.68 Caliber Productions

Information on Operation End War: Eleventh Hour at Battlefront Paintball is now Available.

 

Details on the mag-fed event, Operation End War: Eleventh Hour are  now available under the Events section at the top of this website.

This game will be a three day event taking place in Hubbard, Ohio at Battlefront Paintball.  In the evening on Friday, July 27th, practice some CQB drills with SWAT members in the bombed out city and then get involved in some squad tactics on the field with our staff to get you ready for the next day’s operation.  On Saturday, lock and load as we kick off Operation End War: Eleventh Hour, which will run from 10 AM until 9 PM with a break for lunch and dinner.   It is extremely important that you are ready to play by 9:30 AM so as not to delay the event.  On Sunday, Battlefront Paintball will host an open play day until 5 PM which will be free to all of those who attended the scenario.

Camping for this event is free and food is available onsite for a minimal charge, though you’re welcome to bring your own if you prefer.

Please remember, if you do not own a mag-fed paintball marker and wish to participate in this scenario, it’s critical that you pre-register at Battlefront Paintball as soon as possible in order to guarantee yourself a rental kit as there will only be a limited number provided by Rap4.

100 rental kits will be provided to the field for this event which will include MKV First Recon markers, 3 magazines per kit as well as a belt pouch to carry the magazines.  Players are also welcome to bring any magazine-fed marker that they own to the field to use, but the marker MUST be magazine-fed.  Hoppers, Q-loaders, Tac caps and similar will not be permitted at this event.  The only exception to this will be on Sunday during the open play portion where any marker will be permitted.

This game will focus on strategy and tactics as opposed to victory through cases of paint.  Teams will be broken down into squads and will report to a platoon leader for their team.  It will be imperative that players work directly within their squads to score the maximum amount of points.

Good luck and we look forward to seeing you out there!

Day of Days 2012 Recap

To follow the course of the battle, please refer to the event map.

After America’s heartbreaking last-minute defeat last year to German general, Joe Foltz, the US team roared back with vengeance this year under Brian Poydence.  The beach landing began with a smoke artillery bombardment followed by a tidal wave of US players hitting the beach.  The new bunker at the north end of the field was quickly smoked out, sending its occupants fleeing as thick, yellow smoke poured out from the gun ports and doorway.  Shortly afterwards, a Nerf rocket was shot through the bunker opening, permanently taking it out of action.  The US then moved up to secure the main portion of the beach, enduring devastating fire from the German team positioned in the towers on Pointe du Hoc above.  After several failed attempts, the US flag was finally raised on the main sector of the beach and US players began calling for the Bangalore torpedoes to be brought forward in order to blow a hole in the wire at the Dog 1 exit at the very edge of the Atlantic Wall. A devastating firefight ensued, inflicting massive casualties on both sides.  The Germans clung on to the elevated firing positions within the concrete buildings, while the US team inched forward under suppressing fire, eventually securing a tenuous foothold just inside the town.  Both Bangalores were brought forward and Dog 1 exit was opened up, allowing the US team to flood the town, chasing off the remaining German defenders.  The Germans had held the beach for 35 of the 45 minutes allotted, a far cry from last year’s 2 hour grudge match.  Much of this however, can be attributed to the changes made to the beach boundaries and definitely not a lack of German will to fight.

Once the beach was secure, the US team set to work attacking the flag zones closest to their base, first securing Bravo and Echo sectors, followed by Charlie and Foxtrot.  Having secured Foxtrot sector and effectively cutting off the German general’s ability to counterattack Golf and Delta should they fall, the US general sent all the players he could muster to these locations, eventually securing victories at both.  While aggressively going after flag zones, the US team also set up defensive positions within various buildings and held those for the allotted times, securing additional points along the way.

The German team soon answered back by counterattacking Foxtrot sector while simultaneously using an elite unit to launch a surprise attack on Charlie sector.  While the assault on Charlie failed, the Germans were successful in securing victory at Foxtrot and once again opening up the route to counterattack Delta and Golf.

Meanwhile, both US and German spies were quietly racking up assassinations at the HQs, with the US team scoring a total of 5 HQ kills for the day and the Germans delivering 3 HQ kills.  A German spy mission was initiated by their general at 11:40 which required a German spy to convince no fewer than 5 Americans to unknowingly follow him into an ambush at a location chosen by the general.  The spy set out with unwitting Americans in tow, only to discover that the first ambush location had been made and his German counterparts had fallen back to a different location.  Adjusting his strategy, the spy quickly diverted his group to the new ambush spot and the American squad was quickly dispatched.

The Germans, while rapidly losing ground to the American juggernaut, realized the value of having functioning armor.  A decision was made to initiate an engineer mission that would provide the team with an engineer and the ability to put a tank back into play two times.  The engineer was sent to mark mines on the road between Charlie and Delta for his mission.  He slowly worked the road for the next 30 minutes, marking anything suspicious with a can of spray paint despite the fact that Charlie sector was seeing plenty of action.  The engineer mission was a success, nevertheless.

Not to be outdone by the Germans’ successful side missions, the US team continued to inflict heavy losses on the Germans battling it out at the flag stations.  Kilo sector came under attack by the US through elite units while the Germans countered at Golf.  Both teams captured their respective territories, but the US general utilized a perk that he had won from the night game and launched a blitzkrieg assault on Golf, immediately recapturing it from the US team without having to put it into play. Though no points were awarded for this action, it forced the Germans to spend another 30 minutes protecting a flag station that they had just captured.  While the Germans were preoccupied on the west side of the field recapturing Golf, the Americans took advantage of the light resistance elsewhere and launched an attack on the now mildly defended Juliet sector just outside of the German HQ and extremely close to their armor’s respawn location.  Unfortunately, both German tanks were having mechanical difficulty and unable to assist in the defense of this location for very long.  As the Germans were scrambling to send reinforcements to defend Juliet, their defenses at Golf thinned and they were soon overrun, now formally losing the territory to the US team.

With both Kilo and Golf sectors now firmly in US control going into the final 30 minutes and with the Germans being cut off from being able to counterattack Kilo with Juliet in US hands, there was little hope for a repeat comeback like last year.  To drive the final nail in the coffin, the US team launched a new assault on Foxtrot, just outside the German base to ensure that the Germans continued to fight over a territory that was near worthless in points.  To circumvent this, the Germans struck out with all of their elite units against Bravo so that they would at least go down fighting.  Though the majority of German players were soon eliminated, a German spy managed to take three more lives with him at the horn by knocking out a tower in Bravo sector.

In the end, the Germans scored more points on the side missions, but the US prevailed by taking every flag zone on the field at the end of the day, including their two final objectives, Kilo and Golf, netting them an additional 1,000 bonus points.

Final score:

Germans: 1,150

US: 3,250.

Thank you to all those who attended, especially the generals for each team who have jobs on game day more difficult than most paintball players realize.

 

Rap4 Announces Discounted Marker Packages for Operation End War: 11th Hour at Battlefront

Rap4 has announced that they will provided discounted marker packages to anyone pre-registering for Operation End War: 11th Hour.  If you pre-regsiter on Battlefront’s website for this event, you will be eligible for the following discounts:

Choose between:

 

50% off one new Gen7 T68 paintball marker with three, twenty round magazines.

Standard price is $699.95 but is being sold for $350 with pre-registration.

 

$100 off one new Tacamo MKV paintball marker with  two, twenty round  magazines.

Standard price is $374.95 but is being sold for $274.95 with pre-registration.

 

You must first pre-register and then send an email to jbarrett@rap4.com.  Once Rap4 has confirmed your pre-registration, you will receive a voucher code to get the discount on the marker package that you select.  If you are looking to take advantage of this deal, it is advisable that you pre-register earlier rather than later so that there is enough time for Rap4 to ship the marker package of your choice to your address prior to the event.  Rap4 will not have these items for sale at the game.

Day of Days Changes

For anyone who has ever spoken with a representative from .68, you know we’re always keen to listen to input from players on how to improve on the events.  (Constructive criticism, that is.  We don’t respond well to being screamed at on the field.)  After concerns were raised about a potential loop-hole in the balance of how Day of Days is scored, we’ve discussed a new approach with both of this year’s generals and have a new way to score the territory battles.

Last year’s US general, Charles, used a smart strategy for making life difficult for the German team.  He pushed up and immediately took territories that were close to his base and then held firm.  Being that the US team was scored higher on assault and the Germans were scored higher on defense, it made sense for him to secure these positions and then halt his advance short of where it would be easier for the Germans to defend the flag zones near their base.  This forced the Germans to run a battery of side missions to catch up.

While the US strategy was an excellent one, it’s not really within the spirit that the game is intended and that’s for the US to secure the beachhead and push as far inland by the end of the day as possible, just like they did during the actual landing.  So, after several conversations with this year’s leadership, we’ve all agreed on a new approach to the way the flag zones will be scored as well as a handful of changes that have been made to the map.

For starters, the old point structure where the US is scored higher for attacking a territory and the Germans are scored higher for defending it is going away.  While logical, it does put a little too much control of the game in the hands of the Americans.  Now each territory is worth a different amount of points to the US and German teams.  The closer the territory is to their base, the fewer the points it’s worth to that team.  The hope is that it forces teams to continue to strike further out into the field rather than button up and hold on to their points.  While this may seem like an advantage for the Germans in the morning since the US won’t be earning many points initially, you have to remember that it was about gathering momentum for the US as more soldiers landed on the continent that morning.  The US is also far more likely to secure these first few territories while the Germans are barred from counterattacking other zones for the first hour.  Additionally, the US and German teams will both still have elite units that can initiate a limited number of attacks on flag zones held behind enemy lines.

Second, two small changes have been made to the territories.  The old Foxtrot sector has been divided into an upper and lower portion, now labeled India and Foxtrot.  This sector will have a flag in the Black Market area, for those of you familiar with the field.  It is considered a flooded causeway (which is appropriate, again if you know the field) and is neutral at the start of the event.  It also isn’t worth any points to either team to attack or defend.  However, it is of strategic value to both teams.  Holding it for the US means cutting off the German’s ability to counterattack Golf and Delta sectors, while holding Foxtrot and Echo cuts the Germans off completely from the lower portion of the field and provides the US with a shortcut to one of their primary objectives, Kilo (formerly Juliet).  Holding Foxtrot enables the US to reach Kilo in three turns rather than four.  (Each time a general initiates an attack on a territory, it constitutes a turn for that team.  Only two attacks can be ordered every thirty minutes by either general.)  On the other hand, if the German’s hold Foxtrot, it allows them to immediately counterattack Golf, the American’s other primary objective for the day and forces the US team to try to take Pegasus Bridge which runs right past the German HQ if they want to secure Kilo.

So Foxtrot sector becomes a real issue for both teams this year.  Do the generals attack it and use up an attack order on a territory that’s not worth any points just so that they can get a tactical edge, or do they ignore it and end up making things more challenging for themselves in the long run?

A new map has been uploaded to the Day of Days section of this website and you’ll notice the point values in the lower corner of each of the zones.  Red is for the US while blue is for the Germans.  Bear in mind, that the lines on the map still have no immediate effect on players during the day.  Players can move freely through both friendly and enemy-held territory.  The territories are more for the strategy “board game” portion of the event that’s specific to the role of the generals.

While the final territory objectives remain unchanged for this event, the points for them are now marked on the new map.  Bonus points are listed in Alpha, Bravo, Golf and Kilo above the US and German point breakdown.  The Germans will want to try to be holding take Alpha and Bravo at the end of the day, while the US will want to hold Golf and Kilo.  500 points are awarded per territory held at the final horn.

The objective of these tweaks is to further enhance the behind the scenes strategy that plays out during the day while players are slugging it out on the field.  Since .68 has little to do with the direction of the game once the pin is pulled, the mechanics of it are important to allow the generals to make sound decisions on how to run their team throughout the day.  As always, we welcome your feedback!