After Action: OP Red Dawn

Now over a month ago, and OP Red Dawn has come and gone… First things first, the AO itself was awesome. I got to play with and against players primarily from other parts of BC and from AB, some of whom were extremely skilled players with awesome equipment. Got to see some old friends from airsoft that attended this game that I haven’t seen in years. I more or less forgot how much fun airsoft can be – especially when compared to the dreary reality that “Drop In” game days have become at my (public) local field – and I had an absolute blast running around a ghost town with friends.

Photo credits to “Loops”

While most of my playing time was in the middle of the night, the following sequence was cut together & shows what was probably my most adrenaline-fueled daytime offensive during the weekend:

My loadout looked a little something like this, with only minor changes the night before:

 

Planning for 42hrs Scenario: Part 1

With an upcoming game here in BC in a pretty cool 100-acre venue (and only a few hours drive from home) coming up this weekend, the following is a rough draft of my WIP packing list:

Note this is not a complete packing list yet – one intentional omission is the clothing that I’ll be wearing. I’m primarily missing a day pack (TBD) to carry the secondary hydro reservoir and some of the smaller non-essentials – or so my plan goes.

Additionally, I will have a larger bag of back-ups, tools, additional supplies & water that I will not be carrying with me onto the field. As this game is being advertised as a “scenario,” players are being allowed to walk off the area in play if they so desire for sleep breaks & the like; as such, items stored outside of the game are still somewhat accessible. Players are also allowed to play for as long as they would like – which is what I’m planning for.

Irregardless, it should be fun to run around & sling plastic in what is more or less a ghost town – I’m interested to see what this organizer may be capable of on a much larger scale of game.

Bag-ception

MLCS Deployment Bag:

The scary part about this is that it isn’t even full.

It’s been a little while

I went to play airsoft for the first time in months. While I can say that I’m disappointed that the level of play out there has continued to degrade since I last played, at least I now know that I still remember how to run & gun (while still abiding to the best airsoft advice I’ve ever gotten: don’t die). Racked up kills all day with Optix – up until he took an uncontrolled burst of full auto bleeders to the face at close range and we called it quits. Reminder to myself: maybe I should start wearing mesh face protection that everyone else seems to be wearing nowadays.

Highlight from this loadout:

Tokyo Marui Next Gen HK416 “DEVGRU” AEG, near complete upgrades (waiting for a couple of Prometheus parts in the mail)
Externals: HAO SMR for Marui, G&P DBAL-A2, Element M600U/Surefire Z68 direct attached, Element Tangodown vert grip, mystery solar powered micro red dot, BFG Two Point Sling, CTR stock cut for wiring to TMC GPS pouch for 11.1V Lipo
Internals: BTC Specter, “frankentorque” custom motor, mix of Prometheus/Magic Box/Army compression and drivetrain upgrade parts, mystery spring for equivalent muzzle velocity to M120, Prometheus ASH 6.05 285mm, A Plus old-gen Bucking & Modify Flat Nub

And may I say that it performed wonderfully today, even on hop-up set a number of clicks below a relatively flat trajectory because I forgot to set it this morning – and this is before the whole build is even completely done. I might actually be onto something for PTW like performance (without the expense to keep it running) here. The “recoil” mechanism’s novelty has long since worn off – but the performance of a modded Next Gen still puts a smile on my face.

Loadout -> Ambush May 31st

A quick look at the loadout I used this weekend at Ambush.

Kit breakdown after the break.

Return to CQB

I recently made my return to the only CQB venue around here, Richmond Indoor Paintball, for the first time in a year.

I’ve got a video from that day coming soon, but in the meanwhile, here’s part of my loadout that I working with for RIP (the next game there is tonight):

• Systema PTW with MK18 Mod1-inspired upper – 4 mags
• KJW G23 with clone X300 – 4 mags, Safariland Clip-On Holster
• ACM MICH TC 2001
• Flyye LT6094, AOR1 (-ish), equipped with the following:
  • FFI Triple M4 Magazine Inner Pouch, CB
  • VGC Single Pistol Magazine Pouch, AOR1 (right side is for utility – BB loader or flashlight)
  • EI Admin Pouch, MJK (mainly used to carry spare batteries for my primary & lights, also carries a few small bits)
  • VGC Single Pistol Magazine Pouch, AOR1 (left side front mounted for single pistol magazine)
  • BFG Ten Speed Double Pistol Magazine Pouch, Multicam

My thoughts that went into this load out are detailed after the break.

Op Iceback 2.0: pre-game day 1

Three dudes’ kit looks like this:

8 hours later and we have arrived in Golden, BC.

Last minute gear check while up at a hotel room in Golden, BC.

Iceback 2014: Loadout

 

Above is the current state of my load out for Iceback 2014, which is taking place this weekend up in Golden, BC.  My loadout is largely unchanged in basic structure from last year (PTW, chest rig, Yote), with some small tweaks here and there to suit both the nature of our mission and my experiences from what I ran last year.

More deets and pics after the break.

Op Iceback 2.0: Prep #1

Sorry that we’ve been a little quiet around here lately (not sure where my co-writers have gone). Myself, I’ve been rather busy myself with work… but mainly just getting this going:

Here are my prelimary thoughts of what to bring for 2014’s Operation Iceback (referred as Op. Iceback 2.0 by some) game up at Golden, BC.

There are a few missing items for sure… namely hydration, foodstuffs, jacket and PTW. Oh, that PTW… man, was that an expensive headache to get off the ground with a relatively simple solution after all (but more on that will be up at a later date).

This is just a preliminary packing list, as is laid out on my living room floor for the time being; I’m sure I’ll have more changes over the next week and a half as I remember other things I should bring for the 24+ hours I’ll probably be on the field for.

Loadout: March 2nd Game Day

(not pictured: thermal underwear)

There was a light dusting of snow for this past Sunday’s game day, which gave me the perfect opportunity to wear the US issue DCU parka I bought a hundred years ago from fellow teammate Loops (along with a DCU top and pants). It was surprisingly warm and more importantly, almost 100% waterproof, which was nice given the rain/snow/slush combination that peppered us throughout the day.

Also making a debut on this day was my Pantac RRV, which I’ve wanted for awhile but was finally convinced into picking up after repeated viewings of Lone Survivor. I’ll go into further depth with regards to my RRV setup once I run it again this Sunday and have had the chance to make a couple of tweaks to it.

All in all it was a fun setup to run, and one well-suited to the less-than-ideal conditions out there. I’ll likely be running a similar setup this Sunday if current weather conditions continue.

Kitlist after the break.