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Post by shadycadence on Mar 2, 2010 19:46:10 GMT -5
Alright, I'd better post something here before I get into trouble. I though someone else would start it, but I guess it's on me. But it will be brief, as I inadvertently nearly amputated my left index finger with a hammer at work today. This may have been the funnest event yet. The weather was perfect, 34° with 18-24" of snow. The scenarios were fresh as they were always going in a different direction. I really enjoyed the battles in the "island" of woods between the roads, that's a great chunk of property to fight on. The first part of the three segment battle was epic, I ran the '34 down to almost out of ammo and had no idea how to reload it. It wound up not mattering, as the gun quit cycling shortly before it went totally dry. That was about the time that Garrick ran out of ammo, and I foolishly convinced him we should surrender. We stood up with hands raised, both calling out "Nicht schiessen!", only to be mercilessly slaughtered by the Bolshevik savages. (I'll remember that one, Troy. ) I also though operation lunch was a great time too! We piled onto the Kubelwagen and the '38 Ford prime mover and drove up to the local bar. Still fully uniformed but without kit, we walk into the bar loaded with snowmobilers as a hush falls over the place. Everyone is staring at us, and from somewhere in the bar we hear "Hey, it's Oddball!" (my buddy Paul) to which he responds (to no one in particular) by waving and saying "hey, what's up?". That seemed to be the icebreaker, as the whole bar seemed to warm up to us greatly. So much that when we left, about 10 of them followed us out to take pictures of us in font of the '38 Ford and the Kubel. Sir V had gotten a ride from Leo, so when we went to leave we were one seat short. I got to ride on the passenger running board of the '38 back to the house. Very cool, and very cold! Thanks to everyone who came, thanks Steve and Mike for the great game, and your folks for providing the place. I really love this group. Sooner or later, we're going to have an event that everyone makes it to. Then we'll find out how big we really are. Hopefully others post more detailed recounts of events. My finger hurts!
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Ersatzjack
Corporal
"That silly Franz... he thinks we are winning."
Posts: 1,093
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Post by Ersatzjack on Mar 3, 2010 16:47:56 GMT -5
Shady - is your finger throbbing? I hate those finger cuts. Yowwee. Okay, now for my AAR. First and foremost, thanks to all who showed. Like Charlie November said, without attendees all our labors are for naught. We had 20-players and the teams were pretty balanced which made for some close outcomes. Unfortunately, not close enough, as the Russians swept us (the Germans, the good guys in our group ) 4-0. I managed to get five pics before my camera died and here they are. Sorry no Ruskis but there are those too from other players. My favorite picture (of those I took) German player draws a bead on a Soviet target - or a squirrel. Here I'm shown answering some questions from a new Illinois/Indiana participant - Matt. Sir V in his debut Heer outfit. He also had skis to accent his impression. Thanks all who posed. We missed a couple of regulars like Maddie and Kevin which was too bad but I figure you can't make it to all of them. My brother will be missing the April Neillsville event so I will have to get extra kills for him. The skirmishes were I thought all fun. The Russians were up to their sneaky tricks and pulled a couple of fast ones in good humor and they were enjoyable. I didn't give away any secrets regarding the road teeth or mines even though I saw them. My brother who was driving the Kubel tank was mighty surprised by them. Your cloth T-34 was very effective as well. I thought it was decidedly effective in helping on your attack in the first skirmish. I can see we'll have to make the skirmishes even more challenging in the future. The weather was just superb. The lunch at Jerry's I think was enjoyed by the folks who went. For sure the snowmobiler's enjoyed our visit. We had about ten of them pile out of the bar with cameras blazing when we headed back to start the third skirmish. The participation of Iron Will's new players was great. Fresh enthusiast players. Gotta like that. Alban might not be so needed after all by the Soviets and we could sure use him back on our side. <hint hint... plead...> Let's face it William, the shaved head is no match for the German haircut. Sir V's (Pete) long distance participation was much appreciated again. Always a pleasure to have you there Sir V. It was another safe event. I didn't hear otherwise at least and no arguments of note. We also appreciated that areas were well policed and there was a minimal clean up on Sunday and once again, donations were enough to cover our costs. Thank you all that donated. Our intrepid leader, Garrick Udet was on top of his game and was a welcome sight again in German ranks but unfortunately had his life cut short by a friendly fire situation in the third skirmish. We'll have to school "the new guy" that German helmets are shaped differently than Soviets. Maybe put together a helmet recognition booklet for him. He I think had a fun time. We appreciated his dual role as film maker/Kooble gunner. For those that don't know who I'm talking about it is Matt C. I'll leave it to Franz to report the results in blow-by-blow fashion. If I think of anything I missed I'll let you all know later. Now I'm waiting for April. Thanks again all.
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ersatzjack2
Private 1st Class
"We can still win this thing, once the secret weapons arrive."
Posts: 612
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Post by ersatzjack2 on Mar 3, 2010 17:11:27 GMT -5
I'm going to start off by thanking everyone for their attendance and their behavior. Once again we had a very safe and fun event. I like all MOA events but once again the Pickerel winter event is my favorite. Yeah, I'm probably a little nuts but I am drawn to the snow and cold and like the photos this one provides. My brother left me to provide the blow by blow but that's hard to do since being a combatant, I don't see it all. Nevertheless, I'll give it a go and if there is something noteworthy I'm missing, feel free to chime in. Skirmish One - Crossing the Ice. This one didn't go exactly like I had planned as the amount of snowmobile and Ice fishing traffic precluded the use of the channel. As such, the Russians started much closer to the German lines and could see our initial emplacements to some degree. They didn't really have to face a lot of withering fire before they were able to cross into some cover. That's ok though, in war, things don't always act out in a set piece fashion. Troy and Todd unveiled their first dirty, er... I mean secret trick upon us when they unveiled a white sheet with a T34 painted on it. They used this to mask their approach and we all had a good laugh as they crossed the ice. Once into the trees along the north shore they came within range of our forward positions and a hard fight ensued. They took some casualties but kept pushing and started to make us pay on the defense. As we had no respawns, the progress continued unabated and soon our force was eliminated. I don't know their exact kill count on this one or if they do but the 8 German defenders were killed and our spawn point captured. I thought this was a pretty good scenario to open with as there were some clearer long range firefights and everybody seemed to be in high spirits. Skirmish Two - Last push on Leningrad. In this one the Germans had to control the three buildings on the property but had a Kubel (Assault gun) to help them. Once again I think the numbers were Eight to Eleven. I had a real good time during this battle and it was a close shave. Garrick had most of the infantry push right through the woods as we approached the first two buildings while the assault gun inched down the road on the left. Soon our infantry was engaged but our assault gun had no infantry to support it. We proceeded anyways until we came to the fork in the roadway. We provided suppressing fire towards the first two buildings but both roads were mined and in addition, the road to the third building had dragons teeth on it. Logjam. Each side had two lives in this one and both sides were marching troops back to their spawn points. After awhile, Otto saw that our vehicle was sitting still out of the battle and came up to provide sapper support. He did clear the easier path towards buildings two and three and once again we were on the move. Unfortunately, his sapping duties cost him one of his two lives. Matt C. (the Kubel gunner) got either one or two kills during this push and our side did lay claim to the buildings on top of the hill as the assault gun was now able to support them effectively. We still had to go to the third objective and so we backed again towards the other road. This time, Paul (oddball) provided our infantry support and started clearing the first mines. He came under fire and the gunner (Matt C.) got the first of his two friendly fire kills of the day. Paul was doing a dance as he got lit up by both Russian fire and close range Stg44 assault gun fire. Poor Paul. I pushed forward as the driver of the vehicle and Matt C. redeemed himself a little with another one or two Russian kills. We got stuck on the icy hill that passed as a road and became quite immobile. The rules were that Matt C. could only fire in a 60 degree frontal arc and sensing our lack of infantry support and our immobility Troy flanked our position and bravely (oh yeah) charged our side with grenade tosses. We died and headed back to respawn. At the respawn we started determining who was left to support another push on the third building and discovered that all of the supporting infantry had died twice. We drove off alone in a suicidal attempt to win this one. Back down the road of death we drove and Matt C. was able to kill two more Russians before once again they realized we were totally unsupported. Bobik (Troy's son) got the first of his two panzerfaust vehicle kills of the day and he smiled proudly and was beaming from ear to ear as he skipped a nerf across the front of the Kubel. End game. The Russians had three defenders with one life left in this one so total dead would have been 16 German to 19 Russian. That's how close this one was. Lots of smiles on both sides and the Russians sighed in relief having defended successfully against armor. Third Skirmish - Red Tide. Once again the Russians had unlimited numbers but had to fight against time and capture three objectives. The Germans had to kill 2 to 1 or better or have at least one objective. The Russians carefully assaulted and both Gryphon and ba64 showed excellent leadership in directing their undisciplined and ignorant peasant soldiers forward. It was actually both interesting and frustrating to observe. They would lay back and direct their numbers against weak points, reevaluate, consolidate, and move forward again. Very good tacticians. They took the ground in front of them and while they suffered casualties there tactics minimized their losses. By the end of the second objective the score was something like 16 dead Germans to 22 dead Russians but time was running out. Nevertheless, the third and final objective was in play and the Russians nabbed it with just 4 minutes remaining in the two hour scenario. During that last objective Garrick had set up to my right and was effectively blunting the Russian advance when Matt C. scored his second friendly fire kill of the day. Not only was Garrick frustrated after having been shot in the back but my confidence waned as I realized that one of our best fighters was out of action and I was now the right flank. Alban secured the objective with just under four minutes to go and with it, the victory. There was some wicked close quarter combat towards the end of this one. I was actually prone shooting under the building at Russian feet and I died to an Iron Will grenade toss. Last Skirmish - Axis Retreat - Supply convoy. With the last 45 minutes of the day, the Russians assumed a defensive stance along a road junction and attempted with the help of partisans to block the retreating Germans. Our infantry pushed forward while the vehicle awaited refueling and initially German progress was pretty good. Both sides had two lives except for the vehicle which had to make it without dying. The Russians dug in deep and while they were willing to give up most of their ground and many of their lives they weren't breaking. The vehicle was fueled and I pushed it forward towards the objective. I saw several German attackers with 30 yards of the chokepoint and kept looking for the Russians with the molotov cocktails (yeah, they had those at the event) and the anti-vehicle weaponry. Time was running out and seeing Otto lead a small group of Germans forward to support me I drove the vehicle forward. The scenario rules were that I could not exceed 5mph and I crawled towards victory.....NOPE! Within 10 yards of the victory, Bobik once again rose from behind just about the best cover he could have had, laid prone in the snow and let another nerf panzerfaust round into the side of the vehicle. He had achieved complete surprise and although the Russians had paid for the victory with many lives they had the lives to spare. It's hard to come up with fresh scenarios even though we play on four different fields. I do think from comments I received that these were all a lot of fun. So, I'm glad for that. Just don't yell at me if in the future if I cook up a stinker. I'm probably due. I hope everyone had as good a time as I did. Lost and Found. I found a belt and a stocking cap in the cabin so let me know if it is yours. I'll echo some of my brother's comments. Thanks SirV for continuing to make the drive. You looked good with your skis and in your Heer uniform. It was great to see another reenactor at one of our events. Thanks Matt for giving us a try. Now, just work a bit on your marksmanship. Hope everyone enjoyed the vehicle rides to the restaurant and around the property. Anyways, that's all for now.
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Post by Paul Rech on Mar 3, 2010 21:06:12 GMT -5
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Post by Paul Rech on Mar 3, 2010 21:08:22 GMT -5
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Post by sir veilance on Mar 4, 2010 17:52:02 GMT -5
Breaking the Siege of Leningrad was another fun MOA event...at least for me anyway! Was it worth the 8 hour drive...yes! I just programmed the Garmin, turned on the cruise control and went to sleep...when I woke up I was there. I just love modern technology Playing in the snow was great, the vehicles were cool, the scenarios were well planned and the MG42 is a lollipops ! Both to shoot and to carry New for me was my Heer impression. I got to try out my reversible snow camo, which was very warm and worked very well when defending. The downside was walking around in the heavy padded snow camo set, through the knee deep snow. It made me feel like I was 80 years old. I would take ten steps and feel exhausted. I thought I was just out of shape. In the last scenario, when the German team was on the offensive, I took it off and wore just the wool uniform. Wow...What a difference! It was so much easier to move that I felt absolutely invigorated. I found myself running through the snow like it wasn't even there. When my MP44 seemed to malfunction, when I broke it out to in the third scenario, Otto gave me the MG42 to use. What a lollipops ! Between the snow camo oversuit and the weight of the gun, it was all I could do to get from point A to point B. Luckily in one part of the third scenario, I dug a hole behind a snow bank at a crossroads. From there I had great cover and an outstanding field of fire. This was one of the highlights of the day for me. I have never shot so many BB's in one firefight in all the airsoft battles I have ever been in! I won't brag about how many notches I put on the MG42, but lets just say I made Borscht of few Russians. On a side note: When I first tried my MP44 the BB's were jamming up in the barrel and hardly would go twenty feet. I tested the gun, before I left home and it worked fine. I did not try it with the Bio BB's I used at the event though. Because the BB's were left over from last summer, I blamed it on the fact that the BB's were not fresh. I have noticed that Bio's can change shape a bit if humidity gets to them, I thought because I put a tight bore barrel in the MP44 that slightly swelled Bio BB's were the problem. Garrick, has the same barrel in his MP44 and was using Bio's as well, but seemed to be having no problems. His Bio BB's were from a freshly opened bag, but he did say later that when he first tried his MP44, that it shot on the weaker side, but after 50 shots or so it seemed to warm up and shoot just fine. When I got home I took my gun inside and while it was still cold I tried it again, this time, with the regular non bio BB's that I had tested it with before I left and it still shot very weak. Thinking about what Garrick had said, I tried firing some more to see if it warmed up and shot correctly. After about 30-40 shots it did. Soooo..... the moral of the story is my gun was fine and the Bio BB's were fine, it just needed to warm up a bit...I'll know next time. However, if this had not happened I would not have had the chance to use the MG42! It's funny how things work out! Thanks to the production team of Verkaufer and Verkaufer for producing the event and thanks to their Mom and Dad for producing Otto and Franz, as well as letting us take over their basement and use their property! In the words of the Governator "I'll be back!" Here are a few of my photos.... i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc214/xroadie/Leningrad/IMG_2546.jpgIst das not der Kubelwagen? i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc214/xroadie/Leningrad/IMG_2547.jpgIst das not der Russian Front? i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc214/xroadie/Leningrad/IMG_2552.jpgIst das not der Grenadiers? i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc214/xroadie/Leningrad/IMG_2559.jpgIst das not der tausand meter stare? i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc214/xroadie/Leningrad/IMG_2561.jpgIst das not great Avatar? i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc214/xroadie/Leningrad/IMG_2570.jpgIst das not der motor pool?
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Ersatzjack
Corporal
"That silly Franz... he thinks we are winning."
Posts: 1,093
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Post by Ersatzjack on Mar 4, 2010 19:26:24 GMT -5
Great photos as I've already said on MOA's forum. I do think you focused a little too much on Franz. Dennis, the owner of Kooblekar likes the first photo so much he plans on using it in his advertising. Is there anyway I can get a copy of that with the trailer photo-shopped out of the background? Then it would be iconic.
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