2nd Bat
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Post by 2nd Bat on Jan 21, 2014 10:45:37 GMT -5
The recent Battle of the Bulge winter airsoft event hosted by Brownien was an excellent laboratory of Learning for Winter airsoft operations with lots of take aways. Operating in the field for two days in below freezing temperature is always a challenge but Brownien took numerous measures to insure it was manageable. He had a large warming tent which in fact was a big tarb drapped and suspended to keep gear out of the elements and create a wind break. He had a burn barrel going throughout the event and that was a true blessing. A generator provided a means to recharge batteries which is vital given that in colder temperatures batteries drain more quickly. the generator also powered the excellent sound system whose blaring battle sounds of sporatic and periodically intense gun fire, distant rumbling artillery and occassional aircraft fly overs emanated convincingly through the frozen forest. It was an awesome touch.
There was a lot of supplemental loaner items with the GI over coats, wool gloves, Jeep hats and wool sweaters especially well received. The CYMA carbines filled in nicely when AEGs went down and allowed everyone to stay in the fight. The Hot Chocolate breakfast on day two and Hot stew really hit the spot.
As for field operations in becomes quickly obvious that cold temperatures are harder on gear then normal weather. the Echo 1 BAR quickly snapped at te front of the receiver with normal use. A weak point obviously but one that probaby wouldn't have occured so easily at 70 degrees or warmer. Performing even simple tasks like reloading wile wearing gloves is much much harder. Wearing proper layers is critical as the physical activities vary from intense movement to standing and once sweating, when stationary one quickly gets cold. No matter how freshly changed or thick your socks are feet are going to get cold and numb if you aren't moving around. Exposed skin quickly feel the effects of cold and wind. Hand warmers though anachronistic are nice. This is supposed to be fun after all. WW2 German and US field gear is actually quite effective. The thick wool if kept dry really provides a great deal of warmth.
BB strikes on cold skin hurts! Players who are mindful of the sounds of body strikes respond quite well to BB hits even though through the thick clothing didn't feel the hit. helmets are a huge plus factor in winter games as when people take cover the head, shoulder and face are often all that is exposed and a helmet hit is easily detected by the destictive sound. i heard lots of helmet hits followed by a "ahhhhhhhh, mommy!!!!! Or medic,".
leadership lessons:
it's always a good idea when briefing your team to have them repeat back what you said to insure you conveyed what you said and everyone understood it. ave yor trooops echo directions in the field. "Two men flanking right". troops repeat"Two men flanking right". Once contact is made it is ften a good idea to drop back and swing around leaving a man to maintain contact. Leaders shoudl try to stay toward the center of their formation for control purposes going to flanks only briefly to check on
Troops status or disposition. leaders sould rarely be firing but instead should consider their squad or platoon as their weapon and aim it.
if you have numerical superiority over your opponent refrain from loosing this advantage of mass unless splitting your force has a destinct advantage with regard to terrain or surprise. if a medic is used consider carefully this asset and deploy it juduciously. This past weekend the medics really played a key role and did a fabulous job for both sides.
consider what formation best suits the terrain. Line, File, Column, eschelon left or right, wedge or diamond and configure your men acordingly. Rehearse transitioning into the assorted formations between tactical phases so once deployed they are seamless. Keep distances and interals such that groups of men aren't exposed to fire but close enough to provide supporting fire at airsoft ranges. Leaders should always establish a chain of command (who takes over if they get hit) and what their leaders intent is with regard to completion of the mission. Take actions relative to your mission and don't be distracted by enemy actions unless they impede your mission.
When moving individually don't remain static in the same position for very long. Request covering fire when moving. Consider where you are going to move to if you receive fire and when moving by bounds where your next stop is. consider if a quick sprint or low crawl would be the best technique. often even a short crawl will achieve a more advantageous position and won't be seen or exposed to the enemy even if it seems quite visible. Fire from the sides of objects not over the top. (stumps, log piles etc.). If smoke is deployed used it tactically don't remain static while it burns out which renders it useless. Enemy deployed smoke also allows YOUR team potential to move.
The fireworks and pyro was wonderful and added a lot to the event. Grenades by both the US and Germans really came into play this weekend and kept folks from camping. Particularly effective against the buildings.
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shiftysgarand
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Post by shiftysgarand on Jan 21, 2014 15:37:58 GMT -5
Also, we learned that leapfrogging was essential, as a long dash would certainly get you KIA. Remember, "I'm up, he sees me, I'm down".
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ScottCollins
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Post by ScottCollins on Jan 21, 2014 15:53:03 GMT -5
Yeah, that little phase help me out so much!
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2nd Bat
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Post by 2nd Bat on Jan 21, 2014 16:45:36 GMT -5
The manuever tactics employed by the US soldiers was very telling from the opponents perspective. i typically observed from that side and you all moved well, were aggressive and elusive at the same time. Both the Germans and US got better and better throughout the weekend. It was real fun to watch. I has some great opportunities for coaching but this occured most frequently for the Germans.
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Jerry-ADK
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Post by Jerry-ADK on Jan 22, 2014 8:47:00 GMT -5
Ja, The Ami's were very aggressive and kept the heat on very well in all of the engagements. I could hardly see them half of the time. By the time I could see a enemy soldier it was usually too late. The snowy woodland setting plus foggy glasses made spotting enemy movement tough. There are some real good scenes of the Americans moving under fire in the video. Ill get that footage out soon. I have to wait for Friday so I can get paid and buy more DVD's to put it on before I can send it out next week.
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Post by brownien on Jan 22, 2014 11:56:08 GMT -5
You could always try YouTube! Everyone could see them there as advertizing. As far as goggles fogging, I prefer shooting glasses, as they offer the most ventilation, but also allow vapor from your breath to enter from below and fog while you are at rest. If you do get full seal goggles, remember that besides having good top ventilation to allow vapor produced from within your goggles to escape, you must have ventilation holes below the lenses as well to allow cool air in to push the hot air up and out of the top vent holes. With a larger difference in ambient air temp and body vapor temp, the stronger the cold air will come up and literally "blow" the hot vapor out. I also found it very hard to make contact with the Germans and not get pinned down! I had a much harder time at past events with everyone on full auto, but with everyone but one regulated to full, I feel that it allowed for a more realistic amount of fire and manouver, simulating a larger force on both sides!
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2nd Bat
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Post by 2nd Bat on Jan 22, 2014 15:09:19 GMT -5
The ammo restrictions and high percentage of players on semi auto really contributed to more authentic tactics and took the event one more step removed from traditional "spray and pray, stalemate airsoft". Leaders had to consider roles, control and positioning of their full auto players.
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shiftysgarand
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Post by shiftysgarand on Jan 22, 2014 16:53:21 GMT -5
I would highly recommend youtube, as it's free and pretty much instant. The Krauts were extremely aggressive, and tenaciously held their positions when we attacked. It was rare that there was an easy-to-hit German in range.
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2nd Bat
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Post by 2nd Bat on Jan 22, 2014 17:41:13 GMT -5
The gameplay at this event was excellent. One lesson learned however was photographers in enemy impressions were quite distracting at times. when Patrick changed into his Partison / civiliam impression it worked much better I think. Especially for the Germans. I know when I was trailing the Germans and observing (certainly during the second mission phase) I got hit multiple times from multiple angles. I thought I was way out of range but obviously not. No doubt I was a distraction at times as well.
I really enjoyed the fleeting glances of movement. The excellent use of covering fire and quick, very brief flanking sprints. The simple tips from the mornings training were being applied which was very cool.
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Jerry-ADK
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Post by Jerry-ADK on Jan 22, 2014 19:31:44 GMT -5
There is ample footage of fleeting glances of both the Germans and the Americans advancing through the woods from cover to cover. And also a good amount of close quarter combat as each team tried to take their objectives. I will get something up on YouTube ASAP as soon as I polish things up a bit and add some period music hear and there. I showed my friend today what I had done with the video and he was real iimpressed and it was real fun to watch. I think I may have recruited another player in the process, cause to him it looked like we were having too much fun. It's real good guys, and it will make excellent advertising for us. I wanted to ask if I should put in the opening credits "WW2AA PRESENTS"? And I also gave a brief description of what we are Reenacting, and I named the film Attack in the Ardennes. I also mention that it took place in Perth, NY on January 18th,. 2014. I think it may be good to mention our website. And say something like " join the fight!" at the end to encourage viewers to check out the forum. Any other ideas about that please chime in cause this is going to make real good advertising indeed. And as I said, I will send footage out to all of you guys if you want to make a movie too, cause there is enough stuff to make at least two movies if no more. The more new footage we get out there the more people will see it. I will also give both our cameramen mention in the credits if you would like that. So hopefully soon guys it will be up. You can hear John get hit a bunch of times while he is filming, lol!
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shiftysgarand
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Post by shiftysgarand on Jan 22, 2014 19:45:14 GMT -5
I would put the stuff about WW2AA at the end, keep it period at the beginning, maybe put in a war department opening like all the WWII newsreels.
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Jerry-ADK
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Post by Jerry-ADK on Jan 22, 2014 20:11:33 GMT -5
We think alike Shifty. I got the beginning to play as a war time news reel with period music. I think you guys will dig it. I'll put the contact info at the end as well in more detail. There is lots of the role playing we did caught on film and a lot of the footage is shaky so it has that combat footage feel to it. I'm fooling around with having it be in sepia or black and white too.
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Post by knights52 on Jan 22, 2014 22:30:50 GMT -5
Looking forward to seeing it!
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2nd Bat
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Post by 2nd Bat on Jan 23, 2014 21:35:27 GMT -5
I am real anxious of course to see it. Still bothered by the fact that I missed a lot of good footage opportunities by operator error. Hopefully my death at the hands of the dreaded Jabos was captured!
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Jerry-ADK
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Post by Jerry-ADK on Jan 23, 2014 22:30:31 GMT -5
yup, Im using parts of the scenes we staged in the video. Im sorry our Sani coulnt save you. Im working on it now.
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2nd Bat
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Post by 2nd Bat on Jan 24, 2014 0:38:56 GMT -5
Another observation at the event was the effectiveness of Scott Collins custom homebuilt Springfield and Marks Swerpuckt produced spring powered Kar 98s. Both are really well done conversions. Scott did an especially nice job on his M1903A1 which is just a gorgeous replica. I was disappointed to see the almost immediate failure of the ECHO 1 BAR. (it broke at the receiver group/ barrel junction and has an obvious weak point there. ). Hopefully Brownien can effect a reasonable repair. The bitter cold was definitely hard on the pock metal that constitutes most airsoft guns. More equipment failures then at most events but I attribute that to the low low temperatures. The two Garand AEGs that Nate supplied were put to good effect and hopefully stood up to their use.
The carbines took some abuse with regard to the homebuilt rear sites. This however occured during shipping.
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Jerry-ADK
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Post by Jerry-ADK on Jan 24, 2014 1:27:36 GMT -5
my agm mp40 performed like a champ. I only used one battery the whole event. I was surprised that I didnt have to switch out. Of course I was exclusively using semi auto and only emptied my mag pouches once the whole weekend. Which means I only used about 600 rounds. I still haven't charged up and I have shot 3 more mags full in my shop shooting range, got to love those 1600mah 8.4v Tenergy.
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2nd Bat
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Post by 2nd Bat on Jan 24, 2014 13:17:31 GMT -5
The limits to semi auto fire for most players enhanced the game play considerably in my opinion having a full auto for every four or five guys really turns those weapons into the significance they should have. It also allows the bolt action players to contribute realistically as well. Absolutely should be the standard for WW2 events. Squad leaders then need to be mindful of where their full auto is located and how it is manuevered.
Another key lesson was the fogging issues in the extreme cold. This is an issue of course at any airsoft event but especially in the cold. The key with any fogging is ventilation. Sealed goggles without fans fog up after very little movement especially if your mouth is covered as it was for most players with their scarves etc. I have found that non sealed goggles that sufficiently wrap around the eye (provided they achieve a minimum of ANZI 87 ratings work fine. I am also a huge fan of mesh goggles although I wear glasses which provide for me protection against spall should it occure. The non sealed clear goggles are also visually less distracting in pictures etc.
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shiftysgarand
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Post by shiftysgarand on Jan 24, 2014 13:34:31 GMT -5
Watching the video it appears that Nate and I have no eye protection on at all ( of course we did though).
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Jerry-ADK
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Post by Jerry-ADK on Jan 24, 2014 23:50:58 GMT -5
I agree that one machine gunner per 4 to 5 guys should be a set rule for WW2 standards. Do we have a official set of standards or "rules" for WW2 Airsoft? Are there general guidelines written on the forum somewhere?
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2nd Bat
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Post by 2nd Bat on Jan 25, 2014 1:16:07 GMT -5
There aren't but I think we are reaching a point where it might worth considering.
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Jerry-ADK
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Post by Jerry-ADK on Jan 26, 2014 17:31:13 GMT -5
I am very seriously planning on creating a WW2 airsoft field. I'm looking at a coop type model with members who build it together. I would like to come up with standard rules for us to use for our tacticals. Creating this set of rules would be a cooperative process among the members. But if there are already standards in place via ww2aa those could be adopted. Anyhow I think that would be an interesting process to come up with WW2 airsoft standards. Maybe there is a way we can use the voting feature on this forum to come up with standards for game play. Not that we absolutely need set "rules" for game play and those certainly can be improvised upon at anytime. But having a definite set of S.O.P.'s to fall back on is a nice feature of creative game play.
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ScottCollins
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Post by ScottCollins on Jan 27, 2014 15:44:17 GMT -5
I am very seriously planning on creating a WW2 airsoft field. I'm looking at a coop type model with members who build it together. I would like to come up with standard rules for us to use for our tacticals. Creating this set of rules would be a cooperative process among the members. But if there are already standards in place via ww2aa those could be adopted. Anyhow I think that would be an interesting process to come up with WW2 airsoft standards. Maybe there is a way we can use the voting feature on this forum to come up with standards for game play. Not that we absolutely need set "rules" for game play and those certainly can be improvised upon at anytime. But having a definite set of S.O.P.'s to fall back on is a nice feature of creative game play. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing Jerry. Somewhere in Pennsylvania I believe would be the best because then the Midwest, South and Northeast would all drive about the same. I would certainly support you with that though
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shiftysgarand
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Post by shiftysgarand on Jan 27, 2014 15:57:18 GMT -5
I am very seriously planning on creating a WW2 airsoft field. I'm looking at a coop type model with members who build it together. I would like to come up with standard rules for us to use for our tacticals. Creating this set of rules would be a cooperative process among the members. But if there are already standards in place via ww2aa those could be adopted. Anyhow I think that would be an interesting process to come up with WW2 airsoft standards. Maybe there is a way we can use the voting feature on this forum to come up with standards for game play. Not that we absolutely need set "rules" for game play and those certainly can be improvised upon at anytime. But having a definite set of S.O.P.'s to fall back on is a nice feature of creative game play. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing Jerry. Somewhere in Pennsylvania I believe would be the best because then the Midwest, South and Northeast would all drive about the same. I would certainly support you with that though Southern Pennsylvania or West Virginia I think would be the best distance-wise. That is in the center of the majority of the nation's population (sorry west coast guys).
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ScottCollins
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Post by ScottCollins on Jan 27, 2014 16:15:15 GMT -5
Yeah, actually take a look at Indiana, PA. That area look almost perfect for a base!
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Jerry-ADK
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Post by Jerry-ADK on Jan 27, 2014 16:16:27 GMT -5
I'm going to use my property in Essex, NY. I have 12 acres of woodland of my own which is plenty big enough to use for what I am planning. Its just as big as Lash's. I also have access to my neighbors 40 acres right behind my land for larger scale operations. There is no way I can build a field anywhere else. I would gladly help others if they wanted to start something simular somewhere else close enough to drive to. You know it may be closer for you to cruise up through Canada to get here than driving to Pennsylvania. I would fully support you guys over in Michigan if you ever start your own field too. But lets not go too far off topic which is about lessons learned at the Battle of the Bulge. When I get my thing started I'll start its own thread. The most important thing I took from the battle is not to expect. The other team to be predictable. And to always be ready for an ambush wich you guys pulled off brilliantly more than once. Also full seal goggles fog too bad in winter.
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2nd Bat
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Post by 2nd Bat on Jan 27, 2014 17:28:56 GMT -5
another lesson learned for me was how significant grenades were. typically this has not been the case at most airsoft games I have attended. I Think at this event it was because there were so many structures scattered throughout the operational area and because both teams had a lot of grenades, they got used a lot and to great effect. I enjoyed a couple times when guys got hit just as they were attempting to throw them which was very cool.
marks home made potatoe mashers were nicely done. They looked good even close up, had a decent weight and were getting tossed around a lot.
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Jerry-ADK
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Post by Jerry-ADK on Jan 27, 2014 19:34:10 GMT -5
another lesson learned for me was how significant grenades were. typically this has not been the case at most airsoft games I have attended. I Think at this event it was because there were so many structures scattered throughout the operational area and because both teams had a lot of grenades, they got used a lot and to great effect. I enjoyed a couple times when guys got hit just as they were attempting to throw them which was very cool. marks home made potatoe mashers were nicely done. They looked good even close up, had a decent weight and were getting tossed around a lot. I agree, the grenades really are a must for close quarter combat, weather exploding or non exploding. It really adds realism to infantry squad tactics for clearing structures. I got killed a couple of times when I tried to get close enough to use one of my pea grenades. I never actually got a kill with them in fact. Often they would hit the branches in the trees and fall short of the intended target. that happened one time and I think I killed me Mark and Graham with it, oops! The smoke grenades where used to good effect as well. and came in very handy during assaulting structures. I'm defiantly getting more of them for the next tactical. The pea grenades are nice but pricey. It would be better to go in on a order for an event or sell a bunch there. When defending structures it is always good to have surviving team mates pick a vector of fire so to provide as much cover as possible. In the final assault by the American team Graham and I were the only Germans left defending. I found it difficult to defend such a big structure with only two of us. Although I got a couple of kills our numbers were just not enough to cover all points to prevent the hard pushing Americans from taking the structure. Very exciting end to the event though, I was gripped!
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2nd Bat
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Post by 2nd Bat on Jan 27, 2014 22:30:49 GMT -5
In WW2 Infantry frequently saved grenades primarily for use at night when in defensive positions. They could be used without giving away your position and often you only knew roughly where the enemy was.
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Jerry-ADK
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Post by Jerry-ADK on Jan 28, 2014 19:23:04 GMT -5
When employing smoke always check the wind direction before tossing the grenade. Throwing it upwind about 30m seems to be effective because it takes about 20m for it to billow out enough to screen and conceal your movement. Wind speed effects how much of a screen you get too. I think two smoke grenades would really help one to create a distraction and the other to conceal movement. and the more smoke the better to create confusing low visibility situation for the opfor.
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