I’m preparing for what is probably my last big mil sim of the year which will be held yet again at the Picton complex on July 16-17. It’s one of the smallest command positions I’ve held in the last few years at 16 people but we’ll be riding on a helicopter and Chris has entrusted me to keep everyone safe. 🙂 It’s alright we may be a small group but we have a ton of experience and technology on our side us so I’m sure we’ll do well. I will liaison with the other command elements and coordinate our attack accordingly but we certainly have our work cut out for us as there will be two other teams vying for the same objectives which outnumber us by quite a bit.

It’s going to be interesting and I look forward to the challenge! 😀

Yesterday Chris hosted an overnight skirmish at the Picton complex (yes again) and I had an absolute blast. I haven’t had a chance to shoot like I did last night in quite some time as I’ve been in command positions for the last few outdoor games. The crowd was good, there were quite a few night novice players but they handled themselves pretty well and I was quite impressed with the overall light discipline. LOL I did end up bossing people around a bit though especially when I was playing with the newbs and I’m glad that they were willing to listen. Hopefully they also learnt how to attack buildings and rooms. 🙂

Eddy brought his camera and took a few pictures, I wish I had mine with me but then again I was too busy playing and wouldn’t have taken pictures myself…

The picture of me in a corner was in game, lol I wasn’t expecting it so Eddy startled me when he took it. The AN/PVS-14 worked great and I could see almost everything indoor and out, there were a few spots in the building where there is no natural light but that’s alright that’s where my IR Surefire comes in right. 😉 I think Mario and I also convinced Stephen into getting a NVD, the advantage they give you at night is simply unfair and he wants to be with us cool kids. 😉

Over the weekend I attended Chris’ zombie game at the Picton facility and it was a lot of fun. There were a few hiccups but that’s to be expected, Chris and company worked very hard to put on a first class event and overall I would say they succeeded. To help organize the human faction, Chris had asked me a couple of weeks ago to take control of the ~130 players who signed up and man was that a challenge. Initially I didn’t want to do it because frankly I just wanted to play but I also know that the game would fall apart quickly if there wasn’t a strong command presence. I broke down the various teams into platoons with individual sections (as best I could) and tried to organize everyone but to my surprise a few of the groups did not want any leadership, they wanted to “do their own thing”.

Anyway as the game progressed and the players died to rise as zombies, the squads started to fall apart (as expected) and management became utter chaos. That’s alright, my protection detail kept me safe for most of the game and I only got myself zombified by being a bit too aggressive. The AN/PVS-14 performed flawlessly and it was a lot of fun to stalk the human players with NV. 😉 Hey I was turned with the thing on, it’s fair game haha.

Here are a few pictures that Jorai snapped, it was his first night event and he says he had fun so that’s a positive. 🙂

Zombies 2011 by qlong

A video from by QLong, heh the zombies really played it up as you can see. 😉

I’m looking forward to this weekend’s game, woo I can actually shoot my gun at others instead of just telling people what to do.

So over the Victoria day weekend the team and I played the Operation Werewolf in Muskoka, which was actually a game that we’ve been planning for since November. Brian was given command of a company strength group of players and recruited many of the GHOSTS to help him run the JOTF-SOG side of things. Myself I was put in charge of the Task Force Battle Group (which was platoon size) and probably had the hardest job as the players I was assigned were a mix of skirmishers/mil sim players who did not know each other. The other groups AFO and QRF were made of teams and individuals whom play together on a regular basis.

To prepare for this game, JOTF-SOG held regular get togethers and training sessions to help hone our skills and prepare for the 24 hour op. In fact I did blog about some of the training sessions (1, 2 and 3) however the posts were set to private to maintain operation security. 😉 Overall I think there were 6-7 training sessions in total though I was not able to participate in all of them. Anyway the training was well worth it and by the time we took the field on Saturday afternoon we were all working together quite well.

After AFO scouted an area TFBG was given the order to set up and maintain security of the FOB. After we moved our supplies into the base the TFBG members dug fox holes and held the perimeter while AFO went to scout the enemy location. Between getting on the field and the morning assault there was no activity for my men and frankly at the time I was a bit disappointed. After talking to Brian and the host, I understand what they were trying to do though so it’s not so bad. Also I was very proud that TFBG held the perimeter the whole night without bitching about doing nothing, good job guys. The AN/PVS-14 was a lot of fun to play with and my god the stars were beautiful!!!

Anyway come morning AFO and TFBG assaulted the enemy town to rescue the hostages while QRF moved to a Northerly spot to provide cover/distraction fire. We were able to rescue the hostages but they were all wounded during the extraction. LOL we caught the Op-For completely by surprise and we literally steamrolled through their camp, many of them were in their tents sleeping. 😉

The enemy were suppose to mount an attack at our FOB to try and retake the hostages but apparently game control told us they were so demoralized that many of them were going to call the game quits. Apparently their command structure was not well organized and didn’t really know how to handle the situation. Game control then made part of the QRF force switch sides but not before they snatched Brian from our camp. We were kind of expecting something like that to happen but when it did I was a bit worried… We had some strong leaders but no one really stepped up so I took control of the company. Our first priority was to extract the HVPs (it would win us the game) so we executed that and overall it went very well, it was hectic but we got it done.

After the HVPs were extracted we regrouped at the FOB, hydrated and decided to launch an attack at the enemy base. Since the radio was being jammed, I would have my hands full trying to coordinate such a large attack so I left my rifle at base and was armed only with a pistol. JOTF-SOG advanced quite aggressively and took the fight to the enemy and we were able to capture much of their base on the first wave. During our second wave of attack, we were able to rescue Brian and bring him back to the FOB, there I then ordered TFBG back to their defensive positions as I was sure an attack on our FOB was imminent. We were able to repel the Op-For attacks and when it got quiet at around 1 PM the game was called. In all Operation Werewolf only lasted about 22 hours, shorter than I expected as I planned to play well into Saturday night but it was fun none the less. 🙂

Highlight of the game

When we were attacking the enemy base to try and rescue Brian, Jim was able to get around my guys and tried to take me hostage. I saw him but his gun was on me and my pistol was holstered, he walked up to me put his gun on my neck and told me I was captured, but I told him screw that and looked over at a JOTF-SOG member and told him to shoot Jim. For some reason he wouldn’t comply so I took matters into my own hands… 😉

I turned my body so the gun was no longer pointing at me and grabbed Jim’s wrist with my right hand, the gun with the left and proceeded to wrestle with him. As we were falling to the ground, I was able to disarm my opponent and by the time I hit the ground I was in control of the weapon and shot Jim in the hip. It was totally awesome and the best part was Tom (who was a bit farther away) saw it all! LOL generally people are not suppose to touch other people or their stuff but I know Jim well and he’s a good sport, we shared a laugh about it after the game.

Great game and I’m looking forward to the next one! I didn’t take any pictures but will post some when they are available from the other players.

Sorry about the lack of updates, it’s been busy at work and by the time I get home I’m just tired and don’t feel like blogging. Things are well with me and this weekend I’ll be going to Muskoka to play a long mil sim which will last more than 24 hours. 🙂 Maggie and Brandon are well too, I have a lot of cute pictures of the little guy which I will post later in the weekend when I come back.

I’m use to leading but before games like this I always get the jitters and I hope that I do well.

I also hope that the rain stays away, or at least to a minimum. 😉

A few weeks ago I swapped a spare CQBR outer barrel I had for a M16 length barrel and now I have three different uppers for my Systema PTWs, CQBR, M4 & M16 length. 🙂

I don’t know how much I’ll use the M16 upper as it’s pretty darn heavy but I’m happy I have it as it really does complete the collection. 😀 The M16 RAS is repro, it’s a pretty decent copy but I’m starting to have an itch to replace it with a real KAC M5 RAS. We’ll see I guess, maybe later when I have more cap in my allowance.

After hearing from Henry & Mario about the limitations of their NV units at the previous terminator game, I decided to try and find myself a “cheap” IR illuminator. You need an illuminator when indoors or when there is no light to amplify and using a regular flashlight defeats the purpose of night vision. As luck would have it, someone on Airsoft Canada was selling a real Surefire M951XM07 weapon light with IR cap for only $110 so I snapped it up right away.

Unfortunately it seems like the seller was in some financial difficulties and couldn’t ship the light out for almost two weeks but whatever I got my light and in time for Muskoka next weekend. 🙂

There’s a very faint red glow visible if you look at the cap head on (head on only, from the side you can’t see it and it is not visible from more than 10′) and at home anyway it does a great job at illuminating an area. This is an older light but it still has a decent sized “spot” light capability though it’s not as sharp as my other real Surefire/Streamlight or even my repro Surefire M951 flashlights. Still for the money I can’t really complain and it’s going to get a good workout next week for sure! With this new flashlight and the AN/PVS-14, I’ll be able to see them but they won’t be able to see me… The GHOSTS will own the night! 😀

So yesterday I held the last field training session for the Task Force Battle Group for the large Muskoka mil sim later in May and I am quite happy with how things went. Tings started with the guys being tentative with everything but as the day progressed you could see the confidence level build. I think the people who attended learnt that aggressiveness is vital, when you run into an ambush you have to push past the kill zone, if not and you try to fight from that area you’re pretty much as good as dead. Another key point to take away from yesterday’s training session for the guys is to communicate with each other. The individual fireteams know what they’re doing but coordination between fireteams isn’t up to where I’d like.

I wish I ran a few more of these training sessions, my platoon is full of unknowns whom do not regularly play with each other but that’s how the cards are played sometimes. I have no doubt though that my team will be able to accomplish any task I receive from command. 🙂

Op Sec from the other team has been poor and intel indicates that they’re really a bunch of skirmishers and I think they’ll fade as the game goes on.

On Friday I picked up Stephen’s old Systema CQBR PTW MAX, he got rid of it because it has been giving him some grief on the field, and it was a good opportunity for me to get a backup for my original PTW. 🙂 LOL even though it’s about 4 years old it’s still in excellent shape and is probably in better external cosmetic condition than my PTW but hey I’m not easy on my stuff.

Yeah it looks pretty sweet, in the second picture I put my spare M4 upper on the new (old) PTW. I’ve seen the trigger lock issue that Stephen experienced on the field but so far I haven’t been able to replicate the problem at home and over the weekend I must have fired between 300-400 shots through the gun. I wonder if it helps I’m using a 11.1V lipo vs him with a 9.6V NiCD/NiMH… Oh well I guess I need to test the gun in an in game situation so I can’t wait to play! After I figure out the issue I’ll waterproof the boards then I’ll be set.

Interesting, even though my gun and Stephen’s PTW are both 2007 models (his is factory though, mine was SCK) his trigger is faster. I guess if I can get this gun up 100%, I’ll make this my go to gun and relegate my original PTW to backup status. LOL before retiring this one Stephen picked up a new CQBR PTW MAX so he’s happy too. Oh and with Jason picking up Brayden’s second PTW everyone so is happy! 😀 Hmm I think there are like 9 of them on the team now.

Well the final pieces of gear for the AN/PVS-14 has trickled in and I just received the J arm and sacrificial lens. 🙂 Yeah I know the Canadian political English leaders debate just finished and I’m talking about my “stupid” airsoft stuff, I’ll hit that topic tomorrow. 😉 Now I can weapon or helmet mount the night vision optic depending on my needs. I’m thinking about getting the LaRue QD PVS-14 weapon mount as that would let me keep both weapon and J arm installed onto the unit at the same time but for now what I have will do.

Hmm so let’s see Chris, Brayden, Henry, Brian, Mario and myself have gen 3 NV and Chris, Brian and now Brayden also have real PEQ-15s! Oh god the GHOSTS will own the night!