Airsoft 2000

Date:  June 16-18, 2000
Location: Two Chicks Paintball ~ Colorado/ Wyoming Border
AO Intel:  160 Acres
Hosted By: TASOM (Tactical Airsoft Simulations of Memphis)

 

 

 

 

 

Official AAR From TASOM

As half the state of Colorado burned, Team TASOM pulled into Two Chicks Paintball and started getting ready for action. Wednesday, BTW for those who attended, was beautiful. After a long drive, we were more than ready to hit the bed, so we ate and crashed, excited to get to it on Thursday morning.

Maritza and Brenda were great, and so were all the others at Two Chicks. A big thanks goes out to them for making all this possible.

Thursday, June 15th, 2000

The day started out beautifully, warm and sunny under an expansive Colorado sky. By 2 p.m., the sky began to darken and an amazing wind came in from the north, driving the temperatures down fast. By nightfall, it was cold. The First teams to arrive were the guys from TANGO, who promptly set up their tent and climbed back into their van to get warm. The TASOM command tent was missing poles (somehow) so we ended up borrowing a tent from TANGO (thanks guys) to attempt to sleep in. Teams arrived all through the night and those of us who were already on site learned about the difference altitude makes in the consumption of beer. We played a night game with about 20 people that was a lot of fun, even though it was really, really dark thanks to the cloud cover.

Friday, June 16th, 2000

Rain. Rain. Rain. That should sum up most of the morning on Friday. Oh, yeah, and cold… can’t forget cold. The schedule of events was completely blown by the cold. We could barely get registration done, since it involved paper-, which doesn’t tend to hold up well in the rain. We started to chrony guns during a break in the rain, but weren’t able to actually finish for a few hours. Spirits were still rather high, since people were getting to know one another and set up their camps.

Finally, by dinnertime, the rain subsided. We gave away several prizes and ate dinner, and then it was time to hit the field. TASOM ran a scenario using our new BLACKBOOK Simulation Rules, which are still in Beta testing stage, but will be available soon.

Night Patrol

In this scenario a US patrol is trying to locate a cache of Medical supplies which have been stolen by a warlord named Buchos, who is hidden with his private army in a small village. Mines block the US forces approach, so they only have one path, which they can follow to get to the Warlord’s stronghold.

Mike Nielson, Skuzzy, and Team Tango augmented by 5 other players, played the American Squad. Jeff Leath, Bishop, led the “Bad Guys” for the game. There were 24 bad guys and 12 good guys at the start of the game. The game was played using full simulation rules, so it was a little different from games most people had played. Ammo was restricted to one hi-cap, or it’s equivalent. Hit location rules were used in the game, as well as body armor and enhanced medic rules. The enhanced medic rules meant that if you were hit, you could call for a medic, who would actually bandage the “wound”. Despite how complex this sounds, it actually worked great.

REPORT (Note: This report is given with simulation events counted as REAL to illuminate the plot and action)

The American squad began their patrol at 9pm, heading west onto the playing field by the main road. At 2100, the US point man knelt and discovered mines planted on the side of the road. He promptly stepped back on to the road and called for his squad leader. After pointing out the mines, the Squad realized that they would have to stay on the road. Spreading out into a squad column, they began moving further into the darkness.

After moving cautiously for about 10 minutes, the pointman noticed a light in the distance. He gestured for the column to stop. At once, 12 bodies dropped to the ground and began covering their predetermined fields of fire. The squad leader picked three men to go forward and find out what the light source was. The rest of the squad, kept watch as three of their members moved off into the darkness.

The three squad members moved up slowly, using bounding overwatch as they moved, taking advantage of the high grass to cover their approach. The men gathered near the light were boisterous and loud, not even attempting to hide their presence. After about 10 minutes of watching them, the US advance team decided they were refugees and called for the rest of their squad to join them.

The American Officer and the advance team approached the Refugee’s camp. Suddenly, he was bathed in bright white light from a spotlight on top of the rocks. The officer put his hands over his head.

“American Army, we mean you no harm!” he called out. Two refugees, one armed with a shotgun, another with an MP5K approached the officer. They noticed the other soldiers covering them and there was a tense moment as they faced off. The American officer gave the call for his men to stand down, so they backed off, though it was still very tense.

After a brief discussion, the officer was led forward to meet with the refugee’s leader. The Leader, who was never identified, sat in the dark just outside the light of the refugee’s lantern. He leaned against a rock, his face completely covered by a dark Goretex parka. The Officer was brought forward and put on his knees in front of the Leader, who shined a bright flashlight right in his face. Negotiations almost stalled when the American Officer refused to give up his gun in trade for information on how to get through the minefield. After a hefty bribe of $1500 dollars, the Americans were led into the Darkness once again, straight towards Bucho’s base. Once they were in the darkness, an arguement broke out between the two refugees. One of the refugees pulled out his MP5K and killed the other one by shooting him in the back. After a heated exchange with the Americans, he was paid to really lead them to the village. He led them towards the village, then his true colors shone through as he yelled “Buchos! They’re coming!”, before being cut down by the Americans.

Then all hell broke loose. Fire started coming in from every direction since the squad had been led into an ambush. The American squad scattered, taking several wounds as they took cover. Calls of medic punctuated the night between bursts of automatic fire. The American Medic did a great job of bandaging wounds in the dark and was able to return several soldiers to the action quickly. The Americans were having a hard time regrouping in the dark so one of the squad members fired tracers into the air to show their rally point. Most of the squad was able to rally within a few minutes and they tried to push their assault.

The American squad made it to a defilade position in a small rock outcrop and fell into a defensive role once the Bad Guys came swarming. Two bad guys would step up and two would fall, but Buchos was determined to get these Americans off his land. The Bad guys tried several times to sneak into the rocks, but everytime were eliminated by a hail of fire by the American squad. Out of the original 12 squad members, they were down to 8 and were runnning low on ammo. Then tragedy struck for the American squad. Their Officer, Col. Skuzzy, was shot in the small of the back and had no body armor left. Pinned down and isolated, he died moments later. Wave after wave of bad guys assaulted their position, but couldn’t get a good foothold in the rocks.

Then At 2300, after a blazing firefight, the Americans were evacced by Helicopter. Unfortunately, they were unable to complete their mission so a victory went the Tyrant Buchos…this time.

This game had some really great points in it, including the loudest firefight I have ever been witness to. During the first moments after the ambush, the sound of AEGs firing was almost deafening. Using good teamwork, the Americans were able to fend off Buchos’ advance and hold their ground, with less than 30% casualties. The Bad guys were not quite as lucky on the casualties’ front, taking 50% casualties by the time the Americans were forced to Evac. The reason for this was simple, the evil tyrant Buchos would not allow his medic to leave his general area (But that’s the kind of stuff that evil tyrants do

Buchos, of course, will claim his is not evil, or a tyrant…but we all know differently.

Thanks to Bishop for playing the evil Buchos and to Brad the spy, Elusive, Flash, PB and Jetlegend for playing he ragtag band of refugee bandits. Special thanks go out to Skuzzy, Charlie and Vance for their great work for the American squad. And to all you bad guys and US soldiers, great Job!

Saturday, June 17th, 2000

Snow. Can you believe it? At 0700 when I got up, it was snowing. By 0730 when everyone else began to stir, the snow had stopped, but it was still really cold. Maritza and Brenda and the rest of the Two Chicks crew got a good breakfast going, which really hit the spot. By 0900 the sky was starting to clear. The clouds were pushed aside and the sun came out. Now, things were finally starting to shape up.

Frontline: WWIII was about to start.

We got off to a late start, since we were unable to Chrony most of the guns on Friday, so by 0945 we finally had the briefings under way. Radiomen were assigned and given their Satellite Comm packs. Demolition troops were briefed and given a little time to practice with their Bombs, cracker barrel Mk 1 simulated explosive devices (once you see them you will understand why we called them that, if not, ask someone.) Finally, medics were briefed and issued their medic cards. The game was almost ready to begin.

Unfortunately, we had a severe shortage of American forces thanks to our small turnout. There was no way to field 26 vs 36 so we had to make a decision quick. After a few minutes of negotiation and laying down $1200 TASOM bucks, the Black Knight Mercenaries were patriotic American soldiers. Now, the teams were pretty much even, 34 to 36, and the game was ready to begin.

Both sides deployed to their base and began getting ready for the game to begin. Mission 1 for both sides was to send their spec ops teams out to Recon the field. They had to bring back information concerning bunkers and any other intel they could find.

While the general’s were briefing their troops on their coming mission, a C-130 crashed near the border. Spec Ops from both sides converged on the crash site, only to be informed that the area was on fire and none of the intel could be taken. No survivors were evident. Then the first shots were fired. Spec Ops forces clashed on both the Eastern and Western edge of the field. The Russians pushed across the Afghan border, taking the fight to the Americans. 30 minutes later, after the Spec Ops troops returned with their Intel, both sides were ordered to penetrate the borders and hold ground. The score was now 10 to 10.

This was the biggest firefight I have ever personally witnessed, with both sides firing on one another from covered positions, the open ground near Checkpoint Charlie was a hornets nest! The fighting continued with no ground gained, for around 20 minutes, then one of the Speznatz teams was able to penetrate the Western border and occupy the woods in Afghan territory. Unkown to the Soviets, a small American force penetrated their border and held ground near the central crossing. Their orders stated that they had to hold ground for 30 minutes, so 30 minutes later, both sides gained another 10 points. The score was still even. During this time, the Russian command team managed to capture the truck containing the Mortar crew and forced them to set up their mortar.

Spec Ops on both sides were then issued orders to recon the crash site and look for Intel and survivors. Ducking in and out of the fire from both sides, the Spec Ops teams were able to retrieve intel from the crash site, in the form of CDs and boxes. The Russians captured the two pilots, BJ and Hawkeye, who were hard to miss in their Hawaiian shirts and Atlanta Braves baseball caps. After tense negotiations, the two pilots traded with the Russian General and recieved a free pass to come and go in Russian Territory. You see, they were the only ones with a computer that could read the CDs they had been carrying.

The score was now 30 to 20, with the Russians in the lead.

The US forces were issued orders to blow up check point charlie and were allowed to use a Helo insertion. The Black Knights loaded up and headed for their objective. The Russians were ordered to defend checkpoint Charlie at all costs. While they were still “In the Air” the Black Knight’s Demo man armed his bomb, setting the timer for 10 minutes. With less than 30 seconds to spare, they set down on top of Check Point Charlie and held ground. At 5 seconds, they broke and ran, but were cut down before they could clear the blast area. Check Point Charlie was destroyed and the score was once again tied, 30 to 30.

A cease fire was called for lunch at this point (Primarily because the game organizers were about to die of hunger). 30 minutes later, both sides were ready to head to the field again. Because of a misunderstanding (more than likely caused by hunger delirium on my part, sorry Blackfox) the American forces left a lot of troops in the field. After filling our bellies and having a small briefing, the game was on again.

The next set of missions were handed down by the generals. The American order was to take and hold the Russian mortar position for 30 minutes. The Soviet orders were to blow up the American base. A helicopter departed the American base loaded with the Blacknights, while Team Tango headed straight up the middle to the Russian Mortar. The Helo swung wide, heading straight for the Russian HQ then turned and dropped the Black Knights into the firefight at the mortar. Meanwhile, the Russian Speznatz were rushing along the western border toward the American base. The soviet infantry was trying to re-take the Mortar position while the Two American Spec Ops teams dug in for defense. After a couple of minutes of fighting, medical supplies were getting low and the Americans were starting to take casualties. The American Infantry engaged the Speznatz, but were unable to halt their advance. Wave after wave of Russian Infantry crashed down on the Mortar position. Things were starting to look bad for the American Spec Ops. After 15 minutes, the call came on the Radio that the American HQ was under attack. The Black Knights broke away from the Mortar position to try and flank the Russians at the base. Just as the Speznatz teams were about the sweep into the base, the American General and his Major were wisked away in a helicoptor by BJ and Hawkeye. The Russians took the base, gathered Intel and Planted a bomb. The timer was set for 10 minutes. The Black Knights were approaching from the South so the Russians spread out and prepared to defend the bomb until it went off. Fire was exchanged across the open ground in front of the American position, sending many of the Black Knights to the Reincarnation area and keeping the others pinned. With one minute left, the Russian swept down on the Black Knights position and headed for the American’s mortar position. Meanwhile, the Americans were firing their mortar towards the soviet held ground near Check Point Charlie. Unfortunately, there were several friendly fire incidents since the Americans couldn’t seem to get the range on the Russian positions. The American HQ exploded. The score was now 40-30 with the Russians in the lead. The Speznatz teams swept into the American’s mortar area and took control of the mortar. The American General took a hit during the exchange, but lucky for him, he had body armor. Things were looking grim for the Americans as the Russians planted a bomb in the mortar position and blew up their mortar. The Americans had been holding the Russian mortar position for 28 minutes when the last of them was eliminated. Several attempts were made by the Americans to re-take the position, but they were never able to re-take the position before dinner.

The After lunch, pre-dinner fighting was some of the fiercest we had seen throughout the day. Exhausted, all the troops piled back into the staging area for some dinner. Everyone was anticipating the prize drawings as well as the pig roast. After a short speech, reiterating some rules points I gave a Sit Rep (Situation Report) to both sides. With dinner over, it was time to start prepping for the night games.

We set up for the night games in the South east corner of the field in a small valley. The Americans were set up on the South side in a mound of rocks, while the Russians were deployed in a wooded gully. Between them there was an open stretch of ground about 30 yards across. Two “Radioactive Isotope Canisters” (Glow sticks in clear plastic canisters) were laid out in the center of the field. Both sides had the same objective…take and hold both containers for 30 minutes. The game was given a two-hour time limit. This was the only game where mission points could be gained for having half the objectives. The Russians outnumbered the Americans by 10 troops in this fight, so they were split into a primary and reserve force, with the reserves being deployed 10 minutes into the game. Regeneration was set at 10 minutes. The game began. It is somewhat hard for me to give much of a report since I could not really see the action very well, but here is what I saw. Both teams pressed in towards their objective, each seizing one of the isotopes after about 15 minutes. The rest of the game saw both teams attempting to find and attain the other canister. The action see sawed back and forth, with neither side really gaining any ground. The Americans had a spotlight that they would turn on and illuminate the Russian positions, so most of the action occurred the moment the spot would come on. The rest of the time, I just listened in the dark as the sound of AEG fire echoed in the valley. At 2330, the game was called with both sides in possession of one canister. The score was now 45-35 with the Russians in the lead. After a head count, we headed out to the next location to prep for the next game.

Several of the Russians decided they were ready to hit the sack, so the last game of the night was played with 10 Americans and 5 Russians. This game was really simple and fast. Both sides were in possession of one of the isotopes which were placed in bunkers at opposite ends of a 50 yard field. There were 4 bunkers in an otherwise empty area. The Isotopes were placed on top of the bunkers and the game started. This was a furious battle with regeneration set at a loud 10 count. If you took a hit, you just ran back to your base and counted to 10 really loud. The battle went back and forth for 20 minutes until the Americans got hold of the isotope. Once they had the isotope, they had to hold it for 10 minutes. The fighting was fierce, but finally the game was called with the Americans in possession of the isotope. The score was now 49-47 with the Americans in the lead by a scant two bonus points.

A note on Bonus points…Bonus points were awarded for Role-playing and for certain props. Every player had a number on their armband. If an Observer saw something really “cool” or witnessed some good role-playing, then a bonus point could be awarded. As you can see, a couple of bonus points were added to each team’s score after the night play was finished. What were those points for? Well here are two examples, one from each team. The Americans received one bonus point thanks to Glenn (Elusive) who, when escorting BJ and Hawkeye to see the American General, made a deal with them to go to Brazil with them if they could find their gold. The Russians received one bonus point because Tim (Valkyrie Air) did one of the most impressive( And Hammy) death scenes I have ever been witness to. A lot of points were awarded during the game. The Observers were watching.

Sunday, June 18th, 2000

Sunday Morning was bright and sunny…unfortunately, no one particularly wanted to get up. At 6:30 when I came walking though the camp yelling, I was greeted with some very foul language that was definitely unbecoming of officers. Finally, people piled out of their camps, got some breakfast in them and they were ready to hit the field. The Americans had pushed into Russia now, so we were playing only on the South side of the field. There were a lot of props on the field, including 5 gold bricks, 1 gas bomb and a bunch of CD ROMs which were very important to the plot. BJ and Hawkeye set up a spot in the center of the field under a shade tree where they would evaluate good brought to them (for a price). And the game began.

Each team was given, basically, the same mission. An American fighter pilot went down somewhere on the field and needed to be recovered. Both sides wanted the pilot. The second mission was to recover as much intel from the C130 crash site (See the first mission if you don’t remember the crash). Both sides set off to get their missions accomplished. The action was spread out and went pretty fast, so I don’t have a lot of good intel on this one, but I did see the downed pilot recovery. Thanks to an over the top performance by Brad (Black Knights Mercs.) the down pilot mission was a success. The Americans found him, but he was suffering from radiation poisoning. The American Spec Ops recovered a CD he was carrying, though he told them it was useless without another one just like it and that it contained codes “Vital to national security”. Meanwhile, the American Infantry couldn’t establish a foothold into Russian territory, so the Soviets really cleaned up on getting the Intel. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a lot of money, so a lot of their Intel went un-used. Moments before the game was over, Col. Vance found the gold that BJ and Hawkeye so desperately needed and returned it to them in exchange for reading a couple more of the CDs the russians had found.

When the dust cleared, just before the Strategic Nuclear strikes, the Russians had won the day with a score of 86 to 74. It was a close game and was well played by everyone involved. When the game was over, the Americans piled off the field into the staging area and waited for the Russians to come out. The Russians rallied up and marched off the field to greet them. Both sides moved in and shook hands. The battle was over.

Prizes were awarded based on votes from each team. There were two awards for each team, first the MVP (Most valuable Player) and second the Cannon Fodder award. First, the cannon fodder awards were given away. The Cannon fodder award was a sign that you were an honest player, willing to hike back to the dead zone everytime and never even thought of cheating. The prize was a nice Tippman Ordanance Pasgat Helmet with a desert cover emblazoned with a big red bullseye. The cannon fodder award for the Americans went to Flash from St. Louis and the prize for the Russians went to Matt from Kansas City. Great Job guys.

The MVP for the Russians went to Col. Vance. He was awarded a CL Custom M4 Commando from Den Trinity. The MVP for the Americans was Col. Skuzzy, who was awarded an Airsoft Elite MP5 SD5. Thanks to both Colonels for going above and beyond the call of duty.

With the game over and prizes awarded, it was time to break camp and head for home. TASOM would like to thank Two Chicks Paintball and Airsoft, Tippman Ordanance, Valkyrie Air, Systema and Wild West Sports for coming out to the field. We would like to thank all our sponsors for their support and all the players for making the game possible. We would also like to thank Airsoft Elite for supplying the bbs for Airsoft 2000.