Terrific Weekend

well i thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend ,from frustration to elation , our early eviction from the village and unsuccessful attempts at capturing prisoners followed by our fight back into the village and routing the allies at the day's end, dinner in the pub , and i'll say it now but i was skeptical about the night mission but i thoroughly enjoy'd it and it was a great laugh .then the next day of close battle in the village that ebbed and flared as ground was captured ,lost and re-fought over but sadly had to end.
perfect play from everyone present and once again proved that rifles only lack's nothing of the excitement of other game styles and in fact adds to the tension and sense of peril .

Just my 0.30 cents:

For those who weren't there the flow as I remember and understand it:

First 10th Dragoons patrol approaching Chambois found itself under accurate fire from the town. Splitting into two fire sections the Poles tried to distract the enemy with one and assault with another. Sadly the flanking section encountered well camouflaged German snipers and after taking heavy casualties had to pull back.

Knowing the enemy disposition the Poles assaulted with no subtlety, concentrating on a single push with fixed bayonets. The Germans were thrown off the outlying buildings and decimated. During the building clearance the Poles encountered the Americans and the French - the link up was achieved. There was a lull in action. An HMG found in the town was deployed, field telephone lines laid, sandbags filled and deployed. With ammo running low the Allies sent the Dragoons to bring back some ammo from the main body of the Polish troops. The resupply mission once again encountered the German snipers but managed, although with heavy losses, to bring the ammo crate to the HQ. For a few hours situation stabilized. An allied reconnaissance by fire got massacred when it approached the German-occupied buildings but later on in constant rain the Germans became inactive. The Allies used that time to reorganize and reinforce their positions.

After repulsing a flanking German attack the HMG was redeployed to the left flank and three Dragoons sent on another resupply mission. The mission itself encountered no resistance but returning group heard the noises of heavy firefight. Stashing the supply crate away they tried a flanking attack but got wiped out. The Germans captured the HMG, partly because it jammed and couldn't be cleared in time. Germans themselves had no more luck with the HMG but still managed to pretty much wipe out the entire resistance in Chambois, leaving only the Allied headquarters active. For a while the town was open to the Germans and some troops could escape the Falaise encirclement.

The Allies took the town again before nightfall and during the night sent patrols to prevent German soldiers trying to sneak through. Some were indeed caught and interrogated.

On the next day the desperation of encircled Germans became visible as they threw themselves at the Chambois' defenders. Wave after wave managed to first clear the malfunctioning MG nest and enter the outlying buildings. Intense city fight developed, with buildings changing hands, infantry assaulting and counterattacking, the Allies sometimes pushed almost all the way out of the town and retaking the key positions later on. The fight finished with the Allies still in tenuous control of Chambois but not strong enough to prevent at least some enemy troops from fleeing the Falaise encirclement.

Thanks very much to Craig and the gang for a great weekend out. Really good fun and lots of memorable events. I'll do a fuller report and gets some pictures up tomorrow when I'm a bit more sorted.

Cheers
Martin

Many Thanks guys, and well played all - in the rain and the swealtering shine.

Some pictures I managed to snap

The grimace of death

Happy coincidence, most convenient of Martin to die as I pressed the button

Canadian liaison forces

German forces advance through the village

Polish forces are well, and comfortably, em-placed

The veteran German, you can tell by the grass in the helmet

Free French forces move forward with heavier ordnance

Fatigued German forces notice something, possibly interesting

A Concealed machine gun emplacement

Dragon 1:1 scale Steve

Dragon 1:1 scale Steve

I reluctantly slipped away from site at 6.30 this morning but I'm so glad that I kicked the real world into touch for 24 hours - another excellent weekend courtesy of Craig and Dean and a suitable end the the Polish series of events. First time I have worn low boots that had filled from the top with water and, being perfectly sealed with dubbin, remained that way. Having been earlier baked in the sunshine the downpour was actually enjoyable.

I never got through my issued 100 rounds all day - and I didn't even have to pay for those. Another point to add to the case of the economy of WW2 events, quite apart from anti-blatting arguments.

So passes another memorable WW2 airsoft game - what a pity so many missed out on similar memories.

Dragon 1:1 scale Steve

Looks like you all had a fantastic time, gutted I couldnt make it

I will sort out a medal ribbon for you tonight if you need it

Sorry you couldn't come Tim, a medal would be great. They are the only reason I do WW2 airsoft you know...

Cheers
Martin

Well, I've got that post game 'high as a kite' feeling so it was a good weeked out and just a shame more people couldn't come. We had just enough to make it work as there were sufficient people to allow each side to work in 2-3 groups and both sides go to attack and defend as well as doing other mission types like capturing prisoners, escorting supplies, setting up comms, evasion etc.

Laying ambushes to try and capture unwary small groups of Allies was great fun but really hard, and we got counter ambushed a couple of times (I'm still not quite sure what happened the first time, one minute we were all lying in wait, the next we were all dead!) We also laid out in the rain for a very long time before we figured out that the Allies had hunkered down in their nice dry buildings.

Both sides discovered it was really hard to defend the village with the small numbers available, and you were better off attacking, which led to some real see saw fighting.

Personal highlights were taking the MG nest by stealth while the Allies were mucking about setting the gun up and the night time escape mission (even if I was dismally unsuccessful). I got a bit freaked out by the wildlife creeping around the woods in the dark, particularly the barking fox which sounded like a heavy breathing axe murderer.

The rifles were great fun to use as usual, and even in the wind there was some fairly spectacular shooting and the gas guns and custom springers demonstrated their usual entertaining unreliability - mine decided to do its periodic refusal to feed just as Ramseys decided it was a good time to charge so I was faced with a large and angry sergeant getting ever closer while I frantically tried to get it working again. It came to life at the very last moment.

Thanks to everyone for a good weekend.

Cheers
Martin

I still can't believe that when Nurglitch captured Lipton, I was right behind him and got away unseen. Nurglitch's foot was about two inches from my face. For one horrible moment I thought he was going to step on me.

Looks like you all had a fantastic time, gutted I couldnt make it

I will sort out a medal ribbon for you tonight if you need it

Yeah sure, I'll be doing a little special one from the awards too but a game one would be nice.

I still can't believe that when Nurglitch captured Lipton, I was right behind him and got away unseen. Nurglitch's foot was about two inches from my face. For one horrible moment I thought he was going to step on me.

When you are using a torch it's pitch black outside the circle of light Plus - I have (stupidly) fixated on knowing there was one German there. I observed the bush line for some 15mins from the reinforced dugout's firing slits and I saw a crouched silhouette moving against the lighter sky. There was just one, so I searched for just one German. I moved in very aggressively and fast and upon capturing zee Kraut I switched to the "mission accomplished" mode A lesson for me not to take suppositions for facts.

well what a great weekend really enjoyed it with few numbers we really made a go on the
allies then we had a unexpected attack from them to our HQ very brave of you
thank to craig and dean for doing this

Both sides discovered it was really hard to defend the village with the small numbers available, and you were better off attacking, which led to some real see saw fighting.

Yes, one thing that I have noticed is that the rifles format really changes the defense/attack dynamic. Concealment becomes so much more than cover, and being stationary is a near death sentence.

In the first advance on the village we discovered that cautiously advancing through cover was leading to our attacks being decimated. Our slower movement, and opponent's concealment placed lots of advantages to them.
Resolving for a bayonet charge on the flank we were able to clear through the first defenses with relative ease, as the ability to respond rapidly to an attack from another direction takes a longer time.

Maneuvering worked, which I always like.

Wladek, do you have those pics you took on Sunday during the city fights?

I have posted up those that didn't come out really blurry - I'm not even a good enough photographer to be considered amateur .

i think the sneaking around in the dark was almost as hard for the searchers once it became proper dark, i was within 8 feet of a two man patrol crouching on their side of a bush and they failed to see me ,they moved off and i started to move around the building corner they had come from only to almost walk into Charlie .the second attempt i took far slower, watching the patrols from a distance before moving the shortest distance again and starting the process again ,by this time it was full dark and the searchers were using torches a lot and half blinding themselves in the process so it took only sparse cover to become invisible although i was so buzzed up i was sure they could hear my breathing! and it was so nerve wracking just sitting still so close to them and facing away so my glasses and bright face did not show, i made it through the second time .just for giggles i try'd a third time just sauntering down with a torch myself ,pointing it in bushes and casually keeping my distance from the searchers and it worked ,i'm not sure it was even cheating but maybe not in the spirit .

.just for giggles i try'd a third time just sauntering down with a torch myself ,pointing it in bushes and casually keeping my distance from the searchers and it worked ,i'm not sure it was even cheating but maybe not in the spirit .

I was wondering if anyone would try that That's exactly what I'd do.