Well I had an absolute blast at this event. Garrick’s description of “increasingly awesomer” was certainly prophetic. We had a great vehicle turnout, and they were employed interestingly and intelligently to enhance the game without being overused. Players numbers were good, though they understandably dropped off for the night game and Sunday. Both hosts did a great job planning, coordinating and executing. I was also impressed by the props like flares and the Leutnant (though I never got to see him). Many thanks to Garrick, Udo, the vehicle owners (especially Troy :
and everyone else that helped make this yet another great MOA outing.
And now time for those of you whose eyes gloss over at too much text to skip to the bottom or the next post.
The event started very poorly for me, for reasons basically unrelated to the event itself. Wilhelm and I had spent the night in the cities, and though we left plenty early, we hit detour and road construction hell that slowed us to a crawl. We only arrived just before the safety briefing was supposed to start, and I still had to run back into Big Lake to pick up Mike from the bus stop. At least we were not the last to arrive. Then I discovered, much to my chagrin, that I had managed to forget my wool trousers at home. Ze checklists! Zey do nozink! Fortunately Andre had a spare set of pants that he was willing to lend me. They were more certainly not feldgrau, but beggars cannot be choosers. At least they were waaaaay more comfortable than wool, and the weather was pretty good so I could wear my tunic with the snazzy new tank destruction badge and Ostfront ribbon (yes, I know it was in the wrong button hole, the seamstress made a mistake despite my instructions). I loaded up heavier than usual, as Sir V noted. I have really gotten into the habit lately of carrying my Mauser and PPSh, and the combo came in extra handy on the Big Lake Field. This time I added my P38 on top of the usual gear, four stick grenades and panzerwurfmine. Unprepared for contingencies I was not.
The first scenario started with a derivative of one of my scenario ideas. The truck represented a convoy travelling to reinforce the local German lines. We loaded up, and our scout Alban was sent ahead to check the road because partisan activity had been particularly heavy. Soon enough he came back with a report of mines on the road (the Russians had nationalized my Teller mines for this scenario), so the Pioneer detachment and the SS squad dismounted. While they cleared the woods to our right, Alban, Wilhelm and I moved along the open field until we could clear the first explosives. The rest of the trail looked clear, so the SS mounted back up and we moved on. However we soon spotted more mines at the road junction, so the SS started to sweep again. This time they drew fire on the right, which also prompted fire on us in the field. BBs zipped very close over my head, and I went prone in a hurry. More cut through the grass, making me wish the vegetation had been substantially thicker. I began crawling backwards as Garrick dismounted the rest of our troops and went left, across the field and through the woods. The SS began fighting forward, and I spotted a partisan at our 11 o’clock behind a large tree. I quickly determined it to be Mike, wielding my loaner rifle. I began putting Mauser rounds on him, and he started returning fire, though is BBs were falling short. Huzzah for Ersatzjack technology! It took numerous tried, but I finally managed to thread a shot into the pesky partisan. It must have stung, because he loudly and clearly called it. I love my rifle. The SS were getting the right cleared, and the woods ahead of us now seemed clear. I was just telling Wilhelm to get ready to charge it with me when I saw more movement. Another soldat was sweeping down from the north. The Heer squad that had gone left had cleared their area and was moving up to join us. We quickly sprinted across to join them in securing the intersection. I could see more Russians, but our immediate goal was to get to our HQ. The truck took a left, and we peeled in behind it. We unloaded our supplies and hit the field for the next objective, which was to locate our Leutnant and his intel, somewhere on the field. I gave Adam my P38 after he was ordered to take to the field with only the panzerfaust. Across the field we spotted three partisans sweeping wide along the road we had taken earlier. Sir V stationed himself immediately between them and our HQ while Alban and I slipped into the trenches to counterflank them. We worked our way up to weapons range and started applying pressure with the Mausers. This soon unnerved the enemy, who fell back. Garrick also called us back, so we could get on with the main objective. The partisans were merely trying to distract us.
We spread out and entered the woods across from our HQ, sweeping through them. The SS took the low ground on our left. We hit opposition, but it was light and quickly scattered. Our advance bogged down when we got to the forest edge along the trail near our objective hill. The enemy was dug in deep, taking full advantage of foxholes scattered around the high ground. We traded fire, mostly ineffectually, across the trial for a while. Shady and Irish deployed the MG and drained a battery suppressing pesky Russians. I tried some Mauser shots, but the conditions were highly unfavorable. I moved right, both to protect their flank and to investigate the potentially terrain advantages to that side. There were also some visual and auditory clues that hostiles were doing the same. Sure enough, we started to take scattered fire. I do not think the hostile had a good view of me. I never saw him, though I fired back a bit here and there. Sir V appeared on my right near the trail intersection, so I motioned to Shady that I was going to fall back and loop around. The two of us should be able to push across I reasoned. It worked well. As I crept up behind Sir V, I saw a Russian move up behind a tree. He had put it between him and the MG position, which left him partially exposed on our side. He did not see me, so I crouched. The range was a bit long for my PPSh, so I waited, thinking Sir V had a better shot. When he did not take it, I moved up a bit more and opened fire. My weapon decided to quit feeding after the first few rounds. The Russian quickly went prone and reaction sprayed in my general direction. He got lucky and a BB tagged my arm. Frak!
I respawned and returned to the same area. We moved up a bit, and gathered some SS soldaten. I took a large tree across the trail that offered a nice downhill view of the Allies’ side of the trail. Perhaps we can push on this side I thought. Right about then I happened to glance behind me and spotted two white shirts behind us. “Partisans on our six!” I took cover, but as soon as I saw them move back a bit, I put a tree between us and rushed up to SMG range. I killed one, and another German got the other. That threat neutralized, we quickly resumed our previous activities. Otto and Sir V went into the left but were quickly eliminated. The one SS guy told me they had tried the same avenue and had also been repulsed. Time was dragging on, and the distance to our respawn point was really hampering the offensive. Garrick brought up smoke and began gathering troops for an assault. We spread out in preparation and sprang forward at the call of “Angriff!” I bolted from the tree line and sprayed a Russian in a nearby foxhole. He went down, but my PPSh magazine apparently decided it was a conscientious objector that would no longer feed BBs into the war effort. Momentarily defenseless, I dove back into the brush and crawled around as hostile fire raked the underbrush. I unslung my Mauser (who is foolishly carrying a backup weapon NOW?) and did my best to support the main attack, which was mostly drawing enemy attention/fire. To make matters worse my gear had come undone, spilling onto the ground around me. At this point I figured my life expectancy was about a minute, so I shucked everything off and went sniper. I harassed the enemy nearby until I hear someone coming through the woods behind me. Backwards glances revealed sneaky white shirts again. As if my plight was not already bad enough. Lifespan estimate revised downward. With only a rifle, my prospects were not good if even one of those partisans had a subgun. I decided to let them know they had been spotted by calling “I hear you down there” followed by a few rifle shots. It seemed to work; they moved away without engaging me, though I continued to think I was going to get shot in the back at any moment. I pulled a few grenades in case the fighting got too close and decided to go sniper for a while. A gap in the brush afforded me a nice line of sight down one of the trails that ran up to the objective. The partisans walked past me dead, which relieved me greatly. Shady also passed by with a kill rag while mutter that his death was SO worth it. The best part came when Tim and another Russian walked into the sunlit lane and loitered there in the open. The range was long, but I channeled Alban and took the shot. I watched it take a long time to float out to the target, followed by the thwack of plastic on fabric. Woot! Tim told me he had a string of curses after calling that hit. Tee hee.
More Germans moved up near my right, and I guessed we were going to renew our attack, but then Garrick called for us all to fall retreat.
Our efforts stymied, we moved on to the second scenario. The Germans fell back to a pair of trails near their HQ. We had to prevent the Russians from performing an armored reconnaissance of the stand of pine trees to our rear. The SS deployed onto the slope leading to the lower trail, while the Heer took the bunkers watching the upper one. We recover the Teller mines and deployed them. I rigged five of them with my new and even more evil anti-tampering devices. They are pressure sensitive, so if the mine is lifted at all, they go off. It was still possible to disarm them if you were careful, but it sounds like the Russians were not that patient and just used disposable partisans. It did not take long for us to hear the sounds of Natasha cautiously advancing. It sounded like they were going for the low road, and the SS were holding their fire to draw them in. I was near the MG bunker and inched forward to get a view down the slope. Having attacked and defended our position in previous events, I knew it would be better for us to hold the slope and fire down on the Russians. Sir V and Franz moved up with me. I saw Natasha approach and stop. When I stuck my head up a little more I saw the inclined crawling with Russian infantry. I opened fire, prompting others to do the same. We had a wonderful height advantage and cut down the enemy quickly and efficiently. I killed 2-4 of them myself, my PPSh having decided to start feeding again. Soon the enemy infantry were nearly cleared out, and we had even killed the turret gunner. Franz and Sir V got eliminated, so I knew there was still a gunman down there somewhere. Udo blew his whistle, presumably to pull back his survivors for a rally and retry. Natasha started to back up, so I took a chance with a panzerwurmine charge. At first it seemed like I would make it, but mere meters from throwing range, I was cut down and took advantage of the moment for a dramatic slump/slide to the ground before pulling my kill rag.
As I waited to respawn, I heard one of the booby trapped mines “explode.” Heh heh. At some point around this time Piper managed to earn himself an armor kill with his panzerfaust. I came back in to rejoin my previous comrades near the MG bunker. While cautiously scouting the slope, I spotted a sneaky Russian trying to creep forward. He saw me see him however, so we traded mutually ineffective fire. I kept moving back and forth trying to get an angle, but he either went to ground well or fell back unseen. All too soon, the resurrected armored car fired back. This time the Russian came up the side path that led to the upper trail. We all yelled warnings and dug in. Natasha parked on the corner and began suppressing our MG bunker. I went to the edge of the pines and managed a beautiful rifle shot that picked Andree off from behind the BA-64 where their troops were stacking. There was no way I could even think of a wurfmine attack, so I was forced back when our men in the bunker were killed. The Russian attack rolled forward while the Germans scrambled to reform their defensive line. I looped out into the open field, planning more Mauser harassment. At first I was not spotted, but that soon changed. A lot of spray was directed at me, but it all fell short. The range advantage of a good rifle is pretty narrow though, so I was not having much success either. The turret especially quickly ignored me to concentrate on more immediate threats. One American ducked into the woods. I saw an SS guy that had managed to come up behind the enemy creeping forward, so I tried extra hard to divert attention from him. Unfortunately when he finally charged, his grenade went short and his wurfmine went to pieces. Udo casually turned around to execute him. More spray came my way from the corner of the woods, and this time it was dropping around me, so I quickly move laterally and backpedalled. At least one round bounced off my rifle. This was not really working, so I returned to the forest and jumped in a foxhole. All three of my anti-tampering devices on the top trail blew up though, so that bought me some satisfaction, though it also meant that all mines between the Russians and their objective were now gone. Sir V was working the edge of the woods, so I did my best to support him. Partisan Mike tried to crawl up that edge, but I yelled a warning. My Mauser fire failed to find its mark, but Sir V dealt with the problem. At this point I got the impression that the German defenders were hard pressed and the Russians had a good chance of breaking through. Fortunately for us they stalled a bit and time ran out for the second scenario. Good show.
There was a dinner break before the third scenario, which centered around the field and its trenches. We started in the evening and played into darkness. Both teams rushed into their ends and pushed forward under the excellent cover. It soon became something of a stalemate, en masse whack-a-mole. Studying the terrain, I spotted a potential position from which I could enfilade the right enemy trench. I also wanted to get some more use out of my Mauser before we switched over to night CQB rules, which required me go retrieve it from HQ. I followed spur trench back to the German woods and moved to the north edge with Alban. The idea was to take the open field and try to use our range from an angle where the enemy was not protected by their main burm. I moved out first, not liking how close I was to the trench, but I was already on the edge of the playing area for this scenario. I saw no targets, but more importantly, no one saw me. I went prone and waited. Udo blew his whistle to signal a general charge and vaulted from cover first. A few seconds later others jumped up to join him. The attack seemed to go well. It looked like the Russians took advanced positions, and I only saw Udo go back dead. I took a few Mauser shots, but the magazine went dry, and I had not grabbed the others. Frak. I was laying in grass only about six inches high and could not believe that I had not been seen yet. No one looked in my direction. I waited a long time, thinking I might wait until dark, though that would have taken a while. I finally started crawling further around, taking a long, safe route that put a small rise between me and the enemy trenches. Whew, I never realized how exhausting crawling can be. I soon ditched my rattley BB bottle and the uncomfortable pistol holster. They remained in the grass with my rifle. Shady started dropping mortar rounds onto the enemy, and even managed an elimination. I had a great view of their impacts and could have functioned very well as a spotter had I a radio. Ever so slowly I worked my way around behind the enemy trenches and started to come up the slope behind them. It felt like an hour of being a snake to the mantra “PPSh hand, grenade hand, tippy toe forward, repeat.” Dusk was falling, and the first flare went up, signaling the change to nighttime engagement rules. Periodically I could hear Troy firing with his tracer equipped “MG”, and I used that sound to guide my approach. Finally I got close and was debating whether to rush the rest of the way in when Troy stood up high on his berm looking for targets. I decided to take the opportunity and jumped to my feet. What followed had to be the most hilariously bad charge the field had ever seen as I hobbled and stumbled my way forward, fighting each and every muscle that had decided to cramp up from all the crawling. Miraculously my quarry did not hear me, and doing my best to fire single shots on a weapon that is full auto only, I cut down Troy and jumped into the trench. Looking left, I spotted Franz’s daughter and blasted her as well. I then drew one of the special surprises we brought home from New Hampshire, exploding pea grenades, and pulled the lanyard with my teeth. I lobbed it forward into the trench around the corner and a few seconds later got a very satisfying and resounding WHUMP! I darted around to see Tom silhouetted in the trench and dropped him with a few rounds. No other threats were visible to I reversed course, heading deeper into enemy lines. Adam (I think) caught a glimpse of me, forcing me to duck to avoid his fire. I moved up further, and tried to throw my other pea grenade, but the fuse pulled out rather than ignite, forcing me to pop up and take him down the old fashioned way. The immediate area seemed clear so at the top of my voice I yelled that I had taken the trenches and the Germans needed to move up. “SCHNELL SCHNELL!!!” As awesome as assaulting (and surviving) the trench had been, I think the most satisfying part of the moment was seeing all my kameraden quickly respond and double time it to reinforce the position. Wilhelm got there first, quickly followed by Garrick and Otto. Ze Unteroffizer ordered me back to HQ to swap out for my “night machine gun”, an MP5 with a tracer unit. Unfortunately I have no WWII weapon that will take my tracer. I gathered up my discarded gear and went back to make the trade. By now the German team was really bare bones. A lot of people had quit for the day. I am sure the Russians hemorrhaged players as well, but it seemed like they held a big number advantage. I went back out and sat atop a trench. I think I was the only German there. After a relatively short wait, I saw movement in the spur to my left. It looked like two or three guys, and I held my fire, hoping for more than one of them to expose themselves simultaneously. One moved up first, and I felt I had to fire. I dumped a magazine into the trench, surprised at how quickly it went dry. Apparently I really lit up one of the 2nd Rangers, but with the poor visibility conditions I could not see much more than movement, and I never heard a hit call. If there were any other guys there, I never saw them poke their heads out again. Garrick came up the side trench, and I warned him of the threat. We traded fire with the main Russian trench on the right that had been recently reclaimed by the enemy (though I hear Otto and company made them pay dearly for it, including another dried pea grenade). I moved every time I fired since tracers work both ways. Soon Garrick said he had to go back to get more flares, leaving me along again. I stayed put for a while, hearing nothing until suddenly a shotgun blast came from the dark trench and hit my weapon. No sooner had I realized my good fortune and tried to go prone for protection than there was a cha-chick and a second blast nailed me. “Ack! Mine lieben!” Back to respawn. By now there were only four German players, and we could not really accomplish much. I went back out with Sir V only to run immediately into a Russian hidden in the grass for another death. The organizers then decided to endex early. I have played a number of night games before, but this one was something different. The trenches made it a whole different kettle of fish, and the flares really added to the effect, though the moon was pretty bright, so I never felt that their illumination changed things much. The smoke they left lingering over the battlefield was pretty cool though. In the failing light it looked like bands of fog snaking their way through the folds of the terrain. Great atmosphere.
Udo made us stew Sunday morning, which was not the promised eggs and bacon
, but was extremely tasty nonetheless. Thanks again for that. There was one final scenario. We got started early, but it was already quite warm and sunny, so pretty much everyone was in their service shirts. Mine was still sopping wet from the previous day, so I switched to my backup fake shirt, which unfortunately also had the effect of making me look more extra ghetto partisan than Werhmacht soldat. And I forgot my service cap top it off. The Germans were now defending their HQ from armored attack. We only had 6-7 players per side, and partisan Mike had been drafted to the German side. We spread out to protect the corner facing the small pine stand, and the main trail was mined, though I was not allowed to use my anti-tampering devices due to low player numbers. Mike and Adam took the trenches on the left and drew most of the initial enemy attention. I was on the right with Franz, and Shady had his MG set up in the middle. The enemy again stacked behind Natasha, thinking it would protect them, but the Germans defenses were so wide that they became exposed on one side. I put off several long range bursts and managed to pick off two of them. Shady also put out a withering barrage. After a few minutes, their infantry were decimated and the turret gunner was also down. I could not see or hear any Ivans, so I asked for covering fire and risked a wurfmine charge. I bolted into the open, closing as rapidly as I could. I saw Troy’s muzzle come out the front viewport, but I veered right and he could not get the necessary angle to hit me. As I wound up to throw, the back door opened and Udo leaned out. My wurmine sailed in for a solid hit, but the Soviet commander shot me in the throat before it hit. In retrospect I wish I had hammed up that death more by flailing around and choking. Wolfgang 1, Natasha 1.
I trudged back to respawn, perfectly happy to have traded my life for enemy commander’s and his armored car. I got to the clock mere seconds before a five mark, though I was there alone and had to wait another cycle. Mike came back dead a few minutes later, so we returned together. I headed back to the right, where things had worked so well for me before. Natasha was back in virtually the same location and had bogged down again. Fire was going back and forth, but when Shady tried to move up and got eliminated, the enemy became emboldened and closed the distance. Travis crawled out of a nearby foxhole, so I took over his position. More gunfire was exchanged, and again it looked like the Russian infantry were kaput. When Natasha started rolling backwards, I knew Troy would be concentrating on driving rather than shooting, so I charged out into the open again. As I grew near I saw a green stick grenade appear in the pistol port. Troy popped it out as I got close and nailed him in return with the wurfmine for an enjoyable mutual death. Wolfgang 2; Natasha 2. Two armor kills. If I accomplish nothing else today, it was still a good skirmish. I had a longer respawn wait this time, being alone again. I drained my canteen and watched as Tim appeared in the forest well behind our lines and slinked around further into our rear. Mike and Adam joined me at the respawn, but we did not go after him. Dead men see nothing after all.
Things seemed a little hairier at the front now. Natasha had respawned faster than I had and was once again threatening our beloved forest corner. As I moved up, someone got shot from behind and Mike (I think) had to kill a 2nd Ranger that infiltrated our HQ area. We had gotten pushed back from the forest edge, and it seemed like there was a lot of enemy chatter. I belly crawled forward into the same bunker I had occupied earlier, but it was impossible for me to get any closer to Natasha this time. I kept a very cautious vigil, expecting enemy infantry to probe further, but none came. Travis appeared behind me with the other wurfmine, but I advised him to fall back a bit to give us defense in depth. I had been clearly hearing Udo orchestrating a plan to attack on the left, our right. I grinned internally and thought “yes please.” Natasha fired up and started rolling, accompanied by plenty of suppressing fire. It cut through the brush around me, but my head was only up far enough to see the top of my nemesis come into view. She rolled right by my bunker, making for an easy and textbook popup wurfmine kill. I then came up with my gun and Alex and I sprayed each other from close range. Wolfgang 3, Natasha 2. Travis dashed out seconds later to plant his wurfmine squarely on Natasha’s front plate and Otto took a shot with his panzerfaust as well. Holey confluence of AT Batman. Three armor kills in one event, wow! Travis and I walked off as the enemy infantry quickly got a few more kills and pushed into the forest. The clicker had read 20 when I first got to it on Sunday. I do not know if it was supposed to have been reset, but by now it was more like 28. The SS squad leader and I lucked out, getting a mere 15 second wait. We hustled back, but found that the frontal attack had already been beaten off. Wilhelm, our rearguard, said he got the last one or two as they neared the HQ. I relieved him of his duty, so he could get some more frontline trigger time. Very soon I saw more hostiles slipping into the forest and called out their movements. Two Russians went left, and Tim charged along the treeline, but I managed to find the necessary lead to cut him down. Later I saw Tom crawling forward in the center and managed to put out enough BBs to get him as well. Later I saw Udo appear and go right. He then ran back left, and I moved over to another bunker to head him off. I spotted another Russian farther off, but held my fire hoping to catch their leader. After some waiting I fired on him anyway, and my magazine decided to spontaneously unwind. I furiously worked that winding wheel, just as Udo decided to charge up. I fired, but the gun only fired sporadically. I dashed to the edge of the trench and yelled BANG! as he ran by. After a short discussion, I volunteered to die as well since the range had probably been over 10 feet and I was having gun trouble.
Hello spawn point, old friend. Fancy seeing you again. I returned to the HQ to hear Natasha approaching, but everyone was so subdued about it that for a moment I thought that it was on some administrative task. Then I saw the turret tracking and knew better. She parked right in the corner, commanding a large chunk of our little patch of woods. Troy had gotten bold. I ducked behind Garrick’s admin tent, but Natasha’s driver spotted me and called me out as a priority target. I could see his MP44 barrel sticking out the driver’s viewport. We traded a bit of fire, but both knew it was largely a waste of time. I waved and saw his muzzle waggle in response. Stalemate hmmmm… I suddenly bolted to the right, planning to sweep that way for a better approach angle until I saw Otto readying his panzerfaust over there. Excellent. I moved back to draw Troy’s attention, then further left to split it even further. Mike and Garrick died behind us, leaving Franz and I worrying about our flank. I ditched everything save the wurfmine and crawled forward where some young pines made a narrow blind spot. Franz was right behind me, and the fire he traded with the turret went right over my head. I figured we were in a great position, with three anti-tank weapon at separate points poised for an attack. I did not know Travis had already used his and missed. Just as I got into position, I heard Otto’s panzerfaust fire and sprang up to take advantage of the moment, and I winged in a fourth BA-64 kill. I think Otto got shot, but I got away scott free to gather up the wurfmines and disappear back into the forest. Wolfgang 4, Natasha 2.