After a week of walking and bivvying on Dartmoor, a warm morning saw the Lad and I packing the car for a trip to Airsoft Plantation; the Lad had not played for many months, so was rather looking forward to it.
Around 120 players were present, which is a nice amount for AP, allowing plenty of room for sneaking as well as head on assaults.
Following the usual rituals, we set off for the first game, in which we were the defenders. Our task was to prevent the Red team getting a player into the driver's seat of the Jurassic Park jeep and closing the door; we could start anywhere in the village and had two lives, while the attackers, who started at the Border, had infinite regens on a marshal. The Lad and I initially set up on the right flank, but soon realised that the attackers' main effort would probably come down our left, so we moved over there instead. It was a long and very good fight as we were slowly forced back; I had some great battles in the scrubland on that side of the village and eventually had to go back to the safe zone having been hit twice. The Red team eventually achieved their objective.
After a short break to take on fluids, the game was reversed; a group of us ran into strong resistance from the huts around the dried up pond as we attacked down our right; at one point, I was slightly startled to see the Lad crawling towards the enemy on his belly. We eventually overran them and tried to push into the village; at this point I was hit for about the third time and, having regened, decided to go with a group who were attacking down the centre. We repeatedly got shot to pieces but, over time, we wore the defenders down and pushed further into the village, despite some determined defending. Eventually, the defence crumbled and one of our players made it into the driver's seat in a time that was slightly shorter than the Red team had managed.
Another break followed, for which the Lad did not appear; I went in search of him and found him scrabbling around in the dried up pond; the rear sight of his AKMS had been snagged by a bush and both sight and leaf spring had pinged off. He had found the leaf spring, but there was no sign of the sight itself.
Just after we returned to the safe zone, the next game was briefed, in which we would be attacking from our starting point at the DEA base; with infinite marshal regens we had to force our way to the Bedford in the mortar pits, in the back of which was an ammo box with two grenades, each of which contained information on where in the village they had to be delivered. The defenders had one life in the mortar pits and one in the village. Our attack on the mortar pits initially stalled in the face of dogged resistance, but the defenders were inevitably whittled down and we managed to secure the grenades. During this attack, I got a very satisfying hit on a chap on the top deck of the bus from a very acute angle. During the attack on the village, I decided to try to sneak around the far left flank and became engaged in some delightful firefights with defenders, slowly reducing their numbers and keeping them away from our targets between my trips to regen. Our first target, the casino, was taken, followed after a long delay by our second, the town hall.
Luncheon followed, during which some players left because of the heat and my friend Gary arrived to drop off his malfunctioning AK, which I had offered to overhaul. We also went back to have another look for the sight, to no avail.
After luncheon, the grenade game was turned around; the Lad's AK47/M thing immediately started behaving oddly; I gave him my VZ58 and ran it back to the chrono area to see if I could find a solution. Fortunately, it was simple; the motor height has slipped, so a quick readjustment solved the problem. We put up a strong defence of the mortar pits; I got a lot of hits from a position atop the bunker before eventually being taken out. Falling back to the village, I noticed the Lad moving into the rear woods and followed him. We lay in wait for any attackers attempting to flank the village; unfortunately, when they arrived they shot me, so my part in the game ended. However, it took them longer to complete the mission than it did us.
There was another shortish domination game (Whatever would the Vicar say?), which we decided to forgo as we were feeling a bit knackered and wanted to get home.
It was an excellent day of hard fought airsoft, played in a gentlemanly manner between two good teams. The Lad has to return to the urban wasteland that is Stoke on Trent tomorrow, so will not be playing for a while unless he manages to come down again.
Weapons used:
Me:
Umarex/S&T ARX160
Ares VZ58
ASG XP18 Commander (CO2)
The Lad:
LCT AKMS
G&G AK47/M
ASG XP18 Commander (CO2)
