Rommel's first offensive in the western desert starts with Winston Churchill committing British troops to defend Greece against the Germans which left General Wavell with only a few brigades in Libya. During this timeframe the Germans decided to shore up the Italians in North Africa by immediately attacking Allied shipping destined for the port of Benghazi. That threat forced the British forward units to resupply through Tobruk.

Assuming command of the German unit “Africa Korps”, Gen. Erwin Rommel probed El Agheila with reconnaissance planes and found that the British had pushed the Italians out of Africa and setup a defense that was thin because of an erratic resupply effort and the lack of troops due to the defense of Greece. Sensing a weakness Rommel launched a general offensive despite orders to maintain a defensive posture.

“Enter Rommel : El Agheila,” MPP Games first scenario game of the 2006 “Brothers in Arms III Series, The Desert War,” was held at Wildfire Paintball in Madison, Ga. on Feb 11 – 12. 

As Saturday morning arrived the ground was wet from rain during the night and there was a cold breeze flowing through the camp sites that just made you want to stay in bed.  As the smoke from camp fires started to rise and the conversation heard throughout the campsite involved different strategies on obtaining the edge on the field, the need to air up your marker and get on the field soon took over and the camp site was stirring.

Playing General Rommel for the weekend, Richard Majors of the scenario team Swamp Rats along with X.O. Robbie Richards ensured the team knew that the only way to win a game was to complete missions and gather props and from the “game on” Saturday at 12 PM, that’s exactly the strategy the Germans used.

The Allied side led by David “T-bag” Woodham playing General Wavell along with his X.O Bert “Fastwalker” Dimeck issued orders from the start of the game and sent several brigades towards the German command bunker in hopes of disrupting communications.

The fighting lasted throughout the morning and the first mission ordered by the German General after lunch was to send a recovery squad to the north side of the field in search of props. The 6 man squad had 4 troops searching the area and 2 troops standing lookout. Not 5 minutes went by and the signal was given that enemy was in sight and soon after the woods were full with Allied troops. The Allied troops drove the German squad out of the area disrupting their mission which kept the Germans from achieving those points.

While each team completed most of their missions the German team had a slight edge going into the dinner break.

At 7 PM the weather took a turn for the worse and the temperature began to drop. On the field you had to remain moving in order to stay warm and about 10 PM the game was called for the evening.

Sunday morning arrived and the Germans were given a mission to hold all 5 bridges at along Wadi Safra. General Rommel sent his troops to the bridges and the initial occupation of the bridges was achieved without incident.  However, the Allies used the heavy cover around the east side of Wadi Safra to advance on the Germans and succeeded in blowing up 2 of the 5 bridges. Given the location of this mission, the Germans were able to replenish their troops at a faster rate which ultimately gave them the points for the mission.

The final battle held at Benghazi was vicious. At first the Germans took over the Allied fort but after a massive insertion by the Allies they were able to take back control and never gave up their home base again.  Leading the Allies in several of the front line charges was Tracy “Iceman” Carroll along with his scenario team The Knights of Honor.  At one point during this battle they drove the Germans all the way across the field and took over the German fort just before the game was called.

Germans: 3900

Russians: 3100

During the award ceremony Iceman issued a challenge for all scenario teams to support him as General of the Germans for the upcoming scenario “Forward to Benghazi” the second game in the “Brothers in Arms III Series, The Desert War” being held at Paintball Charleston on March 11 – 12 2006.

He also gave out a personal challenge to the Allies: “As many of you know, I wear a kilt for at least the final battle of the scenario games I play and I hereby challenge any Allied player to get inside my camp and take me out! If you succeed, I will give you my kilt at the awards ceremony. The stipulations of the challenge: The player must have the Hitman card, it must be a barrel tag, and the player cannot be in German colors. Sounds tough? Well, I like my kilt. I'm not going to make it easy”.

Awards:

For the Germans, General Richard Majors
X.O.: Robbie Richards
Best Referee:  Scott Austin
Most Valuable Player(s): Carols Velasquez, Larry (Pig) Yates
Most Valuable Team(s):  SC Roadkill, Red Cell
Purple Heart: Kady Yeomans, Earl Gregory
Sportsmanship:  Blackhearts, Austin Worely
Special Service: Maniac, Inc

For the Allies, General  David “T-Bag” Woodham
X.O. Bert “Fastwalker” Dimeck
Best Referee:  Jamie
Most Valuable Player: Tracy “Iceman” Carroll
Most Valuable Team:  Knights of Honor
Purple Heart: Caleb, PCAT1 Inc, Richard Sevalrats
Sportsmanship:  Rangers, Bert Demick
Special Service: Caleb

I would like to thank Ben and Bonnie Torricelli from Millennium Paintball Productions, Wildfire Paintball and the top notch Paintball Scenario Teams that played in this event. You were all great sportsmen and it showed!

Thanks to our sponsors: Tippmann Sports, RealAction Paintball, GameFace Paintball, Pro-Team Products, Jet City Specialties, Indian Creek Design, Custom Products, NXe, Hammerhead, Hoffman Apparel, SCOTT USA, Richochet 2K and PBjunkie.com.

To see 220+ pics of this event, please click HERE or visit http://www.pbjunkie.com.

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