Vietnam Patrol 9-28-13

[ibeezthecapn]

Great fun. Had a lot more players, but the game mechanics made up for it and then some. NVA played very well. USA played well also. only a few things neg to say, then ill summarize. USA did not have radios for the most part. There were periods of time where platoons had to use runners. that's ridiculous. one of my leaders, not gonna say who, thought only one person in each platoon could HAVE a radio. lol.

"we did this, I did that" requires memory and time, which are escaping me at the moment. I do remember telling someone to call me A&E TV, cause I was goin Ghost huntin. after about 40 minutes of brambles I came up behind Jsts Ghost, Moose SC, and Hoss at base 6. had a line of sight on jamie and jeff, but Aaron suspected someone was there. I guess saying "f%^&k" while sneaking isnt recommended. I saw he'd take a minute to line it up right and acted. popped ghost and hoss, but i was so hidden ghost thought it was someone out of bounds and I called myself out to both show him the 0ft tag on drumzilla's m16 i borrowed, and because if moose had fired on me i would have torn myself (even more) to pieces taking cover.
I remember in the night game chad dies suddently, then when idiot88 went to medic he died too. I grabbed the tomahawk, this was about to happen. I figured there was someone laying down and also figured that that person would keep idiot and i between them, so i would 'hawk them around his legs. I figured wrong. dom does this die hard death to the infidels rolly poly move and after a moment of fire, got the top of my head. then after i stand up with my kill glowstick out, Frost runs up like "hey guys what's u---- awwww" as dom shot himm too. then our last two ran off. punks.
my only game design issue was that an area's dual use confuse players and caused us to not defend it as we should. Medical supplies had to be brought and held to base 12. I sent a team to secure the supplies and one to the base to red carpet. we secured the mase and got the supplies there. The next mission was to hold 3, 6, 10, and 12. well owing to the fact that every other mission required at least a .75mi hike to the objective, everyone in 12 left. the fact that no one really had radios didnt help.

great job to Ghost, Frost, and JRL.

highest US kill count was a tie between frost and Chad, I dont wanna say how many cause I dont actually know.

PROS -
well designed gameplay
fun, even with opposing commanders over (too many) drinks
nothing i brought broke
i called our only airstrike on ghosts tent, because nothing says class like late hits

CONS
us not having comms
telling the one guy that did to support base 3 7648 times and him reporting back "13's clear"
not enough NVA
US geniuses ( must have been from TX) deciding smoke bombs at 7am on sat in the briefing area were a good idea THEN NOT USING ANY ALL GAME

I had a great time being commander, I may do it again, but everyone will have a radio and backup batteries or chargers. that was nuts not getting responses for 10mins+. BUT giving up and going to support people myself was awesome



great game

[Hatch]

Aftermath MP5

[PwnageTM]

Well, I hope that of the three of you that heard it, y'all enjoyed my Vietnam clothes story

[mives]

"-A CO and XO will be appointed for each faction. Both factions will be split into four roughly equal parts, designated as "Platoons" and lead by Platoon leaders chosen by their factions CO. Each American platoon will have one radio operator. Each platoon will have between two and four medics, depending on turnout. Radiomen and Medics will be designated by insignia provided by staff to go on their upper arms/shoulders. Radiomen and Medics may switch with another player only at HQ."

The only mention of radio rules in the Game post!


"HQ, HQ, what the hell is happening? Where is everyone? Better yet, where's the enemy? over..."

Yup, sounds about right for a Vietnam Op.

Okay, got that off my chest.

First off, thank you to the radio operators that did step up when needed and rely information back and forth. Without you, we surely would have been lost in the Jungles of Nam without help! For I, being Platoon leader, did not have a radio.

Awesome game Saturday! Wish we had twice as many people turn up as we did, but we worked with what we got. The US stayed spread out and busy leaving plenty of opportunity for the NVA to strike back. At least that's what I hope happened. I saw only a few NVA all day and mostly ran into friendly fire incidents that could have been avoided with better communication. Lots of objectives all over the field kept me more than busy though.

Good job Dom on the game mechanics, keeping it simple and having a variety of easily obtained objectives from kill cards to large objectives and keeping them rolling in a timely manner all day long.

Saturday night was an absolute blast for me. It really does matter who has the brighter flashlight I think with more practice, SC airsofters could become much more proficient at night ops. Also, playing in the field Saturday night and Sunday was perfect! It was much easier to visualize locations and predict enemy movement out in the field. If we had played in the woods, people would have been lost and it wouldn't have been as easy to engage in fire fights.

Finally, thanks to all who stayed and slugged it out for the night game and Sundays game! Can't wait for the next Vietnam Op where I can pull out my tiger stripe and do-rag again.

~Infidel out.

[Frost]

The use of "radio men" were only for calling in airstrikes, everyone was still allowed to have a radio. Now on to my AAR

One of the best ran games I've been to in a while. Hats off to DOM for all the work he put into it.

The good:
Good amount of dedicated Admin, Communication to ADMIN, and different things implemented to help balance with the unequal team numbers.
Easy to understand Objectives,
Platoon vs Platoon objectives
Good use of entire field.
Excellent Command staff for both factions.
Excellent/Honorable gameplay all weekend (I saw almost no issues of hit calling or dishonesty Props guys)
eye protection rules, mag outs, and not firing in the parking lot was the best I've ever seen.
Good story line

The BAD:
Random Non AOSC personal Intruding on the field and refusing to adhere to the rules, Nothing we could of done.
Alpha's communication, I understand when 1 radio man per faction was mentioned there was confusion, however ppl lets get some radios.
Turn out, Nothing Staff could of done about that.
Not enough Gatorade
STAR_FOLDER shot me in the finger with his DMR, accidentally. (Love you bro, but it hurt)

I would like to thank Dom and the admin staff for putting on an excellent event, Ghost and his command staff for just being an awesome opponent, Ibeezthecapn for letting me be his XO and to all the players who came out ty for your honesty and effort to make this game a blast.

[ibeezthecapn]

Aftermath MP5

check my FB i posted the youtube videos. Kyle Warren.


btw those were the most interesting news headlines I've ever heard.

[ibeezthecapn]

Well, I hope that of the three of you that heard it, y'all enjoyed my Vietnam clothes story

even if it did take 13 minutes to tell

[ibeezthecapn]

I think with more practice, SC airsofters could become much more proficient at night ops. Also, playing in the field Saturday night and Sunday was perfect!

i agree. this one was better than most, only once did i have to fuss and say "cut off your flashlights! tracers work both ways!"

[Dominum]

I'd like to thank the following people:

-Everyone that helped me admin the game: you all did a great job helping me keep track of the game mechanics and monitor players, thank you for your time and effort (and thanks to SteevoLS for chauffeuring me in his sexy Jeep)
-The command staff on both sides: you did a wonderful job of disseminating missions and keeping your men on task, thank you for all your hard work
-Zoobie & everyone else at Red Tactical: you were very generous providing the fast helmet for the raffle and the tomahawk and ThunderB kit for the loadout prizes, thank you for getting it to us despite unforeseen circumstances (and thanks to Marauder for picking them up on Friday)
-Every player that attended: you pushed yourselves hard, played by the rules, and made this event a success, thank you for playing well and with honor

Scoring breakdown for both factions:

Mission 1: The US started with a trapped platoon at the pea patch, had to keep it from being wiped out (losing 75% of their kill cards), and had to take and hold the pea patch area. The rest of their forces started at their HQ. The NVA had to take more than 75% of the trapped platoons kill cards, and take and hold the pea patch area. The first portion was a success for the US and a failure for the NVA, not due to the main US forces linking up with it, but due to the trapped platoon fighting hard and holding out. The second portion was a failure for the US and a success for the NVA, the NVA totally overran the fortifications and the LZ at the pea patch and held them at the end of the mission next time.

Mission 2: A supply drop was made via parachute (the LZ had been overrun), one item was at base 10 and one was at B11. I believe both factions were in control of the supplies at base 10 at some point, but eventually the US managed to get them back to their HQ. The supplies at B11 weren't found for a while, but were eventually acquired by the US and taken back to their HQ. I'm not sure if the US forces with the B11 supplies were ever held up by the NVA. Both portions of this mission were a US success and an NVA failure.

Mission 3: The US was tasked with taking and holding the area around bases 3,4,13 AND the area around bases 8,9. The NVA was given the same task. Both sides were attempting to better secure the supply line from the West river. The US forces in the 3,4,13 area held it solidly and with minimal resistance (as far as I know). The US and NVA fought hard over the 8,9 area, with 8 ending in NVA control and 9 in US control. That means one success and one partial success for the US, and one failure and one partial success for the NVA.

Kill card count at lunch: US turned in 11, NVA turned in 14. US failure, NVA success.

Mission 4: Two unarmed US recon pilots went down, one was in I5 and one was in G9. Both had to be stabilized by two medics for ten minutes before being moved, and then taken to a specified site for either evac or interrogation. The US acquired both (one early on, the other almost at the last minute due to a firefight with the NVA that devolved into a firefight with themselves). Since the US took both, they were to take them to base 7. The NVA held base 7 just barely long enough to prevent the US from getting them in within the allotted time frame. US success and NVA failure at getting the pilots, US failure and NVA success at the follow up movement.

Mission 5: Both sides were tasked with finding the dropped medical supplies somewhere in the west river. The NVA managed to find them first (they were in the river, at the far south end) and get them out of the water. However, the US showed up and took the supplies. The NVA came back to try and retake them (resulting in a large firefight at base 3) but was ultimately unsuccessful and the US got them back to HQ in time. US succeed, NVA fail.

Mission 6: An unknown item was dropped near M15 (it turns out it was a cannister of agent orange), both sides were tasked with locating it and taking it to a specified place away from the enemy to be examined. The NVA found it in the east river at M15, and almost had it back to their specified evac site within the time frame. Unfortunately a miscommunicated boundary issue got most of them killed (by no fault of their own) the US then got it to it's destination in time. Due to this, I think it's only fair to count this mission as a success for both sides.

Mission 7: The US was tasked with denying the NVA freedom of movement by sending one platoon each to take and hold bases 3, 6, 10, and 12. The NVA was tasked with harassing them and preventing them from securing these areas. Ultimately the US ended up solidly holding bases 3 and 10, while the NVA completely overran and took bases 6 and 12. Partial success goes to both sides.

Kill card count at dinner: US turned in 36, NVA turned in 24. US success, NVA failure.

Night game mission: Due to low numbers and fatigue, the night game only lasted for the first mission (about 1.5hrs). The NVA had 11 as HQ, and the US had 6. Both sides were tasked with taking and holding bases 2 and 7. I believe base 2 was taken at the last minute by a single NVA player, and I know base 7 was retaken and then held by a single NVA player. US failure, NVA success.

Sunday game mission: Due to low numbers and fatigue, the day game only lasted for the first mission (about 2hrs). The NVA had 11 as HQ, and the US had 2. Both sides were tasked with taking and holding bases 7 and 8. After tense engagements the US ended with firm possession of both. US success, NVA failure.

No kill cards were used and everyone was a medic during the night game and Sunday morning, due to low numbers. The event started with ~20 NVA vs ~40 US, with our grand total about 70 players in all by the end of the event. Saturday night and Sunday morning were both ~10 vs ~10. The NVA were given some additional nearby respawns for some missions, due to the numbers disparity. Ultimately both sides fought hard. The US was handicapped with poor communication, and the NVA made good on their superior coordination to fight to the bitter end even though outnumbered. They didn't make it easy for the US to win.



I personally enjoyed myself a great deal. I liked playing era specific music and annoying the crap out of everyone with the megaphone (though I'd say I'm pretty skilled at that even without one). I had a blast playing Saturday night as NVA and Sunday morning as US. During the night I managed to kill 5 US players (Ctaylor, Idiot88, Ibeezthecapn, Frost, and some other guy I never saw very well) while hiding in the grass by 7. The only two left alive ran away, and I held 7 until the end. Sunday morning I held base 7 again with a few other players, we took some casualties during the first firefight (everyone died except me and one other guy who's name I don't know) but I shot PRincess twice (I'm not sure if he had been healed the second time or not, but visibility was poor and I didn't want to take any chances), Gerbilizer, Achilles1, the quiet guy with the fast helmet who plays all the time but I can't remember his name, and some other guy back in the woods. I got some reinforcements (Frost and one more) and the four of us held it against another firefight. I know Frost got a couple, and I hit another two (one was the quiet guy with the fast helmet again who had a great spot and nearly hit me). We held it solid until the NVA had had enough.

Thank you all for the great feedback and suggestions. I plan to make the next Vietnam Patrol bigger and better, sometime next year. Please help me get the word out to everyone then so they don't miss out on a great MilSim scenario.

[ibeezthecapn]

"and I held 7 until the end."

hahaha we all called it that we would walk off the field on the night game and dom would be sitting in a base going "i win!"

[Dominum]

^That would have been funny, instead of walking by me and telling me you guys should have gone the long way and just left me there lol.

I seem to have lost my Thunder B on the field. I think it got knocked off my back when going through the woods from point 2 to whatever point is far left (facing the creek) where the creek meets the red markers at the corner of the boundaries.

I had a few things turned in, some already returned, but no ThunderBs. I will keep a lookout for it at OP 24 though.

Un-Protected, on-field, persons (Un-controllable)! When on the AO, the field owner should stress every person that comes on their property to have eye protection on! We had two issues with that, and both times, every player did a kick butt job of relaying "blind man" to get on operation hold!
Side note on that, when we restart operation, we should get a 10 second count down to resume.

What ended up happened was the neighbors had decided to drive down one of the dirt roads to a deer stand on their property to do some work on it. Their presence was initially reported by Star_Folder and obviously a blind man was called. I drove to intercept them in the Jeep, but they drove off the property on to theirs and out of the area, so we resumed play. They then drove back again, on their property but close by, a temporary blind man was called, but the game was put back on when they walked further away from the play area onto their property. At this point I called the field owner to talk to them. He arrived promptly and informed them of the need to wear eyepro if they needed to drive their golf cart along the edge of the property again, and the issue was resolved accordingly. Next time I will ask the field owner to warn them ahead of time. This had never happened before so I had no foreknowledge that it could have been an issue. In retrospect the count down before game back on is definitely a good idea.

Of course, there was the incredibly unfortunate out of bounds incident that happened after lunch as well. Effectively killing our entire team. That was special...
Moose had an epic run taking out a good dozen of the US Forces by himself, that was an awesome thing to watch.

I will have to accept fault for the boundary incident, I failed to communicate clearly to the admin that was present.
I heard about Moose's epic battle, it should be documented for posterity. I'll wait for him to come on and share though.

I believe you also shot a hole in the papers that Dom was reading. Nice shooting by the way

Heh, thanks.
I saw him moving, and managed to miss the yellow. I shot it, heard someone yell "ouch" but never heard hit. I taunted him a little, thinking someone was just trying to dodge not calling it. I moved closer, then saw Dom was there. It didn't take long for me to figure out why my target never called hit. lol

Yep, I was sitting there at base 12 looking through the upcoming mission pack when some hard rounds started hitting the wood near me. I leaned over and they stopped, so I went on reading. One of them then went through the papers and hit me in the chest pretty hard (I knew it was a DMR and Kory was in the area, so I assumed it was him). I said "ouch" and then realized I was behind Allen who was on the corner between me and Kory (who was ~150'-200' away) and that I had better move if I didn't want to be shot again (because anyone shooting at Allen from there would hit me if they missed). I couldn't be upset because for one, I was in the line of fire; and secondly, I shot Kory when he was admining at the last game (though that was more my fault then Kory's, he wasn't in the line of fire, I was just being jumpy and saw movement in the brush when I knew we were surrounded).

1. Maybe keep a roll of orange tape on hand at future events encase there are boundary changes. With the number of Admin/refs that we had on the field, tape could have been placed on the appropriate trees to eliminate miscommunication fairly quickly. Not a huge deal for this game, but could have easily been a mission changer.
2. Admins/refs please be considerate of the players. When driving or hanging out around a base please keep the noise down. It gets hard to hear the crack of branches or the approach of the enemy over extra noise.

A good idea, and a valid point.

I remember in the night game chad dies suddently, then when idiot88 went to medic he died too. I grabbed the tomahawk, this was about to happen. I figured there was someone laying down and also figured that that person would keep idiot and i between them, so i would 'hawk them around his legs. I figured wrong. dom does this die hard death to the infidels rolly poly move and after a moment of fire, got the top of my head. then after i stand up with my kill glowstick out, Frost runs up like "hey guys what's u---- awwww" as dom shot himm too. then our last two ran off. punks.

It was good for me too.

Well, I hope that of the three of you that heard it, y'all enjoyed my Vietnam clothes story

I didn't hear it...

"-A CO and XO will be appointed for each faction. Both factions will be split into four roughly equal parts, designated as "Platoons" and lead by Platoon leaders chosen by their factions CO. Each American platoon will have one radio operator. Each platoon will have between two and four medics, depending on turnout. Radiomen and Medics will be designated by insignia provided by staff to go on their upper arms/shoulders. Radiomen and Medics may switch with another player only at HQ."
The only mention of radio rules in the Game post!

To be fair, I can definitely see how that wording is misleading (and that was my fault). However, I did specifically address this issue during the briefing and explained that all US players could and should use their radios, but that only the "radiomen" could call in strikes. That being said, it was a long briefing (necessarily so) and you may have dozed off once or twice .

[Foxx]

Welp, as much as I begged Dom for a Vietnam Op, I did not play at this event. We arrived during the briefing, then turned right back around and went home. Afterward, my conscious convinced me that this could've unintentionally been taken as a middle finger to Dom and any other game organizers. Thus, I'll explain:

We left after the briefing because:

1. We lost a car-load of players on the way, leaving us at less than half-strength. Still don't really know what that was about.
2. Paying $75 so the three of us could pretend MC and Digis are really straw hats and PJ's. (Not a big deal, but after so many "'Nam Games" it gets old.)
3. We were already pretty late to the game.
4. The Airfarm can become pretty stale after about seven years of woodsball. (Well, six if you count when we had AirFarm 2.0.)
5. Wolfy and Jaxx insisted beer and WarThunder would be cheaper, and just as entertaining. Especially when combined.

...But mainly #5.

Glad everyone had a great time though. Dom's games are always fun at their core. Just wish we had more Era-themed teams and Events here in SC. Maybe someday...