PES Battlefield Management Software Review

What ?

Battlefield Management Software is a fancy title for a piece of publicly available software which allows milsim games to have that extra degree of reality.

Now it has to be said that the Slovenian maker is a real defence company which produces different flavours of this software depending on whether you are a mountain hiker, milsim player, Security/LEO or the military.

What Does It Do ? 

It's similar to a Blue Force Tracking software except it has a few enhancements which allow it to do some extra stuff like navigation, past tracking of forces, interfacing to laser rangefinders and so on.

Easier to show you..

Although it will display in landscape mode, I find there is more mapping space in portrait.
You can download a wide variety of free mapping, but this example shows Google Earth.
For this example, I am showing a milsim game in the British Army Training Village of Tyneham in Dorset (I know, we can dream).

The Blue (BLUFOR) unit is us, callsign SUNRAY. The software is showing us two civilian trucks in green, an enemy APC in red and an unknown vehicle in yellow (this follows NATO symbology doctrines for friend or foe). These objects have to be manually entered by us or one of our allies on the same net, but it means that everybody is looking at the same scenario and we then all know the same information.

So far so good.

What do I need to run this and how much does it cost ?

Well the bad news (for iPad and iPhone owners anyway) is that the Personal Eye System only runs on Android operating systems. In saying that, Apple products are probably far too valuable to expose to airsofting ?

I found that the Amazon Kindle Fire 7 made a great rugged tablet for milsim use. With its 7" display and ruggedised case, it cost £64 from Amazon. You will need to load Google Play Store on to it as the Amazon app  store doesn't sell PES. You will still need your mobile phone to act as a wifi hotspot as the tablet doesn't have data connectivity, but you can use your regular smartphone and bury it deep in your kit so it doesnt get broken. All user interaction is done through the tablet and let's face it, only one player in each squad or fireteam really needs a PES enabled tablet on behalf of their team - this is usually the TL/SL or RTO.

Edited to add - the Kindle system is a pain and I struggled to get my smartphone to provide its GPS position to the Fire 7.  In the end, I connected it by bluetooth to my Garmin GLO cigarette packet GPS and by wifi to my phone hotspot. The Garmin is fast and works on both the US and Russian satellites. However, it's probably easier to just load the PES software on an Android smartphone with its own integral GPS rather than faff about with the Kindle flavour of Android.

In terms of operating costs, the organiser or team leader needs to buy the PES military app which is £12 and then have a PES server subscription which is Euro 4.80 per month for 10 users (or Euro 48 per annum). Players wishing to be on the net are then invited to use a free version of the app and join the network using a PIN that the organiser or team leader will give you. There are lots of purchase options for this application and its use and I won't go into them all here (check out their website which I will post a link to at the bottom).

My experience of this kind of software is that due to the low volume take up/niche market, most developers go in too cheap to attract players and then can't afford to maintain the software. The makers of PES, Mil Sistemika are a resourced defence company and make a reasonable charge for the application and its maintenance.

Other Features

Here you can see that SUNRAY has plotted an indirect flanking action (blue route line) around the back of the buildings to come up behind the enemy APC. Using the fly-out menu on the right, anybody on the net can create a new route and add waypoints to show all the allied units how they will approach.

The same fly-out menu has a flip side (selected by the reversing arrow on the bottom soft key) which allows the user to enter new reference positions for navigation, new targets to direct colleagues towards or add new enemy or civilian units. Note - BLUFOR units on the same network will appear and move automatically due to the embedded tracking functionality.

COP stands for Common Operational Picture and is effectively what is shared between users over the net. The COP list is a list of all the assets in the COP.

You will also notice that the top line (just below the words Personal Eye System) shows own position which is derived from your phone triangulation or its inbuilt GPS if it has one.

Towards the bottom of the screen is a black text line which displays chat between units. Any user can send a message to other units using secure datacomms (only visible by those using the same PIN number).

Here we have chosen for only one line of chat to be visible to maximise the mapping space but users can adjust this up to 4 lines in settings.

If you press the three vertical dots shown in the top right hand side of the screen, you get the drop -down settings menu. You can elect to have the software update your COP at preset intervals or you can manually update (sync COP picture) at times when you wish to conserve data or work between data dead zones.

Website: Mil Sistemika

Blue Force Tracking for Milsims

Blue Force Tracking is in common use by modern day real world armies.
Originally developed around 2001 to enable forces to know the location of other friendly forces (presumably to avoid friendly fire incidents), it was also used to identify the suspected or observed location of enemy forces.

BFT usually comprises of a processor running bespoke software and which is connected to a military GPS for position reference and a tactical radio or satellite terminal for the sharing of encrypted data over the battlespace.
Initially fitted to military vehicles as a PC-based installation, improved battery technology and the reduction in the size of modern electronics, has enabled BFT to become a personal tool for the battlefield soldier, running on a portable ruggedised tablet.

As well as allowing the avoidance of friendly fire, BFT permits commanding officers to know the positions of their forces, direct them to desired locations using mapping on the screen and to communicate with them using text messaging.

BattleTac is a Hungarian software company which has developed a version of BFT for military gaming use.

The BT software can run on a smartphone or tablet using iOS or Android operating systems. The host platform used in gaming, just like the real BFT, needs to have a position reference which can be derived from an internal GPS or cell triangulation using the mobile network and it needs to have a data connection via GPRS, 3G/4G, etc.

In practice, an inexpensive smartphone can be used for personal use at a milsim (I have an LG one which cost £50 from Tesco). More expensive phones offer bigger screens to make mapping clearer but are more vulnerable and a bigger monetary loss if damaged in the field. Battlefield commanders who observe and manage their forces from relative safety often use a larger tablet to view proceedings.

Screenshot of BattleTac from Tablet

The above screenshot shows the position of friendly forces (blue) being directed to enemy forces (red) at a farmhouse. This image can be viewed by either the force commander on his tablet or the players in the field using smartphones or small ruggedised tablets. The grid is displayed in MGRS and as you can see, the software is providing a range and bearing to the enemy (189m at 300 Degrees). As users are all connected on the same encrypted network by sharing a common password, any change to the mapping will be shared and viewed by all. This means that either the commander or the players in the field can add information at any time.

As the operation of such a system can be difficult in the field, players can choose just to be tracked (by burying their smartphone in the relative safety of a pouch or bergen) and this means that their commander will know their location as they move around. The commander can use this positional information to direct them by normal radio commands. How often have you been asked for your position over the radio by Command, only to find that one tree looks much like another in woodland and you really aren't sure. This call becomes unnecessary with BattleTac tracking and the position that the C.O sees is much more accurate that your estimation could ever be !! Not only does this remove errors from poor verbal communication but it frees up the player to concentrate on the enemy rather than radio requests for updated positions.

Sometimes, Squad or Team Leaders will carry a small tablet in a ruggedised case. This enables them to reach a place of reasonable safety out of a potential contact situation and consult the tactical situation on the screen while the rest of the squad provide him with cover.           

Cranking Them Out !!

Although I often use high capacity (hi-cap) Airsoft magazines for a days skirmish shooting with friends, I do like to use mid caps for MilSim games.

Having tried the plunger type speed loaders without much success, I switched to using what I call "Pea-Shooter" loaders which consist of a long hollow tube through which you ram BB's into your magazine using a loading rod. The latter is slow and it's very easy to spill BB's especially when the magazine vomits them back at you.

So, when I saw the Odin Innovations M12 Sidewinder Speed Loader, I was intrigued.

Odin is a Colorado-based company and they have produced this Speed Loader primarily for M4/AR15 5.56mm size Airsoft magazines. There is talk of adapters for AK mags and all that, but one step at a time.


WHAT IT DOES

It enables you to fill about 1600 BB's into its sizable hopper, push the business end of an empty M4 Mid-Cap mag into the bottom of it until it clicks and then crank BB's into your magazine at the rate of around 12 BB's per crank revolution.

DOES IT WORK ?

Yes it seems to. I've successfully used standard metal M4 mid-caps, PTS EPM and Evike BAMF mid-caps with it.
The theory is that when the magazine is full, an integral clutch will signal this to your cranking hand. I tried filling an EPM to the max and sure enough I felt resistance on the crank after twelve or thirteen revolutions. Generally though, I tend to only fill my mid-caps to about 60 rounds and treat them as low-caps, so they don't get a hard life with me.


THE COOL BIT

What I really like about this speed loader is the following in order of preference:

1. The crank is normally folded in and flush for storage, but when you fold it out and start cranking, the 12BB's per rotation allows you to measure pretty accurately how many rounds you are loading.
I wanted about 30 rounds in my EPM so gave the crank three rotations - emptying the mag manually after, I had 31 rounds inside and 2 dropped out from the loading nozzle when I disconnected the mag for use, so what should have been 36 was 33, but it's close enough.

When I filled the EPM to capacity, I manually emptied it and counted. It had contained 155 rounds before the clutch gave me the good news.

2. It's fast and there is little spillage. You can load a mag in about 30 seconds. The two-BB spillage per load is pretty consistent. Great for Milsims where you need to reload your four mags back at the FOB or ammo cache and the OPFOR could be breathing down your neck any second or you get redeployed and your patrol is about to move out.

3. The beige clip that you can see on the loader in the top photo is the magazine release. The mags click in firmly when pushed up and is held securely while you are crank-loading. Depressing this clip afterwards, allows the mag to be removed from the loader.

4. The loader has a large aperture and sliding door on the feeder entrance so its really easy to pour BB's in when you are filling and close it afterwards to stop spills. The door is a bit like a sliding hi-cap one only this one is a lot bigger !

5. It will fit in a double M4 pouch so you can carry it with you (if your game rules allow). I probably wouldn't use this feature but its handy to be able to store it in your kit pouches when you're at home, so it doesn't get left behind.


IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER

Keep the Speed Loader and magazine vertical when cranking, so gravity can do its job. Got caught out by this when I couldn't work out why the BB's weren't going into my mag.


WHAT'S IT NOT GOOD FOR ?

* - Hi-cap magazines
* - AK, 9mm and non-M4/AR15 shaped magazines
* - 7.62mm magazines


HOW MUCH DOES IT COST ?

At the time of going to press, one of these costs about £60-65 in the UK including mainland delivery.

Real Steel Headsets at Airsoft Prices

Frustrated by the high price of Tactical Headsets (typically £400+ here in the UK) and wishing for something a little better quality than the far eastern copies of the great and mighty, I did a little research on forums and Facebook groups and decided to purchase a Peltor Pro Tac Hunter headset to act as a back-up headset for MilSims and skirmishes.

Peltor have a good pedigree and manufacture the well known and expensive top end tactical  COM TAC XP range. The Pro Tac is their civilian hunter headset manufactured in Sweden.

This is a sensible work-around compromise that gives me a real steel shooting headset with active ear protection (to protect my lugs from loud bangs like pyro), that reproduces directional ambient sound from two small external "electronic ear" microphones (so I can still hear instructions and movement from those around me) and which allows me to use my radio to talk to my team mates, without an open speaker squawking away and alerting the enemy to my position or received message contents.

How much did this all cost ? - well about £80 excluding the radio.

As you can see from the photo above, it's a simple set-up: the headset, my fist microphone and my radio.

I wear the fist mic on my chest rig shoulder strap or the top of my plate carrier front, so it's quite close to my mouth, but not in the way. With the headset over my ears, I can listen to received radio signals in my left ear. 

I can also hear stereo ambient sound around me via the "electronic ear" microphones. If there are any loud bangs, they pick it up  and before the sound can reach and damage my ears, internal digital electronic circuitry will reduce their volume. The response time is fantastic. If you clap your hands loudly, the noise immediately sounds muted in the "cans". If somebody speaks to you straight after though, it's as clear as a bell again.

There are push-button controls on the side of the right ear shell which allow me to turn the headset on and off as well as adjust the amplification from zero (mute) to maximum in five steps. You hear a beep in your ear when the upper and lower extents are reached. A voice in your ear also tells you when the headset is on, off or your batteries need changing.

R.H. Ear Shell with buttons and Electronic Ear MIC

The Pro-Tac uses two AA batteries which last for around 100 hours. Military Sordin batteries last about 500 hours so this is not brilliant endurance, but you can buy a lot of Duracell's for the price difference.

Changing the batteries is much easier than on Sordins where they are an absolute pig to get out. On the Pro Tac, you just pull the retaining clip down with your index finger, the left ear shell cover comes off (as shown in the photo below) and you change the two batteries - simple.

L.H Ear Shell with battery space and Electronic Ear MIC

If you leave the headset on by accident, it will switch itself off after four hours if untouched.

So what are the downsides ?

Let's face it, there's over £300 difference in price between this and full blown MSA Sordins fitted with a noise-cancelling boom microphone.

There are differences, of course there are.

Sordins seem to enhance your hearing by giving you bat ears. I suspect the Pro Tacs just hear what there is in terms of ambient sound and don't actually amplify very much, if at all. I cant find any figures or data to support this suspicion or amount of amplification; I'm just comparing performance in practice.

When the radio audio plays from the radio, where it goes via the fist mic into the AUX input jack of the headset, the volume in the left ear shell is controlled by the radio volume knob. You can turn it up very loud!

Sordins tend to clip the level so you can't damage your hearing by playing the radio too loud.

The boom mic on the Sordin is excellent quality and allows clear transmission even with background noise. My little Baofeng fist mic is clear but its not noise-cancelling. It's hard to have a conversation with explosions and gunfire going on in the background, but is it that important in a MilSim which uses quieter Airsoft based weapons ?

The size of the Pro Tac earshells are larger than that of the Sordins and you are limited in your choice of headgear - helmets will be difficult. However, baseball caps, balaclavas or just bare headed is fine. Note that the "Shooter" version of this Pro-Tac Hunter headset has even fatter ear-shells (it offers better sound suppression which on a firing range is a good idea but probably a waste for us).

The environmentals are different too.   Sordins will probably take a lot more water and pain, but a headset designed for shooting (outside) should be able to withstand a rain shower.

A footnote here relates to the cable between fist microphone and the headset AUX IN.
Its worth getting a stereo 3.5mm cable - I bought a 30cm one to cut down on excess cable. The mono radio still plays in your left ear so no benefit tactically, but if you want to listen to anything when stood down, its useful to hear stereo music, media etc with your headset plugged into a smartphone etc.

So there we have it -  

Of course, the principle will theoretically work with any headset that has an AUX input jack. The Peltor which is a 3M company, provides a mid priced solution. You can buy cheaper shooting headsets (starting from about £40) or you can even get an MSA Sordin version without a boom microphone for about £160 (all prices correct in the UK at time of going to press).

To put this into perspective, have a look at the Z-Tactical range of headsets. These are specifically designed for Airsoft and produced by a company in the far east. They are certainly not "real steel".

I've never owned one and can't comment on their performance, but their prices aren't that different from the set-up shown here.  Its up to each player to decide how he or she wishes to invest their hard earned in the pursuit of our shared hobby.

The Moldistan Chronicles by Okto Eight Milsim

Milsim organiser Okto Eight Milsim launched their Moldistan series in September 2014.

The story began with a massive seam of high grade Titanium-yielding ore being discovered in the former soviet republic of Moldistan, a sleepy woodland country wedged between Europe and Russia.

Ruled by the autocratic President Aleksandr Gretsky, Moldistan existed largely out of sight from the rest of the world. What was originally a poor backwater country of woodcutters and farmers, existing on the edge of poverty, suddenly became a wealthy industrialist nation almost overnight.

Usually wherever you find money, you find corruption and Moldistan was no exception. It wasn't long before Gretsky was floating amidst allegations of corruption and was suppressing the will of the people and keeping them in a middle ages-style serfdom whilst accruing great personal wealth.


Operation Skylight 

The Operation opened with the Minister of Trade, Artem Novik being kidnapped by insurgents on his way to inspect the Gorazh National Mine, which was being hastily constructed to extract the ore.

The Peoples Front of Moldistan (or MPF) , an anti-Gretsky political body of former governmental soldiers and radicals, accepted responsibility for the kidnap, but a botched rescue attempt by the Moldistan Defence Force (MDF) - the government army (and it was rumoured, special forces from the west), left Novik dead.

President Gretsky arrived to perform the official opening of the Mine and the MPF made various attempts to assassinate him. The attempts all failed and Gretsky was whisked to safety by his bodyguard and personal MDF guard troop.

Gretsky and Bodyguard Making Their Escape

Throughout the weekend, there were continued firefights between the MDF, the MPF and western Special Forces, who were allegedly in-country to "advise the president on tactical matters".


Operation Tailspin

This occurred in the spring of 2015.  The "unrest" in Moldistan had stilled somewhat over the harsh Moldistan winter, but Gretsky, arrogant and confident at his ability to survive multiple concentrated attempts on his life, had not been idle. Irritated by US attempts to interfere in his country, lured by the promise of Titanium for their defence industries, he petulantly signed a counter Titanium trade agreement to supply the Russians instead, effectively shunning the US.

Moscow, encouraged by Gretsky's public shunning of the USA and also eager to obtain Titanium supplies to produce key lightweight components in their own armaments industries, encouraged him to expel all US forces from Moldistan as a sign of good faith.

In Operation Tailspin, a black ops NATO reconnaissance flight crashed in Moldistan and there was a race to reach its pilot and the sensitive equipment on board. US Special Forces formed a rescue mission and entered the country secretly. They joined forces with the rebels, supplying them with arms and managed to extract the pilot with their help. Unfortunately for the west, a flight recorder was recovered from the wreckage by government troops. It contained incriminating flight logs providing irrefutable proof of NATO spying, which did nothing to improve relations with the West.

Donating Weapons to the MPF

The operation also saw the neutralisation of a defence radar AA site to provide a "hole in the fence" and a mission to assault the Moldistan Special Research Facility (MSRF) by a combined NATO SF/MPF force. The government's chief scientist, Professor Gagarsky, an expert specialising in liquid explosives and insect-sized surveillance drones, was being forcibly held at the MSRF. The assault force were able to rescue him and transport him to Europe where he was offered a new life working for Uncle Sam.

The MSRF

Operation Firestorm

By the summer of 2015, Gretsky had quarrelled with Moscow. Their repeated attempts to force him to increase production had prompted him to accept a better offer from Washington and sell his Titanium to the U.S. 

Gretsky was losing the popularity war in his own country and he needed to wage a public relations offensive. Disillusioned with the leadership and poorly paid, some of his beloved MDF had defected to the rebels. With the influx of US Dollars, he was able to buy his own well trained private army in the form of battle-hardened Private Military Contractors from the shadowy US based organisation Mercury. 

In order to lift the morale of his troops and citizens, the president despatched his Prime Minister to make a rousing motivational speech in the frontier village of Tsiara.

Prime Minister Borodin was instantly mobbed by the protesting villagers, who had been agitated by the rebels in anticipation of the VIP visit. The PM was struck by a cabbage from a protesting woman, but the MDF managed to rescue him from further harm and get him on the presidential helicopter back to Krasvin..

Furthermore, the Gorazh Mine was attacked by the MPF rebels and in the last few hours of the operation, was captured by the insurgents.

The PM is Mobbed

Operation Claw Hammer

The closing months of 2015 saw the Mine being operated by the rebels, technically assisted by Russian supplied engineers. Titanium was once again being exported to Russia, but at a fraction of the price they had paid Gretsky before !!

Gretsky was out of favour with Washington. Their Titanium supply had been diverted to their arch rivals in Moscow and Gretsky was chastised for his inability to control insurgency in his country.

Cornered like a rat and at his lowest ebb, Gretsky requested boots on the ground from NATO to help him fight the Russian-backed rebels and free his country (and revenue earning mine) from their clutches.

Once again set in Tsiara, this operation saw Russian Special Forces active for the first time, training the rebels and conducting clandestine surveillance operations to support their espionage network in Moldistan.

NATO and the Moldistan Defence Force made a joint attack on the Gorazh Mine and after a hard fight, managed to re-capture it. The MPF leader, Nikolay Jakov, was reported killed in a US airstrike after being lured into the open by the promise of a pay-off from village elders.

Russian SPETSNAZ in Tsiara Village

Operation Gate Guard

Forced to abandon all thoughts of the mine for now, the MPF rebels regrouped in their forest hideout in the "Badlands" and plotted to attack the two airports in the capital, Krasvin. Hoping to make a tactical strike to surgically separate Gretsky from his incoming foreign reinforcements, the rebels made a simultaneous two-pronged attack on both the civil and military airports.

This operation followed the fortunes of the attack on the military airbase. Government forces were stretched to defend such a large airfield, but they managed to rescue their billeted pilots from being captured as the rebels swept in. The rebels soon had the airfield under their control and managed to severely damage the runway with demolition charges. Fortunately, the government command had the foresight to protect all their aircraft in hardened bunkers and try as they might; the insurgents were unable to breach them. The Moldistan Air Force was therefore largely unaffected.

Eventually, having achieved their objective and made their point, the MPF retreated, allowing the government to take back their critically damaged airfield.

The raid on the civil airport was less successful as the rebels were unable to penetrate the outer perimeter and were quickly driven off.

 

Rebel Mortar Attack on the Airbase

Clashes on the Runway

Operation Serpents Nest

After the bloody battle at the airfield, the rebels retreated to the village of Stariye Kverno-Korsevi, nestling on the edge of the "Badlands", the forest home of the MPF.

Using an old insurgent’s trick, the MPF began hiding in plain sight, sheltering among the villages' civilian population where they licked their wounds and regained their strength.

Realising that it’s only a matter of time before they rose up again, Gretsky considered the MPF situation a "ticking time bomb" and he decided that something had to be done (and soon).

Although no stranger to genocide and tempted as he was to raze the village to the ground with an artillery barrage, he was conscious that his government was being watched by western human rights organisations. Foreign aid workers and UN observers were everywhere in the district.

Gretsky needed rid of the Serpent which is the MPF, but was wise enough to know that he needed to wield a tactical scalpel on this one. He needed troops who would go in to the Serpents Nest and cut off its head. He needed troops that could separate rebels from innocent villagers and avoid war crime accusations from the West.

When the MPF started hijacking UN aid convoys, it gave him the excuse he needed.

He ordered a Forward Observation Base (FOB) to be constructed just outside the village, in order to protect the convoys. Fort Gretsky, as it was known, was the ideal location to observe all village movements and send out recon units.

However, the rebels started to make fools out of the Joint Task Force (JTF) stationed there. Although the JTF was made up of Moldistan Defence Force (MDF), NATO and United Nations personnel; experienced and credible forces, they were soon out of their depth.

Firstly, key members of the MPF were spotted, but the JTF were unable to capture them. Then the FOB was attacked by the rebels and was over-run several times with little resistance.

Confusion and chaos reigned as the fighting raged in and around the village and there were civilian casualties caused by both sides. The JTF were filmed shooting down a villager when inexperienced soldiers thought his mobile phone was a firearm. The MPF threw a grenade into a house killing a young baby and its parents. These were just singular examples of atrocities caused by both sides in the conflict. Neither the UN or the Red Cross could stop the bloodshed. All they could do was to evacuate the villagers in an attempt to reduce the civilian casualties.

The JTF tried three times to systematically search the village for weapons and each time met fierce resistance from embedded insurgents. Eventually, the MPF decided to withdraw to their hideout in the Badlands, before the village became nothing more than a smoking ruin, something not in their best interest.

This enabled the JTF to seize control of Stariye Kverno-Korsevi and the villagers to return to their homes. As a parting gift, the MPF left anti-personnel mines planted in the village, another contravention of international agreements.

The media ran the killing of the man holding nothing but a mobile phone as front page news for a day or two and the soldiers responsible were returned to Europe to face criminal charges.

JTF War Crimes

Fort Gretsky

Operation Nutcracker

The Moldistan Chronicles by Okto Eight Milsim

Milsim organiser Okto Eight Milsim launched their Moldistan series in September 2014.

The series is a dynamic, living story where the players decide the direction that the milsim takes, depending on their own decisions and actions. 

The story began that summer with a massive seam of high grade Titanium-yielding ore being discovered in the former soviet republic of Moldistan, a sleepy woodland country wedged between Europe and Russia.

Ruled by the autocratic President Aleksandr Gretsky, Moldistan existed largely out of sight from the rest of the world. What was originally a poor backwater country of woodcutters and farmers, existing on the edge of poverty, suddenly became a wealthy industrialist nation, almost overnight.

Usually wherever you find money, you will find corruption and Moldistan was no exception.
It wasn't long before Gretsky was surrounded by allegations of corruption and was suppressing the will of the people, keeping them in a middle ages-style serfdom whilst accruing great personal wealth.


Operation Skylight 

The Operation opened with the Minister of Trade, Artem Novik being kidnapped by insurgents on his way to inspect the Gorazh National Mine, which was being hastily constructed to extract the ore.

The Peoples Front of Moldistan (or MPF) , an anti-Gretsky political body of former governmental soldiers and radicals, accepted responsibility for the kidnap. However, a botched rescue attempt by the Moldistan Defence Force or MDF (the government army) and it was rumoured, Special Forces from the west, left Novik dead.

President Gretsky arrived to perform the official opening of the Mine and despite the MPF making several attempts to assassinate him, the attempts were foiled and Gretsky was whisked to safety by his bodyguard and MDF personal guard.

Gretsky and Bodyguard Making Their Escape

Throughout the weekend, there were continued fire-fights between the MDF, the MPF and western Special Forces, who were allegedly in-country to "advise the President on tactical matters".


Operation Tailspin

This occured in the spring of 2015.  The "unrest" in Moldistan had stilled somewhat over the harsh Moldistan winter, but Gretsky, arrogant and confident at his ability to survive multiple concentrated attempts on his life, had not been idle. Irritated by US attempts to interfere in the running of his country in pursuit of Titanium, he petulantly signed a counter Titanium trade agreement to supply the Russians instead, effectively shunning the US.

Moscow, encouraged by Gretsky's public shunning of the USA and also eager to obtain Titanium supplies to produce key lightweight components in their own armaments industries, encouraged him to expel all US forces from Moldistan as a sign of good faith.

In Operation Tailspin, a black ops NATO reconnaisance flight crashed in Moldistan and there was a race to reach its pilot and the sensitive equipment on board. US Special Forces quickly formed a rescue mission and entered the country secretly. They joined forces with the rebels, supplied them with arms to ingratiate them and managed to jointly extract the pilot. Unfortunately for the West, a flight recorder recovered from the wreckage by government troops, contained incriminating evidence of NATO spying in Moldistan. This did nothing to improve relationships between Gretsky and Washington.

Donating Weapons to the MPF

The operation also saw the neutralisation of a defence radar AA site which provided a "hole in the fence" and a mission to assault the Moldistan Special Research Facility (MSRF) by a combined NATO SF/MPF force. The Moldistan Chief Scientist Professor Gagarsky, an expert specialising in liquid explosives and insect-sized surveillance drones, was being forcibly held at the MSRF. The assault force were able to perform a successful rescue and when Gagarsky requested political asylum, he was offered a new life working for "Uncle Sam" in US Defense Research.

The MSRF

Operation Firestorm

By the summer of 2015, Gretsky had quarrelled with Moscow. Their repeated attempts to force him to increase production had prompted him to accept a better offer from Washington and sell his Titanium to the U.S. 

Meanwhile, Gretsky was losing the popularity war in his own country and he needed to wage a public relations offensive to win his people back. Furthermore, some of his beloved MDF, dispirited and underpaid had defected to the rebels. With the renewed influx of US Dollars, he was able to buy his own experienced private army in the form of battle-hardened Private Military Contractors from the shadowy US based organisation Mercury. 

In order to lift the morale of his troops and citizens, the President despatched his Prime Minister to make a rousing motivational speech in the frontier village of Tsiara.

When he arrived, Prime Minister Borodin was mobbed by the protesting villagers, who had been agitated by the rebels beforehand. The PM was struck by a cabbage from a protesting woman, but the MDF managed to rescue him from further harm and get him back to Krasvin in the Presidential helicopter.

Strategically, just before the close of the operation, the Gorazh Mine was attacked by the MPF rebels and finally overrun.

The PM is Mobbed

Operation Claw Hammer

The end of the year saw the Mine being operated by the rebels, technically assisted by Russian engineers supplied by Moscow. Titanium was once again being exported to Russia, but at a fraction of the price they had paid to Gretsky before !!

Gretsky was out of favour with Washington. Their Titanium supply had been diverted to their arch rivals in Moscow and Gretsky was chastised by the US President for his inability to control insurgency in his country.

Cornered like a rat and at his lowest ebb, Gretsky requested "boots on the ground" from NATO to help him fight the Russian-backed rebels and free his country from their clutches.

Once again set in Tsiara, this operation saw Russian Special Forces active for the first time in the game, training the rebels and conducting clandestine surveillance operations to support their espionage network in Moldistan.

NATO and the Moldistan Defence Force made a joint attack on the Gorazh Mine and after a hard fight, managed to re-capture it. The MPF leader, Nikolay Jakov, was killed in a US airstrike after being lured into the open by the promise of a pay-off from village elders.

Russian SPETSNAZ in Tsiara Village

Operation Gate Guard

Forced to abandon thoughts of the mine for now, the MPF rebels regrouped in their forest hideout in the "Badlands" and plotted to attack the two airports just outside Krasvin, the nation's capital.
Hoping to make a tactical strike to separate Gretsky from his incoming foreign reinforcements, the rebels made a simultaneous two-pronged attack on both the civil and military airports.

Gate Guard followed the fortunes of the attack on the military airport. Government forces were stretched to defend such a large airfield, but they managed to rescue their billoted pilots from being captured by the rebels as they swept in. The MPF soon had the airfield under their control and managed to severely damage the runway with demolition charges. Fortunately, the government command had the foresight to protect all their aircraft in hardened bunkers and the insurgents were unable to breach them, thus preserving the Moldistan Air Force.

Eventually, having achieved their objective, the MPF retreated allowing the government to take back their critically damaged airfield.

The raid on the civil airport was less successful and the rebels were unable to penetrate the outer perimeter before being driven back.

 

Rebel Mortar Attack on the Airbase

Clashes on the Runway

 Operation Serpents Nest

After the bloody battle at the airfield, the rebels retreated back to the village of Stariye Kverno-Korsevi, nestling on the edge of the "Badlands", the forest home of the MPF.

Using an old insurgent’s trick, the MPF began hiding in plain sight, sheltering amongst the loyalist village's civilian population, where they licked their wounds and regained their strength.

Realising that it’s only a matter of time before they rise up again, Gretsky considered the MPF situation a "ticking time bomb" and decided something had to be done (and soon).

Although no stranger to genocide and tempted to raze the village to the ground with an artillery barrage, he was conscious that his government was being watched by western human rights organisations. Foreign aid workers and UN observers were everywhere in the district.

Gretsky needed rid of the Serpent which is the MPF, but was wise enough to know that he needed to wield a tactical scalpel on this one. He needed troops who would go in to the Serpents Nest and cut off its head. He needed experienced troops that could separate rebels from innocent villagers and avoid war crime accusations from the West.


When the MPF started hijacking unarmed UN aid convoys, it gave him the excuse he needed...
  

DAO - Isn't That a Religion ?

                                                                                                                    Photo reproduced courtesy of Tokyo Marui Japan

Pistols are big business in the military these days. At one time, only officers carried them. Now, most service people in a combat zone are trained in their use and have access to a sidearm.

Last year, the US government announced a plan to replace their M9 and it is estimated that they will buy nearly half a million pistols in the replacement program.

Many of us see written reference to the terms SAO or DAO but how many of us know what it actually means to the shooter ?




SAO = Single Action Only

The pistol must be physically cocked (i.e. the hammer cocked or the slide racked back) before the first shot.

DAO = Double Action Only

A long trigger pull is needed to cock the pistol.

DA/SA = Double Action/Single Action

A long trigger pull for the first shot and then shorter SA style pulls for subsequent shots.  


The Benefits and Merits

SAO pistols offer a lighter, crisper trigger action, but having to manually cock the pistol can make you slow to respond to an emerging threat.
"Contact" - wait, just let me rack this sucker to return fire.

It's also noisy, making stealth approaches more difficult.

This has caused shooters to carry them cocked with the safety on, which for obvious reasons has become less popular in modern times.

The long trigger pull of the DAO is seen as a safety feature to avoid negligent discharges and it's certainly quicker to respond than the SAO, but that pull can often detrimentally affect accuracy, especially for the more inexperienced user. 
DA/SA pistols offer a compromise with that long pull on the first shot, offering safety against ND's but potentially with less initial accuracy, followed by shorter triggered, more accurate rapid shots thereafter.

Other Considerations

Hammer or Striker ? -  Hammers can be a pain as they protrude. They can get caught up and straps or clothing can get in the way and stop their action just when you need it.  Strikers are internal so don't have the same hang ups, although you can't always see whether the pistol is cocked or not (unless there is a striker indicator pin at the rear).

Just to stir up the mix a little, another consideration is safety features. At one time, having a thumbed safety switch was considered ample precaution. However, it takes time to operate (crucial milliseconds perhaps) and it's easy to forget and leave it on in a stressful situation.
Pointing a loaded gun and squeezing the trigger only to find the safety is still on, is an experience you don't forget. Luckily in the airsoft world, it just means a long walk to the regen.
As a result, many makers offer indirect safety devices like a split trigger which means both parts of the hinged trigger have to be squeezed for the pistol to be operated.

Decockers are designed to allow SAO and DA/SA type pistols to de-cock and be made safe without the user having to try to squeeze the trigger and arrest the hammer, allowing it to return slowly - something that can have a mixed rate of success, especially when tired or when fingers are wet.

So, like many things in 21st century life, we are spoilt for choice. Although airsoft choice is more limited than real steel in the real world, it's still food for thought and in milsim-land where we strive for as much reality as possible, buying an airsoft pistol certainly merits some pondering before parting with cash.