1-6-2008  Op: NOOb Day

1-27-07    Airsoft Challenge Op: Balkan Hammer

10-06-07   Op: Broadsword

08-17-07   Recondo School 2007

05-26-07   Op: Viper

03-03-06   We're in serious need of a new annalist...does it show?

2006           Lionclaws V, Black Fox, Recondo, Irene IV, Mercury

2005           Lionclaws IV, Irene III

2004           UN: Eviction, Irene II

2003          The Factory, Wounded Bear, Irene I and Hostile Intent

01-18-02    Man wasn't meant to live like this. It's cold, and wet and raining. When it's not raining, it's snowing or sleeting. I begin to wonder what we're even doing here, halfway across Russia and very far from home. Although this company of misfits is all the home most of us have.
It's been almost four years since we've taken up this commission and it seems to be getting steadily worse. The Captain says that we can't break our commission, but we all want to leave. Fighting for this long and over so many fronts takes it's toll. The Company has seen action in Austria, Poland, Belgium, France, and most recently Russia. There's certainly nothing as lovely as a Russian winter, especially when it's accented by the sound of artillery and machine-gun fire. Along with the Germans, we've made a tough push through Russia almost all the way to Stalingrad. Right now we're holed up in a small village near Stalingrad, but the Russian army is closing on us fast. We're low on ammunition, food and supplies, and there is a definite lack of winter clothing. Riverwalker, the Company surgeon has treated more cases of frostbite than he cares to count. There are a lot of our guys out there who can't count to ten on their fingers anymore.
Everyone is dug in here in Thorntunskil, waiting for the Russian attack. Word is the we might be called on to make some raids and harass the enemy prior to them reaching the strong point. The joys of missions when it's 0 degrees outside, snowing, and you're outnumbered ten to one. We've followed the Captain into worse though.
 

Elmo is growling at the troops to get up and get ready for the battle at hand. We're attacking the Russian garrison at Thortunskil at first light. We've been attached to a German Falshcrimjaeger company for this hellish campaign. The regulars we're here with don't want to be here either. They're dropping like flies. Outnumbered, poorly equipped for the weather, supply lines getting longer everyday, but they still keep going. Innocent young boys, being forced out here in this wasteland, all for the whims of one man. As for us, well, we're hardly innocent. Our group has been blooded in almost every major war for some time now. Our origins are not known to me, some of the early Annals are missing, but I do know that the Black Company has marched with Caesar, fought with Napoleon and bled with General Grant. The Company has always had an Annalist to record its history. I am that man, and I am in charge of these records.
 

Our group is almost ready for battle. We're spearheading this attack today. Word is that the Russians plan to assault our Observation Post today. Well, we're going to get to them before they get to us. As the Captain is fond of saying, "Attack, attack, attack." The Russians have us outnumbered nearly two to one, at least the weather is on our side. It's cold, and rainy, which means the Russian garrison is almost as miserable as we are, maybe more so. Perhaps they'll be inclined to stay inside today.  It's almost time to go now. The troops are getting their final orders from the Captain. It's time for me to put down my pen and pick up my rifle. Hopefully I'll make it back to record the results of this battle.

 

02-08-01   Four of the Company (Mercy, Elmo, Riverwalker and Slink) made the incredibly long drive to Tampa for Op: Rolling Thunder. The rain tried to do in the event, unfortunately. However we had a really excellent couple of days of game play and found the facility to be very well laid out. Joachim was attached to BC for a good beating at the hands of the weather and FA. The first game consisted of the opposing team having to take out 4 or 5 objectives; our mission though was only to hold the bridge. So we set up on the ridge running along the water the bridge crossed. For the most part the objectives other than the bridge received no more than a token defense before the defenders pulled back to the ridge. I believe that at least two of the objectives where blow by FA although I was busy trying to make my POS MP work :) One lagger was left behind for the inevitable attempt to sweep the M60 to the rear. With the heavy gun shut down for a bit the opposing force bogged down long enough for the time limit to run out. The next game had us set up in a town with the M60 attached to us...unfortunately the game ended up being called due to rain. There was tons of rain that weekend:(  The next mission was locating the key to the battle wagon...that mission was doomed to fail. Thanks for getting triple A out for us guys, it would have been a long walk home!
        The mission following the rain had us attacking the town to locate a box. Two snipers were placed on towers (a misunderstanding that there were not two separate towers for each sniper lead us to think that the actual single tower was in fact held by one sniper, theirs). The referee for the match took us the long way around to the back of the field. The M60 was waiting in a house for us. They put their medic to good use inside the fortified positions, lol we forgot we had one. Elmo managed to take the M60 out when he went on the move and was getting ready to mop up the security element but was called out of bounds...shortly we found out there was in fact no out of bounds however by that time the game had been called. Needless to say the box was located just about under the Sniper's nest...and they were untouchable/invulnerable. It would have been interesting to try to get into that building I can tell you!  A night game was played among some of FA inside the city...but feeling like we weren't familiar enough with the area to play in the dark safely we opted out, after losing the war wagon key then knowing we'd have to dig it out of the wet soft sand it was parked in we weren't feeling lucky enough to keep from impaling ourselves on nails, sticks or other sharp pointy things. We went back to the hotel for a evenings adventure at the Rusty Pelican (you'll all hear about that one later..lol).
     The second day promised to be just as rainy as the first and since we and Joachim had a long drive ahead we played a couple of quick games before heading out. The first had us attacking the ridge we had defended the previous day. Our unfamiliarity with the field told quickly...our line was oriented to the incorrect direction when we ran into the ridge. Instead of being at our front it was at our left...lol. Unfortunately a regrouping never occurred...we'd left our radios thinking it would be a straight forward attack. It was sort of, for the defending team :) We then played a defend the town scenario. It actually went quite well for us until 3 of our 6 guns just flat stopped working. After which the defense of the innocent town crumbled like a wet cracker. A shot in the bridge of the nose from an upgraded M16 at about 6 feet had me seeing stars so I can't report much else after that except that the ER Doctor in Gulf Breeze informed me that there was no permanent damage...
     In all we had a good time and learned that if we want to use standard capacity magazines we'd have to get a squad weapon...the suppression capability is just too heavy to fight with standards. I would like to thank to FA for having us down and letting us play in the rain with them, we had a good time and hope you guys can make the trip to a SWAT competition we hope to set up within the next year.

"Darkness always comes."  Mercy.

10-11-00    A always a good time was had.  We always enjoy our trips to skirmish with the guys in Pensacola.  Unfortunately we had to detach our newest member, Goblin, to the other team since they were a little short.  The first day was spent playing a couple of games during the day, then a brief attempt at some night games.  It was however a bit too dark to play safely so that was scrubbed in favor of going to dinner!  The second day saw most of the local players stay home thus missing what has traditionally been the best day of gaming...the swirling killing grounds of the "city".   Many thanks to SpyderSniper for setting up the game and we were sorry to hear that J68 couldn't make it.  The following debrief is taken from SpyderSniper's website, thanks Spyder...

Operation: Special Reaction ended on Dec 10th with the Navy Seals recovering the stolen documents, and rendering Wang's Electronics useless. With cunning skill and a long day, the end finally came with a large explosion to the secret nuclear laboratory.

A few lessons were learned during this Operation.
1. Never shoot the medic on your own team.
2. All games should have a 30 minute maximum time limit.
3. When you see enemy troops waving through your scope, look for the velociraptor in the bushes beside you.
4. Tracers work best when they are tracers.
5. Bring more money for the tailgate arms deals.
6. Batteries work best when charged.
7. TEAMWORK, TEAMWORK, TEAMWORK!!!

All things said this weekend's games went rather smoothly. The excellent assault training from The Black Company on Sunday was well received, and needed. Two Man team assaults on a defended base were very interesting, and worked surprisingly well.
 

08-14-00   Much time has passed since I've had time to work on these Annals. Company business had taken me far away into the mountains for several weeks on a mission whose nature cannot be revealed at this time. Upon my return, I was informed that the Company was going to battle the next day. Being on leave from my previous company mission, I decided to sit this mission out. I'm getting accounts of the battle from the brothers that were there and they will be recorded as soon as I make sense of them.  

07-13-00   Mercy, Elmo and I (Walleye) were called up on short notice for a long-range mission to Houston recently (Op: Sunrise). The company rose before the sun and began its trek to the land of the Astros. Arriving early, we took the some time to rest and asses our situation. As our opponents began to arrive, we agreed it was time to make ourselves known. After cursory introductions and the like, we decided it was time to gear up. As we strolled in heavy, we made quite an impression. Soon, the games were to begin.
 

The Company was attached to another group, the Silent Knights. With them, we scouted the terrain, and soon after began the first game. Mercy and I flanked the enemy and snuck up behind them, much to their surprise. I removed one member of the opposing team while Mercy moved up. As I was moving up to cover Mercy, I ran right up on someone, and not knowing what team he was on, I hesitated, and ended up dead because of it. Mercy finished him though, and then moved on to get 3 surrenders. Our team won the match.
 

The second round was played on the same field. This game was marked by friendly fire incidents. Mercy, Elmo and I decided to set up an ambush for the opposing force. An opfor member walked right by my position without knowing it and quickly cowed to the sight of the end of my barrel in his face and a demand for his surrender. The Company moved up and Elmo accidentally shot a member of our team after Mercy pointed him out. I covered Mercy as she moved up and encountered a storm of fire as she got into position. She was killed (a FF incident too), and I advanced toward the rear to link up with Elmo. We got back into ambush position as 2 opfor members walked up onto a trail near us. As me & Elmo waited to light them up, a member of our team slipped up from behind and killed both of them. He promptly turned his gun on Elmo and outed him. He then came up to join me and as we were discussing what to do, someone walked up and blindsided me from the left, removing me from the battle. I did my best to be a pellet shield and removed myself once the shooting stopped. The game wound down to a slow 3 on 1 match which our team eventually won.
 

The third game was a scenario game. The company and its cohorts were tasked with retrieving a box and returning it to a defended enemy position. The Company moved quickly and found the box. Mercy was leading the contingent and I was tasked to rear security. We moved the box out of the immediate danger zone, dropped it off with a guard and advanced to clear the defenders out. Elmo advanced up the middle and took out several members until he was cut down. Myself, Mercy and the rest of the crew were advancing under cover and taking the enemy down as we moved. We advanced past the buildings and to a small wooded area. I covered the rear and flanks while the rest of the squad advanced. Unfortunately, they neglected to tell me when the last one of them passed. I was left with a big area to cover and I didn't know where my teammates were. Not being too keen on moving without cover or knowledge of where my team and the enemy were, I held my position for quite some time in the hot sun. Eventually, I heard some movement ahead and decided it was time to investigate. I moved up and collected another one of my teammates. We were joined by Mercy soon who had fallen back to get some help. We advanced, cutting down 2 enemy defenders and clearing the path for the box. We were much relieved when the box finally completed it's journey to El Gringo. It was tortuously hot outside, and the weather had begun to take it's effects on me. Mercy and I decided to sit the next game out because we had been out in the heat so long.
 

The final game the company participated in was a general run scenario. Elmo was the personal bodyguard of the VIP and personally masterminded the operation. He sent a diversionary force to one flank of the enemy's territory, while he and the general advanced toward the objective. The operation was a huge success and the general made it to the objective unscathed.
 

The Black Company had a great time in Houston, and was a very efficient force-multiplier for our team. We look forward to playing with these groups again. Well, I'm off for some much needed R&R, check back soon for the latest installment...