Christchurch Big Game 2006

By Jamie Innes - October 27th, 2006


October 21st and 22nd 2006, marked the first organised big game Christchurch had seen in several years. Organised by Tony Witheridge, and held on an airsoft field, and Top Gun paintball, this big game was the first time I'd ever stepped up to being a team captain... I gotta say, it was kinda cool! And I highly reccomend it to other experienced players. But more on that later.



DAY 1

Day 1 was, on the whole... quiet. It was actually a cracker of a day, full on sunshine, and very warm temperatures. But as the start time of 11am came and went, Top Gun's driveway sat silent, unused, desolate... one could almost picture the tumbleweeds. It took a while, but by 1pm, 10 people had finally mustered.

Initially the entry was going to be $50. However this was reduced to $30. Paint was Killabees, Weapons Grade or Ink'd. Tony had also laid out a lot of cool woodsball gear for sale on the tables, if nothing else they were fun toys to drool over and play with. Myself and a squad of guys also went and checked out the airsoft field, to meet the Tactical Airsoft Group, and see the base they were building. I must say... very impressive.

So eventually, when it because apparent that nobody else was coming, everybody geared up for some games. And then the gun problems began. People who couldn't get thier velocity up, people who couldn't get thier velocity down... and then people like me... 2 tippmanns and neither of them working. The 98 decocking and the A-5 missing shots. This pretty much ruined my day, albiet I fixed the A5 in the end.

Games were 3 sets of Capture The Flag on the Top Gun fields. Now here is where I MUST add in a gripe. Top Gun's fields lack structure, you've basically got two to three fields overlapping along a road. I suppose it's not a problem for regular players, but for everyone else... not having physical field boundaries... I have an issue with. This is, for all intents and purposes, a direct result of where the shed has been placed, and where the rest of the bunkers have been built. (ie- all 'around' the shed).

Anyway, with 5 on 5... the games were ho-hum. Or at least it probably just seemed that way to me because my gun simply wasn't working, and I spent more time cursing it than shooting it :)

By the end of day 1, I found myself inspecting my A5, only to discover the cyclone fitting had simply come a little loose, and all that needed done was to be tightened with a flathead screwdriver. You live and learn I guess... I've had that A5 for 3 years and this is the first time it's happened.



DAY 2

With the West coast guys no-showing on Day 1, I was not expecting them on day 2 either. Thank god for the Canterbury Paintball Club (Some of them) for stepping up and playing. This boosted the numbers significantly. Now before I tell you about day 2, I want to make one thing abundantly clear to all who read this article. You CAN NOT sum up the intentions of a group of individuals, by what only one of them says...

Prior to this weekend, I was told by more than one person that "The CPC guys aren't coming because it's their own field". I knew that was absolute crap when I heard it, and it turned out to be absolute crap on day 2 when some of them turned up. Yes, it's true that some CPC members chose not to play, and that's fine. But some DID, and what that tells you is that people are all in fact individuals, and they'll do whatever they please. If they want to play, they'll play. Nuff said.

People mustered fairly quickly today. I was impressed. I arrived at 11am, and people were ready to go by 11:30. Didn't really know what was coming up today, other than the fact we were definitely gonna be playing on the airsoft field. TAG was also there in red overalls and high-vis vests as game marshalls on day 2.

So then we had to sort out teams. The question goes out... "Who wants to be a team captain?"... silence... I look upon a bunch of slightly sombre faces that would sell their mothers to avoid that responsibility. So I stepped up. "Yep, I'll do it". Turned out to be the best decision I made all day. So with my 'wealth of experience' in place to inspire and guide my team, we were ready to pick. The team captains stood up, received our yellow or orange armbands, and picked players schoolyard style. I (Yellow) got most of the players I wanted, and orange got most of the players they wanted.


GAME 1

Without too much dilly dally, we headed over the berm and onto the airsoft field. Attack and defend... a nice big trench base. Yellow team won the coin toss, so we had the choice. I made the choice for us to defend, so the greener players on our team could get eased into the day. I also wanted to see what the attacking team's tactics (or lack therof) would turn out to be.

We could have 2 roving players. With no volunteers, I delgated myself and Peter, since the two of us were the most heavily clad in camouflage, and capable of working independently in a firefight. This turned out to be a good choice, we roamed around, took a few hits, but the enemy could not overrun us, when time expired after 30 minutes. Everybody then moved back over the berm for rest, refreshment and reloading.


GAME 2

One of my teammates (Dambuster) arrived just in time to join our team, which was good because orange had picked up another player too. Our team would insert at the same position as the orange team had. The call goes out... "What's the plan chief?", so I laid it out for them in very specific instructions...

• Forget about the left flank, they tried it, didn't work, too much open ground, no cover, and it's the broad side of the base.
• Focus on the rear (if you can flank around), or...
• The front-right, the gorse is thick, and you may manage a frontal attack.

Truthfully the strategy didn't quite go as planned. Several of our greener players became MIA, since they got lost amongst all the gorse and pine trees. But it all came together in the end.... about 2 minutes before time is set to expire, I learn over the radio that Dambuster has made it though the gorse, extremely close to the front of the base, and is ready to 'storm it'. So I move into a position on the other side of the base, and we co-ordinate a 2 prong attack.

1. Positioned at the rear of the base, I begin by unloading a LOT of supressing fire. An entire hopper into the trenches. More of a distraction than actual suppression, but it worked nevertheless.
2. Dambuster gives himself suppressing fire, whilst moving up, and eliminating enemy players. He then gets down into the trench, into the enemy 'comfort zone', and eliminated those who were not already low of paint or gas.

It should be emphasised too, that this tactic had maximum effect due to it's timing. It was executed around 28 minutes into the game, when enemy ammunition was running low. The result however... yellow team captures the base before time expires. Then, it was back over the berm for lunch.

One thing I definitely liked about Day 2 was the BBQ. Kinda makes all the difference after bit of hard yakka running around and war fighting.


GAME 3

This marked the last "big game" of the day, with no time limit, yellow and orange squared off in a capture the flag game on Top Gun's fields, amongst the gorse, with no time limit. Initially I didn't like the look of this game, due to the small field size... but it soon became apparent that this wasn't so much of an issue due to the density of gorse throughout the field.

The game was on and the team gets told to hold a standard skirmish line. Players would then take advantage of holes in the enemy line when the opportunity arose. And boy did it ever... the game started with a lot of force on force action, but soon after, orange resigned themselves to playing only a defensive game. Repeatedly, several yellow team members took the left flank, and came very close to the orange flag, but were repeatedly unsuccessful.

Perseverance would prove to be the key though, after about an hour... the fight was still going on, yellow team taking ground, but orange team not wanting to give up, this was definitely a war of attrition, and despite continually getting shot up, I knew that if the yellow team stayed dedicated, we would take thier flag.

After around 90 minutes of fighting, everybody was extremely low on paint and gas, and it was time for one last push, the one that would finish off the orange team, or would fall flat trying. With 3 members of the yellow team laying siege to the orange base, I moved straight in and shot the remaining defenders, grabbed thier flag and RAN. I tell ya, it's been a while since I was this tired too. The orange team reinserted after a quick stand down, and were now forced to go on the offensive after having thier flag finally taken. They ran after me, fired after me... but the dedicated yellow team gave me security as  I made it back to our flag station and hung the enemy flag unscathed.


WEEKEND CONCLUSION

2 more small games were played on the bunker field, with eggs being thrown around from the BBQ, as impromptu 'grenades'. I was absolutely had it after all the action I had already seen, and was happy to watch the clowning around with a beer in hand.

Thus we reach the end of the weekend. It wasn't a fantastic turnout... but the spirit of the players made up for the lack of numbers and then some. Everybody that played REALLY brought thier A-game. I'm extremely proud of both teams, especially my one... yellow... who never questioned my instructions and had complete faith in my leadership.

I highly reccommend to the more experienced players, to step up as a captain, leader or general... at any big game or scenario you go to. Your undertstanding of battlefield dynamics, flanking, skirmishing, and basic infantry movement will be significantly helpful to the newer players. Plus is makes them feel confident in themselves to have somebody instructing them, who 'at least sounds' like they know what they're talking about :)