AAR: Operation Vigilance 2 - Sep 15th & 16th 07 - Apocalypse Paintball

[Sweinster]

I know it's early on Sunday, but how was it guys?

[Arr0wana]

I had a lot of fun. Definatly exhausted though... We did quite a bit of running at the end to make sure we got to the stronghold in time at the end... (Or at least I think it was the stronghold)

I was pretty mad when Ryan picked out 133 for the ticket for the CA SCAR, I had tickets 132 and 134....

[blitz]

good times. thanks for the game, and thanks to WAA guys for letting us run w/ you guys.

[The Only Bishop]

I want to start out by thanking Doc for letting me crash in his tent and feeding me the next morning... and letting me drink his boos

Second the night games ABSOLUTE BLAST! once again pistols and shotys take the cake for me creeping in the dark and screaming and yelling at each other.

Third. The event was fun. It was my first with a tank and I think it added a interesting edge to the game. I really liked how MEA was not setup to look like terrorist so no one was made out to be the "bad guys". The props and the Roll players were something else that was a little new to me and I think the enhanced the experience for me.

[CrazedAntelope]

I certainly had a blast. Playing on the MEA was definately fun. Just that little bit of role-playing makes the game that much better.

Some highlights for myself from the day:

Attacking the enemy base twice with the tank within the span of 10 minutes and then running off with all of the resources.

Shooting the enemy commander in the last two minutes of the game.

Being the lucky number 133 and winning the SCAR-L.

:D

[Sargord Ghadir Farid]

Oh, what a day.

I honestly thought things were going to go very poorly for us when, before the game even began, I announced to everyone (including the opposition) where our base was.
I didn’t just announce it, I got on a bullhorn and said it for even the dead to hear.

I thought I was being courteous by informing everyone who had not been there before as to where our starting base it.
I apologized and no one seemed to mind. Perhaps that’s because we could all extrapolate as to roughly where the UN base was.

The UN forces really put the pressure on. There were a couple times where they brought the fight right to the doorstep of our base. There were even a couple times where I had to throw on a ghillie suit and take deep cover. There was even one time where we had 2 infiltrators sneak up on me, and had they not shot my guard first thereby alarming me, I would have been taken out. Still, I managed to run for cover and reinforcements arrived and repelled the intruders.

We won, and evidently, by a large margin. Thanks in part to some great field comm by all squads, everyone willingness and ability to haul ass, a few precision Air Strikes, and a daring resource raid on the enemy base by Task Force: Iron Hammer and Bager Airsoft.

Everyone on the MEA team performed admirably, including those who were sent to difficult positions to defend, sent on missions that were borderline suicidal, or were asked to jump all over the map.
I tried to give squads objectives relative to the positions they already occupied, but there were a few time where they had to trek for quite a while.

Task Force: Iron Hammer impressed the hell out of me by accomplishing their Special Forces missions with blinding speed, few casualties, and almost completely silent – like a real SF unit!

Badger was nothing short of astounding with their ability to remobilize after respawn and their ability to bust ass to map coordinates. Every time they’d take casualties, they’d respawn and feed havoc back to the enemy 10-fold.

PHR’s resolve was unshakable and their ability to engage the enemy was nothing short of courageous. My hat off to them for taking, and dishing out, serious punishment.

Paladin simply amazed me with their ability to hold positions against overwhelming odds, enemy armour, and with little backup. Paladin always kept cool under fire and kept communications precise, clean, and succinct.

Even the squads that were formed from unaffiliated or lone-wolf players did extremely well.

Squad: Truman held ground at key locations like a vice and was able to communicate enemy troop movements quickly and with precision.

Squads Washington and Ace added to the cause by engaging the enemy wherever needed, and whenever possible. You both did well.

Squad Mujahedeen, which later (mostly) became our Rapid Response Unit was an important asset with their flexibility and ability to back up other squads at a moment’s notice.

Bishop proved himself one of the most useful people on the field with his ability to provide intel about the playing field (I have never been there), give sound feedback on tactical decisions, relay orders, and rally people up. Without him, I can’t say for certain that we would have won.

Thanks to everyone who helped maintain a garrison at the MEA base and spotted incoming intruders. It would have been difficult to concentrate on command functions knowing some one did not have my back.

My apologies if I forgot anyone. I’m a bit tired and need to head off to sleep. Feel free to correct me or add your name.

If I could have given everyone an award for being there, I would have. My only regret is that I did not have a plaque to issue everyone for their strongest contributions and abilities.

Hope to see you all soon at other ops.

[Kerrik13]

Hey everyone!
Today was an absolute blast to watch and OC! I will have a full AAR up in the next couple days and will keep you informed on the outcome and after game stuff. Thanks to all who attended... we had 115 players, 3 main ocs, 2 base refs, 2 dedicated commanders, 6 Iraqi town guards, 2 tankers and their tank, 2 photographers, 2 vendors with wares, the Apoc crew, numerous parent's of players, 4 dedicated civilians, and 2 goats. I hope I didn't forget anyone! :P

This event was definitely a learning experience and a lot of fun; I hope to walk away with retaining as much as I can. Again, I'll have more detailed information up on the boards later, including the exact amounts being handed over to charity. More to follow! :)

[PAC102]

This was my first game and definetly not my last, I also want to say thanks to Doc and his buddies for letting me and my friend run with them.

[Aaron]

The event was great, there was quite abit to keep busy with and lots of trading plastic goodness. Hats off to Jopp for such a well played event and to those that attended. Very little bs and even less issues. How's that guy that messed up his knee? Would be nice to have a status update. Thanks again to all the cats that donated so many prizes, was neat to see so much given away. Hope to see you all out on the field again, good times....

[Downslide]

There's nothing better than to have a good heavy firefight at the end of the day, so that you don't have to unload any mags back at staging. ;) The SEAL team - at only 4 strong - ended our day just NE of the Village. When game on was called after the injury was taken care of, we decided to set up and see if anybody would be coming thru the Tenman fields to the neutral Village. --- I would like to take this moment to ask if taking the village was a major requirement at the end of the day? ----

We were hoping for a couple of guys to mess with. We ended up against a MASSIVELY superior force. In true SEAL team fashion, we held that superior force at bay for about 10+ minutes - until the tank came pretty much.

Good times.

[blitz]

taken from the CAA AAR



my AAR

best moment when we (myself, dom, pb, shrubber and 2 stragglers) were ordered to flank and we ran into a squad of 6 who seemed to look puzzled as to where they were going.

i go: on 3!

bratatatatatatat! all 6 tangos down....




lastly, i dont know why but WI games always impress me in terms of zero BS. i normally do not encounter any whining and bitching about not calling hits or hit calling or im hit allready.... everybody seemed to be cool and are just out to have fun. unfortunately here in our neighborhood my said complaints are always abundant..... i even tested myself after i got hit as i pulled my kill rag a flanker saw me and lit me up and guess what.... i never felt anything upsetting about it, the shooter even aplogized when he saw me after he shot me that i was reaching for my kill rag. no biggie... part of the game.... anyways, im sure Wi. airsofters also went thru alot of drama at some point and theres always room for change in illinois.... i hope.....

til then....


we cant wait to play anti infidel on roundup 2 in nov.

great running w/ u pb, shrub, and WAA cheese curls.

[Grey Knight]

I just wish I got to shake hands with you guys. I understand a lot of you guys were there and I probably walked past you several times without knowing who you were. I’m sure I’ll learn faces as I go to more events.
I had a good time.

[A-Ron]

...
We were hoping for a couple of guys to mess with. We ended up against a MASSIVELY superior force. In true SEAL team fashion, we held that superior force at bay for about 10+ minutes - until the tank came pretty much.

Good times.
Nothing like burning through 15 mags in under 10 mins, and using up one mag typically on one objective, lol.....
The sprints to save Paul were painful.

All in all the game was fine... It was what I thought it was going to be after the information came out.

A lot of stuff happened the day of the game, and "we," the USSF team (not Seals), just could not operate like we wished to. However screwed up we got.... We made it work.

Thanks to APOC and Kerrik for hosting the game... And to all the refs and non-combatants that gave it that extra spice.

[Batman]

My views...

1. Dave & Bishop both got to see "The Brain" :thatwasga
2. I got to shoot a LOT of people.
3. I have nothing left to unload, thanks to that "final stand" Downslide mentioned (By the way, I saw my watch as it started & it was 20 min)
4. B-rik learned not to try to flank me again, even if I AM down to just my USP.

Good times.

[A-Ron]

My views...

1. Dave & Bishop both got to see "The Brain" :thatwasga
...mentioned (By the way, I saw my watch as it started & it was 20 min)
4. B-rik learned not to try to flank me again, even if I AM down to just my USP.

priceless.... priceless memories...

[Sanchez]

hey guys im the guy that injured my knee and i have a quick update:
I went to the hospital and got a few x rays and a couple doctors taking a look at me ( all the females ones very hot might i add) and i guess its really nothing to severe and i just have to basically stay off of it for a few weeks and i should be able to go back on the field after that, somethings i learned from this experience:
1. that i need to start working my legs and body out so that stuff like this hopefully wont happen as often or not at all again.
2. That there were alot of people there that i didnt really know that well and i tend to get alot of first impressions off of people that i first meet ( which i dont really mean to do on purpose but it just happens) and after i popped my knee out i realized from all of the help i got from alot of people that never even met me (besides a knife to the back :D j/k of course) put there own playing time in while everyone else was playing to help me with my leg. That was probably one of the nicest moments ive had in a airsoft game and it made me open my eyes and think "maybe before i judge someone that might be really hot and stressed out on a field and might have thrown out a remark that "I" thought was rude, maybe i should just get to know him better and see what he really is like"

Besides all of that i would like to say i had a blast, to the guy that came out of the bunker when i popped my knee:
You scared the **** out of me :)
I would like to thank all of the guys that helped me (i know most names but not all so i wont go through and mention them) but thanks alot
Other then that, ill be back soon :), id type a little more but im in a very strange position on my computer desk so i have to make this short and sweet

[Danums]

thanks everyone that helped out my buddy. i know we pissed off a lot of people for knifing them, but hey it was our job =P. great event ryan. thanks for letting us play such a cool role. as for the guys that were trying to catch us.... maybe next time. i few issues came up with our team and our role but they were ironed out. main thing is if your dead dont come walking back to your respawn telling people you just got knifed...... that was kinda lame but it happens. dead men dont talk. sorry downtown for knifing you after you healed me. yeah that was kinda mean of me but we got sick of not really playing much. thanks again for the guys that helped out sanchez. it means a lot to us. so thanks downtown, doc, and that other guy (sorry i didnt get your name). thanks to the apoc staff for holding this event and being helpful when a guy went down. finally thanks to everyone that came out yesterday.

Alex

[Kenuchfleck]

Sanchez - I'm the guy in the red shemagh that came out that trench. At first I thought you were just doing a dramatic death!! I'm glad to hear you'll be back within a few weeks time, take care and don't rush the healing:)

PHR and U6 banded together to form a 6 man squad and I can honestly say this was the best game of the year for us as of yet! Razor, Dusty, Dimitri, Foolish, Kevo, you guys were awesome and your instincts kept us from needless poundings and in the middle of fights we could win! Great time flanking that US push around the end of the AM session! Also, Kevo, Foolish, Dusy and Dimitri, great job taking back the bridge right as the day ended! Dimitri I hear you killed a ton of guys! The medic rules used in the event where superior in my opinion and kept guys squadded with their medic and in the fight as long as possible. The tank was great, it struck fear in my heart (seeing as no one on our squad had any anti tank weapons) it actually pinned my brother up in the tower for about 15 minutes in the first half of the day, he didn't care though he had a field day up there and racked up an incredible amount of kills!

My only regrets are:

1. That I kept forgetting to take my kill rag off after I'd been medicated, my team mates and enemy's showed great patience reminding me.
2. I strained my back days before the event, I was hurting.
3. I'm out of shape and ended my day at 4:30.
4. That some of my mates on MEA didn't wear their shemaghs on their heads but rather balled up on their necks. I would've been really frustrated as team America trying to ID some of my team mates that looked exactly like some sort of US special forces team (this isn't a knock against you as people of course:).
5. Not having a 9.6 volt battery, my 8.4 was really struggling with my M110
6. That I didn't get to shoot Downslide or Aron or Batman more:)

Until then,
Kenuch

[DKruse]

6. That I didn't get to shoot Downslide or Aron or Batman more:)

Isn't that everyone's regret? :P



Thanks to everyone for being safe and honest... I never saw a safety violation or an act of cheating once. Only one person came up to me about someone taking their killrag to go find an OC about something (I never personally saw that person though). But I gave the guy my spare killrag and copied the message to the rest of the staff and went on a hunt for this man.

There was one incident with the "Airport" (the yellow rope...) it was due to bad communication/we using yellow tape to mark the far east boundary for parking. But both groups were there when I got on scene and talked things out, clarified it, and everyone came to an agreement and people seemed pleased. It was one long day, and it started out with me hating Ryan from saturday night, but I got through it some how (the ride home and then the ride to my dorm was insanely dazed though). Next year... I'm demanding an ATV.

Minor issues with communications for each team was evident as well (either not strong enough radios or VOXers or just random interference from the interstate). Nothing too big though.

Oh, there is one thing I wanted to say. I overheard a comment made on the radios about how the artillery/air strikes were taking too long. We do apologize, but mind you that there was one OC that was tasked to do the special effects, and he had to do other tasks throughout the day as well. But in real life artillery and air strikes aren't instantaneous either ;) .

I'm glad everyone had a good time and that sanchez will be back to his old self in no time. Hopefully we will see you all next year when things get bigger and better yet!

[JonJay]

To all players, this in Jon, owner of WAW....Thank you all....It was my 1st huge battle and also my sons 1st battle too. Wa both had a blasted playing city guards. It was hard sometimes to know who we should shoot and not but had a great time.

When the UN commander asked us if we would help him and offered us money and goats, my son and I said sure. He than told us to go and kill the MEA's and my son and I just walked back to the base and started a firefight with 20 or so guys. We hit about 6 or so, they never knew we were there and than they just light us UP! Who every got around me and shoot me upside / backside of the head, MAN THAT HURT, But great job on doing that.

I like the night battle, glowing BB's all were the best and when we all charged in the court yard. I yelled light up boys and we all starting shooting. That was too cool.

Also I'm glad your knee is ok Sanchez. Please next time don't tell me to go and start shooting all those people. HEHEHE!

Only one bad thing happen on our end to my son and I give him credit not crying over it. Just at the end he got up on someone and yelled "Bang" (was about 10' away) and that person swang around and shot him in the goggles at point black range with a sniper. Most likely by mistake but cracked the lenses just under where his eye was. We have to replace them 'cause my son borrowed them from Josh. I only ask, next time, please who ever did this just to be more careful.

BUT, again to all, thank you it was a blast. I'm so hurting right now, getting to old doing this running around and that dance I put on for the UN troops at the AirPort. After all, you all are young and I'm OldMan.

Jonathan
Owner of WAW

[Sargord Ghadir Farid]

Minor issues with communications for each team was evident as well (either not strong enough radios or VOXers or just random interference from the interstate). Nothing too big though.

Oh, there is one thing I wanted to say. I overheard a comment made on the radios about how the artillery/air strikes were taking too long. We do apologize, but mind you that there was one OC that was tasked to do the special effects, and he had to do other tasks throughout the day as well. But in real life artillery and air strikes aren't instantaneous either ;) .

The radio problems mostly cleared up when we switched channels.
I tried to play delays in the Air Strikes as "birds lost in the sky." I only really got frustrated the one time, and that was mostly because a couple allied squads were getting completely whailed on and I was trying to save their butts. I know the OC's and Ref's had a lot of work to do, and still, I think you guys did a hell of a job.

I think this is one of those situations of where all the players made me look good. If my role was a success it was all because of you guys. The MEA players certainly won the day. All I did was keep them company on the radio.

There’s always the chance that I will volunteer for future events so feel free to give any feedback you might have. What did you like? Where do I need to improve?
I can only place about 2 or 3 faces with names on these forums so I’m not going to really know who said what about me. It’s pretty much blind feedback at this point. You’re not going to hurt my feelings. Just be honest.

[Batman]

6. That I didn't get to shoot Downslide or Aron or Batman more:)

Have you ever?? :D

[The Only Bishop]

My views...

1. Dave & Bishop both got to see "The Brain" :thatwasga
2. I got to shoot a LOT of people.
3. I have nothing left to unload, thanks to that "final stand" Downslide mentioned (By the way, I saw my watch as it started & it was 20 min)
4. B-rik learned not to try to flank me again, even if I AM down to just my USP.

Good times.
I ran all the way from the top of stageing to get brained....

[Cereal Killer]

Well, here's my very slimmed down, summarized version:

That was a great game. My hat goes off to Kerrik and everyone else who put it together! Also, that was the first time I've been to APOC and I'll sure be back there again; it's a great field. I really liked how they incorporated the tank into the game, and I was also impressed by the UN commander. I was also amazed by the number of raffle prizes given away, I don't think I've ever seen that much given away at a game before. And yes, those tracer bbs were sure a sight to see, it startled me the first time I saw them.

Thanks Kerrik for a great game!

[Tyron]

I had a fun time on the MEA team with the Mujahideen cell, those few guys were great to run with. Also, the supply raid from the UN base was damn fun as well. Also, thanks again to whoever it was that let me try out that sweet Marui chrome desert eagle if he's on these forums, you've inspired me to get one. Also, thanks to Kerrik for throwing another great game, I enjoyed the Rock Springs game you hosted, and this one was even better. I look forward to Vigilance 3 if there will be one.

[JonJay]

Well, here's my very slimmed down, summarized version:

That was a great game. My hat goes off to Kerrik and everyone else who put it together! Also, that was the first time I've been to APOC and I'll sure be back there again; it's a great field. I really liked how they incorporated the tank into the game, and I was also impressed by the UN commander. I was also amazed by the number of raffle prizes given away, I don't think I've ever seen that much given away at a game before. And yes, those tracer bbs were sure a sight to see, it startled me the first time I saw them.

Thanks Kerrik for a great game!
To cool and wild to really see how BB's bounce all over the place when a small leaf gets in the way. Now if we all had them when we charged in the castle grounds and just started shooting, that would of been a trip.

JonJay
Still: OldMan

[armsdealer]

Another great event hats off to Ryan, Wolf OC's and Apoc. Thanks to all who visited and patronized the ABZ and WAW sales booths, its this local support at the games that keeps the free stuff flowing.:D Special thanks to Wisconsin Airsoft Wars for going the Extra mile on the fund raising. Sanchez hope the knee heals quick. CWC team had a tough time with "radio chatter" on the field. I know it was not our radios it was interferance from I94 traffic as at one point I was talking to a motorist while stalking a mixed force from Task Force Iron Hammer and Badger airsoft teams. Kudos Aaron when your A** has to get kicked it's nice to have it done as tactfully as you guys did us.[:Y:] Hope to see everone out at round up 2.

[Cochesse]

I would like to say thanks to kerrik and the rest of the OC staff for all the work they did. Thanks to APOC for hosting one of the best games this year. and thanks to all the players for playing an honorable and issue free game. Congrats to MEA for kicking our butts. Hope we can take our revenge at the next Op: Vig. If you all want to see some pics from the game my camera ladies were out and about taking pics. The pics can be seen at http://www.ironcrosselite.com/Photoalbum/.

Thanks again to Kerrik and everyone else for a great game.

[Danums]

hmmm is it just me or are there no pictures of op: vig 2 lol

[Rattler]

I had a great time at this game. Lots of fun in the night games, even though we couldnt see anything because of either dark or fog, even with NVG's, however, its a night game :] The first scenario on Sunday was very fun as we were probing into the enemy camp and then our base got overrun almost. I later lost a mag and went back to look for it and accidentally walked into the enemy camp. We (myself and a team-mate) spotted them and waited for the majority of the people to leave and then just took it and held it for about 5-8 minutes before they came back and pwned us. We got a good 10 kills out of it.

Thanks to everyone who offered to loan me a gun when mine was taken. I really appreciate it and because of you, I had a blast throgout the event and I learned that you always pad-lock your gun case, lol. I want to thank Aaron from TF Iron hammer, Jason from ABZ, Doc from TF Steel Horse, Jedi from TF Steel Horse, the minnesota gentleman (I am sorry but I forgot your name). I hope I did not forget anyone... I am slowly saving up to get a new one as soon as possible, and I will also be sure to order a lock and an anti-theft alarm or embed a shock collar in the metal or something, lol.

Again, I had a blast and I got to meet a bunch of new people and learned an amazing new field.



I look forwards to seeing you all soon, I MAY be at round up 2 if I can scrounge up the money for my new gun in time.



Thanks!
Rattler

[A-Ron]

...
4. That some of my mates on MEA didn't wear their shemaghs on their heads but rather balled up on their necks. I would've been really frustrated as team America trying to ID some of my team mates that looked exactly like some sort ...
Thats pretty much why I just started shooting anyone unless it was clear that they were UN...

[Junshi]

- I copied this from my post on the MAA boards:

Kind of a AAR:

First off thanks to Kerrik and the rest of the staff that made this a fun days play.

Second goes out to my Paladin brothers, Ghostbear and teammates, Jonesy, B'rik and everyone else that played with us. Paladin won MVP team for the MEA side - the award is as much for you guys...

So the game; First half of the day was based around locating supply cache's these could then be turned into the HQ for resource points that could be spent on perks, for example at the start of the day we were able to spend the majority of our points to lower our regen time from 10 mins to zero for the entire day. We could also call in an air strike, arty, airdrop teams and so forth.

First hiccup - there would be a tank (vehicle) in play that you could disable if you used several 203 rounds on it -- no-one in our whole side had a 203...lol

We got to the MEA base and my Paladin brothers picked me to be squad lead for the day and DT opted to be our medic. We got our assignments and headed out, quickly finding two supply caches, which we then returned to base. We continued to push hard down one side of the field, occasionally holding but eventually moved all the way down the field to a location marked as the 'airport' - this is where the first snafu came in. The boundary tape in some spots was a yellow tape. A yellow rope cut the airport field in half. We pushed through it and engaged the UN forces, the UN forces thought the rope meant we were out of bounds and thus refs had to be called in to clarify - we parlayed and backed off as the UN forces were told that we were in play and the rope was NOT a boundary.

It was around this point that we discovered that some of the items we were returning to base were NOT supply caches. We would discover a large green duffel bag right next to 2-3 boxes. We were supposed to just return the boxes.....not the duffel (which I think we did twice).

Also there were areas of the field designated as specific location (e.g. Tower, airport and town) in each of these you could place a flag on a pole to specify who 'held' that location. The only problem here was these poles were about 3 feet high, and so small you could easily overlook them. They served a purpose, but you could not tell who 'held' a location until you were on top of this flag.

After pushing down to the airport I decided to pull the team back to HQ as we had spotty comms with them and I need to know what was going on. We returned and got reassigned to assist a group take a Radio tower location on the back field. We assisted eventually taking the location and holding it until lunch time despite my squad AND a tank (vehicle not player) being taken out twice (once by arty). Bascially in about 30 mins I was reduced to holding the Radio tower with just myself and Jonesy. So that being said off to lunch...

After lunch we reconvened at the MEA base. The afternoon revolved around holding the locations we had marked by placing our flags on the flagpoles, and trying to destroy the UN held locations. Paladin was assigned the radio tower as we had held it in the morning. We headed out only to find the UN forces already occupied that location and had already demo'ed it? (again I could be wrong, but my impression was we were supposed to start IN POSSESSION of the target).

2nd snafu, involving the tank (vehicle). The rules stated that you could not be within ten feet of a MOVING tank. We were engaging forces on the back field, it is a trail just wide enough for a car to move down, on one side is maybe 3 feet then a boundary fence, the other side is about 4 feet then a lake. Paladin plus a few other players were fighting toward the radio tower when the UN forces brought up the tank (vehicle) - we all jumped into the thick cover next to the lake. The tank started to move toward us with UN forces right behind it. Finally after killing most of the UN forces that were right behind the tank, the tank stopped within 2 feet of me and 4 feet of tank (player). We were so close the turret could not get low enough to shoot us, but we could not 'kill' the tank (vehicle). We continued to engage the UN forces, preventing them from approaching the tank (vehicle). Finally I got fed-up of this situation and stood up and parlayed with the the tank's driver. We agreed that we would back up and he would not kill us. We then started playing again. The rest of the afternoon felt a little more like a typical skirmish as the objectives (other than those I outlined) did not seem clear.

Also there were two 'special forces' guys disguised as MEA who were running around the field. They got killed and DT revived them as per the medic rules, they then bang/knife killed about 10-15 players. It turns out they were not operating within their 'roles' [EDIT: We were told this by a ref on the field - no offense to those that played their parts well!!]. But once we had ID'ed them we informed everyone to watch for them.

On the downside:

A gun was stolen.
Jonesy's tracer was stolen.
10 mins after the game had ended a UN player knowingly shot Tank in the face from close range. When Tank called him on his conduct the player laughed it off. I have to say I would have banned the player on the spot.

Thats pretty much it. It was a great day. Kerrik please don't take any of the above personally no Op goes perfectly, so we all continue to learn how to better run larger events.

My fav moment: Holding the Radio tower with myself and Jonesy (after about 10 squad mates were killed), calling the MEA command and telling them 'my whole squad is gone, this will probably be my last communication, we will hold out as long as we can, I'm going comms silent...goodbye."


4. That some of my mates on MEA didn't wear their shemaghs on their heads but rather balled up on their necks. I would've been really frustrated as team America trying to ID some of my team mates that looked exactly like some sort ...

- That was most certainly us Paladin guys (you know the MEA fat guys in multicam), we asked if we could use our own shemaghs and were told it was ok, but on hindsight they could have been more VISIBLE.

Another EDIT: As for the delay on the arty strikes, thats ok. Its just the usual game time adrenaline, when you have a tank feet away and are screaming for the strike on your location...at the time I was begging for it to land, then when it didn't we had to keep adjusting the co-ords as the tank started to move.

- J

[Danums]

actually we were playing our part. our mission was to collect data. after talking to peopel and figuring out what each teams missions were we wanted to go out with a bang and kill people. you guys healed us and we killed you all after it was done..... sorry but we got bored lol

p.s. you only killed one of us.

edit sorry i didnt see that. i know there was a lot of confusion, which was kind of the idea. we thought it was well covered and the point of our team was to be sneaky and cause a lot of confusion. a little too much i guess lol. it wasnt very nice of us to kill all your medics after you healed us but we had a bit of fun.

but running into the mea sf team that was looking for us was very very scary as someone (with a killrag on his head) informed them that we were the pmc team. we banged them all before they could kill us and realize what was going on. then i got shot by the dead guy (i was a bit confused) we were each medics so we could heal each other but ryan didnt give us bands so he counted to 7 and we took off. i know this created a lot of confusion but we really werent cheating. most of you know us and how we play.

so once again thanks to everyone that showed up and sorry for all the confusion.

[Junshi]

Danums:

That's cool, it was frustrating for you guys to do that too us. But at the same time - good job!

- J

[Beasthunter33]

I had a fun time on the MEA team with the Mujahideen cell, those few guys were great to run with. Also, the supply raid from the UN base was damn fun as well. Also, thanks again to whoever it was that let me try out that sweet Marui chrome desert eagle if he's on these forums, you've inspired me to get one. Also, thanks to Kerrik for throwing another great game, I enjoyed the Rock Springs game you hosted, and this one was even better. I look forward to Vigilance 3 if there will be one.


That was MCXL, or at least that is his name on the MAA boards. And in case you are wondering I was the guy with the Scimitar and Army Class A coat.

[Tyron]

Yeah, I recognized you. That was pretty intense hangin on to the APC through all that fighting. I was lucky enough to take out 1 or 2 guys with the Deagle while I was back there.

[Cleric]

This was the best big airsoft game I have been to since I started playing back in January. Well done, Kerrik, and well done to all the players. It was great to see the MAA guys there. You all are some exemplary airsofters. Now if only I had won that SCAR to replace my broken MP5. I am looking forward to the next Op Vig.

[Danums]

who did win the scar?

[Downtown]

Well where do I begin?

Downtown = Medic

Well it has been over 5 years since I played a medic. 5 years and about 40 pounds ago. But it was a blast running around, sliding, jumping over ****, and just helping everyone out. Little did I know that I would be called into action for real later in the day.

This was my second game @ APOC and it was a blast. I really enjoyed playing with my Paladin brothers (and extended Airsoft Family): Ghostbear, Andy, Batman, Shrubber, Hanzo, Blitz, A-Ron, Daemondog, Downslide, and many, many, more....

Someone said it best....There was NO Bitching on the field. While I did see a few instances of players (both sides) not calling their hits...for the most part people did. People were just having a good time.

Here is somethings that I say that are things that can be improved upon:

1) Give clear rules on Air Strike death radius! Numerous times the ref's had to call and ask the radius for death when using an airstrike.

2) Bigger flags at objectives

3) More ref's around the castle to prevent people from blind firing down on other players.



I also have to mention something that happened to a well seasoned airsoft veteran during the event. A veteran player (From WI and now in MN) eliminated a player earlier in the day and the eliminated player was pissed. At the end of the game (10 minutes after the end of the game) the veteran player walked into the castle only to get shot in the face by the player that he eliminated earlier in the day. When the player (Wearing MARPAT) was asked what the hell he was doing....He laughed and was overheard bragging about "PAYBACK". He was also overheard by many people bragging about hitting this player at very close range and getting revenge.....

That was NOT COOL! You know who you are and you are lucky. It was totally uncalled for and unsafe. We know what team you belong to and you represent more than yourself.

Anyway...Kerrik...Fun game!

APOC....Can't wait until the game in November. I love your field and maybe someday I will actually see the inside of that wonderful castle.

Now I have to go ice my hams from all of the running and gunning yesterday.

[Sanchez]

does anyone have any links to pictures from this event by chance? i looked on the link above and i'm not very good at navigation so i think i might have passed over them but not quite sure, ill have to check for updates

[Rattler]

CrazedAntelope won the SCAR, there should be pics on ICE's website but mr. cochesse probably is too busy playing with his, what, 4 prizes? (lol). I saw the mark on the one players face, that did not look like it felt good... however I heard that Kerrik took care of the problem...



Cochesse must be done playing, the pics are up
http://www.ironcrosselite.com/Photoalbum/thumbnails.php?album=19

[Shifty]

I had an sweet time running with the MEA. The MEA commander did a very good job with the bringing the big map with and using the beads as markers for where his squads were. The air and arty rounds going off were cool:D That was my first time there and I will defiantly go back again.

I did not see any major safety violations which is a plus. A few instances were some things could have been avoided but no one got hurt from them. I like our bonsai charge along the path next to the castle, 9 went by only 3 came out the other side. I was one of them and then we proceed to go threw the UN base with the tank, take out 6 guys and almost take out the UN commander. He was the one that shot me.

I like the raid we maid in the last 20 min of the UN base.

I had a good time and hope to be back next year.

[JonJay]

Another great event hats off to Ryan, Wolf OC's and Apoc. Thanks to all who visited and patronized the ABZ and WAW sales booths, its this local support at the games that keeps the free stuff flowing.:D Special thanks to Wisconsin Airsoft Wars for going the Extra mile on the fund raising. Sanchez hope the knee heals quick. CWC team had a tough time with "radio chatter" on the field. I know it was not our radios it was interferance from I94 traffic as at one point I was talking to a motorist while stalking a mixed force from Task Force Iron Hammer and Badger airsoft teams. Kudos Aaron when your A** has to get kicked it's nice to have it done as tactfully as you guys did us.[:Y:] Hope to see everone out at round up 2.
As a thanks to all who put this together, Apoc / Staff, and all the players. As WAW, to all the customers that came in and donated $1 to $2 and help raise the money. And also all who picked up items from me at the event. To WAA, I got to play with you guys and all the teams, you made this event worth donating the prizes.

Thank you for supporting the store. Look forward to playing with all of you a lot more and helping these events grow here in WI and have fun. I promise next time to get my vendors envoled more.

In my eyes, I lost alot of customer this day, Now I see you all as friends and co-players. ( And NO A-ron - you don't get a 65% discount now ):D

Until the next battle cry, See ya!

JonJay
The Player/Owner of WAW

[Cochesse]

It was my bad the I screwed up on the permitions with the album but it should be working now. http://www.ironcrosselite.com/Photoalbum/thumbnails.php?album=19 let me know if it is not working.

[Kenuchfleck]

Considering that team MEA didn't have a single anti tank weapon the outcome could've been a totally different for us had the US marched a tank into our HQ like we did to theirs. The tank HQ attack was our biggest worry that thankfully never materialized, if it had happened we would have been absolutely rapped...

[Kerrik13]

Storyline
On September 16th, 2007, the mighty armies of the United Nations and the Middle Eastern Alliance clashed over multiple battlefields all over Iraq. Numerous battles and high casualties were reported in what some have said could be the start of the third World War. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Drake, Task Force Commander of the United Nations ground forces in the Middle East met the invasion by Sargord Ghadir Farid, commander of the Middle Eastern Alliance ground forces, head on in the streets and country sides of Iraq. The UN forces were caught off guard by the tactical efficiency and strength of the MEA army. Even though the UN had more fire missions, frontline support, and less casualties, the MEA’s endless supply of troops pouring into the battlefield forced the UN to fall back from their headquarters at the end of the engagement. With a full scale retreat of UN forces in the area, the MEA has shown the world that there is a force strong enough to stand up to the United States and the United Nations. Iraq, previously allied with the UN, has shown favoritism to the invading MEA army and some of the populace has rallied to their cause. Although a major victory for the new army, it has a long way to go to fully win the war as the United States and numerous other countries have shifted their attention and their military forces to the Middle East.


Event outcome
Both teams started the day with 75 points. Immediately, the MEA purchased 3 “Faster Reinforcements” advantages to completely remove any wait for their dead players. The UN purchased additional medics early on in the game to keep their soldiers in the fight longer. After that, the teams spent the points mainly on fire support to take out enemy tanks or entrenched soldiers. At the end of the day, the UN force had 85 points and the MEA force had 200 points. These point totals will be important because the Operation Vigilance storyline is going to turn into a statewide ongoing “Risk board game” style campaign where numerous events can contribute to the overall storyline and outcome of the campaign. This information will be available at a later date, but it is certain that the point totals of the event will be important to kick off this campaign.

Both commanders for the teams survived, but the UN commander was severely wounded during battle. Both secondary commanders (of Israeli and Syrian origin) survived the battle without harm. About half of the battlefield was destroyed by ground forces or fire support, which has caused a lot of anger from the government of Iraq. The large tower, the supply depot, local communication arrays were all destroyed and the palace was hit by artillery. Several civilians were shot and killed, a few accidentally and one deliberately, which has caused the favoritism of the populace to drastically shift to the MEA. A contractor team in the area was discovered and both forces have shifted a bit of focus towards the country of Kazakhstan.


Organizer Notes
From an OC perspective, this event was a lot of fun to watch. I got one heck of a workout running all over the field to help with clarifications and to take pictures/video, and it seemed like all the players were having a good time with the game. I have some real nice video I am going to put together into a promotional piece for the series.

I am viewing this event as a learning experience. Although the feedback has been pretty positive and a lot of people have said they had a lot of fun, I felt that as an event coordinator I could have done better. I took a lot of notes on how to make things flow better next year. The OCs were also spread so thin during the event. Three different local drama clubs that stated would come and play never ended up showing at all. This hurt during game day because I had to cover several roles and had to take people from my team and put them where it was needed instead of where I wanted them. Hopefully the players still had a lot of fun, because it was sure a lot of fun to watch! Thank you all for being patient with me; this is the biggest event I’ve ever organized! 

There were a couple goof ups on my part that I felt hindered the game play and I apologize for them. The first is that some people didn’t understand the missions very well. Although some players just didn’t feel like paying attention (some concerns brought up already were clearly stated in the rules), I know that I can make them easier to understand next time around. Next time I am going to try and make sure there is a quick briefing for each team at the beginning of each phase so there is less misunderstanding. Also, the maps that were handed to the commanders after lunch were completely wrong. Teams went to destroy stuff that was allied and others went to defend things that were under control by the enemy. The person who updated the maps had the colors wrong and it caused a lot of confusion. It was a goof up on the OCs part and I apologize. The other confusing part that was brought to my attention was the contractor team. Although the two players in the contractor role were technically still in their character’s role, the bang kills and deaths inflicted by this team were more than I had planned on happening. As the event coordinator, I would like to make the comment (because both sides of the contractor issue have been expressed already) that it wasn’t my intent to put a “sneaky blend in and bang kill everyone and cause chaos” role into the game. I’m chalking this one up to just two different perspectives of a role like this (it was meant mainly as an Intel gathering mission with the ability to engage anyone at will if needed, but turned into a chance to blend in to get close and kill people which caused a lot of confusion). Next time, if there is a role like this, I will handle it a with a lot more caution.

A few people have expressed their concern that the MEA didn’t have or were not issued any anti-vehicle weapons. This is going to sound harsh, but if you didn’t bring any or didn’t coordinate with anyone else to bring any, then tough luck. The information about the vehicle was on the Op Vig message board and it was stated that anti-vehicle weapons will not be issued. I personally don’t even have anti-vehicle weapons to issue even if I wanted to. One team on the UN brought an RPG and nobody on the MEA did. This forced the MEA to use artillery to take out the tank where the UN could just use a few M203 shells or RPG hits. Sometimes war (or scenarios about war) isn’t fair, and this is one of those cases; if you didn’t bring a solution, then it will be a bigger problem for your team while you operate on the field.

[Kerrik13]

The medic rules went over really well and I think the armbands are now my preferred choice for the medic system. It gives the ability for the medics to get on the frontlines, it gives the players a chance to stay in the fight longer, and everyone seemed to enjoy them. It was fun watching the medics run around and heal people.

I tried to watch people as much as possible during the game and it was surprisingly clean. Numerous times I had walked up behind a player and they had no idea I was behind them. They would peak out and take a hit, one that could easily be ignored, and they called hit and pulled out their kill rag. I even stood next to a few people that took a couple hits but just honestly had no idea they got hit (one guy got hit in his billowing shemagh as he was moving and another on his backpack as he was crawling). It happens far more often than people think, and you get a whole new perspective on just how accurate (or inaccurate) airsoft guns are when you can OC and watch people fight. I was very pleased with the relatively clean game and I commend the players for making it one!

With a game of 115 players, I am happy to say that there was not a single reported or observed violation of the eye protection rule. This makes me very happy, because stuff like that can get airsoft banned from a field very fast. It also looks bad for the event and the players, and to my knowledge everyone followed the rules. The weather could also be a factor, because it was perfect airsoft weather and the chance of fogging was slim. A couple people ended up getting close to the vehicle while it was moving and had to be reminded. There were also few closer-than-comfortable ranged shots, but other than that the safety aspect of the game was pretty good. The praise for this one goes to the players, because it is the players who dictate how safe an event will be; the OCs can only warn and then react.

Although I am happy with the outcome of the event, there were still a couple problems. The new player number system seemed to help keep people in line; we took down the information for two different players who now have permanent records of their infractions attached to them. I will continue using this system in the future and several other teams and groups have requested to be sent the information I gather as soon as it is available. A gun and a tracer unit were stolen late Saturday night. It sickens me that a game based on honor will have problems like this. This isn’t someone thinking a BB hit was a ricochet and decides to carry on or someone who ignores a hit because they think no one is watching… this is a crime, a theft, or someone’s personal property and it looks bad for our sport. The best thing the players can do is to make sure their stuff is locked up in cases and cars during any games anywhere. There was a concern (which has already been discussed on the boards) of a played that deliberately shot another in the face after the game had ended or right when it was ending. Although there is a lot of “he said, she said, they said, we said” kind of stuff that goes on in an issue like this, this situation has been dealt with. There was also an injury; one player moved the wrong way and ended up popping out or spraining his knee. The player is fine, but will be nursing his leg back to health for a couple of weeks.

There were plenty of instances of good things that happened during the event as well. Not only did the sportsmanship of the players stay good throughout the day, there were two times where the actions of the players surprised me in a good way. In the airport (the large flat field near the tower) there was a long yellow rope that separates the field. This is used (I believe) as a center field line for paintball tournaments and I didn’t think anything would mistake it as a boundary line. We put up some yellow marking tape near the airport field to keep people away from the camping/safe zone, but I never realized people would mistake the yellow center line for the boundary. The UN thought their back was up against the wall and the MEA thought they were getting a perfect flank. The battle afterwards involved a lot of confused UN players. The refs were called and by the time we got there, the players had just met in the middle, talked about it, and decided to parlay back a ways and start back in the game. Instead of players getting huffy, yelling cuss words, and running off, the players talked it through and came to a solution all on their own. The other instance was when we had to make the “Blind Man” call when the player got hurt. In less than 20-30 seconds the entire field had halted and everyone was seeing what they could do to help. A couple of the GroupW (Chris P.[Shogun] & Ryan T.[Cowboy]) and Paladin (Mat B.[Downtown]) guys went to work making a splint and helping the injured player. These guys took time out of their playing to help the injured and get him off the field. As an event coordinator, I am very grateful to the assistance that they gave (a few of them were volunteer EMT/fire fighters in real life and have reacted to situations like this before). It was a wake up call that we are all players coming out to a game to have fun, and when someone was hurt for real everyone seemed to band together to help. Again, congrats and thanks to the players of the event that went above and beyond.

It was an action packed weekend, but it was also a lot of fun. We had a lot of stuff to give away and some players walked away with a lot of good prizes. The players who bought the extra Op Vig kill rag ended up winning some decent stuff because of the extra ticket they got for the prize giveaway. After everything was said and done, the event had raised $100 for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and $305 for the VFW Post 7591’s Veteran’s Memorial! Thank you to all the players who came out to the event and I look forward to seeing you all at Operation Vigilance 3 in the fall of 2008.

[Tyron]

Are you planning on Replacing the UN with other forces like the U.S. and allies? The real UN doesn't really do jack to help anymore and actually seem to get more in the way than anything else in real life situations, so I thought it would be interesting to maybe bring in U.S. Army, Marines, or even some British troops.
Just a thought, but obviously its not up to me. Either way, I'll be looking forward to next year's game. Congrats on a good outcome, Kerrik.

[DKruse]

Are you planning on Replacing the UN with other forces like the U.S. and allies? The real UN doesn't really do jack to help anymore and actually seem to get more in the way than anything else in real life situations, so I thought it would be interesting to maybe bring in U.S. Army, Marines, or even some British troops.
Just a thought, but obviously its not up to me. Either way, I'll be looking forward to next year's game. Congrats on a good outcome, Kerrik.

There are actually around 119 countries around the world that contribute manpower to the UN Security Forces (This includes Police, Military Observers, and regular troops). The US is the main power of the world, but contributes very little manpower to the UN outside of military operations (only about 305 persons in August of 2007). The US, Britain, and the larger powers of the world tend to lend a big leading hand to the UN during peacekeeping operations. And actually, the SF team for the UN was actually the United States Special Forces. So the US were on scene at op vig 2 ;)

[Lt Col Drake]

:fight:
Although we were not victorious on Sunday, i would like to extend my gratitude to all of the U.N. forces who so valiantly gave their lives repeatedly to try to stabilize the situation in Iraq. I only wish that i could be around for the next event in this storyline.
Once again, i thank all of the U.N. forces, and congratulate the evil M.E.A. forces on their "victory" :thatwasga

[Ghostbear]

Ryan,

I edited your post to include the names and call signs of the guys that helped with the blown knee. Thought I am sure that there were more that helped (because those three werent the only ones to get him into the back of that truck :) ).

I think that at the very least, we as players, should be grateful for their assistance and dedication to help in a situation like this, and using their own supplies from their med bags to assist without hesitation.

I personally am grateful for their assistance and help in dealing with medical issues at this game and other prior times.

Thank you.

GB

[Rattler]

gave their lives repeatedly

lol, that doesent sound right.

It was a pleasure serving under you. Our team very much enjoyed it.

Best of luck in your future, maybe you will be on leave or something for part 3.

[Kerrik13]

Ryan,

I edited your post to include the names and call signs of the guys that helped with the blown knee. Thought I am sure that there were more that helped (because those three werent the only ones to get him into the back of that truck :) ).

I think that at the very least, we as players, should be grateful for their assistance and dedication to help in a situation like this, and using their own supplies from their med bags to assist without hesitation.

I personally am grateful for their assistance and help in dealing with medical issues at this game and other prior times.

Thank you.

GB

GB,
Thanks for the edit (I'm bad at names-to-callsigns) and I second everything you said! These guys sprang into action fast to help. We kept the game at a cease-fire for about 15-20 minutes so they could get off the field and through the safe zone without major delays or congestion.

Again, thanks to those that helped!

[DKruse]

Yes, I also agree, without their first aid training things could have only been worse when someone tried to help him out. The only frustrating thing on my end was when I was trying to get a location to get the truck there (I was one of two OCs with the truck at the UN base when we got an injury call over the radio.) After about a minute of asking for location, we decided to just start heading towards the main part of the field (towards the MEA base and then head towards the shack). We finally got a location and floored it. Needless to say it was an interesting ride in the back of that beat up truck.

[Downslide]

Ryan,

I edited your post to include the names and call signs of the guys that helped with the blown knee....

Apparently I'm just chopped liver....:(

J/K

Seriously, it was a terrible thing to happen, but it was a great boon to have the professionals on hand that we did. We have a few "First Responder" qualified players that I know of, and one or two EMT's, and apparently a nurse or two as well. It would be nice to be able to have that kind of asset on hand at every game, but at least they were there Sunday.

[Cheesehead]

Cheesehead here from GOPMAT, I'd like to thank the few guys who joined our team for the day, excellent work all around.

I really enjoyed being a medic for the day, (particularly in front of the castle by the tank and the bunker, that was nuts for a while) and look forward to doing it again in the near future.

There were some communications issues but everything went smoothly, well, except the attack on the MEA depot, where our squad of 10 was over run by what seemed to be the entire MEA force.

Anyway, I had a great time, and want to thank everyone who helped put the OP together.

[Tyron]

There are actually around 119 countries around the world that contribute manpower to the UN Security Forces (This includes Police, Military Observers, and regular troops). The US is the main power of the world, but contributes very little manpower to the UN outside of military operations (only about 305 persons in August of 2007). The US, Britain, and the larger powers of the world tend to lend a big leading hand to the UN during peacekeeping operations. And actually, the SF team for the UN was actually the United States Special Forces. So the US were on scene at op vig 2 ;) Yea I suppose you are right, but its always nice to have a variety, this is my 2nd game in a row where one side has been UN.

[Beasthunter33]

Hey Ryan, can we get a number of U.N. players and MEA players?

[seppuku]

I must say I had a very enjoyable experience at this game. It was great running around with Unit 6 and Pale Horse Regiment as Blue Team, and as a whole the MEA forces seemed to coordinate and work very well together. I want to give a quick "pat on the back" to Sargord Ghadir Farid for doing a stand-up job of keeping our side busy, on task, and relatively organized -- by no means an easy assignment. Phase 1 was the highlight for me, whereas in Phase 2 I found myself doing a lot of walking (my legs are still sore :cry: ).

Here are my thoughts on the day, some of which reiterate what others have already said....

The "good":

Most everyone seemed to play honorably.
The seemingly endless cornucopia of primo giveaways (see counterpoint below).
Solid, obtainable objectives.
Great event staff (Kerrik, Apoc, OCs, etc.), which I [luckily] avoided having to contact but regularly saw throughout the day.
Lots of killin' and lots of dyin'.


The "could use some improvement":

While exceedingly generous, the raffle moved a little slow. With that amount of prizes though, I doubt there's little one could do to speed it along, and you really shouldn't fault generosity.
I personally feel it would have made more sense for the teams to start Phase 2 at the locations which they controlled at the end of phase one.



Memorable moments:

Starting the day by assaulting the trenches where we immediately engaged some the resistance and inflicted heavy casualties.
Kenuch running down the path all the way back to MEA HQ yelling that a tank was coming.....only to find out that the tank was friendly. ;)
Making a desperate retreat for our base as the UN forces came imminently close to overrunning it.
Watching Raspootin hide under the chicken coup close to the palace and "bang" people when they got close, while Geiger rained down plastic death from the top of the tower.
Walking all the way down that path that rambles along the highway (which I had never before been on) only to eventually get "blown up" by artillery (or airstrike, or whatever else it was that suddenly made that really loud noise in my proximity).
Rushing with PHR, U6, and a couple other guys to secure the Land Bridge and Stronghold at the end of the day.


I'm sure there were more, but I don't recall them all....which I guess doesn't really make them a Memorable Moment then, does it? -scrachin


Final thought: Who would have thought that watching two goats butt heads could be so entertaining?......or maybe i'm the only one.

[daemondog]

Hey…it getting rather late with the AAR but I’d like add my two cents.

First off I wanted to thank Kerrick for hosting the game. I could tell that you put a lot of work into this event and it defiantly shows. Although you yourself admit that things could have been better, for the majority of players that day, I think the event went off fine. I’ll defiantly be looking forward to your next OP.

Since this is an AAR, I’ll be sure throw out my view of the event on what I liked and what I thought needs improvement.

For those of you who don’t know me…I’m DaemonDog from Spartan Project and I played as member of the UN/US Special Forces Team. Right from the start our unit started running into problem. Before the game even started we suffered from a series of personnel problems and equipment issues. This is a problem that we as a unit encountered in the beginning of the game and it cost us dearly in achieving majority of our objectives. But true to military fashion, we overcame these setbacks and continued our mission.

The game as a whole was great. So I’ll just list a few of my observations.

What I thought was good:


For the most the part, the players played with honor. I really didn’t any see any intentional cheating or other questionable acts.



I really enjoyed the medic rules for this game. I’ve used them in the past and always thought they were one of the better sets of medic rules available. I like them because they provide a balance between MILSIM feel and an Action-Soft intensity. The only change I would add is a mobile Causality Collection Point (CCP) to avoid long walks to the respawn point and to keep players closer to the battle. Not mention it makes great objective to try to overrun.



I like the tank being used. Not only did I enjoy killing it two times with my RPG, I felt it added a new aspect the game itself. the driver seemed to have a great sense of humor. From my view point…it seemed that he was there to provide a service to the other players in the event instead of just playing. AND he did just that…he did a great job and my only regret is not being able to shake his hand after the event.


What I thought needs improvement:



Special event rules and objectives were not clear to us as the Special Forces. Some of the things such as Objective flags and boundaries were unclear to some of the players. There seemed to be a lot of confusion on some of special rules involved with objectives and scenario rules. We had no idea that there were flags involved in certain locations on the field that denote team control. A lot o f this confusion could be avoided with better briefings with each team. Unfortunately, since the objective and scenario rules weren’t clear to us, it forced us to disregard the mission objectives and we started looking for a fire fight instead of playing the scenario.



Players need to learn not to leave their gear unattended. It’s starting to become a problem at every major event here in Wisconsin. Player’s guns or gear is left unattended and unsecured and as a result it’s getting jacked by some degenerate. I really hope to God that whoever is stealing other people gear gets caught and gets a beat down. I really hate thieves.



Although not a major concern of mine…I felt that uniform requirement should have been expanded upon with more than a Shemage on the MEA forces. I think it would help in avoiding confession as well as player frustrations on the field if teams were denoted by color or camo-pattern.



The Long walk back to respawn point. That really sucked donkey doo.

[Kerrik13]

It seems to me that a common topic that a lot of people's AARs are touching on are the missions/objectives and objective poles. When everyone pre-registered, they had access to all the missions and the map for their team. Detailed below are the two main missions for each phase.


In Phase One, both teams will be fighting for control of eight random locations on the map. Each location will have resources in them so the force that captures a location first will have access to them. In order to control a location, you must control it and raise your teams color in the center of the objective. Be aware that just because you capture an objective does not mean it is yours; control can be gained or lost at any time through Phase One. Ownership of an objective matters the most during the end of Phase One; whichever team has control of an objective will control it completely in Phase Two and it will generate resource points.


In Phase One, both teams fought for control of eight objectives on the map. At the end of Phase One, if you controlled a location then it is permanently your teams until the end of the game. This objective cannot be recaptured but it can be destroyed. Each location will generate resource points every 45 minutes which will be added to your team’s resource pool. Each location has a certain number of structure damage it can take before being completely destroyed. Each location can also be destroyed by ground forces. To do this, you must control the objective and “set explosives” by finding the smoke grenade attached to a pole in the center of the objective. When the pin is pulled on the smoke grenade, the objective is destroyed. A destroyed location has no strategic value and can be abandoned.

Both commanders also had the missions for these, but I believe I can isolate a few areas as to why this was confusing. One, is that I should have briefed everyone in more detail in the morning and actually showed them what an objective pole looked like. I think this would have helped tremendously, but only hind-sight is 20/20. :P

Also, I'm still balancing the difference between "Only pre-registered players having access to missions" and "Everyone having access to missions". I was afraid that mission info would leak to other teams if people could just go on and look at the missions, so that is why I had them on the private forums. But what this ended up doing is that half of the people on the boards knew what the missions were, half of the people who signed up didn't care or read enough, and then the day-of players had no clue what the missions were at all. I was under the assumption that the commanders would have more time to brief his forces in detail and not be quite so rushed, but it was a definite learning experience on just how involved players are willing to be before gametime. Next time, I will make sure to make clearer objectives and get the info out to the players easier; perhaps I'll do a pre-reg to get into the private boards but you don't necessarily have to pay... still working out the kinks on that one.

And in case anyone is still confused about the contractor thing, the SF teams and each commander had this mission info given to them. I still think it was too confusing and I probably won't try to do a spy/incognito team ever again. :P

Story
Intel has reason to believe that a highly trained contractor sniper team is in the area. An unconfirmed report has stated that this team is moving incognito between both the MEA and UN forces. Their intent or origin is unknown, but they must be captured along with any Intel they have. If this team catches wind of the search, they may disappear.

Details
The two man team that must be captured will attempt to blend into both teams and gather as much Intel as they can. They are the only people on the field (other than civilians) that are allowed to put on and take off a shemagh or head dress at will. Once this team is captured, bring any Intel they have back to base

Again, I would like to thank everyone for being patient and playing in the game. I learned a lot, and this was a huge step up from the other games I've coordinated... Op Vig 1 was 45 players, Stormfront was about 35, and the Rock Springs invite was about 35. Jumping to 120 was quite the change! As an event coordinator, I'm looking forward to implementing the changes to help you guys, the players, have more fun. :)

[Sargord Ghadir Farid]

Thank you, Seppuku and Shifty, for the compliments.

I learned a lot from this event. I mean, a LOT. There are some things I’m glad I did. Some things I wish I did better.

I have already written a full page of notes on what I would do differently, and I have some great plans and ideas for next time I get to play such a role.
I would love to see an Op Vig III. If I have the luxury of to command at Op Vig III, and if I would be welcome to do so by my teammates, I know I can make it even more tight and appealing.
You’ll just have to trust me when I say I have some stomp-ass ideas to make it much better. ;)

Regardless, I'm sure some of you will see me at some point in other roles, in other persona's, or participating and fighting right along side you.
It was great meeting everyone.

[jiffy890]

Those aren't the photographer's pictures, are they? that can't be all of them, i swear i only saw like, five mea guys in them. are his pictures out yet?

[A-Ron]

Those pictures in the ICE album are from ICE photographers. Thats why most of the pictures are of ICE members.

[Kerrik13]

Hey everyone! I completely spaced during the prize giveaway and forgot to hand out the voucher for a FREE pair of Altama LiteSpeed combat boots.

http://www.altama.com/Tp1/item_detail.aspx?ItemCode=3454

These boots are awesome, and I believe retail for up to $80. To remedy this problem, I am going to randomly draw a player number from the list of registered players I have that attended Operation Vigilance 2. That player will win the voucher and I will mail it to them. Problem is, I only have contact information for the players who pre-registered. If you want in on this chance to win these boots, send an email with your full name, player number if you remember it, and the email address you want in your player record to operationvigilance@yahoo.com. I will randomly pick the winner on Sunday, September 30th. Only players who attended Operation Vigilance 2 are eligible for this prize and I have a full list of people who were there, so I will be able to determine if you are eligible or not.

Thanks!

[seppuku]

I gotta ask: Where are the rest of the pics? :)

[Cereal Killer]

Will there be anymore pictures coming out?

[Kerrik13]

I was filming, so I don't have hardly any pics... I saw a few cameras on the field but I don't know who had them. Hopefully they will turn up here and there. :P

PS- The chosen winner for the Altama boots has yet to respond to my email... if he doesn't reply by Sunday I will be choosing a new player to receive the prize.

[Cheesehead]

You could always just donate the boots to the "New Boots for Cheesehead Foundation"

When will the Vig 2 video be put up anyway?

[Cereal Killer]

Not to sound like broken record, but when will the videos be coming out?

Thanks!