Axis and Allies

By Jason “foolybear” Lineberger

Pictures by Brett Weaver of PB Uprising 

(www.pbuprising.com)

A rolling cloud of orange smoke obscured the Blue team’s approach.  At least two dozen players, guns up and blazing, drove headlong through the woods hell-bent on reaching the midpoint tower.  Others crawled through the thicker woods along the tapeline, and a flanking force swung wide to provide supporting fire from the field’s center.  As the first Blue runner reached the tower steps, a withering barrage of fire sent him and most of the ones behind him walking for the deadzone.  As the Blue covering fire began to take its toll on the Red defenders, a few Blue runners gained the upper platform and flipped the colors of the building.  Still more dove into the creek bed near the tower and used the cover to gain devastating angles on the entrenched Red shooters.  Within minutes, the tide of the game turned as Blue scored the most valuable piece of real estate on the field.

For some scenario teams Paintball Central’s Axis and Allies: Dunkirk game marked the beginning of the fall scenario season.  Cooling temperatures bring southern US teams out of hiding, and the promise of a big game on PBC’s expanded woods courses enticed teams to travel to this event.  Local scenario crew O.M.E.N. took on the responsibilities of building, producing, and reffing the event, and they kept the sides engaged and the game safe.

Points for the game could be had in two ways – completing missions and controlling the key points of the field.  The most essential point also fell roughly midway between bases on the near tapeline.  This two-story structure, about the dimensions of a kid’s treehouse, supported a pole with a single piece of wood painted blue on one half and red on the other.  Owning the tower opened a midfield insertion point that provided easy access to the staging area.  Rather than making the long walk back to starting positions, eliminated players could respawn midfield, and this proved a huge tactical advantage.  The team controlling to tower was able to bring fresh players to the front lines quickly, allowing that side to put pressure on the opposing base.

From game on both teams zeroed in on this strategic edge.  The opening two hours of the game saw little action at the trails and forts on the opposite tapeline; for the generals, the tower was paramount.

As the players spent their pent up aggressions in the protracted opening battle, they became more interested in the heart of any scenario game, the missions.  Teams started pushing for their objectives, which ranged from basic take-and-hold directives to more complicated prop extractions.  At the game’s halfway mark the teams had a chance to collect pieces of their mobile insertion points.  This popular scenario twist lets sides carry a spawn point to critical parts of the field to keep the battle lines filled.


Foolybear on the front lines

I had a blast running with the Red team at this event.  Shortly after we retook the tower and opened our midfield spawn point, our general called for us to push forward to grab as much land as possible to make it easier for our side to complete missions.  Two key locations held my side back – a small fort in the center of the field and the village, a speedball/CQB course situated against the net.  Blue players in the village could safely rain down shots on our front lines, which prevented our advance on that tapeline.  With team Fracture providing cover, I sprinted across the field and dove for cover behind a fallen tree.  From there I had easy shots through the windows of the building, but whenever a Red player made the run to the fort, he lasted seconds before being eliminated.  I held my fire and watched as another ran, and this time I spotted the shots coming from the thick woods to the right of the building.  I yelled for Fracture to put fire into the woods, and Colonel Mustard from Shadow Dragon Initiative bounced a rocket off the wall of the fort, taking out all players inside.  Inside of a minute we controlled the center of the field.

The village looked to be a greater challenge.  With a few dozen buildings, a well-placed rocket would not be enough.  The assault team stacked the back left wall with ten experienced players, but the steady stream of fire kept us penned in.  In a move that brought back my old tourney days, I ran across the back line, slid into the right corner, and came up shooting across field.  With players like Josh Silverman and Brad “Fandam” Mikulskis on my side, we bumped up the field like we had been practicing those moves every week.  That moment in paintball, when everything clicks – that’s glorious, and by breaking these two key points, we cornered the Blue team near their base.  Unfortunately as I came off the field to get paint and air, Blue counterattacked and swarmed the village.  That’s the ebb and flow of scenario paintball.

Props and missions, airstrikes and launchers, woods and villages – Axis and Allies: Dunkirk proved to be a great start to the fall scenario season.

Did I mention the Red team won (Germans - the side I played for :-)

www.pballcentral.com

My next game will be Saturday 1st October at Boss Paintball, a game titled The Delphi.

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