After some advice about starting a new site! :D

[Russe11]

Any of the locations got water features? River crossings, bridge building under fire or amphibious landings would be really cool scenarios that would mark you out as different.

 

[WAH64_Man]

Well the exercise we're considering does have quite a significant river flowing through it. I'd have to check about river crossings as no doubt this would affect the insurance, and people would need to be properly trained. Their is the option to do bridge building I suppose if we could manage to get our hands on some kit. I like the idea of an amphibious assault and this is something we could look at doing after running a few events. There's certainly enough training areas out there where it would be possible. I think for the first few it's going to be a case of not trying to run before we can walk! Once we've a better idea of how things are panning out and started to hopefully gain a bit of a reputation then we can consider more exciting scenarios.

Teddybhoy, we'll bare that in mind about the airsoft show! It's really a case of getting down to see what's available and discuss some supply ideas with different companies.

 

[WAH64_Man]

What's people's opinions on Comms? For a full on Mil Sim, I'd like every player wired up, so they can speak within their team, and then one individual within the team acting as a signaller who can speak higher up the chain with Main (ExCon). What's people's experience, good and bad, with working two way Comms during a scenario? Any thoughts on what are good radios? I'm looking at Ex Mil Clansman radios but these can be heavy and cumbersome! Their are some very capable civilian Motorola type radios available for a decent price with remote presses and headsets! After some advice on what you would like to see used?

 

[Russe11]

I would expect most players interested in milsims to have their own radio. If you get a licence and use military radios 1 per squad it will however add a second tier of communication and force them to think about who carries the extra heavy kit. Keeping a radio operator alive would then become important to some scenarios as you can deem the radio destroyed if the operator is shot. Personal radios will allow coms within individual teams but if they have to talk to commanders or other teams and request help or deliver intelligence etc then they should use the radios provided.

 

[WAH64_Man]

Yeah that's the kind of thing we're looking at. Inter Fire Team/Section Comms to enable teams to communicate, but then each Section/ Platoon has a dedicated signaller to speak to Zero for any Contact Reports, Requests for Resupply, Casevac etc! The people who have their own radios, are they completely compatible with each other? So can one persons radio talk to another even if they're not the same? I've looked at Radio licences which aren't to expensive and I can get hold of the Mil Clansman stuff complete with all the ancillaries and elevating kits for a reasonable price. Things are looking really good at the moment and we're extremely close to going live! We've had great news back from the MoD so things are coming along well

What radio is that Baz JJ?

 

[Baz JJ]

Its a mock up of the Harris PRC-152

 

[Russe11]

Yeah that's the kind of thing we're looking at. Inter Fire Team/Section Comms to enable teams to communicate, but then each Section/ Platoon has a dedicated signaller to speak to Zero for any Contact Reports, Requests for Resupply, Casevac etc! The people who have their own radios, are they completely compatible with each other? So can one persons radio talk to another even if they're not the same? I've looked at Radio licences which aren't to expensive and I can get hold of the Mil Clansman stuff complete with all the ancillaries and elevating kits for a reasonable price. Things are looking really good at the moment and we're extremely close to going live! We've had great news back from the MoD so things are coming along well

What radio is that Baz JJ?

Most people will have PMR446 radios, they are able to use the same 8 frequencies and require no licence. To use Military radios you will require a licence and will have certain frequencies assigned to you. The PMR radios will not be able to use these frequencies.

 

[AirsoftTed]

Well the exercise we're considering does have quite a significant river flowing through it. I'd have to check about river crossings as no doubt this would affect the insurance, and people would need to be properly trained. Their is the option to do bridge building I suppose if we could manage to get our hands on some kit. I like the idea of an amphibious assault and this is something we could look at doing after running a few events. There's certainly enough training areas out there where it would be possible. I think for the first few it's going to be a case of not trying to run before we can walk! Once we've a better idea of how things are panning out and started to hopefully gain a bit of a reputation then we can consider more exciting scenarios.

Teddybhoy, we'll bare that in mind about the airsoft show! It's really a case of getting down to see what's available and discuss some supply ideas with different companies.

Youtube "UCAP Sandpit Amphibious assault" , they sometimes run milsims and have had an amphibious insertion before ( the site has a lake in it ) which was pretty cool.

What's people's opinions on Comms? For a full on Mil Sim, I'd like every player wired up, so they can speak within their team, and then one individual within the team acting as a signaller who can speak higher up the chain with Main (ExCon). What's people's experience, good and bad, with working two way Comms during a scenario? Any thoughts on what are good radios? I'm looking at Ex Mil Clansman radios but these can be heavy and cumbersome! Their are some very capable civilian Motorola type radios available for a decent price with remote presses and headsets! After some advice on what you would like to see used?

I've seen sites that offer air, mortar or arty support via radio, the idea being you radio command, then this is passed onto marshal I am presuming, who then either pop smoke, or wait for targets to be designated via smoke before setting off pyrotechnics and declaring everyone within a certain radius or not behind certain cover dead, dependent on the support used or if they decide something was a direct hit on a bunker.

 

[WAH64_Man]

Yeah well that's our plan too. We would accept calls for fire over a " Tac Net" with dems already in situ.

 

[jcheeseright]

The standard PMR446 walky talkies that most people have are quite limited for a bigger event, they've only got 8 available channels so if you've got more than 60 odd people attending then sections are gonna have to start sharing channels! Often one of those channels will be reserved for emergencies too, so that reduces things further.

However, every mil-sim organiser in the UK insists that players provide their own intra-section radios and some will provide a radio per section for chatting to Zero/other sections etc. I personally wouldn't want to lug a clansman around (not even a diddy 349) as those things are f*cking heavy lumps!

 

[WAH64_Man]

I personally wouldn't want to lug a clansman around (not even a diddy 349) as those things are f*cking heavy lumps!

Haha! They're not that bad! I suppose it depends on how real you want to make the Sim! We'll take a look at some other options as well rather than Clansman for the Battle Group net. TBH I'd prefer not to use Mil Radios as they're a pain in the a** and I can't really be bothered with hassle of applying for radio licences. We defo need two separate Radio Nets though. A section and Battle Group net. We've been approached by an investor if we need anything so purchasing good equipment shouldn't be an issue!

 

[jcheeseright]

like you said, mil radios are a pain in the hoop, too much specialised kit to program and charge them. I'm 99% sure you could buy a bunch of chinese puxing or baofeng radios and program them to work on non-PMR446 frequencies. Obviously you'd need a license for that, but it'd mean you'd be able to get a source of cheap (ish) reliable lightweight radios that'll work on a discreet frequency without much fuss, as a bonus they'll also work with standard PTTs so anyone with a headset that ends in a TP120 plug should be able to use them without too big a faff.

 

[Baz JJ]

I think comms are a must in a sim but only if people use them properly.

The more reality you can inject into the event, the better it is. Its not just about what facilities are provided by the organiser and a little attention to detail can go a long way.

One milsim organiser in the states apparently simmed the smell of gangrene. Don't ask..

Keep the technology simple, but you can always throw a few curved balls like the use of field telephones for example or a mocked up satellite link.

 

[WAH64_Man]

Without a good Comms plan then the whole Sim would fall apart before it even got started. We're currently looking into a few different options for radios. I'm not going to start trying to reprogram radios but we will certainly look at different options and I f I need to buy a radio licence then I'll do it. Red & Blue Forces will all be on different Fx with separate Battle Group, TAC, and Fires nets. We're looking at injecting as much realism into it as possible. What we'd quite like to do at EndEx is spend about 30mins with everyone in ine room and do a hot washup! What did people like, what didn't they, what would they do again, what would they change etc, this way we can keep building on every event we host.

 

[WAH64_Man]

Another thing we're thinking of doing to add realism and I'm not sure if people would be interested in doing this, but would people be willing to pay a bit more for entry if they didn't have to buy any Pyro or Ammo etc? We'd resupply when requests came in as if it were real. That way people would have to watch their ammo levels until re supplied. Just an idea, what's everyone's thoughts?

 

[Russe11]

Most people would be happy with that. There are a few who may want specific weights of ammo (especially snipers etc). Most Milsims put a limit on ammo carried and only allow reloading in a safe zone. You could probably allow each player to put a certain quantity of ammo in a plastic bag with their name on it which then goes into an ammo box, that way everyone gets to use the ammo they have adjusted their gun to use. If it's intercepted by the enemy it gets taken back to the safe zone.

 

[WAH64_Man]

I don't think it would ever get intercepted as it would be re supplied forward by the exercise directing staff. That's good to know though. We could accept requests for all Ammo and Grenades, Pyro etc. why only reload in a safe zone?? It would be good to reload under fire in certain scenarios

 

[WAH64_Man]

Well the company will be registered in a few hours and then it's all systems go. We've then got to open the bank account and take out the Insurance. The website and all the Social media sites are under construction and we're aiming for our first event end of May time! We're off to the Airsoft Show this weekend to discuss a few options with some companies. Thing's a re developing well now. We will hopefully start advertising properly in a couple of weeks when we launch the website etc, and are hoping to touch base with Airsoft International Mag this weekend to discuss placing an advert in the magazine for the next few issues.

 

[Baz JJ]

Thats great..

Good luck and keep us informed about the wheres and whens so we can circulate it to milsim fans.

 

[WAH64_Man]

Thats great..

Good luck and keep us informed about the wheres and whens so we can circulate it to milsim fans.

We will do for defo Baz! I've just PM'd you. Thanks for the offer of spreading the word too, advertising is going to be key for this. We've a lot riding on the success of the first event