Post Op: AAR
First off, this game blew me away. This is the first game in a long time that I have attended that reminded me of the old SCAA days that hooked me to the hobby. So thanks to every person for that!
Thanks to Dom and all the individuals who worked to make this Op a great time, and thanks for working to give discounts for the mishap of the other op that was cancelled.
The game:
I had a great time getting out there with two others of Team Nikao. I was sad that we were unable to come out as a full team, as two of our other guys stayed home for other circumstances. Myself (Norm), Rasputin, and Lukaus were assigned as QRF on Bravo along with our XO and Patrick. (Sorry I don't remember your forum names, guys). From my understanding, we were sent is as a secondary reaction team and were constantly tasked with flanking and pressuring Alpha wherever the main squad needed relief. -- This meant we were running around the field flanking and fighting, often undermanned, until players started to leave.
As a personal note, the members of Nikao had a great time working on our team dynamics, while interacting with other bravo players.
The communication for this game was by far THE BEST I have ever experienced in my airsoft lifetime.
My hat is off to Dom for running a smooth game and making all rules clear and concise. As a veteran player it is tough to sit through the rules every time, but I appreciate you taking the time to do so. Everyone, including myself need the reminder for some of the rules. Thanks.
Our CO, (Uboat?) thank you for volunteering and stepping up. I have a lot of games under my belt and you killed it! You were on the comms alot, which was good-also sometimes too much, but for it being your first time, don't even sweat that. I was blown away by your leadership and even in times when you were unsure, it was awesome to work with you and XO. Bottom line, you guys were awesome. I hope you both learned from the experience and will take that on again. I hope that myself or any of the others on Nikao represented ourselves well and that we were not the source for your concerns about CO/XO again.
Game type: The kill cards are great. It brings a dynamic element of individual challenge to the overall team goal of winning. I know alot of the newer players might struggle understanding this, but I appreciated it. I only had to give a kill card away one time, which was well earned by the alpha guys I was fighting in the pit. I had the privilege of collecting around 15-20 cards, which was a great accomplishment from my POV.
I feel that the teams were balanced well in the morning, but I am disappointed with the guys on alpha that bailed on the game pretty early. I don't know the circumstances, and I realize it was cold, wet, and annoying-still I wish the guys who were committed had teammates that didn't bail. Our drive was over two hours for this game, so we were there to play, but I understand a great amount may just live near by so it was easier to leave and be warm. Regrettably, we didn't stay until Sunday because of the weather, but we had a blast until end of game on Saturday.
I want to shout out to the guys on Alpha who were committed all the way to the end. You made the day fun.
Some negative observations:
1. The gauntlet situation was unsettling for me. (I have taken part in them in the past) I didn't participate because I wanted to conserve ammo since we were about to head back into the field. I don't have an opinion on what was right or wrong, but it was voluntary. Thanks to marpat for being so cool about it, even though it looked like hell. But hey, sometimes taking unnecessary risks is what its all about, right?
2. There were a few hit calling issues, but that happens in every airsoft event. The only one worth mentioning was in the pit. I made a good move to the building occupied by charlie and shot my m203 into the bunker and shot a 120 rd shell sending bbs everywhere. From what I could tell, I had hit all three players and it seemed cut -dry. I was then safety killed by a player from inside the bunker. I accepted it and then contested it, as I reasonably believed there was no way anyone avoided my shell blast. I am willing to accept that I missed a guy, but its still difficult to believe that individual was only hit by "Ricochet" bbs. Its that stuff that takes the fun, but thankfully DOM stepped in.
3. If you have read nothing else, please read this. During the above mentioned contesting, an alpha player, and I don't know who it was, removed your eye protection. This was in the middle of a full assault and defense by alpha/bravo. I am sorry that I was screaming at you so directly, but you can lose an eye. No argument is worth a mistake that you will live with the rest of your life. I'm not sure why the eye pro needed to come off for you to make your argument to me, but please for the sake of your personal safety and secondly the sport, please don't let that happen again.
Great Game! Thanks again.
Nathaniel Jordan
"NORM"
-NIKAO