RANGERBALL

Suribachi AAR, (recovered from the rangerballhq.com forums)

Truly awesome! Now THAT was Rangerball! I think this was our best-executed scenario yet. I know I keep saying that, but its true. I'm sure it will be an unforgettable experience for everyone who participated.

Operation Black Thorn (21 Oct 06) was bigger and gained a lot of attention for the Regiment, but I think Suribachi was better on several levels. We had 38 players -- 25 on the Blue (Marines) and 13 on Green (Japanese). We had a few players from the Salt Lake area, a couple from Mesquite, one from Kanab, and one came all the way from Phoenix. It was another great group, and as far as I saw, everyone conducted themselves with great sportsmanship. I don't remember any disputes of any consequence.

It was pretty nippy at 0730 when the first guys started rolling into the parking lot, and wind would be a factor, but it was a beautiful clear sky and it warmed up nicely. The check-in and prep time went pretty well, although our procedures can still be streamlined. By about 0820 the Green team rolled out, since they needed to get out into the AO to prepare their defense. And at about 0900 Blue was ready to roll too. There were no stragglers. By necessity, the "troop movement" was a bit more involved (two Blue staging areas enroute to the AO) but we started exactly on time at 1000.

We planned for 4 phases, each lasting 45-60 min. The first was the initial assault into the AO. Phase 2 was securing a mid-point objective (the box with the flag in it). Phase 3 was pushing up to the foot of "Mt. Suribachi", and finally the taking of Suribachi itself. Phase 4 would be one-shot-one-kill rules, with the Marines clearing the Japanes off the top, finding the flag-pole and raising the Stars and Stripes on the peak.

Lo and behold, that's pretty much the way it went. To me that means from the scenario planning aspect, we're getting pretty good at reading the ground, predicting the action, selecting objectives and balancing the teams. Other things that went great:

There was real tactical coordination between the Blue squads, working together to look for open flanks and push up to the high ground and around behind Green. The size of the area, the nature of the terrain, and a tenacious defense by Green made it a real tactical "chess game". I've been the overall team commander (or tried anyway) for several scenarios now, and this was the first time I've seen that many players moving forward in a coordinated way. Pretty cool.
I thought the three Blue squad leaders did a really good job coming up with plans for each phase, briefing their squad members, keeping them generally moving together (very tough to do), and improvising when inevitably plans started breaking down under fire. Madrid, Woody and Jeremy, Great job!
Speaking of callsigns and radios, I thought our comms worked out very well too (maybe because I've usually had so much trouble). We had radio contact between squads for most of the fight, and there was also lots of shouting out the contacts. Radio traffic was steady, but not overwhelming and we even started using our callsigns a little bit. We're coming along on the comms front.
The Japanese were a fantastic OPFOR. Their constant, dogged defense often had us pinned down, and they gave ground only grudgingly. They made great use of the terrain, and I got caught in crossfires several times. They also did a great job regenerating (they had unlimited respawns) so as to keep pressure on blue, but not take blatant advantage. Several times they penetrated into our rear, and caused great havoc. Man it's hard to maintain that 360-degree awareness!

Most intense moment: Right at the end of phase 2, after we'd cleared the second deadzone and were pushing towards the midpoint objective, I saw Soulman come flitting through the blackened trees on our far left flank. He was moving like a character out of Ghost Recon, and with those reflective goggles he looks scary. We both started circling each other from about 20 meters apart, firing fast, trying get shots through the branches in a moving "death duel". We pretty much got each other out simultaneously, so I went out too, but at least I gave him a fight and kept him from rolling up everyone else -- which knowing Ryan, I'm sure he would have done.
-- Ajax

Because of the numbers we had in this scenario, the terrain, and the visibility, there were dynamics I watched unfold that I'd never really seen in action before. Consequently, I've got a slew of lessons learned.

Flanking vs. Mutual Support.
I'm a big believer in pushing to the flanks whenever possible, because you then either force the enemy to give up their position or you can roll them up as you get behind them. So my instinct was to keep prodding Blue to get high up on the hills and push past Green's “corners”.

We had a squad on each side of the wash, and 3 or 4 players from each climbed really high onto the ridges. But during parts of the fight, the “climbers” were so high they were too far away to give the center any support. That showed me the trade-off between sending flankers deep, and keeping squads closer so they can provide support for each other.

A couple of times, Green had our center squad stalled in the wash while our forces high up on each flank couldn't come down to help. This is something that the team commander needs to be aware of, and make adjustments as needed.

The other lessons related to this, are:

Working the chessmatch
“Crescent” or “Reverse Delta” offense
Exploiting enemy weaknesses
360 degree security

Then there were several other areas where I gained some new insights on tactics, or reinforced past lessons:

Use of mines/claymores
Radio callsigns (callsigns work better than names)
Effect of wind on paintballs
Full auto intimidation
Defensive crossfire

I'll try to get to these while my thoughts are fresh.
-- Ajax

My observations from the Green side:

I felt we performed very well as a group. Radios were effective and necessary. Had we not had them we would have been yelling and the element of surprise that we used throughout the game would have been lost. Soulman and I worked to spot for each other’s squads during the initial attack, since our view to our own sides was limited, and this worked as planned.

Our use of two lines of resistance (one in front and one behind) was lots of fun. The “young ghillies” (Badfinch’s two ghillie-suited sons) improved on their use of concealment as the day progressed, causing a few surprises for the Blue team. As for the ROE, I believe our respawn times were perfect and worked very well to keep the scenario going.

First & Second phase.
Blue's initial attack was perfect, well spread out and moved well. We were a bit surprised by Blue coming at us from above the posted tree. We were under the impression that shots/enemies would not be higher then said markings on both sides of the hill. We compensated and reacted to their presence. Blue’s high south flanking (by Ajax and crew) worked well and kept us busy on multiple fronts. We sent out groups to hunt these flankers down and removed most of them.

The fight around the first objective (phase 2) went well, we were slowly pushed back to covering the flag and Blue started to move on the left flank and caused some crossfire. The final rush to the objective went well. We caused some heavy losses but not enough to keep Blue out.

Third phase.
The high northwest flankers went far up the hill (Rita 2) but should have come down on me and the others in the valley to clear the way for the rest of Blue to come up center of canyon. We effectively held our position for some time, till a flanking attack actually started to materialize. It was enjoyable to hold one position for so long and see Blue's frustration at not being able to progress (and hear the fearless leader -- Ajax -- encouraging his team to move and eliminate us, but with little effect for some time).

Final push on Suribachi.
The Blue frontal attack on the face of Suribachi was futile, with us holding the high ground, but I saw many a ball go flying by me and I come close to elimination.

There was a group of 5 on the ridge to the south of the peak, and after a great deal of time they finally pulled themselves together in the saddle and formulated a plan (we know this because they were loud enough we could hear them). We should have countered a little better but got complacent in our positioning. Once they enacted their plan they removed us and cleared the way for the north attack group (“Madrid” and about 4 others carrying the flag) to approach unopposed. The timing worked just right though, as far as game play.

I want to congratulate Green on a well-fought game. We accomplished our goals for the first three phases and held Blue and caused them grief.
-- Deadeye

I would concur that the initial Blue assault from above/near the S.W. entry flag caused a bit of a surprise for us on Green, but as was mentioned we adjusted...died in place, as it were. LOL!

After my initial death it was a bit difficult to utilize the quick respawn from behind enemy lines. This is an area we might address for future scenarios. As tough as it was getting back uphill in a hurry to defend the next objective, we had to chuckle when it was Blue's turn to climb. Things all even out in Rangerball, terrain, movement and coordinated action.

I must repeat a comment made be several players, “This was the best yet!”. My comms and gun were crippled after the first wave. I could receive but not transmit, and my A5 Cycolne malfunctioned, which put me down to single manual shot. But, in the tradition of the actual battle of Iwo Jima, it was “use what you have & die fighting”.

Well done Green! We made Blue pay for every inch up the mountain.
-- Kimo

Just so everyone understands what Deadeye and Kimo are referring to...

In phase 1, Blue had to advance into the AO by passing between two marked trees (flagged with yellow banners and tape). The trees were about 150-200 meters apart, bracketing the wash. One on the north side, Blue's right flank. The other on the south, our left flank. They formed a kind of gateway. As the Master Controller/Team Commander, I gave instructions to Blue that everyone had to pass between the trees to progress further into the AO. This was the only geographical constraint in the game.

However, Green was not constrained -- as I'm pretty sure I briefed to Soulman when we scouted the AO. They could set up anywhere, and I expected them to have snipers posted high in the rocks above each tree to anchor their flanks.

In our initial assault, we put one squad (7-8 guys) up the center, and the other two squads went strong right -- hoping to overwhelm them there. I took my two "bodyguards", Hooker and another guy, and moved high on the left (south). Our aim was to control that left tree so the rest of the team could push through the gateway. In doing so, we did go higher than the tree, which surprised Green. But hey, that's Rangerball. Expect the unexpected.

One of our guys went about 50m above the tree, but I did make sure he and all the others eventually moved back down, and around the tree (i.e. through the gateway). Then our flankers moved back up high on the left side again.

But, this is a mini-lesson on how the offense can throw a wrinkle into the defense, even when the defense knows where they're coming from.
-- Ajax

Other lessons learned:

Working the chess match. As the Blue team commander, I could see all 3 squads maneuvering, and the inter-relationship between them. And, while I couldn’t always see Green, I knew basically where their positions were. This made for a 'chess match' approach in my head, as I could sense where I should move our squads. Actually getting them to move is much harder though! These chesspieces have minds of their own.
“Crescent” or “Reverse-Delta” offense. First naturally, and then very conciously, we pushed our squads on each flank ahead of the guys in the middle. This meant we advanced in a crescent shape, with flankers forward of the center. Several times Green guys had to abandon positions because our flankers were threatening to move behind them. (Trick is to keep your flankers from going astray -- as mentioned in Part 1)
Exploiting enemy weaknesses. I wish we could have recognized and reacted to Green's weaknesses much faster. At times we would take out a key guy, or I would see an open flank, and wished I could get our guys to push forward and take advantage of it. To do that takes superior situational awareness from the commander, then good comms, coordination and aggressive players.
360 degree defense. Each squad was initially supposed to have someone with rear security, but that kind of broke down. In phase 1, as we pushed thru the gateway (I was dead, but observing the action), I saw Kimo and one of the “young ghillies” pop out into the wash, completely behind our guys. They pretty much destroyed a whole squad. We learned from that, and the “death duel” I had with Soulman was a result of Madrid and I deliberately taking rear security in phase 2.

-- Ajax

Badfinch invited me out to play today with his little group, and we had a good time. Got me thinking about more things I learned at Suribachi. So many things, they\'re hard to capture. I'll use my duel with Soulman as just one example:

In phase 2, we were advancing towards the midpoint objective (tree marked w yellow & blue tape, ammo box behind it w U.S. flag inside). This was where the valley floor widened out and was relatively flat. Burned trees all around.

As other guys tried to push forward to the objective, I was taking care to watch our flanks and 6 o’clock. There had been alot of action on our left (which it turns out was Soulman taking out about 4 guys) and then I saw a guy kind of slinking through the trees. He was actually trying to look dead, and I yelled at him “Are you dead?”; and brought my gun up to high-ready. When he realized he was made, he went into combat crouch, and that's when our duel started.

Keep a sharp eye out in all directions for enemy slinking in among you.
The old “dead-man shuffle” is effective. Be on guard for it. Challenge them.

As we circled each other, we were both firing fairly heavily, but not wildly. There were many bare branches and trunks between us, so we were each looking for breaks between them to get a shot through for the kill. I circled to my right, Soulman circled to his right, so we were kind of revolving around each other. We were about 20-25 meters (60-75 ft.) apart. Lots of his shots were whizzing by, and balls were splattering on the branches. But neither of us took eyes off target, and neither went for cover.

Even sparse vegetation will deflect paintballs. Use every speck of cover.
Sometimes you just need to kill the guy. No time for finesse, just get him.
Keep moving, to complicate his shots. Its harder to hit a moving target.
But keep shooting too. Learn to shoot on the move, and to either side.

As Soulman broke out into the open, I saw my shot, and put a couple right into him even though I was still partially screened. But he had the smarts to depress his barrel and fire at my legs. So, as he held up his hands, I checked and sure enough, there was a big orange splotch on my shin. We'd gotten each other almost simultaneously, so I called myself out too.

You don't need a center-mass, or headshot. Find a vulnerable spot and hit it.
In trees, often it will be the legs and feet that you can target first.

Anyway, Soulman is such a good player, it felt good to hold my own. And it was a little sub-drama in the game. The two opposing commanders slugging it out in a close-range deathmatch. – OOORAH!
-- Ajax

Some lessons learned for me that have not been covered so far:

Move to a concealed position when the enemy is looking down for footing. This applies especially to uphill movement. I had 3 Blue players hunting me on the left side near the first gateway. I could hear them talking about eliminating me. I was located near a bush and was hunkered down. One of them was around 100 feet away, just above me, and spotted my location. He signaled the other two of his team who then had my location. I waited until the nearest player looked down and slid about 3 feet closer to him and laid flat. “He's gone!” he yelled. I slowly raised my head to see all three looking around and crouched. I was able to eliminate 2 of them before finally getting hit by the last.

Scout the area to see natural corridors where the opposition will attempt to traverse. Near the end of phase 2, Blue’s right side was attempting to go around the saddle of the hill. Green team had them pinned down except for a series of 3 large outcroppings that looked like teeth. I heard them order cover fire and saw some of them moving in that direction. I swung wide left in a flanking position to see if they could get through and around behind us. As I cleared the outcropping I noticed guys pointing down the corridor I had reached. I got down behind a small bush and waited. I have become a big fan of the 1-shot-1-kill method. I waited until the first player filled my scope and put one into his mask. The next four came one at a time, each being eliminated in almost the same fashion as the first. The last player came sprinting through and I took him on the run.

Overall, this was an awesome scenario with both sides playing hard and pushing it to the max.
-- Badfinch