Eagle Eyes

Well its the last day of the year and the end of the first year of Airsoft SOFSIM. We have also started the Facebook group and Flipboard magazine and lets hope that the group grows in 2014 and we have some great Airsoft games in the New Year.

To celebrate Christmas and the end of 2013, heres a fun film and a tribute to the hours that some of us older ones spent as a child playing with the man with the scar on his cheek.

As I think this is probably the first Christmas I can remember where the BBC didn't repeat the Great Escape, it is also incredibly ironic.

Happy New Year.....

P.S I believe some of you might struggle to see the movie link above on tablets (some quirk of Blogger).
If you can't see it here, it is also available on our Facebook group here:

Link

AirsoftSOFSIM Facebook Group

Steel Beasts Roar

Steel Beasts is essentially a tank simulator for the PC, but in reality it is so much more.

Created by eSim Games it has sprung from a simulation training programme designed to assist certain national military forces train their armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) crews.

It's no accident that certain models of AFV are very detailed, inside and out, while others like the British Challenger and Warrior vehicles are sparse, to say the least.

The control positions of the American vehicles like this Bradley M2 are authentic to the point that many of the switches work and its always exciting to watch the hydraulic rear door lower and see the troops and their accurate camo battledress disembark into defensive positions.

Other such detailed vehicles include the Abrams M1 MBT, the Leopard tank, some Swedish APCs and the Russian T72. Of course, there is a huge cast of soldiers and vehicles in the game and these range from civilians through to AI controlled enemy hardware.

This game is not a shoot-em-up. Its a serious tactical computer based simulation and the ingredients are closely modelled on reality with variable weather conditions and a variety of damage inhibitors and even different ammunition. It seems to me that SB has more layers than an onion with the user manual being over 100 pages long. Some fans play online together and recreate historic tank battles such as those from the 1973 Arab Israeli war. Of course, if you prefer you can play against the computer AI and the odds can be manipulated between everything from a fair fight to a heavily one sided contest to allow you to recreate your own war movies. The stills on this post represent a fictional central African conflict between US troops and African rebels.

Steel Beasts is rather unusual in that it can be purchased for a set time period from a few weeks to a year. How many times have you played a game non-stop for a few weeks and then never touched it again ?

Personally, I bought it for two weeks as entertainment and liked it so much, ended up renewing for a year.

Medic Rules OK

Medics of the Norwegian Royal Guard - Thanks Kjetil Ree

The medic rule is often woven into the fabric of Milsims. Not only does this introduce further realism to the game, it can also save a lot of walking to the "Respawn" area, especially in large area games.

The actual rules vary from site to site and there is some imaginative leeway for organisers to embellish the basic application. However, most sites work on the understanding that when a player is hit, an appointed medic may attend and get them back into the game, without the player having to move from where they fell.

It is usual for a certain number of players on any milsim team to be ordained as medics in a kind of dual fighting role. This often means that the loadout for medic can be slightly different - after all, carrying a long assault rifle isn't always that easy when you are trying to tend the wounded, is it ?

Typical game rules involve the medic having to attend the player for a minimum amount of time or perform a task such as tying on a bandage to the wounded player.

Variations of this include but are not limited to:

* The medic having five minutes to attend the wounded soldier, after which time they are dead and have to manually respawn
* Players only having one medic respawn opportunity, after which they have to trudge back to the respawn area
* The medic having a limited number of bandages
* The medic doesn't use bandages and has to hold the patients arm up, drip like, for 30 seconds
* The wounded player has to be taken to a place of cover to receive medical attention by a medic. To avoid stretcher scenarios and the risk of dropping people, the rescuing player has to put two hands on the wounded person and walk back with them (or if there are two rescuers, they each lay a hand on and escort back). Once the wounded person is out of the line of fire, the team medic can use any of the above to revive the player.

Crying Out Loud

If you watch videos of Airsoft milsim games, the two things that usually make the action unrealistic are the pathetic noises that many Airsoft weapons make when fired - something like a Singer sewing machine and that when people are hit and put their hand in the air, they just look like they need the toilet. Although practical and accepted in a skirmish, they tend to erode the realism that milsimmers adore.

Its hard to do anything about the noise of AEG weapons (another post, another day) and many GoPro movies on You Tube have pounding rock music background soundtracks to cover this up. However, is there a case for the wounded to drop to the ground with "hurt" sound effects and at least lie still ?? - some games have their "wounded" players place a red cloth over their head so the other players don't keep lighting them up !!
Of course its debatable and probably a subject for Facebook groups, but I think I would rather see soldiers dropping with a blood curdling scream or just an "Aargh" rather than a traditional hand-raising and calling out hit in a usually tired and slightly irritated voice (especially if you've just been hit for the 97th time that day).

Loadouts

Although many players in the medic role just wear their normal garb, maybe with the addition of a red cross armband, some really get into the role and build up their own medic loadout.
Not all players want or are able to run around like Arnie on Steroids and being a medic can be a great role for those who want to be in the game but play more of a support role than being in the front line all the time.

Although many "real steel" combat medics wear the same uniform as the rest of their squad and are only differentiated by their medic rucksacks, there is nothing to stop a player going for the full heli-medic look or choosing weapons and sidearms to assist with the role. For example, personal defence weapons and sidearms are a lot easier to handle when you need both hands free to dish out medical aid.

Whatever you decide to be, participating in milsims can often be more realistic and enriched with some players fulfilling support roles such as medics, support gunners and sappers. Isn't that one of the things that separates milsims from shoot-em-up's ?

To take part in discussion about this subject, join our Airsoft SOFSIM group on Facebook @

Airsoft SOFSIM Facebook Group

BattleTac for Milsimmers

Blue Force Tracking is a largely US inspired  system which allows a military force to see the location of friendly units. At its simplest, it comprises of a screen terminal, GPS and some form of data communications such as a secure radio or satellite link. Each BFT equipped unit, whether it be a soldier, vehicle or aircraft, periodically transmits its location to all the other friendly units on the comms network. Friendly units are displayed on a map screen.

BFT has been in use for around ten years and has proven invaluable in improving communications between units and reducing the incidence of Blue on Blue casualties.

Inspired by this, some enterprising Hungarian individuals developed BattleTac a few years back.

This is effectively simplified BFT for Airsofters.

How Does it Work

BattleTac is designed as an app which will run on iOS or Android devices like tablets and smartphones.
The device to be used needs to have internet connectivity through a SIM card and either a buiilt-in or external Bluetooth connected GPS.

The principle is that all or selected players in your Airsoft force have the app on their smartphones while they are playing. If they each type in a password known only to you and them, they will share secure communications through their data-links. Each BattleTac equipped player types in a user name and chosen icon and this will allow them to see each others location on the map. In the example above, you can see that there is one player (sofsim) located on the parade ground and the commander has identified two key objects; the safe zone (also marked in blue as it is friendly) and the anticipated position of the enemy - the red team.

If you had six equipped players on your team, you would see six blue icons, showing their identification and their location on the map.

Very often, commanders in larger milsims are equipped with a larger screen tablet like an iPad and sit in a command centre bunker or field tent, monitoring their smartphone equipped troops.

Custom maps can be made and uploaded as shown in the example above or players can choose to use default Google mapping or satellite imagery. The later can put a greater data loading on the smartphone as it will try to refresh the digit hungry imagery as the player moves around.

To provide greater realism, the icons represent the NATO APP-6A military symbols for land based units.
An infantryman is a blue square with a cross inside, Special Forces is a blue square with SF inside it and so on.

In all fairness, BattleTac is more suited to a slow paced milsim rather than a skirmish, but it adds an extra level of realism to missions.

It is also possible to have the Head Up Display or HUD selected. This provides the player with a compass and ranging presentation which will show the range and bearing of friendly players by placing their icon in the correct place. If the player looking at his HUD places his smartphone vertically and spins round 360 Degrees, he will see where his team mates are in a three dimensional sense. Some players have even secured the smartphone on a bracket on their Airsoft rifle, in order to assist them to avoid friendly fire when aiming their weapon.

"Radio" Messages

Another useful feature of BattleTac is the incorrectly termed radio messages. Incorrect because it enables players to communicate silently with each other by using data communications, similar to a form of SMS messaging rather than true radio communications like we are familiar with on PMR446.

As it's quite difficult to type on a small smartphone screen when you are taking cover from enemy fire, the system contains a series of templates. These are short messages preloaded by the player which allow the player to just click on them to send a message to his or her team mates, thus saving laborious typing on a small virtual keyboard. Although not a complete replacement for PMR446, it does have the benefit of being rangeless, secure and silent. As we know, PMR446 has a very poor range, can be eavesdropped by the other team and radios are not the quietest of devices.

Settings

Each BattleTac equipped device has the ability to be programmed with a number of settings. This is done by the user through a simple Menu (the button for this is seen above in the top left of the screen photo).
Typical settings include user name and password, the chosen data channel (8 are available for each team), the security code to provide secure comms for your team, position update interval and custom screen detail including mapping choices.

During a game, it is also possible for a player to indicate if they are wounded, dead or in trouble (SOS). This can be very useful if you have medic rules in your game or need to be casevac'd.

It is also possible to post orders on the shared map such as instructions to proceed to a highlighted destination or to indicate enemy movement, perhaps based on just received intel...


Protection

We all know what BB's can do to hard objects like our teeth, so it makes sense to protect your valuable smartphone. There are various trains of thought on this, but one idea is to wear a wrist mounted map case, which allows the terminal to be studied effortlessly, but still maintains some physical protection when the BBs fly.
This is the Warrior Tactical Wrist Case sold in the UK by companies like UK Tactical.

Link: Warrior Tactical Wrist Case

To take part in discussion about this subject, join our Airsoft SOFSIM group on Facebook @

Airsoft SOFSIM Facebook Group