The X point was the spring called Venclík of the local brook. In the surrounding area there was an extensive pine and beech forest with numerous thicksets, forest roads, piles of timber and rugged trunk of the brook. The spring and brook itself was recessed below the surrounding terrain level.

Coordinates: N 49°55‘47,6“, E 16°22‘55,4“

Map of the gaming area in the vicinity of the X point is here.

Game rules for this year annual are available here.

58 players from five Zálesák groups and three paintball teams participated on the game.

Victory side of the 38th annual are offence units.

Full photogallery can be downloaded here [53 MB].

Referees: Karel (Zaječice), Bohouš (Zaječice) and Jenda (Brno 326/Čáslav)

Photos and players feedback:

[U3: Brno 326 and Warhammers] We woke up early in the morning on a meadow quite close to our starting position. Upon receiving the instructions we and Warhammers team moved to nearby pub to fine-tune some details while drinking hot tea and cold beer. Based on our intel we knew who is most probably in the defence and who could be our ally. Therefore we managed to contact a second group of attackers from České Budějovice (Budweis) and managed to transport them to our outpost. The tea cooled down just 13 minutes to noon and last remains of our team went mobile and moved to our outpost as well. The braver souls among us were already on special missions at that time.

The team’s and material consolidation on our outpost was inefficient so our combat operations started only around 2:00 pm. As we had multiple combat vehicles at our disposal, it was possible to build our outpost further away from the X point and leave the base that we needed to build per rules and instruction unprotected and hidden as much as possible. Shortly after that we registered a distant explosion of our paintball mines we strategically placed on the forest road near the X point. Unluckily these took out a poor civilian vehicle only, not a combat vehicle of the defenders.

Our first combat happened around 4:30 pm. The instructions about light combat recon of the X point and the surrounding terrain were poorly executed and instead of withdrawal our team tried to hold our ground. It was a massacre resulting in total loss of 10 men (6x Warhammers, 4x Brno) with only 2-3 deaths on the side of the defence. The intel gathered during this operation was minimal and was not accurately describing the real terrain around the X point. In the meantime we got to know that another group of attackers from Čáslav believed a group of defenders that they are their friends and let themselves be massacred; 11 more losses for attackers occurred. The situation was not looking well at all. Our enemy was exploiting mobile defence strategy with fast reconnoissance utilizing their ex-Czech army UAZ combat vehicle.

We have transported the group from Čáslav to our outpost after they returned from the dead zone around 6:00 pm.

Shortly after 7:00 pm we received an information that one 8-person group from the defence wishes to change sides, because they came to play a paintball while the rest of their co-players left them camping inside of the perimeter not allowing them a single combat action or recon. As this is not strictly against the rules, it was approved by the referees. We endorsed this change in odds as after six hours of gameplay our changes to conquer the X point were quite small with our numerous losses.

We arranged a pick-up operation when we needed to transport our defectors and Warhammers back to our outpost. At the same time we were more and more irritated by the UAZ as the vehicle was constantly in action, transporting recon and combat units around the whole area. I have decided that after we pick up our remote team, we will find this vehicle on the road and eliminate it with extreme prejudice. The tactics was to make a brisk barricade from our vehicles in both driving lanes, forcing the jeep to stop and take it out with our decisive firepower. So we did and it was a truly spectacular action! We managed to locate this vehicle on the road inbetween Řeťová and Řeťůvka villages. The order was given, our vehicles blocked the road completely, stopped the enemy vehicle and the hell consisting of 14 eager players broke loose. The unsuspecting driver was truly shaken after this sudden and unpredicted situation. The vehicle was unloaded at that time. This all happened around 9:00 pm in the night.

Later in the night we made a combat recon to X point. The base was not defended, so we unplugged the valves from several paintball inflatable obstacles and “stole” a blower so the defenders cannot use them anymore.

The night was quiet on our outpost as we were not located by the defenders. In the morning before 8:00 am we started to transport our 40-head group closer to the X point. Three rides were necessary to accomplish this. Few minutes after 9:00 am we were in sight on the X point. Defenders were expecting our approach from other direction but they managed to withdraw to their perimeter in time. The tactics and approach directions were already agreed so we started to advance in phalanx formation. The skirmish was long and we were fighting for every meter of advance. Too slowly for my taste :) After an eternity our wings managed to pressure the enemy from sides and they wisely decided to withdraw. We started to occupy the X point.
During the whole compact we were limited by the lack of HPA and CO2 and by numerous malfunctioning rental guns. In a need we utilized few backup guns left there by the defenders as well as their CO2 canisters.

At 11:00 am the defenders (withdrawn unit + reinforcements from the dead camp) made a bold, vigorous and well coordinated counterattack. Only a very few attackers managed to hold their ground and repulse this attempt. Our reinforcements arrived just 15 minutes before the game’s end just to help to stop a sporadic attack of three defenders at the cost of two of our men. We managed to hold the X point till the end of the game in about 9 people. And as the defence didn’t manage to locate any base of the attackers, the game was our major victory!

[O: Task Force 2015 and Zaječice centre] Traditionally our teams and friends have formed a Task Force. We were long ago thinking what new to bring to this game and surprise our enemy. There were many ideas, but except home-made landmines we were not ready to bring to life the more crazy ideas.

What was well planned from our side was the defence strategy. This makes the most sense as we do not need to count with other attack groups. We have decided to use a compromise; the X point will have a weaker defence compared to none of the two years ago, but we will not defend it as a static force.

The idea was to divide the defenders into thirds; first third shall build the defence and protect the close vicinity. The other thirds shall find the attackers and play they friends and join them if possible. This seemed as the best compromise that fits the game and the organizer's idea the best.

As it happens, our plans did not survive the first contact with the enemy. We didn’t manage to find a single attackers base (due to absence of the paintball nets). We “only” managed to convince one group of the defenders that we are their allies.

Fousáč: We suffered from our premature loss of Gucky, our main parley, who can convince the dead that they are still alive and in the game and on our side.
We started quite well as where we got we met our enemies, killed a bunch of them with two losses only.

Fousáč: I saw the X point for the first time the second morning during the first major battle. I believe we should check our stand ground more in the advance.

We were very unpleasantly surprised by a treason of one third of our defence.
That third which should defend the X point decided to changed sides so the next morning we were fighting against the overwhelming opposing force with partially destroyed defence obstacles.

There were 18 defenders against 41 attackers. The lesson we learned - do not trust no-one