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Post by Tank on Aug 18, 2014 18:45:34 GMT -5
I had a lot of fun, but it helps that our squad A2-4 is a bunch of nut jobs and can have fun just about anywhere due to entertaining ourselves with our own brand of stupid. ;D
Personally, I appreciated the the simple ruleset and how there wasn't really any deviations. The AO was definitely very cool. I really liked that it was spread out, but yet there was a lot of times that a rifle with range could still pick people off building to building. This was multiplied if you were in a building that was taller than most. I would have no issue doing another 24 hour game, with a few changes.
1) I discovered sleeping on cement REALLY chills you to the bone! I would come better prepared to prevent that next time.
2) There isn't really any reason to run every squad constant. If our CO actually did have squad's have roughly 1 hour of down time, that would go a long ways to having a strong force for the long haul. When I say down time, I mean a complete break from the action, not sleeping in a building that could be breached at any moment. I can see how it is realistic, but it wasn't necessary, and I feel that the CO would have benefited from talking advantage of that fact.
3) I don't know about EVRY other squad, but our squad never was allowed to participate in a frago. This was quite disappointing, and we feel as though we were robbed of the opportunity and under utilized.
4) At least some of our squad felt that our CO was way too cautious, and should have taken more chances and pushed harder on taking buildings. We didn't talk about this as a full squad, that's why I say at least some of our squad. There were several opportunities where we could have pushed our territory further if he had just trusted in his troops' ability to get the job done. Maybe other squads didn't have this experience, but that was certainty ours.
5) Radio assignments. Are you kidding me?! Again there was disorganization involving radios. Why is it that only the RAGE games have any sort of organization involving radio assignments? The CO assigned a frequencies to communicate with his SL's, then when we asked about individual squad freqs we were told "figure it out". The minimal amount of frequency assignment he did give, wasn't done until Friday. So there wasn't any opportunity to print out anything to keep on us. If we could have communicated between squads, we could have warned other squads, several times, about upcoming attacks. Or communicated with a nearby squad and organized raiding other buildings.
6) Being told that we had no option of leaving a transport truck for a couple minutes to get supplies, or god forbid, take a piss, was bullshit. I can promis this will never happen again. There were a few times where people were nearly told to go fuck themselves, but out of some sense of respect, or maybe just trying to not be the cause of a heated argument I kept quiet. But like I said I will bring it up ahead of time with the CO, XO, and driver, should we do round 2, cause I won't stand for that shit again.
My only real complaint about the hosts would be the super long briefing, and equally as long debrief, when people have been up for over 24 hours and run ragged.
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Post by Gunslinger on Aug 18, 2014 19:34:32 GMT -5
TOOOOO many bad drops. that truck driver sucked flat out...
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Luther
New Member
You keep knocking on the devil's door long enough and sooner or later someone's gonna answer you.
Posts: 30
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Post by Luther on Aug 18, 2014 19:59:23 GMT -5
I personally had a blast. The AO, at least to me, was like a video game and very surreal. There was enough distance between buildings to make run doable but enough space to have killing fields as well. The music and battle sounds were deafing inside building thatthe fucking propane cannon fuck made me just a lot even after 10 hours of them going off.
Mosin and Tank hit on a lot of points, both good and bad. I too was disappointed the "MRE" was not a real MRE.That the the squad I was in had way too much drama and bullshit it was a bummer at times, but I didnt let it keep me from my fun. I hit my wall at about 1am, it wasn't I was tired, my glasses kept fogging so bad I could not see, and I missed the FRAGO.
I would go back to a Blacksheep event in a heartbeat. Even with the negative points, because there will never be a perfect event, I honestly can say that if your on the fence about going, do go. It was worth every penny, at least to me, and do not have any regrets about going, even tho I am so sore i could barely walk this morning. It was the most fun I have had in a long time.
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Post by X on Aug 18, 2014 20:11:37 GMT -5
TOOOOO many bad drops. that truck driver sucked flat out... I talked to him a bit and he was a nice guy, but yeah he needs to work on that whole driving thing.
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Prophet501
New Member
Hey bro, it's Milsim!!!
Posts: 113
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Post by Prophet501 on Aug 18, 2014 20:18:20 GMT -5
It's like a loop of comments but here we go...
I was on Alpha 2-4, and it was a blast running with Impulse, X, Coldwave, Tank, Gunslinger, Shrike, Comax, T6, and the rest of the gang. I expected to be impatiently talked to like a n00b given that it was my first big event, but you guys and everyone else I ended up alongside on the field were great, which shows what an awesome community we have. After Deathdealer went for the hotel, a few of us were contemplating going in after him when a truck full of SK pulled up and we just said "oh now it's on". On like the 3rd floor I remember being next to Pagan who gave me a look like "who the fuck are you?" and proceeded to clear a hallway with me. It was great doing the bbwarz with you gents.
There's way too many other good things about this event to go into detail, from feeling arty impacts while resupplying, to laughing it up when Coldwave deployed the uber-1337oper8r "Blacksheep prone" complete with Costa grip, or Shrike getting on a guys shoulders to put fire on a window. Just an average A2-4 firefight.
There weren't too many things I can complain about except shitty drop offs, especially when we tried to support the FRAGO at the airfield. Some guy may or may not have had thermal and we got mowed down three steps out of the truck. Fuck that. This was briefly touched on, but whoever the guy was who flipped shit during the first firefight of the game, your own squad was telling you to calm down. It's a game dude. Organization was an issue as well. You would has thought the CO and XO's would have decided frequencies for each squad at the SL briefing after the Major's shpeal instead of having us "figure it out". I also would have liked to hear the sweet, badass sound of A10s flying over, as well as smashing the propane gun next to the church. I'm trying to sleep dammit!
All in all, this was one hell of an airsoft game, and it was the best game I've ever played. Definitely would go again.
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Post by Legionnaire on Aug 18, 2014 20:50:39 GMT -5
One thing I was very grateful for was our CO's (Eagledriver's) radio programming. He had programming capabilities for numerous different types of radios and was able to program them in a matter of seconds. My Baofeng now says "Grayling" on the screen when it is turned on and all of the various channels say PL 1, Sqd 1, CMD 1, etc etc. Straight wizardry I tell ya. Gunny, it was the XO. I believe he had a some sort of vest on and a helmet. As far as I could tell, he was definitely in play. He was atop of the hotel. I personally had no problem with Deathdealer taking us all out on the Hotel. I was just frustrated with the fact that command didn't relay that we were the only ones there. Had we of known, you better bet ya butt we wouldn't have been caught and shot like fish in a barrel .
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Post by Mosin on Aug 18, 2014 22:32:47 GMT -5
The XO was running with us mostly the entire day, I think he was just trying to enjoy a day of being a trigger puller and not so much a guy on a radio. I for sure dollars sniped the Tan XO (taller skinny one that had a grey goatee) at least three separate occasions. Every time he just looked in the direction and gave a "What the hell?" signal with his arms and carried on.
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Post by X on Aug 18, 2014 22:39:09 GMT -5
Oh Hai guiz, Get your free Coldwave calendar here: So hot!
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Krutch
New Member
To all those against us, good luck.
Posts: 499
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Post by Krutch on Aug 18, 2014 22:51:39 GMT -5
I like the blender bottle with bb's in it. X loves airsoft so much he eats bb's after a workout.
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Post by X on Aug 18, 2014 23:02:01 GMT -5
I tell the dude at the beginning of this video that I'll go low and he will go high. I'm not sure, but it looks like he was still pissed after I bitched at him for his blue on blue incident so he didn't back me up. Oh well... Second part I crawled into the attic of the apartments and got lit up on full auto, but the guy was very generous and called himself out for breaking the rules. I wanted to post your good dead as a thank you. Thanks dude! Too bad Jason assumed I was still dead and so he shot me. It's OK I forgive you Tank.
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Post by Devil on Aug 18, 2014 23:03:30 GMT -5
Pros: -AO was perfect in size and was located in MICHIGAN -Sportsmanship -Nightplay -Fucking shit up with SK 2-1 all weekend as well as RAGE 2-2 during the frago -Taishi winning a gun -Pea grenades
Cons: -Giant game of capture the flag
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Post by Tank on Aug 18, 2014 23:19:36 GMT -5
Too bad Jason assumed I was still dead and so he shot me. It's OK I forgive you Tank. No, you don't understand! I knew you were dead because I heard you say, 'hit'! ...Oh wait, that's what you just said, he he he. Still, sorry man, that did suck. :/
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Outlaw
New Member
SK 32
Posts: 106
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Post by Outlaw on Aug 18, 2014 23:59:51 GMT -5
Where to start...
Some things I liked. -Loved the AO, great potential for fluidity inside and outside as far as fighting goes. -Loved playing this AO with both Alpha and Bravo guys, they were esentially what made this worth the dollars to attend.
Some things I extremely disliked (dare I say even hated). -The 2+ hour briefing at 2100hrs on friday was ridiculous, I have had real world mission briefings overseas take half as long and provide 100% more useful information. -The infil/exfil via moving vans was about useless 99% of the time. The drivers were unsafe in the area of speed and braking with load on poor roads, and completely unaware of conditions in the rear of their vehicle (overweight).I watched a Tan player fall out of the back at the CACTF while I was reloading! And the driver kept driving!!! Also drop zones were tactically unsound all of the time, and playing a "this simulates a hot DZ" did not do it for me so we walked out a few times because it was safer and faster. - Green CO, how can I keep this civilized... How dare you tell me I cannot offload a vehicle to reload and refill my water because your sending us back out? Need ammo and water to fight right? That takes a few minutes its airsoft my man. We payed to play, and sending a combat ineffective squad back in is the dumbest thing you can do. From that point onwards which was about 1530 I lost total confidence in most every order that you issued. Your overall tactical plan was flawed from the get go. When you lay seige to a city do you do it from the middle outward? Hell no! You surround the city and work inward and hold whats important and vital to your resupply, support, and continued security. You failed to use all of your resources, You had 20 mortars, how many were used? I know you denied us several or simply ignored our request for fire support in the wee hours of the morning when trying to hold onto your entire western flank, buildings 11, 24, 25 with 12 people, thank god for team Rage leaving their post and coming to assist at one point and clearing the bottom floor of an occupied building 25 (thank you Mosin and crew). - I was bored and did a lot of sitting around doing nothing for hours. I understand this is a milsim type game but for gods sake trust your SL's who are on the ground to do what needs to be done. Once I ignored your orders I had a blast! And guess what... We captured and held way more buildings because nearly all of the flags up were left unoccupied or lightly defended.
Well I know I have much more good and bad to add but most of it has been covered by others the biggest being the MRE issue. $25 meal plan for what was clearly posted on your site as an MRE, was a can of ravioli with no pull top, a mcdonalds breakfast, and yet another pull topless can of ravioli? And I guess so much for every player being issued a gallon of water... Your event seemed somewhat disorganized (I can understand this as it was a pathfinder event) and many have told me this was not the case at other events you have hosted. Your staff nearly shot me in the face with their roman candle-esc flares, not once but twice as I overlooked the hotel roof ( I am not exagerating this one bit and many team mates and another squad were there to witness this) I shouted down on the to tell the official this as the second whizzed by my face on the north side of 18. Projectiles of this sort need to be pointed away from an occupied building not towards it, I thought the first rule was Safety? I personally will not attend another Blacksheep pathfinder event due to these issues, I will also not give up on the series as a whole based off one experience, and will not discourage others from doing so either, but I will share my honest experience with them, the choice is ultimately theirs. My name is Keenan France, I will not attempt to hide my opinions and experiences behind the anonymity of a forum, I do however thank you for a fun and familiar AO, and also a good time with my buds. Hope some of these issues get squared away next year.
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Impulse
New Member
Ayatollah Rock n' Rolla
And on the third day, God created the Remington bolt-action rifle.
Posts: 534
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Post by Impulse on Aug 19, 2014 0:07:30 GMT -5
A lot's been said so I'll keep this one brief.
The CACTF was even better than I anticipated and great to play on. It was very clean and exceptionally solid. It may have been a little too big for our player count, but I felt we covered it adequately. Definitely not too much 'walls-of-bbs' going on.
The range controllers pissed me right off. The addition of music was way too laser tag for an event like this. The interior lighting was ridiculous at night as well. Turning lights on and off, whatever; but we could have been very safe with 1/4 of those lights on in the dark, and been able to see and fight out the windows instead of turning the buildings into impenetrable shells.
Sportsmanship was great, I had no serious issues at all.
My squad was AWESOME and I'd love to do it all over again with them. Vets and noobs, old and young, all with motivation to succeed and the ability to not take it too seriously. They endured injury, discomfort, and all sorts of homoerotic situations and STILL aren't complaining.
My favorite bit may have been around 1-2AM, when my squad was tasked to the church and running small raids on the residential area above. We had eight at the time, four support, four assault, hitting and fading their various positions from various directions and slipping back to the church to regroup. There were a LOT of red dead lights up there for a while, Bravo definitely had more than one squad stuck in that area, and none of them were able to interfere with our FRAGO. Too bad building 28 was designed in such a way that it is unbreachable without human wave tactics.
At one point during that session my assault group cleared around the back of building 28 from the right side (outside the perimeter wall). We had hard contact at a fence in the backyard of building 26, a decent firefight broke out including pea grenades (bravo even had rigged one to trigger when the only gate in that fence was opened - too bad seven second fuses leave plenty of time to realize what happened and get well away). Meanwhile my support team was still engaging the defenders at the front of the building. I crept along the southwest face of 26 to get to a lighted area and indicate where I am to the support team, and step on someone at the corner of the building. Poor guy had no idea of what had been going on within 15m behind him, and could not believe that I was Alpha. And incidentally, I could not believe that he had kept holding that corner position in all the chaos.
I also fragged a medic while he was patching up at least three other guys. Nighttime is fun.
My chief complaints are the food - packaged meals for all three, and an MRE that did not come anywhere near my caloric expectations. Many brought enough snacks to last them a week - the only food I brought out besides that bagged dinner and the granola bars and meat sticks from lunches was a single MRE spaghetti entree and a packet of maple syrup from breakfast. By the way, did you know that it is entirely possible to eat cold spaghetti from a pouch without any silverware? Mmm.
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Post by blackhawkranger on Aug 19, 2014 0:47:07 GMT -5
Wow thanks for all the kind words guys The weekend was good but there's room for improvement. Obviously my previous milsim experiences are different to what you guys get over here so maybe I'll be able to give a slightly different perspective on things (or more likely I'll chat bollocks for a while). The MRE situation - I'm not used to any sort of meal being provided so as I wasn't expecting it and I saw it as a nice bonus more than anything. Granted it was a poor show for an MRE, I mean hell our Squad Leader got proper MRE's for $5 a piece so bulk buying would of cost them barely anything given the contacts Blacksheep must have. Clean up-gate - Firstly I totally understand the site has to be cleaned. Secondly I asked if this was normal practice and our XO told me this was the first time it had ever happened and it was only happening because Grayling was so new the Military had told them it MUST be cleaned afterwards. However! I don't go to McDonald's and have to wash up after myself at the end of the day Airsoft/Paintball/Restaurant/whatever I'm a paying customer and don't expect to have to sweep the AO afterwards, my trash and bunk area yes but sweeping? Not a chance. Yes a cleanup was required, however that's the same at every site in the UK but the game organiser pays for a clean up crew and lets be honest Blacksheep is a business and I've no doubt turn a profit therefore can afford to do the same without extra cost to the players. Giant game of capture the flag? Yea unfortunately it was :/ a very good game of capture the flag but I'd be hard pushed to give the title "milsim" based on the objectives we had. The long brief in my opinion was a good thing as every aspect was covered and came direct from the man himself so no BS excuses or "I didn't know afterwards". It was the day before at a time that still allowed plenty of sleep and lets be honest if we weren't sat there for 2-3 hours we'd only of been in our bunks fingering our gear or complaining we were bored! Smoke in buildings was awesome, sorry guys but i believe it was perfectly manageable if you kept a cool head and moved methodically. Yes it was a bit of a shock at first but that's the idea and there was a little bit of headless chicken routine going on at first which probably made it seem worse than it was. Sound effects/noise again good and added atmosphere, yes it got annoying but that's what it's there for! Also it did cover the sound of some movement which helped give the drop on people I have nothing else to say. Command and Strategy I could go on for hours debating with myself from both sides... One side goes - Yes they needed to be more proactive and trust SL judgement calls and allow them freedom to capture extra points. The other - orders come from above and are followed, suggestions can be given but if they say no tough beans you sit tight. Both are right but unfortunately you can't help that, if you sign up for the milsim experience then you sign up to follow those orders good or bad. Not everyone wants to do that and I totally understand but Meh, either way I'm good as the score's were really close so either both CO's were good or both CO's were bad! Debrief - WHAT THE ACTUAL ****!!! The wait between cleaning finish and Debrief start was absolutely shocking. I was awake for 41 hours by the time I got into bed and that could of been reduced by serval hours had they pulled their fingers out, and it would of been longer if a nice gentlemen hadn't opened the barracks for us! At the end of the day... it gets dark No seriously what makes a good milsim isnt the rations, sleeping arrangements or even objectives it's the people you play with and against and I had a great time! Would I go back? Definitely! But as I said at the start there's room for improvement and I'll be passing on constructive feedback to Blacksheep with the aim of improving future games. Here's a taste of UK milsim just so you know what we do vimeo.com/95442131(both the same video I think but on my phone so can't watch the Youtube link) www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln3pLNwwHJM
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