OFFICIAL RED-SIDE DEBRIEFING
Posted: 22 Jun 2007, 01:14
Please let me sum up a decent debriefing after operation B5. Everything I will write is my personal view from my own observation and action. I am aware that some things I write here might be twisted or not true, feel free to correct me.
Thursday morning I took over command of VDV (airborne) batallion which was dropped at Hemsö island, central Sweden. Orders were clear, eliminating of three coastal cannons and wipeout of allied (fictional) military base at Härnösand.
VDV batallion consisted of four companies and two special platoons. All together about 450-500 troops. Company commanders were selected mainly based on their own applications or recommended by others. During this day my first problem occured - double base. More than half of red players had setup their camp at the main parking while some 30-40% set up tents inside the red base. This affected three companies out of four to be split with one KM distance. Hence people who went to bed in the parking area had no contact with what was going on in the base, did not return on schedule and were in most cases missing from their commanders or myself.
Second problem that only added to confusion was mess with radio communication. There was not even enough for network at the company level. Sure every commander had his radio but in most cases the link was only to his team. Not even whole company.
Friday early morning - game start
Red side received three starting missions from GM:
1. Destroying of radar mast in bay area
2. Collecting of landmines near finnish camp (which at the time we did not know where it was)
3. Aggressive recon of the coastal guns area
Hco and GreenPlt from Vco combined with Mech Plt were ordered upon mast and upon completion they prolonged to the guns.
Bco made approach from S to guns, according to feedbeck with much success in taking them - but no guns were destroyed because we had no TNT charges yet.
Dco was ordered to sweep a broad area near the lake for boxes but intel set their perimeter too N and they returned with no boxes.
Friday early afternoon, players slowly woke up and collected at the base, one player was reported health issue and was escorted to the safezone for check-up.
Because GM's served us no actual missions I thought to pay a visit to my fellow blues with two companies and mech. Indeed have we managed to gather around 150-200 soldiers and moved W. While descending from our base ambulance siren was herd. Cause at that time was yet unknown to us. Adventure into enemy base was a powerful and joyful experience for most attackers, this is something what they came to B5 for... Unfortunately we took too much time and defenders respawned aswel as some elements that struck in our 6. Russian attack failed, good game, back to base for lunch.
At the base the news struck us hard. Immediately have I rushed to safezone and a Crew member was brought to base to explain the situation. Game-off was called until 2100 Fri.
Friday night
This night was quite depressing, we did some box-finding missions and Boris was yet again sent to coastal guns for aggressive recon. Again, without TNT.
Mech Plt aswel made another attempt but Swedish were waiting this time. Mech was destroyed in matter of minutes. Another attempt would be made to swedish positions but radio com with artilery squad (Timpa) was down and attackers had to return without even trying.
Boris was again available on Sat at around noon. Mech aswel.
Saturday morning
Crewmembers walking around tired and sleeping camp with cameras gave us some bad feeling. I was ordered not to send missions out and let the people be woken up by bangs. My habds were tied but the more fun it was for the players I suppose. So I sat back and enjoyed the show. INCOOOOOMIIING!!!! Bangs trashed around the base killing soldiers at coffee, waking up in panic grabbing for rifles and taking postitions in fortifications... cruel but worth experiencing! With two companies out cold due to night missions, mech was sleeping aswel and some players just wouldn't crawl out of their tents even if bombed... base defense was spread very thin. What was to be a 0900-1200 mission lasted well until 1500.
Saturday afternoon
At that time I had several platoons loosing temper, asking me to stop this nonsense and give them real missions. A GM was called in and I faced him with two options:
1. I shoot the rocket NOW
2. GM's stop allied attack for one hour of R&R, my boys did not even have time for a decent morning coffee... and then give allies time to destroy the damn rocket from 1600-1800.
Although GM's chose later option, attacks were not really stopped, rather only reduced. Still at the time Mech and Boris returned and also several other late birds crawled into base. Many platoons left to safezone for their first meal of the day yet base appeared to be safe. Allied presence in the area was reduced.
Saturday evening
Several small-unit missions during the day recovered TNT aswel as tank spare-parts which were needed for acquiring them two tanks.
1800 - SS missile launch, Härnösand allied base smoked.
up to 2000 I had my players rest and regroup, eat and rehydrate. Saturday was a brave day but also very stressful for many. I apologize for that.
2030 - soviet batallion was lined up at the safezone for final assault to the coastal guns. One costal gun to be exact. KGB undercover mission destroyed two guns where our agents sneaked in as water-maintenance personnel.Plan was to launch a massive assault to swedish base, Dco and Hco including mech and tanks from the W, while Vasilij and Boris including Sergey Plt (specnaz) made their approach from south. In the middle of this assault I noticed the immense mass of combating airsofters and suddenly it struck me what a bad idea this actually was. If anyone was hurt physically during this operation I apologize. This was a planned chaos...
During my approach through the western gate my unit was ambushed by finns, killing commander Brujo and his orderly Saint. Personally I believe the game was stopped in the exact appropriate moment. Whether last gun was destroyed or not, this is not an issue at all. We played a good two-day game, many players went over their limits, Urban unfortunately fataly. This is something I had never thought would be possible - that I'd lose a man during a simple game such as airsoft. My heartfelt sympathy to Urban's family and friends...
Whether you like it or not, I am going to make also my personal analysis of four companies and two platoons and present my opinion on their commanders. Companies are listed in order from best to worst:
DMITRY ROTA
This unit was the last to get appointed company commander and was last to form. It was only formed sometime in May. Kattis did an incredible job during planing phase, she managed to put together a huge company of nearly 120 swedish and danish players. Initially very quiet company they were the backbone of Saturday's base defense. Since whole unit slept in-game in the base, they were the single most dependable unit at my disposal and alone this fact earned them their biggest problem - dull and boring base defense. You have no idea how bad I feel about using this fact and making you sit tight for hours, but it was Dmitry that saved the day in my opinion. On Saturday Dmitry was taken over by Doc from Denmark, you did a great job and I hope you had your fun at the swedish base!
HERMAN ROTA
As name suggests this unit was intially made of german players. At a later stage they were added a strong platoon of some 40 norwegians under Mixmasters command. Last days of planning brought also several swedish players to the coy. Under command of Lord Helmchen and his 2IC Raphael, the mercenery company ranks second in my opinion. Their planning of 12h shifts for halves of unit gave me a unit that was around for the full day, but never as whole company. Again they were used for base protection mainly and for that I apologize yet again.
BORIS ROTA
2/3 of russians and baltic players, 1/3 of western red-alliance players that came to B5 only to experience once in a lifetime oportunity to play side by side with authentic russians. As I established, communication with russians is a bit more difficult than with others, but once we started walking in the same direction, Boris was a very powerful unit. Vader himself was on moments very tired looking and overherd lots of information at briefings so I had a translator with him at a later stage. My compliments to Demon (fox-tail), this is one hard-core russian you don't want to meet as the enemy. My respect also to Pavel, Shaman and others who led the group, I wish Russia was closer to Slovenia so we could play more often!
VASILIJ ROTA
I thought initially this would be my favorite company but as it turned out unit had their CO unavailable most of the time, platoons were on their own and none of them stayed in base for protection long enough, players disobeyed and went looking for their own action disregarding what happened to base. So Dmitry and Herman had to cover spots for them. Mike, you blew it clean in my opinion.
----------- not ranked anymore, we also had two special platoons by our side:
MIHAIL
Mechanised platoon of some 40 slovaks. Crazy people, very efficient and very dependable. But then again, Tomy you know all that already.
SERGEI
Specnaz platoon formed of mainly dutch and belgian players, started their fight on Thursday before noon and their commanders are today considered my friends. Waffelke, Red, Whiteace... great company, joyful times in base and hell of a protection unit during my expedition! Also many thanks for stepping in my place during my sleep. See you in Slovenija in September
Main two things I would change if I knew then what I know today:
- I would NOT make a fixed base. All the tents would be offgame and our operations would only then be 90% offensive.
- I would push for radios all the way down to platoon level. Up to May this was the plan, only to be at the beginning of the game decided that there are not enough radios for everyone. If platoon and coy commanders would know this in advance, they would order their radios.
With these two issues solved we would perform way better than we actually did.
It was a pleasure to play with you and against you, thank you all for attending this game and putting your trust in me. See you at the next event!
B.
Thursday morning I took over command of VDV (airborne) batallion which was dropped at Hemsö island, central Sweden. Orders were clear, eliminating of three coastal cannons and wipeout of allied (fictional) military base at Härnösand.
VDV batallion consisted of four companies and two special platoons. All together about 450-500 troops. Company commanders were selected mainly based on their own applications or recommended by others. During this day my first problem occured - double base. More than half of red players had setup their camp at the main parking while some 30-40% set up tents inside the red base. This affected three companies out of four to be split with one KM distance. Hence people who went to bed in the parking area had no contact with what was going on in the base, did not return on schedule and were in most cases missing from their commanders or myself.
Second problem that only added to confusion was mess with radio communication. There was not even enough for network at the company level. Sure every commander had his radio but in most cases the link was only to his team. Not even whole company.
Friday early morning - game start
Red side received three starting missions from GM:
1. Destroying of radar mast in bay area
2. Collecting of landmines near finnish camp (which at the time we did not know where it was)
3. Aggressive recon of the coastal guns area
Hco and GreenPlt from Vco combined with Mech Plt were ordered upon mast and upon completion they prolonged to the guns.
Bco made approach from S to guns, according to feedbeck with much success in taking them - but no guns were destroyed because we had no TNT charges yet.
Dco was ordered to sweep a broad area near the lake for boxes but intel set their perimeter too N and they returned with no boxes.
Friday early afternoon, players slowly woke up and collected at the base, one player was reported health issue and was escorted to the safezone for check-up.
Because GM's served us no actual missions I thought to pay a visit to my fellow blues with two companies and mech. Indeed have we managed to gather around 150-200 soldiers and moved W. While descending from our base ambulance siren was herd. Cause at that time was yet unknown to us. Adventure into enemy base was a powerful and joyful experience for most attackers, this is something what they came to B5 for... Unfortunately we took too much time and defenders respawned aswel as some elements that struck in our 6. Russian attack failed, good game, back to base for lunch.
At the base the news struck us hard. Immediately have I rushed to safezone and a Crew member was brought to base to explain the situation. Game-off was called until 2100 Fri.
Friday night
This night was quite depressing, we did some box-finding missions and Boris was yet again sent to coastal guns for aggressive recon. Again, without TNT.
Mech Plt aswel made another attempt but Swedish were waiting this time. Mech was destroyed in matter of minutes. Another attempt would be made to swedish positions but radio com with artilery squad (Timpa) was down and attackers had to return without even trying.
Boris was again available on Sat at around noon. Mech aswel.
Saturday morning
Crewmembers walking around tired and sleeping camp with cameras gave us some bad feeling. I was ordered not to send missions out and let the people be woken up by bangs. My habds were tied but the more fun it was for the players I suppose. So I sat back and enjoyed the show. INCOOOOOMIIING!!!! Bangs trashed around the base killing soldiers at coffee, waking up in panic grabbing for rifles and taking postitions in fortifications... cruel but worth experiencing! With two companies out cold due to night missions, mech was sleeping aswel and some players just wouldn't crawl out of their tents even if bombed... base defense was spread very thin. What was to be a 0900-1200 mission lasted well until 1500.
Saturday afternoon
At that time I had several platoons loosing temper, asking me to stop this nonsense and give them real missions. A GM was called in and I faced him with two options:
1. I shoot the rocket NOW
2. GM's stop allied attack for one hour of R&R, my boys did not even have time for a decent morning coffee... and then give allies time to destroy the damn rocket from 1600-1800.
Although GM's chose later option, attacks were not really stopped, rather only reduced. Still at the time Mech and Boris returned and also several other late birds crawled into base. Many platoons left to safezone for their first meal of the day yet base appeared to be safe. Allied presence in the area was reduced.
Saturday evening
Several small-unit missions during the day recovered TNT aswel as tank spare-parts which were needed for acquiring them two tanks.
1800 - SS missile launch, Härnösand allied base smoked.
up to 2000 I had my players rest and regroup, eat and rehydrate. Saturday was a brave day but also very stressful for many. I apologize for that.
2030 - soviet batallion was lined up at the safezone for final assault to the coastal guns. One costal gun to be exact. KGB undercover mission destroyed two guns where our agents sneaked in as water-maintenance personnel.Plan was to launch a massive assault to swedish base, Dco and Hco including mech and tanks from the W, while Vasilij and Boris including Sergey Plt (specnaz) made their approach from south. In the middle of this assault I noticed the immense mass of combating airsofters and suddenly it struck me what a bad idea this actually was. If anyone was hurt physically during this operation I apologize. This was a planned chaos...
During my approach through the western gate my unit was ambushed by finns, killing commander Brujo and his orderly Saint. Personally I believe the game was stopped in the exact appropriate moment. Whether last gun was destroyed or not, this is not an issue at all. We played a good two-day game, many players went over their limits, Urban unfortunately fataly. This is something I had never thought would be possible - that I'd lose a man during a simple game such as airsoft. My heartfelt sympathy to Urban's family and friends...
Whether you like it or not, I am going to make also my personal analysis of four companies and two platoons and present my opinion on their commanders. Companies are listed in order from best to worst:
DMITRY ROTA
This unit was the last to get appointed company commander and was last to form. It was only formed sometime in May. Kattis did an incredible job during planing phase, she managed to put together a huge company of nearly 120 swedish and danish players. Initially very quiet company they were the backbone of Saturday's base defense. Since whole unit slept in-game in the base, they were the single most dependable unit at my disposal and alone this fact earned them their biggest problem - dull and boring base defense. You have no idea how bad I feel about using this fact and making you sit tight for hours, but it was Dmitry that saved the day in my opinion. On Saturday Dmitry was taken over by Doc from Denmark, you did a great job and I hope you had your fun at the swedish base!
HERMAN ROTA
As name suggests this unit was intially made of german players. At a later stage they were added a strong platoon of some 40 norwegians under Mixmasters command. Last days of planning brought also several swedish players to the coy. Under command of Lord Helmchen and his 2IC Raphael, the mercenery company ranks second in my opinion. Their planning of 12h shifts for halves of unit gave me a unit that was around for the full day, but never as whole company. Again they were used for base protection mainly and for that I apologize yet again.
BORIS ROTA
2/3 of russians and baltic players, 1/3 of western red-alliance players that came to B5 only to experience once in a lifetime oportunity to play side by side with authentic russians. As I established, communication with russians is a bit more difficult than with others, but once we started walking in the same direction, Boris was a very powerful unit. Vader himself was on moments very tired looking and overherd lots of information at briefings so I had a translator with him at a later stage. My compliments to Demon (fox-tail), this is one hard-core russian you don't want to meet as the enemy. My respect also to Pavel, Shaman and others who led the group, I wish Russia was closer to Slovenia so we could play more often!
VASILIJ ROTA
I thought initially this would be my favorite company but as it turned out unit had their CO unavailable most of the time, platoons were on their own and none of them stayed in base for protection long enough, players disobeyed and went looking for their own action disregarding what happened to base. So Dmitry and Herman had to cover spots for them. Mike, you blew it clean in my opinion.
----------- not ranked anymore, we also had two special platoons by our side:
MIHAIL
Mechanised platoon of some 40 slovaks. Crazy people, very efficient and very dependable. But then again, Tomy you know all that already.
SERGEI
Specnaz platoon formed of mainly dutch and belgian players, started their fight on Thursday before noon and their commanders are today considered my friends. Waffelke, Red, Whiteace... great company, joyful times in base and hell of a protection unit during my expedition! Also many thanks for stepping in my place during my sleep. See you in Slovenija in September
Main two things I would change if I knew then what I know today:
- I would NOT make a fixed base. All the tents would be offgame and our operations would only then be 90% offensive.
- I would push for radios all the way down to platoon level. Up to May this was the plan, only to be at the beginning of the game decided that there are not enough radios for everyone. If platoon and coy commanders would know this in advance, they would order their radios.
With these two issues solved we would perform way better than we actually did.
It was a pleasure to play with you and against you, thank you all for attending this game and putting your trust in me. See you at the next event!
B.