Red Dawn Weekender – Island Recon – Pre-Game write-up
Before I start: Please note this is the Pre-Game write-up. The game will be coming later in the week.
I'd like to start by talking a bit about the bad start to our weekend. In fact, DarkSaber's bad start to the weekend.
Prior to actually getting anything in the way of Airsoft under-way, she took a slight tumble down the steps outside our house while loading the car. At the front of our house we have paving slabs as steps with a shingle drive. When stepping onto the slabs it is wise to ensure that your footing is correct and you don't slip off them and twist your ankle in the process otherwise this happens:
Ouch
Ouch indeed.
This of course resulted in not much play from DarkSaber over the weekend, and a dash around Newport on Friday getting pain killers, ankle supports, and deep freeze gel.
So anyway.
On Friday we travelled over to the IOW and landed in Cowes then drove off to meet up with NightWolf. After bundling NightWolf into the car we set out on some errands to help get the site prepped. So it was off to get a USB stick then a journey to Staples to get a load of paperwork printed.
We then pressed onto the site to start the prep work there.
We arrived to be greeted by Mark and his wife who had already been doing some work on the site during the day although they had to leave shortly after.
From there NightWolf and I set out to erect a "comms tower" and scatter gold bars through-out the site for the game start on Saturday. That in itself took quite a bit of time as we had to walk the entire length of the site at least twice as well as its entire width (including the ridge) to ensure a nice distribution of gold.
To give you a good idea of just how large this is, I shall illustrate with the use of Google maps
Of course remember that this is the distance AROUND the site, not end to end.
If we were to roughly plot how far we walked:
Not too bad really, but that's just a guess and isn't accurate, in fairness it was probably slightly more than that. In 25C, in the woods which turns pretty much tropical and humid, it feels like a very long way but it had to be done to ensure some of the set pieces were ready for the Saturday.
Foolishly I was not wearing the proper socks with my boots to do this and I don't have particularly hard feet, so I wound up with nice blisters by the end of the day.
DarkSaber sensibly sat and rested up in the Safe Zone.
There was more running errands that day and plenty of driving to fetch things and getting things set-up. By the evening everyone that had turned up during the mean time, and including us, were getting hungry so some of the lads went on a KFC run.
DarkSaber and I pitched our tent and by the time this was done, the boys were back with the food. We drank and ate until about midnight wrapping up a beautiful day of hard work preparing for the game on.
Red Dawn – Island Recon
So the next event is just days away!
From the 22-23rd May 2010 Island Recon is hosting a 26 hour airsoft battle.
Naturally we are all going to be there (Nightwolf is a co-owner so it's rude not to) for the fun.
To make this a little different from normal weekend events the game is actually running for a full 26 hours with food etc being taken in the field.
IR are providing ammo also in this limited ammo game.
As I'm starting to get old though, I don't think that I will be able to run a full 26 hours without some kind of sleep, so Darkie and I are taking a tent for maximum sleeps in the safe zone.
I've also fixed the auto-winder in the 249 box mag. Turns out the audio sensor had de-soldered, which I hear is quite a common failing. Damn those cheap clone guns. Stil, a bit of solder and 15 minutes has got her running strong again.
Expect a full battle report some time next week.
~Bio
Next Event – Island Recon Weekender 22-23 May 2010
So the 'Wolves next outing is to Island Recon for a 2 day Mil-Sim event on 22-23 May 2010.
Should be an interesting one considering I've never played limited ammo games before. Luckily for us, Island Recon will be providing the ammo AND food for the weekend.
Roll on May! Need to get me some beer and guns!
Post Christmas game update
So the Christmas game was one heck of a tiring day out.
Up early, drive to work to pick-up Nightwolf who had just completed a Night Shift (00:00 > 08:00), rush to the ferry port, travel to the island (Isle of Wight), drive across the island, get geared up, play game.
I thought I had it bad. Poor Nightwolf proceeded to stay awake for the entire day and run/marshal a game AFTER an 8 hour shift. THEN he endured the drive/boat ride home for about 7pm, to then go on shift again at 0:00. Madness.
Anyway.
The trip to Island Recon was the first time at the site for both Darkie and myself.
We started with the usual fare. Turn up, gear up, sign on and pay, safety brief, start the first game.
We were briefed on the scenario for the day, Santa vs. Elfs. Luckily we happened to be on the "Santa" team. Even more lucky, it was a defence game. That early in the morning I didn't much fancy running, even more so that the M249 was actually heavier than I had expected once all geared up.
The objective was for the "Elfs" to get to the Santa fortress and blow the gates allowing them to over-run us. All we had to do, was hold them off.
The 249 proved most worthy at laying down long, sustained bursts of fire, with a not bad range and accuracy either. Looks like my re-build after purchase was really worth the effort. Darkie managed to empty several G36 mags to the point of actually running out of ammo.
I managed to stay alive for most of the game purely due to the medic (who was running around everywhere and eventually gave up his gun in return for manoeuvrability) reviving me. Eventually he died leaving us unable to revive and most of the rest of us falling to the overwhelming numbers (respawns) of the Elfs.
After what seemed like forever the elves finally managed to get to our base and detonate their bomb. It was all over however we managed to hold out for quite some time.
The second game saw us turn the scenario around. The Santa team had to attempt to recapture our base from the naughty Elfs, in a quicker time than they had taken it from us.
A quick ammo-up (as quick as filling 4 G36 mags and a box mag can be) and we were back out into the field.
Assaulting the base actually proved to be easier than defending due to the extra elevation afforded from that direction. It was a constant push that eventually gave us the edge with the final assault resulting in someone yelling to me "gunner, we need covering fire, hit that complex", and me holding down the trigger and pelting the entire solid structure that we were attacking. As our team flanked both sides with me keeping the heads down in front, the enemy was eliminated securing us a victory.
We proceeded onto the final game before lunch with yet another victory scored for the Santa team.
Everyone stopped for lunch which was laid on (as it always is) by the fine staff at Island Recon. Hot dog and onions was very much welcome on the otherwise incredibly cold day, and Darkie and I had a cup of tea from the urn as well.
Another ammo refill (number 2), and we were out again.
Another couple of games and the Santa team had again won (clearly Red is better camo in the woods?).
The finale of the day saw the Santa team assaulting the Elves strong hold. Luckily for us this was again, down hill. The Elfs really didn't stand much of a chance against us though they were able to call artillery which took out a few of our team and slowed the advance.
Kaiser, being the crazy pyro that he is, fired up the home-made smokes giving a nice thick cover across the enemy base and adding to the already intense atmosphere, but that didn't stop us. We kept pushing until every last Elf was out of the game.
At the end of the day we gathered round for the spectacle that was the Santa bombardment of the Elf base by way of several detonations my Kaiser.
The games ended and we started our return to base to pack-up and go home.
Far too much ammo was expended by me (a bag at least to myself), and Darkie managed to damage a hop-up unit. But a good day was had by all.
Thanks goes out to all the players and staff at Island Recon. Without you (every one of you) the day wouldn't have been what it was. It really goes to show that it's the players that make our sport what it is.
Christmas 2009 game
Well for Christmas the 'Wolves will be over on the Isle of Wight to play at Island Recon. The theme is Santa vs. Elves.
This will be the first trip to the IOW to have the whole Luna Wolves team there together. NightWolf is actually a co-owner of IR so naturally tends to be there a bit more than the rest of us.
Coming with me is my new toy. Meet "Dorothy" (A&K M249 Para):
I picked her up off one of the fine UCAP-ians for a small sum.
Since purchase I've actually stripped her down (oh-er!), cleaned the gearbox up from the thick tractor grease that was in there and put some of the fine "Finish Line" stuff I normally use in there. This allows for more slippery on the gears and hence has increased ROF a fair bit from it's stock form.
I've also replaced the piston o-ring to get a better air seal as well as re-built the hop unit and cleaned the (VERY dirty) barrel, AND I've bought a new 9.6v Large for her.
She's now kicking out a steady 319fps (perfect for most sites in the UK) and the ROF is somewhere up near a TM FAMAS which is nice.