If we were to lose this battle, the US Marines would

Transcription

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First Person: War Stories from Gamespace
© 2013 Kent Sheely, All Rights Reserved.
ISBN 978-1-234-56789-1
www.kentsheely.com
This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by
mimeograph, photocopy, or any other means, electronic
or physical, without express written permission.
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“Silence.
It begins with an uneasy silence...”
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Foreword
War is an inseparable part of culture. The media and entertainment industries largely
shape the public’s perception of war; films and television depict soldiers as fearless heroes,
making noble sacrifices and achieving victory against overwhelming odds, in valiant
struggles against generic enemies. Their narratives are romanticized abstractions of the
stories that real soldiers might tell upon returning from battle. The resulting accounts,
however, will ultimately be devoid of the unspeakable horrors that soldiers experience
(and commit) in warfare, and will retain only the elements that are sure to intrigue and
inspire the audience and portray the protagonists in the best light.
Video games are the newest form of media to take on the subject of warfare in this
manner, but unlike traditional media, games are interactive. The viewers are not outside
observers, but participants, integral in the outcome of the events seen on the screen. To
be victorious in a game, players must become intimately involved with the narrative of
the action, projecting themselves mentally into the constructed world and into the bodies
of their avatars. They will choose, or have chosen for them, preconceived roles that fall
within the constraints of the game’s programming. These roles will drive events forward
and dictate the nature of the stories the players will eventually recount for their peers.
When human players control both sides of the conflict, participants will attach even
greater significance to what transpires, because they understand that their avatars are
killing--or being killed by--other players (if only in effigy).
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The gaming community fetishizes the dramatic “war stories” that players tell of their
experiences, just as popular culture reveres the acts of wartime moxie documented
in other forms of media. The themes that appear in war movies, such as honor, duty,
sacrifice, revenge, glory, and sometimes even crushing defeat, also emerge in the tales
gamers bring back from the battlegrounds of the Internet. Even in games that attempt
to simulate the horrors of war, the player characters always come across as dauntless
heroes, though striving and “dying” for a cause that may never be made apparent.
I collected the following accounts from an Internet forum dedicated to gaming, prompting
its members to write about their most noteworthy confrontations, and they responded
with overwhelming enthusiasm.
These are their war stories from gamespace.
- Kent Sheely
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I was doing a run with my clan. I was a Squad leader during this
scenario. Our Objective was a Russian artillery emplacement on top of a hill
overlooking the NW airfield, where civilians were currently being evacuated out
of country.
After I got the men briefed I ordered fire team Charlie to head to a nearby
compound and set up shop with the mortars of theirs, so that we could have
some support.
(Now before we go any further, let me tell you my bearings during this battle. The
hill with the artillery emplacements was to my north at nearly all times. To my
south was fire team Charlie, and to our east and west was woodland.)
I took fire teams Alpha and Bravo within 500 meters of the hill when we started
taking fire from the east and west at the same time. I instantly sent both fire
teams behind a nearby house. So began one of the coolest things I have ever seen:
About 11-13 men running for one single piece of fragile cover as tracers are flying
by, ammo going off. MMG gunners giving covering fire. And it only lasted around
two minutes.
Anyhow, once we were behind the small cottage I ordered fire team Charlie to
start hitting up the woods to the east and west. Within 30 seconds mortar shells
were obliterating the forest and the fire loosened up. So I ordered a forward
charge, right through the field straight towards the enemy hill.
Mortars popped smoke in the field, and we ran through it. I was leading the
charge as senior officer in the area. We got about 100M within the hill before all
hell broke loose.
We started taking immense amounts of fire from the hill and I was hit in the legs
and passed out. All I could hear and see was Corpsman UP! Corpsman UP! The
first corpsman that got to me I was told later was shot in the head and killed, the
second was able to drag me behind some trees just in time.
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After I was back up and able to move again I ordered Charlie to move into position
to take out the hill with their mortars.
Within ten minutes we were being evaced to base.
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- Connorwarman
ArmA 2
“...we started taking
fire from the east and
west at the same time. I
instantly sent both fire
teams behind a nearby
house. So began one of
the coolest things I have
ever seen...”
8©2009 Bohemia Interactive
Wake Island.
My location: Just south of the Airbase.
My class: Anti-Tank.
I had just landed on the beach, my platoon never even made it into the ship. They
said something about getting a plane and left me driving the landing craft alone.
That’s the way war is sometimes.
So I get to the beach, cap it, and run up to the road. I decide to turn north, and
start slogging up the hill. Just hitting the crest of the hill, I see an enemy jeep
headed directly at me at full speed not 10 feet away. Out of pure reflex, I fire my
Bazooka, which hits the jeep a mere 5 feet from me. The explosion destroys the
jeep and rockets the burning hulk over my head.
As if in slow motion, I track the wreck of a jeep as if flies over my head and
directly into the path of a tank not 5 feet behind me. The wreckage impacts the
tank with such speed that the tank itself explodes, leaving me standing there, jaw
on the floor.
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- Bridger15
Battlefield 1942
©2002 EA Digital Illusions CE
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I was an American marksman attached to a recon squad. The map
was modeled off of Fallujah and the enemy was an insurgent force guarding six
weapons caches, which we had to scout out and detonate while countering
their ambushes.
The last cache in the game was pinpointed, tucked inside a garage on one side of
the main motorway and guarded by thirty-two players, most armed with RPGs
or machine guns and the rest wielding AK-47s. The American position was on
the other side of that motorway, and between us and them lay four lanes of open
ground covered by snipers, machine gunners, IEDs, grenade traps, bomb cars,
and a dump truck filled with artillery shells that could level a city block if they
managed to detonate it.
I took up residence on the roof of a three-story building overlooking my squad,
intending to provide overwatch and prevent the enemy from sneaking up behind
them with grenades. I was supposed to have a rifleman guarding the stairway
behind me, but he didn’t speak English and ran off to join the others ahead. I was
all alone with a bolt-action rifle and a knife, completely blind to everything below
me, broadcasting my position every time I picked off one of the enemy across
the road.
Five or six enemy dead from the roof, a friendly infantry squad pinned down in
the mess of burned out cars and ditches that filled the centre of the motorway, my
own squad flanking north of the enemy to hit them in their arse. Then I
heard footsteps.
A quick check of the map showed no friendlies on my position. That’s bad because
I’m not usually equipped to fight anyone who isn’t far away. One hit from the
enemy’s 30-round automatic weapon would have had me bleeding out, all alone,
with the nearest medic being slaughtered on open ground.
I swung around and pressed myself up against the stairwell leading to the roof,
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right outside the door and out of the approaching enemy’s line of sight. He
barreled upward and I hit him in the head from several feet away. His kit wasn’t
one I can pick up, and my position was forfeit, so I needed to relocate. So I run
down the stairs. Another guy, point blank, shot in the chest. I couldn’t grab his kit
either. A third ran up from the ground floor and I nicked him in the shoulder, then
charged him with my knife and managed to only take one superficial hit in the
scuffle. My screen was filling with blood but I had a minute or two before I would
have been in real danger.
I rushed out the door, BAM. Another guy, I charged into him and shot centre mass
with the barrel nearly touching him. While he was bleeding out on the ground and
calling for his allies, I ducked into the alleyway behind my old nest and started
running for my squad’s medic. Machine gun fire erupted from behind me, I took
another hit, managed to spin around and somehow slay the pursuer, and then
pressed on with only a few bullets left.
My screen was black and white. I was panting furiously, maybe a minute
between lucidity and collapse. I couldn’t take the back roads because my injuries
prevented sprinting, so I was left with a choice between certain death or running
across the motorway to my squad. The latter seemed more attractive.
There were several dozen people shooting at me as I limped from car to car. The
pinned squad tossed out a smoke grenade but I couldn’t wait for it to deploy, so I
blindly shot back at the blurry shapes poised along the garage, hoping to at least
suppress them and make them take cover. I got some supportive fire from an
automatic rifleman in the ditch, then used that to bound across, pick up an AK47 kit, throw the anti-tank grenade it contained into the door of the garage, and
as I died I detonated the cache that we had been pounding for the past half hour.
30-something kills, my highest scoring round ever.
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- happybadger
Battlefield 2
“I was all alone with a
bolt-action rifle and a
knife, completely blind
to everything below me,
broadcasting my position
every time I picked off
one of the enemy across
the road.”
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Silence. It begins with an uneasy silence. It will end with an uneasy silence.
I stood on Damavand Peak, a Russian military base north of Tehran, Persia. Intel
told us that the opposing force of Marines would be descending on us in no time.
Little did our platoon know, the US Marines had already made their way onto the
peak. There was a two lane road through the top of the mountain, the only way
in or out of this valley. These Marines had blocked it off, presumably to stop any
easy reinforcements of the Russian cause.
Our base was stationed on the cliff side of the mountain. If we were to lose this
battle, the US Marines would hold the entire mountain, making our Russian
platoon easy to pick off from the mountain. Even though we knew the Marines
were on the top of the mountain, it felt as if they weren’t coming. What felt like
forever, the clock said that no one had died after four minutes of in game time.
What gives? I wondered. My squad had taken up a building overlooking the
M-Com Station close to the right hand branch of the road. I was an engineer. As
our lousy government gave us no vehicles to defend a nuclear base, I swapped out
my traditional blowtorch as I laid land mines on the road to stop any potential US
armored assault.
The M-Com Station that my squad was overlooking had an explosive charge
placed at it. What gives? I asked. I turned to my squad in the two story building
overlooking the station. “Any idea how they did that?” I enquired.
My squad is a group of friends that I have known since grade school, I dubbed it
the 1st Volunteer Pony Cavalry. My friend Elmo, who is the grizzled veteran of
Battlefield 3, can take any class with little to no strategic difficulty. Elmo was a
light machine gunner, overlooking the M-Com Station. My friend Savage, which
we call him since he is 1/16th Native American, is the newest to the game. He was
a recon soldier equipped with a shotgun. Light, mobile, efficient, and rather silly
in concept. Just how the 1st Pony Cavalry operates.
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As the charge was set, my friend Savage happened to run down the metal stairs to
get to the bomb. “I’ll get it!” He piped in.
Elmo, in true Admiral Ackbar fashion, shouted through the microphone. “It’s a
trap!” As this was speeding through the bandwidth, I watched from the dirt road
as a sniper picked off my friend Savage. The killfeed erupted with tales of our 8
man team being slain. I stood standing, along with my friend Elmo, and a medic
in the other squad. He clearly had some work to do. Almost all twelve of the US
Marines were Reconnaissance. That is, all except the Light Machine Gunner
driving down in the Humvee at me. I knew that the odds of my survival were slim,
but I positioned myself behind a land mine. He never saw it coming. My engineer
must have felt his eyebrows and beard stubble get rather singed, but I stood there
with some joy of not being human flat meat.
The M-Com Station they had so sneakily taken had detonated. With almost no
lives lost on their part. I vowed to the 1st Pony Cavalry that I would not go down
without a fight. The other squad clearly didn’t hear my riveting speech, or else
they would not have left the 1st Pony Cavalry to fight by their three selves. We
held Objective A like a bastion of steel. Their Recon couldn’t dare be so sneaky
as before, or else Savage would open their brain cavities with his shotgun. They
tried, but Savage scalped them quite well for being a FNG. Elmo had taken
to the role of medic, reviving Savage and me whenever we were hurt, while
simultaneously teaching the dangers of lead poisoning to the enemy. Soon, the
ticket count was down to about twenty.
The Marines were getting desperate, many of them charged down the Mount
Damavand. Elmo and Savage were chewing them up like a pack of big league
chew. A Humvee tore down the road, dust flew everywhere. I stood in the tallest
building on the base; the same one Savage was murdered in cold blood earlier
on. I saw the Humvee breach the gate of our mighty fort. I whipped out my RPG.
I aimed with it, and fired. I watched as the Humvee exploded into a fireball of
Russian glory. I watched my points go up as I scored a kill against the driver, the
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gunner, and two very sneaky passengers. The game ended. My rocket had scored
us a magnificent victory against our invaders.
As the round ended, my mind swirled. What are those Marines to do now? They
have blocked their only exit to Damavand Valley. I reckon that the 1st Volunteer
Pony Cavalry will know what to do about these remnants. Maybe the Marines
would give themselves up without a fight. How grand would that be? But soon
enough, these raiders would be gone from Damavand. And again, as it was before,
there would be silence.
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- TheProphesiedBrony
Battlefield 3
“If we were to lose this battle, the
US Marines would hold the entire
mountain, making our Russian
platoon easy to pick off...”
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It was just 4 of us that joined a game to find a whole clan of 12 guys on the
opposite team just farming kills on Valparasio, but as soon as a random player
would drop out another one of our guys would join in.
The attackers were just sitting as far back as they could with the Blackhawk
farming kills with the minigun and vehicle warhead perk. Checking the
scoreboard after my first death revealed that they had been doing this for a while,
as their gunner and pilot had over 5,000 points and it was only the third set.
A few of use broke out the trusty AT4 and bring it down, again, and again, and
again, until they get down to about 30 tickets and decide they better use some
teamwork. So while we were aiming for the chopper they managed to get a few
troops in on the ground and arm both MCOMs, and those are incredibly difficult to
disarm when you have chopper guns firing at you as well as about six snipers.
We gave up the set and fall back. We now have the high ground and a few more (7
in total, 8 by the time the next round starts) friends with mics. We immediately
clear all trees at the top of the fourth set, because fuck trees. Any cover is enemy
cover. And despite them repeatedly trying to sit 2 miles back with the chopper
and get easy kills, we manage to hold them off by doing exactly what you’re
supposed to do, defending the boxes. We won the game after a long fight, and now,
it’s our turn to attack.
This clan had obviously never met an organised team before, and although there
were only 8 of us, we rolled over them in less than 10 minutes for the entire map.
Including clearing out people trying to hide in our spawn.
We used their own tactic of chopper rape against them as a distraction, except
they couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with the AT4 and we had the same
chopper for the first 4 sets. The 6 ground troops that took the MCOMS consisted
of 2 medics (+range and +speed med kit), 2 assaults (smoke grenades, extra
grenades, body armour), and 2 recons.
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The plan was incredibly simple and effective: Use the chopper to draw their
fire while the assaults pop smoke everywhere, Recons throw motion mines
everywhere, and assaults and medics clean up and switch kits and revive each
other if need be. By the end of the first set we still had 70+ tickets. Same with
the third set. The only set we struggled on was the fourth set what with having
the low ground, but we simply had the chopper do a fly by, switched a few people
around in the squads and had everyone spawn at the back of their base. One of our
guys got 5 sets of tags from the initial incursion and we took both MCOMs about
60 seconds later.
By the final set we dropped a couple of people off from the chopper again, spawned
on them, and then popped so much smoke all over their base that they were
running around shooting at each other while a couple of guys were arming the
MCOMs. It was hilarious at the end as one of our guys was watching the stairs
for the building the MCOM A, and every time he would tell us a single person was
coming up there, we would take it in turns to quickly run out at the last second as
they were nearing the top of the steps and knife them in the face.
We were never a proper clan, but the one thing we all had was a mic. And
communication is all you need to win in games like Battlefield. So in the end, 8
guys (some of whom were incredibly drunk at the time), and a couple of randoms
who scored less than 500 points the entire round, rolled an organised clan.
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- Jd8coke
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Photo: ©2010 EA Digital Illusions CE
“...while we were aiming for the
chopper they managed to get a few
troops in on the ground and arm both
MCOMs, and those are incredibly
difficult to disarm when you have
chopper guns firing at you as well as
about six snipers.”
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My first online game. I used to spam grenade launchers because I didn’t
know any better.
I was playing a defend the location type of game mode and I was playing my usual
way. But we were losing, bad. They had about 80% of points needed to win and we
had about 30%. Basically a guaranteed loss but I saw they were gonna take our
last position soon. So I hopped on a motorcycle by myself and drove down to our
last control point and they were everywhere.
I jumped off and picked all of them off from behind the motorcycle and saved our
last position. I didn’t even have any grenade launchers left. So I immediately
drove to the nearest enemy’s position and killed everyone there again and sat on
their point to capture it.
I drove to the last enemy position and fought them off and took their last point.
I grabbed a dead enemy’s weapon and started patrolling all our positions and
didn’t ever let them retake any more. The whole time my entire team was getting
mowed down by the enemy so it was all me that day. My team won 90%-100%.
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- ReservoirDog316
Call of Duty 3
©2006 Activision Inc.
“...I grabbed a dead enemy’s weapon and
started patrolling all our positions...”
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My clan and I were in a tournament and it was the second to last match to
decide who the victor was. The map had a road going through a city with humvees
and a tank. Teams were five versus five.
There was a building that everyone used to snipe from (The side with the
bulldozer). I was in that building using the G3 single shot, silenced. I had two
flashes, a grenade, and the default USP silenced pistol.
It was a slow, painful fight. When an enemy fell, one of us fell until it was down
to two enemies versus me. I quickly retreated to the building I spoke of earlier
because it gave you a pretty good view of all the alleyways and across the map.
One of their guys was entering the sniper building on the opposite side of the map.
I popped off 3 shots, hitting him in the face. He dropped. So the wait began.
I heard a “tink tink.” I bolted out of the room as the grenade exploded behind me.
I knew the attacker was entering the building, so i tossed a flash down. It got him
in the face because i could hear the hits of the bullets on the staircase. I leaned
around the side and sprayed down the staircase then moved back and reloaded
(about a clip and half left) I retreated into the back room as a flash flew up the
stairs. It got me slightly, but i was able to toss my flash down at him.
It was quiet.
Again i moved to the stairs and he hit me with a shot. I started bleeding, and
bandaged. I tossed my grenade down at him, it exploded.
The chat was silent…
Now here’s the kicker: in the realism mod, it doesn’t show if you killed the enemy.
So i went down to check, and sure enough he was alive and sprayed at the stairs,
I retreated but he followed. We traded fire yet again. Both us emptied all our clips,
we switched to pistols, and I swear to god I never clicked so fast in my entire life. I
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emptied my pistol clip into his chest before he even had a chance to fire once.
The chat erupted into cheers. It was the most exhilarating feeling in my entire
life. I was shaking from the adrenaline.
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- Bentorian
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
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©2007 Activision
Our whole squad slowly deteriorated in a match of Search and
Destroy, leaving me all alone with only one clip left in my Intervention and a
throwing knife.
Now, I was notorious for being the absolute WORST quick-scoper of my friends,
and I had set out to impress them. I told them all to spectate me in first person, as
I quick-scoped the five enemies from the top of the building. I killed four, three of
which were hiding by the bomb site (mind you, I had the bomb at this time, thus
having control over the game).
Now, one guy discovered my location and started to frantically shoot bullets from
his position from the other building’s ledge. I ran out of bullets and dropped to
prone. Because I stopped shooting, he went out on a limb and believed that I’d run
completely out of ammo. He began the ascent up my building. I attempted to wait
until he arrived, but the chance of him shooting me before I meleed him was
too great.
Suddenly, I heard the explosion of a flashbang and realized that he had breached
the roof. On a complete adrenaline rush, I sprinted and leaped off the building and
blindly hurled the throwing knife back in the direction I came from.
shink! The end game message cued. Friends went crazy and our enemies all rage
quit. A good day.
And I never picked the game up again.
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- Misterfoxy
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
©2009 Activision
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We spawned. I was on the side of the United States of America. I ran through
the tunnel area over to the building with the dome on top. In the building were
two Russians. I thought my chances of survival were slim and I would die
immediately. I was wrong!
I shot one of them with my P90, as well as one of the explosive barrels inside
the room, which blew up. I sprinted to the side of the building and threw a
Semtex, hoping to catch the other Russian. However, I greatly underestimated
the distance the grenade would go and it landed on the wall close to the other
entrance that was available to the enemy’s spawn point. I was very disappointed,
and thought, ‘Damn, what a waste’. I was wrong again.
An enemy was running through the other entrance right as the Semtex exploded.
Not only did it blow up the enemy, it also blew up another explosive barrel.
Unfortunately, I died immediately after. I thought my roll was over.
Little did I know, right behind the other enemy that I meant to take out with my
Semtex was yet another explosive barrel. Either the barrel I shot and blew up
first made it catch on fire, and then the second one the semtex blew up fueled
the fire so it would ‘splode more quickly, or the one the semtex blew up ignited it
(most likely the former), but it blew up, adding yet another kill to my spree.
That moment will forever be implanted in my brain as one of the greatest
moments in my gaming career.
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- Optik_Yellow
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
©2011 Activision
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Search & Destroy. The map was Grid.
For those unfamiliar, the Search & Destroy game mode is broken up into rounds
where teams assault/defend a bomb site and players do not respawn until the
round is over.
As part of the assault team, I ran to the northern building to sweep around the
opposing team’s backside while all 4 of my teammates rushed the bomb site in
the southern building. By the time I had made it through the northern building to
the enemy’s side of the map, my entire team was down in what must have been a
spectacular firefight. I had dropped an enemy passing through the building, so I
was all alone against 4 players and I didn’t have the bomb. The clock was ticking.
I moved methodically across the enemy’s courtyard towards the southern
building, mounted the back stairwell and picked up the bomb, killing several
enemies along the way. I had positioned myself well and didn’t have much trouble.
With just 90 seconds left in the match, I had evened the odds to one on one. I
moved from the southern bomb site towards the northern bomb site, hoping my
lone adversary wouldn’t expect me there. I was wrong.
I dolphin dove next to the the bomb site and began planting. I didn’t know how
long exactly it took to plant the bomb (maybe 8 seconds?), but I felt like I held
that button, my hands sweaty and shaky, for an eternity. Each beep sounded like
an alarm revealing my position. After coming so far in that match, I felt like I had
so much more at stake than any round I’d played before. I desperately wanted to
plant the bomb. I wanted to win.
When the bomb plant bar finally filled, I was overjoyed. I took a moment to clear
the panic from my head and decide the best course of action. I rose up to my feet
and sprinted towards a position where I could watch the bomb until it blew and we
won. I had visions of the glory of eliminating the entire team by myself and taking
the win single-handedly.
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I hadn’t taken 4 steps towards cover before I was gunned down from behind in
the open square. The round should have been over at that point and we would
have lost. The bomb timer had just begun and the player that had killed me was
the only man left on the map. He could have run over to teabag me once or twice,
emptied a magazine into my corpse and then disarmed the bomb with time to
spare. But we didn’t lose.
Only a moment earlier, before I stood up after planting the bomb, while I cleared
my head, I noticed I had earned a killstreak and I called in my ace: a napalm
strike aimed directly at the bomb site.
As I laid in the attack, the life fading from my broken body, I watched my enemy
sprint towards the bomb in desperation (he knew what was coming as well as I
did). He only had time to lay down before the jet screamed by overhead and the
entire area burst into flames. Laughing, I watched the final kill cam show me his
death again from the napalm bomb’s perspective.
Afterwards, I set down my controller and stepped outside to smoke a cigarette.
For me, a mediocre COD player, that moment was glorious. I felt like a hero.
I still think of it from time to time.
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- yuengaling
Call of Duty: Black Ops
“By the time I had made
it through the northern
building to the enemy’s side
of the map, my entire team
was down in what must have
been a spectacular firefight.”
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I was the last one left on the side of the Masonic Order after a buddy of
mine took a killing blow for me. I avenged him by slaying his attacker and now I
was alone to stand against five of Agatha’s best warriors on a battlefield of lush
green rolling hills. They had one archer, two knights and two men-at-arms.
I had been chasing the archer and he baited me and the next thing I knew I was
surrounded by enemy combatants. The archer positioned himself on the hill to the
right while his comrades surrounded me. I dodged archer fire and swings from
swords in every direction. I was able to dodge under one of the knights’ strikes
and position myself behind him for a killing blow. One down, four to go. I saw an
opening in the defenses so I made a run toward the archer. If I was going to live
through this, I couldn’t have an archer taking free shots at me while his buddies
were able to subdue me. I catch the archer right as he notched another arrow. He
fell limp to the ground. I turned around just in time to see the two men-at-arms
charging me. I blocked one attack and sidestepped the other. I took them both
down with a flurry of swings.
My heart was pounding from the adrenaline of the fight, but it wasn’t over. There
was still one more knight. He was in full plate garb with a tower shield. Here we
stood, beneath the blood red sun. He slammed his sword into his shield, taunting
me. I taunted back, pointing my claymore at him, giving him a glimpse at what
was to come. He backed himself up against a boulder. Smart move. A natural
defense to his back and his tower shield to his front. The only lack of defense was
to either side of him, but the window was too small and I couldn’t risk it. I ran
toward him, but neither of us was ready to commit to an attack that could be our
last. What ensued was a swan dance of sorts. Each combatant trying to force his
opponent to commit to an attack. There were few options, and all looked bleak.
Right then I knew the key to my victory. I started a swing, forcing him to raise his
shield, but I cancelled at the last second. His shield still raised, I delivered a kick
that trembled the Heavens. The knight staggered and I spotted my opening. This
was the moment. My one chance to end this. If I failed, there would be nothing I
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could do to stop him from putting me on the defensive and ultimately ending my
life. With all of my might I thrust my claymore forward and it met his throat. He
fell to the ground and I shouted my victory to the sky.
After that round, my performance must have given my team a morale boost
because there was nothing the enemy team could do to stop the crimson tide of
destruction that swept their lands.
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- KingBarracuda
Chivalry: Medieval Warfare
“ I was able to dodge
under one of the
knights’ strikes and
position myself behind
him for a killing blow.
One down, four to go.”
35
©2012
Torn Banner Studios
Eastern Fronts, Seine River Docks.
We were the Allies, and my friend in the middle had gone American Infantry,
which means defenses and more defenses, but still didn’t manage to lock off
the middle bridges. He had set up a North-South-aimed front but was getting
destroyed mid-game from the right as I had pulled my Brits back and hadn’t
regained ground.
So he’s squatting the middle left with a few squads of Rangers (anti-infantry
commandoes with anti-light vehicle bazookas) while losing on the middle right,
when I hear him let out a defeated roar from the other room. “KING TIGER, it’s
fucking over” he screams. The KT is a superunit the Axis can pull out, and it’s
not so much a tank as a nigh-invincible Mobile Oppression Fortress. As I scroll
over I see it slowly crawling over the middle left bridge towards the Rangers
who are shooting bazookas ineffectively at its inches-thick front armor while
getting blasted over and over again with the whole-map-loud 88mm AT gun that
comprised its turret mount. “Is there anything I can d-”
The next thing I hear, he’s cackling nervously and jibbering like a madman, and I
notice that the computer has sent a highly-specialized bonus unit onto the bridge,
a Goliath Tracked Mine. Now this unit does a single thing and does it well: Blows
stuff up. If it gets across the bridge, my friend could kiss his entire front line good
bye. But, but, if he blew it up on the bridge, with the King Tiger, he could sink the
tracked castle and close off the line at the same time.
The next 10 seconds was a blur of focus fire and popped cooldowns, but the
Goliath triggered, the bridge collapsed, and the King Tiger, only seconds from
making it across, sank to the bottom of the river while we all laughed and cheered.
36
- ieattime20
Company of Heroes
“So he’s squatting the
middle left with a few
squads of Rangers...I hear
him let out a defeated roar
from the other room.”
37
©2006 THQ
We were severely overmatched but somehow tied it up at the end of
Regulation. It had gone into overtime, and it was the last round of overtime at
that. We were the Counter-Terrorist team on Cobble.
I maxed out my kit with an aug, full armor, and a defuse kit. I went straight with a
mate while everyone else went to the right because we thought they were going to
rush to that bomb site. My mate got up in the ladder to snipe and I crept out in the
open. I started to head towards the Terrorist spawn when I saw my team getting
slaughtered.
They had indeed gone to that bomb site.
Anyway, my whole team was dead, it was 5 versus 1 and I was sure everyone
else had just written off the match. Well right as I started up the stairs from the
Terrorist spawn, they planted the bomb. I didn’t have a choice but to rush in like
a fool and do my best. I ran into the hallway and jump-crouched into the middle
to pick one guy off. I strafed around the corner to the left and there was a guy
waiting on that little porch that I picked off. I saw two guys by the bomb site and
hurled a prayer ‘nade. Took out both of them. I saw movement behind the boxes
as I ran backwards toward the site. He popped out and the bomb timer started
ticking faster. I nabbed a headshot, and defused the bomb with what couldn’t have
been more than one second to spare. It was fucking awesome.
38
- AhhhBROTHERS
Counter-Strike
“...my whole team was
dead, it was 5 versus 1
and I was sure everyone
else had just written off
the match.”
39
©2000
Valve Corporation
I had just joined as a Counter-Terrorist on the Aztec map in the
middle of the match, so I only had enough for a pistol and a smoke while everyone
else had their rifles and such.
I headed towards the bridge, as it’s a pretty safe location and I can just wait
around for someone to die around me so I can pick up their gun. So I was waiting
there by the boxes while our guy with an AWP sniper traded fire with their
own AWP guy. Then I saw one of our guys throw an incendiary grenade to the
Terrorists’ side of the bridge.
That’s when I realized “...huh, that fire sure does produce a lot of black smoke...
you can’t really see though that at all...” Inspiration hit me, and I charged across
the bridge, perfectly timed so that the fire cleared up just as I got to the other
side. The room still filled with black smoke, I moved in and around the left side of
the pillar in the middle of the room, and what happened next seemed like it was
ripped from an 80’s action movie.
Right as I jumped around the pillar, one of the Terrorists was there dropping his
AK so he could pick up his fallen teammate’s AWP. I CAUGHT THE AK MID-AIR. I
know the player models don’t change expression, but this guy could not possibly
have looked more surprised. I make short work of him and his two friends that
were in the corner watching the bridge. We win the round handily, and at the end
of it I could not resist jumping out of my chair and cheering.
40
- DandD4me
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
©2012 Valve Corporation
41
I was an infantry unit on the Axis team. I was playing and my younger
brother was watching. I was all keyed up and sorta drunk.
In that state, game time seemed to slow down, and almost every bullet that came
out of my K98 rifle was a kill (I counted 14). Out of ammo in my main weapon, I
pulled out my pistol and got two more kills. When that was out, I pulled out the
shovel and got one last kill before the firing squad lined up and gunned me down...
as I ran at them with my shovel swinging and screaming “come and get it!!”
I racked up seventeen kills. It took the whole team to gun me down. I never
laughed so loud while playing a game in my life, and my younger bro
was speechless.
42
- jpagano4
Day of Defeat: Source
43
It was my third day in Chernarus, and I finally felt like I had a grasp on the
methodology for survival in the zombie apocalypse. My two friends and I decided
it was time for me to do a legitimate raid. Up to that point, we had gone to small
villages and done quick pass-throughs for basic supplies, but we figured it was
time to try to go through an airfield to get some better weapons/supplies.
We ended up on a hill overlooking Balota and the neighboring air base. The plan
was for them to provide eyes/fire from above while I made the raid solo.
I combed through the airbase easily, running away from zeds and grabbing some
decent loot. Before I regrouped with my friends, I decided to see if there was
anything good in the control tower. As I climbed to the top, I was excited to see an
AK. The AK has always been a favorite video-game-gun of mine, and it was better
than whatever crap gun I had at the time.
Just as I opened the menu to add it to my inventory, I heard a gun shot and was
suddenly bleeding on the ground. I lost a ton of blood, had broken a leg and was
floating in and out of consciousness. I put a bandage on in time to prevent death,
but I was close to the end. I tried crawling to the stairs but immediately heard a
gunshot that landed close to the stairway.
I was pinned.
Meanwhile, through my headphones I could hear my teammates frantically try
to figure out where the shots were coming from. They knew they needed to come
heal me and give a transfusion, but they had no idea what kind of enemy we were
dealing with.
“Where is he?” “Is he alone?” “Did his gunfire attract more bandits?” “Does he
know that I wasn’t alone?”
Finally we decided that I needed to draw fire so they could pinpoint where the
44
shots were coming from. I slowly crawled back to the stairs, and sure enough he
tried another shot.
Quickly, my teammates coordinated an ambush. Over comms, I heard as they
tactically moved on to his position. Even though I was on the verge of death, I felt
confident that my friends would soon kill the enemy and save me.
As time wore on, it became clear that the enemy had moved from the woods
where he first took the shots. Just as my friends cleared the woods, I heard
footsteps below. My enemy was descending upon me.
In order to divert attention, my friend fired on the tower. I could hear the
panicked footsteps of the enemy below as he tried to figure out the source of the
shots. I could imagine the thoughts racing through his head: “Was he not alone?”
“Why didn’t his teammates react earlier?” “Was the player I shot just bait?” “Are
these just bandits who heard my first shots?”
Regardless of what he was thinking, my friend clearly bought me time.
I again listened patiently as my teammates tactically moved forward on their
target. Tree-by-tree, point-by-point, they moved forward towards the tower.
Eventually, they sprinted across the gap and made it to the tower.
The enemy probably had the door covered... that much was obvious. Somehow we
needed to figure out his location and make it so my friends could flush him out.
I started crawling.
My movement caused another round of panic from the enemy below. My
teammates and I heard him move up the stairs and simultaneously realized it was
time to move. Within a matter of seconds, the enemy started moving up the stairs
towards my location as my friends entered the building below.
I heard a quick burst of gunfire, a painful second of silence, then a cheer from
45
my teammates. They had taken down the enemy as he was ascending the final
staircase to my location.
They healed me up. I took all of the good loot from the tower and my enemy’s
backpack, hid his body, then went on to find my next adventure.
- ChangloriousBastard
DayZ
46
“...through my headphones I could hear my
teammates frantically try to figure out where
the shots were coming from...they had no idea
what kind of enemy we were dealing with.”
47
©2012
Bohemia Interactive
I was flying an A-10 on one of the multiplayer maps called Separatists
Aggression. One of the added optional objectives was a deep-strike factory attack
about 80 NM (Nautical Miles) North of where the main objective was. I had to fly
around an enemy airfield (fortunately no MiGs) to get to this factory. I dropped 4
AGM-65D Mavericks (Anti-ground missile) on the factory and 4 CBU-97s (Cluster
bomb) near it to clean out any nearby AAA/SAM sites.
The toolshed wasn’t destroyed (which was part of the objective), so I decided
to go on a gun run from 20,000 feet. As I dropped, I started getting missile lock
warnings, but decided to make the attack anyway. I made my run, destroyed the
shed, and took two missiles to my left tail and left engine as I flew away. I could
still fly and decided to try and limp the 80 NM trek home.
I had to fly back around the enemy airfield and decided to head out to sea. Flying
on one engine, one tail, and no countermeasures, I see open water ahead of me. “I
made it!” I thought.
As soon as I thought that, a MANPAD (Man Portable Air Defense, like a Stinger)
lit me up. My countermeasures were degraded due to battle damage and I was
unable to avoid the missile.
I went down only 20 nautical miles from landing.
48
- sirtheguy
DCS World
“As I dropped, I started getting missile lock
warnings, but decided to make the attack anyway.”
©2008
Eagle Dynamics
49
My whole team just happened to be running down a street away from the
entire enemy team. From the enemy’s POV our helicopter would be right down the
street and you would curve slightly to the left.
Anyhow, one guy who had an LMG (I think a SAW in that game) decided to stay
back and give us covering fire while the rest of us bolted for the helicopter, he
killed about 2 people before he was gunned down.
So we got in the helicopter (though I think one poor chap didn’t make it in time
and the helicopter dusted off right before he could get in) and right as we got in
the air, someone got shot and it just so happened to be the medic who didn’t make
it in.
While we were in the air I was sniping quite a few people and that lasted for
about two minutes, then someone with an RPG shot right in the cargo bay and
killed everybody, I however laid there and when the helicopter landed I asked for
someone to come and heal me, which they did, and we ended up winning
the game.
50
- Ruthless Xero
Delta Force: Black Hawk Down
©2003 NovaLogic
51
The man in the sombrero was on fire.
Or least his head was. Maybe just his goofy hat. It was hard to get a good look as
he constantly flipped off walls. The pain was breaking his concentration though,
as the charged blasts from his dual laser pistols bounced off our armor or missed
entirely instead of disintegrating skulls.
The big man in the power armor next to me laid down fire with his two sawn off
Remmy 1100’s. The large spread of the shotties drew blood but failed to slow the
assault of the Space Pistolero En Feugo. I drew my piece and tried to line him up
in my sights. I let off a round that sailed under him as he twisted through the air.
The concussive blast of the .454 going off drew the Future Mexicans eyes and
laser pistols to me. The big guy next to me, Shini, we called him, calmly dropped
his shotties and pulled the two .357 Desert Eagles off his hip. The normally noisey
pistols sounded dull next to my revolver.
I fired again, missing again as my target did a black flip onto a pile of crates. I
cursed, my internal clock telling me both his pieces were at full charge. Before I
even could bring my piece back down for a Hail Mary shot he fired, the red bolts
cutting through the air toward my heart.
Then the air was filled with the hum of something a lot bigger. Before I understood
what I was seeing, the SMAW rocket slammed into Space Pistolero’s legs. There
was an explosion, a flash of light and dust, then he was gone. And I never even
knew why he was on fire.
I quickly deduced that since I had seen him explode, I was still alive. Ergo, he had
missed. I felt a small burn on my bicep. On inspection, he had grazed me, burning
a small line through my “MOM” Heart tattoo and setting the edge of my T-shirt on
fire. I holstered my cannon and searched for the rocket man. He was behind us,
doing flips between rooftops to celebrate. I shot him a thumbs up as I heard Shini
pick up his guns and begin to reload, humming Bach.
52
I stuck a cigarette in my mouth and lit it on the small flame merrily dancing on
my shirt before extinguishing it. I quickly regretted putting out a fire between
my gloves and fresh burn wound. I pulled my piece and replaced the two spent
shells, then nodded to my buddy. The real fight was still ahead. As we prepared
to enter the Bazaar where we would throw ourselves once more into the breach,
something landed with a thud in front of us.
It was the top half of the Laser Slinger, cigar still clenched in his jaw, barely
anything left but ash, like the man’s face.
53
- ohthreefiftyfun
Desert Crisis
54
We were getting messed up pretty badly. Enemy engineers were putting
up short walls all along this ridge above our base and there were snipers and
grenadiers raining hell down on top of them. Our factory had been destroyed
and all of our engineers were too preoccupied repairing what we had left to build
another one, so we were down to the vehicles we had left, most of which had been
attacking a minor stronghold on the other side of the map. That was where I was.
As my squad and I were blowing the hell out of this little base, we heard that our
factory was down and there were enemy tanks and artillery surrounding the
base. Our commander was off hiding somewhere, so there was a chance of us
losing until they found him, but our allies were telling us that the barracks (only
spawnpoint we have left) was about to go down. Sure enough, kaboom, barracks
was gone and the guys at the main base started making their final stand.
My squad consisted of five guys, with an APC and a light tank that was low on
ammo, but we weren’t about to give up. We didn’t go back to our base. We headed
straight for theirs.
I was driving the tank with one of my squad-mates brandishing a rocket launcher
from the open hatch at the top while the other three guys took the APC. When we
came within sight of the enemy base we found it heavily fortified–rocket turrets
and three layer walls surrounding the place. We had one sniper in our squad with
the cloaking ability, and we waited in agony as he crawled across the field, one by
one sapping the enemy rocket turrets.
When the last turret was down, Our two grenadiers hopped out of the APC and
started hammering at the wall, aided by myself and rocketman up top. The
wall was down in thirty seconds, but there was no doubt in my mind that the
commander had called back his troops to deal with us--our main was long gone by
then and our commander was struggling to get a secondary outpost set up for our
guys to regroup.
55
When we breached the wall, I went in first with only eight rounds left in my little
tank. The APC followed and we very quickly found the command vehicle huddled
in the corner of the base. I opened up as soon as I saw him and so did my three
anti-tank infantry.
The commander swerved out of the way of a rocket and ran head on into my first
shot. But a light tank with standard ammunition was not much threat against the
heavy armor of the command vehicle. The commander hit the gas and ran down
one of my grenadiers as he fled his base. The APC and I followed, leaving behind
the other one.
By this point our commander had gotten another barracks and factory up and
our team was cranking out heavy tanks by the minute. There was no sign of the
enemy convoy as my squad pursued the enemy comm vehicle. I’d hit him a few
times, missing him more often than not. My rocket guy was about useless the way
we were whipping down the mountain roads, never far behind us was the APC.
Finally we chased the commander towards a bridge, and I was starting to catch up
to him. Beyond the bridge was our base, and what I saw remains one of the coolest
things I’ve ever seen in a multiplayer game.
We had walls set up all around our base, grenadiers pummeling enemy armor
on the ground below, engineers struggling to keep them repaired. Our snipers
and riflemen were picking them off while simultaneously trying to hold back
the advancing enemy infantry. Heavy tanks on both sides were firing at each
other, everyone oblivious to the fact that the vehicle was charging straight for
the battlefield. I was out of ammo and my rocket man only had two missiles left.
Knowing I wouldn’t stand a chance if I rolled into that onslaught, I backed off and
stayed near the bridge.
As the commander reached relative safety behind his line of tanks, two of them
erupted into flames and my team disregarded the army attacking their base in
favor of the game-winning kill.
56
Realizing his mistake, the commander ran, heading back towards the bridge-right back to me.
I was out of ammo, but I saw him coming. He was coming on the left side, and I hit
the gas. We both reached our end of the bridge at the same time, ready to charge
past each other like a pair of jousting knights. Just before I passed him, I jerked
to the left and rammed into him. The comm vehicle rolled onto its side and went
tumbling off of the bridge. It landed upside down in the ravine below and the
armada of heavy tanks unleashed a firestorm upon him. In seconds the command
vehicle was rubble and the battle was won.
- Heroshade
Empires
57
“I went in first with only eight rounds
left in my little tank. The APC followed
and we very quickly found the command
vehicle huddled in the corner of the base.
I opened up as soon as I saw him and so
did my three anti-tank infantry.”
58
I was young and inexperienced, and had just selected Moscow as my
state. I ended up cheating to get money for mercenaries and just have fun with it.
I gained some territory and eventually discovered Sweden, my homeland, and
thought that of course it rightfully belongs to me. Now, developing sea travel takes
a very long time, so I decided to raise an army and walk there through Finland.
I started recruiting and training and hiring as many mercenaries as I could,
and ended up with a solid army of 250,000 men. Now this was sometime in the
100s-1300s, and I don’t know what the world population was back then, but I
assume that 250,000 would be a massive army. At the head of this army was my
5-star general, Igor or Ivan something or other. As a veteran of many a successful
campaign, he was chosen to lead this, the most glorious campaign of all!
They set off in the summer, because according to my logic, who wants to walk
anywhere in Russia during the winter? My logic wasn’t very well-founded though,
as they reached the Finnish border sometime around Christmas. It was fucking
cold, and many had already frozen to death.
We did not capture any territory, but made straight for the Swedish border.
Unfortunately, Finland was at this time full of savages that were harassing us at
every turn, slowing us down and causing further casualties. We pretty much got
stuck in the snow, only to resume the campaign as spring came. Still, by the time
we neared the Swedish border, it was winter again, and lo and behold, Sweden
was also full of these savages, and there was no way we could force our way down
through another winter, or even two, so instead, General Ivan (or Igor) had to
turn back.
He returned home almost 3 years later, having lost all but 13,000 of his 250,000
men. He never did reach the Swedish border, and barely made a dent in the
savage population in Finland.
As an epilogue, we built boats, and Sweden was eventually conquered. The
59
Northern reaches of Finland still lay untouched, as no man dared venturing there
ever again. It is still a land of cold, hard winters and savage men, impossible to be
tamed by civilization.
60
- Z0bie
Europa Universalis II
Photo: ©2001 Paradox Development Studio
61
I warp to 250 above the outbound stargate, my hands tremble on the flight
stick as I see the gate is bubbled and my escape is blocked. I quickly hit my
directional scanner revealing an incoming gang of one heavy assault cruiser,
one drone platform Gallente destroyer and a Gallente battle cruiser sporting
battleship size weapons.
My heart begins to race.
I activate the targeting range sensor booster, pushing my small crafts CPU power
to the limits. The Algos drone platform warps to within 130k of me. His friends
wait below for him to make the tackle and warp jam me. Little does he know that
with my sensor boasters at maximum, I can lock and fire on him at 100km. I lock
the target and begin firing, heated plasma rounds tear through his shields and
into armor. His friends begin burning towards me. I align to the local star ready
to warp away. He enters structure as the Vagabond class starship enters locking
range. With the Vaga and Talos close to warp disruption range his ship
splinters apart.
I slam the warp button and my ship diverts power from the sensor boosters to the
warp drive. I enter warp and am pulled off the combat grid just seconds before the
vagabond is in range to stop me. I align out and warp to a safe location.
Concord sends me an email congratulating me on my kill and adding the bounty
payout to my wallet. Awesomest solo pvp engagement of my Eve career.
62
- pmainpri
Eve Online
“I quickly hit my directional
scanner revealing an incoming
gang of one heavy assault
cruiser, one drone platform
Gallente destroyer and a
Gallente battle cruiser sporting
battleship size weapons.
My heart begins to race.”
63
©2003
CCP Games
I had just respawned after being killed in the middle of the map
somewhere, the flag had been taken from our base a few seconds previously, the
score was tied and we were playing overtime to see who would win.
I dropped down and ran out of the base to see the enemies footsteps pass a corner.
Passing the info onto my teammates I placed my gun away to run faster and
followed the enemy. Heart beating fast as it could, listening to every sound.
A teammate died, respawning out of the battle unless we could slow the enemy.
I passed the first corner and continued down a small hall. Pulling out my gun
ready to go into the next room i rounded the corner to see 2 enemies one with
the flag rounding the next corner. One killed a second team mates of mine, as my
teammate died I started smashing the enemy while still running forward, ducking
and weaving. He had armour but I managed to get a lucky headshot, passing
through to the next area i rounded the corner into an open part of the map.
Dead, bodyshot from one of the two windows covering the open area. My heart
sank, i was the furthest into the map, my other team mates were all at base. We
continued to push but soon after my death the flag was captured, the game
was lost.
- anonymous
F.E.A.R.
64
©2005 Vivendi Universal
65
I heard the ominous whispers which accompany The Chosen.
Immediately I saw a sniper holed out in a building and an Assault running away
from enemies towards me (an Engineer).
Knowing that this was gonna be near impossible by myself, I tried to push forward
but was repelled by fire from enemy Juggernauts. I shouted in the chat channel
about the invasion and requested help thinking that maybe one or two people
would respond. What happened next was one of my best gaming moments in
about 15 years of my gaming time.
People started pouring in and soon we had about a dozen. I didn’t pay attention to
chat channel but somehow people understood that flanking would be a good idea
after an unsuccessful frontal assault. I separated from the main group (2 Assaults
+ Engineer + Medic + 2 Juggernauts) and took to the right side with another
engineer and a sniper. We set up a shield and turret combo while our sniper was
cutting them down one by one. Another Assault and Medic went to the building a
sniper was holed in and set up firing positions there.
Soon we had all the enemy Juggernauts either killed or on the back foot and were
pummeling their Assaults. I then ran across the battlefield to the other side to set
up turret and soon we had every Chosen dead and attack on their spawn ship had
begun which soon ended in explosion. It was one hell of a fight and funny thing is
everyone went their separate ways as if nothing happened.
- TL_Engineer
Firefall
66
“I separated from the main
group and took to the right
side with another engineer
and a sniper. We set up a
shield and turret combo
while our sniper was cutting
them down one by one.”
67
©2012 Red 5 Studios
We were all terrorists, but some of us would be selected to betray
the others.
We were on a giant ship with a helipad. The helicopter on the pad had an
automated route once or twice around the ship if you pressed the button inside.
The round began. I was one of the traitors. Luckily, I spawned near the helipad;
there was a new weapon recently implemented into the game for the Traitor’s use:
the C4.
Naturally, I decided to booby trap the helicopter. First I made my way into the
helicopter, placing my C4 at the back, then ran out, ushering in a herd of my
comrades. I felt a strange elation as the doors closed and the rotor blades began to
spin. As the helicopter lifted off, I made my way to a safe distance and pressed the
detonator. First, I saw a flash, then, with the sound of God’s car door slamming, I
saw bodies ragdolling out the sides of the chopper - four terrorists dead and many
severely injured.
As I surveyed my handiwork, I decided I would have to act unsuspiciously, as I
was not alone on the deck. Mostly, I was seen as a person in the wrong place at
the wrong time, but I caught a few suspicious looks from a well known veteran
of the server (Let’s call him Jeff). Next thing I saw was the server’s very own
annoying preb (Let’s call him Tommy) doing just what Tommy would do in this
situation - Getting in the next chopper and trying to take off again. Well, I thought,
I can’t have this. I ran into the chopper behind Tommy, expertly placed my C4 and
dodged out without him seeing me.
But suddenly, my plan fell apart. I heard M16 fire, and bullets tore through
my shoulder. I spun around. Tommy had taken off, blissfully unaware of his
impending doom, but before I could bring about his untimely demise I had more
pressing matters - Jeff running across the deck shooting at me. I ducked behind a
pair of barrels to think.
68
I only had one option left. One final ploy.
I pressed the detonator and threw the piece at Jeff. He freaked, thinking it might
have been a grenade. Here I was, dying, easily crushed by the slightest of attacks
on my current health level, with Jeff, superior and with a gun, scrambling from a
piece of plastic. However, I seized my opportunity, making to jump off the boat and
into the water to safety.
Sadly, I misjudged my jump and was falling towards a lower deck. Hilariously,
Tommy’s body flew past my face. The last thoughts to enter my head as my body
was broken against the cold hard metal:
FUCKING JEFF.
69
- MattyLaz
Garry’s Mod: Trouble in Terrorist Town
“I felt a strange elation as the doors
closed and the rotor blades began to
spin. As the helicopter lifted off, I
made my way to a safe distance and
pressed the detonator.”
70
It’s me and four people and none of them are above level 100, unlike the
other team which is all level 100, they’re probably a clan, can’t remember the
details. First reaction: Shit. Anyway, it’s Execution mode: Either you one shot the
enemy or take them down and do a close-up execution. 5v5, first to 5 rounds.
I’m a locust, a Theron Guard to be exact, and the match is pretty tense. The
situation is 4-4, winner takes all, but a draw is possible (time). Anyway, we start
off: The map has two spawns across each other on elevated ground. There’s a
lot of cover, and pistols and grenades are found in each building. In the middle,
there’s a hall-like place. Right in between the spawns is a weapon spawn location
which either spawns a Longshot (sniper) or a Torque Bow, a chargeable weapon
that shoots sticky, explosive darts. On the other side of the hall-like place is
the flamethrower.
Anyway, we start off, I run and grab the sniper. The longshot is a one-shot kill
if it hits in the head, but getting a kill with one shot anywhere else on the body
is extremely difficult. I get the sniper, and one-shot some fool who was having a
firefight with my teammate. Meanwhile, the other team pushes to the other side,
getting the flamethrower. There’s 3 guys there, and they kill 2 of my teammates,
burning them. I realize they flanked so I move up to their spawn, finding a lone
gunman. I take him down with my Lancer (the iconic chainsaw-gun) and execute
him with a curb stomp.
It’s 3v3 now.
I go back to where I got the sniper and get my shotgun back, just in case. My
other teammates find me, and I mic them to say I’ll cover center and they go the
enemy spawn to kill, which they do. They kill someone, and we get the lead, 3v2.
However, the 2 guys from the other team flank them, frag one of them and oneshot the other with a shotgun. The shotgun battles have begun. Mind you, this is
happening while I hear my teammates screaming at me to help them, but I
hold ground.
71
They die, and the 2 guys start searching for me. I shoot off my lancer and take one
of them down, but he gets revived. Shit, 2v1 shotgun battle. I take cover behind
a narrow pillar, but the 2 guys are smart and come from each side to flank me. I
blind-throw my smoke grenade (default), and one of them is immobilized by it. I
come up to him and no-scope headshot him with the shotgun, and a “FUCK YEAH”
cry is heard. The other guy’s here though, and he’s the best player on the
COG team.
We start shotgun battling, which usually is made up of blind shotgun shots and
switching cover. I do a dive and take cover behind the sandbags nearby. Then, I
mantle over the sandbags and melee him, which knocks him back. He still shoots
me though, and I’m almost dead. I dive to the right and get behind the pillar I was
near before. I emerge on the right side of the pillar, dive left and shoot him in the
face. No aim. My team goes fucking nuts, and we win. Kill/Death ratio? 12/1, my
best in Gears. Best gaming war story I’ve ever experienced.
72
- Chi369
Gears of War 2
“I realize they flanked so I move up to
their spawn, finding a lone gunman. I
take him down with my Lancer (the
iconic chainsaw-gun) and execute him
with a curb stomp.”
73
©2008 Microsoft Game Studios
“...I knew I only had one chance,
so I let the bullets fly towards
me as I lined up my shot.”
74
This whole thing lasted about 10 seconds but it seemed much much
much longer.
I couldn’t tell you what map it was, I remember it was a city, and I was chased into
a small room, my health quickly depleting.
In the small room was a crossbow, and a health pack, and while the guy was
firing at me, I grabbed the health kit, which gave me just enough time to grab the
crossbow and switch to it, and as I turned, I knew I only had one chance, so I let
the bullets fly towards me as I lined up my shot. It’s moments like this where you
know you need to have a clear head, otherwise, you’re a goner. My health was at
4, death coming quickly, and I was about to accept my fate, but then, my
moment came.
My enemy had to reload, and at that point he stayed still long enough for me to
fire. It was a kill.
75
- kiaha
Half-Life: Deathmatch
My clan suited up the only way we knew how for a Tuesday night. King
Babydance was our leader, man of many words, main flag holder. I was the Driver.
I didn’t know anymore if it was actual skill, or just dumb luck, that saved our
asses on many a mission before.
Well we finally got into our swing of things- every man on point, 5,4,3,2,1. Every
man had his job and every job was done precisely as we discussed in the lobby.
Save for mine. Driving. The last leg. King Babydance jumped in the shotgun, Dr.
Baby on turret.
Homestretch. One last Hail Mary. There was a small hill you could jump over the
train tracks and into victory. It shaved 30 potentially horrific seconds off our
approach. I threw the ‘Hog into 2nd gear and GUNNED it. My comrades begged I
didn’t attempt the Fools Errand- but fortune favors the bold.
I made my approach, didn’t waiver, only gained speed. The moment our
rubber left the dirt and sent us flying through the air, my comrades cheered!
“Holy shit!!! He did it!!” And before a smile could creep on my face...
BRRRRRMMMMMMMMMM. Train. Crash. The silence of three voices, once
cheering, now silent.
A lost battle.
76
- SasJam
Halo 2
77
It was just my friend and me on Red--everyone else had dropped--
against a full Blue. So, of course, we went full stealth, hiding and popping out from
behind corners or from the bottom of the ramps. Eventually, the Blues figured out
what we were doing and started hemming us in to one side of the bridge.
And then they charged. All five Blues came across the bridge at once, firing their
rifles at us. Then, I heard BAM BAM BAM and saw three of them drop; my friend
had gotten all of them with headshots.
Seeing this, one of the remaining two lobbed a sticky at him. I ran in front of my
friend and got out my spike grenade. His sticky STUCK TO MY SPIKE GRENADE,
and I hurled them both at him like the fucking Olympic torch, hearing a satisfying
squish as the spike connected. The spike detonated, blasting the sticky right onto
the other Blue, who blew up a second later.
For a second, there was complete silence and stillness, and then all the Blues left.
That remains to this day the greatest match I ever played.
78
- smile_e_face
Halo 3
“...the Blues figured out what we
were doing and started hemming
us in to one side of the bridge.
And then they charged.”
79
We have no lives left. Barely any ammo. It’s the movie “300” all over
again, but with four battle-weary players to take on a wave of gravity hammerwielding general brutes.
It’s six months after gathering almost every achievement and playing through
the campaign will my friends, and there’s only one of the achievements I’ve yet to
get. I’m not a hardcore gamer; my gamerscore is only 50,000. Me and my friends
after days and days worth of gaming and failed attempts manage to reach the
final round.
One by one we’re picked of until only I’m left. Clutching a pistol with four bullets.
Four generals left. Four bullets fired. Two generals down. I run at one, meleeing
him down. And get struck by the second one.
My screen is flashing red, I’m so close to death, silence on the mic, I can feel their
pressure. I run at the brute. In one melee, beating his gravity swing I knock
him down...
Silence…The screen flashes…Wave complete…. Achievement unlocked.
It is a day I will never forget.
80
- MattAdkin
Halo: ODST
“My screen is flashing red, I’m
so close to death, silence on the
mic, I can feel their pressure.”
©2009
Microsoft Game Studios
81
I was a normal ISA soldier, fighting on planet Helghan. It was pure hell
there. People were just running around with no rhyme or reason to their actions.
It was on the regular old deathmatch setting at this time. I only had my trusty
rifle and pistol at my side.
I climbed up the tower to the tip top and saw no one there, much to my surprise.
Well, no one except for a Helghan sniper, who somehow failed to notice my
approach. I went in for a knife kill, the ultimate insult to a sniper in a a “fortified”
position. He fell quickly after my knife tore through his throat like paper. His
sniper rifle fell to the ground with a clang, and at that moment I realized my
calling in life. I picked up his rifle, discarding my own to the ground.
My blood was screaming to shed the blood of others with this new rifle. It was my
calling, my destiny. I proceeded to scope out the area. I saw some Helghan headed
my direction.
I crouched and took my first shot. My bullet collided with the first soldier’s head
in a spray of grey matter and screams from his companions. Over the radio
chatter I hear his friends calling for my blood, but they wouldn’t have it. One by
one I picked them off. Click, one down, click, two down, click, three down, reload.
They were gone, but they’d respawn soon and would surely be upon me again.
Sure enough, they were after me again and I soundly disposed of them. Their
curses at my name were music to my ears. After they respawned another time
they came at my once again. I promptly rid myself of them another time, but at
a cost. My rifle was out of ammo. I had no way of getting more unless I could find
another sniper, since I was too low a level to become one myself.
Thinking quickly, I ran myself down the stairs, which I kept a close eye on too
prevent ambush unlike my predecessor. With my pistol in hand and a prayer on
my lips I threw myself into the fray. A firefight had broken out underneath my
position and I thought I could be of use to my side.
82
I found cover and peeked out to take a shot every now and then, killing about
two Helghan I believe. When the sound of gunfire stopped I ran out of cover to
find more Helghan to satiate my bloodlust. What I found as I went over the high
ground next to the bridge was a group of about ten Helghan, all staring at me.
With a sigh, I readied my pistol and fired relentlessly into as many of them as I
could. Only one fell by my hand, the rest quickly eviscerated my body with the
sound of gunfire and hoorahs.
I came into that game a mere boy, hoping to have a good fight and maybe five kills
total that game, but I came out a man. A man with blood on his hands, the blood
of his enemies. Blood that was hard earned. I shall never forget the thrill of that
game, and the curses of my enemies, and the cheers of my comrades as they took
notice of my work. It was a good day to die, and an even better one to kill.
83
- ockom
Killzone 2
“I climbed up the
tower to the tip top
and saw no one there,
much to my surprise.
Well, no one except
for a Helghan sniper,
who somehow failed to
notice my approach.”
©2009
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
84
We were being dominated. We arrived at the No Mercy finale, we were up
first as the Infected team. We couldn’t stop the humans at first, but our first tank
(special Infected) arrived and, I don’t know what happened, but we all decided to
have the best teamwork ever and ended up dunking all four humans in a matter
of seconds.
Our turn as humans. We were sure we were going to lose, but whatever. We ran
out on the rooftops, got settled, let’s do this. Wave 1, pretty easy, Tank 1, no
biggies, Wave 2, we got dis, Wave 3, no big deal, Tank 2...
Well....We did it. Somehow we all ended up alive after downing the last tank. The
chopper was coming all the way across the level. LETS DO THIS! We all ran for it,
trying our best to all evac, if we all evac, we can close the gap. Finishing the Finale
is worth a bajillion points or something.
Smoker grabbed someone, heard over the mic for the first time in the game.
“NO WAY! ILL SAVE YOU BROTHER” and so we went on and stood on the platform
for cover fire and watched the brave one go to save our bud. He ended up killing
the smoker, but for some reason, had to climb up to the high roof over the med
station and ended up falling off the side and hanging while the one who just got
saved ran for the chopper.
“GO WITHOUT ME! I...I’ll miss you all.”
“Nah. Two tanks and tons of zombies? I got this.”
I charged down the ramp, the other two weren’t even providing me cover fire.
I jumped up the ladder and picked him up, watching a tank close in on me fast.
Pulled him up, jumped off the other side as we ran around and juked the tank.
Another one. It punched, missed, ran past us. Heart pounding, waiting to be slain
any second.
85
Hunter. Ahh man...KABOOM! Shotgun went off right next to me and the hunter
went lifeless, me and my buddy ran up the ramp and into the chopper, I heard
him squealing with intensity as we made the jump. The “escape” cut-scene played
and I saw why he squealed. The tank had followed us, was in punch range and had
probably just missed killing both of us.
The scores tallied up and we actually won the game by under 100 points. It was...
Great. I felt like a really good player and it was nice to have a come-from-behind
victory. The mad dash for victory made it even better.
86
- FordyFiveMag
Left 4 Dead
©2008 Valve Software
87
We’re walking down a path with some terraced shrubberies on either side.
One of my buddies is pretty new, and doesn’t really know what he’s doing, so his
health is pretty low. We’ve been teaching him the finer points of combat, and I think
he’s eager to show us how well he’s learned.
Well, the guy decides that he’s going to run laps around the whole area, attracting a
very, very sizable following of zombies. A couple guys have snipers, but he tells us
not to shoot quite yet. So, while he is halfway through his first turn, we start talking
strategy…One of my friends positions himself at the bottom of the terraced bushes
with a Molotov and an assault rifle, while my other friend and I sit up at the top,
with sniper rifles and another Molotov.
My noob friend with the low health then brings his zombies through the bushes. All
hell breaks loose. Once he is through, we make two walls of fire with the Molotovs,
which kill a great number of zombies. We rain hell upon the remaining ones with
our guns, while we laugh our asses off.
We talked about that one for ages, and that friend is now the unofficial strategist of
our group.
88
- Kingmudsy
Left 4 Dead 2
“All hell breaks loose.
Once he is through, we
make two walls of fire
with the Molotovs...”
89
©2009 Valve Software
We were out in the Ettenmoors. Our raid was on a bridge to the west of
Tol Ascarnen, maybe 20 or so of us huddled on that godforsaken bridge. On either
side of us there were one and a half raids’ worth of enemies.
Our raid leader planted his banner down and we fought. It was like being attacked
by a swarm of giant bees. We lasted a good 30 or so minutes on that bridge of
constant assaults. The monster players could easily respawn and get back into
their position, but we didn’t have any resurrection circles nearby available.
We held that bridge all right; we made no ground, but we held it dammit.
Eventually they gave up, and huddled back into their stronghold at Tol Ascarnen,
and we scuttled off back to safety, but I’ll never forget, by all rights we
should’ve died.
90
- AwildPidgy
Lord of the Rings Online
©2007 Turbine Inc.
91
Our anti-aircraft gun was knocked out, and our Commanding Officer told
our platoon leaders to take two of our best men to fix it. I was called up. Me, the
squad leader and a random dude ran to fix the gun, but we suddenly ran into a
squad parachuting in….
The random dude took a round to the face and bled out, he managed to scream but
that was all. Unfortunately for us he was the main mechanic; the squad leader had
a repair gun but not the skill set to fix the gun fast.
Me and the squad leader killed the enemies by lobbing poison gas and normal
grenades at the enemy and peppering them with a wall of lead as they ran out
of the smog. We ran to the anti-air and the squad leader started repairing it,
shouting “It’s up to you to protect me, I have basic weapons and no ‘nades left, if I
go down resurrect me ASAP!” I watched as the enemy, six men strong,
dropped in.
I took the first out while he was still gliding in. The next two went down together,
they were lined up and my bullets went through both of their faces. The 4th 5th
bad guys hit me with a few rounds whilst i was reloading but i took cover behind
a crate.
I saw a ‘nade fly over my head and land next to the squad leader. Before i could
reload my main weapon I pulled out my pistol and got a clean head-shot on the
first guy and gave the second guy four rounds to the chest, he went down like a
sack of shit.
I turned to where my Squad leader was, he was still alive! But as he shouted,
“Second wave incoming! But we are nearly there!” he took a sniper round to the
chest and folded in half. The sixth guy who parachuted in with the first wave had
taken him out and then resurrected the guys that I had previously taken out. I
strafed toward my Squad leader while firing. I managed to rez him, I switched to
my sidearm while he finished repairing the AA.
92
The odds were against me; I had two in front of me one somewhere to the left and
a whole squad parachuting in. I took one out but was immediately hit. While I lay
there bleeding out I watched my Squad leader (he had no rez gun but I watched
and waited) take out two guys with his KP5 and one guy with his pistol. He
managed to stab one last guy before he was taken down.
We both lay there dying as the enemy planted a charge on our AA gun. As soon as
the charge was planted the enemies stood over us and finished us off.
- Arthur-Sausage
MAG
93
94
©2010 Sony Computer Entertainment
I had one of my expeditionary armies harassing the Venetian in Italy.
I had a grudge with the papal state and wanted to sack Rome, but after years of
waging war a long way from home with no reinforcement and losing their general
a couple turn before, that army was really worn out. No cavalry left, only archers,
some lousy infantry squads and 2 catapults. So I decided to pull them out and
dispatched a fleet from Spain to pick them up.
They waited eagerly for the ships to arrive but just a turn before they could get
there, boom, a 600-head strong Venetian army attacked.
The field was crossed by a river and right in the middle, a long, narrow bridge. The
Venetians took their time organizing their lines so I quickly set up a defense on
the bridge, my best infantry squad up front and archers on the shores of my side
of the river. The Venetians advanced slowly for some reason so I had time to rain
some fire on them with the catapults, and then they lost their shit and started
running and massing up at their end of the bridge.
We were outnumbered 3 to 1 but all my men were seasoned veterans; they had
been through hell and came back several time on their journey in Italy, so yeah,
all tough sons of bitches. And goddamn we fought tooth and nail for every inches
of that bridge, killing 30 Venetians for every man we lost. The battle slowly
started to turn to my advantage. Finally their general fell, and they started
to rout.
I didn’t even had time to celebrate or to even catch my breath when suddenly…
THE FUCKING POPE SHOWED UP! ...with another 500-ish strong army. At that
point I was standing up yelling at my screen, sweating like hell. I pulled my best
men off the bridge, leaving one squad to occupy the enemy while I organized a line
of defense on the shore. When the last man of the suicide squad left on the bridge
died out, I sent another, all the while thinning out their numbers with my archers.
When they finally were able to cross the bridge, they were tired and disorganized,
and my best infantry squad cut through them like a hot knife through butter.
95
And then, glory.
The pope, still on the bridge, caught a flaming arrow and burned out. The enemy
was routed. I was laughing like a madman while I chased them to boost my kill
stats. I felt like I had struck down God himself.
96
- adhesive
Medieval 2: Total War
“They waited eagerly for the ships
to arrive but just a turn before they
could get there, boom, a 600-head
strong Venetian army attacked.”
97
©2006 Sega
We were the 5th Brigade 23rd light infantry division. We were small but
we could get results depending on the situation.
It was a 200-player server with a very hilly and grassy map and we had about
nine people in our line (most lines have about twenty people, but since were Light
Infantry we can get away with it). We started off by going behind one of the larger
lines in order to provide support. In pre-game practice we were doing pretty good
with melee, which is vital when you have a gun that takes about eight seconds to
reload after every shot.
Fast-forward about four minutes later. We had to separate from the larger line
due to a Cavalry charge that killed a good chunk of people in the other division’s
line. We started to head up a hill to protect ourselves from the remaining Calvary
force. About halfway up the hill we saw something that damn well nearly made us
scream, a line of 20 men at the top muskets pointed right at us.
Our commander quickly told us to spread out; thankfully only one person was
killed by the folly, which gave us a chance to charge and hopefully take out at
least half their line. As soon as we were about 20 feet away they were reloaded
and shot off another volley, killing three people including myself. After watching
the last four men charge in for a desperate assault I quickly alt-tabbed out of the
game and started playing the Walker Texas Ranger theme (something I had done
earlier in training) over the mic, and I shit you not our Irish friend managed to
kill seven people with his bayonet, effectively halving the enemy line by himself.
After that he was shot by someone on the other side of the line. Needless to say,
we had a good time though, and we gave him a fictitious medal for his feat of
extreme badassery.
98
- BanPearMig
Mount and Blade: Warband - Napoleonic Wars
“We were the 5th Brigade
23rd light infantry
division. We were small,
but we could get results...”
©2012 Paradox Interactive
99
I don’t have a large outfit; all I’ve got is my partner, Rennex, who plays
a turret-toting, ammo-dropping class. I play a medic. We’ve kinda got a Soap/
Captain Price dynamic going on if you are familiar with the Modern
Warfare series.
One time, Rennex and I were feeling a little frustrated by a New Conglomerate
offensive into our territory. Our forces (the Terran Republic) had pushed them
back past their border but we weren’t content to leave them to their devices and
give them time to organize a counter- offensive.
A quick scan of the map showed that taking the Rust Mesa Lookout would be a
good step in stripping some territory from the NC and giving us a good foothold to
take a Bio Lab (A large and important resource producing base) from them. We
strapped on our suppressors and elected to drop pod in at night and try and take
it before the NC had time to react.
Shit went bad. Instead of being dropped on Rust Mesa Lookout, we were dumped
right over the top of the Nanite Systems Material Storage facility, which had just
recently endured a failed TR assault. There were dozens of NC troopers gearing up
and getting ready to thump out to the next conflict.
We saw the tanks as we came in. We saw the aircraft milling about. We were
hopelessly outnumbered; we tried our best to land near the outskirts, and luckily
we managed to do so.
After about five minutes of evading detection we inched our way to one of the
three objectives, sheltered away in a building on a hill. We knew once the NC saw
that they were losing control they’d respond quickly, and they did so in force.
What followed was a maddening blur of a firefight. They came in droves,
sometimes more than five at a time. But there was a lot of open ground to cover
and they had to run up hill. We took the time to rearm and heal in between waves.
We took a fine tally until they got to grenade range, one rolled right to Rennex’s
100
feet and he was blown apart.
They were on me instantly, I primed my last grenade and threw it through a
doorway, killing two and wounding a third. I dropped him with a short burst from
my assault rifle and ducked out of the base. I ran like a madman away from where
my buddy died and toward the second objective, bullets licking at my heels the
whole way.
From there I was on my own. I flanked, jumped through windows. Hid in bushes
and shadows. I was like fucking Rambo. But I knew it wouldn’t last, my ammo
was starting to get low and day was breaking over the horizon. I was about to lose
every advantage I had. And then I saw it. Someone had organized a dozen or so
troopers and loaded them up in a dropship. Like an big ugly angel it swung into
place deploying its troops and setting up as a mobile spawn base.
Tanks starting showing up from both sides, and my modest commando raid
turned into a full-blown pitched battle. 20 minutes later we took the base. I linked
back with Rennex, slotted a new magazine and looked for the next place to go.
101
- Ennkey
Planetside 2
©2012 Sony Online Entertainment
“We saw the tanks as we came in. We saw the aircraft
milling about. We were hopelessly outnumbered...”
102
The map was Pavlov’s House. In Red Orchestra 2, to win at this map,
you have to hold more than half the points on the map by the time either one team
runs out of respawns, and all remaining players are killed, or 45 minutes elapse.
All but two points are locked off so the game doesn’t turn into a clusterfuck like
Battlefield’s conquest mode.
About halfway though, we (The Russian team) realized that we weren’t going
to capture the next point due to having an unhealthy number of people trying
to rush across an open field with no smoke or cover running down our respawn
tickets. Luckily, we could win if we just captured and held the building in the
middle of January 9th Square ‘til the clock hit zero. I communicated this to my
team. About seven of us got the message by the time our respawns had run out.
I threw down some smoke so we could run across the field without getting sniped
by the riflemen in the half-destroyed apartments across from us. One person ran
out only to get sniped, so we fell back in to the trenches, pinned down. Our light
machine gunner calmly announced, “I saw the tracer, I’ll suppress him.”
He started firing into what I could only hope was the right window. There was no
putting it off. the smoke was already starting to clear.
I ran. I heard machine gun rounds fly past me, making distinct popping noises.
One of our riflemen tried to stop and return fire, but was struck. I could hear his
final gurgle as he choked on his own blood, and then nothing.
Haunting.
Our machine gunner died in the effort as well. We dropped down into the trenches
just outside the building. Our sapper tossed a satchel charge into the building,
clearing it of a few inhabitants, but stood too close to the blast. We lost him. There
were four of us left.
103
Our assault trooper saw a bayonet just barely sticking out of the doorway. He
crawled up to the edge of the trench, grabbed a smoke grenade off a German
officer, and tossed it in. The guy camping the door panicked, thinking it was an
actual grenade and ran out. He was met by a submachine gun.
We ran in, capturing the building. The Germans still had a few hundred
reinforcements and 15 minutes on the clock, with only four people to eliminate
and one point to capture. We were going to make it a lot harder than it sounded.
Our assault trooper dropped his submachine gun in favor of the dead officer’s
Semi Automatic Rifle, a rare and deadly weapon, similar to the one I was using.
We each took a window, and started our final stand.
The next 15 minutes were some of the longest in my gaming life. Germans rushed
blindly through smoke and through the open , so many that there was no room
for error. The four of us were barely enough to hold them off. We would have to
switch windows from time to time to keep up with Germans coming from different
directions, and to throw off snipers.
Then I saw the last thing I wanted: The signature green tracer rounds of a German
light machine gun flying out of an apartment window towards me. No. Not
towards me. Towards the guy next to me. He died cleanly with a hit to the head,
and I knew I’d be joining him soon if I didn’t do something.
I aimed for the window I thought the gunner been firing from, fired an entire clip
in there, then a few rounds from my pistol for good measure. My name showed up
on the kill feed, and i knew I’d hit him.
There were three of us left now, and about three minutes. We were still holding
them off, but they were getting a bit closer every 30 seconds or so. Soon we’d have
to retreat to the basement of the building, but then the Germans could camp the
stairs and capture by outnumbering us from the top level, or picking us off as we
came up the stairs.
104
Finally, with barely any time left on the clock, they actually organized themselves
into a charge, took out another of us, leaving only me and the assault trooper. We
communicated for a bit, and decided the best course of action was to have me go
down to the top of the stairs, and him camp the doorway.
They came rushing in, maybe six of them. The assault trooper got about half,
before yelling into his mic, “Shit! I’m down, it’s over.”
The capture timer started going, and I was sure it was done. We were going to
lose. I tossed my last grenade and ran down the stairs.
Once I heard it go off, the capture timer stopped; I’d gotten all of them with one
lucky panic grenade. I camped the door for the remaining fifteen seconds or so, as
the clock ran out, and we won.
105
- Ahl_Capwn
Red Orchestra 2
©2011 Tripwire Interactive
106
My medium-small army was ambushed by the Celts on top of a
knoll with a huge boulder on my right. I had roughly a greater portion of light
infantry, accompanied by a few archers and even fewer light cavalry, all battle
wearied. The Celts had chariots and a much greater army. I used the boulder to
my advantage, hiding the light cavalry and using it to block the side. I arranged
my light infantry in several deep columns, leaving a gap between them with my
general closely behind.
When it started, I was mortified. The Celt army was huge. I surprised them with
my light cavalry emerging from behind the rock and luring the enemy to rush my
army in the middle – my cavalry died heroically doing this. So in the few seconds
that followed I saw a wide line of chariots charging at top speed to my sparse,
terrified infantry columns. I moved the general forward to improve morale.
The crash was brutal, saw my men in the front flying around the screen, but the
chariots flowed between the columns and got trapped. My archers moved forward
and shot the advancing light infantry but the blinking flags of my troops indicated
a route soon to come.
I engaged my general in the middle of the skirmish. The morale improved and
the troops were holding – the chariots couldn’t maneuver and charge again.
Then, my general’s cavalry killed the enemy general in a chariot. I turned my few
remnants of infantry to charge the arriving enemy column who were punished
by my archers. Demoralized, they routed one after the other, whilst my general’s
cavalry finished off the remaining chariots. Victory was mine.
It was a rush of adrenaline and for a few moments I felt as Caesar Augustus.
Awesome.
107
- softmaker
Rome: Total War
©2004 Activision
108
It’s a clan war on a map called Crossroads. We decide to do an all-out rush for
the bomb and do a quick plant, but we get raped with ‘nades. Not even a minute
into the match, I’m the only person remaining on our team, while our foes have
seven players remaining. Easy enough for them, right? I’m shitting my pants
because we’re about to go down another rank.
I’m in the fish market. I peek over the ledge into the middle and see a couple guys
running for the bomb. I chuck a grenade and I’m able to get one guy, but they still
get away with the bomb. As I’m running out of the fish market into the left alley
(looking from the Terrorist spawn), I get lucky and I’m able to pop two guys who
have just run past the door.
Four left.
Now I’m sprinting down that alley trying to get to our base as quick as possible
because I know for a fact they’re planting as I’m running. I start getting shot from
behind, losing about half of my health, but I somehow turn around and manage to
headshot the guy. Three left. I am sprinting around the corner where the terrorist
spawn is and see bomb planted. I know I only have 30 seconds to defuse the bomb
now, or else my team falls even further behind.
As I round the corner I get shot instantly, but I’m blessed by the gods and get
another headshot. Now I only have two men left and 25 seconds to defuse. I know
both have to be camping the bomb. I chuck my last grenade and get one more guy.
Running as fast as I can, I jump into the bomb plant area and search for the guy
real quick. He’s no where to be seen. Then I start getting shot from outside. With
only a sliver of health left, I take down the enemy. I proceed to defuse the bomb
with 3 seconds to spare.
109
- jettj14
SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs
©2003 Sony Computer Entertainment
110
I created my first character and stepped out of the spaceport
into Coronet.
It was an amazing experience. Everywhere around me in the city things were
happening which would effect me later in so many ways. Speeders passing by,
groups of players standing outside, chatting about the economy, a squad of storm
troopers passing by, I was honestly flabbergasted by the immersion of it all. I
wandered around the city for two hours, and wound up in the Cantina where I
stayed and talked with people into the wee hours of the morning.
When I finally walked out of the Cantina, I was greeted by the sound of blaster fire
and a lightsaber. Naturally, I was drawn nearer to the center of action, half out of
curiosity, half because I didn’t know better.
I found myself peering into a small walled off park where four players were firing
like mad from crouching and standing positions. Explosions going off everywhere,
blaster fire, grenades, a lightning cannon, and in the center of it all was a hooded
figure with a bright green lightsaber, darting from shooter to shooter knocking
them down and otherwise disabling them.
Three of his assailants appeared to be Imperial combatants as they all wore Shock
Troop and Scout Trooper armor and the last was a bounty hunter by the looks
of it, blasting away with his lightning cannon. I was just watching an epic battle
unfold right there in the middle of a city, floored by the spectacle.
As powerful as Jedi were back then, he was not able to hold his own against all
four attackers, though he did manage to kill the Bounty Hunter, who was shouting
rather rude words at him the entire time. Just as I thought this noble knight was
done in, there was a flash of lightning, and BAM, he was fucking gone. He didn’t
become invisible or anything like that, he ran-- Activated Force Run and made
tracks so fast that I didn’t even realize what happened. The three remaining
Soldiers sort of stood there for a moment, probably typing to each other, and then
111
decided not to follow him. He was probably in his ship headed to a different planet
by then.
I played every day after that. Every single day I could I played that game for
as long as possible, and for the longest time I never became much more than a
woodsman, hunting with my rifle and selling the resources I’d gather from the
dead beasts to various traders across the galaxy.
However, in my travels I did manage to piss of one extremely wealthy man, a land
baron of Naboo. Suited me fine, I was basically never on Naboo, but ever so often
I’d be found by a bounty hunter or two, while sitting at my little camp I set up for
myself. Normally I’d use my superior terrain navigation and traps to get away
safely, but on one December day on Talus I was caught off-guard by a group of
three bounty hunters.
I thought I was a goner for sure. Already weak from a day’s worth of fighting and
no rest, my character was operating at a lower combat level, which was fine for
killing the small beasts I was hunting, but not so fine for surviving an ambush by
three well-equipped bounty hunters.
They simply carved into me, taking over two thirds of my health before I could
even fire back, and they were already too close for my rifle to be of any worth. I
switched to my pistol and did what I could, but I was basically dead. I was downed
and lay there on the ground waiting for 10 seconds so I could get up, or until
someone got into range to deliver a deathblow.
But before any of that happened, one of the bounty hunters was dead and
the other two were making a hasty retreat. I got up, looking around for some
indication of what or who saved me, and I saw a hooded Twi’lek figure quickly
sheathing a green lightsaber.
It was the same Jedi from nine months ago. The very same one.
112
That moment of realization, that this Twi’lek Jedi had actually become a hero. An
honest-to-god fucking hero that saved my life...In a game where you start off as
less than an average Joe.
I thanked him, and he gave me a ride to his house where he told me to lay low
while he went to the closest major city to see if the bounty hunters had left the
planet. They hadn’t, but seeing him again was just enough to coax them on to the
trail of a different target on some other backwoods world. He came back, about a
half hour later and we talked, and he ended up enlisting me to join the Rebel side
of the Galactic civil war as a scout. We ended up fighting side-by-side in thousands
of battles, and we saved each others asses more times than I can count.
I came away from that game with so many stories of what I experienced firsthand,
and cantina tales that I heard from friends. Sometimes I like typing them out so
someone might enjoy the memories of a game long gone.
113
- EzEXE
Star Wars: Galaxies
114
©2003 LucasArts
As I deployed I found myself looking down on my Terran forces stationed on
the northern plateau of Cloud Kingdom. To the southeast was the Zerg swarm we
had been sent to eradicate. I sent my SCVs to their work gathering resources with
which to build my force.
I scouted the Zerg’s hatchery and saw that he intended to grow the size of his
Brood, instead of simply rushing Zerglings at me to wipe me out quickly, and I
ordered my SCVs to respond by building another base at another nearby deposit
of minerals. I also had them begin to construct a barracks with which to train the
brave men who would go through hell on my command.
As time went by I built my base up and dug myself in, looking to expand and
gather up all the nearby resources of the planet to use for my war. I showed no
care for the inhabitants of Cloud Kingdom who would still remain long after I had
finished my mission and moved on to the next battlefield.
I fielded heavy armor, tanks and giant walking mech suits with which to beat
the Zerg back into their nest with, I put dropships and fighter jets in the air to
strike down on the fouls beasts, I trained legions of brave marines, and yet still,
there was no sign of a Zerg attack. This was unlike them, sitting back, biding their
time. This was not what I had been told, this was not what I had expected from
the enemy I had been taught to hate. I had expected swarms of Zerglings to flood
against my defenses, flocks of Mutalisks to strike from the sky, insidious Infestors
to sneak through their underground tunnels past my defenses to attack my base
from the inside, but yet, there was nothing. With that I decided that the only
logical course of action would be to take the fight to the Zerg themselves.
I ordered all my forces to mobilize. My air forces scrambled, my mech walkers led
the charge, safe in their suits of shining armor, my tanks slowly pushed forwards
toward the enemy at my command, always covering each others’ flanks, my
marines, itchy trigger fingers at the ready asked me “you gonna give me orders?”.
We pushed forward until finally the Zerg came into view as we crossed a ridge.
The sight shocked me. The foul swarm of parasites had corrupted the land, sown
115
their creeping infestation across Cloud Kingdom, poisoning it and robbing it of
any resources to feed their hivemind. Fury overcame me and instead of ordering
my tanks to assume firing positions of the ridge and bombard the Zerg from a safe
distance I had them charge down toward the enemy.
My marines followed, drunk on combat stimulants and the thrill of battle. A
Zerg hatchery came into view, one of the symbols of their corrupt influence on
this planet, devouring the wealth of the land and spawning the creatures of the
swarm. One of the Zerg Queens sat tending her Brood until my marine forces filled
her with 8mm gauss rounds. With the hatchery unprotected my forces began
to slaughter to helpless drones of the swarm as they fled and to tear down the
monument to the Zerg corruption. As it fell my army, spurred on by the thrill of
victory, eagerly charged up another ridge toward a second Zerg hatchery, only to
witness hell.
Atop the ridge, the Zerg’s battle plan became clear. The reason why they had not
pushed out against us earlier, why they had not pushed to defend their hatchery.
In the skies above my marines flew an entire flock of Brood Lords, the fiercest
and most nightmarish creatures in the Zerg swarm. My men looked up in horror
as the beasts blotted out the sun with their large, bat-like wings. The Zerg then
struck against us, the Brood Lords launching foul creatures from underneath
their wings down on my tanks and marines. As they struck my forces from the
sky they began to claw at them with fangs and talons, tearing through steel armor
and flesh.
Panicked, I ordered my men to fall back as they continued to try and shoot
helplessly at the Brood Lords to keep the swarm back. Just as it seemed my order
had gone through and they were retreating, disaster struck. An Infestor, most
hated of all alien beasts of the swarm appeared suddenly from underground,
like a demon rising from the depths of hell. In a sudden movement it covered my
marines and tanks with a pestilent growth of fungus, rooting them to the ground
and stopping them from running to fight another day.
116
My men looked at each other, I imagine, with a cold stare, knowing that this
battlefield, this Cloud Kingdom, would be where they died. With that knowledge
they took one last drag from their cigars, one last swig from their hip-flasks and
turned their C-14 gauss rifles skyward. They trained their sights on the closest
Brood Lord, took a large hit of battle stimulants and held the triggers down
until the beasts wings were filled with holes and it came crashing to earth. They
focused their crosshairs on the second Brood Lord, knowing that every one they
took down would give the rest of their comrades a better chance in the next fight.
Even as Broodlings rained down around them and Zerglings swarmed in they still
continued to fire every bullet at the Brood Lords, and as their clips ran empty
they died knowing that they did not go quietly into the night, but bought me the
time I needed to strike back.
117
- sgtbobert
Starcraft II
Photo: ©2010 Blizzard Entertainment
118
I was a Blue Scout on a map called Gorge. After just barely escaping a Heavy
and Demoman, I made my way up the stairs into the hallways, hoping to sneak up
behind Red and do some damage. Apparently a Sniper was paying more attention
than I anticipated; he shot an arrow which was too close to my head for comfort.
It flew right past my eyes, so close I swear I could see the texture.
In a small safe room with a mini health and ammo supply, I took a breather to
decide my next course of action. It’s at this point when a friendly Soldier (He
looked rather dashing in his golden Gibbous hat) followed my path to my current
location. He was almost out in the open, and glancing to the wall I spied the
embedded arrow which nearly took my life. I knew what was about to happen.
My “No!” command was drowned out by gunfire and screaming from other
combatants. He still continued. Approximately five seconds had passed from
when I was almost hit. In one moment, several thoughts flashed through my mind:
The Sniper might have moved on. The Sniper may miss the shot. The unknowing
soldier may live.
The Sniper had not moved on. The arrow hit home. The Soldier screamed as his
skull was pierced. His Gibbous flew off, abandoning him. The arrow somehow
carried his body upward. He was now hanging by it, a decoration and a warning.
In those couple of seconds, I made a connection with that Soldier. We may have
not known each others’ names. He may have had horrible, dreadful fashion sense.
But in that moment, seeing him die crushed me.
Then he re-spawned like 8 seconds later.
119
- brainpower4
Team Fortress 2
“...I made my way
up the stairs into the
hallways, hoping to
sneak up behind Red
and do some damage.”
120
I laid a settlement under siege. I deployed my men, having three groups
going through three different gates, and some men climbing the walls to distract
the archers. Once they set the gates on fire, I had my Yari Ashigaru enter in wall
formation and push their way through while the other men climbed the walls to
surround the enemy. This was no easy fight; though we outnumbered them 2 to
1, it was still very difficult, as I had lost more than two thirds of my men. Soon,
though, the enemy’s army was almost depleted.
Eventually, it was no one but the Daimyo that was left. He managed to kill off a
few of my archers that tried to confront him.
Then from the piles of the dead, came one Ashigaru. This soldier with broad
shoulders and muscly arms showed no fear to their great leader. The soldier was
the first to strike, but the Daimyo managed to block his attacks. After a few blocks
and counter attacks, the Daimyo slipped as the Ashigaru gave his final blow,
stabbing the Daimyo in the chest, and dragging him off his horse.
It was the fall of a Daimyo, and the rise of a soldier.
121
- RockHardRetard
Total War: Shogun 2
©2011 Sega
“Once they set the gates on fire,
I had my Yari Ashigaru enter in
wall formation and push their way
through while the other men climbed
the walls to surround the enemy.”
122
It was a hot day on Arx Novena, enemy territory. We were tasked with
retrieving five of the Butchers’ banners for the glory of The Circle, while
protecting our own. To lose them would bring nothing but shame. The enemy
fought us hard, no surprise from the savages. If there’s one thing the bastards can
do, it’s kill.
We put a lot of them down that day, hundreds maybe, more than I can remember
even though I can never forget. We lost a lot of fine men and women too, true
warriors who laid down their lives for the cause. We’d managed to secure four
of the sought-after banners, but not without our own losses. They’d taken four
of our banners as well, and time was growing short. We’d had a strict plan;
our soldiers had been assigned jobs and stuck to them, Pathfinders fearlessly
hurling themselves at the enemy base, Raiders going toe to toe with the enemy,
Juggernauts raining death and destruction from the sky.
Me? Well I’m just an old soldier, tasked with keeping our banner at home.
They’d gotten past our defense again and were making off with our flag. We knew
if they got it home the battle was lost; our sniper had been taken down and our
offense was struggling to get the enemy flag off the base.
I made a risky decision then. I abandoned the base and rushed as fast as my boots
and jetpack could carry me to the enemy base, taking bullets and shrapnel as I
went. I couldn’t think about it though, no time to bleed.
I was coming in from the right side of their base at a hell of pace, but it wasn’t
going to be fast enough. Our offense had been killed, the Pathfinder was going to
beat me to their stand.
Knowing I wouldn’t be able to grab the flag in time I tossed a grenade, even though
it wouldn’t make it all the way to the stand before exploding. The grenade flew
true though, exploded midair above the stand just close enough to knock the
speedy little fuck off course for a second. The second was enough. I aimed my
123
trusty Thumper at the little red bastard and let him have it, I’ll spare you the gory
details but there wasn’t much left of the boy. I swear someone must have been
watching over me that day as the explosion sent our flag up in the air and right to
me, I sent it home and grabbed their flag a moment after.
Cheers and cries of disbelief went up as I soared out of there with flag in hand.
Their sniper was on me but my guardian angel still had her hand on my shoulder
and he missed time after time. Our boys kept their chasers off me too and before
long I’d brought it home.
We’d won, it was over.
I’ll never forget the men and women we lost out there in that blood-drenched town
that day. I’ll never forget the look on that Pathfinder’s face when he turned to see
my old ass bearing down on him.
Sorry kid, it just wasn’t your day.
124
- KiDisaster
Tribes: Ascend
©2012 Hi-Rez Studios
“I abandoned the base
and rushed as fast as my
boots and jetpack could
carry me to the enemy
base, taking bullets and
shrapnel as I went. I
couldn’t think about it
though, no time to bleed.”
125
I’m defending one the of the points at the end of a bridge as a Tactical
Marine, using the Stalker Pattern Bolter. It’s a map that has a long hallway and a
single bridge running perpendicular across it.
I take out two enemies who are engaged in a sniper war with me, and decide it’s
time to just go balls out and take the point at the end of the bridge. As I’m walking
across, I come under fire from one of the ledges situated along the main corridor.
I lob a grenade as a distraction and roll into cover. The screen flashes a kill. Huh,
my grenade actually killed the guy, that’s pretty cool.
I carry on towards the objective. Currently there are no enemies nearby, but
as I exit the bridge I notice a Chaos Marine running in from one of the side
passageways. I gun him down with the remaining ammo in my Stalker before he
really notices what’s going on.
Four kills.
I run to take the objective and just as I get there, a Chaos Marine spawns on the
point and fortunately I’m behind him. No ammo left in my main so I melee him to
death before he has a chance to get his bearings.
Five kills.
Eventually I’m taken down by three Chaos Raptors who converge on my position,
but not until after I’d taken the point, all but securing the win for my team at such
a late stage in the game. I respawn just in time to see the ‘Victory’ sign show up on
the screen.
126
- Colonel_Microwave
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
“I take out two enemies who
are engaged in a sniper war
with me, and decide it’s time
to just go balls out and take the
point at the end of the bridge.”
127
©2011 THQ
A bro and I were on the fuel dump map. I was an Allied Covert Ops and he was
an Engineer. We snuck past all the action at the beginning of the map and went
directly into the caves out to the wall guarding the fuel depot. I managed to kill
a German engineer and disguise as him, allowing me to open the doors along the
wall and sneak directly into the fuel housing, where my engie friend dynamited it
as I sniped the few enemies in the area who would have tried to defuse
the dynamite.
During this time the rest of the Allies were still at the beginning of the map slowly
trying to advance a tank into the cave system, with the Germans pushing them
back. As soon as my engie friend planted the dynamite everyone on the server
started freaking out.
The fuel depot was destroyed and the allies won the game!
On this particular server the average game time was like an hour, but we won it in
under five minutes. It was the purest form of awesome possible.
128
- Wonka_Vision
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
©2003 Activision
“We snuck past all the
action at the beginning
of the map and went
directly into the caves
out to the wall guarding
the fuel depot.”
129
It was a clear day. I was in my SU-85 tank destroyer, my friend was in his
sherman, and our buddy was in his KV-2 heavy tank. The battlefield? Karelia.
We quickly found our team slaughtered, with the three of us the only remaining
group. It was 3 on 12, no respawns.
Sherman took the high road, I took the open middle, and our KV took the low
mountain path. Our KV buddy began receiving fire and taking out multiple tanks
while the the left flank stayed quiet, followed by a massive swarm of red dots all
over the map.
With our KV tied up, and the fact that I could not leave my road open, our buddy
was forced to fend for himself; finally he was on his last bit of health and an
M3 Lee was taking aim with its 76mm cannon. Thanks to a gap in the rocks,
I managed to fire a shot off, detonating the tank instantly. My friend quickly
thanked me for the last minute save, and we advanced for the enemy
base together.
130
- Martellus
World of Tanks
©2010 Wargaming.net
“We quickly found our team
slaughtered, with the three
of us the only remaining
group. It was 3 on 12...”
131
Our guild downed Exodar and nobody cared (or noticed), then we hit up
Darnassus and took out Tyrande before anyone was able to get there to respond.
We teleported back to Org and caught the Zeppelin to Grom’Gol ‘cause we all knew
we’d never get anywhere if we tried to boat it to Stormwind.
We took a 10 or 15 minute break, just to let the Alliance hornet’s nest die down,
then rode for Stormwind. On our first attempt the guy “leading” the charge was a
moron, took us from Grom’Gol along the roads (“but if we run through the woods
all the animals will attack us”) through Darkshire & Goldshire, and most of the
raid just stopped right after Goldshire ‘cause we weren’t charging into that
death trap.
The rest of us fled back to Grom’gol and took another break. Second time through
we charged thraight through Duskwood and Elwynn, smashed headlong into the
city and...They were still waiting for us. We never made it across the bridge in
Valley of Heroes. We relocated to Dun’morogh and his Magni, successfully, then
back to Grom’Gol and took another run at Stormwind. Again, stonewalled on
the bridge.
The raid was preparing to give up and call it quits for the night but I asked for one
more try. We had enough DPS (damage-per-second) and healers that if we could
get to Wrynn (the King of Stormwind) we could down him, but the enemy was
focusing on screwing with us and keeping us from actually getting to the King
with snares and roots and the like. I called for a couple of warlocks and we headed
for Westfall.
My plan, I felt, was simplicity itself. We knew from a couple of dual-boxers with
Alliance alts (alternate characters) watching the spam on their side that the allies
were guarding the bridge, and had put watchers on the various other docks, so if
we tried to boat in they’d have lots of warning. As a Death Knight, I put up Path
of Frost and lead my Warlock charges north from Westfall, into the sea outside
Stormwind, just skirting the fatigue water. Then we started summoning our allies
to us.
132
Once everyone was summoned, buffed, fed, and prepared, we sent a couple of
rogues ahead to mark out exactly how to get up onto the docks from the water
in Stormwind Harbour (by standing there) and we launched our assault. It was
glorious, the Allies were trying to get to us from the wrong side of town. Reports
afterwards said that they didn’t believe we were coming from the harbour at first
cause no one had seen us getting on boats anywhere.
By the time they organized and the majority of the counterraid made it to Wrynn,
we already had him at about 80% health, and sure enough, once we could focus on
him they just couldn’t down us fast enough to keep the king alive.
Victory for the horde!
133
- feor1300
World of Warcraft
©2004 Blizzard Entertainment
134
“...It will end with an uneasy silence.”
135

If we were to lose this battle, the US Marines would

Transcription

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