Advice on military tatics books.

NakedDex

Everything requires some kind of tactic. For example, my boards.ie tactics involve using punctuation in sentences and, indeed, full sentences.

Anyway, everyone initially thinks real world tactics are all you need to be the newest prodigy to the skirmishing world. Truth is, while some tactics may roughly translate with heavy modification to milsim playing style, general skirmishing does not allow for such detailed and extensive forward planning. A regular skirmish can, however, take some adapted strategies and use them successfully, so long as the leader is confident and capable.
Therefore, what I'd suggest you do is read a couple of books about military style leadership and discover how to lead and inspire fellow players. General skirmishing games rarely have anyone in a team who's willing to take charge and tell people the true vitals like where to go, where to wait and when to move etc.
Remember, a skirmish game rarely last longer than an hour, so you don't have time to think up, flesh out, explain to your team and execute a proper set of tactics. A simple strategy, kept to as few words and as jargon free as possible, will work far more effectively. The thing is to know how to deliver these explanations and how to control the the plan while in action. The KISS method is your friend.

Milsim, as anyone will tell you, is a different animal altogether.

G3-Nut

Brabazone wrote: »

Have been to a few skirmishes but hurt my neck a few months ago so haven't been out in a while, still recovering. Did my time in the FCA when I was a young lad too, five years to be exact. But like all reserve forces basically all your thought is, how to fire a gun, how to clean a gun and how to walk point and bravely take the first bullet.

Really I'm looking for information on the way proper special operations units work. I want to know how each individual member fits into the team, the role they play in the team and how their skills are used to the best advantage for the rest of the team.

I think its good to know everyone's place including your own and what you have to offer. This way when your are out skirmishing your are a benefit instead of a hindrance to you fellow players.

Probably never happen but maybe the IAA could put something together. A field handbook or something along those lines might be useful. Might bring in a few quid for the cause too.

Ouch hope you recover soon bud!!

Well you see thats my point, haven spoken to bucketloads of officers, including my uncle being a chief master seargent, ive learned quite a bit on how special teams work on this side of the pond, and that is that spec ops teams arent just thrown together and made to adapt to eachother, each individual is carefully studied and selected in order to make the unit as efficient as possible.

Now you lads obviously dont have those resources so what i said still applies, get out there, play(when you recover), you will quickly learn that eachothers play style as long as you stick together, that will be your biggest obstacle, because sometimes people will run off trying to get random kills instead of achieve the objective.

Now i played with a few mates and i have to say the radios worked very well( so get radios) apart from us randomly throwing verbal abuse at eachother, we communicated fantastically when spread thin, which enobled us to cover eachother, an example is one of my team mates was upstairs of the double decker in HRTA, we needed to extract a bomb from up there, but the problem was, it takes 2 to carry it, and our other 2 teammates were holding off the left flank about 2 buildings away from me, so instead of rushing i constantly kept radioing to the guy in the bus when people where going in etc, this made the other team start pushing heavier towards the left since they were miserably failing at the right, that gave me the oppurtunity to move in and help extract the bomb...

There were also times where the 4 of us were in 4 seperate buildings yet we covered eachother fantastically becasue of radios.

So the only thing you could learn without playing is fluent communcations, maybe learn some codes since opfor can listen in on your comms. We never bothered learn codes we just spoke with our dirty culchie accents haha sounded like code half the time anyway...

I could read all the books in the world we still wont operate like a spec ops team, can you imagine reading about cleaning the steyr then performing it flawlessly, nope, wont happen....

Learning real tactics and playing airsoft is like learning to play rugby, but joining an american football team.

NakedDex

G3-Nut wrote: »

Learning real tactics and playing airsoft is like learning to play rugby, but joining an american football team.

I can attest to that. Several years of learning playbooks in American football, it's actually more complicated than a military tactics manual (in fact, that's what it basically is).

Smokerkl

Now Im not saying there is no point in it but what is the point(unless its a berget type event) of training and tactics for a regular run of the mill skirmish when like someone said earlier they got slaughtered by a 16 year old?? In airsoft unlike the real world we dont have set rules(Geneva Convention) to run and play by? We simply get told the rules on the day by the marshalls at said sites and off we trot into the bush!! Now Ive been reading military books/history since I was a nipper and Ive spent plenty time doing it but to be fair like I said earlier unless its a proper organised weekend event then in my opinion tactics are just what you and your guys/girls do when having that last fag chatting amongst yourselfs waiting for the whistle!! I like to think every game on a skirmish day is a special forces unit going out and you have to play tactics by learning on the ground!! Sorry for the drone on but hey thats my 2 cents worth anyway!!
S..

Poccington

Brabazone wrote: »

Have been to a few skirmishes but hurt my neck a few months ago so haven't been out in a while, still recovering. Did my time in the FCA when I was a young lad too, five years to be exact. But like all reserve forces basically all your thought is, how to fire a gun, how to clean a gun and how to walk point and bravely take the first bullet.

Really I'm looking for information on the way proper special operations units work. I want to know how each individual member fits into the team, the role they play in the team and how their skills are used to the best advantage for the rest of the team.

That's not all you're thought in the RDF, especially if you were in 5 years.

Unless your team is going to be dealing with proper comms, weapons, demolitions, intel, ops planning and a proper logistics setup it's not gonna translate over to Airsoft, especially if it's an SOF Unit you're trying to work off.

Firekitten

Personally I agree Poccington. If you've been RDF, You'd know a lot more than that, although from what you said, you dont sound infantry.

In terms of airsoft aplicable real tactics, a lot of ex forces airsofters dont know what to apply, or apply nothing for whatever reason. For 90% of game, most of militery experience will count for squat. Small unit battle tactics apply sometimes, but not always. Learning how to use tactics in a certain way isnt the same as being able to apply them, or teach them.

Even these books 'for airsofters', one has to consider where you are. Even for the most realistic airsoft milsim events, not all will apply. Brains, perseverance, a thick skin and a lot of caffine will allow you to find what works and what doesnt. The only true way to find what military tactics work in airsoft, whichever type of game you play, is to TRY them, and work it out yourself. No group is the same, and no one group of airsofters can quite become the same as a group of soldiers trained together. Invariably when the shtf, airsofters fall apart, soldiers fall back on training.

Good luck and all that, but dont expect your own local skirmish site sas....