Great weekend run by Gunman at Eversley Alpha. The unusual feature of this event was that the VC and PAVN forces would have to stand and fight as a conventional unit. Two man fire teams were possible, but both units would fight as groups. Since both outfits tent to be harder to heard than cats, this promised an interesting weekend!
Friday night was the usual banter around a roaring fire, plenty of beers and the now traditional brandy and cigars. Obviously one wishes to prepare oneself before a weekend of vigorous activity; and a few coronas and balloons of Courvoisier help tremendously. These were enjoyed after a large helping of exquisite curry cooked by one of the players. Just because we’re in tents doesn’t mean that we slum it.
Saturday morning saw a few regulars and several newcomers take to the field. Being VC, our task was to kill and capture when possible GIs. The PAVN faction had a whole set of objectives that our hit and run chaos was to aid. We would tie the GIs up, whilst the PAVN did their thing. This was really enjoyable as we formed a three man fire team and played havoc with tripwires and ambushes, occasionally posing as civilians in order to delay or divert the enemy. Being equipped with explosives and an LSW, we had a fair bit of wallop when we did attack.
A good feature of the site is the regular fly pasts by vintage aircraft. The noise allowed for seriously rapid deployment in deep cover as the noise covered the sound of the movement. In the area around the brewery section of the site, I played a blinder. Being separated from my team as one player had become separated, and the other lost their rifle playing civilian, I attacked alone. Seriously I was on the ball, and managed kill after kill with no hits to myself. I was located at one point, but both grenades that were thrown failed to explode. I must have trodden in some lucky shit I think. For the first time I wished that I had kept count of the kill/death ratio. Another team member claimed 18/3.
My personal highlight was locating the enemy in a trench and earwigging their plans, radioing these to command and getting comfortable until they moved out twenty minutes later. When I got eyes on, I realised that the players were two regulars and my son. I laughed out loud as I took each one out. The family that sprays together etc…
At close of play, we had given the GIs a good pasting as a team, with the PAVN having carried out all of their objectives. The US players had recovered quickly after each attack and also done well, so good work all round. For the first time ever at one of these games, someone mentioned hit taking, which I think shocked us all, but I think with hindsight that someone was playing less than switched on rather than taking the piss. The heat was not too bad, but humidity was really high, and I can understand a bit of sloppy play at days end. Everyone was seriously wilting.
The night time was very relaxed after the day’s events. The new bars were still full of singing idiots until late and we talked over the day’s game over steaks and scotch.
Sunday was more objective based. A series of escape routes had to be closed by the US and defended by the Vietnamese. This went less well than Saturday. Two Viet fireteams came across almost the whole US force, and not realising their error, stood and fought. The outcome was inevitable and we lost all three citations and only hid our equipment box by luck. We all went back to respawn well chastened. Bollox!
Splitting our team into two we felt on more familiar ground. As a team of four we re-entered the field and followed in the US’s path. Doing this we retrieved our equipment and hid it ready for another opportunity. We also managed to win a quick firefight with a recce squad that we bumped. This cheered us up considerably.
Close of play was frustrating. We prepared a damn good all units ambush only for the US to rumble our plans and some fool to open fire all too soon. We got a thorough drubbing and deserved it for the lack of fire discipline.
One thing or so of note: The new players were not as switched on as the old hands. I noticed that when we patrolled, the experienced players held their rifs at the ready whilst the newbies used the carry handles right into the objectives. New players not only talked, but did so loudly, actually bickering about plans rather than confirming quietly via radio. Loose buckles rattled, equipment thunked and twigs cracked like gunshots. None knew any hand signals either. It soon became an educational weekend too.
Hits of the weekend: I honestly played better than ever before Saturday. The social was fantastic. My wife played too, and is developing into a seriously good player. She now wants a lightweight machine pistol. What would anyone recommend? We will try her with the lads Skorpion, but I expect that she’ll want her own 60’s rapid fire sidearm soon. She also fancies a lightweight sniper rifle. You can imagine how gutted I am at the thought of yet another gun.
Favourite bit: chap shaking hands at the end of game stating that we were the sneakiest bastards that he’d ever played against. This was especially generous as I aimed for his rucksack as he ran away… and all five/six shots hit him on the arse. I did apologise.
The heroes who got us a couple of gallons of water from Tesco deserve a mention too.
Moans: where were we all? The best games on the whole calendar IMHO and we were seriously depleted. I would say that only a third of the expected players were there. This did not affect the gameplay as such, which was great, but I did miss a few faces. Seriously, playing this type of event once a month leaves our old bi-weekly skirmishing routine lacking.
Anyhow, another great Gunman event, as expected. I’ll do the next at the end of the month, and one in October. I might just skirmish over the winter unless a Soviet themed game comes up, or possibly partisan based. Whatever, it will be a blast.
