Road to Rostov - A Nato Perspective

By Guillermo Lopez 
 
MSW Road to Rostov overview. (Layout of event and personal opinion and experience as a first time participant)

Basics: 
This event consisted of 3 factions: NATO forces, Russian forces and a semi neutral militia group.

The basic layout was two main combat outposts (general bases) each laid out according to it's leadership. I was on NATO forces as a US rifleman. Our base was set up with the main CP in the middle surrounded by a few self made bunkers for defense. On the outer perimeter we were surrounded by a few rolling hills, we chose the highest ones on each side to create OPs (outposts) (OP north, OP west, etc.) 

In total we had 3 platoons which rotated on patrol missions, move to contact missions, CP security duties, and some squads had recon missions. During the times my platoon was assigned to security we would rotate guard shifts non stop (ratio depended on the likelihood of enemy assault according to intel), I'll admit it kinda sucked to be woken up at 2am in the freezing cold to be told "hey it's your turn to stand watch" but it really added to the experience. 

 
Our leadership consisted of former and current members of 75th us army rangers. The one who stood out the most to me was SGT McCoy, this dude was as legit as they came, the way he spoke to us was always in a way to motivate, educate, and to keep us in line. After a successful defense against a Russian assault on our cp his AAR to us was something like "that's what the fuck I'm talking about, you see that? These Russian motherfuckers now know that they're going to get their fuckin teeth kicked in if they even dare step close to our shit, I wish these assholes would try that shit again. Go ahead grab some chow, drink some water but don't become a bunch of sloppy motherfuckers. Make sure there's still guards on shift. Keep up the solid work, you can go ahead and pat yourselves on the back but don't be faggots about it." 

AO/bivouac : (Clovis, CA)
The AO was like a damn painting. It looked like nothing I see out here in SoCal. Green rolling hills that look like something out of an old Disney cartoon, trees that look like they came out of a Tim Burton film, thick fog, random trailers and shacks, and oh... Freezing as fuckin shit cold nights. After the first night we decided that we didn't wanna go through that nightmeric cold again so we decided dig holes to take cover in and also to sleep/live in. Digging the hole was an experience of it's own during an Airsoft game, like me and mark kept saying.. "We dig, get shot at, we shoot back, they leave, then we start diggin again". Lol

Firefights: 
These bbwarz fire fights were also unlike any others I've been in.. When the Russians would assault, all you would hear is a fuck ton of screaming in Russian, a fuck ton of blank firing rifles, and a fuck ton of pyro, oh and Enola Gaye sponsored the event so there were a fuck ton of smoke grenades everywhere too. Imagine seeing a silhouette in a tree line, yelling in Russian and shooting at your buddies with blank firing ammunition and then one of your boys pulling out his AR and firing back with blank firing ammunition making your sordins work so that you don't go deaf.. Little things like that made the quality of gameplay so awesome. A big thanks to the Russians for making this shit legit as fuck. 

Event winners/losers: N/A.
What I quickly learned about MSW is that the gameplay and experience itself is what the whole point of the event is. Both sides had their fair share of losses and victories but in the end all that mattered is how sick the experience was. 

Rating/final: 10/10
This overview just does not do the actual experience any justice. I've done a lot of milsim style games, and MSW really showed me a new meaning to the term "milsim". This game was really unlike any other Airsoft game I've ever experienced. I highly recommend it to any of you. I can only imagine how much sicker it would have been having an IPA coalition group there. A huge thanks to MSW and all it's sponsors for making this experience possible.

 

 

Later this week, we will be sharing the Russian perspective from our own Hasmeen Marable aka The AK Assassin

Padre' out...

  

Shake it off - Padre's Personal Rant!

Rant Time!

        So far this week I have seen online, 5 different personal attacks against "Airsoft Personalities" as well as a few more that have been directed at teams and fields. THIS HAS GOTTA STOP!!!! In the case of Leah this week, I told her that:

 "I don't always agree with you but I do respect you."  

        There will always be people that you don't agree with, that's a given. I'm not a big fan of CQB airsoft but.... that's because I'm old and slow like Thumpy Covey, however I do enjoy playing it once in a while. There will probably always be the fights over which gear manufacturer is the best what camo is best, or which gun is the best (Suck it up 'cause it's the Masada!). But at the end of the day we need to not only be respectful of one another but live our lives online and offline in a way that people will respect us.

        As BRIAN at ECHO1 put it in his video, there is a lot more import things we should be putting our efforts into such as fighting off threats to our sport like the current Congressional Committee Bill S-213  This is not about a pink helmet or who friendly fired who, this is about acting like responsible adults and redirecting your energy s in a positive way. At the end of the day...

 You are one of two things, and Airsofter or a Drama Queen!

So suck it up, shake it off, and lets just play some AIRSOFT!!!!

Padre' out...

  

Real or Not Real?

 "Real or Not Real?"

Real or Not Real?

         For the Fan's of the Hunger Games, this sounds like a quote of Peta Malark but in reality, this is a question that is all too often asked by law enforcement. 

        There not a single week that goes by that there isn't a story in the news about a crime that has been committed, a Suicide by Cop or a fatal or near fatal encounter with someone that was armed with nothing more than a Airsoft Replica! So this begs the question,

How do we, (Society & Government) Deal with the issue?

First my thoughts:  

Real or Not Real?

        Having been raised by a former police officer, I was always taught the basics of firearms including things like "Don't point a gun at anything that you don't plan to kill AND always treat a firearm as if it is loaded." Over the years I have drawn down on people and had to make the choice as to whether to shoot or not and it is never an easy choice. Recently the movie "American Sniper" was released and it had a scene that caused but discussion in which he had to possibly shoot a child. Our police there should NEVER have to be faced with making that split second decision of is it "Real or Not Real."
- Padre'

From our buddy Mr. Thumpy Covey, of Thumpy's 3-D House of Airsoft comes this very timely story out of Provo Utah - Officers trained to respond the same when firearm or airsoft gun is pointed at them" The bottom line of that story is that officers are trained to handle any weapon that is pointed at them as a real threat! Does this justify now shooting any little kid who points a water gun at the officer? I don't believe so because there also needs to be a measure of common sense used before resorting to use of deadly force. There needs to be a common (universal?) standard that is applied when faced by a potential deadly weapon.

This brings us to the newest potential threat to our sport, Bill S-213. 

 

Congressional Committee Bill S-213 
        As of January 21st of this year a bill Look-Alike Weapons Safety Act of 2015 was assigned to a congressional committee. This bill was sponsored by the Junior California

Senator, Barbara Boxer who was part of the push by the anti-gun California State Senator. Kevin de Leon to get rid of all the "dangerous" guns and replicas. - We all remember his now famous quote:

“This is a ghost gun. This right here has the ability with a .30-caliber clip to disperse with 30 bullets within half a second. Thirty magazine clip in half a second.”

Real or Not Real?

In an effort to promote public safety and prevent tragedies like those in Cleveland, Spokane, and on and on, this bill, if passed as written, would require that all:

"(A)Toy guns.
(B)Water guns.
(C)Replica non-guns.
(D)Air-soft guns firing nonmetallic projectiles.
(E)Traditional B-B and pellet-firing air guns that expel a projectile through the force of air pressure."

Be colored in "white, bright red, bright orange, bright yellow, bright green, bright blue, bright pink, or bright purple, either individually or as the predominant color in combination with any other color in any pattern"

Finally, if this bill is passed, it would "apply with respect to toy firearms, look-alike firearms, and imitation firearms that are manufactured on or after the date that is 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act."

Real or Not Real?

Final Thoughts:
Padre' - I really don't have a better answer than education. We need to educate our lawmakers, we need to educate retailers, we need to educate parents.  It really won't make a difference with anything short of requiring that all airsoft guns are clear plastic. The "fake look"  will just be duplicated by criminals. While the orange tips have been a "standard" by which to identify a replica vs. the "Real Deal," there was a case just recently in Los Angelas where police confiscated two AK-47's (Real Steel) that had blaze orange flash hiders. There is also a proliferation of pistols, shotguns and rifles that available Cerakoted in any color that you want!!!! So color will not be an effective method of regulating or identifying. I for one would not want to go out to a National MilSim such as Copperhead or Road to Rostov rocking a bright orange A&K Masada! Below this are great thoughts of a much younger and wiser writer on The Warrior Blog, than I - Airsoft Hasmeen


 Airsoft Hasmeen - "I honestly don't think it would ruin the industry. However I do agree that it would not solve anything. However there is really nothing we can do to change the way the government sees airsoft. They don't care about our community and the people who respect the sport, all they see is the negative things coming from it. The only way we could actually fix it in my opinion would be to ban the sales of airsoft guns in big retail stores like Big 5 and Walmart. They should only be sold in airsoft shops and as the store you need to educate the people buying the gun on how to safely transport it and all that fun stuff. Another thing that would actually help would be to where you couldn't buy an airsoft gun without a license or you have a legit field to vouch for you as a player so that you could be able to purchase an airsoft license."

Real or Not Real?

BTW - Every one of the guns in this post are REAL!!!

 

Padre' out...

  

Team Highlight - The Pink Rangers

Periodically we will be highlighting players and teams that catch our attention because of their play style or uniqueness in the Sport of Airsoft. Today's team is The Pink Rangers located out of the San Francisco Bay area of California.

So let's start this out by telling a little bit of general information about the team.

        The team was created in fall of 2014, The PinkRangers is an all girls airsoft team in the bay area of California. We currently have four members, with ages ranging from 17-24. Our home field is ARC airsoft, but we play at all fields in California, most frequently ARC, GamepodCombatzone, and Fort Ord. The team was founded on the idea that girls can kick ass while maintaining our femininity.

So "Boss" (Aldina), how did you all come together as a team?

         I had been playing airsoft for a few months and really liked the idea of an all girls team, and I know all of the girls either from school, or through friends, and they all expressed an interest in the team so I just kind of group messaged them all like “hey what’s up you want to do an all girls airsoft team with me?” and they all said heck yeah and it’s worked out pretty well. We actually have recruitment procedures from now on though.

What reactions do you get from other teams?

         It’s all been really positive; mostly guys at fields are astounded to see so many girls, and girls are like oh hi more girls to kick ass with.

Do guys take it easy on you?

        I think 1/3 of the guys we play take it easy on us, 1/3 go harder on us because we are girls, and then the other 1/3 just keeping playing normally.

How do guys handle it when a bunch of girls kick their butts?

        We’ve never had a guy or team of guys get mad at us, in fact we’ve had a lot of hand shakes and congrats from people we’ve killed or beat.

How did you come up with the Team Name?

        I wanted something girly for the Team but not overly girly, so I just kind of brainstormed and came up with it. Other options were The She-Wolves, and Vixen Airsoft.

What about your call-signs how did they come about?

Anarchy

        When we gave each other call-signs, we kind of picked ones that were easy to say, and remember. We also picked them so that they actually had something to do with the person. Hence, I’m Boss cause I’m team leader. Red because Tanya is strawberry blond. Anarchy because she’s crazy and her cat is named anarchy. And Blaze because she’s a redhead and can have feistiness to her.

What are your recruitment requirements?

1. Multicams
2. Your own Airsoft Rifle
3. A good Attitude
4. Willingness to Kick Ass and Take Names
5. Be a girl (we’ve actually had guys ask to join knowing we are girls only)

Our Current Members are:

Aldina  “Boss” 

Tanya  “Red”

Sarah (Sam)  “Anarchy” 

Isabel  “Blaze” 

 

What made you want to airsoft or why did you start?

Boss: I got asked out on a date to go airsofting.

Red: Sounded fun, so I did it.

Anarchy: [Boss] made it sound really fun so I tried it out.

Blaze: I thought it would be fun especially since I like guns.

What’s your favorite part about airsofting?

Boss: The intensity of it and the physicality. Shooting people in the face is cool too. (TWB-Ouch!)

Red: Shooting people. Guns.

Anarchy: The mental aspect and being stealthy.

Blaze: Being able to shoot strangers with my girls by my side.

What’s your personal play style?

Boss: Fast and Stealthy.

Red: Fast and Stealthy.

Anarchy: Fast and Stealthy.

Blaze: Fast and Stealthy.

Do you prefer CQB or Field play?

Boss: Honestly I love both for different reasons.

Red: Field play all the way.

Anarchy: CQB.

Blaze: CQB.

What do you do outside of airsofting (hobbies and work)?

Boss: I do yoga and Japanese Jiujitsu, full time college student, part time airsoft ref.

Red: Fishing for hobbies, and bar-tending/serving for work.

Anarchy: I draw and write.

Blaze: I play soccer and like to draw.

You can find The Pink Rangers at:

Instagram - @thepinkrangers

Facebook - The Pink Rangers Airsoft Team

Final Thoughts:

This is a great bunch of players and we look forward to seeing this team down the road! Be sure to show them some love...by clicking that "LIKE" button on their page and make sure you follow both this page and our news page, The Warrior Blog for the latest News, Reviews and Information on the Sport of Airsoft

Padre' out...

  

Do we play, MilSim, AirSoft, LARP or LARPSoft?

Over the past week or two I've heard the term LARPSoft or LARPSofting a few times thus brings today's post "Do we play, MilSim, AirSoft, LARP or LARPSoft?"

Padre' aka Tacticool NOOB

        Think about it, most of us when we started Airsoft, went to our first game or two, wearing jeans and maybe a t-shirt or sweatshirt and joined into the game with the idea of having fun shooting other people with our plastic BB's. You went to that game and saw a few (or more) of the people wearing really cool gear that looked like they just walked off the battle field! Maybe you grabbed a bunch of surplus gear and slap it all together for the next game.... (See good ol' Padre' back in the day....) You hear phrases like "This is a Seal Team Six Loadout" or "This is "EXACTLY" what the Marines are wearing in Afghanistan!" Soon you may fall into the trap of always searching for the newest gun and the hottest new camo pattern. There are even whole segments of the airsoft community that are divided over the manufacturer Condor   My favorite is "Crye or Die!!!"  I know people that have spent so much money on their gear that they will actually go home on a rainy day rather than risk getting their precious stuff wet or muddy!

But what does all this have to do with shooting plastic BB's at each other???? So let's break this down into exactly what this sport is and isn't.

MilSim: 

"MilSim is an abbreviation of military simulation, and refers to military simulations conducted by civilians for entertainment purposes. There are several forms of MilSim: airsoft games, paintball games, and video games simulating military scenarios and tactics. Weapons used in MilSim are commonly airsoft guns. Airsoft guns are used more often in MilSim than paintball guns due to their availability as replica weapons without any modification......... MilSim most often falls into two different categories: reenactment and simulation. Reenactments focus on a particular event in history and aim to provide the most accurate representation of the time period, events, and outcomes of the historical event. Simulation, however, may only focus on a particular time period and representation of which course a particular situation may have taken in history. In most cases a simulation event includes fictitious characters, groups, and political situations." - Wikipedia

        So from the above, Are we "MilSim"ing when we go out to play airsoft? My answer is no for the bulk of the times that we go out. Let me explain, while we wear "uniforms" and

"loadouts," work as "squads" and perform "maneuvers" such as "flanking" and "ambush" the bulk of the games that we are involved in do not have the realistic aspects of true "MilSim." If you are using high-caps or mid-caps, just how true to realistic are you being? Think about it, 8 high-caps can be as much as 4,000 or more "rounds!" Realistically a rifleman would only carry about 400 - 600 rounds at the most, so you get the idea.... Is that to say that we are never being truly "MilSim" players? No, I have participated in many MilSim events that limit the "ammo" capacity and also institute medic rules that require a full minute of contact with the medic to be "healed." Further they are set in either a period of history, and a battle that has happened or with a "Event" that is the starting point and how the game is played will determine the win or loss of the battle. For true MilSim there needs to be a high degree of realism in the game, that means uniforms that define the side that you're on (or even no uniform at all - rebels), weapons that follow the appropriate sides of the conflict. No Alien Pulse Rifles! A Chain of Command structure that is used throughout the game. All of these things and more make up a true MilSim game. Most of all, we must go into the "Battle" remembering that this is a game and that we are playing BBWarz, honoring the real warriors of our military not becoming them.

Airsoft:
        If you ask "What is Airsoft?" you will undoubtedly get as many different answers as the number of people you ask! For some it is a game in which you get together with a few friends and "sling plastic" at each other, proudly wearing the welts that you got as a medal of how tough you are. For some it is an opportunity to join others in a "team sport" that you can come home afterwards and celebrate all the "kills" that you made and the comradery of that day. There is always that crowd that we refer to as the COD players. They are the ones who want to live out the game on a field of battle. - Of course these always seem to be the ones that are never "Hit" and cause ALOT of problems with the honest players... Then there are the kids that want to play alongside the experienced players and enjoy being welcomed into the fold. The final group is those who want to live out the adrenaline high that they had on the real battlefields. "Airsoft" can be games of "Force on Force" - fighting on the field till there is only one team left. It can be games like "Capture the flag" - an all out battle to "capture" a specific objective. Like my friend Hasmeen says, "What we could do with the game of Airsoft is infinite!"

LARP:

LAPRing

"A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically act out their characters' actions. The players pursue goals within a fictional setting represented by the real world while interacting with each other in character. The outcome of player actions may be mediated by game rules or determined by consensus among players. Event arrangers called gamemasters decide the setting and rules to be used and facilitate play.
The first LARPs were run in the late 1970s, inspired by tabletop role-playing games and genre fiction. The activity spread internationally during the 1980s and has diversified into a wide variety of styles. Play may be very game-like or may be more concerned with dramatic or artistic expression. Events can also be designed to achieve educational or political goals. The fictional genres used vary greatly, from realistic modern or historical settings to fantastic or futuristic eras. Production values are sometimes minimal, but can involve elaborate venues and costumes. LARPs range in size from small private events lasting a few hours to large public events with thousands of players lasting for days." - Wikipedia
 
LARPSofting:

Mr Evan Ohl's Masterpiece

        Soooo......, having read the definition from Wikipedia above, how does that fit into your definition of AirSoft? Or does it really matter? For me, it has got me thinking as how a lot of what was posted does fit Airsoft. For me, I had always associated LARP with the geeks that are into Dungeons and Dragons, but.... could that really include my sport??!! Or again, 

"Does that really matter?"

        For me, airsoft has always been about the comradely and the fun of the sport. Yes we do get to look Tacticool while we are at it. But I also believe in finding your own way in the sport - call it your uniqueness. Mr. Evan Ohl is one of those that created a functional and unique look that he owns and rocks! Check out shots of some of his work....

 
  



















So in the end, does this answer the original question,

 "Do we play, MilSim, AirSoft, LARP or LARPSoft?" 

Probably not! I don't set up my gear after any branch of the military (although I've been asked that question more than a few times) nor do I consider myself a "LARP" player. I set my gear up for the weapon of my preference, an A&K Masada and most important what works for me. You can call it MilSim or Airsoft or (grinding his teeth as he types this...), LARPSoft but in the end, its all about BBWarz and Slinging Plastic..... See you on the MilsimAirsoftLARPSoftBBWarz field!

Here is an additional thought from Ms. Tiff Davis - " I just read it. Idk what I'd call it, honestly it doesn't really matter. It's fun, stress relieving, and exercise. Lol"
 

Padre' out...