Hehe, looks like I beat Mike to this reply (that's what I get for staying up all night).
Well let me just say that the first ever Zombie Survival Training last night (Oct. 22nd) was a HUGE success. MTT, Mike, Stephanie, Craig (Boneman), and you great guys on US Special Forces guys (Steelworks, right?). Amazing training op, I had a blast. Dominic, thanks mucho for helping as another Zombie Volunteer, same for guy in black tac gear (didn't get your name, I'm sorry).
To everyone who wasn't able to show up, I hope that changes on Oct. 29th. This was an amazing training event, and more participants would have made it even better. More zombie volunteers too next time, it makes the job MUCH harder for the human teams (and helps the zombie team training each other in ambush tactics and psyops, which are REALLY going to help on game day).
The interesting thing about having only 3 Special Forces teammembers and 2 Zombie volunteers (+ 2 more who were just playing at Vanguards at the time, and wanted to help out) was that were were able to focus on the game from the Special Forces and Zombie's perspectives.
We went over the story a little from the SOF's perspectives (Civilians and PMCs, you have your chance on the 29th. DON'T miss it!). How their missions link up with the story, what their objectives look like, how that figures into the sequel to this game (planned for a later date). etc.
The SOFs worked on weapon failure drills and transitions to melee weapons. Turns out that's a great thing to practice ahead of time, because my Zombie partner Craig (Boneman) and I practiced bonsai charges on SOFs, who then had to simulate a failure drill and transition to their melee weapons without getting "bit." It's a LOT tougher than it seems, because those melee weapons tend to snag on gear.
We went over the classes of Zombies expected, and how zombie volunteers would roleplay those classes (valuable for the Zombie team to know, so please Zombies... SHOW up for Oct 29th. You get in for FREE, and it WILL help you on game day).
SOF team practiced applying dummy grenades, M203 rockets, and how that would figure into a special scenario of "Door Breaching." Without giving too much away... SOFs and PMCs: You will NEED to practice how to deploy grenades against a special type of Zombie known as the Tank (Class 4). How to stack, how to maintain security, how to deploy the frags / M203s, and how to use that window of opportunity to escape the Tank and its horde of zombie brothers and get out alive.
We even saw the Tank in action... OMG, imagine rounding a dark corner and coming face to face with that thing. You've gotta see it to believe it. More details to follow in a later post.
I think Mike and Stephanie Simpson filmed most of the practice sessions (failure drills, buddy-team melee drills, and Tank-Escape drills) with a handheld camera. Ask Mike to post those vids on his MTT youtube site.
SOFs even ran a few simulated missions throug the VIP field, while the Zombies and generous volunteers tried to thwart them. We both learned a lot.
I think the funnest sight was the SOF team running a perimeter around the blue tower and barn, all ammo in primaries and sidearms spent, and had to fend off us Zombies with their melee weapons. It was Lord of the Rings meets airsoft, with Mike giggling like a schoolboy as he swings a plastic battle axe Conan style into an undead's gut. Imagine a moving column of SOF soldiers, down to their bayonets, maces, and fireman axes trying to fend off swarm after swarm of Zombie charges. Never played airsoft like that before, hehe.
More incentive to sign up for the civilian team on game day: I think they're the only team that gets melee weapons.
Make Moonraker happy and bust out your nerf swords on game day. Trust me, it'll be the most fun team to play on (except for Zombies of course
.
At any rate, props for all who showed up. We learned some valuable things last night. Now please make some posts: tell everyone else here what you think they need to know to be effective. Door breaching, Tank escaping, grenade-deployment SOPs, mission objectives, Zombie classes and costumes, how to survive Melee combat (That'll be an important one), and what things Zombies need to remember in order to ambush these humans. Craig, Dusty, Mike, Dominic, etc... anything you think they need to know, let em know here.
I wrote a few articles based on what I learned from last night's Training Session. Specifically strategies and tactics that apply to the Zombie Team. They're in the Game Discussions Forum, as replies to the topic: "Oct 30 Zombie Game Discussion" (Originally Posted by MaraudersAirsoft)
http://www.airsoftarizona.com/forumbb/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=28353&start=15&st=0&sk=t&sd=aPlease give them a read Zombie Team, I'd really appreciate it. And please add your own ideas and guides to that topic as well, they may help us a lot on game day.
Okay, before I write a novel here, I want to say one last thing: Attend the Oct. 29th training session. The things we learned tonight, from hands-on practice and experience, are NOT the sort of things that you'll just pick up off the field on game day. These SOPs require practice, and we became more prepared for game day because of it. Every team needs this info, SOF, PMC, Civilian, AND Zombie). Please, show up. You won't regret it.
Anywho, that's it. I'll be posting some strategy and tactics articles in the Game Discussion forums, geared towards the Zombie Team (My Team). If you're playing zombies on Oct. 30th, please give them a read. Everything I wrote, I learned last night from the Training Session and the volunteers we worked with. And please, post your own thoughts and guides too. We need to spread this knowledge around Zombie Team. Food for the brain (bad pun
).
