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MPP Games: Ia Drang Valley Scenario
After Action Report
American Teams accounted for: Carolina Sabers, Port City Militia, Fracture, ABP, SSK, Undead Warriors, Wee-R-Teem, The Unit
 Friday:
1230 - Command arrived and began setting up camp.
1400 - Camp setup, Lunch eaten.
1600 – Wee-R-Teem check-in. We discuss plans and talk shop.
1700 – Rest of Carolina Sabers roll in. PCM on site as well. I start cooking Chili for the group.
1800 – Chili is about done. Kevin from ABP rolls in and sets up. Fracture and other teams around also (not sure of exact time).
1830 – People eat. Drinking commences. XO (Chris Nienow, and Tom) come by and we discuss game (not too long because it cut into drinking).
1900 – Go by and talk to Big Bear and guys with Section 8 and Rebel Force Pirates. Great to be able to talk to the “enemy” teams and have a good time. This is what the scenarios are all about. Note: Get recipe for “Sucker Punch” beverage that I sampled.
2000 – Sat. 0200 – Mostly a blur of hanging around the camp fire and drinking. Other teams come by and say hi and we talk. From my limited memory, DeadBox from GunKing$, and some other guys from Section 8 came by. Mostly just joked around and had a good time.
Saturday:
0630 – Awoke to the sound of Aircraft taking off from the Airforce Base. This is going to be a great day.
0700 – 1100 – Standard stuff… Getting ready. Walking around to teams and getting the motivated and pumped up for the game. Went to safety briefing. Got to speak more with LoneWolf at the briefing. He’s a great guy and I was looking forward to playing against him.
1130 – Move Command items (radios, etc.) on the field and setup CP.
1145 – Troops on the field and ready. I’m amazed at the speed that all the American teams were on the field. There was not the usual mad rush at the end. We had all Choppers loaded and ready to move out on issue of missions.
1200 – Game on and we are issued our first 3 missions. I have our helicopter pilots move toward mission area (LZ Whiskey, Outside of FireBase 2) to setup for mission team that is on foot for Mission at Firebase 2 (See Kurb’s comments on why we didn’t get points on this mission).
I also send Fracture and SSK to push the crossing and the enemy CP off of break.
1205 – Getting intel from all units on enemy troop locations. Begin updating command map and sending updates to other teams on the ground.
1230 – Getting calls in that we are pushing and receiving some resistance. When asking if reinforcements are needed, I’m told that they have it under control and they will call in with an update as soon as they push through.
1235 – Get next mission issued and call in to send troops to PLEI BEK (Castle). I receive on field radio from Nienow that he can meet up with troops there to reinforce and send intel back to CP.
 1240 – Receive radio call that they have pushed through and completed missions. PLEI BEK mission is under way and we have control of the area. We have light resistance in MEUR (City). Props are coming in as well as teams that have respawned. At this point I send a few reinforcements to enemy CP skirmish line.
1300 – Mission to TOVO (Trenches). Tom takes command of 15 person mission team and they head out via Chopper. Mission completes successfully.
1300 – 1600 – Missions are coming out and being issued. I keep getting calls that there is resistance but the teams are pushing through. A few times the NVA gets through the MEUR (City ) and pushes our base, but we do not see any attempts on blowing our CP. Thanks to the teams that ran perimeter defense while waiting on missions at the CP. That helped.
1620 – Mission issued to go to Q-16 to recover intel. This is another General / XO lead mission. I decide that my on field XO’s have it under control, so I take a team and head down Route 1 toward the power lines. Within, 50 yards of pushing out. We come across a single NVA player trying to infiltrate our CP. We end up pushing up quickly and eliminating the threat. We continue to move down to the Junkyard. We ambush a few NVA players and then get into a firefight with guys in the TeePee area. Kevin and I get shot out after taking a few with us.
1630 – On my way to respawn at the Tree of Life, I walk through the MEUR (City) and notice the hard playing by both sides and the great sportsmanship. We walked out with some NVA players talking about the day and how great the players are.
1640 – I’m back to the CP and issue a few more missions until the final battle for the day.
1720 – Final mission is to hold PLEI ME, FIREBASE 1, LZ TANGO, PLEI BEK (Castle), and MEUR (City). I radio mission to Units 1 – 4 and they inform me that they have 4 of the 5 locations already under control and will hold. I send remaining reinforcements to the MEUR (City). Any more reinforcements I send to the NVA CP to put pressure on them. At the end of the day (approx. 1800) I get confirmation that we held 4 points and contested the location of MEUR (City).
1800 – 2000 – Dinner. During which, LoneWolf comes by my camp site and asks if we can play night until 10:00 and let the players get some good rest for Sunday. I agree.
2000 – Night Game on. Nienow is out on the field before I am and accepts the first mission for me and moves out with about 10 people. When I get on the field, I radio to get a Sit Rep. He tells me he is looking for a pilot and needs more light. I gather troops with illumination and send them to the location.
2000 – 2140 – Missions go out smoothly. Communications is amazing between squads on the American side. They are utilizing radios, and other means to make sure there are very little friendly fire incidents. I get reports that LZ Whiskey has enemy movement, but that is the only report I receive during the evening. Missions are coming back successfully completed and I’m very pleased with the players.
2140 – Final night mission comes out and it is at PLEI BEK (Castle). We need to hold for 20 minutes. I radio the mission and send Tom with the card. I’m informed that there are 30 or so Americans already at the castle. The mission group moves down and has a picnic with the other Americans.
End of Saturday play.
Sunday
0630 – Woke up and started getting ready for the day. Rest of team was slow to move and wake up.
0730 – Rest of team wake up and start getting ready. Feeling a little rushed.
0830 – Moved to field after crono-range visit. Ready to get going.
0850 – On field with a handful of people. A little nervous that we don’t have enough players on the field to start. That is usually the norm.
0900 – The Game is on! I send what troops I have on the first mission. Mix of PCM, Wee-R-Teem and SSK. They start toward the Castle to hold and make a path for our other players.
0910 – I am informed that Helos and Tanks are off the field because of “weather”.
0920 – Majority of team is on the field and I send them to create a skirmish line between our CP and LZ TANGO. We have a mission to the Trenches and we need to get guys there!!!
0920 – Ben contacts me in CP and asks if I had a problem with giving NVA the Tank for the first 2 hours of play. I try to negotiate the use of one Helo on our side since we didn’t get the tank. Ben was worried that giving the Helo would give the same benefit it had the previous day and could discourage players. I agreed and said it would be fine. I would rather have a great game than no-one have any fun.
0940 – Game get interesting. NVA is denying us missions and getting their stuff together. My American troops are playing hard and having fun.
1000 – 1140 – Missions are being sent out, and we only succeed in completing a few of them. Players are still playing hard. NVA is keeping MEUR (City) and PLEI BEK (Castle) in contention and making it tough for us. During this time, NVA makes it to Bridge 2 and Bridge 3 to try and push the CP. I can hear the gunfire, but don’t see any NVA. Nienow calls on radio and informs me he is going to take care of my “problem” by coming in behind NVA using path through LZ WHISKEY. They end up stopping enemy push. Great job!
1140 – Non-Mission sent out to prepare troops for the final battle. I make my major mistake of the weekend. I pull 75% of my troops back to base to get paint and air (considering the Air issue. I wanted my players to have air in the final battle). I get ready to go out to the front lines for the second time in the weekend.
1200 – Because of my mistake, NVA takes MEUR (City) and PLEI BEK (Castle) (Sorry Nienow). I figured I would use my last Strategic Bombing Run to clear the Castle within 5 minutes of the Final Battle. Troops go out.
1205 – Try to call Bombing Run before I head out of CP. I’m informed that Bombing Runs, Tanks, Helos, LAWS, and Satchel Charges are out of the game and it is infantry only. I plan on going out now!
1215 – Team members coming on the field and need paint. I give them a few pods and continue to mic up for on field communications.
1220 – Oh Crap! Jedi Leads a group of Gun King$ and Section 8 players to our back door and attacks our CP! First time in the weekend that they get that close to our base. Jedi showed great sportsmanship and I hope he heard me congratulating him and his group on catching me by surprise! During this time, Hamstrung and Tom helped lead the push to repel the invaders. After this, he is low on air and I give him my tank from my gun. He switches out his with mine and is on the front line.
1230 – Kurb comes by and is out of air. He takes my gun that has Hamstrung’s tank on it and 1000 psi of air remaining. He heads off and I’m sitting in the CP. Grrrrrrrrrrr (a General’s got to do what a General’s got to do.)
1240 – I get a report that FIREBASE 1 is falling and send reinforcements. Everyone is getting bottled up at PLEI BEK (Castle) and not making it to FIREBASE 1. As a result, it falls (at least that is what is reported).
1250 – Fighting continues and I tell team members to at least get a body into each of the points. We can deny the NVA. I was banking on us having enough of a lead in points and keeping the NVA from getting any more points.
1300 – Game Over! I still don’t know what the final result of the battle was. I believe we held or contested at least 3 of the 4 points.
Great Game to everyone. LoneWolf and Thumper, it was an honor to play against you. I look forward to sharing the field of battle with you in the future.
Ben and Bonnie – Thank you for a great game. It made for one of my most memorable paintball experiences that I will ever remember. If you ever need another General or XO I’ll be there for you.
Respectfully submitted
Robert “Spectere” Flowers
Carolina Sabers
Commander of American Forces.
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