To add yet more spice to the mix,
sometimes more than one building had to be
occupied at the same time or the times might
overlap – and it didn’t stop there. On each side
there were five designated High Value Targets
(HVTs). HVTs were worth points and had a
five-minute bleed-out time, during which their
HVT tab could be removed and passed to the
team’s Commander who would register the
capture with a marshal.
The HVTs were not known to the opposition
but their pictures could be found on one of five
laptops that were hidden around the site. Each
laptop carried the picture of one Scottish and
one English HVT so by finding the laptops you
not only scored points (providing you still had
them in your possession at end-ex), you also
learnt the identity of the opposition’s HVTs.
With play now well underway, action was
kicking off all over the site and I had to keep
truly switched on to make sure I was where I
needed to be.
The Scots had consolidated their position
and were now pushing forwards hard,
probing English-held buildings and taking full
advantage of a couple of spotters at the top
of the Tower. These guys were armed with
sniper rifles and anyone who came in range
wearing Desert camo (the Scots were in
woodland) soon became a target and, although
the wind often spoiled their shots, they held
the position throughout the weekend and
were instrumental in a fair number of English
casualties.
At one point I was with a group of Scottish
players, holed up in a building and under
constant attack from English forces. No-one
could look out of a window without a barrage
of rounds coming at them, the front door was
being pounded by grenade after grenade and if
it hadn’t been for the timely arrival of a squad
of woodland-clad players, the building would
have been taken. This was when I realised
the Scots were also using something else
to maximum effect – communications!
So far as I could tell, the Scots were
keeping their comms really simple:
if you weren’t in trouble then
shut up and get on with what
you’ve been tasked to do. If
you had a problem, ask for
help and, once again, the
spotters in the Tower
were in a position to see
where players could be
called from. The arrival
of reinforcements wasn’t
a coincidence – they had
been sent to assist.
018
January 2012
But the Scots weren’t getting it all their
own way – the English were scoring some
significant gains and by game end at 23:00
on Saturday night things were very finely
balanced. Everything was to play for on
Sunday.
At 07:00 on Sunday the game was reset,
with players returning to the positions they
were in at game end the previous night.
Marshals ensured that buildings were
occupied by the same side as they had been
before. There were just three target locations
to be held at various times today, plus extra
points would be awarded to the team holding
five other different locations at 10:30.
End-ex would be at 11:00 and the