Snow dusted the ground outside of cinderblock factory building in Lindhurst, New York. Obscured by a coating of frost was a rough, hand-painted sign which read Modern Air Strike. Temperatures all week were well below freezing and this morning topped in 18º F as the players trickled in.

Operation: Early Dawn was a 3 hour-long CQB scenario game written by Moondog, inspired by the Second Battle of Fallujah which took place in Iraq in 2004. OP:ED would be a dry-run for new MilSim hit and respawn rules to be used in OP: Second Dawn and The Tantalum Contract. Hits would not be immediately fatal depending on the player's body armor and where the BB hit a player's body.

A new MilSim medic rule was also introduced. The team's Medic would not magically heal a player as in most airsoft game. Instead, when a player was "hit" they would be forced to "bleed out" and wait in place until the team's medic could treat them by tying their red rag around the their wrist. Only when treated, could the player return to respawn and rejoin the game as a "reinforcement".

To familiarize the players with Moondog's new MilSim rules, the first game was a short team elimination game. Winning the round, the Green team got to choose to play SECFOR for the first half of the game. Ironically the Tan team which would play as OPFOR insurgents was lead by a member of 3rd Battalion/1st Marines, which took part of the combined assault on Fallujah in 2004.

The field was split into 4 sectors. SECFOR had to clear each sector of OPFOR players before they could proceed across the phase line to clear the next sector. OPFOR players got 1 life per sector and after they were killed would vacate the sector and respawn in the next, in a delaying action against the unlimited respawns of the SECFOR assault.

The tan team proved fierce defenders. They were able to set up a few IEDs using tripwire and snap firecrackers but these took out as many of their own as the enemy. A lesson in the importance of having clearly identified booby trap zones and keeping away from them as a defender.

SECFOR was unable to clean out the 4th and final sector for the scenario ended after nearly 30 minutes of non-stop action. After a 15 pause to reload the set up more IEDs, the scenario was run again with tan team playing SECFOR this time. Though they were given less time to complete the scenario due to the end of the private skirmish time in the arena, they were able to nearly match the green team's performance, though they too were unable to completely clear the last sector.

After the private session ended at 11:30am, those that could stay either joined Moondog for the 3-Gun Competition, while the rest joined the field's regular walk-on skirmish games.

The competitors set up in the Ricochet room next to the arena.

The 3-Gun was an IDPA style course with steel plate targets. The shooters would be timed on their ability to complete the course, hitting all of the targets. The 3 shortest times winning the top 3 places in the competition and prizes supplied by Evike.com.

Each shooter engaged 3 different sets of targets from 3 different shooting positions, utilizing a different type of gun at each position (rifle, shotgun and pistol.) Furthermore, each player would be required to shoot from an unexposed position, maintaining cover for over 50% of their bodies. After all the players each completed their runs, the staff were given a chance to run the course, though their times would not be counted.

Some of the shooters comprised a wide range of experience levels. For a few the event was their first airsoft game. All completed the course except for Wulf who's borrowed pistol ran out of gas. He still made a valiant attempt at taking out at least one of the last targets with his rubber knife.

COMPETITION RESULTS

1st Place: Phridum 00:33.29
2nd Place: Donald 00:36.06
3rd Place: AussieMikey 00:42.50

COURSE TIMES

LC: 1:18.18
Xiaohou: 0:55.47
Rosales: 1:09.91
Aussie Mikey: 00:42.50
Donald 00:36.06
Phridum 00:33.29
Russian: 00:48.75
Chris: 00:48.74
AussieMikey 00:42.50
*Wulf: DQ
*Moondog: 00:26.75
*Redbull: 00:31:07

*Staff

MOONDOG's ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Evike for sponsoring the event and supplying the players with swag and prizes. Modern Air Strike's owner, Don, was exceptionally helpful and accommodating and I highly recommend any serious airsoft player check out MAS, which is now the closest airsoft field to New York City. I'd also like to thank Phridum of Airsoft Commando, for sharing his first hand experience from serving in Iraq, which helped me devise the scenarios and rules for this game.

Finally I'd like to recognize all the players who braved the bitter cold and came out this Saturday and to my friends who staffed and assisted in this event. Among them, I'd like to single out Wulf who presented a gift of a programmable radio to me on behalf of the players and NYC Airsoft staff. I'm not sure who else may have pooled in for buying the radio but I'd like to thank everybody who did.

About the author:

 Moondog is the founder of Moondog Industries and New York's definitive guide to airsoft: NYCAirsoft.