Hidden away from the public on an unassuming facility sits the Guardian Center. A premiere location for a wide range of training for all kinds of organizations. A facility designed to prepare search and rescue workers for natural disasters and combat troops for war, the Guardian Center was the perfect stage for what was billed as the event of 2013. It was the event not to miss. At the helm of this event was the national op producer Mind Game Productions (MPG).

It has been a big year for MGP and their goal to break onto the national milsim scene. They are by no means new to the op production arena but, many would say their speciality has been smaller events located in the Southeast. Op Sovereign Fury was a unique opportunity to break in a new AO that anyone would kill to play on. This was to be MGP's big game, an aggressive 30-hour, continuous operation that would push all who attended to their physical and mental limits. With players craving more intense milsim with more realistic conditions, MGP was looking to redefine hardcore milsim. Operation Sovereign Fury would prove to be a challenge for players and the MGP staff team alike.

Friday's check-in opened up bright and early around 10:00 am with some players already waiting at the gate. There was definitely a feeling of excitement by everyone as players slowly trickled in to check-in and explore the AO that they would fight on the following morning. It was interesting to see two check-in desks, one for each side. This was a good way to help manage the crowd. Safety briefs for the players began at noon. These briefs were spaced out through the day to get guys informed and briefed as they signed in. This was not a bad idea on MGP's part, but if you do multiple briefs then they should be done with a video and an admin at the end available to take questions. This would have helped prevent guys from saying they did not all get the same info. Still, with troops signed-in and the Airsoft celebs on site the evening closed out with a calm before the next day's events kicked off.

Morning combat operation kicked off with a fight for a city under firm control by Russian forces. The American forces would fight for footholds and be rappelled. They would rally troops to try and capture a foot hold but again be pushed back. The initial morning of operations was what I expected and what I'm sure most people expected of the op. It was hard and intense combat on a hot and humid day. The cloud cover helped a bit but guys were still suffering in the tough southern summer heat. With the event going into its fifth hour things started to take a drastic turn that would hurt the op. Foundation issues within the ops structure would come back to bite the event.

As the evening hours rolled by command and control started to fail. A chain of command existed and orders were being issued but without leaders organizing combat in the city. Orders that came out of the CRC were just not current with the combat occurring. So, there was no one to adjust fire and organize the fight on the battle field as it developed. With the complete collapse of the command net the ability to shoot, move, and communicate fell, too. Now, radios aren't the make or break of an op but if your leaders in command are not in firm control of their troops then it is a big issue.

The problem of command and control was one set up to fail from the beginning. You can have the best leaders in the world but, without face time to organize your troops you are still just strangers once battle kicks off. There are several things that the event organizers could have done to curve this issue. Hard set brief times by the staff to allow players to meet their leadership would start solidifying the missions and who was in charge. A morning formation with 100% accountability would have allowed troops to see who their leaders were and brief plans out through the fighting force. This lack of onsite organization was the event staff's mistake as much as it was the player's chain of command. Since you do not usually play with the group of players assigned under your op command players have to really feel the presence of their command or they get lost. The reality is that milsim players need their hands held and feel the need to be very much informed. This means in Airsoft, extra steps have to be taken by commanders in their organization of the troops.

Command and control issues were one of, if not the biggest op failure. This has to fall harder on the players than the event staff. The staff made mistakes in the setup but the players were not ready to work within the chain of command either. As soon as things started going bad, rather than fall back on their chain of command, players would go on their own program. Even if the leadership wanted to get things back on track an uncooperative fighting force was not ready to follow.

As night fell upon the event, the frustrations of the troops and simply the heat of the day started taking its toll on fighting strength. Rest plans that had been organized by leadership were not being followed. This created a quieting on the battlefield and a lack of action frustrating players further. Many just left for the night or for the rest of the op. Once again MGP could not be blamed for this, players just checked out. Some checked out because they were upset with the way the event had unfolded and others just could not go the 30 hour distance in the heat.

The event staff did drop the ball in maintaining game flow. If there had been more objectives and fragos flowing then players would have had to stay more engaged. It is a sad fact that troops hungry for action and ready to go went to MGP staff demanding a mission to keep the fight up. The response given was "We have nothing for you". This is an unacceptable answer from the game staff. You have to keep hip pocket missions ready as a contingency when things look like they are slowing down. Even with this mistake players did not help either since most decided to ditch their rest plan and were found to be sleeping in or around their CRC by 11pm.

Around midnight a dedicated fighting force organized itself to carry on the fight that so many had given up on. This force consisted of Raptor1, 6mm militia, Spartan117GW and other mixed troops. These players decided that it was time to take the day's lemons and make lemonade. I will not deny that I was feeling the disillusion of the events earlier failures. I saw the issues that were hurting the event and even talked to staff about it. I watched them try to bring leaders back into control to get the fight organized. But, it was with the night shift that I found my fighting spirit again.

As we fought through the night, staff had to wake up American and Russian forces to fight. You cannot blame MGP for players that just could not stay in the fight 30 hours. It is on the players to dig in and commit to sustained operations. By 4:30am the surge in fighting wound down and by 6:30am as I walked back to the CRC from the city it was a ghost town. I shut my eyes for a few hours since things had gone quiet and waited for the morning push. Russian forces started to push back into the city in the morning to find it mostly abandoned. By Sunday morning operations the US forces had been severely diminished to around 50 troops and the Russians less than 100.

The failures of Saturday and the harsh weather of Op Sovereign Fury had taken a heavy toll on the troop strength. We rolled around looking for skirmishes in the Raptor1 truck finding only small pockets of action. As the clock whined down we locked down the city and finished with a final futile push by the US that met a hail of Russian fire. Those that remained to the end were the most committed that did not believe in simply walking away angry. We went out and found the fight we wanted and did not just blame MGP. We saw that the partnership between players and producer failed.

Mind Game Productions is taking responsibility for their failures and short coming with Op Sovereign Fury. They had such high hopes and aspirations that anything but the most amazing event possible would be a disappointment. What happened I'm sure was just devastating for a production company that was really looking to push the milsim envelope. The stage was set for players to have a great time. MGP did underestimate its staffing needs, it overestimated its preparedness to maintain good game flow, and had great ideas implemented badly. They will take these lessons and hopefully grow from them as they move forward into future ops.

I want to know when the event players will take responsibility for their failures and short comings. There was a real inability by many to fight in a command structure. There was a lack of preparation by many to go for 30 hours of game play. Players forgot that events like this are a partnership between them and the production company. Yes, you are a customer and deserve your money worth. But, a game producer cannot control how the man to your left and right will act. Players have to be prepared and committed to the full length of the op. Players have to be ready to adapt and help get the event back on track.

As I've said before, the success or failure of an op does not fall squarely on the shoulders of an event producer. Players have to be more than customers demanding perfection. Pouting and checking out is just as bad a problem as the event producer's mistakes. Those that stayed to the end took those lemons and made lemonade. Making the experience enjoyable even with all its short comings became the mission of those unwilling to quit out of frustration. You define your experience at any national event with the attitude you bring and how you handle the adversity of the weekend.

To be completely honest, if you checked out before hour 30 you just gave up on a chance to salvage a potentially amazing event. Guys that stayed worked with MGP to get things moving the best they could. We stayed and decided to get our money's worth rather than complain. Mind Game Productions bit off more than it could chew this year with Operation Sovereign Fury. No one can deny that fact, but a lot of players did too. As long as players only see themselves as customers that need everything perfectly laid out and satisfied on all fronts for them, then there will be no margin for error. National events need to become a partnership in which players put all their chips in the game just like the event producer does. This lopsided expectation of game producers without players needing to keep up their end is what is wrong with the game right now.

I had an amazing time at Operation Sovereign Fury. I gave Mind Game Productions my input over the weekend and I am 100% ready to give Op Sovereign Fury 2 my support next year. I know they will take the harsh lessons of this last weekend and strive to do even better. I can only hope that the players reflect on their failures, too and decide to change how they see their place in a large event like this. I was a paying customer, but I was more importantly a partner in the success and or failure of this event; just like all players that sign up are.

Just one grunt's opinion

Javier "Darkhorse"

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About The Author

Javier "Darkhorse" Franco, formerly from This Week In Airsoft, runs his own Airsoft Blog on Facebook called "One Grunt's Opinion." This article has been posted here with the author's permission.

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Photo Credits:

Please like the Facebook Pages of the following whose photos were shown here and they have more awesome photos of Operation Sovereign Fury by clicking on the links below:

• Greg "Spartan117gw" Wong
• ZShot.com
• Spears Milsim