I am done updating the event info on the original post, and don't expect any major changes. If there are any inconsistencies or questions please send me a pm and I will try to clear it up. I will be sending the event packet by email (copy of the waivers, formal game info, and possibly a recent map of the combat town) to registered participants by October 27th. If you don't receive this email, and would like to receive this information , please send me an email at havocwargames@gmail.com and I will get this out to you as soon as possible.

We will have blank waivers on hand at the event, but if you pre-fill them out at home, we can get through the sign in process much quicker and start the missions sooner. If you filled a waiver out for 2013 at any of our previous events this year, we still have a copy on hand, and won't need another signed waiver from you at this time.

We have almost hit our limit on the free admissions to our event.  There are only 2 free spaces available before we open up a limited amount of $20 admission tickets for those who register on-line at http://havocwargames.com before October 31. Early registeration will either close out on October 31st or after these 20 limited admission tickets sell out (whichever one comes first), and the only other way to obtain an admission ticket to our event will be to purchase one on game day for $40. For those who have to pay for an admission ticket, you will be allowed to play as either a Marine or an insurgent.

Update on the road condition and wash crossing:

We improved the wash crossing by removing much of the sand from the wash, so now it is very crossable even for sedans. 4WD is not necessary to cross (or to drive on any part of the dirt road) but we do recommend entering the wash at 10 to 15 mph and never falling below 10 mph as you cross. Never for any reason should  you  stop while crossing, not even in 4WD.  This is the best way to get your vehicle stuck.

We also improved the 3 spots after the big wash and placed small boulders in front of the steep drop-offs to warn drivers to avoid driving into them.   Sedans should be able to make the entire trip but please stay alert and drive carefully looking for potential hazards. You really should never drive more than 20 mph while on the dirt road in order to give you ample time to slow down when coming up on potential hazards. We still don't recommend bringing your brand new sports car or low profile vehicles like Scion mini-vans or Nissan Sentras out to the property unless you plan to leave them out there for good

With just about two months to go for this game, we currently have about 63 people registered and we only have 37 more spots available for the Marines.  Sign up soon to ensure you reserve your free spot for the game.  If we hit the 100 player mark, we will consider opening more spots for a $20 admission fee per person.

We only have 3 spot left for insurgents. If you want in, you better sign up fast.  I will probably open up another 5 to 10 spots for insurgents if we get closer to 70 Marines signing up.

Operation Vigilant Resolve (First Battle of Fallujah)
Saturday November 2nd, 2013
7:30 AM to 4:00 PM
Be sure to arrive by 8:00 AM to allow plenty of time to setup and check in. Safety briefing starts at 9 AM.

Location
The Sandbox - http://havocwargames.com/field/field.html

Cost
$40 the day of the event or you can pay on-line at www.havocwargames.com

Spaces Available
120 Total (80 Marines, 40 Insurgents)

Uniforms
1st Marine Expeditionary Force – Desert Uniform , ACU, Multi-cam, tactical vest (optional)
Insurgents: civilian attire (no military patterns), shemagh (optional), tactical vest (optional)

Back Story
After major military operations came to an end in early May 2003, the city of Fallujah was left in control of a nominally pro-American mayor who governed over a populous of generally anti-Saddam Hussein residents. American military planners therefore saw little need to deploy American or coalition troops thinking the city would remain calm during the transition from America’s military control to a government led by Iraqi elected officials.  Because of the void of coalition troops, insurgents soon realized they could use Fallujah as strategic place to plan and launch operations against their enemies. Over the course of next 9 months, as violence began erupting in the city and the surrounding area, the U.S. military sent several thousand troops to try to stamp out insurgent activity.  Tensions rose, marked by numerous ambushes on Iraqi police, assassination attempts on high ranking U.S. generals, the deaths of Black Water contractors, and the deaths of innocent civilian Iraqis caught in the destruction of the warring parties. By early March 2004, the city of Fallujah began to fall under the increasing influence of guerrilla factions, and the U.S. army units had to tactically retreat from the city before being overrun.  American military strategists knew that if the insurgents were left unchecked then they would continue to use Fallujah as their military stronghold against coalition troops and Iraqi Civil Defense Corps trying to establish the new Iraqi government, and a plan was devised to retake Fallujah with overwhelming military force to “pacify” the city.

Mission 1: The Long Hard Road -1.5 hours

The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force will approach Fallujah from their FOB following the main road into town.  The Marines must move expediently, but cautiously as their movement has drawn the attention of local militia and insurgents who quickly cobble together fighters in an attempt stall the Marines' advance so that their brethren back in Fallujah can fortify themselves into stronger defensive positions.  The goal of the Marines during this mission is to get to the outer perimeter of Fallujah without sustaining heavy casualties as it will take many men to encircle the city in the next phase of the battle.

After the safety and Mission 1 briefings, insurgents will gear up and move out down the dirt road away from the new staging area near big wash crossing towards The Sandbox, setting up defensive positions along the way. 

Insurgents will setup their defensive positions no closer than a quarter mile to the staging area.  There will be signs marking every quarter mile along the dirt road from the big wash crossing to southwestern corner to The Sandbox. The signs will be on both sides of the road and visible from both directions and will read ¼ mi, ½ mi, and ¾ mi. No combat should take place in the no man's land between the staging area near the big wash crossing and the first ¼  mile signs.

Marines should try push up the road fighting insurgents along the way until they reach the area near the southwestern corner of The Sandbox which will be clearly marked with a red flag on wooden post.  As Marines advance, squad leaders will carry a spear with an American flag to mark their advance (there will be 4 squad leaders for Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta squads). Insurgents can never advance past the Marines’ flags whether it be held by a squad leader or if it’s planted in the ground.  Staff and Marines should ensure the flag stays upright and visible when planted. When carrying the flag, it should remain upright and visible. It is the squad leader’s responsibility to maintain the flag upright and visible when carrying it and moving. Insurgents cannot move the Marines flag or knock it over. Only Marines may move the flag. Both Marines and Staff can replant the flag if it falls over.

In order to get back into the game, Marines who get hit during Mission 1 will have two options to get back into the game.

Option 1: Go back to the nearest quarter mile sign behind them on their way to Fallujah in order to get back in the game.  If they are not past the first quarter mile sign, then Marines should return to the staging area in order to re-enter the game.

Option 2: Go back to YOUR squad leader if he is still alive and carrying the flag or has it planted in the ground. Once you tag in with your squad leader, you may re-insert into the game defensively for the next minute.  Defensively means you must take a knee or go prone and remain stationary. After waiting a minute you are now free to go on the offensive again.  If the squad leader gets hit, he has to take the flag and retreat to the nearest quarter mile marker behind him to re-insert into the mission.  Therefore, it is in a squad’s best interest to keep the squad leader alive in order to keep their re-insertion point near the action.  Hint: Keep the squad leader near the back of the action to reduce the possibility of losing your squad leader and your ability to re-insert quickly.

Insurgents who get shot will have to retreat to the to the nearest quarter mile sign behind them in order to get back in the game.  If there is no quarter mile marker behind them, then they may re-enter the game from The Sandbox's barbed wire fence line near the southwestern corner of The Sandbox. All combat during Mission 1 will take place within eye sight along the dirt road (about 250 feet on either side) between the first quarter mile sign and the southwestern corner of The Sandbox. 

Mission 2: Encirclement & Targeted Assaults 1.5 hours
Once the Marines have successfully reached the outer perimeter of Fallujah, they must approach the city walls and encircle the entire perimeter to keep enemy fighters from entering or exiting the town, and to ensure no enemy fighters get away or smuggle men and supplies to stiffen their defenses.  Unarmed civilians should be allowed to evacuate.

Insurgents will retreat to the combat town and may only roam the area within 100 feet of the combat towns outer walls.  That means the areas that are play for insurgents are:
to the north, outer limit is the shooting range and shoot house
to the west, outer limit is the small wash directly right next to the combat town's western wall
to the south, outer limit is the open desert land cleared out by a bulldozer
to the east, outer limit is the open desert land up to the property's barbed wire fence line.

Insurgents may set up ambushes or defensive lines anywhere within these limits and the combat town.

For the first phase of this mission (Encirclement):

In order to get back into the game, Marines who get hit during the first phase of Mission 2 need to fall back to YOUR squad leader if he is still alive and carrying the flag or has it planted in the ground (there will be 4 squad leaders for Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta squads). Once you tag in with your squad leader, you may re-insert into the game defensively for the next minute. Defensively means you must take a knee or go prone and remain stationary. After waiting a minute you are now free to go on the offensive again.  If the squad leader gets hit, he has to fall back 150 feet (about 50 paces). Therefore, it is in a squad’s best interest to keep the squad leader alive in order to keep their re-insertion point near the action.  Hint: Keep the squad leader near the back of the action to reduce the possibility of losing your squad leader and your ability to re-insert quickly. Squad leaders (or any Marine) should never enter Fallujah for the first phase of mission 2.

Hit insurgents on the outside of the combat town should retreat inside of Fallujah and stay in the city. If shot again they must retreat into a building and fight from that building, never exiting that building. They may move and shoot from this building of their choice, but cannot exit. If they get hit while inside their building, they must remain inactive and inside the building until the end of phase 1.

Once the city is completely encircled, the Marines need to establish checkpoints on the north, east, west, and south entrances into the city. Game control will halt the game, move insurgents to their buildings for the targeted assaults phase and resume the game tasking each check point with their assignments. Each check point will send a team to a specific target building assigned to them by game control and take down the enemy fighters within, while another check point's team will provide security on the streets surrounding the target building.  The security team should be concerned with enemy fighters located in the adjacent buildings and not the primary target building unless directly fired upon.  The security team should not enter any of the buildings while providing security for the assaulting team.  Once the assaulting team completes their target building take down, they will in turn provide security for the other team as they now launch an assault on a newly discovered insurgent hideout provided by game control. 

While these two teams are conducting their assaults on specific buildings, the other two check points will simultaneously be sending their own teams into the city to conduct their own independent building take downs with the other team providing security.

To sum it up, each team will at least conduct at least one assault, and one street security assignment. If time allows, we will rotate all 4 teams to conduct more building take downs in different parts of the city.

Possible building take downs include the:

Hotel (large tan building in the southwestern corner of the city)
Mosque (large green building near the southern gate)
School (the large orange building on the east city of the city)
Warehouse (the large tan building near the northern gate)
Abandoned Shops (the blue and green buildings in the northwestern corner of the city)

Military intelligence suggests that each target building will contain anywhere from 4 to 8 enemy fighters.

For the second phase of the mission (Targeted Assaults):

Hit Marines should retreat to their check point and wait a couple of minutes before re-entering the game.

Hit insurgents should exit the building from which they were hit, and standby at the insurgent holding point located in the center of the city next to the red car.  Once a team clears their building, the insurgents will be re-assigned to new buildings and the process repeated when the next Marine team conducts their assault after game control gives them their assignment.

Mission 3: Street Patrols & Withdrawal - 1.5 hours

About 3 weeks into this phase of the battle, American forces only occupy about 25% of the city.  High civilian death tolls, unfavorable press coverage in the United States, and weak support amongst Iraqi political leaders has hampered operations. Several cease fires have been called and implemented only to be broken, allowing enemy fighters to re-arm and launch counter-assaults on the American forces.  The situation escalates out of control, and the Marines are forced to fight from defensive positions and call in air-support to fend off their attackers. Eventually, American troops withdraw from Fallujah and handover continuing operations to the Fallujah Brigade headed by a former Ba’athist general.

Once the planned targeted assaults are completed, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force will establish an operations center in the town, from which teams of Marines will be sent to patrol the streets.  Any civilian or insurgent carrying a weapon will be considered hostile and should be eliminated. Marines cannot enter a building unless taking fire from that building in order to take down the threat. Due to limitations from the rules of engagement, and constant harassment from insurgents, the Marines are forced to fight from defensive positions and call in air-support to fend off their attackers. Eventually, American troops withdraw from Fallujah.

If a Marine gets hit he should retreat back to the command center (orange building). If he gets hit again, he should retreat to either the command center, the hotel (large tan building in the southwest corner the combat town, or the warehouse (large tan building in the center of the town). If he gets hit again he must retreat to the staging area of The Sandbox along the southern fence line and remain there for the duration of the mission.

If an insurgent gets hit he should move to the outer perimeter of the combat town before re-entering the game. Insurgents have infinite number of lives during this mission and should be able to eventually push the Marines out of Fallujah.

Hit Rules
Any hit on the body counts as a hit. Gun hits do not count.  Grenades will be allowed. Inert grenades count as a hit if you can see the grenade when it stops moving or the thrower yells bang.  If you are behind cover, the grenade doesn’t count as a hit.  If the grenade uses BB’s and you are hit, then you are considered dead.  Same rules apply for RPGs, mortars, claymores, etc…

Chrono Limits
AEGs must chrono under 375 fps using .25 bb. For chrono, staff will provide the .25 bb's.

Schedule
7:30 AM - Check-In opens at the big wash
8:45 AM - Check- In closes
9:00 AM - Safety Briefing and Mission One Briefing
9:30 AM - Mission One Begins
11:00 AM – Mission One Ends
11:00AM – 11:30 AM - Lunch
11:30 AM – 11:45 AM - Mission Two Briefing
11:45 AM – Mission Two Begins
1:15 PM - Mission Two Ends
1:15 PM - 1:30 PM Break
1:30 PM - Mission Three Briefing
1:45 PM - Mission Three Begins
3:15 PM - Mission Three Ends
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM Clean Up and Depart The Sandbox

Restrictions
The event age restriction is as follows:

18 years old or older, no legal guardian required to be present.
Younger than 18 years old, a legal guardian, parent, or relative must participate with you for the entire duration. They must be with you on the field.  No unattended minors.

Waivers will be sent to out to registered participants and must be signed and dated by a legal guardian for those under 18.
Waivers can also be found at: http://havocwargames.com/field/field.html under the section "Please note..." near the bottom of the page.

For those 18 years old and older, you will be required to sign and date waiver if you have never been to The Sandbox. Waivers will be emailed with event information several days prior to the event to those who have either pre-paid on-line.  Waivers will also be available at The Sandbox the day of the event, but in order to get through registration as quickly as possible we ask that you fill out the waiver before arriving.

There will be no magazine restrictions, but mid-cap and standard cap magazines are encouraged.

All weapons must chrono at 375 fps and below with .25 BBs that we provide for the chrono. For the event, you may use any size BB. No FPS exceptions, including for sniper rifles. Polarstars are allowed with tournament lock applied. Spot checks will be made after and possibly during a mission to ensure field safety.  If you are caught with a gun firing over 400 fps on the field or after a mission, that gun must be removed from play. If the gun chrono’s over 450 fps, you will be removed from game play and asked to leave.

Do not test fire your airsoft equipment in the staging area. Use the chrono station to test fire all equipment. You must have sealed eye protection or shooting glasses at a minimum to test fire or stand within 20 feet of the chrono area.  Shoot in a safe direction away from the staging area and avoid shooting if anyone is visibly present directly in front of you or within 180 degrees of your firing position.

Keep all airsoft weapons unload, magazines out at all times, guns on safe, fingers out of trigger well, and guns pointed away from people at all times until game time.  Before starting any mission, staff will ensure all participants are wearing sealed eye protection before announcing “Field is hot! Field is hot! Field is hot!” You may load magazines and set weapons to fire.

Do not move or engage targets until staff announce “Mission is a go! Mission is a go! Mission is a go!” and you hear the air horn blast.

Play terminates when staff announces “Terminate Mission! Terminate Mission! Terminate Mission!” You must remove your magazines, clear all weapons by firing at least three clearing shots, and putting your weapon on safe. Do not remove eye protection until staff verifies everyone has cleared their weapons and set them to safe. Staff will announce “Field is cold! Field is cold! Field is cold!” You may now remove your eye protection.

During the game, if there is a real world emergency, use the code words “Blind Man! Blind Man! Blind Man!” to alert everyone to the emergency. Everyone should stop what they are doing, put their weapons on safe, and take a knee.  Wait for further instructions from staff before resuming the game. If the emergency is false or not serious in nature, the game will resume shortly.  If the emergency is serious (death, significant injury such as eye loss, broken bone, snake bite, etc) the mission will end and players will move to the staging area while staff addresses the issue and determines whether or not to end the event in order to handle the emergency.

No real world weapons allowed on the property. This includes all firearms, knives (more than 4 inches in blade length), machetes, axes, etc…

Do not step over, go under, cut the barbed wire fence. Use the gated entrance to enter and leave the property.

Only staff members may drive their vehicles on the property or guest with explicit permission from the staff.  For those we ask to park near The Sandbox, we will ask you to park your vehicle near the end point of Mission 1, which will be off to the left of the road near the cinder block columns (the area directly to the west of the western fence line of The Sandbox).  This area with the cinder block columns will be the staging point for Mission 2. Look for my white Ford Sport Trac Explore with attached trailer and park next to it just off the road.  We will ask about 30 people with capable vehicles (trucks and SUVs) to help ferry people and equipment to/from the big wash and The Sandbox.

Use the restroom facility to relieve yourself. Do not relieve yourself on the field.  There will be a restroom in the staging area near the big wash, and another in the staging area near the property gate on the southern fence line.

We are limiting everything to semi-auto. If you get shot before you get to your supplies, you die and immediately join the marauders. You forefit your supply bag to the scavengers. You may recover your AEG, mags, and tactical vest from your supply depot but must leave your trading supplies in place.

The game is a go tomorrow. Gates open at 8AM. I have lowered admission at sign-in to $40 if you plan to pay tomorrow morning.

I will have bags of BBs available for sale ($20 for 5000 count Echo 1 .25s).

Don't forget to bring:

1 gallon of water (also bring a camelback or other source with water for easy drinking)
1 red gallon of gas - filled with water, don't fill with gasoline or other liquids
1 bag of BBs - any size
a bag, backpack, or container to carry these supplies.

Remember when the game starts off, you are limited to a pistol or shotgun. You will have to run to your supply depot to arm yourself with your AEG and gear. You cannot be wearing your tactical vest at the beginning either. Put it on after you reach your supply depot.

DO NOT steal from other people's supply depots for the 1st fifteen minutes of the game.

NEVER steal or use some one else's AEG unless they give you explicit permission.

When you die as a survivor, and you become a marauder, you will need to wrap one arm with the provided marauder arm sleeve and continue wearing it until the end of the event. It should be clearly visible. Do not try to conceal it.