Combat Action Games (CAG) 13/12/09
Players Present, Dave Ayres, Adam Whitby, Benj, Mutton, Richard
Total Players 20
Walk on £20

Before I start I just wanted to mention this:

“The original E6Airsoft line up began its life playing at a local golf course. Without this opportunity we would not now be in the position we are. Over the weekend most of you will know that the owner of said Golf Course David Horn, Charlie’s Dad spent some time in Hospital. A player himself and always up for a night skirmish I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of all E6Airsoft members to wish David a speedy recovery, get well soon.”

The 13th

With several players up to their necks in it the pre Christmas Sunday skirmish wasn’t the event many had hoped for. In total only 5 E6Airsoft members turned out for this Sunday skirmish at CAG. We arrived to find that we had actually bought a quarter of the total number of players for the days play. When we arrived it was clear that Christmas shopping with her in doors and the miserable weather had forced many players’ hand. In total 20 players were going to compete over this large site.

As we paid our walk on I noticed a lot of new and very young faces amongst only a handful of regular/experienced players. One of which was Shaun but today was dressed in a hi-vis and was running the days play due to the site owner away through illness. Earlier in the year I volunteered to help younger players during their first skirmish and set up the NPBP. Since the changing of the CAG website the thread, along with my Mod status has been removed and never replaced. Since then I have not taken out any new players through the loss of this thread and so today I expected another care free skirmish…yeah right.

As we got kitted up the mood was good, full of banter (Dave Ayres was playing so that was to be expected) and we looked to have a good day. Adam Whitby was looking forward to taking his new toy out after several months away from the skirmish field and I was desperate to take out my SR15 for a run later in the day. The chrono-ing of the weapons was done right before the briefing when everybody was over at the safe zone which meant the process was quick and nobody got missed, something that in my opinion, like it does at UA and FFZ works very well. Shaun sorted out the teams and after the briefing we got taped up and headed out. We were placed in the red team along with the 5 young lads that were out for their first ever skirmish, this was going to be hard work.

Before we got under way I took the 5 young lads to one side and broke out some old school advice, advice I knew would at least keep them in the game longer despite their limitations which were in abundance. These 5 young lads had found CAG through the wonders of Google, had persuaded their fathers to drive them the hour from their homes and pay £40 each for the privilege of playing Airsoft in the damp and cold at a site with no proper shelter. Now I’m blessed to have never needed to hire anything from CAG for a skirmish and to be honest I feel for those young kids that do. Countless times i’ve witnessed hire guns that could not produce any hop no matter how much effort you put into them and hire masks with the foam padding all torn and muck ridden without any lens cleaner or cloth, even at paintball you get lens wipes. These poor kids didn’t stand a chance, it was bordering on shameful. Now as I said, if I was still running the NPBP I would have looked after these guys for the day without question but to be honest I just wanted to play…but this being me I gave them as much time as I could, time I had paid for with my walk on fee. Lady luck had better be with us today…

Game 1

The scenario for game 1 was simple and well constructed. Team A would defend the Village against Team B who are looking to capture the VIP (dummy) to extract vital information. Team A would then fall back to fuel dump (FD) to protect the SATCOM dish. Team B now with the captured information would need to capture the SATCOM at FD dish and arrange an extraction. Team B would then defend the extraction point (near camp VC) for 15 minutes to win the game. Team A would need to kill all of Team B to prevent the extraction and win the game. The respawn rules changed at different locations depending on objective.

For game 1 we became Team B and had the task of attacking the village. Armed to the teeth with 2 Sopmods, 1 CA CQB M4, 1 Inokatsu M60, a G&P M4 defender and 5 hire guns which included an MP5K we were ready for the fight. To attack the village we spread ourselves out and pushed onto it down from Camp Bravo (CB). To take the brunt of the fighting we pushed 2nd squad (our 5 young friends) out on the right flank while we held the centre. During our approach Rich saw some movement close to the out of bounds line to our far left, some 100-150m from village. Myself, Dave Ayres and Jase held our position until we heard from Rich. He had gone on one of his famous loner walks. Captain Sopmod with his “Greatest ever AEG” spent so long 2nd squad along with Adam Whitby had reached the Village and decided to start the attack. Poor kids were gonna get slaughtered! Bored to tears of waiting for Rich I circled around and pushed the centre towards Rich along with Dave while Jase watched our rear. Nothing, nada, not a sausage, Rich had either seen woodland fairies again or somebody was out here on their faces waiting to get in behind us. By now I was getting frustrated, looking over to the right I could see young lads traipsing back to their respawn point after yet another failed attack, we needed to get into the fight and quick. Back on course we started to push onto village. Seeing Rich, Dave and Jase push left I stayed centre to lay down some cover and hopefully draw out Team A from there hidey holes and draw some fire away from 2nd squad. At one moment early during that engagement I thought we had the upper hand, we had surrounded the village on almost three sides splitting Team A’s defence but a stiff resistance prevented the left flank making any good progress. Seeing an opportunity I dropped my pack and pushed forward into a very bad place. Taking two with me (.2g’s don’t cut through Rhododendrons very well) I was beating back but was sure that with this obstacle gone the left flank would push forward but for some reason was still bogged down. After my respawn I found Dave minus his M4, it had battery issues and half of 2nd squad was on the left flank just mincing about. Of the 5 young lads only one was in the fight. The rest were re-arming and constantly trying to clean their face mask lenses as they couldn’t see where they were going. We were in a bad way and It wasn’t getting any better. I dropped the 60 by Dave to give him something to wield and went back for my pack. I walked out to where I thought I had left it only to find Adam walking about and told him where we all were. As I looked around for my pack with my arm raised I heard a call of Hit and saw Adam walking back up the hill with his arm raised. Having a good look over I saw my pack against a tree and beside it a Team A player on his face, it was one of the two players Rich had saw earlier up the slope, they had finally arrived. Now as I was in game but had my arm raised I wasn’t going to slot my enemy with my .45 as tempting as it was. I walked over to him, picked up my pack and walked back to where my 60 was. In the spirit of Airsoft I gave my enemy about 5 minutes before I circled back and put 2 bursts into him, this in my opinion was fair, I even did a 10 count and took another life, tough I thought, he shouldn’t be out there anyway. After this little manoeuvre I pushed over to the right flank to push back the previous chaps’ buddy which was to be honest very easy, unfortunately I forgot about the village and again got tagged by some chump in the closest hut.

By now I had been hit 3 times in total and was due a respawn, my temper was still borderline and was finally pushed over the edge by the continued mouthing off of some numpty inside the village, my mission was clear…make gob ache shut his face! After my long walk I returned back to the village with three members of 2nd squad. Laying down some more cover they pushed right and dug in behind a fallen tree, I told them not to concentrate but it was too late. One had been hit and was in the middle of a 10 count when trying to move over to help out I myself was hit. What followed was initially painful to watch but ended with something special. Standing helpless by Shaun our glorious overseer for today I watched as these three young lads where pinned, with no chance of fleeing they kept popping up to try and give at least one last roll of the dice before they were hit. Fearing a bloodbath a very nice man from Team A called for their surrender and two gave up instantly where as the third, using his teammates as cover decided to jump up and go down fighting. What a shot, straight of the noggin, he never saw it coming and I’m willing to bet that’s the last time he calls surrender! Full of beans and ready for some more action the now elite 2nd squad respawend and returned to push onto the village again. The left flank picking up on our movements and seeing the defences split it only a matter of time before the village fell. This was a true baptism of fire for these 5 young lads because that was a tough start to the day for anyone.
Now the VIP had been captured we could progress to the FD and even before I had chance to reload 2nd squad was off. I told them a brief layout of the FD and with this small amount of information they were gone, why don’t kids have any fear?

After a quick breather the rest of us followed 2nd squad to retrieve the SATCOM dish. Our steady approach was rewarded and soon we had made some good ground. 2nd squad pushing straight up the middle was within touching distance and Rich and Jase were pushing up around the slope to get elevation. I lost my first life at FD by being a little too ballsy. In future I must learn to wait my turn and that pulling my trigger doesn’t mean everybody dies instantly (wait that sounds familiar) cos there’s always one more left. As I respawend the two players from earlier in the game that had tried to get in behind us had pushed out of FD up our far left flank some70/80m away from me. Feeling a little exposed and our assault in full swing I moved over to keep them occupied. I know I got one, maybe two but was able to hold them up long enough for the rest of Team B to encircle the FD from the slope and push into it. I caught a random round while on the left and respawend at the FD to push out the rest of Team A. After some brief exchanges we took the FD and secured the SATCOM dish. All we had to do now was get out of dodge for the evac.

Taking time out to reload I watched as 2nd squad ran off to secure the evac point with the SATCOM in tow. After my reload I trudged up the slope and noticed that Team A had only just left to capture our evac point. As I paused to consider my options behind a fallen tree Rich and Jase came up the slope behind me. Like me they had stopped in FD to re-arm and were behind the fight. They joined me behind the fallen tree and we discussed our options and eventually decided to wait for the first shots of the defence to be fired and then we would make our move, like the cavalry we would come to the rescue of the outnumbered peasants hiding in the long stuff. Unfortunately our progress was slow; somehow Rich had forgotten where the evac point was despite the fact that’s where he started the game a couple of hours ago. Explaining where it was cost us time and my ever fading patients so decided to run off and leave Jase to try and get Rich’s brain working. I duly arrived behind Team A as they were pushing onto the evac point and opened up on a few stragglers to the rear and dropped to the floor. I managed to get 5 or 6 looking over their shoulders on the left flank and was praying Rich had been re-booted and was working again so he and Jase could join in the fun. It wasn’t be, moving to cover I was tagged by another random round and the game was over before Jase and Rich arrived. 2 minutes…that’s all that was left on the stop watch, I was gutted and I blame Richard, I know everybody else did!

Lunch

During lunch I was desperate to spend some time sorting out on my SR15 which was short of some bling! Having spent a small fortune on accessories I was at it like a “Jonny 5 on speed” trying to make scopes and bipods work while trying to fit a pork pie and Scotch egg into my face. A few issues later I had had my fill of processed meat products and created what some would regard a work of art…just a shame the bb’s weren’t going where I was aiming. This didn’t deter me though as I was desperate to make it work out in the field. By now Dangerous Dave Ayres had re-charged his battery during the lunch break and was ready to go, that is until he tried his M4 and it was well, a little on the poo side. That M4 is cursed I swear so he traded it in for Jase’s Sopmod (Jase was rocking his Socom) and rolled out of the safe zone to the trenches. Finally kitted up and happy-ish with my SR15 I eventually left for the trenches but inside felt I should have kept with the 60 as my SR15 hadn’t even had proper testing.

Game 2

I arrived at the trenches to find the game known as “Stalingrad” in full swing. I had missed our defence and arrived in time to join in the attack which by the end had cost me 2 lives and I’m pretty sure zero kills, I was beginning to miss my 60. To try and spice up Stalingrad (my least favourite CAG game) we played it again but all players had a single life. Team B would defend against Team A and all players would use semi-auto only and had just a single life. As expected the game was very slow paced with all of Team A dropping into the thick stuff to try and get into closer firing position. Team B was dug into the trench with good cover and was very happy to just sit and wait. Apart from the occasional round skipping through the air little happened and it was a real struggle for Team A to gain good ground. The game ended with little progress being made and I got the feeling Team A didn’t want to play that one anymore, it ended there and we left for game 3 without the option of Team B having a crack at it.

Game 3

Game 3 was going to be a reverse of the morning game with Team B in the defensive role and Team A attacking. With the rain starting to fall I rolled out my poncho, re-armed and waited for the assault. I took the track side of village along with Jase while the rest had dug into the huts watching the woods to the right. Eventually Team A arrived and began their assault and finally after so long my SR15 registered its first kill. At last I felt I was contributing again and our defence of village was strong. Jase, like usual was like a demon, here there and everywhere, plinking rounds off all over and keeping the enemy at bay, nothing was breaking through our defence. Now this is as far as my story lasts. During the rush to get ready I forgot to bring out my spare battery and was running the batt from my 60. Needless to say a few thousand rounds had been set free by this metal encased lump of chemically rechargeable wizardry. So the story from this point on is left in the hands of Jason “Still wasted from the night before” Mutton as I went back to the safe zone to erect a shelter and put the heater on.

Jase…

At the start there was a very small amount attacking on that flank. Ben and I held them off for a good while. However I believe it were the Girling boys who managed to exploit our flank by going around very wide. When Ben’s SR15 went down I couldn’t help but laugh as we were pretty much in the shit on the left hand side defending the village. While I was trying to defend Ben was busy trying to hide himself in his poncho to dish out some M1911 pain once they got close. At this point I was shouting to Ayres to help cover my side. Next thing I know I was calling ‘hit!’ my last life at that base too. Ayres was still in the game and taking heavy fire from pretty much every direction. He had my speedloader which I need to reload etc. I had my hand in the air and was about 4-5meters away from him and some twat still managed to shoot me in the neck! I was not best pleased!

As it was raining I walked to checkpoint Charlie where I took shelter to reload out of the rain. While taking shelter I could see Ben walking back to the safe zone so I decided to have a pop at him with the Glock but missed, doh! Then Ayres turned up asking for some ammo. He already was using my gun and now he wanted some ammo, the cheek! Of course I obliged as I’m a nice guy!

Next objective was to defend the fuel dump, second squad setup positions within fuel dump itself. Rich, Ayres and I started off by defending the trackside as this is a favourite position to attack from. I managed to spot two guys using the hill to flank us. I knew that if we lost the hill the game would be pretty much over for us. One of these kids had a two tone clear m4, I had him pretty pinned down for a good 5 minutes and then he put up his hand to signal a problem with his gun, so I thought great thats one down but he then grabbed his pistol and starting shooting me again. I’m assuming he then ran out of ammo as his hand went up again ‘i give up’ he then walked off. At this point Rich and Ayres took the hill by themselves. The enemy was now forming a big attack on the right side of fuel dump, I was a little worried as I felt the kids holding fuel dump would be over run. While dodging fire from Nick and some others I managed to sprint down the hill and find a good position near Adam, who was doing a great job on his own defending the right flank. Here we both managed to mop up the attackers before running out of ammo completely until Ayres came to the rescue with some 0.25s so Ayres covered as Adam and I frantically tried to reload. Once we reloaded we heard ‘game over!!’ we were gutted! We managed to hold fuel dump for the allotted time, another victory!
All in all it was a good days gaming despite the cold weather and the rain, admittedly after lunch was a lot better than the morning games. Only gripes I have are I’m not hearing anyone hardly shouting a nice clear loud ‘hit’. I’m just seeing people walking away, can be very confusing! I also had a few issues with people not taking hits.

“Thanks Jase, you’ll be mentioned in my will”

In Conclusion

With the rain and cold a major factor it was always going to be a hard slog and with the promise of a suitable shelter in the safe zone still not fulfilled it’s easy to see why CAG doesn’t attract high numbers during the winter months (see picture’s below). The day was marshalled well and you could see some thought had gone into the long morning game. It was also good to see the games being adapted during game play if it favoured one side more than the other. If I’m honest my initial thought was that the red team was the weaker of the two side but as the day progressed the youngsters adapted quickly despite their steep learning curve and proved a tough little squad to topple. Honesty throughout the day was hit and miss and in some places was downright disgusting. Yes the younger more inexperienced players can be forgiven this but I feel some players do it just to infuriate others, to try and prove there some kind of “elite” member of the community which is a little pathetic.
I’ve always found CAG works better with greater numbers with large teams playing big rolling games rather than quick fast games which prevent the large spectrum of Airsofters doing what they came to do. Today’s low numbers could be contributed to the weather or Christmas shopping but the reality is CAG needs to build a bigger player base and must stop relying on “Google Hits” and “Friend Introductions” to survive. Not all Airsofters want to play the same site week in week out because most Airsofters aren’t there to piss up the site owners back and tell him he’s running a good day. Most Airsofters want a challenge and a change of scenery which is why we play other sites. CAG has the potential to become a great site and it’s got Norwich on its doorstep so why doesn’t it have the player base?

Today’s game was ok on the most part but the site needs to develop as a whole. It needs a larger player base and a safe zone shelter worth something. In January I will play UA and then hopefully FFZ and AWA herts simply because CAG no longer offers a good deal to me and certainly not to those wishing to hire kit. I’ll be there on the 27th hopefully, and maybe I’ll have a good day, we’ll see.

7 out of 10 (for the games only)