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 Jun 14, 2008 18:28:19 GMT -5
Well, the impromptu, quickly organized paintball field event in Buffalo, Mn is over and it went very well. Actually, it isn't over yet as there is a planned skirmish for Sunday and there is still Saturday night activities but this can be an initial afteraction.
The 3rd Panzergrenadiers fielded 9 members and there were 4 Americans and 4 partisans who showed up to fight against them. 17 participants was a pretty good skirmish considering the one month registration period.
We drove in last night thru a gated driveway and were quartered in splendor at Garrick Udet's parent's home. The hospitality was out of this world and it was one of the few events where I slept like a king, ate like a king, and even bathed like a king.
The battles today were short and furious and we got in about 10 short 15-20 minute skirmishes. The Lorrainers fared very well and swept the Allied and partisan resistance aside except for one scenario. There was a beach landing as we attacked Crete and we used a landing craft to cross a small pond while Fallschirmjager troops protected our flank. The bridge scenario was also really fun and reminded me of a bridge too far. I'll let the photos and pictures tell those stories.
We ate a sumptuous breakfast of eggs and bacon and toast and we are about to dig into a barbecue right now before the evening festivities continue. I just wanted to give a big thank you to Garrick and his family for the hospitality. I hope we didn't inconvenience the owners of the chateau that we displaced. It was also nice to see some new faces from the Minnesota Airsoft Association and hope we'll see them again. Now, it's on to NY in July for Mignano Gap.
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red0leader
Private
I smile because your about to blow up.
Posts: 73
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Post by red0leader on Jun 14, 2008 23:08:00 GMT -5
if you want to play in the rain and wind, go ahead. i think i'll stay home and keep dry. thats for running the game guys. i am one of the minnesota airsoft guys and i had a blast. alot of new games were played that brought a new twist to the feilds. again i had fun, hope to see you guys in august.
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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 Jun 15, 2008 13:09:29 GMT -5
red0leader - What? Wind and rain?? I don't know what you are talking about but hey, I'm still glad you showed and had fun. It did rain on Saturday evening but we were all in shelter and not playing airsoft. Well, hats off to Garrick and Udo for organizing a great event that filled a void and allowed for extra trigger time. This event was really fast paced and the first time we'd ever played on a paintball field. The field owner was very accomodating and wasn't a stickler for his requirements which was nice. It's always nice to get special treatment. Turning the heads of more than one paintballer was fun and I had a very fun day with a batch of new recruits running around learning the ropes and allowing me to school them. Ha! Don't worry, I did my fair share of dying too. Altogether, I think we had 17 folks show up and that consisted of 9-Germans from our unit and 8-Allied troops. The 2nd Rangers were supplemented by two American troops from MN airsoft organizations and 4 partisans. They had a hodgepodge of experience and it showed against crack 3rd PzGr truppen but that can't be helped. Only experience and bonding with an established unit will even out the competition. On several battles Garrick switched sides to help out the Allies and Kerrick also fought as an Ally once or twice. The action was fast paced 15-20 minute battles on portions of the paintball field and we had two referees supplied by the field owner to instruct and facilitate smooth action. Generally whatever one side did in one skirmish was done by the other side the next time around. This way each team attacked and defended though the day. There was an amphibious operation which was really fun. The boat took six members to hit the beaches and almost as soon as you had jumped ashore you were scrambling for cover. I found some and as I popped my head up I caught 4-bbs in the head. Two off my helmet and two in my forehead. "Medic!" A minute later Kerrick has my arm bandaged and I'm ready to go again. That was fun. Usually it was one hit and you were out but in a couple of the skirmishes we allowed one side (attackers) a medic with the ability to respawn a fellow or two. The weather cooperated and bugs were pretty non-exisitent so if you stayed hydrated the day was lots of fun. NO INJURIES outside of a couple welts from bb hits. Garrick had a tooth rocked by one but got lucky and didn't suffer any permanent injury. The only drawback was the paint. Several uniforms got sludged up with paintball gunk. Yech! That is unavoidable. I had HBTs on so they can see the wash today but with wool on the cleaning will be more difficult. Oh well, no pain, no gain. After the event it was back to Garrick's parent's home on a nearby lake for a barbeque and showers. Some folks stayed the night and lived though the thunderstorm and loss of power (candles added to the ambiance) and others left after the food was eaten up. Garrick and his mom raised the bar in the hospitality department. This will put pressure on me for the August event. I didn't get many pictures but took two that I will share. On the way to the fighting area, you go by truck and so we all loaded up on the truck and drove in for a couple minute ride. It set the mood. We of course didn't miss the opportunity to advertise a bit. This was a West Front battle so we missed our Russian enemy but we were busy recruiting for you and maybe you'll see some new members over the coming weeks. The event also allowed some face time with our kameraden and time to plan for the Dakota trip and the upcomming NY trip. Those should carry us to August. Kerrick took some great footage and Alex took a slew of pictures so those will be posted at their discretion and I eagerly await them. There might be some others too. One more of our intrepid pioneer, Rekkon. He was a grenade tossing one-man army out there.
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Post by Garrick Udet on Jun 15, 2008 13:25:03 GMT -5
Before I want to get into the meat of the AAR I just wanted to thank everybody who made the trip out for this event! Everybody who committed to showing up made it! And we even had 1 more than expected. The Contessa wanted me to tell everybody what great guests you were and how much fun she had getting to meet everybody. And you all picked up after yourselves, so that made my exit this morning much easier as there wasn't much to clean up. Ok, enough of the superfluous platitudes and on to the action: 1115 Hrs June 14th: Packed up the convoy and left the Udet compound for Special Forces Paintball. Everybody showed up early and we actually got going slightly ahead of schedule. No Italian Army time here! 1130 Hrs June 14th: Arrive at the field and started gearing up for the truck ride down to the staging area. What a surprise we got when the Second Rangers rolled in! While they had committed to coming, we hadn't heard from them for a spell and wrongly assumed they were going to bail. What a welcome boost! 1200 Hrs: We get to the staging area and start unloading, the paintballers start getting their first dose of gear envy for the day! 1230 Hrs: The first skirmish starts right on time! Since we had 3 Partisans that had never played airsoft before, I started the first fight with the partisans defending a fort on the "Knoll Field" from a German Assault. The action was fast paced, no sneaking around here. Udo, Erik, Paul, Wolfgang and I led the assault squad around the right side of the Knoll while Otto, Franz, Alban and Volker advanced up the face of the Knoll to hold the high ground and use it and their Mausers to full effect. The assault was nearly flawless from the German perspective. Our aggressive move on the right flank allowed me to get a great angle on Shady Cadence who had taken up a defensive position on the back side of the Knoll, after I eliminated him, Paul and I continued to spearhead our squad's attack taking us within range of the Allied defenders in the fort. The next thing I saw was Paul taking a belly flop into a huge patch of stinging nettles right when Cpl. Mills opened up on us with his Thompson. I soon started taking fire from a Partisan sniper in the fort's tower. It took 3 full magazines from my MP40 before I was finally able to neutralize the sniper. Meanwhile casualties began to mount as Udo and Erik were eliminated. My role in the assault was soon cut short by a burst of fire from Cpl. Mills. I dropped the assault flag and watched as Wolfgang and Paul bravely charged the fort. The Germans won the skirmish by placing the flag in the flagpole. The second skirmish was a reverse of the first. The Germans were now defending the fort from an Allied and Partisan counterattack. Our strategy to send a flanking assault squad failed as it ran squarely into the Allied main force. I was eliminated quickly by Allies that took the top of the Knoll. The Germans barely squeaked by on this skirmish and only had 2-3 defenders left when they finally eliminated the remaining Allied attackers. The next skirmish was the assault on Crete. The Germans had the objective of destroying the Cretan beach defenses by planting a IED composed of one of Wolfgang's Panzerwurfmines at a rocket battery some 50 yards from the beachhead. The Germans loaded 6 of their 9 players onto the landing craft and left Udo, Volker and one additional Soldat (I can't remember who) to play the role of FJ paratroopers dropped in behind enemy lines to harass the beach defenders. The landing craft pulled away from the staging area with me in the front with our IED. By the time we hit the beach, we could already hear the FJ exchanging heavy fire with the Allied defenders. I scooted around the left side of the beach defenses somehow avoiding the rain of fire that erupted. Franz was right behind me and we started trading fire with a couple of crafty Partisan defenders. Soon we realized that the majority of the defenders had fallen back to defend the objective and we pushed forward to link up with the FJs. We launched another two pronged assault on the rocket that was fiercely contested by the defenders. We suffered very heavy casualties but were finally able to plant the charge and destroy the defenses. The fourth skirmish was a reverse of the third, with the Allied and Partisan troops attacking German defenders on the beach. The Allies had the identical objectives of placing an IED on the rocket battery behind the beach. The 2nd Rangers were up to their crafty tricks and I kept catching glimpses of them flanking around our lines from their insertion point. I could never quite manage a clear shot at them and instead told my Unteroffizer that I was going to fall back and defend the objective. Alban was the only other German defender at the rocket and we had a tough time during our engagement with the Rangers. They were almost on top of the rocket when Alban eliminated Tom with a 1-2 punch of a Mauser shot to the hand and a grenade that quickly followed. Somehow I managed to eliminate Cpl Mills after trading multiple volleys of SMG fire at very close range. The crafty American was extremely well concealed in the underbrush surrounding the rocket site and I think it was by pure stroke of luck that I was able to eliminate him. In the fifth skirmish I switched sides to fight with the Allies as a partisan. This the objective of this skirmish was for each side to locate a misplaced satchel containing German intelligence and return it to their base. Only uniformed Allied solders and German NCOs were allowed to pick up the satchel. The Partisans were allowed to start anywhere on the field as long as they were at least 100' from the German base. As I headed towards the tower at the center of the field prior to the game starting I located the satchel hanging from a tree branch in the graveyard next to the tower, but as a partisan, I couldn't move it which greatly disappointed me. Soon the battle started an the German recon elements stalled when they encountered a stream running across the field. I took advantage of the situation by picking off two Germans as they crossed right into my field of fire. Soon I found myself trading fire with Volker who picked me off with a fantastic headshot. The Allies won this skirmish by eliminating both German NCOs. For the sixth skirmish we moved to the ravine field for a Center Flag game of assaulting the enemy base with a Panzerwurfmine. The mine was placed in the middle of the field at the bottom of the ravine. Adam made a brave dash for the intel as soon as the game started but was quickly mowed down by the Germans. As the medic I began to ponder whether or not I could reach him when I was promptly shot. I think I cheated here as I 'healed' myself with one of our heal tokens. While this is considered ok under the medic rules at SFP, I don't think we've ever allowed medics to heal themselves in the MOA. Sorry guys for this breach of conduct, I didn't really think it wasn't kosher until I contemplated it after the skirmish. Either way, my bending of the rules didn't really affect the outcome as I was eliminated by a grenade immediately after I rushed to a forward battlement to heal one of the Rangers. I think this skirmish ended in a tie as the Volker was eliminated immediately before he could destroy the Allied base. Correct me if I'm wrong about the outcome, I didn't survive to the end of the skirmish (like most of them it seemed). The seventh skirmish had the Germans assaulting and holding the bridge over the ravine. For this skirmish the ravine was considered a river that could only be crossed via the bridge. To capture the bridge, the attackers had to get 2 men onto the enemy side of the bridge and hold it until time was up or all the defenders were eliminated. Otto and I rushed the bridge right away and I was shot in the mouth (ouch!) Udo was a fantastic medic and was able to cross the bridge and dove (fell) behind the barricade to heal me. To my surprise, he got up and ran back across the bridge to heal another fallen teammate. With all the fire going on, it was hard to cross the bridge once without getting shot, let alone twice! The Germans ended up winning this skirmish by eliminating all the allies. The last skirmish of the day reversed the previous one and gave the Allies a chance to assault the bridge. We did a good job defending the bridge for the first part of the match. But superior medic play by Adam the Partisan (aka Jethro.. how do you say that in French? ) gave the allies a huge advantage. I watched Jethro heal two allies that I had shot and unloaded a couple of clips at him but just was not able to get the elimination. Then a few minutes later he nailed me with a great cross-field volley from the Thompson (My CYMA that I STILL haven't used myself ). The Allies won when the last German defender surrendered to one of the Partisans (who didn't even have any ammo left in his gun). Overall it was a fantastic day. Everybody seemed to adjust to the more fast-paced style of play (no respawns were used in any skirmish, and only the beach assault and bridge assault games allowed the attackers to use medics with limited heal tokens). When our allotted 4 hours ran out, everybody was pretty beat. We ended up scuttling the skirmish at my folks' place and instead had a great night of BBQ, Beer and recounting the day's action. Around 9:30 or so a huge storm blew through that knocked the power out until 3:45 in the morning. So for those of you who left prior to that, hopefully you beat the storm home. Thanks again to everybody who made the trip and especially to Jeff at SFP and the MAA guys (Shady Cadence and Red Leader) who came out! Hopefully we can make a game here in MN an annual event!
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Post by CPL. Mills 2nd Rangers on Jun 15, 2008 17:32:29 GMT -5
This event was a blast, only thing I didnt like was the paintballs. First Skirmish We took up defensive positions behind the fence, we had a sniper in the tower, I was keeping watch through a gap in the fence, I killed 3 Gernans before I was taken down, with the Left flank completely open the krauts rushed in a killed the last Partisans. Second Skirmish we had a false start due to the eagerness of the ref, we made our attack braking into 3 squads each to attack a different area. Sargent Ackerman and I attacked the right flank, Tom advanced forward and was killed I got caught up in a standoff with a sniper, till I heard somebody call out that we had false started. After we got all together again we waited for the official start of the match. This Time Sargent Ackerman and I went up the middle, fired on a small bunker that the Germans had taken up, after eliminating it, we moved toward the base, I saw a kraut running to make it into the base, but it was a futile attempt, Both Tom and I opened up on him. I got hit shortly after that, I heard a bb hit my helmet. Third Skirmish I set myself close to the beach, I saw the FJ paratroopers making thier way towards us, I shifted position to fire on them when the krauts from the beach finally landed, I then turned and fired on them, I was in the open so I made a move to some better cover when I got hit, I called myself out but as I was getting down I got shot in the face and in the back at the same time. Fourth Skirmish It was our turn to assault the beach, Sargent Ackerman and I made our way behind the German defenses to come up right behind them, as got closer to the V2, we made contact with the enemy. I came around a tree to see a German raise his weapon and fire at me, some quick footwork on my part I narrowly avoided death. We fell back and I went around a thick bushes and shot Udo as he was making his way to the V2. I linked back with Tom, we started taking fire, I crawled up towards the source of the fire, Tom pointed where he was and I sprayed the area. Unknown to me Tom was killed, I tried to get a better look at the rocket and I was killed. Fifth Skirmish Again Tom and I made our way to the German rear, we came out next to the V2 Rocket, we spotted the Germans rushed forward, I killed the last German Officer, and Tom killed 2 krauts right away, I got hit, Tom Ran forward and Lobbed a Grenade at the last German defender. Sixth & Seventh Skirmish I finally laid down my SMG and picked up my camera, I went in as a active Cameraman, armed with my pistol, I was shot right away, so I just stuck around taking pictures, I was still taking some fire, but I figured better at me then my comrades. Eighth Skirmish Armed with my Thompson again we had to hold the other side of the river. I made my way to one end of the field only to run back to the other side, I ran across the bridge with Tom, We took some fire from a German behind some logs, after a firefight we killed him, Tom was shot soon after, one of the Ersatzjack brothers and I got into a firefight, I ended up charging him, was shot after getting only 6 feet away, but he soon gave up after taking fire from his right. here are some pics I took: i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff92/2ndrangers/Buffalo%20MN/b13.jpgHere is a higher resolution version of the group shot i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff92/2ndrangers/Buffalo%20MN/GermansGroup.jpgthe rest are here: s240.photobucket.com/albums/ff92/2ndrangers/Buffalo%20MN/
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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 Jun 15, 2008 23:29:13 GMT -5
Nice photos! I like em and I'm not even very photogenic. Now all we need is some movie footage. I saw some unedited stuff and it looked fine so I hope someone [Kerrick13] doesn't make a liar outta me.
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Post by Paul Rech on Jun 16, 2008 8:16:10 GMT -5
Just like CPL. Mills said, this event was great! and I agree, the paintball mess was crazy, but well worth it. I think everyone covered the action, so I what to just say thankyou to Garrick and his Mother for the hospitality and wonderful accomidations. Thankyou to Udo and Garrick for organizing another awsome weekend skirmish and to everyone else that was there for making this event a blast. Photo's.
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red0leader
Private
I smile because your about to blow up.
Posts: 73
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Post by red0leader on Jun 16, 2008 9:42:50 GMT -5
i forgot to thank garrick for the food and hospitality after the the game. and as far as the paint balls, the maa doesn't like em either. if u want to run another game without the paintballs, i can give recondoc a call and see if we can use his feild. it has a very european forest feel to it. he charges 15 bucks a person for insurance and u can play till dark. webpages.charter.net/ffairsoft/index.htm
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Post by <2>nd Rangers M/Sgt. Tom on Jun 24, 2008 21:15:09 GMT -5
Had a great time fierce combat. Looking forward to seeing you all again at Baltic Summer. ;D
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