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.

The Cold War

One of the greatest downfalls of Gas Blow Back (GBB) weapons in Airsoft is the Winter.
To be more exact, it's the use of the GBB technology in cold weather.

The gas that usually powers GBB is Propane-based (typically Propane with some secret additives - a bit like Coca Cola and its secret formula). Airsoft gas suppliers rarely seem to state what is in their gas, although I'm led to believe that a perfume to make the gas smell better and silicone for mag seal lubrication is often included . They refer to their products by impressive and strong sounding names like Brut and there are often marketing type claims along the lines that it's so good it will make your toast at the same time as keeping your gun as clean as a whistle.

Although it's not an exact science, once the air temperature drops below 12 Degrees Centigrade, the performance of Propane powered guns is affected, usually by an indicative drop in BB velocity (f.p.s).

There are ways to reduce the effect (e.g. keeping your mags warm in a pocket, not firing for prolonged periods etc), but generally it can be a problem.

Although apparently, it's not a new thing, I have suddenly become aware that Airsoft maker WE are offering CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) magazines with some of their GBB pistols, as an alternative to the normal Propane ones. Carbon Dioxide as an airsoft propellant is not usually affected by our UK winter temperatures, so weapon performance is unimpaired at the lower temperatures that we experience in our autumn and winter seasons.

A problem with CO2 weapons that I've experienced in the past is that the higher gas pressure tends to make the gun f.p.s a little hot (oh the irony). With many outdoor sites operating a 350 f.p.s limit and indoor sites tending to be less than that, use of CO2 powered weapons has often been restricted in the past.

It is my understanding that those lovely people at WE have got the pressure regulated to a respectable 320 f.p.s (don't take my word for it - I'm only repeating what I've been told), which would suggest that CO2 pistols could be back on the menu.

Carbon Dioxide can be provided in 12g metal bulbs for Airsoft. Where Propane is usually introduced into its magazines by squirting it in to the reservoir using an aerosol cannister, the CO2 route allows you to screw in a bulb instead. It has to be said that the magazines are very different internally, so you can't use the same magazine for both forms of propellant.

Thinking ahead to the Okto Eight Milsim game in January (usually a cold month in the UK !), I bought the optional CO2 magazine for a WE M92 pistol to try out.

You will notice that surprisingly it comes with an Allen key in its little box.

If you turn the magazine upside down, it's possible to remove the bottom plate of the mag by lifting a slider in the magazine spring channel. Once the plate slides out, the bottom of the magazine looks like the photo above. There is a hexagonal hole (designed for the mysterious Allen key - ah that's what it's for !!).

If you insert the Allen key into the hexagonal hole and rotate it anti-clockwise, it's possible to remove the circular plug from the bottom of the magazine. The plug unscrews out, leaving the bottom of the CO2 12g bulb visible. As you unscrew the plug, you might experience a hiss of gas, which I assume is unused gas leaking out from the bulb as the physical force holding it tightly against the body of the mag is slowly released ?

Anyway, once the gas has been allowed to gently escape and the pressure is equalised, the CO2 bulb can be withdrawn completely.

Here you can see the inside of the mag chamber with the CO2 bulb removed. There is a receptacle at the top. When you fit a new 12g bulb into the chamber as a refill and screw the plug back in with the Allen key, the neck of the CO2 bulb is forced on to that receptacle, puncturing its neck seal and allowing the CO2 to flow up towards the mag valve and pressurising the magazine ready for use.

The plug acts as a 12g bulb retainer. When the bottom plate is slid back on (you have to lift that slider again first), you will see a realistic magazine end plate (with no visible refill point as you would have with a Propane type mag).

The  6mm BB's load into the magazine in the usual way and the pistol operates as it does with Propane based gas.

At the time of writing, the CO2 magazine was £4 more expensive than the normal spare gas one for the same pistol (Airsoft Zone - August 2015) and it was also possible to buy a choice of mags for some of the WE Glock models as well as their M92/M9.

Its not clear yet how long these CO2 bulb refills last, in relation to normal gas refills, so operating costs based on shots used are difficult to predict at the moment. The 12g refills can cost as little as £0.40 each (UK - CO2cartridges.co.uk) depending on source and quantity.

I'm sure many of you are already aware of this and maybe even already use the CO2 variants of the WE, but on the grounds that I wasn't aware, it seems reasonable to assume that there may be other uninformed people out there............

An Interview with Okto Eight Milsim

Okto Eight Milsim commenced their milsim series over a year ago. As an offshoot of the experienced Filmsim Ltd group, they have a good pedigree in these kinds of games and this has already been borne out in their operations so far.

We managed to spend some time with their creative team and ask them some questions about what they do.

Play it for Real !!

Our Question (1):

Why did you start Okto Eight ? Surely lots of organisers already run milsims in the UK ?

Okto Answer:

There are lots of flavours of milsims although most are subtlely different. Our parent Filmsim Ltd already operate a wide range of military and historical simulations, but nothing really like Okto.



Our Question (2):

What is different about Okto Eight ? 

Okto Answer:

It occured to us that not everybody who wants to play milsim is young, superfit or wants to spend a whole weekend sleeping rough in game. I've lived outdoors for extended periods, carrying your supplies and washing with wet wipes and while that might excite some, there are others who want to get a flavour of military life without the loss of comfort. What Okto does is to allow players to live in a battlefield for eight hours. Once the ENDEX whistle blows, the game is frozen, people retire to their modern camping tents or go home for a shower and to a soft bed. The next morning, we start again. The game restarts at the same point that it finished the day before - people even stand in the same places. Players get 16 hours of intense battle action.



Our Question (3):

Does this mean you get a lot of older people playing ? 

Okto Answer:

Strangely, no.
We have a minimum age limit of 16 and two tone airsoft weapons aren't allowed, so we get a primarily adult group, but we have a wide spread of ages. Players are encouraged to have a social get together on the saturday night and we find the various forces who play in game, tend to have their own campfire and maybe a barbecue on the go. Last game, which was Operation Tailspin, we had three forces and it was great to see the forces mingling and both old and young sitting round the fire, enjoying a beer or two and a bit of competitive and good natured banter. We often wonder if the players enjoy the social more than the war gaming !! 



Our Question (4):

Sometimes you hear airsoft players saying that milsims have too much inactivity between the firefights ? What are your thoughts ?

Okto Answer:

Real situations are like this. Skirmishes are fine for fun, but they aren't realistic. On the other hand, if you play milsims, you don't necessarily want to spend your whole weekend guarding an objective with no contacts. We try to find a happy medium. Usually our operations are arranged so that you get enough contacts around less intense guarding, escorting and patrolling activities to make the adrenaline flow. Our sites are the optimal size and the combination of force numbers and objectives and surprises make it work.

If things get quiet naturally, we have ways of livening it up !!



Our Question (5):

How realistic are your games ?

Okto Answer:

Thats a hard one. Each player would probably have a different interpretation of realistic. With airsoft, its not a particularly realistic medium - they (airsoft weapons) look the part but the lack of sound, muzzle flashes and range mean that they don't fully replicate real steel weapons. However, we see airsoft weapons as only a part of the game; effectively a tool in a toolbox. We use realistic scenarios, military vehicles, pyrotechnics and actors to create a mili-sphere; a battlezone world that players enter to become immersed.

Plenty of Props at Okto games

Our Question (6):

Tell us more about immersion ?

Okto Answer:

We could go on all day about this as its one of our passions. The key to a good game is the players. We are only a catalyst that bring out the right stuff in the players. If you come to one of our games with the wrong attitude, you won't enjoy it.  People that expect to shoot lots of BBs on full auto or that dont want to use their imagination, generally won't get the most out of an Okto game.

When players enter through the portal into the mili-sphere - the game area, we say "believe you are there - react as you would in a real situation".

If a farmer drives up to you on a tractor, speaking in a Russian accent and with what looks like a bomb round his neck, react for real. 

You don't need to be an actor to play. Its simple, if you get hit, fall down - don't put your hand up and shout "hit" as you would at a skirmish.
We encourage players to scream out for help, shout for a medic. Some players really get into it and there are extra points for hammy acting (joke).

Our current series of games revolve around the goings on in a fictional former soviet state called Moldistan. Our past Operations Skylight and Tailspin were set there and we have Operation Firestorm coming up in August. We have seen players adopting Russian accents (some better than our actors) and also players bringing their own props. Okto bring in a lot of props for added realism, but our players are now building their own. We have seen them bringing in base radios, anti air MANPADs and weapon crates which they build in their sheds at home between games - we think its great as they are buying-in to the fun which is Okto.

We also have an active online community where players belong to secure force groups that allow them to receive intel and discuss tactics, even if they live at opposite ends of the country (Some of our players come from overseas just for our games).

Our stories start before the first game and run between the games, which are approximately every four months. Playing with Okto is a regular thing - the storyline runs like a thread in the background all the time. Players can dip in and out when they like.



Our Question (7):

How seriously do you take it ?

Okto Answer:

Thats a really good question. It's a fine line. We don't allow nerf guns and dressing like elves and movie characters, but on the other end of the scale, we don't impose special forces style selection, ranks and saluting. We try and make our games as real as we can, but we impose flexible loadout requirements that allow most people to play, without spending a fortune on kit.

In game, we take the fighting seriously but there is an element of tongue-in-cheek. In one game, we took the rebels to war on a farmers trailer being towed behind a tractor. At the end of the day, its about having fun.



Our Question (8):

How do people find out more about playing at Okto ?

Okto Answer:

Get in touch with us via our Facebook page. Send us a message and make contact. The next weekend game is Operation Firestorm on 22/23rd August and this will be held at our Eversley site, near Farnborough in Hampshire. To maintain the level of immersion that we demand of ourselves, we only have about 50 players in each game. Although this ensures that people get the chance to make decisions that affect the game and play an active role, it means we get booked out quite fast. We still have a few places for Firestorm (as of 19th June), but not many.


THANK YOU

   



 

The Diary of a Rebel#2

Somewhere in the Moldistan Forest - December 2014

Well, a lot of things have happened since we last spoke.

The weather for one !! - the snow and ice have arrived. The camp is now carpeted in 100-150mm of snow and night time temperatures plummet to a bone chilling -20 Degrees C.

Nobody has any spare energy for fighting - its just enough to keep warm.

Mind you, before the bad weather came, we did manage to secure one last pre-winter success against Gretsky.

The trucks carrying the Titanium Ore from the mine have to negotiate an old steel bridge across the Chernyy River to reach the processing plant. Fortunately for us, it is poorly guarded by the MDF and one dark night between convoys, we were able to neutralise the guards at either end with our sniper rifles and then plant explosives under the main supports of the bridge.

We removed the guards from the road and let the next convoy safely cross. Suspecting that we didn't have long before an MDF Patrol arrived (the truck drivers will have reported the lack of guards to MDF headquarters), we got to work.

The explosives detonated with a huge concussion and the bridge which was built by the Russians during the war, fell into the river with huge splashes. Not only did we destroy the bridge but we also managed to block the river for boat traffic, which will stop the government sending patrol boats up to support their men.

The trucks now have to make a 75Km detour to cross the river. Our action won't stop Gretsky and his exports to Russia but it will hinder them.

Another piece of good news is that our beloved leader, Nikolay Jakov is now the proud father of a new daughter. Born only a few days ago. It won't be long before she has her own AK47 and is fighting alongside her father in the forest.

Our group are starting to prepare for Christmas and are collecting food for the womenfolk to make Moldistani delicacies ready for the big day. We celebrate Christmas on January 7th in accordance with the Russian orthodox religion, so we will celebrate New Year before Christmas, which may seem strange to westerners !!

Anyway, the Peoples Front of Moldistan wish you all a happy western Christmas and we hope that 2015 will bring peace and freedom to all.

The Diary of a Rebel#1

Somewhere in the Moldistan Forest - November 2014

Autumn is settling in fast and the temperatures are already dropping, here in the forests of Moldistan.

Things have quietened down considerably since our fierce battles with the government troops and the American interlopers some 6 weeks ago.
- Gretsky has run back to Krasvin.
- Back to his palace, his whores and his high life.

The Americans got their wounded man back from us and have also gone home. Of course, we tried to kill Gretsky, twice and we think the Americans even tried to help us, but that man has the luck of the devil.
He even survived our RPG attack !!

Now we are just left in the cold. We sit wrapped in furs, huddled around our log fires for warmth. The world no longer cares. The news has moved on.

We have developed elaborate fire pits with special chimneys to draw the smoke away so it doesn't give our position away to the government jets patrolling high above our heads.

The Titanium mine at Gorazh is fully operational now and is churning out the stuff for the Russians.
Every day, we see trucks loaded with ore, ripped from deep below us, making their way North to the land of the bear.
We tried attacking some of the trucks, but what can we do ?

We stop the truck and scare the driver off into the woods with our rifles. The Moldistan Defence Force just send more men to take the abandoned truck and its cargo away.  We achieve nothing, but the exercise keeps us warm - haha.

Soon the snow will come. We get very cold winters here, probably -25 Degrees C and several metres of snow. We will probably spread ourselves out for the winter, seeking shelter from the harshest weather in the barns of farmers, secretly loyal to our cause. Nikolay took over from our beloved Lukashenka, may God rest his soul. Comrade Jakov is young but has the heart of a lion. He is determined to beat Gretsky and hates him with a passion. We all look forward to the days when the sun returns to our meadows and people will no longer need to live in fear of marching boots or go to bed with empty stomachs.

Today, we secretly travelled to a farm way up in the North East. We discovered a mass grave - the farmer had reported hearing trucks and machine guns one night several weeks ago but had been too afraid to investigate. Probably more victims of the government cleansing - more citizens who were too vocal and critical of Gretsky, no doubt. It was impossible to estimate how many were buried there, but it could be as many as fifty dead.

The nights are long here, so we sit round the fire and tell stories of our forefathers and sing and dance. Petr is good with his violin. He plays gypsy songs and we drink, sing and stamp our feet in time.

We look forward to spring - warmer temperatures, longer days and the chance to strike back at Gretsky.
May God let us survive long enough to take our revenge.

Stay warm Comrades.

Yours

Micha