Narn Vs Centauri
By Jamie InnesFeb 7th, 2006
"Beyond The Shadow Wars" (The Story, By Adrian Mehrtens)
The Shadow Wars are over but old feuds still remain unresolved.
The Narn, once enslaved by the Centauri are now in a position of influence. Trading their way back from the brink of extinction, traveling to far off places in search of any goods that may turn a profit.
The Centauri have been decimated because of their involvement with the Shadows. Many have traveled to the outer planets to become pirates, preying on cargo vessels and small settlements. The Centauri have not lost their lust for babbles and jewels, but power still eludes them.
A Centauri Viper waits within an asteroid field as a Narn freighter comes within striking range. With blinding speed the engines of the Viper roar into action as plasma bolts fire on the unsuspecting freighter. In an instant the freighter lurches and heads for the green planet below followed closely by the Centauri Viper. The Viper pilot radios to his companions of his attack, but as he draws near the planet the Viper is suddenly rocked as a missile hits it's starboard engine, the pilot not evening seeing the missile launch sends a mayday and prepares to crash land.
Looking up to the sky the Viper pilot sees an explosion as his mother ship heads toward him. To the south he sees smoke from the crashed freighter, that was the last thing he ever saw.
The Narn, once enslaved by the Centauri are now in a position of influence. Trading their way back from the brink of extinction, traveling to far off places in search of any goods that may turn a profit.
The Centauri have been decimated because of their involvement with the Shadows. Many have traveled to the outer planets to become pirates, preying on cargo vessels and small settlements. The Centauri have not lost their lust for babbles and jewels, but power still eludes them.
A Centauri Viper waits within an asteroid field as a Narn freighter comes within striking range. With blinding speed the engines of the Viper roar into action as plasma bolts fire on the unsuspecting freighter. In an instant the freighter lurches and heads for the green planet below followed closely by the Centauri Viper. The Viper pilot radios to his companions of his attack, but as he draws near the planet the Viper is suddenly rocked as a missile hits it's starboard engine, the pilot not evening seeing the missile launch sends a mayday and prepares to crash land.
Looking up to the sky the Viper pilot sees an explosion as his mother ship heads toward him. To the south he sees smoke from the crashed freighter, that was the last thing he ever saw.
Saturday the 4th
So there we were, a bunch of players from various parts of the south
island... on February 4th, about to commit to a weekend of scenario
paintball, at the native bush field in Hokitika. For many of us, this
was a big attraction... as in the south island, despite all the 'nice'
scenary down here, most fields are simply pine forest. Players would
come from Greymouth, Hokitika, (And other close by areas),
Christchurch, and as far south as Invercargill. (Big-ups to you guys
and the long drive!)The group I was with (3 guys including me) weren't the first ones to arrive on the field. Upon arriving and seeing the native bush, I felt I was immediately in heaven. How cool was it, to FINALLY be playing 'bushball'... IN THE 'BUSH'... or rather... in the jungle! We geared up, gassed up, and hit the field with those already playing. There was a game of camos vs non camos. in a basic capture the flag game. The game was relatively even until we joined, 3 extra camo clad players slowly tipped the scale in favour. I got behind enemy lines... made a run for the flag (A yellow bouy) and got hit. Later the game was won by the camos due to the superior numbers. All in all, a good fun game to help get us oriented and acclimatized to the thick native bush. Later there would be more gameplay up into the early evening. However the actual Scenario would only start on sunday.
Sunday the 5th
One of the things introduced both on saturday, and on sunday, was the
aid stations, marked by an orange flag, and a green & red
reversible pole. There were also mobile aid stations represented by a
plastic yellow drum with a red cross on the side. These were pretty
neat additions, the aid stations functioned as 'deadzones' you would go
to when hit, and in order to use an aid station, that aid station had
to be controlled by your colour.The green and red aid stations represented the two warring factions, the Narn (Green) and the Centauri (Red). Players were required to wear a green or red velcro armband somewhere on thier marker. Each team had an off field home base... and an on-field command base. The home base was for storing playing gear, whereas the command
base was for in-game
briefing and mobilisation, and storing of captured items. Sound
complicated? No, it wasn't.As the players hit the field and began play, they discovered this 'green planet below' was full of things to pick up, bags of gems, gold bars, and specialty cards which would serve later either as points, as traps... or as functional things that could be used. SOme of the cards included booby traps, sniper cards, free goodies (drinks or paintballs)... and other more elaborate bonus's. Players also had actual paintmines and mine-tape, which could be used to defend certain areas. Yes, this scenario had everything but the kitchen sink.
During the game, each side often frgamesnted into certain squads to go out on specific missions, or sometimes patrolled together. The missions usually involved finding a combination to some of the drop boxes padlocked around the field, the drop boxes contained various goodies inside, which also related to the ongoing story... as dictated by the 'Native', and referee... Adrian Mehrtens.
These squad based missions, and patrols served to both add extra realism of the thinking man's game, and also led to some intense firefights where opposing sides would cross over and end up in firefights. All this mayhem was co-ordinated by the Captain on each team. Big-ups to those guys for untertaking a complicated task. Not only did they have to co-odinate all the troops, they had to read and interpret missions handed out, get compass bearings and co-ordinate radio relays. The scenario had started at 10:30am, and ended around 6pm with both sides well tired and battle hardened. Nobody had come through without a scratch, for me it was literally true since pushing through dense bush with your sleeves rolled up isn't such a good idea.
Monday the 6th
As we arrived back at the field, not many were there so we waited till
around midday for enough to come for a game. Finally enough were there
for a 5 on 5 capture the flag game. Lots of shooting, lots of sneaking
through bush. Again I got behind enemy lines and made a run for the run
for the flag. And here's where it gets interesting, the sort of thing
you remember for years. Ever seen those guys in paintball videos dive
behind a bunker and break thier gun? Well that was me, as I dove behind
cover, my remote line fitting hit sharply against a solid tree root.
SNAP! The quick disconnect nipple breaks and the remaining CO2 is
puring out of my gas tank. Anyway, we won the game and that was that.So after that game we headed off back to Christchuch, out of the land of peacocks and wekas, and back to the land of sheep and rabbits.
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