Well it a looks like the event was a success, but I've got a few comments on stuff we tried to do...
1) Recon - same result as at Cassino and at Freshman! i.e. zero intel found. Pete's comment was that there wasn't enough time to do a proper recon. Ranj said they wern't being aggressive enough. Perhaps even though this type of mission does sound fun, it doesn't work as well as we'd hope unless you give a heck of a lot of time to it! We couldn't really give it any more time yesterday than we did.
2) Conflict battles... again didn't go quite as planned... only 3 actual stages didn't give it a chance at all to get going, but this again was down to lack of time. It also appears that since there wasn't a single successful attack during that stage that attacks are almost always going to fail against entrenched enemy with the same numbers. We'll have to think about this before we try again.
3) The final battle though I thought was a lot of fun... Though of course rather silly and I think great exercise for the medic. If we do it again, we'll have to find yet someone else to be the medic... We can't ask Mindham or Webby to do it again!
4) Well I didn't pay green fees, but Craig and Dean did and I don't know about Webby and Lardy. I think under the circumstances that's just not fair and I assume it's because we hadn't made appropriate arrangements with Alex beforehand and he didn't know who the organisers were! We can't now really go and ask him for their money back but if we have anything left in funds then we should re-imburse them and I'm happy to pay up some or all of my own green fee in order that we all have paid the same amount.
I still think recce stuff can work, but perhaps the objectives need to be alot simpler and more obvious unless you can alocate more time as you say.
I think perhaps you'd need a whole day to get the conflict style gameplay working properly, it just didn't have time to build any momentum. Attacking through the terrain at FSA was very difficult indeed, the ground cover meant a couple of men could hold up a whole squad with ease. It may need some form of regen to simulate larger numbers of attackers.
Yes the final battle was a lot of fun, if it felt a little wild westish inside that fort.
I didn't pay any fees either as I assumed that would be the arrangement, which Alex didn't question. I'll go along with whatever is deemed the best course of action.
Well so far the main comments from the attendees is how much fun the recce was! lol...
I did mention to have money to pay just in case, I didn't realise craig and dean had paid! Not sure there is a lot left in the deposit money, however I don't mind splitting it so D and C get their £ back.
On another note, I didn't particularly enjoy the game, although I was expecting to have that few engagements in the second one. The only thing it taught us that the sides were well balanced.. just because 1 team doesn't walk over the other one doesn't mean it didn't go well. I thought the 2 chances of attack and defend over the day allowed people to enjoy themselves, even if it wasn't what we thought would happen! Which at the end of the day is the primary goal
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Yeah, Webby work out how much you've got in the pot to pay Dean and Craig their £20 each and then we'll should split what extra is needed to make it up ourselves. Just let me know how much and I'll sort it!
As for the game, yeah, much of the game was pretty dry from my point of view as well. Sitting at the back waiting for stuff to happen and not having the foggiest what was going on wasn't great fun. Though me and Craig did have a good chat in the first game and also a good chat with Headshot when he turned up as the first dead player.
Much of the good comments have been regards that first game and you also missed out on that.
The 2nd game was also pretty much a walk over for the US team. I saw very few Germans myself... Craig of course missing the whole thing!
3rd game seemed to go on forever, what with the US team initially holding taking the wrong objective.
4th Game was an excellent action packed defence of the valley, that many seemed to really enjoy.
5th was fun that all could take part in...
I think for Dukla if we can get all players fully involved in the game then all the better for us. Try and arrange it so the organisers can get stuck in with everyone else. With the expected small numbers this shouldn't be an issue.
1) Yes, pretty much. Although the recon at Cassino was organic - i.e. anything you found was useful for the assault, and we found 'enough' to plan an assault, so it was successfully enough. In this case the results were not organic, just a construct for people to aim for. From what people have said they enjoyed it even if they were failing to get anything, or else just patrolling railway lines on their own. To have proper 'recon' would require loads of time, even all day.
2) Again, yes. I had thought we would only have a few of them, but was hoping for 4 or five. On the 'when it ends' level a time limit is certainly required, as left to their own devices airsofters will just sit behind a tree on their own plinking for ever. Regarding numbers, that is always a problem when you have even numbered sides. In principle it is still a workable idea, but having two points that have to be defended forces the defender to split forces and enables an assault to work, otherwise some form of regen is needed.
3) the final battle was fun. Yes a little silly I suppose, but unless you ask 3/4 of the defending players to go home early it is always going to be a bit of a daft bloodbath. However people enjoyed it so that is good. The Medic role is very labour intensive, so a duificult one that needs to be done by an organiser really.
4) Yeah, if I had know about the green fee I would have paid it back when I could afford it. Sorting out has to be done via Dean for us both, as he leant me the 20 back yesterday for food and such.
From mine and Dean's postgame discussions which we have both been present and awake enough to have I shall now distil the tastier results.
The first point Dean made is that the event was a success. The players enjoyed it and that is boxes number 1-10 ticked. He was worried at the start of the day, and exulted at the end of it being such a success.
On a general note what Dean bought back from the German side, and I found from talking to several of the German players was that the most enjoyable aspect was the roleplaying element. I could use a different word, but it would be a lie. They enjoyed playing privates and NCOs, paraded their squads for no reason, devised patrol routes and plans. This came across as an immersive command structure experience that they enjoyed. This is one aspect I felt we were lacking on the allied side, which is partly where Headshot's comment about 'just moving to a location' came from, as we felt to decamp, move, and resume the game.
The recon' didn't give any results, but that doesn't matter as people enjoyed the act of recon-ing/patrolling regardless of the results.
Recon' games in a way have to be two games – the first one where people can report back that tehre was some enemy around and so they couldn't get to their objectives. The second one where we say, go out again and get past the enemy please. Though seriously they fit much better as a 'scenario' if the results are applicable beyond just finding them – thus they have to be followed by an assault, or else just become part of a larger game where you need to know stuff before launching an attack.
Form the 'conquest' games the German response was much more positive. In their first assault they got lathered, but they knew why they got lathered. They had a plan – To move the 42 around the top, lay down fire and blitz' the objective with their two squads. The co-ordination failed, the assault stalled and they were cut up. From what came back from Dean this 'knowledge of why the attack failed' added to their enjoyment.
Though I was at the rear post I was not bored during that mission as I was spending the time devising a defence of the next position. Yes it would have been more 'pleasant' to have someone to talk to – Like Yith mentioned from the first game, which is why having two folk at the rear if such a situation is required is nice – but planning the defence was fun in itself.
As Dean had planned his defence for the next US attack the German position was superb. They had not simply 'crouched at the objective' but had moved forward to the best defensible line – that bitch of a gully – with orders to conduct a fighting withdrawal to the objective. However partly due to the numbers problem – which is a problem in attack/defend scenarios with even numbers – the withdrawal managed to decimate the American advance.
Also the US forces lacked co-ordination in this attack, which is my fault for no co-ordinating them, and looking back I shouldn't have 'died', but been wounded, slung my rifle and fallen back to keep track of things. The US getting lost didn't help, and one of the points Dean noted was that he thought the objectives were too far apart, which I would agree with.
The Valley one was, as mentioned, a good blast for all concerned that worked really well. Even though I personally would have had no problem with the quarry being defended again it was a good call to move it, given that it was the last one of the series.
The main point that came out of the combat mission for me was the timing of them, as they go on for too long. We felt, in discussion, that having and NCO (organiser) leading the attacks who's job it is to co-ordinate the plan on the ground and, importantly, decide when the attack is untenable and order a retreat would work well to keep it a more quick fire system which I think is required.
The final game was, the final game, and was always going to play out in much the same way. The medic's role was made harder because the attack dispersed amongst all flanks – or at least three – so poor webby had to run all over the shop.
If the medic rule was used again it would be best having the medic stick with what the commander considers the main assault, and those who move off around the wide flanks do so sacrificing the availability of the medic. More simply having the commander work as a 'mobile CP' to which the players have to return to be medic-ed/regened on the outskirts of the fight. Or even just have the organisers themselves being able to 'pick up the dead' and return them to the fray to keep momentum going in such an assault.
So that is our thoughts on the events of the day. We are thinking of ideas for Dukla, but to be honest trying to think of events which play to what the players appear to enjoy (suspension of belief and character roleplay) in a structured yet fluid event, which allows the organisers themselves to get stuck in is proving tricky.
Did Dean get his money back yet?
not that he has informed me yet.