(June 16, 2012 at PSI in Plattekill, NY). NYC Airsoft hosted another game by Moondog Industries.  In Moondog’s distinct fashion this game was different than the typical airsoft weekend game.  It featured more factions and more objectives than the average game and the money went to charitable causes.  The event was further enhanced by helping the participants get into character.

To register for the event you had to go through the website of the firm you wanted to join.  Each firm represented a faction. This helped certain players get into the mind-set of the type of roles they’d be portraying at the game.  For players that want more from their airsoft games than just running-n-gunning appreciated this.  You can get the sense of that from the individual AARs that were posted. Excerpts of which can be found below.

Each of the three competing factions were representing a unique charity.  A.S.S., the wnining faction earned for their charity, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, The other charities did not go ignored.  K.A.S.H. and G.R.D.e earned $100 toward each of the charities they were representing; Friends of Turkana and The Center for Spectrum Services.

Like the previous Moondog Industries game, the theme of this game was once again set in Africa.  This time, in the fictional small country of Ubinda.  While the country is fiction, the scenario wasn’t entirely fictional.  Based around the use of foreign firms to exploit undeveloped regions for their resources with the use of mercenaries to stake their claims.  Three mercenary companies were hired to secure a potential Tantalum mine in the Ubinda foot hills.  Controlling the mine wasn’t the only objective of this game.  In the modern age of global mass media and internet, each company needs to establish their brand.  The mining firms that contracted the mercenaries needed to show the world that their presence is beneficial to the locals.  As well as showing the rival firms are a threat to these locals.  These propaganda oriented objectives are for the benefit of the mercenary companies which need to build up their reputation so they can secure more lucrative contracts in the future.  These types of objectives helped give an extra level of immersion to the game, by giving the sense that there was more to the game world than beyond what was happening that very moment in the game.  As well as adding another interesting challenge beyond the typical combat at a weekend skirmish.

This event was also different from the previous one in that it had a smaller roster.  However, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

“I enjoy playing small games like this with well seasoned players. It makes such a difference.”

Lexy Cev

In fact, the smaller roster encouraged the groups to work more as real squads.

“My GRDe team mates remained calm / collected and worked together to move despite a tactical disadvantage and often being outnumbered. GRDe worked great as a team identifying the threats for each other, holding their position, and looking out for each other. Proud to be part of it and would like to do it again as a team.”

Mark Twain

MoonDog Industries also dealt with ‘Airsoft Time.’  In this region, this applies to the condition exhibited by airsoft players that is a lax level of seriousness on the part of the participants that results in events starting later than scheduled.  This is in large part due to participants showing up late.  This tends to frustrate the participants that take their hobby more seriously and show up timely and are ready to start according to the official schedule.  To alleviate the frustration of the timely participants Moondog included a portion of the game that would happen in a CQB part of the field.  This village represented the capital of Ubinda, where the three factions would battle for control.  A special rule was in place that limited the maximum amount of participants from each faction to prevent them from vastly outnumbering each other.  This gave incentive for participants to show up earlier as opposed to later because the winner of this portion of the game would set the pace for the rest of the game.  At the center of the village was the MoonDomination Box.  A prop created for the event that houses multiple stop watches.  Each faction started outside of the village and had to get to the center.  Once at the box, the faction’s respective watch would be started.  If someone else had gotten to the box previously, you were supposed to stop the running timer, and start your own.  The MDB was built in a way that prevented other factions from resetting anyone’s clocks.  This box is the same box that would be used in the main portion of the game at the mine.  A.S.S. faction set the pace of the game by dominating this portion of the game, which gave them the ability to pick starting/spawn positions for all factions.  And it was a foreshadowing of how they would dominate the mine later on.  This proved to be a great way to deal with ‘Airsoft Time’ because it rewarded the timely arrivals by giving them a action and a chance to start with an advantage, while the tardy players miss out on fun and opportunity.

A.S.S. took the best starting position for themselves.  On the highest ground with a clear and direct route to the mine, from the West.  G.R.D.e were assigned a position that was at the foot of the hill with the mine to the South.  However their leadership had situated them much further away at a safety tent, under the assumption that a respawn must be in a safety tent.  This led them further away from the mine than intended.  Taking them on a trek that would involve more boulders and rolling hills to deal with, and closer to the A.S.S. respawn area.  K.A.S.H. was assigned the worst of the starting/spawn sites to the East.  On a bridge where there was no shade with completely exposed terrain leading into the field of play and the way to the mine which required them to either go up and down and up through a valley with thick foliage, or just uphill through an area that was exposed to G.R.D.e encroachment.

Predictably, A.S.S. was able to quickly take control of the mine.  They were able to dominate it almost the entire duration of the game.  But this didn’t keep them from venturing out and accomplishing many other side objectives.  The other two factions spent much of the day trying to wrestle away the control of the mine, missed opportunities to make up for not controlling it by completing the other objectives.  As more objectives were completed, additional missions were made available.  Each faction had an embedded referee that had contact with the game planner.  Those that took the time to complete the other objectives were able to unlock more opportunities to score.  The embedded referees would radio in the accomplished missions, and they would then relay newly available missions to the faction commanders.

Op: Tantalum contract proved to be a multifaceted game.  Offering a different type of game play from other locally run events.  Giving back to society through charity.  And providing the opportunity for players who enjoy the escapism of getting into roles for their airsoft adventures.  You can get a taste of the action from the in-character AARs from the event.

“The Anglo-Sino Security team arrived in Ubinda under contract to the Nanking Mining Corporation.  We were tasked with the difficult mission of securing the tantalum mining territory, preventing disruptions from competitive mining companies all while maintaining good public relations.  Fortunately this falls well within the purview of our operatives experience.  A.S.S. operatives are drawn from the very best of the special forces of both eastern and western imperialistic nations. Taking control of natural resources while claiming to be benefitting the local population is our specialty! 

The first objective, the mine, was secured in just a few minutes.  Assault teams from Vanguard squad and the rest of A.S.S. hit the mining facility hard and fast.  Faceman went down to an SMG burst from prospector Moondog, who was then rapidly taken down by the large A.S.S. force.  With the mine firmly under A.S.S. control a reporter was discovered in the facility.  Taking the opportunity to get the public relations campaign off the ground Sinner setup an interview profiling the A.S.S. team as a friendly force working in conjunction with legitimate Ubindan interests to secure and protect the mine for the financial and political betterment of all Ubinda.

Sporadic gunfire erupted along the eastern and northwestern areas of our Mine Zone. K.A.S.H. forces attempted to breach the MZ on the eastern perimeter but were rapidly driven back by A.S.S. operators.  Elements of the G.R.D. Enterprises forces attempted to overwhelm our base of operations in the AO and eliminate our VIP.  The Sino team operatives held G.R.D.e at bay while reinforcements from mining facility arrived to help in eliminating the G.R.D.e threat.  During this engagement it was discovered that G.R.D.e was transporting their VIP with the advance team and the VIP was terminated.  A lone G.R.D.e specialist survived and was able to penetrate A.S.S defenses and recon the mining facility.  Sinner discovered and captured him obtaining another critical piece of the public relations mission, a confession.

Intermittent combat continued into the afternoon.  The determined operatives of A.S.S. moved between the base where the VIP was secured and the mining facility in response to attacks from both G.R.D.e and K.A.S.H.  Intel arrived that indicated we could gain potentially valuable information by exchanging our VIP for the VIP held by the K.A.S.H. agents.  Sinner sent a recon team consisting of Cev and Jbird to attempt to communicate with K.A.S.H. in person and try to avoid plans being intercepted by G.R.D.e.  Once Cev reported in that he had in fact located the K.A.S.H. VIP and that no security was visible Sinner gave the order to terminate.

Denied of critical objectives both K.A.S.H. and G.R.D.e began a series of aggressive assaults on the mining facility.  G.R.D.e appeared to be the largest threat throwing everything they had at the northern perimeter of the MZ.  The Sino team took heavy losses with Tsuyoi, Jkai, RammingSpeed and Noblesse down. Sinner sent Faceman and Wolfy rushing across with the orders “Cut them off! No one gets past!” The firefight intensified and the A.S.S. defensive line wobbled but it held and finally wore down the G.R.D.e assault.  The ever devious and agents of KASH commanded by Mr.Spank took advantage of the battle.  K.A.S.H. agents infiltrated the mining facility and eliminated all A.S.S. operatives.  Fortunately a quick and aggressive response from A.S.S. re-took the mine before K.A.S.H. could take control of it.

The battle again shifted to the western border of the MZ.  A ferocious assault by GRDE forces led by the determined Shogun nearly violated the ASS base.  Specialists from GRDE advanced to within 100 feet of the VIP, clawing their way inch by inch through the rough terrain.  Morpheous and Wolfy, led by Sinner worked around the battle eliminating snipers protecting the G.R.D.e flank.  The final member of G.R.D.e was eliminated with a double-tap pistol securing another propaganda objective.

K.A.S.H. took the mine! Those were the last words I wanted to hear! While we were focused on protecting the VIP and our attention was shifted K.A.S.H. forces managed to flank to the east.  The mine defenders were overwhelmed and A.S.S. was driven back to their base.  Fighting effectiveness was reduced due to weapon failures, ammo shortages and fatigue.  Our contract was almost up but we would not give up the mine without a fight.  A.S.S. rallied to go back in!  Guns, batteries and bags of ammo were passed around and shared and the weary operatives of A.S.S. crested the hill for one last attack.  I stayed behind at the VIP with a couple of guys while the rest of the team ran off to the mine.  Timing is everything!  Nicole the BBC reporter was assassinated while attempting to interview Commander Spank and the mine was re-taken.”

Sinner

“Another job down there.  The typical situation of employer wanting to ‘help the locals develop economically’ which means neutralize local hostiles and foreign competitors so that the bosses can exploit the locals and their resources.  This time is for Tantalum, or some other such mineral that I’ve never heard of.

As things go, nothing goes according to plan.  One third of our operators failed to show up.  I can only surmise that it is a combination of factors that involve the terrible transportation network in this little country, and local social diseases. It was down to the South African band of merry men, Lucky’s Crew, and the East European group, TSSR. When we arrived at the dirt bowl of an airport and began unloading our kits, we could hear fire fights already raging in the capital.  It didn’t seem wise to jump into that mess under-manned with hot lead flying all over the place.  It seems as though there were two other hired gun companies that arrived just ahead of us. And it doesn’t seem they were too keen on each other. Their little bloodbath lasted about a half hour. We had one company man doing recon during this time in the capital.  Seems that the English-Chinese firm dominated, and was able to secure the road leading directly to the highlands where the mine is supposed to be, where the stuff was discovered.  The other firm was able to secure a second rout there, which led to the foot of the hill. Local contacts on the outskirts of the city informed us of a trail leading to an abandoned industrial project not far from the mine.  What a wasteland we were stuck with to make our forward base.

We received information that earlier in the day that there were company men who were in-country. Rival companies who didn’t get along. Seems things got out of hand because it was reported that they had taken fire. He was able to make it to the industrial area and was immobile. We quickly deployed in full force to locate him and secure him. We swept the area and took a defensive posture. Unfortunately extraction wasn’t going to be feasible at the time. We set up booby traps around him and moved on to our primary objective.

It was a relief to get out of the exposed terrain. Not just the comfort of having some concealment from the enemy, but from the hot African sun as well. We snaked our way through the jungle, quickly but cautiously. Not knowing if we were going to run into hostile natives or professional guns. The thick foliage meant that we could run into anything and we wouldn’t know it until we were directly in front of it. A valley runs between the ruined industrial project and the highlands. TSSR group provided over-watch for the Lucky Crew as they descended into the valley and crossed to safety. We regrouped on the other side, we knew the mine was near. We heard some combat, it seemed like an opportunity. We split into two groups. We’d both approach the mine from the East but from different parts. We tried to make our way up while staying parallel so that we could strike out of the tree-line simultaneously. We rushed because we wanted to be able to get up there while whoever was already there was busy fighting with someone else. The best I can piece together is that it was the English-Chinese company clearing the mine of the few locals that were there. Their combat was over quickly and unfortunately for us already had reached the tree-line we intended to come out of. Lucky’s Crew were first to be noticed.  Fire was streaming into their area.  This was our opportunity to break out while our enemy’s defenses were concentrating on the other side.  But the enemy had more defenders, and caught us. Combat on the Southern East approach was quick.  Personal cash was pilfered.  Their retrieval group continued into the bush but didn’t make it far before being gunned down.  The Northern East approach kept the fight going. The enemy company didn’t seem to be willing to risk more personnel in the bush, and kept the remaining KASH operators at bay from afar.

Reinforcements sent to aide the remaining Lucky Crew were in a rush to assist their coworkers.  They did not exercise the same level of caution as the earlier group. Due to its haste and poor judgment they ended up getting shot in the back when crossing the valley.  The other hired gun group was traveling along a jungle road that forks into the valley. The reinforcement group took casualties to nearly all its members.  Casualties from the other side are unknown, but they were forced back to wherever it is they came from.

At our forward base we heard the dying gasps of our VIP over the radio.  Fear of death by assassins and not from his earlier injuries a group was dispatched to catch the assassins in the open at the industrial site just up the hill from our base. Rushing there along the most expedient route, close to the upper industrial site, we took a hail of gun fire.  We had one casualty. The rest of the way was taken via the more cautious approach through the woods.  This slowdown had given the unknown assassins enough time evacuate the facility and melt into jungle. We didn’t risk rushing after them across open terrain into the bush. We received more bad news as the last hold out from our initial push was eliminated.

It was decided that the earlier approach would not be wise. We had decided to take the approach that they would least expect us to come from.  The goal was to loop around the hill and push onto the mine from the highlands to the West of the mine.  But we didn’t get far as we detected movement and pulled off of the jungle road onto the wooded ridges of the valley.  A forward element probed forward and got into a fire fight.  Casualties were taken.  The reserve group laid in waiting for retrieval team or enemy probes. Instead, it seems the hostiles changed their direction and pulled away.  We held our position to regroup.

All was quiet. Reinforcements were getting resupplied back at the forward base. A recon group was deployed along the Southern edge of the AO toward the mine, and the remaining group from earlier moved Northward. According to company intel, one of the rival firms was supposed to have a base of operations and potentially their injured company man just North of the mine. We investigated all the potential locations as per the intel, and came up with nothing.  Northern recon element took to the swamp and took a parallel route that the rival company’s reinforcements were taking.  This involved moving through sticky swamp and thick bushes.  Constant fear of making too much noise and drawing the attention of reinforcements looking for a fight.  Stopping for long periods of time to be invisible.  Hostiles were 10 to 15 meters away at times. Once an enemy reinforcement group had actually changed directions and started heading towards the recon element.  Fortunately they had changed direction again.  Eventually the recon element reached the area of the forward base that was not where it should have been.  No shelter for the VIP was seen.  Surveillance of their base was conducted.  Recon element pulled back South to regroup with the Southern group.  That was when they announced that they had taken the mine from the English-Chinese company.

On arrival at the mine a journalist was seen fleeing for her life.  Calling out to her that she was safe didn’t seem to work.  Why would it, the area was more reminiscent of a graveyard than a mine.  Corpses strewn about.  The stench of hot, dead flesh and gun powder, it’s not an attractive place for civilians.  However, she did return.  I suspect our jovial personalities got her interest.  Or, at least our accents.  With the few men that we had, we tried to set up security, and insist that we are peaceful and that she should interview us about the benevolent intentions of our employers.  She wasn’t buying it.  After spending too much time and energy on trying to convince her, the English-Chinese company had sent reinforcements.  It is unfortunate that our reinforcements still hadn’t arrived.  We were quickly encircled.  Interestingly enough, it was that moment that the reporter decided that she would conduct the interview.  Unfortunately those English-Chinese war-dogs gunned her down.  I suspect she was not the first civilian who had fallen to their bullets that day.

Based on earlier surveillance that the other mercenaries were demoralized and scattered, we had no fear looping around the hill via the jungle road.  Since their VIP was not located, we were going to go get revenge on the English-Chinese company.  We knew where they were concentrated and intel on where their VIP might be.  We successfully traversed the jungle road around the Northern foot of the hill.  Had another opportunity to conduct surveillance the forward base there.  And pass many of their corpses.  We were able to push deep towards the South, up-hill. Moving as a full squad, coordinated, and determined.  Unfortunately, we got news from the boss that we had to pull out.  That’s the nature of the job, and there was no reason to become another rotting jungle corpse.  Just because we’re mercenaries, doesn’t mean we are fools.  We withdrew from the area and got on the first flight out of there to Johannesburg.”

Mr.Spank