and the best formation for movement. After deciding that the most likely location for the pilot would be on the high ground MGB suggested we move out in an echelon right as we moved using the left tape line (facing away from Joe’s house) to screen our left flank. We even rehearsed the formation and immediate actions drills upon contact (just like I remembered it in the Corps!).

With our plan complete we moved out with MGB taking point, followed by Yellow-Jacket, then me, and Bam Bam pulling slack. A few meters into the woods we made initial contact. A classic Runaway tactic, defending in depth. MGB made contact with one or two of the OpFor but they broke contact before we could move to eliminate them. Our immediate action plan called for the two on the side of the contact to lay down heavy suppressive fire while the other two move to flank the threat.

We began moving again. A few minutes later Bam Bam made contact and we began to move against the threat. Using buddy rushes we were able to get into a position where I was able to lay heavy suppressive fire on one of the Opfor while Bam Bam maneuvered to eliminate him. I believe it was Pete who we had trapped. He was in a small depression in the ground laying prone. I could see the top of his head, back and legs. I laid down a stream of fire with the intent of keeping his head down so Bam Bam could take him out. He soon called himself out. I’m not sure who got him but I was pretty pleased with our use of buddy rushes and suppressive fire. Later on, Pete said the fire coming his way was so heavy he couldn’t raise his head to take a shot. That is exactly the result you want with suppressive fire.

By this time our formation had spilt, with MGB and Yellow Jacket on the left (high ground) and Bam Bam and I were on the right. After we took out Pete, Runaway made a the decision to rush Bam Bam and I. I heard him ordering his troops forward before I saw him. But once they came into view we opened fire. I took out Runaway with a head shot and I could hear Bam Bam banging away, however he then started to have gun problems. After Runaway went down it’s a good thing his team did not press the attack because given Bam Bam’s gun issues they might have been able to overwhelm us with a sustained attack.

About this time I believe MGB and Yellow Jacket found the pilot but now had to search for the rocket launcher. Runaway had stated that it would be within several paces of the pilot so they began looking but were not having any luck. Bam Bam seemed to have his gun sorted out so we held our position. The Opfor had retreated but we could occasionally see them moving off in the distance.

After several minutes of searching MGB called me to come help look for the launcher. I could hear Bam Bam trading shots with the remaining Opfor but he seemed to be in a good position so I moved up the hill. Runaway was sitting observing our hapless search for the launcher and laughing. Yellow Jacket finally found it as Runaway had stated several feet from the pilot, however, most of the launcher had been buried under leaves with only the yellow barrel condom showing.

So now Runaway really starts giving it to us, to complete the mission we have to fire the launcher but Yellow Jacket is struggling to get the thing to fire. The way Runaway had set things up, you had to fire the launcher using a remote line which meant you had to detach your line from your gun (making you defenseless), with Opfor still out there and active this was not a comfortable position to be in. This is a common military training technique where you had additional stress to the exercise to see how people will react under fire when faced with additional complications. After a few minutes of this and Runaway’s gentle encouragement I went up to see what the problem was. Yellow Jacket just handed the launcher to me and stated, “I should have learned to fire the launcher before earlier today.”

I unhooked my remote line and hooked it up to the launcher and then pulled the trigger. POOMMMFFFF! Mission over. In fearness to Yellow Jacket, I am very familiar with the MXS launcher and knew exactly what to do. But Runaway’s point was made. Under combat conditions even simple tasks can become very complex. This is why military units rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse and train, train, train, so that simple actions are executed without thought. Something for us to keep in mind.

We played one more limited paint game for kicks so I won’t provide any detail on that, but all in all I really enjoyed the day and reinforced some basic combat lessons for myself.

BIG THANKS to Runaway for setting up the games and coming up with some excellent ideas to make the games more challenging and interesting.

Patton Rolls: Operation Cobra

2008-05-20T13:57:00.001-07:00

This past week-end I had the distinct pleasure of running with one of the best scenario teams on the east coast at the MPP produced Patton Rolls: Operation Cobra. Hosted by Command Decisions in Taylorsville, NC.

Capital Offense is without a doubt one of the top teams playing on the east coast; from their incredible sponsorships, their tactical skill, and just being a great bunch of guys (and girl) to be around! First let me thank Dave Thompson, the team captain, for letting me run with his merry band. It was a blast and a great opportunity to see a top team in action. Also, guesting with Capital Offense was Jason "Foolybear" Lineberger. I did not have a chance to talk to Foolybear but it was cool watching one of paintball’s most prolific journalists on the action side of the camera.

This was supposed to be a getaway game for myself and Runaway, Team Boxer’s captain, since we don’t get to play much when we are running the team. So we conspired just to show up and play at this event. Dave had asked if we were coming to the game a few days earlier so I called him to ask if we could run with his crew. He responded with a resounding “not a problem!” However, due to work Runaway was unable to make it so I was on my own.

I drove up early Saturday morning and hooked up with Dave and company at the field. Dave and I had already agreed that I would act as their anti-armor support so I brought WOP1. To lighten my load I decided to play with my urban camouflage Phantom stock pump. Although I love my Phantom I rarely get a chance to play with it these days, which is a shame given it is a great marker. Also, the urban camouflage anodizing is a real eye catcher and looked great with my subdued digital BDUs...

Given the turnout at last year’s MPP game, Guadalcanal, I was expecting plenty of tanks to shoot at, but alas, I was to be disappointed. This game was a lot lower key than last year's (which I did not attend). This year’s game had far fewer tanks (I think only 3 or 4) and 200 participants. While this did not diminish the fun of the game it did change the atmosphere. I must admit, I was looking forward to a Guadalcanal type of experience but ended up with something quite different, not better or worse, just different.

This game was different in a lot of ways. First, the normal grouping of teams that play CD was not in effect. The Fulda Gap Warsaw Pact teams were split on opposite sides, with Recon-1, Rogue Cell, and EPIC on the German Side. Werewolf, the Rogue Cell Captain, was the German General. I thought his black trench coat and German officer’s cap was pretty cool! Although he must have been hot as Hades!

On the American side was Capital Offense, Lethal Paintball, and me (low key Boxer representation). Other teams present included B-Squad, Krisis, The Rats, Shadow Group, Port City Militia, and two teams I am looking forward to playing with at Fulda, Section 8 and Southern Discomfort. Southern Discomfort’s captain, Havoc, was the American general. There were a lot more teams present than the short list above but I’ll move on.

After getting my registration done and picking up my one box of paint I geared up and headed over to the Capital Offense tent. Present where the usual suspects; Dave, Lisa, Fonzy, Bishop, Big Dog and the rest of the crew. After a round of greetings and introductions and then the safety brief, Dave took his new guys on a field walk while the rest of us waited for the game to start. At about 11:20, Big Dog got those of us still at the tent going and we headed out to the American CP.

Havoc was in his command bunker at Rex getting things organized, which he seemed to be doing a great job of. Given the late start, most of the teams were at the CP ready to go. Havoc was busy issuing final pre-game orders and guidance as the teams began to position themselves to move out.

CO’s initial tasking was to move to secure Sim City then wait for mission taskings. Another team was to follow behind and lay mines. CO was given responsibility for running all missions in the vicinity of SIM / Alpha / Apache / Hamburger / Ducket and Holiday. Another team had the northern side of the field.

Since I was not in a command position, I was not privy to what other teams were doing or what Havoc’s overall strategy was (I didn’t even turn my radio on). Dave had sent out a planning e-mail before Havoc was announced as general but I’m not sure to what extent it was used.

While an unusual feeling for me (not being in a command role), it was quite liberating. This was the first time in quite a while I was just an average foot soldier only responsible for myself and I had a great TIME! What a change of pace! Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy being the XO/Operations Officer for Boxer, but it was nice just to be able to play and not have to worry about radios, squad positions, missions ect… I was free to just play!

Okay on to the game. At the starting rocket Capital Offense heads off full tilt to Sim with Dave out in front leading the charge. Of course my age and lack of conditioning dictated that I move at a somewhat slower pace But I arrived none the worse for wear. This was the where I really began to see Capital Offense at their best.

The best way to describe their style of play is disciplined, controlled, and stealthy! When we reached Sim they immediately established a defensive perimeter along the north western corner of the base then we waited for the first mission to come in. Another thing I noted about Capital Offense is that they don’t seem to have to do a lot of talking in order to get things done, people just seem to know where to go. Whether this is a function of a ton of practice or just playing a lot together I cant say, but they all seemed to know what to do with very little direction.

While at Sim the only action we saw was when the Wallace tried to attack us from the rear entrance. I moved to take him out with the WOP1 and got a shot off which fell short. I tried to maneuver for another shot when the ref said the tank was out! I was not aware of another American launcher in Sim and I knew my round fell short. So I am not sure how the tank was taken out. In any event I decided not to question it and move on. No sense in having to face that beast if I didn’t have to. Other than that there were a few sporadic exchanges of fire but nothing of any merit. After about 15 or 20 minutes we got our first mission. Take out the German CP. With very little effort Dave got the team moving. Big Dog suggested I hold back with him at the rear of the column (tactically sound, keeping your rocker launcher safe).

We moved out in what appeared to me to be a staggered column. Not that I saw any command given, the team just seemed to fall into place. As we moved they maintained great noise discipline and excellent tactical movement. The first few team members in line seemed to act as an advanced guard. When they made contact the column would stop and the advanced guard would move to eliminate the threat. Again displaying great discipline, as I have seen many teams just rush up to overwhelm the threat with all the noise and fire giving away their position. While the advanced guard did its thing the rest of the column just waited, maintaining a high level of alertness. Once the threat was eliminated the column would start moving again.

Another thing I noted was their fire discipline. I didn’t see or hear long drawn out strings of fire. Short bursts followed by aggressive flanking movements. To quote the Marine Corps’ creed, they aggressively closed with and destroyed the enemy with superior firepower! I was quite impressed with the way they operated. Not that I didn't know how good they were, but knowing a thing and seeing it for ones self are two different things!

Just short of Hamburger the team made contact again. Once again the advanced guard began to aggressively engage while the rest of the team held back. After a few minutes of exchanging fire Big Dog deployed the rear half of the column to attack Hamburger. Dave took the front half to the other side of the road. Capital Offense's transition from a traveling formation to an attacking formation (getting on line) went very smooth and the attack commenced. Very quickly we were at the German CP and the command staff was eliminated. A brief conversation ensued about whether we could destroy the tent with a rocket launcher. After a few minutes it was decided to shoot it so I let loose with the WOP1.

David then redeployed the team in a defensive position around the CP as we had to hold the base to complete the mission. I think this is the point where we were hit by an artillery strike that took out most of the team guarding the German CP. As we move of back to the American base Werewolf and his command team reoccupied the position.

Capital Offense ran several more missions throughout the course of the day. There was the one mission up at DZ 1, another "take and hold" mission. We got into position with no problem, established a defensive perimeter and then waited. While there Dave and I took the time to chat a little about Fulda and rest our tired feet (at least mine were). However, I'm not sure if we ever were credited with completing the mission as there was some confusion with the Referee's.

Then there was the TRAP mission in the afternoon. TRAP is the Marine Corps acronym for Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel. By this time I had exchanged the WOP1 and the Phantom for my Invert MINI since there wasn't any tank action. We were at the CP when Havoc issued the order to Dave to head to Sim to retrieve a downed pilot. We moved out at a quick pace. Once at Sim the team fanned out to search for the pilot in the buildings and vehicles. However, after locating the pilot it was passed down that we also had to find a radio and a map. To be honest I'm not sure if those two items were ever recovered because I became focused on a high volume of fire comming from the direction of of Rex. Not wanting to have someone come through the woods adjacent to Rex and suprise us I posted myself just outside the treeline and sure enough there was movement in the woods. Allowing my eyes to adjust to the lower light levels I could just make out the yellow tape (we had red) on the side of the players mask. Taking aim, I let loose with a string of 5 shots that hit the target. My only elimination of the day!

By this time I'm comtemplating calling it quits. Given I'm usually in a static position coordinating tactical operations, moving around the field had taken its toll. But before calling it a day I returned to the American CP that was by this time under INTENSE pressure from the Germans. They were flowing out of the woods accross from the airplane next to Rex. The paint was flying hot an heavy as the Germans attempted to push hard. Then out of the woods pops Otto, of Team Krisis, with the German flag in his hands rallying the troops! I dont know if this was an actual mission but he ran out into the open and stuck the flag into one of the square white bunkers before retreating.

With the German flag flying proudly in the open the Americans were stirred up like a hornets nest and began pushing the Germans back. Someone started screaming to take the flag down as it was an affront to the Americans. Some young gun dashed out into the open and knocked the flag to the ground. All of this while hundreds of paintballs filled the air.

By this time the phase was winding down for the dinner break and I decided it was time to pack it in. Since I had only planned on playing the Saturday day session I headed back to the van to pack my stuff. A few minutes later I heard the rocket signifying the end of the day phase.

After getting my stuff packed up, I walked over to Wop's car to check out the second launcher he is building for Boxer, the WOP2. While still in its basic components, I could see that the WOP2 was going to be off the chain! I hope he'll have it ready for our next game in June.

Before leaving I walked over to the CO tent to say my goodbys. Dave invited me to go to dinner with the team (I really wanted to), but I knew I had to get home to the family. All in all it had been a great day of paintball! I truly enjoyed running with and being around Capital Offense. They are a great bunch and outstanding ballers to boot!

So thanks to all my Capital Offense friends! Dave, Lisa, Ben (BAMF), Carl, Aaron, Nick, Chris (Big Dog), Bishop, Mike, James (Cookie), Jon (Fonzy). And congradulations on another MVT!

Also, a big shot out to Foolybear! I didn't get a chance to kick it with you but you can sure sling that paint!

To my man Dread. As-Salāmu `Alaykum my brother. As always it was good to see you. It's been a while since we played on the same side. We need to make some time to sling some paint side by side one of these days.

Greenman! Semper Fi Marine! It was kind of wierd seeing you without your gear, but as always it was cool seeing you! Looking forward to rolling with you up at ION.

Congradulations to Havoc and the Americans for their victory? Havoc, I look forward to seeing you and Southern Discomfort at Fulda. I'll be in touch!

To Wolf and the Rogues, Krisis, Rats, Recon-1, EPIC, Shadow Group and and the rest of the Americans, you put up one heck of a fight. Job well done!

Thanks To Ferg and LeeAnn for running a first rate operation.

This was my first MPP game and I look forward to my next!

See ya out there!

Vietnam Patrol After Action Report

2008-04-28T18:23:00.000-07:00

Well, what a game!

First let start with a big HUUURRRA!! For the Marines. I must admit I was a bit torn playing on the NVA side given I served with 1/9 (1990 -1994) which was one of the Marine battalions at Khe Sanh.

Smitty, job well done leading your troops and great job by all of the Marines.

Although the game start off hard for the NVA we battled back to make the game close. Let me start with a few shout outs.

First, Greenman. I know we lost brother, but you are a VERY, VERY good general. You got thrown some twists and you took them on without complaint or attitude. Man it was an honor to fight under you. Whenever, where ever, just call bro and Boxer will have your back. Semper Fi!

To my man Runaway and my Boxer brothers, once again you guys showed what Boxer is all about. No matter the situation you guys keep fighting. Runaway, great job leading the troops and your call on the breakout strategy in the afternoon really changed the dynamic of the game. MGB, well done up at DZ 5 leading the attack to take Luke. Dude I had to chuckle at the end of the game when you were holding down Luke by yourself and me and Sonic where up at Bentree.

Now there were many teams out there that did a great job but let me mention two, Frayed Knot and Carolina Sabers. These were the two teams that were with Boxer up at Apache during the morning. There were others, but these two teams stayed with the mission throughout and allowed us to hold on to that base (the last NVA base to fall in the morning) after 2 air strikes and being attacked from two sides at once. I have special thanks for Frayed Knot who was there until that entire episode played out. You guys showed great discipline and effectiveness. Also, I was more than happy to help with finding Dakota. Job well done guys!

This was a very tough game from all angles; the Opfor, the terrain, and the weather were all major factors. Not to mention the Marines just seemed to have a k@#$%ss plan. They seemed to be everywhere.

During the morning session we seemed to get into our starting positions okay but the Marines seem to get to Sim and Alpha much faster. Almost immediately fighting broke out in those areas which surprised me given I thought we’d at least get to Sim first. We had about thirty up at Apache but after talking to Runaway I sent two squads of about 11 and 8 respectively to attack Alpha. I sent MGB with Carolina Sabers to bridge B3, the big bridge, via Hamburger and then I sent Dana with a mix of guys (I believe Fallen Angels and some others) via Sim. While I was trying to support our activities at Alpha I really wanted to screen both the Hamburger and Sim sides of Apache to get advance warning on Opfor forces moving towards us. MGB and Saber seem to get to Alpha without incident. Dana and his group ran into some action at Sim before moving on to Alpha. I was hoping to link the two groups up for a coordinated attack on Alpha but it never happened. Meanwhile, I kept Frayed Knot up at Apache for base security. Again great job guys! The Frayed Know captain was excellent! Just to make sure his guys weren’t just sitting, I had them rotate 3 man patrols down to Sim since I was particularly concerned about attacks from that zone. As it turned out we were eventually overrun from the Hamburger side. Before I was killed in the second Marine air strike I believe I saw the brown t-shirts of B-Squad coming up from Hamburger.

Interesting story. I don’t know what time it was, but Greenman moved into Apache with his FTOC and a few of the Rogues. A few minutes later, this guy in OD utilities and boonie hat, no gun, and a small rocket launcher in his belt walks up asking for the general. So we’re like “whose asking?” He responds very vaguely, so of course all our guns go up. He’s all cool and smiling, “you don’t want to do that”. Greenman starts to question him, “who are you?” “Are you a ref”, ect… He responds, “I’m not NVA, I not a Marine, I’m not a ref”. I make the following suggestion, “maybe we should just shoot him.” He just smiles, “you don’t want to do that”. By this time Greenman departs with the FTOC and it’s me and Mr. Mysterious. Based on the handheld rocket I decided he is either part of the Marine supporting arms or something really bad for the NVA, so I ask him to take a walk with me so he is OUTSIDE our base. He just smiles and says okay. So we walk, just chit chatting but he’s not giving anything up. Finally, he just says “I think I’ll take a walk over to Alpha” (or maybe it was Bravo). He smiles and walks off. I’m standing there thinking, “what was that about, I should have shot that guy.” Well, sometime later Mr. Mysterious reappears asking for the General. I’m thinking, “oh no, here we go again.” I just respond, “I don’t know where he his”. Just then I get a call that Greenman is up at DZ3. I figure you can’t take out a DZ so know harm or foul, so I send him up there. Again I’m thinking, I should have shot that guy. Some time later, he returns yet again (with that same smile on his face). This time, with a ref in tow confirming he is one of the 4 horseman bringing death to the NVA. I begin to redeploy our guys outside the base, just in time of course. BANG, rocket goes off. Marine air strike! But we dodge a bullet, only 1 KIA. Greenman calls to confirm that we just got hit, I confirm but let him know only 1 KIA. However, both Mr. Mysterious and the ref are hanging around. A few minutes later, BANG, second air strike, since we were still deployed outside the base I think I may have been the only one killed. By this time B-Squad is starting to crest the ridge from the Hamburger side. By the time I got back to DZ3 Apache had fallen. I should have shot that guy!

The afternoon got off on the same foot. As soon as we left our insertion we were jumped by the Marines on 3 sides! I mean it was the perfect Box Ambush. We could not move more than a few feet from the entry point without getting shot. It was a debacle, to say the least. Then, Runaway, with some on the spot, quick thinking, organizes to large groups of the “walking dead” (the irony here being that this is 1/9’s nickname) of about 40 to thirty each. One group heading towards DZ 3 the other towards DZ 5. This basically created a breakout from our entry point. I took charge of the group going to DZ 5 as we crossed the middle of the field. The Marines were just staring at us like, what the heck is going on. You could see, some of their guys radioing back what was happening. On our up to DZ 5 we passed Recon-1, the only NVA unit to make it out of the entry point unscathed. They were trying to break out into the open field but were being held up by the Marines and two of their tanks. Our NVA brothers were pleading with us to bring back the two AT guns we had with us. I just said, hold on boys. We’ll be right back. However, by the time we reached DZ 5, the forced march had taken the starch out of our unit. We had thirty out of breath fighters. It took about 10 to 15 minutes for us to get reorganized and back onto the field. We head east to support Recon-1. However, just before we hit Luke we ran into Marines. They had pushed Recon-1 out of their positions at the tree line and across to the Holiday side of the firebreak. We pushed hard and were able to force the Marines back but took so many casualties that we could not exploit. We headed back up to DZ 5 which we used as a staging area for the rest of the afternoon. But as often happens, our numbers began to dwindle as more of our soldiers drifted off. Soon the 30 we took up to DZ 5, was down to about 15, then 10. You get the picture. We tried one more push with what we had left, preceded by 2 mortar barrages. By this time we were being held up by three Marine snipers with excellent positions and camouflage. We were able to get one but could not get the other two. By this time we were down to about 5 troopers, not including me and Sonic-X (my son). We made one more push, and then there was 1, MGB. At which point, I believe Greenman was dumping some heavy rocket fire onto the southern half of the firebase. He called to see if we could rally the troops, but I told him all we could do was try and hold Luke and Bentree. He agreed. I radioed MGB and told him to get a good hiding spot where he could observe the flag at Luke, while every 10 minutes or so I’d leave DZ 5 to check the flag at Bentree. I figured even if the Marines came through and turned the flags, we could get in and turn them back before the game ended. No one ever made it up to Bentree, except for Hun and his son who were hitting the outlying bases for the same reason. However, at Luke, a Marine patrol did in fact turn the flag blue but MGB was able to get in and turn it back minutes before the end of the game, preserving those points for the NVA. Outstanding job MGB!

While we were up at DZ 5, Sonic and I spent the time eating crackers, cheese, and beef jerky until the rain came. Then we got soaked and ate some more.

At that point we just waited for the official end of the game, then Hun, his son, Sonic and I headed in. I was tired and sore and REALLY happy it was over, but I felt a sense of accomplishment given how the overall day had gone. While I was sure we had lost, I knew we had put up a great fight in the afternoon. There had been no giving up in the NVA, and we did close the point gap by almost half from the morning and as Ferg said where within one base or so of coming all the way back.

Well, as I finish this up I am almost fully recovered from Vietnam Patrol 08. If you weren’t there you missed a good game!

What Does Boxer Mil Sim Mean (Part 1)

2008-04-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

Milsim, what does it really mean? Since our involvement in the Milsim Test Game at Command Decisions. Runaway (Boxer Team Captain) and I have been discussing really emphasizing a true Milsim approach as the core philosophy of the team. But what does that really mean?

Our Air soft brothers are far more advanced in this regard. Check out several air soft videos I have posted. Clearly Milsim is more than just the gear and BDU’s it goes to the core of how we will play the game. Certainly there are many paintball Milsim teams out there, but I have yet to see any that take to the extreme of the Air Soft community.

One of the concepts we want to present to the team is taking everything we need for the entire game into the field so that we don’t have to go back into the rest area. This means air, paint and anything else required to conduct operations. Our belief is that by doing this we will maintain a sharper edge during the entire operation. The only reason we would send people back to the rest area would be for re-supply. Once on the field all of our activities will be conducted in a tactical manner.

We also want to encourage greater fire control and ammunition conservation by using limited paint hoppers. This has the benefit of making the game cheaper for the average player. This is because the limited paint hopper forces you to take aimed shots rather relying on a volume of paint. That or you will find yourself getting elimnated in the middle of reloading. Additionally, there must be a greater reliance on tactics and teamwork. All these things will give us an edge over the average scenario paintball team.

The key to this will be developing a strong squad based culture. This is more than just putting people in squads, its ensuring that there are designated roles that individuals fill on an ongoing basis. So that when we hit the field every person knows their role, how to do it, and where to go. The core value required to achieve this end is a willingness on the part of each player to do their part for the team. This includes duties and tasks that are neither glamorous or exciting.

In some ways Milsim goes against the grain of what’s at the heart of most paintball players desire to play, the desire to be the HERO!

Vietnam Patrol – Battle of Khe Sanh

2008-03-31T12:39:00.000-07:00

Well we are getting ready for our next major game, schedule for Saturday, April 26.

Vietnam Patrol is an annual event at Command Decisions Tactical Warfare Center. The game scenario uses famous Vietnam War battles as its subject matter. This year’s installment will recreate the confrontation between elements of the US Marine Corps 3 MAF and several divisions of North Vietnamese regulars.

Team Boxer will be teaming up with several of our allies to form the core of the NVA forces this includes: Rogue Cell, Recon-1, MAAD Paintballers, AFC to name a few. Greenman, of Rogue Cell, will be reprising the role of General Vo Nguyen Giap leading the glorious PANV.

On the other side of the line I’m sure we will be facing off against some good teams. B-Squad has chosen to fight as Marines and they are always tough. BEWARE THE HIVE! I’m sure other good teams will follow.

Here is the link to the field’s game website.

http://www.cdpaintball.com/vietnam.html

Our Captain Runaway has all ready made contact with our General and is getting a hard days worth of fighting lined up for us, so all you Boxer’s better get your game face on! Or is that war face? As normal, Boxer expects to be a key unit thrown into the hottest sections of the fight!

Since we are playing the NVA we won’t be bringing our tanks to this game but we plan to bring a heavy anti-armor capability given the Marines will have tanks on their side. Should be some good tank hunting! Plus I’m sure there will be some bunkers that will need to be taken out.

The poop is that Ferg (the field owner/game producer) wants this game to be as close to the historical event in terms of game play as is possible (big hint for us, OWN the high ground and bring some BIG GUNS!).

This game should be off the chain!

Milsim Test Game Final Thoughts

2008-03-21T10:03:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to add some closing thoughts on the Milsim test game held last week-end.

First, this type of game has so much more depth and complexity than a normal scenario game that focuses on running missions and holding bases for points.

The mix of a points based system with end game objectives provides greater strategy and tactical flavor.

Constructs such as medics, casualty classes (KIA vs WIA), limited ammo, and ammo re-supply all add additional factors that must be taken consideration. For example, we used our ammo supplies at more than twice the rate as the Green team. This could have been a factor later in the game if we had run out of paint.

Also, preserving your force throughout the day with planned rest breaks and time to eat. Admittedly, I over looked this during the game and may have put more stress on our side than was needed. Our recon team took time for chow on their own and did it in a tactical fashion. Great job Dave!

In the real world it is the side that controls the objective at the end of the day that usually wins the battle. (Note, in Vietnam the US could win tactical engagements but lose the battle because at the end of the day the NVA and Viet Cong held the ground that had just been contested). However, the quality of a win can be determined by the number of KIA’s and points for terrain held accrued. How you do it sometimes matters!

As I reflect on how the game went I can now see multiple tactical approaches that could have been used. In the end I opted for a very inelegant bull rush approach that resulted in high casualties even though we achieved our tactical objectives for the game in the end. This was inefficient given both sides were evenly matched.

Also, this game opens up the option of tactical withdrawal since the game has an end game objective in mind. You don’t have to just keep banging over the same ground over and over again.

In fact, our Pickett’s charge had the effect of a tactical withdrawal since almost all of our players left the field before our final attack. This had to have created some uncertainty on the part of the green team as to where we would attack next since there were multiple avenues of attack. It also allowed us to effectively mass our combat power on one part of the field out of sight of the opposition.

I really enjoyed being a tactical leader even though it is a lot of work. In fact I enjoyed it as much as shooting paint. This won’t surprise those who know that I really enjoy real time tactical games such as World Conflict or Company of Heroes. There is a big difference between overrunning and opposition position on a computer screen and doing it for real in the woods! Let’s just say there is a greater level of visceral satisfaction when rounds are whizzing by your head!

Some final thoughts. This game does require a lot of pre-game coordination. First, all players a given side must agree to the command structure and the rules under which it will operate. Simple things like leaving the field or breaking for lunch need to be discussed. Second in game supplies and equipment need to be discussed. Also, tactical requirements must be thought through. Will we use mines? How will we clear a mine field or destroy a structure like a bridge.

Also, unlike a typical scenario game this was a continuous play event where events were very fluid. The coming and goings of squads and individuals can have a big impact. In a normal scenario game people come and go onto the field as they please. While this sometimes will impact the game it is accepted by all that people come and go as they please. In the milsim context this has to be worked out in advance and everyone has to be in agreement or confusion and potentially bad feelings will follow.

Finally, communication is key! Everyone has to understand what the game objectives are, what the over all scheme of maneuver is, and make sure that they are communicating during the game.

In my last post I forgot to thank Doug and Archon for supporting this event. THANKS !

CDWC MilSim Test Game AAR

2008-03-16T16:19:00.000-07:00

What a game!

X-Man here,

During the MilSim test game I served as the Tan Platoon Sargeant.

As the Platoon Sargeant my pre-game role was purely administrative and I initially thought my in game role would continue as the Platoon Sargeant ( run the HQ section, coordinate re-supply, manage casualties ect). However, right from the start my role morphed into the on field Platoon Leader with our commander and First Sergeant acting more like a true rifle company HQ. The last time I had this type of experience was leading a platoon in the Marine Corps.

There were several moments where I felt like we had just pulled off a really cool tactical manuever and there were many others when I was like, “Ok, back to the drawing board”. While I knew how I wanted to maneuver the platoon there were times when the rust in my platoon leader skills showed.

First, I misread the terrain up at Hamburger and Apache. While I have walked the terrain and played the field several times I never appreciated just how steep the terrain in those areas are. In retrospect, given what I know now I would have seized that terrain from the start of the game and fought a defensive counter punching strategy.

At about 9:30 I recieved authorization to insert our recon team, lead by Dave Thompson of Capital Offense. We split them into 2 teams (of 2) with the idea of getting eyes on Hamburger Hill which was our primary objective and reconning the area we expected the green forces to enter the AO (area of operations), in the vicinity of Sim City and routes 9/8.

Let me say that our recon team did an OUTSTANDING job! Under Dave’s leadership they were feeding us good intel all day long and for a long stretch during the morning they held Fort Apache by themselves no doubt accounting for some good points.

Meanwhile. The green force received about a 15 minute head start onto the field and immediately started moving towards Fort Apache and Hamburger, which would be the secondary and primary (respectively) game objectives for the day.

I sent one squad to Fire Base Alpha and the other to sweep around the right side of the fire base towards Hamburger but the green force beat us to the high ground at Hamburger. I then decided to occupy Fire Base Alpha as a base of operations against Hamburger and Apache as well as being in position to interdict the green supply lines. This also gave us the shortest re-supply route possible given the tactical situation.

We were able to occupy Firebase Alpha but because the green team beat us to Hamburger it became an uphill fight for the rest of the day. 2nd squad was operating to the south east of Alpha, just outside the base perimeter while 1st squad was trying to move towards Hamburger. The problem was I oriented 2nd squad towards the direction of route 9. Dave and the recon team, continued to hold on to Apache.

This is where misreading the terrain became a problem. I thought we could push from Alpha up towards Apache and Hamburger. WRONG! The terrain gave a distinct advantage to the green team. Our first few attacks just stalled out at the bottom of those hills. Also, our tank was down for part of the early morning so we were forced to make unsupported attacks into an enemy position on high ground, taking heavy casualties, especially when they were able to bring their tank down route 3. At that point the green team came rolling down behind their tank and pushed 2nd squad back into Alpha. Given the teams were evenly matched our heavy casualties attacking uphill made it easier for them to overrun our positions in Alpha.

Looking back, I should have made an attempt to reinforce Apache via Sim and route 9, then attack downhill toward Hamburger. Honestly I have a feeling that may have been open all day. We could have hit Hamburger from the rear and front at the same time. This also would have denied the green team access to DZ 3 which turned out to be big for them. Well, C'est la guerre!

Could we have held that position? I don’t know. Given the location of our CP, we would have had a long, exposed supply line, but they would have had to attack uphill as we had to. Hindsight is 20/20 vision.

Then I made my second big mistake of the day, I failed to adequately secure our left flank which allowed the green team to flank us on the Sim side of Alpha and hit us from the rear, 2nd squad and the HQ section were basically wiped out. 1st squad was pushed back to the rear boundary of our AO (this was about the time we got word of a hurt walk on player and the game stopped). The green team then focused their attention on Apache and our recon team holding that position.
Walking back to the Platoon CP talking to Blue Max, he efficiently sized up the situation. We basically oriented right, they went left to our open flank. I was kicking myself all the way back to the CP. I had made a butter bar mistake that cost our unit. But I told myself to chalk it up to rust (in this type of tactical game), put it behind me and soldier on, the day was still young and we had a battle to win.

By this time Dave and his recon team had been pushed out of Apache (I may be off in timeline but others will fact check me.) This was the opening to our finest tactical maneuver of the day. I mean text book perfect. This next episode was really a testament to Runaway and Big Bird who lead their squads with great élan and aggression in this attack.

The remnants of 1st sqd (under Runaway) had been pushed back along the creek bed to our rear boundary (grid D6) while 2nd sqd was reorganizing at the platoon CP. I decided to send 2nd sqd through Sim to attack towards rte 9. However, talking to Runaway, it became apparent that the green force had overextended into Alpha. I immediately instructed 2nd squad to reorient towards the southern flank of Fire Base Alpha. My intent was to try and launch a coordinated attack on the green force in the fire base from 2 directions at the same time.

2nd sqd would strike first from the southeast attacking west while 1st squad would hit the northern end of Alpha (attacking south), crossing the T in Navy lingo.

Well, all I could say is both squads were magnificent. We had great tactical coordination. 2nd squad moved into position and went on my command. After additional conversations with Runaway, we decided 1st squad would attack once they heard 2nd squad start their attack. 1st squad hit the northern entrance to Alpha and fixed the green team while 2nd squad swept through the base east to west. As 2nd squad crested Alpha 1st squad ceased fire to avoid hitting friendlies. 2nd squad swept through and consolidated on the objective.

It was one of those moments you just want to spike the ball and dance like Billy White Shoes Johnson.

Wanting to be aggressive and take advantage of our offensive momentum I immediately ordered 1st squad to continue the attack towards Hamburger. At first it seemed like we were making progress and were on the verge of taking the position when the green tank hit first squad coming from route 4. That tank simply decimated 1st squad. Once again we got pushed out of Alpha.

We reorganized at the platoon CP, after talking to the squad leaders and Blue Max, who became a great resource during the rest of the game, we decide to take Sim and attack from there towards Apache.

I wished I had recognized what a great assetBig Blue was earlier. In truth, while he is great at killing tanks he would have served our unit better as a squad leader or our senior tactical advisor. If there is ever a next time I’ll keep him close if he is in my platoon.

Quick hit here. In our planning we did not discuss mines but the green team did. appearantly they mined a road (not sure which one) But because we did not discuss mines we weren’t prepared to deal with them. Back at the CP I was discussing it with the CO and First Sgt when Ferg walks up. The CO is like “Hey Ferg, we got mines out their but no engineer assets to deal with them. How do we get engineers?” Ferg looks at me and goes “Okay, you got no engineers. In the real world what would you?” It was one of those Basic School moments I remember so well when an instructor would turn and say “what now lieutenant?” The light bulb went on and I grinned to myself, “shoot them or blow them up with explosives.” Ferg just smiled, Milsim Huraa!

We also requisitioned a 50 cal and satchel charge. Given our tank support had been iffy at best I wanted to have alternative ways of dealing with the green armor. Of course I was later told that the 50 cal was ineffective against their tank.

So we set off for Sim. 1st sqd was sent to hit Apache but somehow they got oriented towards Alpha. I think they must have hit resistance and flowed to the open area. No biggy, you take what you can get. One fire team went toward Apache and the rest of the squad went towards Alpha.

The recon team was tasked to move to recon DZ 6 and then to try and get to DZ 3.

I directed 2nd squad to move towards DZ 6 but somehow they went out of bounds. They quickly came back in and came back to the Sim side of the creek. I then called them back to Sim for base security.

Meanwhile the recon team met resistance and could not get close to DZ3. They linked up with one of the 1st sqds fire teams (that had been cut off from the rest of the squad) and tried to take Apache. The rest of 1st Squad had occupied Alpha and was calling for reinforcements. I tasked Blue Max to take a squad and our tank to Alpha to support 1st sqd. The plan was to try and retake Hamburger once we had massed enough combat power at Alpha.

At that point our TOC radioed in that we basically needed to take Hamburger. I then relocated the HQ section and 2nd squad and ordered 1st squad to move out while second squad supported from Alpha.

About this time Blue Max apprised me of our situation. Taking Hamburger would be damn near impossible! The green team had established a solid defensive line from DZ 6 to Hamburger (holding the high ground) and the terrain was steep and uphill the entire way. At that moment I knew how General Lee must have felt at Gettysburg when he realized that not taking the heights (The hills running between Little and Big Round Tops) on the first day would cost him dearly and like Lee I commenced several fruitless and costly assaults on those heights, all resulting in mass casualties and our guys getting worn our by going up and down those hills then having to go all the way back to our CP.

We did try different combinations of attack. One comes particularly to mind. Blue Max had come back to our FTOC at FB Alpha and I sought his advice about a plan of attack. He shook his head again and said no matter where you go it will be tough. Then looking at the map again he pointed to the stream bed that runs north on the west side of Hamburger and Apache and was also the AO western boundary of the AO. He scratched his head and said, we might be able to get some folks in the stream and get by their line. I just said lets go for it. I assigned him a fire team and sent him on his way. Meanwhile, I ordered Runaway to attack up the hill again. He looked at me skeptically and said, "if we go up that hill a again we are all going to die". I just shook my head and said yes I know, but I need you to hit their line as a distraction. I knew we needed to fix them in their positions in order to give Blue a chance. I don't know how far up Blue Max was able to get, I just know they got taken out. It was really shaping up to be a bad day.

By now I'm standing there thinking what next? Finally, like Lee I decide to try an all out gambit and focus an assault on a narrow front to force a break through. If we could breach their line maybe we would be able to turn their flank and roll them up.

By this time Dave had rejoined the main body and I decide to use him and his recon team as straight infantry, we broke up into three elements. The first lead by Dave, the second by runaway and the third by myself. My goal was to hit one point on their line with a rolling wave hoping to achieve a point break through. My version of Pickett’s charge.

Well, the outcome was exactly the same. Dug in on those heights the green team poured murderous fire first into Dave’s then Runaway's teams. Because we were focused on a narrow front and our forward momentum had stopped the green team was able to send a few guys down our left flank and hit my team from the flank.

Like Pickett, I watched the remnants of my command trudge back to our CP. The rain was beginning to come down heavy and I was really having that strong Gettysburg feeling. Like Lee I was retreating in the rain thinking about what might have been. My command had been decimated, it was late in the day and our opponents remained strongly entrenched on the high ground.

But here is where our story ends differently than Gettysburg. When Lee retreated from that Pennsylvania town he had reached his high mark. He was never again going on the offensive and it was only a matter of time until the South’s defeat.

In our case when I got back to our platoon CP I was greeted by a unit that was still highly motivated even though it had been a long, hard day. I walked into the CP to talk to the CO and First Sgt. I told them we had tried to take the position but that once the greenies got the heights they had the upper hand. We started to talk about making one more push when one of the Tan troopers also in the tent suggested that we hit Sim one more time and try to take Apache and see what we could do from there. The CO looked at me and said lets do it. Attacking through Sim had worked twice before would the green team fall for it a third time! I had my doubts but what options did we have.

Just then Ferg walks into the CP and says he’s calling the game in 30 minutes. He looked at me and said, "You have got time for one more push and you got a bunch of guys out there rearing to go". At this point I’m feeling my blood rise and that flush of excitement. Hell, what’s the worse that could happen; we go out with a bang.

I walked out to the open tent where I was met by Dave and his guys, and a mix of the two squads. All were chomping at the bit, ready to go again even as the downpour was coming down, their masks were fogging, and they were soaked to the skin. Dave had that infectious smile on his face that was saying “come boss let get this thing on and deal out some hate and discontent." Runaway was doing his thing quietly re-arming, and Big Bird who had been the rock of 2nd squad all day was loading up.

By this time we were no longer organized in our original squads we just grabbed all the tan troopers in the tent and organized them into 3 elements (just like our last ill fated attack. The technique was sound we had just been on bad ground). Dave’s assault team lead the way followed by Runaway’s, followed by Big Birds whom I traveled with.

There comes a time in every conflict when strategy and tactics don’t count for as much as sheer will power and determination. What I saw in the Tan platoon in that attack had less to do with some fancy plan and more to do with heart and desire. Perhaps the green team let their guard down, perhaps they had overextended their line when our last attack failed thinking they had the game won. I don’t know.

(I think our using Alpha as a base of operations throughout the day might have lured them to heavily defending that area thinking that's the way we would come, if we even came at all.)

I fully expected for Dave’s element to take heavy casualties maybe even be wiped out. My hope was that they would weakened any force in their way allowing Runaway’s element to overrun them. I knew I had Big Bird’s element as my final option. When I heard Dave’s call that they had taken Apache I knew right then we had a chance! I immediately directed Dave to continue his attack to Hamburger. By the time I got to Apache Dave was pushing Hamburger with Runaway right behind. Big Birds Element occupied Apache and set up a 360 perimeter.

Runway, on his own initiative took off with his guys to hit DZ3, our opponents FTOC, which they took. Dave’s element pushed the green off Hamburger and set up a defense. I move up to Dave’s position and took it all in. We had done it!

In the end we had exerted our will on our opponents and finally taken those paint filled heights!We now held both the main and secondary objectives! Quite frankly I was shocked! How the heck were we able to roll the other side up so easily when they’d been giving us a tough time all day!

The green team tried to counter attack Hamburger as time was running out but apparently, MGB, a first squad fire team leader (field promotion), had taken out the green team's reserve element before they could sally forth.

Ferg had stated in one of the first threads in the MilSim forum that the NCOs’ would be key to this game and they were. They kept it going all day long, even when things weren’t going right. They lead from the front, showed excellent initiative, and just delivered when it counted. At the end of the day no matter how good a plan you have, without the right horses it just dots and lines on a piece of paper.

At game end the green team had more points, 800 to 700, just one base difference! But we held both objectives, tactical victory!

Man oh man, you just had to be there!

Just a quick shout out to Ferg and the gang at CD. This game concept is incredible. It's depth and texture offers an experience unlike any other I hav had in paintball. It may turn out that it is not everyones cup of tea. But I surely hope that there will be more of these games beyond August!

I know this has been a long time in comming, but thanks so much for bringing this idea to reality. You have done a great thing for paintball.

Command Decisions MilSim Test Game

2008-03-16T16:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we participated in the MilSim test game at Command Decisions Warfare Center. The purpose of this game was to test out a game concept that Ferg (Command Decisions owner) has been thinking about for many years.

The game was a true paintball military simulation (Milsim) which featured marker rules that required players’ paintball guns to replicate real combat weapons in size, shape and weight. There were several categories of weapons, sub-machine guns, assault rifles, Squad Automatic Weapons (SAWs), sniper rifles, and crew served weapons (30 cals and 50 cals). Each had category specific chronograph speeds designed to roughly simulate the operating differences between weapons.

The rules included limited round hoppers for assault rifles, sub-machine guns and sniper rifles ect… players were limited to a max of 500 rounds on at any time on the field (SAW gunner had a limit of 1000, half of which had to be carried by 2 other players.

There were medics and each player was issued a casualty card which had to be read when they were hit with the medics applying treatment base on the card.

There were 64 players split between a Tan platoon and a Green platoon. Since this was an invitational only event there were some of the best east coast scenario players and teams in attendance, some come from a far away as Florida and Washington DC.

The game itself was quite exciting and action filled. Everyone had a great time and there was real excitement for the next game.

I know I can’t wait!

A more detailed game account will be provide in the next post.

Hello and Welcome!

2008-03-13T08:21:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog about my adventures as a member of the MilSim paintball team Boxer.

About Team Boxer
Team Boxer is a mil-sim, scenario paintball team based out of Concord, North Carolina. The team was formed in 2006 when four co-workers, their families, and family dogs decided to do something a little different for Thanksgiving! Celebrating the holiday together with great food, drink and a day of paintball. This was the founding groups first introduction to the game/sport that they would come to love.

The team name is derived from the fact the each member of the founding group coincidentally happened to own the same breed of dog, Boxers. As a breed Boxer’s are renowned for their characteristics of intelligence, loyalty, honesty, friendliness, courage and determination. All traits that are synonymous with Team Boxer.

Team Boxer’s roster currently counts almost 60 members who hail from across the North Carolina Piedmont region, which extends from the Charlotte metropolitan area to Greensboro-Winston Salem.

Team Objectives
Team Boxer seeks to participate in and produce paintball scenario games primarily in Carolinas region but will also travel to national level games across the country. We seek to promote the game/sport of paintball and the businesses of our sponsors by developing a reputation for tactical effectiveness on the field supported by the core values of integrity, fairness, diversity and the belief that if it isn’t fun people won’t play.

What is milsim?

Today paintball has grown into a world wide sporting activity of tremendouse popularity. As the sport has grown it has developed many off-shoots on the original theme, to include recreation and tournament play. Woodsball, speedball, big games, and scenarios. Each having its own rules, style, and flavor.Team Boxer started out as a woodsball recreational group and has now grow into a dedicated Military Simulation team.

Military Simulation (MilSim for short) focuses on a more true to life military style of playing paintball. If you look at our team organization and approach you will find that we simulate a real world military organization.

Now don't get it twisted, we are not the militias or survivalist waiting for the end of the world or looking for a fight with the F.B.I. We have just chosen for our group to take on a more military outward appearance. The fact that several team members have prior military experience accounts for this orientation.

MilSim is not unique to paintball, you need look no further that re-enactment groups (such as those that can be seen at Civil War sites) or airsoft.

The core motivation of our team is spending time with a group of people we like and enjoying an activity we all love. Yep, we are a kind of social club.

What I Like Most About Boxer
The one attribute of team Boxer that is most exciting to me is its diversity. In age, race, ethnicity, religion, and profession, Boxer truly represents the melting pot that has always been America. This mixing and matching of different ideas and perspectives has resulted in a very dynamic and sucessful organization.

So drop by sometime and catch up on what is going with our band of brothers.