The organisers of the Tantalum Contract 6 surely have some surprises leading to the event this weekend. The first one is that it is the first airsoft event that will be played on two continents --- North America and Africa. The second one is that an injured airsoft player unable to join them will be able to play remotely, from the comfort of his bedroom (or game room perhaps?).

On its 6th edition, the Tantalum Contract will have Scarlet Tactical organising the South Africa part of the event. For those who have not heard of the group, whilst they organize recreational airsoft games and airsoft force on force training for the military and law enforcement agencies, they have an even more noble objective, it is a company on a mission to save South Africa's endangered rhinoceros species. And to use airsoft as part of the training to help rangers in the protection of the rhinos is very much notable.

You might wonder how an injured player will be able to join in the Tantalum Contract 6 game remotely, with the first thing coming to your mind about some software or mobile application that has been specifically made for use in airsoft games, and there are already existing apps available. But in this case, Ronaldo Fourie of Scarlet Tactical, mentioned that their solution is simple.

But before we get into that, Fourie explained that they have an injured player though the the injury is not airsoft related. In this case, the “disabled/injured” player figured in a motorcycle accident and is unable to play airsoft for at least 6 months. Fourie said that their player misses airsoft so much that and I assume that he would be gutted if he won’t be able to play in the first Tantalum Contract event in South Africa. With that predicament, Fourier and Scarlet Tactical decided to use a very popular app to help him join in the action.

As Fourie further explains:

Tech is amazingly simple (As fixing problems the simple way is what we do in SA) --- Smart phone and Whats App. Also used Google earth for sat maps, etc. for the command and control of players. All comms was done via Whats App Voice Notes, Text, Video and photo. Command gave orders via text or voice note. Team comms with command via text or voice note and intel or objectives achieved was sent via video or photo for conformation.

It’s amazing simple as they use already existing and free applications for some sort of a Command & Control System to allow their injured player act as the coordinator of the action of one group. Also, they have already tested the adhoc system in an event that they call “Block Lockdown” which was a night airsoft operation.

Photo: The General ready for game to command and control the SF team 70km away from his bed.

It will be interesting to find out how this pans out this weekend. But what Scarlet Tactical has proven that there are already existing tools online that many airsoft players around the world are familiar with that can be used for airsoft. No need to spend on other software or applications if you are on a budget, and just being creative about using these free applications for airsoft.

The Tantalum Contract 6 will take place on the on the 27th of August 2015 and will be held at the EMR Paintball in Pennsylvania for the U.S. part and at in KwaZulu-Natal for the South Africa portion. We are curious on how both took place once we get their AARs.