OP: High Value - after action report

Howdy all, Angel here.

This was the first event we hauled the completed v.0.1 airsoft RPG to and put it into use. Prior, we had taken the functional but not fully complete to a couple other events, this was the first full on field test.

We arrived in multiple cars, and due to a logistical snafu, some of our folks rolled in about half way through the briefing, so we had a little chaos there filling them in on the intricacies of this interesting event. We were running tan, the opposition force to the green (US) team, and had all dressed in fairly typical "tan" load-outs; cargo pants, long tan work shirts, sashs and head gear (including pakul and turbans). Our armament was typical of loosely organized forces we represented; primarily AK replicas with a mix of more western gear.

For those who have never been on a field laid out like this one, let me set the scene so you understand our elation at our re-spawn point. This field is a north-south valley, heavily forested with steep hills on the east and west sides. Last year at Op: Nine Hammers, we had our re-spawn point on top of the eastern incline, known as Mortar Hill. So every time we got shot, we got to hike up a 220 foot, steep incline to get back into play. Needless to say, we were giddy to discover our re-spawn for this game was on the valley floor at the far south west end.

No running up Mortar Hill all day!!!

So we marched down to our starting point after our tan briefing, which had some interesting rule variants described below, and got ourselves ready to roll out. I loaded up the 40mm gas grenade shell and loaded the RPG for it's first use in a game, excited and hopeful. This would prove to have been preemptive however. We were briefed on what our early objectives would be, and chose a strike team of our guys to run up ahead and hold the ammunition dump. If we lost it at any point in the game, we would only be allowed to run semi-auto to simulate a shortage of ammunition. This wouldn't be a problem for us if we did loose this objective, as most of the RoadCrew generally only runs semi-auto on our replicas. None the less, we sent our SAW gunner and a few other guys along with a few new friends at the start of the game to take and hold this objective.

The rules of this game were a bit different than most to simulate this being the home turf of the tan force. Some of the variants included; when five out of play tan were able to gather in a sandbagged bunker (there were 7 on site in various locations), they were able to re-spawn as soon as the 5th person entered the bunker. Another variant was that each teams Commanding Officer was a mobile re-spawn point. Only three out of play team mates needed to gather at the CO to re-spawn though, instead of five. This proved hard for tan, as our CO was often pursued by the green team and stayed hidden much of the day. A three minute bleed out rule was also in play to allow medics and captures (which are worth points). Now back to play!

We headed out and met some decent green resistance very early on, only to discover our medic was part sprinter and part ninja. He did a great job his first time out, and stayed well in the thick of things. I finally found a location (after being shot and out several times) where the RPG could come in handy, and took our first in game shot with it... only to pretty much miss everyone in the bunker. Damn! I had left the gas and bb's to reload it back at our main re-spawn point, but only the guys in the bunker in front of us knew it was no longer loaded... heh. It was used to threaten a couple other times, making our opponents keep their heads down so our team could move to flank them.

After a time, we got a call on the radio that the ammo dump needed reinforcement, so another of of our team and I headed out to find the dump. We headed deeper into the woods, and missed the bunker by a couple hundred feet, only to go for a nice long walk in the woods, and stay out of active play for a good half hour. Eventually we found ourselves at the back of Mortar Hill, and considered sneaking up the back to hit them from a side they would not have expected to see any action on. We could hear a lot of activity off to the west, so we decided that was a better choice, and carefully moved into that area, only to find the ammo depot we had missed earlier. We stood our ground there for a while with getting heavy resistance.

Being that I just don't know any better, I moved up into the brush which eventually led to me being shot and captured, and I was taken back to the village to wait out my time as a "Prisoner". It did give me a goodly amount of time to study their defenses and gather intel on how much force was holding the village. Since I was in play, just a captive, gathering intel was allowable by the rules. (Granted, people still do it when they are out of play, and use it when they are back in, but we try to avoid it.)

Returning to play, I was able to relate the intel I had and retake my position. The RPG was reloaded, and starting to really let me feel it's 12 pounds as I carried it around the field. A hard push came on our position, and we got over run just before lunch. We all hiked back up the hill to the staging point at the barn and had a rest and some food, and many thanks and props go to Em on our team for bringing a great collection of snacks to keep us going!

As usual, TJ from Young's in Grand Rapids, Michigan had a great raffle, which is included in the entry price. So for 10 bucks, you get to play all day and could go home with a new replica! A few of our people won some new goggles, but none of the big prizes. Ah well! Those who did were elated with their new gear!

After lunch, we headed back out into the field, and I snuck off to try to flank green along with two other guys. Long story short, we encountered no resistance, had a nice, slow quiet walk in the swamp and used one of our typical tactics; move when the wind blows to cover your sound. Eventually, we were in position, several hundred feet apart, well behind enemy lines. I had a clear view on the back of the village from the southern base of Mortar Hill, and hunkered down to observe.

Suddenly, my plan of "obfuscate, infiltrate, dominate" got thrown out the window. I had dropped my radio, map and smokes somewhere near by as I had moved slow and low to avoid being detected. I carefully retraced my steps, hunkered down and watched 14 green head out on a mission and pass within 30 feet of me. I considered taking the last few off the line, just to foil their mission, but I had overheard they were looking for our CO and I knew he wasn't anywhere in the region they were headed to. None of our forces were, so it was best to let them go get lost in the swamp for a half hour multiplying our forces active in the field. When each side only has 50 players, 14 doing nothing useful gives your side a tremendous advantage. And I was about to accidentally ratchet that up further.

I moved back into my search pattern, and had to quickly hunker down as there was one green on guard about 100 feet down the low slope from me. He stopped, facing my way, and figuring I was about to be spotted, I popped him with a short flurry of semi-auto fire. He called hit, and I withdrew quickly. I pulled back 60 feet to a spot I had seen moving up that would make a good ambush point if anyone came looking for me. I already had my two escape routes chosen and was tense and ready. No one came. After several minutes I moved back up to resume my search for lost gear.

I heard them before I saw them, a slight rustle off to my right. A sniper team up in the wood, facing about where I had been five minutes ago. I popped both of them and again withdrew to my hide. Rinse repeat, coming back a different way each time to resume my search. Before all was said and done, I had eliminated 7 people looking for my smokes and radio, and they seemed to notice. A lot more noise was building in my area, so I pulled far back and took up another hide and waited. I could see four people combing the brush and hear them talking about the "squad" up in the woods they were looking for. I later found out there were eight opponents tied up in looking for only me. This distraction allowed the other two guys I came into the woods with to find one of the objectives and return it to our forward operating base and score points.

The lesson here is with care, or in my case, dumb luck, one person can be a sizable force multiplier. I alone, kept eight opponents from doing anything useful. If you can get good at this, you will be a tremendous asset to your team.

At that point they sounded the end of game alert, and that was the end of the day.

My tally for the day was eliminated 4 times, captured once, 7 confirmed hits on opponents, 4 more possible hits (they may have been hit by the rpg, or other players on my team, I was unsure). Not a great ratio, but being a force multiplier was certainly a worth while use of my time.

So there you have it, my experience at Op:High Value. It was a great time, and there were a lot of new friendships started there and some great time spent with old friends.

However, there were some interesting questions on certain aspects of play that came up on this day, which I will cover in another article (and once it is posted, I will edit this article with a link to that one).

Play hard, stay safe, have fun!

Angel, over and out!