One Tough Patrol !!!!

by Jason “foolybear” Lineberger

Coverage of “Vietnam Patrol: The Fall of Saigon” a two-day paintball scenario

When Andrew “Ferg” Ferguson addressed the hundreds of players gathered for the last in the Vietnam Patrol scenario series, he asked for a show of hands of first timers at Command Decisions Wargames Center. A healthy scattering of hands flew up. “One word of advice for all of you,” Ferg said. “Motrin.”

Command Decisions, or CDWC, in western North Carolina, has some of the best terrain for scenario paintball. From their Sim City urban field to the hilltop fort Rex to the trenches of Alpha to the back trails and brush of Ambush Alley, CDWC has it all. The hills combined with the intensity of the competition that the regular teams bring make this field physically demanding. Vietnam Patrol: The Fall of Saigon capped off the long-running series of springtime scenario events that have grown in popularity along with the field’s year-ending finale, the Fulda Gap Mega Game. While Fulda Gap brings out competitiveness and strategy (generals typically plan their attacks months in advance), the Vietnam Patrol games offer a similar experience in an atmosphere that is all about having a good time playing paintball. “Vietnam Patrol is probably my favorite game of the year,” says David Thompson of Capital Offense, and he wasn’t the only one echoing that sentiment over the course of the game.

While Vietnam Patrol ran along tried and true lines, Ferg threw some major curveballs in the action this year. Both teams fought to control bases scored every hour, while Generals received missions every half hour – nothing new there. The switch came in some new rules about how the field could be navigated. The CDWC staff taped off large pathways throughout the field, marking both sides with blue tape, simulating rivers. Ground troops and armor (there were five tanks on the field) could not pass over the “water” unless at a designated bridge. Generals had the ability to airstrike bridges to destroy them until certain players could rebuild them, but even this became a challenge because a team could only rebuild with players on both sides of the water. The game producers effectively took a field with very few bottlenecks and created half a dozen crucial chokepoints that directed the entire flow of the game.

Ferg also gave both sides the equipment needed to deal with the rivers – on a limited basis. The American side was handed two helicopters – metal frames that had to be worn by the pilot, along with a rope to carry the players “on board.” The NVA got boats that could be used to float across the water or carry players safely down river. The final twist for the event came in the form of a painted flagpole cemented in a bucket. These flags started hidden on the field, and they functioned as mobile insertion points for each team. The rules prevented them from being placed just anywhere, but even so, they gave a huge tactical advantage when used properly.

Ken “Noah” Helfing, from Dogs of War, marshaled the U.S. forces at this scenario. To mimic the historic attack on Saigon, he took a defensive posture, working mostly to maintain a perimeter around the Saigon field, while his opposition, led by Rich “Ripperdoc” Singleton of Team Ronin adopted a more aggressive stance. This essential difference dictated the flow of the game from the opening horn. The North Vietnamese forces (Red team) broke out fast and started snatching up bases and raising their flags to be counted for points at the top of the hour. They tore through Ambush Alley and made a hard assault on entrenched Marines (wearing Green tape). Both sides discovered their mobile insertion points in this area, and the ability to quickly respawn elevated the already-pitched battle to a paint-slinging frenzy. Red players hurdled the trench walls and engaged their foes in close quarters combat only to be rooted out by reinserting waves of Marines with revenge on their minds. And then the tanks rolled in. It was an incredible start that set the tone for an intense weekend of paintball.

As Saturday wore on, Helfing’s side steadily lost ground. They used airstrikes and demolitions charges to blow key bridges that would cut off attack routes to Saigon, and squads positioned in crucial areas made rebuilding those bridges a difficult task. While some players ventured across the simulated rivers using boats (and one Boss Company shooter crossed solo, with floaties around his arms and waist), these brief pushes never yielded real results. The Marines also made intelligent use of their helicopter props to airdrop squads of paintballers to key mission sites, but the Red team owned far too much real estate to make base captures a reality for Green. By the end of the first day of play, Red team had racked up a comfortable lead that they extended during the night portion of the event.

Sunday gave the Marines a chance to regain some of their lost territory, and they did, but a motivated and organized Red team snatched it from them in short order. Red was able to shuffle the right scenario teams to the sections of the field where they could be most effective, due largely to the mad tactical skills of Runaway from Team Boxer. With Runaway on radios, he kept the teams directed to key points of the field as he orchestrated beautiful coordinated assaults. One example came early on Sunday when the Red general wanted to push Green out of the difficult-to-take hilltop base known as Rex, but with most of his side occupied with missions elsewhere, he only had half a dozen members of Capital Offense to do the job. He maneuvered the squad to the safety of the treeline at the bottom of the hill and had them wait patiently for support, which came in the form of two tanks, one moving north to south, the other south to north, sandwiching the base defenders as they passed. Capital Offense swept up the hill and cleared the remaining defenders taking the fort with minimal losses.



Towards game-end, the Marines ended up scrapping for the few acres of ground they controlled as the NVA, smelling blood, surged forward to finish them. It turns out that the steady stream of helicopter runs used by the Marines racked up major points on Sunday, but they didn’t earn enough to catch up with their opposition. The teams who travel to CDWC for the Vietnam Patrol games each year were sorry to see the series come to an end, but Ferg and the field staff promise a new round of games starting in 2012.

First Person Shooter (Eclipse Exclusive)

Talking it up is half the fun of any scenario, so take a seat at the campfire, pop the top on your beverage, and I’ll tell you about my favorite moment of the game.

Saturday afternoon Runaway had ordered Eclipse-sponsored Team Capital Offense to make the long creep through the woods to attempt the assault on Sim City (Saigon) from the less-defended low side. In our first push, Cookie, Moses and I held strong positions within shooting range of the first building on the outer edge of Sim City, and while we took out a steady stream of defenders, they kept respawning at a rate that prevented us from closing the distance. A second attempt later in the day netted even less ground for the team and a nice lump on the top of my head courtesy of a well-hidden scenario sniper. Nice shot player! We came at it again on Sunday, and this time we brought a tank with us. After rallying some walk-ons, Capital Offense led the charge towards the corner of Saigon, but ambush squads in the woods scattered our walk-on help, and an anti-tank gunner had our armor on the defensive. While the majority of the team jumped into the woods to work their paintball magic, Robert “Woodboss” Cox and I stayed to support the tank. Woodboss took one side of the road; I took the other, and we slowly pushed forward, moving from cover to cover, making our way up the hill. One-by-one we zapped the opposition. I flanked to take an angle on the players hiding behind the corner building, and when I shot them out, Woodboss cleared the interior with a rocket. Meanwhile a fresh group of players had moved up behind the tank, ready to follow it into the city. I sprinted for the building ahead of a barrage of paint, and once inside I had an easy shot on the enemy anti-tank gunner and his escorts. Less than a minute later, our tank crossed into the city followed by a wave of players eager to mix it up. Capital Offense had cracked the defense, and we came home with a Most Valuable Team award as our prize.


Latest Intel Report: Jason “foolybear” Lineberger will not only be attending but will be teaching at the Line-of-Fire Summer Celebrity Paintball Camp... CLICK ME for more info..


Links:

Command Decisions : http://www.cdpaintball.com/

Fulda Gap Mega Game: http://www.fuldagap.com/

Team Capital Offense: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-Capital-Offense/140205142672323

Line-of-Fire Summer Celebrity Paintball Camp: http://www.lofpb.com/Htms/LOFSUMMERCAMP.htm