Why mixed?
Force on force simulation systems — disregarding blanks with colored armbands and so on — are of basically two types: pellet throwers and lasers. They both have downsides:
Airsoft, UTM, and Simunition have the huge advantage that they throw projectiles, so you can suppress, create startle responses with near misses, ricochet and otherwise threaten in barricades and cover, and inflict actual hits on anything at all.
The MILES lasers give range, but is inaccurate (too narrow a beam, so hard to hit) at close ranges, and when used on blank fire guns requires hearing protection, limits use of full auto and is expensive.
We mix airsoft and MILES to get:
- Low cost.
- High degree of safety.
- Wide range of weapons (machine guns, grenades, land mines...).
- Suppressing and soft-kill with pellets out to their max range.
- The full realistic range of weapons, from the safety range of 20 ft, to over 300 m.
We are not the first to do this; high end special forces units combine these, by getting specialized MILES that actuates off their UTM or even airsoft guns.
War Gaming Rules for Mixed Systems
The basic rules for airsoft are still the core rule set. No additional safety is required due to the MILES equipment. There are only a few notes, and procedures to keep in mind.
- Everyone will wear their harness when on patrol, standing guard, etc. For work parties, downtime, sleep, etc the harness may be removed (typically when other LBE would be) but should be placed over your ruck or otherwise upright so it can be hit.
- Whenever possible, each team or maneuver element, at base or on patrol, must have:
- One MILES gun
- One Medic bag. Whoever carries the medic bag is The Medic.
- If the team has no MILES gun (forgot it, the Team split into two buddy pairs for the assault) they cannot shoot but are still subject to being killed by MILES lasers.
- If the medic is killed, anyone alive can retrieve their bag and act as the medic to treat casualties.
- When receiving fire, hit is a hit. Whether by MILES, pellet hit, or both, any hit counts as it always has. Use the medic rules to declare the hit and react appropriately. Hits on your harness when you are not wearing it count as hits to you.
- The Medic of each Fire Team will be issued a reset key. This is used to silence the hit sensing alarm on the harness, but has no impact on game play. A reset harness doesn't mean you are alive.
- There are no engagement distances to switch from MILES to airsoft. Minimum safe airsoft distance is still in force. Use Safety Kill at or under this range.
Equipment for Mixed Systems Gaming
Everyone has an airsoft gun. If yours has sufficient recoil it will actuate the MILES lasers (SAT) and can be a dual-system gun. Those who cannot test in advance are encouraged to find the admins as soon as they arrive so their gun can be tested and a SAT mounted.
MILES lasers are infra-red and quite dim, so we can only zero at night. Those who arrive the night before or make arrangements before the field can be zeroed immediately. Everyone else should make plans to zero the first night of the event; there is usually little action on day 1 and you still have an airsoft gun, so it should go fine.
CWG has at least half a dozen guns we can loan if you cannot purchase one, or yours breaks. We will only bring those needed, so contact us well in advance. We also
Everyone will be issued a MILES harness and be offered a halo. You may also bring your own as long as it interoperates with our systems properly. We may test it to make sure
Each Fire Team will be issued a medic bag with casualty card book, appropriate casualty treatment supplies, and a green MILES reset key.
Do not attempt to perform any service on the MILES harness or SAT other than the zeroing indicated above. Contact your leadership or game admin if any problems are encountered.
Harnesses (of the type issued) can be integrated with web gear, such as by replacing the shoulder straps if running a belt line like ALICE gear or battle belts. Or they can be just tossed over the top of your gear or even the top of your ruck and secured, or not. Harnesses can be worn forward or backwards. Ask for advice from your team if you are encountering problems.
Halos are recommended but not required. Do not make us regret making them optional, and try to have at least some of your team wear them so you can be shot when you poke your head up.
HPA is explicitly permitted since we're looking for higher-recoil to actuate the MILES devices. When we started, HPA was rare, obvious, and more speedball oriented. Now we'd like to give it another try but remember: 1) Snaggy woods, steep hills, tripping hazards, etc. Make sure the gun attached to you presents no real hazards for this 2) Realism. From 10 ft away at most angles it should appear you are a real soldier with a real gun, so try to conceal or disguise hoses and tanks.
Notes about wargaming with MILES
We all intrinsically understand bullets and pellets being fired, but lasers are invisible and act in ways you may not expect, so here are a few notes that, and how expectations of more realistic battles may not be fulfilled:
- There is no splash, or bullets striking the ground, breaking branches, etc. much less supersonic crack of bullets, so it can be hard to tell you are being under fire, much less where fire is coming from.
- Structures, vehicles, and brush do not react at all to lasers. Pellets will make noise against walls and can give a hint you are being fired upon, or allow you to take casualties when relevant. MILES lasers do not.
- As with airsoft, cover and concealment are usually the same thing. This means effective range is often shorter than it would be in reality as targets can avoid being killed by using concealment as cover; you will often have to close — and use airsoft guns at close range — to more fully engage.
- Harnesses can occasionally indicate near misses (though usually not kills) from spurious interference or bugs in the system. So, while we normally say to take any hit without thinking about it, be pragmatic with your reaction when such beeps don't make sense.
- Fabric does not block IR well. You cannot cheat by covering harnesses with outerwear, so if needed (at least temporarily) you can put jackets and ponchos over your MILES harness.