Battle of Jade Hills II

The **Battle of Jade Hills II** was a major event hosted by NERF Community Malaysia in 2014. It is the second installment of the Jade Hills series of events.

 Background

The idea was first floated by Brien Chia of NERF Community Malaysia on 24th July 2014. It gathered significant support, and the event was formally announced on 31st July 2014.

A preceding event was also held at Jade Hills in 2012.

The Night Owls contingent held the distinction of being the second largest contingent after the Roughnecks, as well as being the contingent that had travelled the furthest to the event. Jade Hills II Expeditionary Force members left Fort Night Owls on 5th December 2014 and were housed at the Prescott Metro Inn in Kajang.

## Opposing forces

### Red Team

Red Team was composed of 2 main contingents: Night Owls and the Roughnecks. The Night Owls contingent consisted of 14 combatants, including a 2 veterans of NERFTOUR4 , as well as 2 pairs of brothers. Their arsenal at that point consisted mainly of Dart Tag and Mega blasters won from the 2014 NERF Blaster Squad Contest, as well a few Elite blasters. All of their blasters were unmodded with the exception of 2 Stryfes using Ultrafire batteries. Ironically, both of the Stryfes shorted out due to rain during the battle.

The alliance between the Roughnecks and Night Owls was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. Together, the two contingents mustered the bulk of Red's firepower and experienced manpower.

### Yellow Team

Yellow Team consisted of several major Central area groups, including N-COM and NCS. Players are often fairly experienced with highly modified blasters.

## Battle

### Round 1

Round 1 began in moderate rain, both sides cautiously taking ground and establishing battle lines. From the onset, Yellow Team had control of more ground than Red Team. However, some Red Team players at bottom hill were reluctant to advance, even when the frontline moved in their favour. The rain had turned the hillside extremely slippery and in some places, muddy. Players using motorized blasters from both teams often had their blasters short circuit and out of commission.

Repeated costly assaults on Yellow Team positions, as well as assaults from Yellow themselves wore down the Red Team players and eventually handed Yellow Team the first round's victory.

### Round 2

As with Round 1, the opening stages of Round 2 saw both sides taking ground and digging in, with Red Team forces concentrated on the hill top. Sometime during the match, a Red Team vanguard with Francis Nyeo and Ramon Lee broke through the Yellow defence at bottom hill, but the Red line at mid hill collapsed shortly after and Yellow Team rushed in to capture the Red Team base. This separated the remaining Red Team players into two groups: one at the hill top and one at the bottom.

The Red Team forces at top hill who escaped the collapse were pursued and pinned down by Yellow forces, while the group at bottom hill had the safety of a large clearing to hold back their opponents. When Yellow Team brought 2 shields into play at top hill, the pocket there collapsed and the remaining 5 or 6 men at bottom hill became encircled, with Yellow forces on two sides and backed into a corner of the play area. The eventual collapse of the resistance marked the end of the game.

Yellow Team won Round 2 by both capturing all points and eliminating all Red Team players.

### Round 3

Round 3 began at 11:42 am with Red Team in high spirits, rushing forward quickly to take ground. Within 1 minute the forces at top hill have made contact with the enemy, with 1 large green camo shield and at least 7 players led by Kelvin Ng in play.

The scene quickly turned into fierce close quarters fighting as both sides dug in and attempted to push. As Yellow Team did not have any shields at top hill, they substituted with more players with heavier firepower, with their primary commander at the top hill frontline and another at mid hill. During a push by the Yellow Team commander, the camo shield temporarily fell, but the quick actions of Sunny Chan, Chiam Zin Ser and supporting infantry tagged out the enemy commander, regained control of the shield and retreated approximately 5 meters to a more defensible location. Kelvin Ng can be heard in recordings of the battle shouting various commands: "Sniper uphill! Sniper uphill! Follow me! Closer, closer! Ok, advance! Follow me! Advance!"

David Ooi, the Night Owls commander ran a diversion with a jammed Vulcan to direct fire away from the shield, allowing it to reconsolidate its strength. One Yellow Team player was recorded to remark: "Oh shit, they've moved the machinegun [unintelligible]."

10 minutes after the round started, there were 2 Red Team shields and at least 12 supporting infantry at top hill. However, both the shields fell to a counterattack by Yellow Team within 2 minutes. 5 minutes later, Red Team infantry has massed against 3 Yellow Team shields: a small black shield and the 2 Red Team shields that were previously captured.

The Yellow Team positions were undermanned at this point, and at precisely 12:00:00 Red Team launched an offensive from both top and mid hill, picking off the supporting infantry at distance and then storming the vulnerable shields.

The 2 small shields fell quickly, while the camo shield was forced to retreat and was continually pushed with the remainder of Yellow Team until they were cornered in their base and destroyed.

Round 3 was the longest of all 3 rounds, lasting well over 20 minutes and producing an unexpected Red Team victory.

## Legacy

Jade Hills II was the first large scale engagement that the Night Owls took part in force. The distinct advantage of having shields on one's side was also noted and exploited in the Battle of Jade Hills III, where both teams employed purpose-constructed shields.

The disparity in terms of average age, as well as equipment between the Red and Yellow Teams was also noted. This was addressed in the Battle of Jade Hills III where the organizers split teams according to the blasters they have.