Adventure Beach HALO Scenario

Mrytle Beach, SC

November 2004 - Chronicled by Alan "Conn" Shang (who also served as General) 

 

Gentlemen,

I thought that since I still have all the mision cards, I would give my recollection of the HALO game and see if anyone else wanted to chime in...

Pops, Doom and I got to the field around 1030, making an entrance that only a H2 could make. The rest of the team had already set up and were going thru pre-game prep. After checking in with Ellis, he told us we were going to be the "Aliens" and asked if one of us still wanted to general, and since I told him earlier that I was interested but couldn't,since I wasn't going to be around for Friday briefing, I decided to volunteer. I thought that perhaps it would be a good example of our teams support to try and make his game go off well. He also gave us two comps, which Repo got one, and Doom and Cootie split the other. Slapping on Tradeguy's new "General" patch, I immediately felt like a marked man. Even though I knew the basic layout of the field, I hadn't seen the last several months of improvements, and didn't get a chance to walk the field before the game. Plus, there was no map. However, I remained calm, since I knew I had the finest of scenario teams to back me up. Pops volunteered to XO, and after a bit of a delay, the game started shortly after 1230. The teams were essentially equal about 30 players to a side, and we had perhaps a slight advantage in firepower and a slight disadvantage in numbers. We were also hoping the marked advbantage in experience would also help...

The 1st mission was an attack and defend essentially. The Marines split up into 3 groups, and got a 5-10 min head start to secure their perimeters. The object was to eliminate the 3 bases, each worth 250 pts, and also the "Master Chief" of the Marines worth 100 pts. Our/my strategy was to split into 2 large (15-20 man) squads and 1 small scout squad. Each group would try and find one of the Marine bases, and if the scout squad IDed the Master Chief, they would radio in his location, and one of the larger teams would come to assist. Well, that failed completely, and Pops and I got shot out working on one of the bases. A better tactic would have been to have one large squad and 2 smaller squads so that we could at least eliminate on on the bases while the scout squads got intell on the other. However, we were time-limited by a "rescue team" that was unkillable, and by essentially even numbers, time to dig in, and no intell on the locations. Odds stacked against us, No points for the Aliens 850 for the Marines.

2nd mission - Find the cartographer i.e. a ref with a red shirt. One small problem, more than one ref with a red shirt. Also, he wound up being placed in the opposite side of the field from our base in the City. Another miserable failure, and 500 more points for the Marines. About this time I was thinking that maybe we needed a new general, but our fortunes started to change with the next mission

3rd mission - Find and hold the control room. i.e. take and hold the city. We started on the far side of the city, the Marines started on the near side just beyond a choke point. We high-tailed it into the city, surprised that there was no one from the Marines in the City, and proceeded to obliterate them in and around the choke point. I suppose this was when the DBD experience started to pay off, since apparently they didn't rush the City, but came out slowly. After essentially shooting out their whole team, Aliens 500, Marines 1250.

4th mission - Find Guilty Spark 343 in the swamp area. i.e. find the prop. Ellis gave a good hint in saying all the locals would automatically look in the wrong place, since it wasn't going to be the obvious swampy area by the lake. I figured it would then have to be the area near the small pond next to the dirt mound on the left side of the field. Myself, Doom, Repo, and a few other Aliens headed in that direction and within 5 min. found the prop. At this point we attempted to return it to "HQ" which I assumed was the fieldhouse. Trying to follow the fence line bcak to the insertion point, I took point, and came under fire. I got past that roadblock, but then got eliminated by another Marine 20 yards closer to the insertion point. Doom retreated, and hid the prop, and then soon got shot out by the Marines. After coming off the field, we clarified that "HQ" actually meant our base, which we could have made it to quite easily knowing that ahead of time. However, with the assistance of the "Flood" and a team we called "Team Squabble Squad", they picked up the prop, and got it to our base in time. Aliens 1000, Marines 1250

5th mission - Heading towards dusk in the late afternoon, the mission was to determine the "index", a location known only to the refs, and hold it. We had 4 refs with us at our base, and we split into 4 squads, plus a decoy squad charged to place a phony prop in the Pyramid tower fairly near our base to confuse the Marines. As we dispersed to locate the "index", we found out that the Tower was the "index"! Another gift from Ellis....SO we quickly fortified the tower, beat off some small sorties, and held the tower without difficulty. Repo, Swampy and Icerat personally made mincemeat of a squad of about 10-12 Marines by using deception and holding fire until the whites of their eyes were visible. Nothing like a good ambush.... The Master Chief was worth some points, and we didn't find him, so.....Aliens 1400 Marines 1350...

At this point we broke for dinner, and lost Cootie, who went to dinner with his wife. Ellis served up some cheap and tasty burgers, and washed down with some "water of life", it was a fortifying meal. Doom then awed the assembled masses with some heavy duty pyrotechnics.

The next (6th) mission was the first of the night game, and involved finding power generators in the city, i.e. refs with glow necklaces. Ellis' city is relatively well lit with street lamps and bright traffic signals. We bolted into the city, and spent most of the time shooting at our own team. Heavy firefight, lots of fun, but not particularly constructive. Icerat, myself and Repo were all holded up in a corner building with almost enuff cover, but luckily Icerat had taken over Cootie's Medic role, so kept us alive for most of the mission. Our team did find 2 of the 3 refs, so mission was a sucess. Aliens 1900 Marines 1600...

Mission 7 - Defend the human prisoner...We were given a 10 yr old Marine, dressed in a bright yellow slicker, who could run if he got more than 5 feet from us. The object was to hide him somewhere in the lit area of the field. Ellis suggested that the dirt mounds in the far end of the field might make a good choice, and I had no reason to disbelieve him. Also, we asked if we could add additional camoflage to the prisoner, and he agreed. So, one we got our 5 min. lead time, we bolted for the mounds, and I slapped on Mongo's camo poncho over the kid's yellow slicker. We dug in the kid with Swampy on top of the last mound, and I told Swampy to lie on top of him if he tried to get up or betray his position. I then sent 2-3 players into the tire field on our right, and a few to the corner of the open field on our left. The rest of us dug in with our Q-beams along the series of mounds in front of the last mound, and waited. Ellis was kind enuff to light a HUGE bonfire probably 20-30 feet wide to the left front of our position, adding a neat element of atmosphere, and a practical vision wash out to our opponents. The Marines started by looking for us in the City, but soon realized we were'nt there. They then started workin up the left side of the open field, which was a mistake because the were highlighted by the street light, the fire and our Q-beams. Icerat made a nifty run from the left corner into our center, but right as he was reaching our center, he folded in the middle like a peanut butter sandwich. Swampy thought he was a bogey, and plugged him dead center in the chest from short range. Icerat then yelled for a medic, who bravely took off running in the wrong direction towards Icerat's previous position across the open field. Eventually realizing his mistake, he turned around and made it back, and provided Icerat with the necessary heal. Doom and I eventulaay go shot out by some Marines who were closer than we knew by sneaking up a line of tires next to the mounds. A great night time battle, and a victory for our heroes....Aliens 2150 Marines 1600.

The final battle was another city battle where the object was to capture a flag in the middle of the City, and take it into the opposing sides starting point. worth 1000 pts and the game. Uhoh we thought, another speed ball finish... DBD decided to play to our strengths by hanging back and guarding our base while letting younger and faster legs do the flag thing...Sure enuff, one of the squabble squad ran out into a hail of paint, and grabbed the flag and the stand it was on and made it out alive. He retreated back to our base, a dangerous move since a big push would have sealed it for the Marines if they had known where the flag was...The flag was then moved to the opposite side (right instead of left) and advanced up the right side. Lo and behold, after a few more minutes, the game was called because squabble squad had run the flag into thier base....Final score Aliens 3150 Marines 1600... A come from behind VICTORY!!!!

Needless to say, I made Squabble Squad MVT and James, the flag runner MVP. They did a great job, and really deserved it..... That's all for me, my fingers are tired. Any one else care to embellish, please do so..... CONN out....


Additional Chronicles by Mongo:
Hail Dead Fellows!
 
First some brief comments on a game of yore, the recent Halo scenario down at Adventure Beach Paintball. Dr. General Shang (who's Scenario Secrets article, "Play Smart...Play S'Mart" is in the Feb/March issue of Paintball Magazine) did a fine job of covering that game, but I wanted to add just a couple of things....
 
Conn did a GREAT job as general, especially considering the lack of advance notice, no field map, very little clue of what the scenario would be like ahead of time, and a field which had changed greatly since the last time he'd seen it. Point-wise we aliens were in a BIG hole after those first two missions and it was a minor miracle that we came back and won the game (not to mention the final speedball-like battle for all of the marbles). Claymore likewise deserves credit for taking on (with no warning) the thankless position of XO and doing a good job at it. And for providing so many tents that we ended up with a veritable DBD campus. Cootie and Icerat both did remarkable work as medics...and put their aggressive and highly effective playing styles to excellent use. Repoman, master of the well-executed ambush, flanked and murderized the opposition on more than one occasion. And Swamp Thing was, as usual, extremely deadly. And he brought Detra and Nolan to the game, which was very cool. Tradeguy, meanwhile, is definitely BACK...and may be playing better than ever. Plus he built an alien prop that was so cool that a waitress at the Outback wanted to take part of it home. And, Doom reminded us all that he can still shoot even without a LAWs...and of why his callsign used to be "Beserker". For me the best part of the game was that there were so many DBD in it...wherever I went on the field I kept running into teammates. ALL of the NC players made it to this one...and Tradeguy and Icerat did some serious driving (representing DBD South and DBD Great White North).
 
And the field itself has changed a lot. Ellis has made a lot of improvements and additions, some for just safety (like adding the much needed netting between the "town" and the staging area...and even marking dangerous spots on the trails with flourescent green and orange paint). And there are now a LOT more good forts at Adventure Beach, from "Camp X-Ray" (made of big steel grates...you can see through the walls, but can't shoot through them), "Mad Max" (made out of wrecked cars), and even a cool tire-and-dirt fort. And then there's the "Citadel" (which was the "index" in Conn's game report), a pyramid with a four story watchtower protruding from the top. And the open areas around the "town" have also been improved...now there's a tire field, a pallet field, and even the start of a mound field (where our side held out during the "hostage" mission). There were also two huge brushpiles that made for good cover during the day...and which were set on fire for the night game (the combination of Doom's pyrotechnics and the monster bonfires was VERY showy).
 
There were some problems with the game itself (and I think we still owe Ellis a write-up, both detailing the bad and the good), but it was remarkable that there weren't problems more considering this was the first scenario game at Adventure Beach. The staff was very friendly and very helpful...and we couldn't have asked for a better bunch of folks to play with (and against). I know that I'm definitely game to play the planned Waynes game there in spring...and would still like to get Ellis hooked up with MXS and Nocer as well. And Ellis was wondering if DBD would consider producing a scenario for the field...something that I told him that I'd run past the team (i.e. so consider it run past you). And I've heard that one DBD may already be thinking about a potential scenaro. The place certainly has a lot of potential. Hotels and food aren't too far away...and the Myrtle Beach has several other...attractions.... 

 

 

 

 

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