Tangimoana 2016. - Written by Stag
Friday:
The day started cool but fine, with showers forcast. I was getting picked up at 10.30 am. Ghost
rang me at 10.20am informing me that there was a crash on the main road just before the Otane
turn off and he'd been waiting for 20 mins. He decided to wait for another 5 mins then turn around
and look for a detour. Jay Bee, Torak and Wildcard rocked up at 11am to my place having been
held up by the crash as well. We repacked the trailer to accommodate my luggage for the weekend.
I had put some effort in to packing light, but it still adds up. 1 bag for clothes, 1 bag for game gear,
1 bag for bedding, 1 gun bag which held 2 guns, 1 chilli bin with food and drinks, 1 tent, 1 camp
stretcher, 1 camp chair, 1 chilli bag for water, 2 dive bottles.
There was a debate over covering the trailer again and it turned out to be a good choice to replace
it as it started to rain on the way over. A slow start to the day with the delay from the crash and a
further delay with a food run at the Waipukarau New World.
The convoy was ready and away we went. Fast vehicles at the front and slow vehicles at the back.
We regrouped at the Mac Donald's at Dannivike for a feed on the go. The convoy reformed with
the same SOP, and disappeared in the distance.
We stopped in Bulls to feel our way through the dimly lit Army surplus store, as there had been a
request for a stop to buy some items, but we were there by ourselves (the convoy had by missed it
because of the lack of directions to find it). Back on the road, we missed the turn off to
Tangimoana, but not to worry, Jay Bee's navman was on to it. “ Turn left in 100 metres”. Turning
through a gap in the traffic we turned left into the main entrance to Ohakia Air Base. We were
sitting there looking at the guard stations with barrer arms and the GPS mapping pointing straight
ahead. The debate was to go straight ahead and go through the air base or to turn around? As it
turns out, the gate on the other side of the base was locked, so turning around was the right option.
Arriving at Tangi in the rain, we were just in time to wave goodbye to 3 of our team (No comment
on this). We pulled up and were greeted with hand shakes and man hugs from the RUB guys. Once
we knew where to pitch our tents, and with rain coats on (those who had them. Wasp can do a deal
for you) we assembled our homes away from home. Beer drinking time and catch-up conversations
with everyone. I paid for a hamburger that one of the RUB guys was cooking and handing out to
his team mates. Apparantlly he is a chef or something and did a deal with his team to put on
burgers for his team for a cost. The burger was excellent and filled the empty spot in my stomach
and meant that I didn't have to lift a finger to feed myself. Spirits were high and excitement for the
gaming tomorrow were fever pitch. So to calm ourselves down, the alcohol flowed down our
throats (not to excess lol). The music was turned off at 1.30am and silence fell over the camp site
by 2am as the rain clouds blew away leaving a beautiful night sky to be seen only by the campers
with weak bladders.
Saturday.
A slow start, which got slower and later as the morning drifted on, as Airsofter's got ready for
gaming. But I am getting ahead of myself. There was the slow stirring of the camp on a cool but
fine day.Preparations for the first coffee of the day and the BBQ breakfast could be smelled
around the camp. Mine was bacon and eggs, bread, and baked beans heated in their own can with
the lid opened. A meal to set a man up for 7 hours in the field. As they say “what goes in, must
come out”. Which brings me to the portaloos. What an experience, in sight and smell. I found
waiting 'til the last minute before forcing myseft into them was a good SOP. Even though you say
to yourself don't look down, don't look down, just like someone who is scared of heights and at the
edge of a cliff, you always look down. DAMN!! Someone needs more fibre in their diet!!
To get to the field there is a 3 km road trip around the outside of the farm on open road. The shout
went out “Load up!! We're moving out!”. A convoy of vehicles assembled with the urgency of a
tsunami alert. Gear and bodies stacked on the back of utes, cars overloaded with men and gear,
men standing on the running boards of vehicals hanging on for their lives, and away we went, out
on to the public road and around the farm. No dramas on the trip. At the field there was a briefing (
and I emphasize brief) and on to the field we marched.
The green team were at the furthest end of the field from the entrance. RUB (Black team) was
somewhere in the middle to the left, and AHB (red team) had the shortest distance to get to our
base which was near the entrance. Game on was to be at 1pm, so there was time for us to have
some lunch and discuss our game plan. We had 3 flags that were attached to ammo boxes, which
had batteries in them to be used to power the dual clocks (one red and one green) that were in the
bases out in the field. These were our respawn points.
Game on 1pm.
We moved out into the field, heading to the right hand side of the field in force. The plan was to
take the next base (Echo), then turn 90 degrees left and take (Foxtrot) base, leaving a flag in each.
We also had planned to send a recon squad back to the main base every half hour to check on the
flag and timer in case someone (Green or Black) had unplugged them.
We approached Echo base and came under attack. I called up Frog to lay down cover fire on the
base with his Saw so we could move to the right and left to get flanking fire into the base. Frog
moved up into the line using a large tree as cover, threw himself on to the ground beside it in a
tight firing position. 10 rounds from the Saw cut into the walls of the base making the defenders
dive for cover. I was already planning an early victory, when the high powered report of the Saw
changed from a bark, to a cough, to a burp, to a hic. I turned in time to see BB's dribbling from the
end of barrel. NOOOOO!!! Frog, Tangi and gun problems. The same as last year.
Eventually we over-ran Echo base. Part of the game was to complete the commanders map. In
each base there was another map which had more information on it that had to be transferred onto
the commanders map. Once the flag had been connected to the timer in Echo base we pushed on to
Foxtrot base. We over ran the base with ease, and set up a defensive screen around it.
2pm.
On the hour the Commanders had to go to the middle of the right hand edge of the field to collect a
contract for the next mission.
Contract 1: Convoy.
We had to ambush or intercept a convoy of a 4x4 and an escort team of super strong drugged up
mega soldiers who wouldn't go down easily; to capture a Juggernaut suit and the user manual with
it. There was a warning that the Green team was also trying to capture the Juggernaut suit. We
were given a map that showed the track that the 4x4 was travelling on. It was a short, vicious battle
that resulted in our team being wiped out and no objective collected. We headed back to our main
base to re arm and re gas. At our base we found that the Green team had been there and had taken
our flag/ammo box and the flag/ammo box from Echo base as well. This was a major set back.
Regrouped, we headed off to Datsun base to get some time on the clock in that base because it was
worth double points. We defended the base until we started to take casualties, then bugged out
back to our main base before we could get surrounded.
3pm.
Contract 2: Super soldiers.
Some of the Ruddy bastards were shooting up their superhuman mega soldiers on combat drugs
near us, so we had to break up their party and take the combat drugs for ourselves.
We headed out into the field and hit their party in a tight attack formation and broke up the party
with a constant hale of BB's. We claimed the combat drugs (vodka jellies) and injected the syringe
directly into our mouths, granting us triple strength (6 body shots or three to the head).
The combat drugs were too strong for Tatz (I was told later it was an unrelated medical problem)
and we lost another member of our team because he had gone home.
I sent our team back to Datsun base for some more double points under Jay Bee's command, so
Torak and myself could get one of the Green team's flags before the next contract at 3pm. We
moved up the right hand side of the field in full stealth mode. At the Green team's front line, they
were in a battle with the Black team which was attacking in from the centre of the field, drawing
the Green team's attention away from where we were slipping passed them. We came to a stop
between 2 green bases. From where we were hiding, the left hand base had 4 green team players in
it and the right hand base looked like their main base. As I was closer to the left hand base and had
a good line of fire onto the backs of the green players, I sent Torak to snake in to the right hand
base. He radioed up that it was their main base but there wasn't a flag in the base. We were
discussing what to do over the radio, when a fire fight broke out from the left hand base. We
thought a flag must be in there, but when they started to take casualties and started to head to the
base that Torak was in, we were confused. When there were 3 of the 4 green players heading to the
main base, I decided to gun down the 4th
member, break cover and head to the right hand base to
back up Torak. Arriving at the base with my gun up sweeping the green players I took up a
flanking position on Torak. The green team players told us that they were going to respawn in 45
seconds so we should leave. I went over and grabbed the game instructions and read out the
respawn rules, which states, “you have to respawn on a flag”, not timers, so the green players
headed off to respawn in a base that had a flag in it.
We were out of radio contact with our team and we had now missed the contract time, so we
decided to stay behind enemy lines and get one of the green team's flags. Moving around, looking
for a base that had a flag in it, we got into a couple of fire fights that we bugged out of after a burst
of fire. Drifting across the field to our right hand side (looking from our base), a base that had a
flag in it came within our grasp. There was a fire fight going on as we moved up on to the green
team's base, watching players coming into the base to respawn, then heading back into the field.
We timed our entry and grabbed their flag, firing at green players. “Which way?” I shouted at
Torak. “This way.” was the reply, and off he went, straight into the creek. Up to our knees we
waded through the creek and out the other side, rabbiting down the side of the field, running into a
wall of BBs. Diving for cover we huddle up to a tree, but we were pinned, taking hits and our lives
were used up in a hail of BBs. When we stood up there were six of the green team in front of us on
our side of the creek. How did they get across the creek? Airsofter's don't like getting their feet
wet? Then we saw the foot bridge 20m in front of us. Damn!! Seeing airsoft is like being a Cylon,
and death is a learning experience, we could have done that attack differently. In hindsight Torak
should have slipped into the base with me covering him and left with the flag the way we had
arrived at the base, as it was clear of players. Next time.
4pm.
Contract 3: Find/Dig up super cells boxes.
While Torak and I were away, Jay Bee had gone and collected the contract and under his
competent leadership they were able to get 2 of the 3 supercell boxes. Well done.
5pm:
Contract 4: The Spy.
The contract said “as you are reading this a spy has infiltrated your HQ and is attempting to steal
intel from your base”. We would lose 20 points if he took a picture of our commander map.
Radioing our team I found out that we had players in our base and they were able to capture the
spy. On the way back to our base, I came across Frog and Meat and informed Frog that there was a
spy in our base. “Can I throw a grenade into the base Stag”? Frog asked, pulling one out off his
chest rig pocket. I said “Of course you can, but wait, there are our team members in there”.
Arriving at the base we found Danny under arrest. I moved him down into a hollow in our base
onto his knees and said to Frog to drop his grenade into it. Danny commited suicide when the
grenade landed in front of his groin by shooting himself. Lucky for him the grenade didn't go off.
After cutting up his body with my bayonet, and finding the “Sophisticated” spy equipment, Torak
used it to take some photos.
I sent Buelly and RB into the field to recon and find Green flags and take them out of play.
To collect more points on Datsun base, we headed out into the field with a green flag (now
marked with a red kill rag) which Jay Bee had received from the Black team. This didn't go
according to plan. We were in Datsun base when green team stormed the base with the help of the
Black team (RUB) using riot sheilds before we could get out and take the green flag with us.
Another set back.
6pm.
Contract 5: Defend Red base from a Black team attack.
I have learnt that you can't defend a base for long if you have your troops all in it at the start.
Spreading out our team away from it and positioning them to cover choke points around the base,
Torak and I set up at the back left hand side of the base. Torak's gun went down when he test fired
it so he went back to our base to swap it with a spare. I moved over to the side of the field to cover
the ridge in front of me. I looked down to check that the safety was off on my gun and when I
looked up there was a squad of RUB players on the ridge. I squeezed the slack out of the trigger
ready to cut down the first RUB guy to see me. Holding my breath I watched them walk through
my kill zone and disappear in to the valley in front of our base. The last member of the sqaud
stopped and checked his 6 and scanned the area where I was lying. I had him in my sights and he
had a second to live if he showed any sign of seeing me. Lucky for him he turned and headed
down into the valley. His luck didn't last as I pulled out my bayonet from it's scabbard and
clamped it to the barrel of my AK74. Moving behind him, after checking there weren't any more
players still coming up the ridge, I went down into the valley and I could see that the RUB guys
were firing at our base. I moved down the slope and attacked the RUB guy. The cold steel of my
bayonet went across his carotid artery and he froze. “You are dead” I whispered into his ear and
pushed his body beside the tree and used it for extra cover. Bringing my AK74 up and leveling the
sights onto the back of Macano and squeezed off a 9 round burst. He called hit as I was about to
send another burst at him so I saved them for the next RUB player on his right. I rained BBs at 2
of the guys at once, taking them both out. The fourth squad member had heard the gun fight and
moved around behind the tree he was using for cover , away from me. I moved to my right to the
next tree and got an angle on him and took him out. The last member was taken out by the fire
coming from the base. I covered the hit players down the ridge, as they dragged their eliminated
arses back to their base. The rest of our team took care of the rest of the RUB team and we
completed the contract by sucessfully defending the base. Buelly and RB came back with great
intel on the Black base.
7pm.
Contract 6: Sign a cease fire with the Green team and join forces to attack the Black base using the
Juggernaut suit.
We were to meet the green team at the Datsun base and set up the Juggernaut suit. We got there
early and set our flag on to the timer in the base to collect more double points. When the Green
team arrived we positioned our players in front of the flag so Green guys couldn't see it. Some of
the green team looked towards the flag, but didn't do anything. One of the Green team volunteered
to wear the Juggernaut suit and when he was ready we headed off to the black base. We had
agreeded to move up to an empty base that was just short of the Black base and use a green flag to
be our respawn point (ours still in Datsun base). Once there, we were to move up en mass until
contact, where we were then to spilt into 2 teams, us on the left and Green on the the right.
But when we got into battle, all structure was lost and we all just threw ourselves at it. Waves of
attackers hailed BBs into the Black base and we eventually won it. We all thought that was game
over.... but it wasn't.
Contract 7: Attack Datsun base and eliminate the entire Black team.
A new Juggernaut volunteer was needed (Frog) so there was a delay for the change over of the
suit. There were no plans made for the attack other than “attack”. We hit Datsun base in failing
light and we just fired at the base hoping we were hitting someone. Frog had collected a riot shield
from the Black base to go with his bullet proof Juggernaut suit. When the RUB guys saw that he
had it ,they charged out of the base and crash tackled him and took the sheild. After thousands and
thousands of rounds we took the base.
Game over. 8pm.
We packed up in the dark and headed back to the camp. Six of us on the running boards of Frog's
truck. Beers, food and then prize giving. Green won the game 900 to 200 points as we lost our
flags early and they were using them to power their timers in bases. On the plus side: we had more
time on Datsun base, we defended our base against RUB where the Green team got hammered
when they had to defend their base.
Saturday night finished about 4am when the music was turned off and the camp was quite by 5am,
