Spring 2014

Deadly Fox

Hiding is a fundamental aspect of all fox strategy, but some foxes use hiding for different purposes. For example, when Frank and Noah went out as foxes, they found cover amongst the pine trees relatively close to the kennel. They knew that the hounds would probably find them in less than 5 minutes and they would then spend their time both chasing hounds and being chased by them. That's exactly what happened. When the hounds found Noah first, they started to circle him in hopes of putting him down quickly. With paintballs flying between Noah and the hounds, John's Pz II worked through the trees in hopes of coming in behind the cornered fox. Unfortunately, John didn't see the Tiger dug into the trees and when he turned the corner, all hell broke loose. The Tiger charged straight at the Pz II, in hopes of destroying it before John knew what was happening. Once the paintballs started flying, John recognized the immediate need for action and he quickly drove the Pz II through the trees in hopes of evading the now charging Tiger. Driving the Pz II between his legs at some point, John was now physically between the Tiger and the escaping Pz II, running as fast as he could through the trees. Frank shot around and through John's legs in hopes of putting down the hound before the rest of the pack arrived. The Tiger succeeded and the deadly hound was down. The Tiger celebrated the kill by going on a hound-hunting rampage, putting down two other hounds before the remainder of the pack ended it's reign in the forest.

Well-Hidden Fox

During his turn as the Fox, John hid the Pz II so well that it was never found. The real problem was because of a miss communication between the hounds. Specifically, one of the hounds howled loudly when it thought it had found the fox. At that point, all of the hounds converged on the area, leaving their respective search areas. Unfortunately, one of the hounds was just a few yards from the hidden Pz II when the mis-direction occurred. John benefited from the excellent hiding position, but he had to sit quietly for the full 15 minutes, which wasn't easy.

Out Foxed

Joe and Paul upped hiding to a new level, finding holes far from the hound kennel. It took over 5 minutes for any of the hounds to find signs of either fox and by then, the pack was so spread out that only a few hounds were in the proper area. In fact, while Frank's Tiger was cautiously looking for the Hetzer's hiding place along with Marty's Comet, Paul's Pz II jumped out of it's hiding place and ended Marty's chase. When the Tiger finally arrived on the scene, the foxes outnumbered the lone hound and there was no chance of flushing them. In fact, the rest of the pack never arrived on the scene and the 15 minute period ended with both foxes succeeding.

Cornered Fox

Doug maxed out the hiding defense by driving his Tiger deep into the woods, essentially burying it in some very thick brush and downed trees. Even though the hounds saw him enter the woods, it took them over 5 minutes to find the Tiger hiding off a steep, rugged trail. Unfortunately, the Tiger was "found" only because it started sending paintballs into the pack of hounds, half of which had passed by the Tiger without noticing it. With all the hounds ducking for cover, they tried to figure out how to dislodge the cornered Tiger. While some of the hounds held the Tiger at bay, Frank's Tiger charged into the thick brush and bulled it's way towards Doug's Tiger. After a couple minutes of heavy bush whacking, both Tigers were within a few yards of each other. However, neither Tiger could get a proper shot at the other because of various standing and downed trees in the way. The 15 minutes period ended with both Tigers desperately trying to re-position themselves for a shot.

A total of five (5) foxes survived the game using various strategies and one fox put down 3 hounds, showing that the intense battle scenario continues to evolve and continues to be one of the most popular for adrenaline seeking battlers.