The Team recently traveled to Dirty Dog's annual Milsim game, this year titled "Operation Sireeen", joining the Camo Team for the day's battles. We have recently published a video of the action and, in this article, will discuss some of the tactics employed by the Team and how they helped bring us success.
Making a Plan
When making a plan for an Airsoft game, it's best not to go into too much detail. Even milsims in Airsoft are quite chaotic affairs, and their status as a game rather than a real operation means the hierarchy you might expect on the "mil" side of the "sim" isn't nearly as rigid as the real thing: people are ultimately there to have fun, and the game hosts will often purposefully generate as much action and contact with the enemy as possible to create that fun.
We've written about planning for Airsoft games in the past, and we applied those principles at Sireeen.
To begin, you want to ask yourself a few important conceptual questions about the task at hand, to help you frame your thinking. Broadly, these are:
1. What is the terrain like? Importantly, this includes identifying the key terrain, any cover or concealment available to you, any obstacles in your path, and likely avenues of approach for both you and enemy.
2. What are the enemy like? Do they have any particular advantages or disadvantages compared to you? What sort of numbers are you likely to face? What sort of capabilities? Are they fresh or tired?
3. What are the enemy likely going to do? This is a bit of educated guesswork in many cases, but you can imagine yourself in their shoes and think about where they're likely to go or what they're likely to prioritise.
4. With all that information, what are you expected to get done? What are the game objectives? What actions might help you win those objectives?
So, let's get to thinking!
Terrain
Dirty Dog can be divided into roughly three large areas: the lower field area, the container village, and the forested area. As Camo Team were starting at the lower field (at the Stockade) and Red Team were starting at the container village, the initial action would be mostly in the forested area between the two locations, so that's what we focus on.
The forested area is a big hill, and we identified the summit of that hill (the indigo circled area) as the KEY TERRAIN of the area of operations. Though not evident in the picture, everything outside that circle runs downhill from it: French Fort, Black Van, and Horseshoe are at the top of the hill, all bases around them (cottage, hot box, horrible bunker, tyre wall, old iraq base) are all downhill from those positions.
Our primary access routes are the road on the far right of the site up to Horseshoe, or cutting in via Old Iraq Base up to French Fort, or pushing uphill through the woods in a straight line from Stockade, through Tyre Wall, up to French Fort. All three offer initially concealed approaches, as long as the enemy don't occupy the hilltop.
Their primary access route is the road that starts between Hot Box and Cottage, running up behind French Fort to Black Van and Horseshoe.
We assessed their route was far better than ours, and that they'd easily occupy French Fort before we could. We might, however, be able to reach Horseshoe before they can lock it down.
The Enemy
The Red Team were, at least, even with us in numbers. They'd be somewhat organised, as we were: an effort was made to create squads in advance on Camo side, it stood to reason the event organisers did the same for Red. They'd be primarily armed with assault-rifle type weapons, with some MGs, DMRs, and Snipers scattered throughout, like us. They'd be fresh and ready to fight, as the game had just started, as we would.
In summary, the enemy were our equals in all respects: manpower, equipment, organisation, morale. We had no reason to believe otherwise.
Enemy Courses of Action
Next up, we need to consider what Red are probably going to do. Like us, they'd probably rush the central forest area and try to get the best possible starting frontline, in order to control as much territory as possible, making it more likely they'd be able to complete objectives as they were revealed throughout the day.
We believed the Red Team's most likely Course of Action would be to prioritise grabbing French Fort and Hotbox, and using the road that runs behind those positions as their line of communication, where they could move troops back and forth behind the cover of the trees to quickly react to any serious threat Camo offensive moves posed. Camo Team would then wrap round this defensive line and try to push Red back out of French Fort.
Their most dangerous Course of Action was similar, but with the addition of a strong element rushing Horseshoe in order to keep Camo off the hilltop entirely. If they could consolidate the entire hilltop, Camo would have an extremely difficult time making progress, as the slopes downill towards Camo's spawn are very, very steep slopes that are difficult to climb.
Our Plan
With all that information, we made our own plan. Horseshoe was deemed our most critical objective: it was far enough away from Red spawn that we could feasibly beat them to it, or at least arrive roughly at the same time to contest it, and if we could consolidate Horsehoe and Black Van we would secure the road on the right of the site as a relatively safe avenue for more Camo forces to reinforce us on the high ground and pressure the Red-held roads towards French Fort.
Securing a Foothold on Key Terrain
The game started, and the Huntsman squad rushed up the side road, hoping to reach Horseshoe on time to contest the high ground. Starting at about 1:35 in the video, our lead elements reached the Horseshoe to find Red's own lead elements arriving simultaneously.
This, however, proved to be the correct decision, as Red had successfully reached and dug into French Fort before Camo forces could reach it.
Despite initial casualties, we successfully suppressed the enemy fighting position and were able to push up the hill, catching the Red Team's follow-up forces by surprise and taking them out of action before they could replace the defenders we'd just overran.
Huntsman Squad had therefore successfully established Camo Team on the high ground. By analysing the problem in front of us in a rational and comprehensive way, we had created a viable plan to position Camo Team in an advantageous position right at the start of the game.
The result, seen in the video at 3:20, has Huntsman Squad, and follow-up forces, already putting heavy pressure on French Fort's flank, which was being concurrently engaged by Camo Team forces that had advanced past Old Iraq Base. We had excellent line of sight down both roads that Red Team might have hoped to use to keep French Fort secure, our positions at Black Van and Old Iraq Base prevented Red forces using the road to the right of French Fort to shoot downhill (an effort to do so can be seen being engaged and repulsed from fighting positions in front of Black Van at about 4:00 in the video), and had ensured our own supply route up the right-hand road was beyond Red's ability to either interdict or even observe.
At 3:30 in the video, if you listen to the conversation, you can overhear another critical part of ensuring our success could be built on: getting a message on the team-wide net, telling HQ and all Squads of what we'd achieved, so they had a fuller picture of where the front lines lay. HQ knowing we had a foothold on the high ground allowed them to make tactical decisions, such as reinforcing our position to push the lines forward.
Objective One
The day's first objective was soon revealed, which meant it was time to brief the 2IC on the new situation and our objective: seizing French Fort itself. At 6:46 this briefing can be seen taking place and the 2IC given their initial instructions: to push down the road directly on French Fort. The forces on the outer road would attempt to keep pace to uniformly push Red forces back down both roads.
Keeping your key people well informed on the current situation and what you need them to do is important: it creates a cohesive effort.
This, however, quickly reached a stumbling block: Red forces were well entrenched on the outer road, and were using a gap in tree coverage to interdict Camo efforts to advance on the inner road as well.
This position held up the entire Camo advance. Seen at 7:22 in the video, the 2IC briefs the IC on the situation, requiring that a new plan be made to overcome the enemy position. This was the last enemy position supporting the garrison in French Fort, preventing Camo forces from occupying a small hump that directly overlooked the Fort from the rear. As such, overcoming it quickly was vital, as it would isolate French Fort from any further Red Team reinforcements.
Establishing a fighting position to engage the Red Team
The plan (explained at 7:28) was to have one of our Fireteams use the treeline as cover to manoeuvre themselves into an overwatch position over the gap that the Red Team position was interdicting. Once positioned, the second Fireteam would do what's officially called "Reconnaissance by Movement", CQB enthusiasts may recognise the term "running the rabbit" as well: two members of the Fireteam made a short dash from cover to cover while the overwatch force observed for enemy fire, in order to pinpoint the location of the enemy position and then engage it.
This was successful in revealing the enemy position, and the overwatching team engaged them immediately. Additionally, Camo Team forces pushing down the outside road also engaged the Red position, quickly clearing it out.
French Fort was now isolated. Our forces controlled the hump overlooking the road into the position, allowing attacking forces from the other side of French Fort to complete an assault and drive Red forces out entirely. At 8:20 in the video you can see the squad's Machine Gunner covering that approach road, and it is confirmed over the radio that French Fort had been taken by assault from the opposite side. The squad digs in on this position and awaits further developments.
Bounding as a Pair
Soon the Red Team made fresh efforts to infiltrate up the hill using the treeline opposite the hump our squad was positioned in. The fireteam that had been deployed into cover on the left side of the road (as seen at 8:27) were engaging enemy troops inside the opposite treeline. A two man team then initiated an advance, covering each other, into the treeline to finish clearing it out. At 8:48 this movement occurs: there is always one individual watching, ready to engage, while another moves. This, coupled with the other Fireteam across the road also putting fire into the position, allowed for movement to happen without casualties. The pair are in constant communication, detailing where they are to each other and what they'll do next, ensuring they can always be watching forwards. You can see at 9:09 an individual who attempted an unsupported advance was taken out. Supported movement again can be seen at 9:33, where the full Fireteam "peels" around the back of each other to lengthen out their line and establish a fighting position looking downhill, directly onto the exit from Red Team's village respawn point.
The full squad is then arranged in this new position, with the medic and radio operator held in reserve. The squad was now covering Red's line of advance out of their village spawn, effectively observing all movement towards the high ground, and able to harass any such efforts from our high ground position.
Unhinging the Enemy Position
The situation deteriorated catastrophically after that, as the squad left the line in order to replenish magazines, with all members running dangerously low on ammunition. While off the line, a Red counterattack rolled the Camo team off the heights entirely, losing French Fort, Black Van, and Horseshoe. The Red team were now in a commanding position holding the entire high ground.
A plan is briefed (at 12:40, though much of the briefing happens off-camera) and functions as follows: the Red Team's position is so commanding because it forms an "L" shape, into which Camo are forced to attack. Being able to fix the enemy from the front and then engage them from the flank is the perfect engagement, as it creates a kill zone that the enemy must attempt to advance through.
The plan was to "unhinge" this L. As seen at 13:00 in the video, one Fireteam moves up to roughly in line with the Red L's stem, and attempts to advance up along that stem, forcing the Red defence on the road back, clearing an avenue for the Camo forces on the road to advance to engage the enemy to their front, without being attacked on their flanks. This is hard fighting, and made limited progress.
At 14:40, as additional Camo forces join the effort and form the main body, the Squad redeploys into an overwatch position, attempting to gain line of sight up the road in order to interdict Red efforts to cross it and shoot downhill onto the road towards Horseshoe. Despite harassing fire from French Fort this was beginning to unstick the effort and progress was being made, but events overtook the effort.
Defence of the HQ
At 16:20, the call goes out over the net: a substantial Red attack force had broken through on the far left of the site, making a beeline directly from their spawn to ours, ignoring the fighting over the high ground. Command made the decision to abandon efforts to retake Horseshoe and recall all units to form a defensive line around HQ and our Resource Dump, as the time limit was almost up and our primary concern now was to defend our loot, as it was worth a substantial number of points.
The squad's final effort of the morning was to form a picket line in front of Tin Hut, our resource dump. Rather than pile into Tin Hut, we opted to deploy forward of it to delay the enemy advance, as we were playing primarily for time: the game was ending in mere minutes, and the Red Team were making a last ditch effort to overrun our Resource Dump and claim all the loot we'd secured by holding the high ground.
We did not come under contact before the game ended, but had deployed correctly: it is usually the correct play to trade space for time if you're playing for time. Every meter the enemy has to fight for rather than simply walk over slows them down.
Conclusion
The squad employed a wide range of tactical movements to tackle the Red Team's positions and movements. All of them relied on two things: solid teamwork, and tactical understanding.
Always stop to consider: terrain, the enemy's intentions and likely movements, and your intentions and thus most appropriate movements. By becoming quick to think through these steps, you can formulate cohesive plans to counteract whatever you think the enemy are trying to do, using the terrain available to you as best you can. Whether that's establishing early vital positions, defeating an enemy position by manoeuvre, supporting your buddy as they push across a road, or trying to dismantle a seemingly overwhelmingly powerful enemy defence, every problem has a solution if you learn to analyse the terrain and the situation.
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