Copehill feedback/ Stirling discussion thread

[spetsnazdave87]

So, had a great time at CHD Operaton Foxhunt a couple of weeks back, anyone going to the next one in October?

[Romeowhiskeyone]

Re: Copehill feedback/ Stirling discussion thread

I had a brilliant time at Op Foxhunt. Going in October will be determined by what the kit requirements turn out to be and what my boss says about time off from work.

[Fingers]

Re: Copehill feedback/ Stirling discussion thread

October at Catterick is in my calendar

[spetsnazdave87]

Re: Copehill feedback/ Stirling discussion thread

Rick have to say, your shouting during the QRF mission on the Saturday night was the highlight of my weekend... it was fantastically atmospheric but so unexpected- I was laughing so much at one point I could hardly hold my gun (I was one of the three guys who actually had taclights to light up the buildings )

Also a personal highlight was nearly nailing that damn bicycle courier with a cartload of drugs from when I was on stag... sprinted over to the drug labs with Stinger but the guy managed to just hoof the case through a window. Ah well!

Dave

[sniperiain]

Re: Copehill feedback/ Stirling discussion thread

this stirling airsoft right?
i cant wait to get me sen down there with gilome:D

[spetsnazdave87]

Re: Copehill feedback/ Stirling discussion thread

Im sure its over eighteens mate but I will check now...

[sniperiain]

Re: Copehill feedback/ Stirling discussion thread

i rang em and they said 16:D
but it could have changed. i rang him and you know they did that one with the king something or other. well the guys said that they let a couple of 16 year olds be the kings son, basicly body guards.

[spetsnazdave87]

Re: Copehill feedback/ Stirling discussion thread

Ah thats cool then mate, hopefully see you around there soon then

[sniperiain]

Re: Copehill feedback/ Stirling discussion thread

yer, ill let you know when im down.
oh what sort of stuff did you take, for the sleeping wise?
sleeping bag?
what food?
what sort of stuff is necisary or vise versa?

[spetsnazdave87]

Re: Copehill feedback/ Stirling discussion thread

I had a sleeping bag, matt and bivvy bag, was quite comfy in the OP. Food I took two 24 hour ration packs which kept me pretty well fuelled from friday night when I got there to sunday lunch when I left, although we didnt have much time for chow. Took 12 130-round CA midcaps and blew through almost all of them in a couple of big firefights. Id say mainly pack ammo and easy to access energy foods, and plenty of water

Oh and pack imodium, the toilets are just cesspits with holes in the planks above... stink like f***.

[sniperiain]

Re: Copehill feedback/ Stirling discussion thread

hahahaha ill remember that
ill bring one of these for the toilet
http://www.choiceful.com/prod_image/51279_m.jpg
how much did you pay and was it worth it?
it seems expensive?

[spetsnazdave87]

Re: Copehill feedback/ Stirling discussion thread

Paid £85, and I think it was worth it. If I have to be brutally honest I think a bit more care and attention could have been paid to giving the grunts a decent job... we had a plan from the night before it kicked off to prevent the opfor from getting drugs into their labs, but as soon as it started we brit grunts were just tasked with taking and retaking the same bloody buildings over and over, for no reason while the special forces team and americans got most of the cool stuff to do (Ricks bloody dutch guys stole our drug lab plan too :p)

Only other slight niggle was that some of the rebel side (only some) obviously were just out to p*ss about and not enter into the spirit of the game. Theres a difference between playing the role you're given and just knowing the coalition's RoE mean you can roam around taking the mick.

However, all in all it was an ace weekend. My highlights were the Saturday night QRF mission under Rick's leadership, a gloriously clusterf*cked op that ended up with fragments of the AC team and blackhawk rangers taking a building out 'just because we could', seeing the Wimics cruising around unleashing 450fps cannons on the enemy and sharing our lunch with some friendly locals . Also shot a suicide bomber before he could pull the pin on his grenade :D

Last but not least, the moment a KG brotherhood soldier misunderstood the briefing and attempted to knife kill me with his finger was hilarious. When a marshall explained he needed a knife first, he was promptly arrested and dragged back to the FOB.

[Romeowhiskeyone]

Re: Copehill feedback/ Stirling discussion thread

Hey Dave, cheers for that. You are the second Brit to mention that attack on 19. I was really in First Sergeant mode for that. I think I was a little jealous not to have NVG's of my own so thought the use of lights would work to our benefit. I also was missing a cigar to complete the image.

I attended the event expecting to be a plain old grunt, but I was offered the 2ic spot for the American infantry company on Saturday morning. Since I make a rubbish officer, I decided to play it as the Company First Sergeant. We had three platoons each with about three squads. The units designated their own leaders. Ed, the Company Commander and myself both had real world military experience and we got along great dispite having only met for the first time at the event itself. I think the Stirling staff must have put in a kind word about me with him...

I've taken the liberty of adapting a post I made about the event for people here who have not yet read what I wrote about the event...


The Dutch kicked ass. They were not well pleased when I started speaking broken German to them...but in general they were one of my best squads.

The event was in my humble opinion proper "hardcore milsim". I say that given my perspective as one of the US Army "Black Scarves". Having read a lot about the event made me realise there was a lot more to the game than my own narrow perspective and for that I salute the game organisers.

I actually can salute them for a lot more. For me it was a great event. Sure it wasnt perfect but we are all human, so perfection is a bit much to ask. I got to do what I do best, yell at folks, got some trigger time and most of important of all made sure not one of the Yanks went down with dehydration. You drinking water soldier?! Hoo-ah!

I think the vehicles were used in a very safe and yet still fun manner. I didn't get to see the mortars at work and I regret that now. I particularly liked how one of the landies lit up the school at night giving me the idea to have all the attackers switch on their torches as I quite verbally led the attack. Sadly I tried to use a set of metal stairs as cover from a grenade which was an epic fail.

All of the coalition officers were great and I am thankful to have been offered the opportunity to take a small part in the leadership of the coalition forces. Wake up on Sunday morning was inspired by some brilliant bit of Wagnerian music (Ride of the Valkyries)...and I was pleasantly surprised not to have heard a single f*ck off. The Dutch won the prize of quickest to get organised after being jollied out of their racks. Ed was an excellent boss as Captain of the "black scarves", and despite him having a fiery temper I would happily be his 2ic again of offered the chance.

Some folks, who for the sake of modesty will go unnamed by myself, mentioned they felt they joined the wrong faction...that they would have preferred the freedom of being with the locals. I was sorry they were not having fun...but thinking about it now I realise it goes to show that the coalition side was actually getting the atmosphere of a military unit to a certain degree, a success in my book.

What I mean by that is:

A ) There were several games styles available at the event, based on what faction you joined.

B ) The event was what it said on the tin. Stirling sells a product. Its up to the players if the product is for them or not. It might seem arrogant in this current climate of pandering to customer demands...but by sticking to your product you prevent a vocal minority from causing you to dilute your product...so to speak.

C ) The experience at the event was unlike any other event.

D ) Sometimes being a soldier is not fun. What I liked about the event was at times I felt like a soldier again. The Boss gave me a bit of a chewing because a couple of guys hadnt eaten in 12 hours. My nose got a little out of joint on that at first but then I got a laugh out of it because it felt just like the good old days. I was once again in the Army. (and I had given those two guys NUMEROUS opportunities to eat)

If you put a bunch of "skirmshers" in an open pitch with bunch of "soldiers", the skirmishers will most likely win the firefight...but put soldiers in a 24 hour milsim environment and my money will easily be on the soldiers over the skirmishers. There is a lot more to combat, simulated or not, than just firefights and good marksmanship. i use the term skirmishers and soldiers loosely, to define play styles more than actual real steel training and experience.

Now...all that said I'd like to add that I did not have a personality conflict with anyone on my team. I got tired and frustrated from time to time. I was irritated from time to time. But at no time did I really want to completely lose it with any particular individual...and if you know me, then you know I count that a success. I also would like to think I did not give anyone an excuse to want to knock me out either.

That said, I know there were some personlity conflicts. I tried to mediate where I could. Airsoft, like most hobbies, has its own politics and people with strong characters are going to conflict when involved in their passions. Thankfully none of what I saw blew out of proportion. I am not aware of anyone walking off site in anger. I'd like to think that people will accept that they will not always agree on what is the best way to play the game.

I must have irritated someone though as in the last minutes of the game I was shot by someone on my own team. I wonder who that was....

It was great to run into so many old friends, in particular one of the lads from my days LARPing, a couple of lads from my neck of the woods who used to sell big knives, and numerous friends from me early airsofting years (DT and SWAT veterans)....as well as my old UKAN forum mates the Wasps! I half expected to see Hatchet and Alex Goodey at some point.

The role playing was an interesting addition. I didnt expect it to be so...intricate. I can see I made some mistakes not taking it serious enough to engage with properly. I did not really make an effort to win any hearts and minds and now I can see how that bit us in the ass.

It was at first cool that clansman radios were in use. It was then a pain in the ass, as my set was not molle friendly and had only two volume settings. Too loud and not loud enough. Lots of frustration with comms. I liked the idea of radio operators at first but all too often leaders did not stick with their radio operators and no one had the energy to act as runners.

Having a briefing sheet with running missions was an interesting idea....but personally I am not sure they worked as intended. I would have prefered more realistic operation orders. Less is more in my opinion and one of the issues that seemed to get to a lot of players was the tempo of the game. The constantly changing mission priorities and lack of structured rest caused a "hurry up and wait" atmosphere that was at once realistic but also annoying. I keep feeling like we were rushing around and I personally wanted more speed and less haste...if that makes sense.

The FOB was cool. Very realistic setting but I think it was a mistake to have a rule that prevented attackers from entering the FOB. Not only did it get confusing when people were brought in, like the prisoner who set off a grenade in the courtyard but it discouraged people from wanting to guard the base. It felt a lot like the insurgency maps in Battlefield 2: Project Reality. I understand the game mechanic but I think it actually hinders the game. Having one unit rotated in to do defence allows a plausible reason for people to rest and refit in game by having that unit do 50% stag and 50% rest.

Speaking of stag...I was impressed by the number of people who continued to go on missions after midnight. Some folks did what I expected ie opted out causing a bit of a problem for the people who felt guilty leaving the coalition forces with only 4 operational players and so did an extra hour of duty. Hats off to those folks. They know who they are.

I was impressed with how many of the "black scarves" bought into the whole Yank mentality. I got some proper motivation from people when we had formations and that brought back some very fond memories. As I said before there was a lot of really great people with great attitudes.

It wasnt all rosy mind you. There were some issues with blind firing and full auto inside buildings. And the occasional bit of what looked like "kevlaring". I'm not sure everyone read all the rules, such as only using pyro bought at the event and a weapon (and that includes pyros) is deactivated when you are taken prisoner but I expect a bit of stuff like this with all big games. I did like that most people keep a good attitude. I was told by one pistol carrying, thin shirted "rambo" that I should wear less kit with a tone of voice that was ever so slightly confrontational...but rather than argue with him about the fact that I did not actually believe he had shot me (he was less than 10 feet away from me, I was looking right at him when he shot and it looked to me like his gun only fired gas, no bb).....I took the hit anyway and walked away (he had gotten the drop on me, so had his gun functioned properly I would have been toast). Respawn is only a chance for a rest as far as I am concerned so no point arguing with anyone.

Someone made a comment to me about the event feeling like a large unit exercise, but one where the individual squaddies didnt know the individual and small unit skills. I would tend to agree. I think folks would have enjoyed the event more if they had been better prepared individually, with better training. Kit in general rocked. I was stunned by the awesomeness of so much of the kit, be it the guns, the night vision, and the uniforms....but its difficult to run as a platoon if the squads are not up on their squad drills.

The staff did a brilliant job...as did the players in the specific roles (particularly the Chad Police). Again, I salute you folks. I also liked watching the President act his bit. It felt a little A-Team at times but I enjoyed it all nonetheless. I was completely suckered in by the Cleric. Damn you!

I must remember to bring more than one MRE next time. And I would suggest having a water supply in the FOB rather than an out of play area that is easily cut off from the FOB. Although I guess it did make me appreciate my burger and dr pepper more given the fact I had to fight my way to it.

So many people to thank...so little time....

Overall it was a great event. I had a blast and I really can't recommend Stirling Airsoft events enough. One word of caution though, when the Stirling boys say mil-sim...they mean hardcore Military Simulation. They offer what it says on the tin...dont come if you are looking for a skirmish but if you want the closest you can get to real military training then they are the people to see.
Was it worth the price? Definitely.

What to bring? Water (lots of it), a good sleeping bag, wet and cold weather clothing, change of socks/underwear, atleast 2 days rations, your own supply of toilet paper.

[sniperiain]

Re: Copehill feedback/ Stirling discussion thread

did you write that?

[Romeowhiskeyone]

Re: Copehill feedback/ Stirling discussion thread

Yes. I wrote it. I lived it and wrote it.