I think this event just proved what we have already found out before. Players need constant organiser attention - else they will wander off either through boredom or looking for a fight. Or they won't follow orders (or just forget the plot) or won't take the leap of faith or be bold enough.
At Autumn Mist the entire German side ground to a halt when opposed with four enemy with limited ammo and no resupply. Why? Because they didn't have an organiser with them.
At Jedburgh the Jeds were massed together and once an organiser was out of the picture were pretty clueless what to do for the best. Either trust squad leaders to do their job or do it for them.
We cannot criticise the players - they are what they are. They are just civvies playing for the weekend. They may well wear a military uniform but that's as far as it goes. What we can do is work with the players we have to get the most out of them.
This was an incredibly simple gameplan with the Germans reacting to what was presented to them. Germans were under manned really, we could have done with twice as many bods to cover all the tasks - probably for the best though as it meant stuff had to be left vacant or unguarded making allies tasks easier, and compensated for demoralisation. The Allies had all the graft. Given the size of the site and the terrain it was too much for the allies to handle, either physically or mentally so the lesson there is fairly simple - no need to alter the gameplan, just make for allowance for player's capabilities.
Rigid scripting on such a big site doesn't work - expecting to hit timings and follow a sequence of events is bound to fail. This isn't a problem as long as organisers are flexible and free-thinking. Scripting plots that don't contribute to the game should be stripped out. For example, Jeds first mission was to recover air drops so they can be ammo'd up and recover explosives. Great. Except Germans were forbidden to patrol that area so Jeds spent hours trying to find boxes with no enemy in sight and was basically a treasure hunt. It over ran and made Jeds late for next scripted event. Which has further repercussions further on when they get bumped in an area they should already have left. And threw SAS into a tiz because a scripted sequenced of events failed by an ongoing ripple.
Ultimately, I think the big lesson is we expect too much from the player base. They DID come up trumps this time but we might not be so lucky next time. There was nothing fundamentally wrong with the scenario, it worked well. The players enjoyed it, we enjoyed it. There is NO point getting cross with each other, pointing fingers or blaming others for this that or the other. That isn't the way we have worked up until now, that's why we have stuck together (against all the odds!) for four years. Its why the players come back time after time. They love what we we do. Sure we get frustrated, none more than me, but we must keep things in perspective and look at things from an overview not a personal view. Other organising groups around us are falling apart, games are being thrown up and cancelled. Comrades in Arms started all this and have been solid and consistent all the way through - we drive the WW2 airsoft scene, its us the player base looks to for guidance, support and motivation.
Onwards and upwards chaps, keep a perspective of our aims and personal wishes. We need to work together else we might as well pack up now!
Fair comments. Just one thing though:
For example, Jeds first mission was to recover air drops so they can be ammo'd up and recover explosives. Great. Except Germans were forbidden to patrol that area so Jeds spent hours trying to find boxes with no enemy in sight and was basically a treasure hunt. It over ran and made Jeds late for next scripted event.
Errrr, WHAT?!! We were late because we were creeping around and making massive flanks to avoid contact. If we'd have known that there were no Germans in the area we'd have take about 45 minutes to do it!
Aye - I mean you probably had a load of tension out there which was probably fun in itself ( the first patrol I took out were bricking it expecting to be ambushed at every turn, of course not knowing there were no enemy any where near) but we couldn't take anyone past the cars - I think all your drops were in the deforested area either side of the road there?
Two were on the edge of the tree line. And we moved very slowly expecting to be bumped any moment! We did see a 5 man patrol and went to ground, but that was in the woods.
Yes, I took a patrol into the woods, diagonally SE to the bottom then back up NE to hit the car park. Never left the woods and didn't see anyone (but might have found the Jed base - luckily we were briefed to be back at HQ for 2.15pm so had a good excuse to pull men back to the road sharpish).
Oh, we were on the other side of the road by that point.
In that case they were the motorised patrol that went east to the car park and on return saw movement in the woods to the south, debussed to investigate while the driver sped back to base and reported sighting, prompting my patrol. 
In retrospect, it probably wasn't such a good idea to have the Jed's humping bergens to the SAS camp. They could had stashed them somwhere in between, purely for the sake of players health and morale. Mind you, thay could have just ditched them when they got bumped, as they would for real!
I would like to point out that the gameplan was posted up for ages before the event and everyone had ample oppurtunity to read and familiarise themselves with it (hell, I spent hours running it through my head as I lay in bed at night for weeks!), or make suggestions. Yet, Guy made it very obvious that he hadn't read it at all and Jay said he'd only had a quick look. I don't want to start an argument but, sorry, I don't think that's a very good state of affairs. It's disrespectful to whomever has written a gameplan and, it also gives more potential for things to go tits up when we aren't all familiar with what's going to happen. The words "f**k the plan" still ring in my ears from Boryszyn and were playing on my mind at Jedburgh. It's not hard for us all to read a plan and it will make life soooo much easier for future events if we all just spend some time making sure we know what we're supposed to be doing.
When I want your opinion - I'll tell you what it is!
Heh, when I spotted something I thought was a flaw (and when questions from players arose) I straight away raised it - and got a bristly and huffy replies. You must realise that if questions are raised it isn't just for the sake of it - ultimately we are responsible for 40 people's weekend entertainment, and a questioned judgement ISN'T a personal attack. I know you were a bit stressed by this event and I suppose the rest of us were rather more relaxed about it having got many under our belts - I'm sure the next event will be more stress-free.
The Germans followed the game plan as best we could and reacted to events as they presented themselves to us in what was supposed to be an unscripted event. I'm quite certain Pete you had it in your head that Guy would cock things up and do what he liked. He didn't, we did everything asked of us (and he had a moderating voice in his ear all the time anyway ). There is no point blaming the German command or indeed the players if the allied plans went awry.
As I said, this is an analysis, not a criticism. And I have said elsewhere that we ALL share the responsibility for success or failure (and all shades in between), it doesn't fall on the shoulders of either principal architects or principle players. Some things we can't predict, some things we can predict, some things we learn from experience, some things are just a leap of faith.
This was ambitious in terms of scale, I'd quite forgotten how big the place was and what a bitch the cleared land was, and the single fundamental problem was over-estimating what players were physically and mentally capable of. Lesson learned. In the scheme of things actually not a cock-up in the slightest, just something that needs to be borne in mind for future games.
OK analysis time.
What worked (in my opinion, of course!):
1: The timescale for the event. Kick off lunchtime saturday, run it late, kick off early sunday then finish at lunchtime. This seemed to work very, very well. Now, my thinking is that 1: people stay "in the zone" 2: No boozing on the saturday night means no hangovers 3: A small enough downtime that the motivation to get on with it on sunday doesnt disappear.
2: Germans had several individuals that could be given sections and trusted to deal with them (Che and Carl, namely)
3: The realisation that people dont need half as much kit as they think they do for an event.
4: Germans being kept busy pretty most of the time with tasks other than just patrolling.
What didnt neccessarily work well (again, my opinion)
1: Too many Jeds and SAS underestimated the level of fitness required. I questioned the fitness of some of the people on the Allied side as to be capable of doing it (particularly when i mentioned Steiner). He was fucked on Saturday when captured, proper fucked - so I stand by what I said originally, even though I was told that it was more about mental fitness than physical fitness. Can you imagine how bolloxed Neill Blume would have been if he had turned up?
2: A lot of players still need to be spoonfed. God only knows what would have happened if close control wasnt kept
When we were a Kingdom it was run by a King
When we were an Empire it was run by an Empress
Now we're a country we're run by a..........
3: The realisation that people dont need half as much kit as they think they do for an event.
Absolutely (in fact, I had stuff in my bergen that I never used as well!). Also, it was wonderful not to see plastic carrier bags and nylon gunbags laying about. Definitely the way forward I think.
When I want your opinion - I'll tell you what it is!
Peppered even wrapped all his food in greaseproof paper and string!
Agreed on the fitness levels.
I was quite disappointed to see that some people had turned in for the night when Pete and I went to see them at 11pm. They were still meant to be on guard duty at that point. Apparently Steiner had been in bed for an hour or so already. 
1: Too many Jeds and SAS underestimated the level of fitness required.
I'd say that was our fault. We knew the fitness levels of the players - we can't make them fitter but we can ensure the demands of the game match the player's ability - be it fitness, mental aptitude or the just the ability to stay awake!
Carrying bergens for no reason across the site sapped their energy. Carrying three heavy radio packs was pointless if you were travelling in a group of nine. A chap going to sleep before a scripted deadline is spot on, just what he should have done, assuming the area was guarded.
We really, really can't put any blame on the players. They knew it was going to be tough and it was. Ultimately they did everything they physically could and recovered sufficiently to fulfil all their missions. Frankly, I was impressed they did what they did and for that I can't find fault.
Hmmm, we'll have to disagree on this one.
They flaked out before we'd even got going.
We were carrying bergens and radio packs because we were relocating and would need them later.
EDIT:
Oh, and there was no guard out and they had a big fire going.
I'm sorry, but the players need to take some responsibility for their insufficiency. We had been talking about how hard things were going to be and had gone through kit lists and reiterated MANY times the necessity of carrying lighter packs. I'd even PMd people to check they needed to be carrying things like 6L of water...
Like Pete said, perhaps we should have worked them a bit harder at the training day to make them realise.
I'd been working out for a couple of months prior to try and up my strength and stamina for this event. I didn't want to tire.
Sure, some people don't have the same levels of fitness, but seriously, people were tiring after about 500m of carrying a bergen and radio. We did rotate the radios around to mitigate this, but it didn't seem to help much.
The event was a totla fucking success IMHO and also that of the players
The plan is just that ...a plan . I read it when first posted up, helped develop it, and re read it before the event and had a copy that I kept reading through the event . I have also done 5 E&E events with and for IED , so the concept was quite clear in my mind from the get go .
We followed it rigidly , even down to me searching out Pete at 3 pm to pick up a mortar to bombard point K from 1500hrs.
The Germans did all thier alloted tasks without complaint , even if it involved no real patrolling or action.
Rolling up the Jeds was something totally beyond our control, and as Chommers said if he's follwed my orders and swept North at 1800 instead of South they would have escaped ...although to be fair he was well in contact with them by then and disengaging would have been ludicrous.
Re comments before hand, I advised repeatedly to have some snap ambushes during the day by the Allies to keep up tension, whereas in fact they chose not to , fair does, but I wasn't going to keep asking .
Once enemy were sighted we deployed small patrols not the entire force. I was also told that the Allies would attempt to run from the Germans, not fight through as Stephen later told them, they ran into trouble for my mind .
I like these events to feel natural , all players can spot when things are being scripted and it's shit for all concerned. I engineered the landrover incursion much against my instincts and thinking on my feet ( no mention of that in the game plan) only because I was told there were four people who were on their last legs . This was awrong, there were more like seven who seemed pretty fucking alert. Don't like being misled by my fellow organisers
Finally , and this was the big killer for me , if anyone threatens physical violence towards another at one of our events then that it for them as far as I'm concerned . Comments expressed to me in my command tent on Saturday night (" I came down here prepared to knock someones block off unless i got the right answers") come close to being into that bracket for me . In the end this was an event we put on for our mates , aquaintances and strangers, it means nothing as long as everyone is enjoying themselves, and I do not propose to accept being threatened by anyone, especially a friend and fellow organiser. I am prepared to let this drop quite amicably on the understanding that it does not happen again and that it was a one off letting off steam .
I got mighty pissed off at CR , having driven to the site 5 times (1200 miles) just to drop off the v1 and other props, to watch all the Allies leave on Saturday . Things don't always go to plan , but it ain't the fault of the players and you've just got to roll with it .
OU
I engineered the landrover incursion much against my instincts and thinking on my feet ( no mention of that in the game plan) only because I was told there were four people who were on their last legs . This was awrong, there were more like seven who seemed pretty fecking alert. Don't like being misled by my fellow organisers
Actually Guy, there WERE meant to be 4 of us, Steve and Stu were supposed to link up with the other Jed's but, it didn't happen and they stayed with us, so, I wasn't misleading you, nor stitching you up. My guys were totally shagged, having just covered 2.5km in double quick time to make our RV, with Scott getting injured on the way. We were all very nearly caught by the follow up patrol too - very exciting stuff for all. I was also very grateful that you sorted out the potential to ambush in the morning, after we had waited for ages the night before to do one and mined the road too, only to find out later that the Germans had stood down at 2200hrs.
Comments expressed to me in my command tent on Saturday night (" I came down here prepared to knock someones block off unless i got the right answers") come close to being into that bracket for me . In the end this was an event we put on for our mates , aquaintances and strangers, it means nothing as long as everyone is enjoying themselves, and I do not propose to accept being threatened by anyone, especially a friend and fellow organiser. I am prepared to let this drop quite amicably on the understanding that it does not happen again and that it was a one off letting off steam .
Guy, you can name me you know! I've already hung my head in shame and apologised to everyone for something I said in the heat of the moment and regretted it almost as I said it. It wasn't aimed at anyone in particular, otherwise I would have named someone! As said elsewhere, the drinks are on me at Devil's Hill by way of further apology and to draw a final line under it 
If we'd managed to get more Germans and SAS, it would have been possible to do more ambushing. As it was, I had 7 men to work with, 1 of whom twisted his ankle early on, leaving me with 6. So, when I gave the recce orders, I told them to avoid contact. Lucky I did, as, when I discovered the Jed's fate, I realised it was down to us on the saturday. Once I found out that I personally was being actively hunted, I made the decision to stay in camp, otherwise my troops would have been screwed should I have been captured. I also made a decision on the fly to abandon our close target recce's and give my chaps an easier task which would also hopefullylift their spirits after a gruelling day, which is why we were all sitting in a wet ditch at 2200hrs to do an ambush! When we binned it, some of the SAS looked pretty hacked off, which is why I arranged the ambush for sunday morning, to try to give their spirits a lift.
If I (or indeed you, Guy) had known that the Jed's were causing chaos on sunday, there would have been no need to do the vehicle hijack. But, it was done. From the comments I heard at the social, it was enjoyed equally by the Germans! It fired everyone back up and meant the event didn't just fizzle out. I'd call that a success, brought about by organisers thinking on their feet and taking action.
When I want your opinion - I'll tell you what it is!
Good ! Thank you apology accepted and no harm done
BTW both myself and Chommers thought this was the best game yet CiA have put on, as close to our ideals as we've dared go so full marks for the plan and execution . We pulled off the game I wanted so desperately at Churchills, and I'm proud of us and our loyal crew of nutters who travle all round the country to come to our events . 
