So over the weekend the guys, Jorai, Mike and I played Chris’ Operation Rhino mil sim held at the Craig Complex in Picton Ontario. There were three teams Insurgents, Russian & US forces and I was part of the Airborne group on the US side. The game started at ~10AM however the US team was not allowed in till about 1PM so it was just the insurgents and Russians slugging it out for a few hours. US Airborne was inserted by helicopter to recce the situation and well we got slaughtered as both teams were thoroughly entrenched in defensive positions. During our next and subsequent insertions we chose rooftop landings because well it’s cool. 😉 To be honest we were not very combat effective and I kept getting my squad killed so we could reinsert over and over again, I’m simply at a loss for words how much fun it was to ride in a helicopter with my full airsoft kit on.

After the helicopter left at around 7:30PM we were integrated into the US ground forces and then the mil simmer in me came out. I particularly enjoyed screwing around with the Russians, at 10PM Temir, Oleg and Alister came to our camp to see what was going on because we were suppose to launch a coordinated attack on the insurgent team but instead we took them into custody. My orders were then to go into the Russian controlled building and wreak havoc and that’s exactly what was done. 😉 I bluffed my team’s way into their strong hold by faking radio transmissions from command telling me to go into their building and onto the upper floors. By the time the Russian players found out, we were on the 3rd floor and for some reason instead of taking us out in the hallways, they stuck us in an easily defensible position.

We held the Russian forces off for about an hour and a half, during that time when the fighting died down I told my enemies about Brandon and actually sang them the ABCs (Brandon likes it so I figured I’d sing it for them too haha). The third floor has almost no light but with my PVS-14 seeing was not a problem, lol I particularly enjoyed shooting the Russians as they tried to sneak around in the hall. I also killed Temir twice, both times I let him know who did it too. 😀 Anyway with my team whittled down from ~12 shooters to 3, they stormed the position with about 15 players and finished us off. That’s alright though, my mission was to give them a hard time and I did.

Airborne took part in the snatch and grab of a HVT and Jeremy played the part of an uncooperative hostile well. In fact he gave us so much resistance that I told the guys we’ll have to carry him to our CP so two guys grabbed his arms, I grabbed his left leg and someone grabbed his right and we ran him the last 100 or so meters, god damn that was really difficult!

After that I told Airborne to stand down and get some rest, Jorai and I went back to the car to sleep as there were just too many damn mosquitoes… When we restarted after the pause (there was an injury on the field), our job was to take and hold the middle building keeping the insurgent and Russian teams apart. By that time the mission came down though we were down to approximately 15-20 players and in the last hour I was told that my team had no more respawns. Ahh well that’s how it goes but all things considered I was surprised with how long we held out.

Here are a few pictures from the game that people posted up, I didn’t have time to take any as I was busy playing. 😉

Got to love how the new team patch stands out. 😉 The last two pictures were action shots, geez I didn’t even notice the camera man I wonder where he was hiding… And here’s some footage from my helmet camera.

Yeah the helicopter was absolutely awesome, I’m going to do it again next year for sure! Jorai kept up very well for his first real mil sim, I’m surprised he played so well. Sigh my last big game of the year but that’s ok, I played a lot of airsoft and am looking forward to spending some time with the family. 🙂

Operation Rhino takes place in Picton this weekend and man do I have a lot of stuff to prep. Bring on the game, I’m certainly ready let’s hope the boys under my command are as well. 🙂

Well Maggie’s parents computer is not working properly in China so I haven’t received pictures in a few days… In any case today I did receive my Ops-Core FAST Base Jump helmet and I have to say, it’s pretty damn swanky! I love the support at the back of the neck and I’m sure it’ll make using the PVS-14 much more comfortable compared to my Protec helmet. 🙂

That’s it, I ain’t buying any more airsoft stuff the rest of the year well minus any up keep expenses. I can’t wait to try it out at tomorrow night’s training session.

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. 😉