Lions Claws XI

[Bad Karma]

Barely. Andy, myself, and Julian killed an entire bottle of Sailor Jerry's in about 20 minutes. That was a mistake.

[pulsipher]

I was led to believe that there would be waffles

[Variable]

My quick AAR:
We showed up on Friday afternoon just before they started checking in. The staff did photo ID checks against a roster that John had put together. The day parking area was seperate from the camping parking area. A lot of RVs showed up from all over the country.

Chrono was quick and efficient. They checked your name against the roster, loaded your mag, shot your gun, and zip tied it.

Saturday morning had a few hours of hurry up and wait. First we assembled by Squad/Platoon/Company and engaged in some hero worship of Danny McKnight, Max Mullens, some Russian paratrooper, and a Vietnam war vet from Washington who I can't remember the name of. A country music star sang the National anthem and there was a short safety briefing. Lastly both companies got their "hooah" on by chanting the motto's. Bravo company motto is "March or Die".

Alpha company had a numerical advantage over Bravo which we chalked up to everyone wanting to be on Col. McKnight's company.

It would have been good if they'd gone over some of the rules in more detail as there was some confusion later on by people that forgot the rules, didn't read them, or didn't care. Mainly it was the semi-auto inside buildings and vehicle killing rules that got "Forgotten".

Bravo's FOB was the farthest away from the assembly area and we got to hoof it out there. The lazy punks in first platoon got to ride out while we walked out. We waited for a bit while our CO briefed Platoon and Squad leaders then we stepped off.

The fighting was pretty intense at first, but settled into a stalemate within an hour that lasted until the noon break. The Deuces ran dead guys back and forth to regen points. Sometimes this helped you get back to your squad, sometimes it didn't.

During the noon break there was a food vendor selling tacos and burritos.

The second half was more intense as we moved building to building quicker and penetrated farther beyond the stalemate line to hit farther back control points. We were unable to really dislodge the far back points and during the last half hour our Platoon leader forgot that fire and maneuver was a valid attacking strategy and we did a couple of suicide charges.

The "night" game was going to be more like an "evening" game so we said fuckit and went to Red Robin for chow.
Here we area flashing 4-1 for 4th Platoon 1st squad.


The second day had a much shorter opening ceremony. Our CO recognized the aggression and cohesion of 4th platoon by appointing the BOE colors as the official rallying point for Bravo Co. Wherever those colors stood was where the fight would be.

We got to ride out to the FOB on the Deuces and hung around for a while. Matt and I sang "Wait two mikes" to the tune of "Smoke two joints" after the second time game control said the game would start in two minutes.

We stepped off and 4th Plt jogged three blocks at the lead into the first contact. We pushed through two control points fairly quickly before hitting a short lull. After regrouping we pushed out along the north eastern corner of the AO. Our cohesion was good and we had a couple of epic shootouts.

Bravo managed to kill John Lu (an objective) and capture other objectives like the artillery position and a crate of fuckificare. At one point we accidently pushed too hard and held Alpha back against their own permanent regen point for half an hour before game control pulled us back.

Time after time the M113 or the Suburban technical would show up at the scene of a firefight sending Bravo troops scrambling for cover and yelling for the heavy weapons team. Then some guys with a rocket launcher would show up and eliminate the vehicle, hell yeah. The crew members on the vehicles were fair game for rifles, and probably met more BBs than anyone else on the field.

The last hour of the scenario our squad knocked over building after building hunting down Alpha troops that'd been dropped behind our lines. This was fast paced movement, we'd take a building, get to the second story , cover as friendlies crossed, then go sprinting after them. Gatorade and quick snacks for the win!

Finally the game ended and we went back to the assembly area. John Lu and the military celebrities talked more, and photos were taken. Final score was Alpha 250, Bravo 235. We'll get em next year...

Overall the AO was fantastic. Its basically 20 or so blocks of falling apart apartments and houses. Shit is broken, dangerous and there's lots of cover. More than once we shot people in the next room through holes in the wall, or made new holes to shoot through.

The structure and chain of command really made this an excellent experience. Working with an aggressive and cohesive platoon really made it fun. I could always find my platoon because thats where the BOE flag (and all the fighting) would be. Sportsmanship was good overall, sometimes shit happens due to adrenaline or not reading the rules carefully, I didn't hear of any real injuries due to it though.

I will try to make it down there for LC XII next year.

To Variable. . man, again I apologize. . I'm a big kid and play too hard sometimes. . I'm the proverbial "bull in a china shop" all too often. Too much rough housing can create a mess, I guess I should have listened to my parents more. . . no hard feelings??!!??

Bravo Co really ruled the day. . !!!

Water under the bridge. We were all pretty jacked up on adrenaline, shenanigans happen. At least you didn't set off a flashbang in my cargo pocket or something...

[Matt]

R.I.P Andy's pants.

[Bad Karma]

I've got gopro footage of that shit coming soon. Epic pantspolsion.

[dos_Santos]

After Tim's AAR, I don't know what more I can add, but okay... In the first phase I didn't get to shoot much as the SL, but in the second phase, and the second day, I got to shoot a lot more. Satisfying kills were bountiful. Like when Brandon and I held two squads from advancing on our buildings, or when I took out a whole squad that had just dismounted from the APC; I let them all get out and stack on a wall, then as soon as the were about to move, I lit them all up; however said APC came at the house with it's mounted "SAW" and lit the house up. That was freaky.

4th Platoon is definitely where it's at. BoE's top brass were the platoon leaders, and planning was good, but simple. They realized that every plan goes down the crapper as soon as the BB's start flying. They knew this and didn't worry if people couldn't keep up or would get separated. Communication was everything and keeping the squad was hard the first day, but by the end of the second day, 4-1 was pretty much rolling together building to building like Tim mentioned. Moving, always moving was a lesson I learned in the first 10 minutes of the first engagement. It was really easy to get bogged down in a house either defending it or trying to breach it. People do things in airsoft they wouldn't do in the real world, so it made taking a building a difficult undertaking.

I didn't have too much problem with hackers myself. Once or twice someone would forget semi-auto only indoor; once a guy fired at me 10 feet away full auto and never hit me. What was nice was I died indoors by safety kill more than I did with BB's. That showed a level of maturity and self-control I haven't normally encountered at local games. I experienced great sportsmanship and professionalism from Alpha Co.

In the end, I came away with such an awesome experience and a great time with great people. Looking forward to what LC: OP Tradewinds at Camp Rilea in August will bring.

Here we are, except Matt who sacrificed as the photographer (and he couldn't wait to get out of his gear).

[dos_Santos]

I've got gopro footage of that shit coming soon. Epic pantspolsion.

I wish we had on video when Andy put the flashbang in your dump pouch; I haven't laughed so hard in a long time!!

[Darius137]

It's funny but with such an arid environment, the bare arms seem to blend in more than the woodland camouflage.

Also I take it there were no plate rules?

[dos_Santos]

It's funny but with such an arid environment, the bare arms seem to blend in more than the woodland camouflage.

Also I take it there were no plate rules?

Alpha Co. was 3-color DCU. Yea, no plate rules...good thing too, would have led to a lot of confusion and arguments...

[Variable]

The only place our camo worked was dark shadows in buildings. Fyi the bare arms and lack of cover were just for the pic. Hurdling through windows with jagged nails and broken glass without sleeves is a no no.

[Unconventional]

I need a vacation.

Nice!