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Historical Perspective

Goliath is dead, slain by David - now King David - during the battle at the Valley of Elah. David and the Israelites had been outnumbered and outclassed. The Philistines had better weapons and armor, and better training. But the courage of a shepherd boy who followed God's will changed all of that. Saul saw Goliath as too big to overcome. David saw Goliath as too big to miss. This proved to be an epic turning point in this history of the Tribe of Judah. Prior to David's display of battlefield prowess the Philistines had simply manhandled the Israelites. Afterward, things changed significantly.

Following that battle at the Valley of Elah, the sixth major battle between the Kingdom of Israel and the Philistines, the Israelites began to trounce the giants with David leading the troops. King Saul actually became scared of David because David was such a great leader. This fear led Saul to send David away into battle in an attempt to dispose of him. The plan backfired, though, as David took out over 200 Philistines on his own. King Saul was not completely happy with the result and his fear of David grew. David was then sent away to a remote location.

With David neutralized by his own commander, the Philistines struck back at the Israelites. In the ninth major battle, the Philistines attacked the Israelites at Mount Gilboah and got a much needed victory. They killed most of Saul's men and three of his sons, including Jonathan, who had led a successful rout at Micmash just prior to the epic battle between David and Goliath. Saul, realizing his time was up, decided to fall on his own sword rather than be killed by a Philistine. With Saul gone, turmoil struck the Kingdom of Israel. The Tribe of Judah chose David as its King, but all of the other tribes did not - they remained loyal to the House of Saul. However, after the death of Ish-bosheth, Saul's son and successor to the throne of Israel, all the other Israelite tribes made David the King of a re-united Kingdom of Israel.

With David having taken the throne, the Philistines sent all their men to capture him at Baal-Perazim in the Valley of Rephaim, Southwest of Jerusalem. Once again David spoke to God and God told him to fight. This is where our battle takes place...

Modern Warfare Aspect

Even though the history of this scenario would put us right at the beginning of the ninth century B.C., our Valley of Rephaim is a modern warfare battle. Participation in the scenario begins with a war room briefing for each of the teams. Following is a general synopsis of the "events":

The Philistines, the Giants of Gath, have launched an assault out of Baal-Perazim and into the Valley of Rephaim from the East. This destructive assult did not impact the ultimate target of the Giants: King David himself. The Israelite troops, the Lions of Judah, were able to stave off the attack on the Western side of Jerusalem and sent the Giants to retreat back into the Valley. Giant leaders decided to send a supply convoy into the Valley to restock and refresh the troops on the ground, providing the battalion with technological advances and intelligence reports from the Giant Research & Intelligence Headquarters. This move was not unnoticed by the ailing Lion leadership, however, and David made a bold decision to send an air strike into the Valley, utilizing all mobile resources he had left at his disposal.

The air strike was ultimately a success, decimating the remaining Giant troops and the convoy. Sensitive items of technology and intelligence were both destroyed and scattered throughout the blast radius. The Lions would love to capitalize on this opportunity to sieze such sensitive information, but resources are slim. David decides to regroup and replenish his troops before setting out into the Valley, in order to launch a larger assault.

The Giants however, though severely beaten at this point, call for the recovery of the lost technology and intelligence as a top national priority. With the recent defeat, however, acquiring ground troops to send into the Valley is not happening quickly. The Giant leadership instead opts to send in a small band of elite Special Forces to spearhead the recovery of the intel. Arriving on the scene well ahead of the impending advance of the Lions, the small group of Giant Special Forces is able to acquire some of the scattered intel and move back into the cover, setting up a small makeshift base of operations while waiting for ground support to arrive from the Giant Headquarters. These soldiers know that the Lions are advancing and will likely reach the Valley before help arrives. The primary task is to hold off the advance as long as possible, while making sure that none of the intel items fall into the hands of David's army.

Objectives

Upon entry, the Giants move quickly to the bombed-out transport to retrieve whatever items of intel are left remaining at the site. After 90 seconds, the Giants retreat out of the Valley and into the Gath Bunker (shown as #4 on the map below). There the team splits into two divisions: one division to hold the bunker and the second scout division to reenter the battlefield and search for more intelligence items.

Items of intel will be scattered throughout the field due to the original blast radius of the Judah airstrike. 90 seconds after the Giants enter the Valley, the Lions of Judah will arrive from the Northeast. The Lions will be tasked with clearing out the bombed-out convoy to retrieve any leftover intel items and to take out any lingering Giant troops. After hitting this objective, the Lions will filter out throughout the area in search of the remaining intel.

Any intel items gathered by a player must be immediately taken back to the player's base of operations, which will be located near the deadboxes. The Giant base is the Gath Bunker. The Lion base is a cache near deadbox #6.

If Lion troops are able to breach the Gath Bunker and flush out the Giants, the Bunker is subject to be taken into complete Lion control. If the Lions control the Bunker for a continuous ten minutes (counted off by a ref), the Bunker will be owned by the Lions and all intel items located inside will be pillaged. The Lions must return all intel items to their base in order to control them.

If a player is shot out while carrying an intel item, whether recently found or recently pillaged, the player must immediately drop the intel and call "out". This does NOT apply if the player is simply "wounded" (see Special Rules - Medics) and does NOT apply to personal sized intel items that a player keeps on their person.

Some intel items are specifically noted as being personal sized. These intel items shall be pocketed by the player who discovers them and must be held by that player throughout the game. Handing over personal sized intel items to a teammate is strictly forbidden. Also, any player may be "captured" by the opposing side. This is completed by first shooting out an enemy, and then performing a barrel tag on that enemy before they reach their designated dead zone. As a result of this procedure, capturing players will likely expose the captor to a lot of risk as their cover will be blown and they may very well get shot out themselves trying to pull it off. The reward is great, though, as a captured player must turn over all intel items he or she possesses. This is the only way to recover the personal intel items from the other team.

Special Rules

Deadboxes: This is a lengthy scenario with reentry allowed. There will be designated deadboxes for players to go to once they are shot out. These deadboxes are also designed for players to restock on paint and air if necessary, and also to get lunch during the scenario. Because of these factors and because the reentry times will vary, a player may be required to stay within a deadbox for a period of time. Deadboxes are therefore "safe" zones, meaning that goggles may be removed, barrel blocking devices MUST be on and all marker safties MUST be on. Failure to abide by these rules may result in a reentry penalty or the player may be asked to leave the event.

Staff: Throughout the battlefield there will be Event Staff acting in the form of referees and videographers. These staff will be unarmed and wearing yellow shirts or masks. These staff are NOT to be shot. Accidentally shoot a ref or videographer and you're out. Purposefully shoot one and you may be asked to leave the event. Other staff will be located in the deadboxes, though these personnel may not be wearing yellow. As you will be in the deadbox when you meet these staff members, there better not be any markers discharging.

Medics: Medics will be designated in this scenario. In order to be a medic you must wear a white arm band and carry a medic supply card. A player shot in the head or torso is instantly out and is not able to be saved by a medic. A player taking a hit on the gun/hopper, arm, hand, leg or foot is "wounded". This is where a medic comes into play. If hit, the proper way to call for a medic is: once you are hit yell "medic!" and drop to the ground while continuing to call. Yelling "out" or "hit" will automatically terminate your medic call and you must go to the deadbox. Once you call for a medic you have only one minute to be "healed" before you are considered out and must go to the deadbox. Once a medic reaches a player he or she asks for the player's card number, writes it on their supply card, and wipes the hit off of the player. The hit player is now live. Medics may not heal medics. Hit players yelling for a medic can not move; once you move after being hit you are out and must return to your insertion point. ** Please keep in mind that calling for a medic may result in you taking fire until you are hit again. If you are hit a second time after calling for a medic but before being "healed", no matter where you are hit, you are out and must return to your deadbox. If you are hit in a questionable spot please do your medic a much needed favor and just call yourself hit and go to the deadbox.** Medics seen by refs not completing the process of filling out slots as they heal players will forfeit their medic role and supply card to event staff. It is the medics responsibility to secure a writing utensil to use on their supply cards.

Grenades: Paint grenades are allowed at this event. Paint grenades must be commercially made with a non-blue fill color (green is preferred) OR, if homemade, must be filled with a homemade "paint" recipe of cornstarch and water with no coloring (default white fill).

Tanks: There are no tanks in this scenario, and therefore no anti-tank armament.

Smoke Bombs: Smoke bombs may be used at various times BY EVENT STAFF ONLY. Once a smoke bomb hits the ground, it must stay there. Players are not allowed to move or manipulate a smoke bomb by any means.

The Wrap Up

This scenario battle is able to be won by either side, though historically it is David's army that prevails against the Philistines. How do we handle this? By simply noting that our scenario battle is but one of many that took place in the Valley of Rephaim.

Ultimately David's army caused the Philistines to retreat all the way back to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. One of the spoils of war for the Israelites was the fact that they gained further knowledge of metalworking. With this new technology, metallurgy, David was later able to better equip his troops with finely crafted weapons and armor – and that proper battle equipment helped the Israelites to eventually expand David’s empire to cover a large portion of what is presently known as the Middle East.

Our battle, however, is only one skirmish in the war occuring at Rephaim. Will the Giants be able to recover the sensitive information and keep new technologies out of the hands of David's Empire for the time being, or will this be a battle wherein the Lions break out of their cages to take a bite out of the competition? Sign up, and you can help decide.