Scorched Earth AAR Options

[Severe]

It's funny how I keep getting picked on because last year I swore off going to big games that were the first attempt by a particular field and/or producer. Thing is for me, it's appealing to play new fields because of the unknown terrain. You literally have to learn it as you go. Needless to say, I attended some games last year that, looking back, I wish I had not.

Scorched Earth is definitely not going down in that list. In fact yesterday was probably one of the best small games I've played in long time.

Commander Werewolf contacted me awhile back to drum up some support the mission. . He was leading an Energy Corp detachment to quell a rebellion on some backwater planet called earth against a small contingent of natives called Californians. When we landed planet side, we saw that the rebels cause was indeed just and we broke from Energy Corp to join the good fight for independence for the Californians.

OK, enough in story stuff.

Going in to this game, we knew it was going to fairly small. I originally guessed about 70-75 players. I'm not sure of the final head count but it was enough for a darn good time. During the pre-game brief it was obvious the Rebels were outnumber so I approached Werewolf and offered the RATS to switch sides to balance it out, which is exactly how it played out. With the teams more balance we prepared to take the field.

The Rebel team consisted of members of The River Rats, The RATS, the Lost Boys, the BR Wolverines and handfuls of others with Red Line of the River Rats as acting General. The Energy Corp team consisted of members from Rogue Cell, Recon-1, and Shadow Group under the leadership of Werewolf of Rogue Cell. If I've left anyone out, I apologize and please let me know.

The game kicked off between 9:30 and 10 AM, however, I forget the exact time. I had a couple of minutes before hand to meet up with our general and drop of a team radio with him for comm. After that it was "go" time.

Remember that statement about having to learn everything about a field when it's new. That definitely came in to effect. The first mission came in to move to the Fuel Depot and locate a briefcase and return it to the CP ASAP. With map in hand, and looking down every couple of minutes to associate myself, most of team goes stomping off down the road looking for the Fuel Depot. We found it in good order and immediately set up a perimeter while others searched for the package. A few seconds later Bart, the field owner, shows up carrying two brief cases and announces, "Choose One". Yeah right, I saw how that worked out in Indian Jones the Last Crusade. I immediately turn to Mars, who was on point for the mission and say, "you choose!" Mars opts for the one on his right, takes it and beats feet back to the CP. Moments later I get radio traffic saying the CP had been blown up; the briefcase we took was a bomb. Oops. Mars chose….'poorly.'

After that minor set back, we picked up the next mission and proceeded to work it. And that's how it went through out the day. I liked how the missions were being done. It seemed as though each mission could either benefit or hurt each team in some way and I thought most of the missions were in direct contention with the enemy. Missions included a nice selection of capture and hold, patrols, retrievals, locate persons of interest and escort them and one helo recon missions.

Team work among the Rebels was excellent from what I saw. With a smattering of several different teams working together, teamwork was crucial. Comm seemed to be working very well for the Rebels at large. It was spot on for the RATS. A couple of times I stepped in to the CP to cover things while Redline was off field; once following the bomb and another following a CP kill. Both times I was able to quickly get a field assessment through the RATS or the River RATS channels. Once Red Line was back in place, we'd go stomping off again looking to stir things up with those Energy Corp baddies.

The field was a real gem to play on. Ironically the majority of fields out there are rushing to build mega structures and bunkers galore. PBVa does have a fair amount of structure but what they have in spades is natural wooded terrain with a LOT of variation. There were areas of pines that were pretty open but with bunkers but there are also some extremely dense hardwood and undergrowth areas. If you like playing in the thick stuff, you will love this field! And we only played on a small portion of it. By the way, PBVa did a great job allocating enough of the field for this game. If you got in to a fire fight and didn't like your position, break contact and change it. It was great. I'm already looking forward to a game where I can see the rest of the land that's available at PBVa.

There should be some great stories coming out of this game also. The Rebels twice took the fort in fairly coordinated attacks. There was a great roughly 45 minute mission to effect a general kill where Focus and Vicious managed to push the entire tap line and mustered a large enough force to pinch Energy Corps and get that kill. I won't even get in to the buzz around the '3^rd entity' incident! I'll let Vicious or Motrin Man explain that one.

The final mission of the day took us back to attacking and holding the fort. We had one hour to do it in and all of the RATS were low on air and paint. So we decided to bide our time for a final push in the last minutes of the game. Vicious and I approached from the creek bed behind the fort, Mars was to our left, Motrin Man and Mistaken were on or near the road to Mars' left and Ares and Focus was directly to the front. That's not including the remainder of our team which appeared to be in similar positions.

At quarter till, the game effectively became a single-elimination game. Anyone taken out was pretty much done because it was highly unlikely that you could run from the insertion point to the CP and then to the fort in the final five minutes. As that quarter-till insertion window closed, our assault began. We managed to weed out the perimeter defenders slowly except for those on the far side of the fort. Seeing an opportunity, Mars and I moved to the outer wall and started bunker tagging the outside rooms. The interior rooms were a bit more trouble as we tried to use the windows and natural holes in the fort to find the defenders. If finally came down to having to enter the fort. With Mars providing cover fire on the backside, I dart in and was able to locate the last player. Minutes later the game was call with the Rebels in clear possession of the fort.

This really was a very fun game. Thanks to everyone who played!!! Werewolf, I hate we didn't get to play along side of you and the rest of the Rogues. Hopefully we'll get to do that at Fulda.

To Bart and the rest of the PBVa staff; you guys and gals did a great job. I sincerely look forward to getting back up to your field to play again. I definitely recommend to any one reading this that if you want to play some good woodsball to make the trip!

[Mars]

Thanks Severe for summing up.

Werewolf, thanks for the practically glowing comments about us during the after game awards.

It seemed like everyone at this game was out to play hard and have a good time. The fire fights were good, the sportsmanship was excellent, and I hope that everyone had as much fun as me.

It was funny to hear Focus' version of the "3rd entity" story. It was great having Tanger out playing with us again. I ran around with everyone from our group at various times and we always seemed to get into something. My favorites were the pushes to take the fort at the end of the game, and the two times we cleared out the bridge.

I know that I am never picking anything on the field again. If we have two options ask someone else, flip a coin, flip Focus, I don't care just don't ask me.

I enjoyed it and can't wait to play again.

Oh, and I think I might just have to write the guys at Invert to tell them that I might not ever love a woman as much as I love my Mini. And thank them for making it so amazing.

[RaleighPaintball...]

Cary - Beer, Burbon, and BBQ AAR......

The weather was hot, making it more of a beer day than a whiskey day. I did try about 8 different types of whiskey, some good, some bad and some just old favorites. The BBQ was limited with only one vendor, who sold out of the good stuff pretty quick. Beer selections were most of the common stuff you find in the local bars, with about 3-4 unusual ones showing up. Considering it was the first time for this event, I would say I would again skip a day of paintball to go back. The break in the bands was interesting with a contest of who has the best beer belly. The winner, Tiny from MS, was a solid 4 feet, 11 inches of belly, just above a 40 inch waist line. He was highly trained and was a good dancer. Once my vision came back, we left to head out to the local bars for an after event drink to talk about what we drank.

[Focus]

Mar's previous post makes reference to additional focus activities which have not been approved by the UFF (united focus federation).

To review just a small subset of the approved focus activties:
One may be in focus (however only in the figurative sense, not physical one) , be out of focus, have lost focus, and use auto focus. Focus can be achieved, it is possible to focus on, and even zoom focus if quickness is required. Focus can be restored (ala hubble telescope), and most recently military researchers have been using paintball to fine tune the aspects of deploying focus.

However, at this time 'flipping' focus is most definitely not on the list..

And now, back to your previously scheduled thread topic..

[Tombstone]

On behalf of the River Rats just wanted to drop by and thank you guys for being team players. You guys volunteered to leave a more veteran team and help out the "new" guys on the block. This was only the second big game we have fielded a team and the first time any of us have been a General. Red Line was appreciative of the team work you guys played with and the help from Severe. The communication and the willingness to work with players from other teams made every mission run smooth. By the end of the day the "Brown and Furry" team was like a well oiled machine. Hope the Rats and River Rats get to play on the same side in the future

So until next time.......

Tombstone
River Rats

[Einstein]

Considering it was the first time for this event, I would say I would again skip a day of paintball to go back.

... you say that but when you choose drinking over paintball this happens and you miss out on it:


College should have taught you that one!!
For everyone else's sake, if you haven't seen them already all the event pics are up on PBUprising.com. You can see them at:
http://gallery.pbuprising.com/main.php/v/PBVAUG08/?g2_page=1

[Motrin Man]

First off, about the 3rd element. We took more of them than they took of us. I even walked out with several (one of which got the dog). But in the end, sadly, they won anyway. Boy do I itch… I have over 15 wounds… I whined a lot yesterday… still am btw…

Man, the field was a lot of fun to play. Severe pretty much summed it up. The only other thing that I can say is that it was nice to play a field that had lots of virgin woods. It left me wanting to return and drooling over the possibility of a night game there. Hopefully bigger and better things will come from this game and PBVa.

Thanks to the PBVA guys it went over all very well for a first game. The missions were fun and not so complex that they created confusion as they played out. A good time!

Severe has mentioned all the teams and it was good to play with all of you.

Werewolf, sorry that we didn’t get to play with you guys… again. I’m even more disappointed that I was never able to get over and say hello on the field. Your guys were everywhere. Just look at my pictures, I am walking in every one of them. And thanks for stepping up to General.

Einstein, If you are ever up this way stop in for a beer. We could all swap some RP stories both new and old. Mirrors??

Blinky, thanks for taking care of camp. It's awesome having you there and all that you do for us.

Rats, as usual with you guys, I had a blast! Hopefully it won’t be as long between games for me.

[Vicious]

I am to busy playing with my iPhone to write a review.

[Mister Ken]

For a first time game EXCELLENT. It is a place I would Play again. After reading some of their history on the other thread i am not surprised any more.Yea I would rather play w/ Rogue than against. I took a survey of my welts and bruises, I was hit many times, and most are gone. It says a lot about the peple that we're playing with. I got caught at close range on several occasions and I thank the guy who one balled me at the fort. I had pretty much concluded that the
w&b's were just part of the game. However I am more sure than ever that an experienced player Knows when they have been shot with a hot marker!
Severe thanks for your leadership you deserve those MVP's you get.

[Esquire]

RATS:

First off, I wanted to thank you guys for deploying to Danville and playing such a good game. It was good to finally put some faces to names. I am glad the RATS had a good experience at this field. Now to eat some humble pie. I (we) took a beating all day long on every part of the field. Right tape line, left tape line, up the middle, fort, bridge, our CP, wherever, it didn’t matter. You guys were animals. As much as I hate to lose, and getting shellacked is worse, when you’re beaten by an aggressive and skilled opponent, you can learn a lot. As frustrating as a defeat can be, those games can still be fun--its just fun in a different way. I just hope, from your end, it wasn’t lopsided. I’d rather lose a hard fought game than win one of the lopsided ones. All I can say is that I played my hardest. I do not think I have ever been eliminated that many times from a game. I think I walked more from being shot out at this small field than at CDP.

I look forward to the next game. Severe, sorry again for sickin’ that reporter on you! No hard feelings I hope!

[Severe]

Esquire,

First off, I'm really glad you encourage everyone to get up to that game. I would have hated to have missed out on playing it and the field. Also, no sweat on the reporter. I don't mind answering questions, I'm just not sure he was keeping up with all the paintball geek-speak.

As far as how the game went, you don't have worry in the least. Your guys and gals made us work for everything. There were some really good firefights and I got sent to the parking lot PLENTY of times. I'm looking forward to playing along side the Rogues at Fulda!

And last but not least, congrats on the promotion. For those of you who don't already know, Esquire is the new CO of Rogue Cell as Werewolf prepares for some real world commitments. I have no doubt the Rogues will continue to grow and excel.

[Jake-PBUprising]

I was really happy to hear things went over so well with Bart's first game, it looks like Price took a lot of good pictures of you all. We ended up having a minor issue with the gallery software so the full size are up there too if you want to uses them. We are talking to our other media contacts and hope to get something published to help get the word out about PBVA.

On another note we are also looking for teams to sponsor to help add to our coverage of events, the site is really just Price and I and we can only make it to so many games with our real life commitments. So if anyone is if you have an interested team that attends a fair number of events a year get a hold of me so we can see about setting something up.

Jake
Owner: PBUprising.com

[Focus]

I decided to attend this game at the last minute as I wasn't sure what to expect at a game with a relatively small turnout on a field we've never played, and their first big game as well.. This is about as much fun I've ever had at a big game. The combination of excellent field, and smaller number of players made the play on the field very fluid.


At game start Ken and I setup between the fort and fuel depot, and get some quick eliminations. During that time we linked up with BR Wolverines and several other players. Once the fuel depot mission was complete, we start progressing towards the fort area.. I had pushed up the hill just to the end of the fort field, and thought I was taking fire from my left, and saw what I thought was a red arm band and returned fire.. I was eliminated, but discovered it was by a friendly with a red remote line.. oops.

On the next insert, I was going to work my way towards Vicious just as he was making an assault on the fort. I was working up from the bridge area toward the fort. I saw Vicious emerge from the wall bunker and run to the fort wall (my left to right), Then he looks down, so I thought at first he had a marker problem.. Then he starts a hand jive motion, and then really starts jumping around with motions that made it crystal clear clear that there was something in his pants and he's not happy about it.

The radio comm was something like:
"Vicious has just bumped to the fort"
" Now he dancing around or somthin"
" I would appear he is being attacked by bees"
" Vicious is eliminated.."

After lunch, there was a mission for a 5 person team to patrol. Again, Ken and I link up to scout well ahead of the patrol to try to thwart off any other force or stragglers that may interfere with the mission. We pushed just past the fuel depot, but the patrol did not have to go all the way to fuel depot before they turned back. Ken and I then turned back heading toward the bridge area on the road, where we meet enemy just before we reach the bridge area.. I think we got one or 2 eliminations and then Ken takes a hit, and I quickly move back a few feet and setup off the road.. They throw alot of paint at my previous location, and then they turn to go away, I fire some more I think getting one more (I'm not sure), and then move back up another 30 or 40 feet and reset.. They look in my direction for a long while, but eventually give up.

About that time, the next mission is radioed in: Get a briefcase thats near the fuel depot.. Hmm, that should be easy and hard.. easy: I'm already there, hard: its just me, and even when I get the briefcase, its unlikely I'd be able to get back to cp.. I was hoping to at least get the briefcase, and maybe hide it or keep the enemy from having it. I make my way back up to the fuel depot, and start searching around, I also hear a group comming towards me. Comm indicates that the briefcase is probably just beyond the fuel depot so I go there, but as the voices get louder I decide to setup on the tape line behind the fuel depot, (the the pine/cedar tree area),

I watch the enemy team of 5 or so scour the fuel depot and find the brief case pretty quickly, and then they setup to have the holder of the brief case walk the tape line back to their cp. I really didn't have good cover, and I can't believe I wasn't spotted. I let him get about 15 feet away, and took out the brief case holder + 1 (or maybe 2?) escorts, but I was quickly eliminated after that.. It all happened pretty quickly and didn't turn out as I had hoped, but definitely didn't expect to see me there.

On one insert, I spoke with the general, and there was no new mission yet, (the next one was due in about 10 minutes). I mentioned that I didn't have the chance to visit the enemy CP yet, so we'll head to their CP via the long way around the right tape line past the fuel depot. Blinky and I meet Vicious at the bridge, and I asked where's everyone else?? He shrugged, Oh well, he hydrates, and we make our way toward the fuel depot when the radio call comes in for the next mission: eliminate enemy general. Wadda ya know, we were already on that mission.. During our travels, we link up with several other teams (lost boys, + others) and end up with a sizable force to approach the enemy CP from their left. We took alot of fire right off the bat as the field was pretty open. We felt we had numbers and it would be more important to push forward quickly. I was a little too aggressive and moved forward and took cover behind something even smaller than me. (yeah, it can happen)..
Between that push from the enemy left, cutting off any avenue for escape, and the other from the right, we were able to prevail on that mission as well.

There were many other firefights in between, every one just as enjoyable as the previous.. The game flow was excellent, integrity was excellent and it seemed like everyone was fighting hard..

It was great to play along side the RiverRats, lost boys, wolverines and other teams who's names I can't remember. The Rogues and rest of the rebels put up an honorable fight and I still have the marks to prove it..

It was a well designed field, well run game, nice staff, and a great bunch of players on both sides.. I look forward to doing it again..

[Bartman]

The Paintball Virginia Staff would like to thank everyone who helped make the Scorched Earth game such a success! For those of you who doubted that we could pull off our very first scenario all by ourselves - thanks for coming! We learned SO much and hope to take all of the feedback we received to make our future games better. Remember, we're here to serve the players!

We would like to invite you all to come back and play again , thanks for supporting us with our first scenario.

Bart,Karen and the rest of the PBV Staff