18 minute read
AA LEGION: TAIWAN
MILSIM TAIWANESESTYLE!
THE ADAGE TENDS TO GO “TRAIN HARD; FIGHT EASY” BUT AS WE ALL KNOW, THERE’S ALSO THE AUXILIARY CONCEPT OF “NO PLAN SURVIVES CONTACT WITH YOUR OWN FORCES, LET ALONE THE ENEMY”! BOTH OF THESE EPITHETS WOULD COME INTO PLAY WHEN STEWBACCA FINALLY MADE HIS WAY ALONG TO HIS FIRST MILSIM EVENT IN TAIWAN SINCE ARRIVING OVER 5 YEARS PRIOR, SOMEWHAT OF A DELAY COMPARED TO THE AT HIS ANNUAL COPEHILL DOWN GAMES OR SIMILAR BRIT-TAC ORGANISED EVENTS IN THE UK!
Team Taiji has been growing steadily in size and diversity over the past year or two since I came to know the key players and team leadership before eventually migrating towards them and joining the team as the old TaiWan Anglophone Team moved on to adult responsibilities or began focusing more on SpeedQB related activities.
With around sixty subs-paying members on the books, and a decent proportion of them playing regularly, we are with little doubt one of the largest teams regularly playing in Taiwan, and we draw our numbers from plenty of local Taiwanese players, many of them with past military experience or some who may still be serving, as well as a myriad of international players who live and work or study in Taiwan and similarly love to get behind replica firearms as a matter of our regular Sunday worship. With a variety of Canadian, American, British, Turkish, South African, Polish, Russian, Australian and Kiwi players among our ranks we have a great rapport and representation of different experiences playing overseas and locally in Taiwan, and we all manage to work well together around the language barriers which are an ever lessening problem for many of us as we further integrate into the country and shooting community.
As a matter of course we try and function well within this multinational setting as a team working in units with a reasonable command structure, making extensive use of higher grade radio systems and related communication or hand signals where necessary. Small unit tactics that have been honed by reasonably extensive practice in games at various sites as well as dedicated training sessions to work on fire and manoeuvre and squad role related gameplay where we find the time and opportunity, typically after the end of our usual morning skirmishing sessions, at whatever site we happen to be playing at, whether indoor CQB, a mix of indoor and outdoor, or purely jungle environments.
With the ‘POLK 2’ MilSim having been delayed (once again as a result of pandemic restrictions rolling on in Taiwan) we at least had more opportunity to hone our skills further in an effort to maximise our effectiveness, given that our team would account for nearly half of BLUFOR in the final event of around a hundred and sixty players total. Split fairly evenly at around eighty players per side and comprising around ten different teams, mostly from the North of Taiwan (Taoyuan, New Taipei City, Keelung and Yilan) and with some overlap from the IPSC and IDPA community with my teammates from
those realms also showing up in full battle rattle to round off their shooting experiences in a similar manner to myself.
FULONG BOUND!
Finally a date was settled on with restrictions loosening and we made our final preparations to brave the Northeast coast of Taiwan over near Fulong, a scenic spot with good camping facilities, and descended in force on the Saturday morning of the 17th of September! Having acquired tents and other camping gear and supplies, and packed all our guns and gear for the slow train ride there as discreetly as is manageable (read as; not very, but thankfully people in Taiwan are pretty chill about militarised behaviour or personnel unless you’re actively acting the fool!) we even had some folks ask us what we were up to during transit and show a more positive interest. The weather was already hotting up as we made our way to the campsite on the coast around nine in the morning and signed ourselves in then prepared our tents and equipment, and sat down to Taiwanese lunch boxes under the welcome cover of the large, canopied briefing area at the head of the camp where the shower and toilet blocks were.
I’d personally elected to go ‘little and large’; taking the short and manageable Modify PP2K GBB PDW which I’d been using most weekends for the preceding month due to its much improved performance since having work done on it; it’s a beast now it’s working better and I have four 56rnd magazines for it in a custom chest rig placard that makes them much more manageable and less of a pain due to their long and thin profile. Of course the ‘backup’ gun was my shiny new VFC FAL (LAR) as reviewed in the prior November issue; despite being a little more cumbersome I figured it was too good an opportunity for jungle warfare with it during my review process and took it along, gladly enduring the encumbrance. My sidearm, as has been standard since my acquisition of it - has been the ever trusty VFC PPQ NPA Taiwanese police pistol in a genuine Safariland holster; with four mags for all my guns in various load bearing solutions and belts to tackle anything I encountered over the weekend I was set.
I’d even invested in one of the TMC replicas of the Qore hydration panel that fills the body armour space in your plate carrier and gives you almost two litres of drinking water in a more rigid and less frangible solution than your typical camelbak bladder; I’ll be assessing that in more depth in the long run, and although it tightened my whole setup a little with its rigidity I think I can adjust and get used to it, and the plate will probably help my bad back! With everything loaded up and chronograph tested, and having changed into my new Multicam uniform in my tent after travelling to the site in a less sweaty shorts and t-shirt, we all donned our rigs and started tuning in our radios to our assigned team channel and commschecking each other while the team leaders broke to take the large group briefing for both teams under the canopy we ate lunch in, before coming back to brief us at a squad level ready to
move out to our starting positions.
The whole site was somewhat of a horse-shoe shape, with the elevated ridgeline area in the treeline wrapping around the lower campsite below on three sides, and hills or stairs leading up to each team’s staging areas. BLUFOR got the short end of the stick and we had to hump up a mostly vertical sandy hill, grappling with the more solid looking trees and helping each other up the final stretch. I felt for the guys lugging support weapons up that lot!
GAME ON!
As game time approached we made our final checks and prepared ourselves in squads to make as fast an entrance as possible and try to secure the various objectives and choke points throughout the site. The air horn let off a blast and we were off - I’d already managed to fall to the very rear of the column helping teammates up the last leg of the incline and my squad - alpha one - tore off ahead before I had a chance to catch up - good start, Stu.
Immediately we realised what we were in for; despite the organisers (including our team leader and those of other’s) efforts to clear some of the undergrowth in the weekends prior during their final preparations, we were all immediately finding it heavy going; the dangling vines and strings of thorns, coupled with the trip hazard vines across the floor were making every step feel like it took the effort of three, with players constantly tripping or having to untangle themselves, their radio antennas, or barrels and muzzles from constant snagging. Visibility was limited to around 20m just by sheer virtue of the density of the foliage, even though it was somewhat barren and dry, it was just so densely packed that we could barely see anything other than the odd flash of opposing (or even friendly!) team armbands, and once a machine gun opened up everyone tended to go to ground and fire wildly in the direction of the noise, sometimes incurring friendly fire as a result of the general chaos and difficulty in getting your bearings, as well as a clear radio signal; in the dense jungle war is hell, clearly. This certainly added to the realism factor and the undeniable realisation that environmental factors have just as much, if not more, effect than enemy action; some of our guys had purchased full-on monster machetes and thigh holsters in the preceding weeks to try and deal with the terrain we’d been forewarned about, those of us who
hadn’t felt underprepared.
Nonetheless, battle commenced and continued, and I managed to link up with some vaguely familiar BLUFOR operatives on the left flank after finding my bearings, but not my own squad. We managed some fire and manoeuvre tactics towards the sound of incoming enemy machine guns, and to be fair the
opposing squads were working quite effectively and ‘walking’ their guns well with alternating bursts of fire, but even they were limited by the jungle itself! Later I would find numerous trees with shredded bark and numerous impact craters from the pellets trying to make their way through, evidently even those with a high volume of fire were struggling to find their mark.
The heat and humidity continued to build throughout the early afternoon, and I got taken out trying to play hero and charge a gun position and had to make my way back to the spawn point; the walk out was perhaps more punishing than the incoming fire but at least I spotted my own Alpha One squad mates on the walk out. I sat down and yanked the quick release slide tab on my plate carrier to get it off and catch my breath; another squad of guys came and sat for a few minutes to rearm and take on water. I was already drenched in sweat, and I’d also managed to cut open my left wrist as one of the deadmen ahead of me stood on one end of a vine and it dropped down and chainsawed through me… lucky I packed the mini first aid kit and some electrical tape, eh?
I spent a few minutes patching myself up as best as I could, taking on more water and M&Ms from my reserve backpack while it was off me along with the rest of my rig, refilled my mags with BBs and gas, and picked myself back up to get back at it. Luckily, making my way to my own squad I was just in time to take over from Ivan of our team who had expended all his ammo and was resorting to foul banter. “Push right” came from the squad leader Jon, I did, and I died… back we go again. At least this time I managed to realise I could follow some water pipes along the ground and back to the storage tanks at their head near our spawn point; it’s surprisingly easy to get lost in such dense undergrowth, even over short distances. Another recoup and rearm rest later and I was nearly ready to get back into it when another teammate Sky emerged and said he was already done for the day and End-Ex was apparently just a few tens of minutes away. Feeling somewhat defeated by the jungle and the high thirties temperature and mid-seventies humidity, and having already expended all my water reserves, I thought better of re-entering the fray, given the intensity of the walk in and back regardless of any firefights. Sky and I slowly made our way back down the murderous hill we’d had to surmount to start, using the sturdier tree trunks to break our slides and falls through the topsoil trodden loose by the whole team’s ascent.
R&R GI!
As we returned to camp and I made my way for a much welcomed shower I heard the whistle and call of ten minutes remaining break through the treeline and into camp. The ensuing cacophony of fire from
both sides somewhat lifted my spirits, as did the torrent of water washing the sweat out of my gear as I stripped off in the shower, washing it as I went. Shortly after the twin air horns of End-Ex blasted through the air and I just emerged nice and fresh with lightweight barbecue ready, clothing on, as the rest of the guys descended on the camp; we beat the rush, at least! Apparently BLUFOR’s final push had managed to unseat the central contested objective (both teams having initially secured the ones closest to their start points) with REDFOR putting up a deep and early advance to get a secure line on the middle one, which they held for almost the entire game before we apparently ran down their ammunition reserves and resolve just in time to push them off it before the final whistle with a last dash and grab effort. Excellent spirit and play from everyone, especially given the terrain and all the related movement and communication restrictions it entailed.
The rich smell of traditional Taiwanese sausages had been permeating the air for some time during the intensifying gameplay, and both Sky and I had been eagerly eyeing up the whole hog which was splayed and roasting on an open fire pit rotisserie as we came back past the camp’s food hall. Fight well, eat well… and drink well…
With everyone else catching up on the shower and changing front we’d all donned our flip flops and lightweight civilian attire ready for a good feeding and war stories, we moved inside and sat at our assigned tables and tucked into a decent spread with huge plastic recycling tubs full of iced water and plentiful beers now all the guns had gone silent and been cleared and stowed. The social aspect is always one of the best parts of MilSim events for most, and we all got chance to see folks we hadn’t for a while with things having cooled off a bit on gaming and movement in general in the preceding months since pandemic measures had kept many away from larger games. Suffice to say we all did our part to help empty the beer reserves and after we’d all finished eating our fill and chatting at length we managed to sidle back to camp, some in a better state than others, and the less worse for wear among us enjoyed the quieter atmosphere and chatting under the stars while also feeling the recent string of earthquakes further down the East coast as we sat and talked.
The lights of the briefing and facilities area stayed on all night and it wasn’t the easiest of night’s sleep to get, with some apparently not sleeping at all or otherwise moving around all night and making sure they’d found all the remaining full beer cans hiding amongst the tents! Nonetheless I awoke around 0700 and crawled out to see the aftermath that awaited.
WHAT DOES THE “O” STAND FOR?
The general malaise and groans from tents assured me that perhaps some had partaken more than their fair share of the festivities the night before, and indeed some wouldn’t make it for the Sunday’s game. In the end around half of each team remained, with many just being defeated by
the heat, humidity and terrain; honestly I’ve never fought so hard without firing so much at MilSims in the UK but at least there you’re usually moving to stay warm… given the more temperate climate, this was just something else entirely.
I started packing away my tent and sleeping gear and policing up what I could to enable a more rapid and organised exit; despite its bulk, my 5.11 Tactical SOMS 2.0 rolling luggage once again showed its worth for the first time using it in anger since it helped me emigrate here back in late 2017. I stowed my tent, folding chair, sleeping mat, plate carrier and most of my support gear, and readied myself for the second day’s play.
Those of us who could, regrouped, donned our kit once again and moved towards the opposite start points from the previous day; time to change ends, and tactics. The lessons of the previous day were fresh in my mind… radios barely worked due to the dense trees and gullies, and the antennas and any other ancillary fixtures would just snag everything in sight. I ditched the plate carrier, threw on my olive drab BDU’s and small reserve backpack with water, snacks, gas and ammo, then elected to use my ‘58 pattern webbing belt and pouches for my magazines and sidearm, and finally, gleefully reached for the FAL GBBR, with the new scope mount top cover sporting my ACOG; time for some real jungle work!
Luckily I didn’t have to make any adjustments because (as I touched on in my review) the VFC FAL is a straight shooter and heavy hitter; it was pounding BBs out to the middle of the crosshairs with a distinctive, if not too easily detected report, usually followed by my own gleeful or aggressive noises. The second day was a much easier start for us, with an actual trail most of the way to where the fighting really got going, evidently REDFOR had had life a little bit easier the previous day which is why they managed to roll so far in on us; now the tables had turned, and we both had half the force to deal with in the closed spaces, so BLUFOR made good on our much simplified plan to fan out and push on, taking whatever ground we could and pinning the opposition as they had us.
Again I would find myself booted from play by a few lucky shots making it through the bracken and landing on my firing hand wrist as I was reloading; ‘58 pattern is not the most ergonomic setup, despite looking more FAL era, and trying to reseal the Spanish fly lugs under fire to avoid losing the other magazines cost me time, and a walk back to regen again…
I joined up with another squad pushing along the bottom of a gully and trying to take out the same effective machine gunner teams we’d heard breaching the peace the day before, and it was again heavy going with incoming and outgoing fire intensifying until we started taking more casualties and decided to back off and flank instead. Once again the action was over faster than we thought it would be; time just seemed to slow down in there, working through all the foliage and trying to find a comfortable firing position! Apparently REDFOR had to relent to our onslaught, once again expending all their ammunition and will to go on; a lot of people were already absolutely beaten by the first day’s play, so fair play to everyone for putting up the fight they could, with the decreased numbers and morale.
We returned to camp and began our final packing and prepared to leave site, after collecting the previous day’s still sodden multicam that had dried a little on the makeshift paracord clothesline I’d thrown up for us all to use, and slid back into my civilian wear to try and survive the trip home. Thankfully a teammate ferried us and all our heavy gear to the front gate, with most of it, and us hanging out of the back tailgate for the ride! A couple of taxis later and we’d all gotten back to the local train station just in time to grab the slow ‘milk run’ train back to Taipei, and the beckoning comfort of yet another shower and a much needed rest. Battered, bruised, and cut-up along with our gear, some of us even managed to sleep on the train. A hard fought victory, although we all felt defeated.
Many thanks to the team of organisers pooled from the various Northern Taiwan shooting associations and skirmishing teams, they put on a great event with excellent facilities and planning, despite the dampener on ease of gameplay that resulted from the environment. Now I’m looking forward to my next MilSim experience, hopefully sooner rather than later! AA
