Tactical Minicamp Monday Dec. 6th: First Blood, Part II

[ABRA]

The first minicamp had 5 players. This minicamp had 20. We had better not fill a 64 player server next week.

First off super-size thanks to munchkin and Hellrazor who were the other two instructors for this minicamp. Without their help we definitely would not have been able to wrangle all 20 people. Also tanks to WhiskeySix for his promotion efforts that dumped these people in our laps. And lastly to Shafik and aschmack the two TGers who agreed to sit out of the squad formation exercise so non-TG guests could participate when we ran out of slots in the squads.

Most of them were not from the TG community. There were also some guys sporting the [BUM] tag who were quite affable. Even more astounding was the fact that I think everyone was in TS.

We spent the first 23 minutes actually just doing the "warm-up" map walkthrough. Apparently that was a success though based on what munchkin and Hellrazor told me since they were switching off running it while I briefed the other one on the ad hoc minicamp instruction plan.

And I do mean ad hoc since once again I felt under-prepared for this many people. But all told it went well. We did a fireteam drill with assaults and supports. We then split into several squads to run through formations, each instructor taking one. Then we rejoined to practice formation maneuvers. All we had time for was the simple contact maneuver but we made it into a live-fire scrimmage that seemed to go over well.

Then munchkin knifed me in the face and we said our good-byes right around the 2 hour mark.

Lessons learned:

-No matter how scalable your drill plans are, more people will show up then you prepared for.

-A post minicamp instructor debrief is a valuable thing to flesh out ways to improve the camp. We will also be having an instructor pow-wow this Wednesday at 7 pm EST to go over what we plan on doing next week.

-We could stand to test out the tactics the drills are seeking to teach on Server #1 before the minicamp. This may be what we do after the instructor pow-wow on Wednesday.

-Now that it seems the majority of minicamp participants are non-TGers, they would benefit from things we at TG take for granted. They need to get comfortable communicating with voice-com and giving contact reports for instance.

-The instructors should bind a key in TS to whisper to the other instructors. All TS participants should have hotkeys bound to mute and control TS volume. This helps them to hear voice-com in game.

-Better thought needs to go into selecting the terrain setting for the drills.

-Future minicamps will build on past lessons most likely. Past drills will be used as the warm-up drill so the bulk of players who were there last time and know how to do it can demonstrate it to those who weren't.

-The next minicamp map will be Mashtuur City.

-Something needs to be done about the insanely fanatical counter-strike players who play at my LAN center that could be heard yelling in the background of my voice-coms. "PICK UP THE ****ING BOMB! GO B, GO B, NO I'M GOING LONG A!!!"

[munchkin]

Originally Posted by ABRA

-Something needs to be done about the insanely fanatical counter-strike players who play at my LAN center that could be heard yelling in the background of my voice-coms. "PICK UP THE ****ING BOMB! GO B, GO B, NO I'M GOING LONG A!!!"

Seriously, when I heard the screaming in the background I thought I was listening to a domestic violence incident or a murder over TS..that was creepy.

And by the way,I'm planning for the knifing of ABRA in the face to be the official conclusion of the minicamps. Kinda like extinguishing the olympic torch

As an instructor, let me thank all the players who turned up, my squad for bearing with me and always having a sense of humour, and most of all to ABRA and Hellrazor as my fellow instructors.

Hope to see you all next week! Remember, if there's something you'd desperately like to cover, send us a PM or post it here in the forums. We'll listen - honest.

[Shafik]

Thanks, Abra, that was a great experience. I could actually see the drills better while sitting on the Hotel roof, instead of participating. WE did get to run the drills eventually, which was a blast. Lost track of how many times I was revived. You really see the value of a good medic on your squad.

I think we need to cover a few basics as well, for the newer guys at least. Cover and stealth were NOT practiced by most guys last night. Matter of fact, one drill actually looked like a battle from Braveheart, two squads running towards each other, guns blazing. Not gonna work. Mashtuur is anexcellent choice, IMO, mainly because you can practice long way movement using terrain as cover, but also tight movement on streets, through buildings, acroos roads using a smoke grenade, etc.
Pehaps we should also assign more instructors, just in case the next mini camp will be as big or bigger. Or even an advanced instructor squad, to tak TG'ers who ran the basic drulls, and go over something a little more advanced. That would've come in handy for Ashmack and myself.

Also, I think the majority of communication by the students should be over the como rose, as to free up TS and in-game chat for the instructors. Unless he has a question, the student can reply with a Page up or Down. TS should be reserverd for Instructors and student question. All other communication, contacts, requests, should be over squad chat.

That's what I have so far, maybe i'll think of more. If I can help with the mini camp, finding new maps to train in, helping an instructor, finding "bugs" , i'd be happy to. just let me know.

[munchkin]

Originally Posted by Shafik

Cover and stealth were NOT practiced by most guys last night. Matter of fact, one drill actually looked like a battle from Braveheart, two squads running towards each other, guns blazing. Not gonna work.

That's an interesting comment. In the instructors de-briefing afterwards, we decided that in retrospect the terrain of the Hotel was not ideal for such an exercise, and maybe that contributed to what you're talking about. The contact drill is generally more important in mid to long-range engagements, as opposed to the CQB we had today. However, while stealth wasn't emphasised (no need for it), cover certainly was. The squads tended to stay alive for a fairly long time, a testament to the arrangement of medkits that were spread around. My squad was certainly creating fallback points as a vital part of its strategy, so at least that point got through. Player vs Player live fire exercises are maybe not the way to go here. I've certainly got plans for one or two instructor vs player drills on Mashtuur that will be building on what we worked on this week.

Thanks for your attendance, encouragement and comments.

[Shafik]

Originally Posted by munchkin

The contact drill is generally more important in mid to long-range engagements, as opposed to the CQB we had today.

That's what I thought. Drilling that on Zatar would be very useful.

[WhiskeySix]

GREAT job guys! big props to ABRA for dreaming up these mini-camps and the following through with them. I'd be curious to get input from those involved... hopefully it was a good intro to the TG community..

i'll fill in my impressions later.. but in the mean time... all i could think of during the walk-through was that "mine" video!! (http://www.tacticalgamer.com/battlef...ovie-mine.html)

[HellRazor61]

I would like to add in my thoughts. First I too would like to thank all who showed up! Next, to let the participants know that Abra, Munchkin, and myself our going to do everything in our power to make this event better each week.
We realized after, that we could have done a few things differently. But hey you never know until you try right? I dont think any of us were prepared for the turn-out that we had. To make a long story short if you guys keep coming we will keep teaching.

Once again how about a round of applaus for Abra for putting this together.
And while your at it go ahead and pat yourself on the back for participating.

[Drizzid]

I'm so bummed I missed this. I feel like I'm falling further behind everytime I miss one of these things

[HellRazor61]

Originally Posted by Drizzid

I'm so bummed I missed this. I feel like I'm falling further behind everytime I miss one of these things

Well dont feel to bad! We are gonna have a short refresher each week for those who missed. Look forward to seeing you this week.

[percu]

Tnx to all the instructors for participation in this minicamp.
I took some screen-shots during the event.

Here we see all the instructors. ABRA when he does his instruction in flanking. Munchkin under formation training (Look at the minimap) And HellRazor61 pointing out good defensive/offensive spots at the Construction site.

[iannis]

HI Guys,

Just wanted to drop in and say thanks on behalf of the [BUM] clan.

We had a great time in your tactical camp and look forward to attending in the future! We learned a lot and, more importantly, had a great time.

So thanks again to TG and Abbra for putting it together.

I have a few questions about tactics that i would love to see covered.

What roles do the squad members take as they cap the flag?

(how many members on the flag, how many provide cover, scout?)

How does a squad effectively transition into a defesive role once they have capped a flag?

[Mateo]

Originally Posted by ABRA

-Something needs to be done about the insanely fanatical counter-strike players who play at my LAN center that could be heard yelling in the background of my voice-coms. "PICK UP THE ****ING BOMB! GO B, GO B, NO I'M GOING LONG A!!!"

Introduce them to PCS. he's obviously not working with his team.

[Mateo]

Originally Posted by iannis

HI Guys,

Just wanted to drop in and say thanks on behalf of the [BUM] clan.

Hey, welcome! Pull up a chair, stay a while. We are clan friendly.

We had a great time in your tactical camp and look forward to attending in the future! We learned a lot and, more importantly, had a great time.

Glad you had a good time. I missed the last one, but will be in the next.