I went Stirling weekend before last and really enjoyed it but a lot of it was a bit of an eye opener; especially compared with skirmishes.
I would probably recommend a more normal game weekend before trying a combat mission to be honest because even the normal weekends are pretty intense and involves far more complex instructions, rules and gameplay compared to skirmishes.
For instance, at one point I stood in a building with rest of my squad to hold it for about an hour without even seeing an opposition player while the other squads on our side attacked other objectives.
I am not sure exactly what goes on in the combat missions but the event I went to you had to have radios, follow orders of the HQ squad (if you wanted a chance to be able to successfully take objectives) as the HQ co-ordinate everyone. With so many people it would be chaos without this co-ordination. I think with the combat missions you have to observe checkpoints and gather actual intel like number of opposition, guard duty routines etc to formulate a plan of attack. Basically do all the unseen parts before an attack. Not for everyone and can often sound better than what you might find it or you might enjoy it more than skirmishes! I know lots of people don’t skirmish again and stick with these types of events instead!
You dont need to be ‘pro’ to play at these events - just know what objectives you should be on, stick to the general orders issued and basically don’t act like a div who thinks he knows everything and you’ll be fine. Not sure how many people you play with/would go with but if there were approx 6-10 of you, you can really work as a team and approach things how you like just at the right time as prescribed by HQ.
As said I’d perhaps do a more normal Stirling event first due to it being more about taking and holding objectives throughout 12 hours+, then try a combat mission which is more complex. The organisers are very good, the marshalling top class, excellent facilities and is normally well subscribed - despite being early March and snowing there was about 120 people there when I went.
I get the the general impression that Stirling isn’t particularly well liked on this forum but could be wrong. Some people are scared of the unknown and poo poo stuff without really knowing while others may have being in the wrong and had history yet won’t admit their own actions/faults.
The events aren't for everyone- some will love and some will hate and I found myself enjoying it but for reasons that I couldn’t predict and parts I thought I’d love I found weren’t like I imagined - best thing is to book and find out yourself!
Hope this lofty reply helps despite the waffle!!!
