I met Steve “Special” Ferrari with his mother the morning of Death Before Dishonor ’07 for breakfast at the Breakfast Nook; our newest sniper looked great in his new uniform with patches. Then I drove him over to High Velocity, where we met Robert “Part67” Carucci and Jeff “Smokey” Berry. As we set up our gear it started to rain, dampening our spirits, but we shook it off and kept up our preparations. I linked up with George “Merc” Wade of the Red Raiders, our Red Team CO, and his XO Doug “Radio Man” Decker, in their command tent. Their plans were well laid out, and I was confident in the Red team’s chances that morning. I also met Brandon “Scarecrow” Decker, the SO for the trenches and therefore our immediate CO. We found there would be “tanks” in this game, modified golf carts carrying a Red or Blue flag which would be indestructible and fire on any opposing players on the field for a limited amount of time. I set up my first throat mic with radio and tuned it into the command net, trying to get used to radio communications for the first time in a paintball game. We tried to set up our new Double Trouble A5 gatling gun, but found that it wasn’t working. Wiggly and his girlfriend Jen ran it down to Cousins for a quick repair. I finally met Tackleberry, Captain of EOD, and offered him our mortar grenades and an extra air system for his artillery (he seemed ecstatic). Of our own mortar system and the other team members we expected, there was no word. We settled on just the four of us for the game, and decided to stick with our original plans for field positions and tactics. The Red Team began our run on the WWII side of the field as the sun finally came out, and TAPs made for the trenches as fast as we could. Wiggly and I dove in and I covered him as he made a run for the fuel depot to either side of the trench flag. He was tagged out almost right away, and I followed soon after. When we reinserted back into the trenches, Scarecrow and I began coordinating the other Red players in the center of our trenches as Tackleberry began a near-continuous artillery barrage. I concentrated fire on the hill while Scarecrow coordinated fire towards the western town, and we kept moving Wiggly and other eager Red runners into the flag pit to try and get our flag raised. Wiggly was a machine, doing everything he could in the fuel depot to hold off the Blue team and keep the flag up. The Red players with us were also very eager to help out and played excellently. We would toss grenades into the flag pit whenever a Blue player made it up that far, and we seemed to be holding it well. Then Blue took the coveted Hamburger Hill in the woods and began raining fire on us, and our fellow Reds in the woods got bogged down to the berm in front of the hill. It was made worse when the Blue tank rolled through and began pounding our guys at the berm. I tried to give more fire support, and that was about when the cyclone feed stopped working on my A5. Scarecrow had me continue firing at the hill with my Scepter launcher and grenades, and we continued to put pressure on the trenches until we were tagged out. Our impression was a stalemate, but Blue actually was able to keep their trench flag up longer. At our station, I found Nicole "Alpha-Beeotch" Winkler had arrived to keep Jen company and give us much needed support. They volunteered to take my A5 to Cousins to get the cyclone fixed, and check on the Double Trouble. I picked up my T8 pistol and a bunch of grenades, and Wiggly and I headed back into the battle. Merc had us head for the woods to help out. We made it to the berm, but then Wiggly was tagged out. I spotted Special in the trenches, and called for him to make for a jeep in front of us, at the base of the hill. We made it there safely, but then took fire on our right flank. I had no idea Blue had made it forward that far. A ref came over to take mercy on us and lead us out of the hail. While reloading, Merc had me and Smokey join Tackleberry in carrying a special-ops prop stick of dynamite in a Red relay to a Blue fortification in the Air Force field. The two of us were picked off quickly on a flank in the Western town and had to go back. When we made it back in, Wiggly and I began leap-frogging up in the woods, making our way up to the front lines and the woods flag. Our tank had just swept the woods, so it was an easy progression forward compared to before. Red finally took the woods flag, and Patrick “Warhammer” Galarza led the Reds up past it. We fortified our positions, and heard our trench flag was also raised. Special appeared out of nowhere, took up a position on my left, and prepared to snipe any Blue runners headed towards us. Warhammer wanted to move on and take the 4th and final flag in Air Force; we talked about a possible handicap against Red in the afternoon if we took too much now (in retrospect taking the flag now would have helped us), so he held back. We began repelling Blue runners on our position, and held the woods flag until the horn sounded for lunch. The Blue team still had the lead. At lunch Nicole and Jen returned my A5 with a new cyclone part. They said the Double Trouble had a bent Flatline fitting and was not able to fire until we replaced the barrels. I left it alone rather than replace it with the stock barrels I had (another poor decision on my part, more to come). We took pictures of our team as the sun really began to shine and heat things up, and got psyched for the afternoon. The teams began on opposite sides of the western town when the afternoon horn blew. Wiggly and I headed for the trenches right away, but were tagged out quickly. When we made it back in, I began long-balling from the edge of the trenches, using the Apex barrel to dive-bomb Blue players inside. I got about 100 rounds off before the cyclone broke again (!). I was ticked, and raced with Tackleberry and Smokey for the trench flag to try to do some good while our Reds in the trenches covered us. Smokey and I dove into the flag pit with another stick of dynamite in a special-ops mission, and we held our positions and tossed grenades from the flag pit at the Blue trenches until we were hit. I dropped off my A5 at our station, and walked back in to the woods with Wiggly, my T8 and some grenades. I managed to rally some Red squads, and we took the woods flag and continued forward to capture the hill. While the Red Unforgiven Ghosts protected our woods flank, I led fire support from the hill into the Blue trenches and Wiggly ran for the trenches themselves, and we continued to tag out Blue players making runs for the trench flag. Wiggly held his position in the fuel depot for as long as he could, and I kept up the encouragement to the young players who were there for the first time and having a great time. We were up on the hill for a good half hour, but the Red trench players were kept from moving forward by entrenched Blue defenders in the western town. My hill squad was finally removed by some Blue players who came over the other side to surrender us. Soon after, the Ghosts were pushed back. Wiggly went home early, having eaten too much pepperoni. I made my way back to the woods, and linked up with Scarecrow. We began leading Red teams forward, while Smokey and Special led more trench assaults on the Blue flag there. A Loaded Crow was able to raise our woods flag back up. Scarecrow then laid down covering fire while I led two other Reds up to the front line berm. We were able to get there, but the Blue team surrendered us about a minute later. As I raised my hands and began walking off, the Blue tank rolled through the woods, and Scarecrow and his remaining Reds retreated. As I was reloading my pistol, the Blue team overran the western town and took our 4th flag in Air Force. The refs called the game soon after. The Blue team were the worthy victors. While we had lost, TAPs all agreed we had had a lot of fun. I was bummed I couldn’t help much in firefights, but I had learned a ton about radio communications and motivating squads. Wiggly and Smokey had a ball helping in the trenches, and Special turned out to be deadly with his new sniper rifle. We also appreciated our team spirit and teamwork, the camaraderie and cooperation between us and the other scenario teams, and how much more involved the Red players in general seemed to be, especially the walk-ons. As Wiggly said, they really shined and gave it their all. We look forward to joining our fellow Red scenario teams in the next game!
