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Date / Time:
Saturday, July 9th, 2011
Location: Clayton, North Carolina
Number of Participants: 6 (2 vs 4)
Type of Battle: Team Soakfest
Our weapons cache lay, piled up on the front porch. "Choose whatever
you want" I said. I always let my enemies have first pick if they
haven't brought their own weapons. It means that they have less things
to complain about after they've lost. As my enemies thumbed through my
guns, testing out all viable options, I had other business to take care
of. "We are going to need all the ammo we can get," I said to Kirk "We
are going to constantly be on the run, so I'm going to hide these 2
Gatorade bottles and this pitcher in the rocks under the tree fort."
vs
The other team had made their picks by the time I returned to the front
yard. XP 70, XP 150, WW Explorer, and XP 65. I grabbed my Monster XL,
an easy choice, "double the targets, double the firepower." We filled
up and started to head to the back yard. "What are the rules?" someone
asked. I turned around and blasted him with a 4.5x shot. "Soak, or be
soaked!"
We ran into the backyard and tried to take cover behind the large white
oaks and crepe myrtles at the edge of the yard. It also happened to be
the highest point in the back yard. I'm a firm believer in holding the
high ground. They weren't fooled. They spread out. When you have 2 to 1
odds, you'd be foolish not to attack from all sides.
The two on my left were slower, and had to run further to flank us. I
blasted away, tap shots on 4.5x, and we hit the 2 on the right before
the other group could engage us. Just as the 2 on the left got in range
we bolted, running down hill.
I jumped up on the picnic table, hoping my mom or grandma or whoever
had the camera on the deck could get a good picture of our valiant
stand. That's how you get the picture to the right. Well, it wasn't
such a good idea, as far as combat strategy is concerned. You never
want to be pinned down anywhere. Always be mobile, always be on your
feet. Especially when outnumbered. They swarmed in from all sides, and
though Kirk stayed nimble behind me with his 600, I was a big target on
top of the picnic table. It did give me a range advantage, initially,
but using numbers they easily cleared the gap. I switched to double
11.5x and completely hosed everyone around me. If they weren't entirely
drenched before, they were now. It cleared a gap for Kirk and I, and we
broke out of their trap.
It was at this point that my sister decided to stop playing. Opting,
instead, to get her professional camera and practice taking action
shots. Thanks to her, we ended up with a lot of good pictures. At this
time I switched to my new XP 110. The MXL was a beast, but it's range
wasn't good enough to make up for how bulky it was. Kirk switched to
the XP 70 because his SC 600 pump had jammed.
Drew had been killing us in the previous engagement. He was a track
athelete at Steven's College in New Jersey. Now that we had better
odds, and now that I was more mobile, we decided to isolate him from
the group. His one flaw was that he'd get too far from the rest of his
team, and we were about to exploit it.
Our plan was executed flawlessly. By the time his teammates reinforced
him he was drenched, exhausted, and low on water. Then we were able to
pick the other 2 apart as they were less skilled and less athletic.
This happened repeatedly and they never did come up with a good counter.
I learned a lot from this battle:
1) Endurance is the most valuable physical asset to have during an
intense engagement. This is even more true when you are outnumbered.
2) Range and mobility are imperitive to success even in soakfests. My
MXL unquestionably caused the most damage during the engagement, but it
was at great cost. The WW Explorer was a better option because it could
keep range with the MXL (38-39 ft) and yet was more mobile.
3) Stick together, but isolate your enemies. It's a lot more difficult
than it seems.
4) Hide refill bottles before the match, then escape when you can, and
refill.
5) 4 vs 2 is more difficult than 2 vs 1.
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