Op.Tailspin 25-26 April Kings Langley Herts

[Baz JJ]

 

OKTO EIGHT MILSIM proudly presents Operation TAILSPIN

Mission

This will be a weekend game consisting of two 8hr COMBAT OPERATIONS.

No.2 game in the Moldistan series (Modern warfare setting in former soviet state - ideal for lovers of cold war and modern European conflict era's)

LOCATION

KINGS LANGLEY, Herts (Just off J20 M25)

120 acres of mixed woodland with camps, vehicles, extensive props. Fully immersive milsim.

DATE

25 - 26 APRIL 2015

COST

£72 (£25 non refundable deposit required at time of booking) includes "Morphine" Autojet

No walk-on's - prebooking essential.

TIMINGS

STARTEX 0900 25th April

ENDEX 1700 26th April

FORCES - Total 5 places remaining

Moldistan Defence Force (MDF- Government Army): Number TBA

Uniform/Loadout Requirements: DPM or Flecktarn - full details on request

EQUIPMENT

You will need to bring all your own food and water and the means to cook with.

No Two Tone weapons - limited ammunition and low cap/mid cap use only.

Radios optional.

Free Overnight Camping

Please book online at: https://www.facebook...OktoEightMilsim

For further information please contact - [email protected] or call 07535507950

OKTO EIGHT ADMIN

[Baz JJ]

5 days to go. Players starting to pack their kit up or the Op.

[SeniorSpaz87]

Good luck to you all. If my exams didn't start the second I'd be there too... :'(

[Baz JJ]

Never mind - another in August

[SeniorSpaz87]

I may be in uni in the USA then...

[Baz JJ]

Vehicles - hoping to have the GMC army truck at the weekend to supplement the GAZ Russian jeep and the Ranger 4x4.

[Baz JJ]

Look forward to seeing all of you players later on.

Forecast is a bit wet on Sunday so pack your ponchos but at least we get a decent day to set up and for those camping over to be able to erect their tents.

 

Safe journeys, especially those of you coming in from further away.

[BrightCandle]

A bit wet? Its a thunderstorm.

[Baz JJ]

The Early Warning Radar Station (successfully neutralised by a special forces unit) and the MDF Research Facility.

 

 

 

[Baz JJ]

Wow what a game !

 

Plenty of surprises and curved balls along the way.

 

What would you do if you were on stag and a local Russian speaking farmer riding a tractor and trailer approached you ?

No big deal ?

 

but what about the bomb waistcoat he is wearing ?

 

The forecasted rain held off during game hours, people got over their hangovers from Friday evening and Operation Tailspin was one roller coaster of a ride - aptly named !

[Baz JJ]

Like this

 

[Baz JJ]

Well we were lucky with the weather. It didnt rain during either of the weekends 8 hour battles.

We had an SF team who attacked the main objective on the wrong day, with dire consequences which involved HAZ teams having to be flown in. They did achieve it in the end, with the successful extraction of the scientist and the capture of the liquid explosives.

 

We had one government squad defect to the rebels on the Sunday and the government troops managed to recover the aircraft black box from the crashed spyplane, even though the SF and rebels had found the ejection seat first and whisked the pilot to safety.

 

An action packed weekend with lots of planned and unplanned curved balls - the guys are still raving about it on the Facebook groups.

It was certainly an orgy of vehicles, firefights, camps (some that moved) and mission objectives, some planned and a few surprises.

 

Many of our players are new to milsim and although some struggled to get their heads round the difference, the others helped them to adjust.

 

One player commented that Okto Eight have ruined skirmish for him, for ever.

 

There are a few photos on the Okto Eight Milsim Facebook page.

[BrightCandle]

I can't say every moment of the game was awesome because it wasn't, the 3 hours on Sunday laying down awaiting an attack on the damp forest floor was certainly not the height of excitement or comfort! The meta game aspect for the government forces was pretty unrealistic as we were outnumber and the rebels had all the equipment. But I said it would ruin skirmishing for me and it will. I am definitely doing more milsim games and I will do okto again and this time I am trying to get a complete fireteam of friends together because they need to experience it as well.

 

This isn't just airsoft for the weekend its a experience that everyone that has an inkling that might enjoy has to do. There were some awesome firefights, some amazing role play, some of the scripted moments like farmer sasha and his chest bomb were wonderful. But really what sets the whole thing apart from a skirmish is the team work and comradery on display. I loved the game its warts and faults and all. I agree it has ruined skirmishing forever, because I'll never get that level of team work at a skirmish. The average skirmish doesn't have time to hurry up and wait.

 

The moment above with the farmer was pretty cool, we were about to head out on a raid of the MPF camp. He starts driving up and we had been talking to him in the camp earlier. We stop him about 30m out and he tells us the rebels have his children at gun point and says they strapped this explosive to his chest. First words out of the CO's mouth -"everyone 30m back". We all disappear into the woodland around the base, we find concealment and hard cover and prepare for an attack. Some of the guys search for a dicker but we don't find any. Eventually we send a few guys to try and disarm it, they fail and I know this the moment I hear behind me an explosion, turning briefly I see the guys with red rags walk away from the tractor and the farmer gone.

 

An unscripted moment is Sunday morning in briefing we were asked to make the battlefield more noisy. Men bleeding out don't call for a medic once they scream and scream until they die. MDF is defending the north west base and we get overrun. I have been hit, calling for a medic and am timing my 5 minute bleed out. I am face down in the ground so I can't see anything but I can hear the enemy foot steps moving up and around me. I keep screaming in pain and whimpering and an MPF player walks slowly up to me from behind, stops and says "Comrade would you like me to put you out of your misery" in his best russian accent. "Nooooo I don't want to die" I say and then click, single round into my water pack, so I go quiet give it 20 seconds and get my rag out and walk back. Technically there is no "out of misery" rule in the game or finishing them off on the ground. We don't walk over the injured and get to kill them fully (might be cool if we could though) but its one of those moments I'll cherish. I never knew who it was who gave me and the people around me that little moment but I enjoyed that more than I should have!

 

When those signups open in 2 weeks just sign up, its just plain worth doing, its awesome and I had a tonne of fun. Firefights with tactics and decent orders and the ability to plan your approach and attack however you want is just how it should be.

 

I have 2 wishs for the future game from what I experienced as I think the game was unbalanced against MDF and I didn't really get the feeling of powerful government force from what we were doing, more the rebels are winning this war and your all done for:

- MDF needs to be a bit more dominate on the battlefield and to me that means manpower. It can't be outnumbered if its defending assets and trying to do missions as well. To me it should feel like the rebels are having to set ambushes to do damage and wait for the moment when the MDF is weak and overstretched before they can realistically attack.

- Most of the assets at least initially really ought to be with MDF. Would be nice to be able to get a helicopter when we needed it so we could execute our plans as well as technicals and some materials to build defensive positions and FOBs where we wanted. An example is that given the option I would have lugged some hay down to the southern woodline on Saturday morning and built an MG nest down there. Some hay squares in the MSRF to build defences with would be a nice touch as the first order of business for government forces is to 'dig in', but we aren't allowed to dig holes so we need to be able to do that on the surface. I think it would add to the game quite a bit for that side.

 

Thanks for the game baz, it was amazing.

[BBrotherwood]

Rules idea for you Baz and which would likely change the nature in which the MPF operate. If they are a rebel force then they will likely be struggling to get hold of ammo, especially as their using such as wide range of weaponry finding consistent supplies of 7.62, 5.56,5.54 e.t.c would be very difficult. To replicate this half the ammo limit for the rebels down to 300. This would prove very problematic for them then if they get into a long drawn out battle with the MDF as in the end they will likely just run out of ammo and need to resupply. As a result they would need to rely more on sudden overwhelming raids on smaller forces rather then just rocking up at the MDF camp and keeping them pinned inside for several hours. It will then give the MDF more chance to move around and carry out objectives as the threat is less likely to be a full frontal attack which you need every man to hold it back.

 

 

In terms of the game though it was my first Milsim and it was a great experience. Although the action was no where near constant, the fire-fights that we had were so much better as the whole team were working together. Best example was a full team raid on the special forces. The amount of controlled firepower we were able to put down was scary and they were overrun in a matter of seconds. Another highlight was on the start of the Sunday we was tasked with escorting a convoy of vehicles. Every sections had a task and they carried it out. Result was a couple of brief engagements which saw the harassers driven off and the convoy barely had to slow down while this was going on and was never once in any danger. The teamwork definitely made it for me and C*** sections desertion just left us with 13 guys who wanted to work together.

[Baz JJ]

Glad you both enjoyed it.

 

Of course although I tend to be the mouthpiece for these games, we had a team of five guys working the strings behind the game, so its very much down to all their combined skills and they are Okto Eight.

 

Milsim is very different to skirmish and its not for everyone. Its not non-stop action but neither is real life combat.

 

I think the worst thing you can get is dyed in the wool skirmishers being pushed into doing milsim - they hate it. We try to make it very clear what you're getting. We don't want unhappy people at our games.

 

In terms of the MDF being outnumbered, I have received various comments from players about this. One player even said that he doesn't expect to spend £60 to be outnumbered in this way.

 

Without exception all these comments came from players who were either doing milsim for the first time or didn't play the previous op with us.

 

While we do our best to maintain customer satisfaction, these things do happen in real life.

As to the comment that the government should have the best equipment and troop numbers, in the story leading up to Op Tailspin, the research establishment was a forward operating base which was both isolated because of the nature of its work and low key. The government believed the camp to be a secret and only had a minimal guard covering it. Big assets draw big attention.

The SF destroyed the Early Warning Radar very early in the game and employed a jammer to cut off the government troops from calling for reinforcements.

Furthermore, four government soldiers, demoralised and beaten decided to defect to the rebels, again not uncommon in the real world.

This did leave the MDF with a smaller side on the Sunday afternoon. Calls for artillery barrages were responded to, but there is always a lag and the artillery were told to stand down as it was too late. A Moldistan helicopter did respond and made it to the MDF FOB where it was destroyed by rebel ground fire (the vehicle still has the burn marks on the paintwork). A QRF in DPM also made a mobile rocket attack on the village just before ENDEX to assist the MDF, but alas to no avail.

 

Its never nice to lose due to an imbalance in forces, but those players that played both ops will testify that its a long game played over a series rather than one weekend and there are peaks and troughs in the fortunes of all engaged forces.

At Op Skylight for example, the MDF were victorious - they protected the President from assassination twice and the rebels were forced to maintain a running, harrying battle of ambushes and sabotage.

At the end of this OP, The CO of the MDF, a two game veteran, just shrugged, shook hands and is now looking forward to the next game. You might lose the battle, but you can still win the war.

 

BB - your suggestion of reduced ammo limits for one side is a good one. We can use that if there are ever unequal sides on a level footing and WE WILL.

 

BC - in terms of hay bales, we supplied your camp with sandbags and the CO knew we could arrange a delivery of sand or aggregate to allow you to fill those and construct fortifications.

 

Just like real conflicts, there is a lot that goes on that the average squaddie doesn't see or know about. For example, did you know about the jammer or the fact that the rebels were using a satphone to coordinate with an unseen secret western intelligence agency ?

 

Things will be different again in the next game - different site, different challenges, new players and four forces instead of three. The only real continuity is the storyline. Newspaper articles are already springing up on the Okto Eight Facebook page. These stories are a direct result of the actions you fought in !!

 

Lastly, you both fought with the MDF. I received several comments from the directing staff concerning how disciplined and professional the MDF seemed, particularly in their convoy escort.

I was driving in that convoy and was impressed. One of your number is a pilot in real life and I was further impressed when he waved the helicopter in with the appropriate arm signals.

Just what you would expect from a regular army. In contrast, the rebels, although successful and large in number, fought like, well REBELS.

 

One word: AWESOME

[Baz JJ]

P.S ETA

 

Keep the faith guys !!!

 

Gretsky knows what he's about.

 

He hasn't survived two assasinations by being a dullard !!

 

He will see the MDF right - they saved his bacon..

[Curly68]

300 rounds doesn't bother me as I only have real caps and carry 6 mags, lol. That may lead to the rebels running out of ammo and running back to the fob to reload, then being chased by the mdf and gunned down before they have reloaded???

It's going to be a hard call and I wouldn't want to be an organiser. Whatever Baz, Josh and the other chooses to do it's going to rub someone up the wrong way. How the PMC are going to have an effect we will have to wait and see. The SOF changed sides a few times as normal, will the PMC be there as true neutrals or do the same, who knows?

[BBrotherwood]

If the PMCs are being payed by the yanks then there is a good chance they will be working with the SOF, unless Gretsky pays them more...

[Zak Da Mack]

I can't say every moment of the game was awesome because it wasn't, the 3 hours on Sunday laying down awaiting an attack on the damp forest floor was certainly not the height of excitement or comfort!

 

But you got to spend all that time with me. That should have given you all the excitement you need

 

will the PMC be there as true neutrals or do the same, who knows?

 

The PMC will work for whoever has the most money. I'm pretty sure Gretsky has alot more money than a bunch of unruly rebels living in the woods.

 

Anyway, I thought that the weekend was brilliant and that the organisers put all their effort into making it a great weekend for all. Hats off to them The props that were built were absolutely brilliant. Loved the team and meeting new people and I think that we did exceptionally well given the circumstances and Sunday certainly didn't dampen my spirits. Hopefully I can come down to the Eversley game, I will speak to my dad next week about taking me down there.