equipment, BBs and the burgers and hotdogs
for lunch, but also mince pies and the Xmas
raffle prizes. The first few players arrived and
it was plain, even at this early stage in the
day, that today’s event could be called ‘Clash
of the Santa Hats’. More and more groups of
skirmishers arrived and soon the Safe Zone
was awash with different camouflage patterns,
mostly topped off with the seeminly obligatory
Santa hats. A few fancy dress outfits had also
started appearing, some festive and others not
so – a guy in full ‘Rourkes Drift’ regalia instantly
springs to mind!
With everyone booked in and in possession
of their free Xmas raffle ticket, those that were
renting guns were shown how to use them.
030
February 2012
This done, all 123 players gathered together in
the Safe Zone for the obligatory safety brief.
I know these can be time consuming, and
regular players get complacent because they’ve
heard it all before, but if you don’t pay attention
to anything else throughout the day at least
make sure you listen to this. Charlie injected his
usual humour while running through the safety
points and the dos and don’ts of the site. Then
it was over to Dave to get the first game goin g.
With the sun now beaming through the tree
cover the frost was clearing and the ground
was softening up nicely. About 45 minutes
later, with the initial warm up game completed,
a few of the faces coming back into the Safe
Zone were the same colour as their hats!
The next scenario was slightly harder, as
both a three-phase game and a timed event.
There would obviously be a role reversal as
well. The first phase would see the attacking
team starting in the little woods, advancing
into the village to locate the ammo box hidden
in one of the huts and being defended by
the dug-in opposition. Once this had been
captured and the defenders pushed back over
the bridges, phase two was to get the ammo
box itself over one of four bridges. None of the
attacking team could cross any bridge until this
was completed. From there, the third and final
phase was to plant the ammo box into the fort
located at the far end of the site. The attackers
had unlimited regen while the defenders’ regen
would be closed when the bucket sitting on the
tank was hit by a BB from the attacking team.
For the attackers, the ammo box could only be
moved when carried by two people.
Once Dave had explained all this and the
other nitty gritty (twice for those players
wearing Multicam and ACU!) it was time for
blue team to set off to their start point in the
little woods while the red team sorted out their
defensive positions.
As I walked around the battlefield there were
plenty of the Blue Team with their hands held
high heading back to their regen point before
re-entering the combat zone. A browse around
the Red Team’s defensive positions showed the
Blues’ attempts being successfully repelled all
over.
But all of a sudden they got a break and
retrieved the ammo box. In the midst of incoming fire, a plan was formulated and the
two guys carrying the ammo box, along with a
protection force, hot-footed it down the bridge
at the far end. The battle raged for a while
longer but soon the cry went out, letting the
team know that the box was successfully over
the bridge. The Blues pushed and pushed until
they managed to knock out the Reds’ regen
point. From there it was just a matter of time
before they achieved their main objective and
the box was carried by its handlers through the
door of the fort. It was back to the Safe Zone
for a quick coffee and bomb up before going
out again.
The Red Team, attacking, seemed to have a
slightly more organised plan of attack, although
initially they were fought off wherever they
went. Obviously the Blues weren’t going to
give up without a fight (if only the same could
be said of Wycombe Wanderers!) but the Reds
were relentless. Eventually the Blues’ regen
point was destroyed and, after a last stand at
the fort, they were all killed off. As the Red
Team relaxed they were reminded that it was