[ Response | Lazer Tactical Action Game Message Board ]
Posted by TagFerret
on June 25, 2009, 9:13 pm, in reply to "TagFest NW 2009 After-Action Report"
By the end of Friday my knee, which I had injured tripping and falling on a rock early in the day, had begun to stiffen up so much that I was afraid the weekend would be a loos. Fortunately it turned out not to be the case, as a night's rest and a bit of painkiller took care of it.
I did however decide to play Saturday in more of a sniper role. We had several games of "hunt the sniper" in which a small number of snipers (2 or 3) in ghillie suits with TMB's would take the field 5 minutes ahead of everyone else, and then the 10-12 other players with pistol LTTO's or LTX's with attachments would try to hunt the snipers. These were played as LTAG games, no time limit, last team with a player surviving wins.
My skills as a sniper definitely have room for improvement. I was the first sniper out in absolutely every one of the games.
In one game my strategy was first to take up a position on the higher corner of the village, to the right of where the hunters would have to come in. But upon arriving there (having gone the long way around via the fort, so that by now there was only about 1 minute 30 seconds until the hunters took the field), I found there was no good position which both gave cover AND gave a good view for watching/sniping the opponents. So I decided instead to take up a position past which the hunters would have to travel, and when they got to the far side of the field (near my team-mates) I would begin sniping at them. Great plan, but as I tried to take up position (now with less than a minute before the hunters could take the field) my ghillie suit snagged on my boot lace eyelet and I came crashing down on some dry sticks that cracked and crunched quite loudly -- my position was blown. I believe I lasted three minutes after the Hunters took the field... maybe less. It took them much longer to find the two Dougs (Ross and Marsh) who were clearly much better at this than I was.
The next game I had a much better idea. Go to a far position away and to the left from where the Hunters would enter. Wait until they had all swept the Village and headed for the Fort. Once they couldn't see me, fall way back out of the forest and into the surrounding field, double back past the dead zone, and take up position on the trail from the dead zone to the Village UNDERNEATH the tarp of the hosting table! Since it was open to the dead zone who would think of coming back to check there, they'd had a clear view of it while taking the field. Would have been a great plan, but... as I was doubling back along the open field it began to rain a bit. Dave, Leonard, and another player (Cathie? I forget who now) withdrew and went back to the dead zone to put things under the canopies so they wouldn't get wet. Coming up on the Dead Zone, I saw them messing with stuff on the tables and chatting, and just assumed they were already tagged out. A bad assumption, made far more humiliating by my turning towards them and doing my best Elmer Fudd impersonation "Shhhh! Be vewwwy quiet! I'm hunting wabbits! Heh Heh Heh". At which point they grabbed their blasters up off the tables and let me know they were still in the game. The rest, as they say, is history...
There was another hunt-the-snipers game in which I fared poorly but I forget the details.
The final Hunt-The-Snipers game was the one which Matt has already described, in which we got to choose a traitor. The method is pretty neat -- one sniper draws a random card from a pack of cards, without showing it to anyone. If it is an Ace or Joker, the snipers do not get a traitor. If a number card, they get one traitor. If a face card, two traitors. The traitor is chosen by having all Hunter players line up shoulder-to-shoulder in a row with their hands behind them, one thumb sticking up. The Snipers make a few passes back and forth behind the line, faking moves towards each of the players as desired, and pressing down the thumb of the player(s) selected as traitor.
In this game Ashley, DX9, and myself were the snipers and we got to choose one traitor. Betting that everyone would assume we would choose Doug Ross as our traitor since he also had a ghillie suit and TMB, I suggested we pull a fast one and NOT choose him but choose my nephew Alex instead. I knew what a good and sneaky player Alex is, and it was a good choice. Although I was found and eliminated fairly quickly, and DX9 10 or 15 minutes after that, Ashley managed to stay hidden (and even took out an opponent or two as I recall) while Alex did an absolutely masterful job of gaining everyone's trust and slowly splitting them up into little groups until he could get one alone and then eliminate them one at a time. Finally he took out the remaining 3 or 4 players at once in a battle royale, which I have the conclusion of on video and will upload to YouTube eventually.
Afterwards, Doug Ross brought up an idea that I think will greatly improve the Hunt-The-Snipers game: The Hunters team will have two VIP's who represent Generals. These two VIPs will have specific tasks that must be performed, such as lead patrols from Point A to Point B and back to Point A, or make two walking-speed circuits around the trails. If the Generals complete their tasks within a specified time, the Hunters team wins. If the Generals are both eliminated before they can complete their tasks, the Snipers win. We should play it that way next year, at least for one or two games. It is a nice combo of Snipers and VIP games, and the time limit should speed things up.
Also it did occur to me that while this group is fine for playing Traitor games on the honor system, for other games we may want to have the Sniper who draws the number-of-traitors card to keep that card in a breast pocket until the game is over, at which time the number of traitors (and their identity) is made known to all to ensure the game's integrity.
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