Equipment and Lessons Learned

This will be my first time at Fulda (and Michael's too). I'm wondering if you guys have any lessons learned regarding equipment and gear before I make a fool of myself out there.

I'm aware October can still be hot out there. Is my Interceptor vest system going to be a problem with heat? I also imagine that water and hydration packs are a must.

Any problems with gear catching on bushes/shrubs/etc? Did you find adding ammo-laden magazine pouches and packs helped with convenience, or were they more of a hinderance?

How about the equipment. Did everyone have dead batteries by the end? How much ammo did you all burn through? This will help me judge how much BBs to buy, as well as what type of abuse the guns will be put through.

I am almost sure I'll be skipping the camping and going to a local hotel, not just for my sake but to get batteries charged and all. You are welcome to charge batteries at my room. If anyone wants to split hotel as well that's cool.

At the last op I went to, I carried a backpack full of BBs, a propane tank, snacks, and carried my normal gear and my G3 and secondary. My shoulders were about to fall off at the end of the day.

I ask for the wisdom of those who braved the game before me.

I am wearing a lighter chest rig this year! Too much around torso results in being top heavy....not good when running down hill (Zac you know what I'm talking about).

Having two batteries for the day is reasonable. I burnt through mine and was lucky that drew had a loaner. In the evening we recharge off our vehicles with battery chargers.

Ammo can be plentiful if you bring it. Our starting spawn point is rehydration/snack/ammo depot break spot. Our CO's allow for eating, drinking, and reloading unless things get crazy and we are needed!

Biggest thing!...although hot during the day....it gets very cold at night! So bring appropriate sleep attire and campfire clothing.

Lookin' forward to another Fulda gentleman! Nuke Alpha!

Buy a chest rig, straight up your body will thank you. There will be tons of running have good footwear.

Honestly you're wasting money if you go to a hotel just to charge the batteries. Part of the enjoyment of the trip was camping out and just hanging out. I have an inverter if you need to charge batteries. I also believe others did as well. I wore a CIRAS with a hydro-back pack attached to the back, although it is kind of heavy I had no problems during the day with it. I'll be using it again this year as well. I had my main gun and backup gun and 2 batteries, plenty of BB's, nothing failed on me luckily. Brought plenty of chow and clothing, personally I over packed not knowing what to and not to bring. Camping was pretty standard, Tom brought a tent and I had at least a sleeping mat, can't remember if he did or not. It did get extremely cold at night so do prepare for that. Can't think of much else to add.

Yea last year we debated getting a hotel but decided against it and ended up using Sean and my chargers hooked up to greg and my cars to recharge most batteries. I went through less than two batteries in one day so after recharge that was all I needed. I also carried a bag of bbs with me in a pack to reload with and only ran out once on Saturday and had to go back ti the car for another bag.

As far as clothing I think my favorite piece was the jacket I brought for morning and evening. Before the sin cam fully up or after it went down it made everything better. Camo easier than comfortable during the day and almost to hot during the afternoon.

Sleeping bag is a must, probably one that is at least rated for cold weather.

I carried a hydro pack on my back, but I saw lots running around with canteens (1-2 of them) or the 32 ounce bottles. I prefer the hydro pack. Warm clothes for the night and then lighter, cooler clothes for during the day.

I only carried ammo in my high caps and carried a speed loader for the mid caps that I had. however, I barely used my mid caps and only fired on semi auto unless I needed a burst. Will be carrying 8 high caps this year for my M4 series guns.

I also plan on having the same style guns to provide me with easier swapping between weapons if one goes down or a battery dies. Just walk back and pick up the next gun.

Bring lots of food.

Bring a few changes of socks. Trust me.

I tried the canteen last year. Didn't like it. IMO Hydration pack is a must simply because it's easier to use and thus will encourage you to drink more water. Dehydration is a major major major threat, take precautions against it.

Wear a light and comfortable rig. Mine last year was belt based and it sucked (no Y straps though so, my fault).

I didn't really shoot a whole lot last year. I think I bought 2 bags of Bioshots and burned through 1.5 of them. It really depends on what you plan on doing. I'll probably have 6-7 midcaps on me and 2 hicaps just in case. Last year I carried 6 mids, but I think twice I caught myself speedloading in the heat of battle. I think I ate 1 power bar during the game, then a bunch of ramen at night.

They may give some out again, but bring a dead rag. With so many people running around they help a lot.

As Gavin and I ventured through Walmart today I discovered that sub-freezing temperature sleeping bags are only 20 bucks. Ones that keep you warn in 40 degree weather are only 15. And they have 2 person tents that only cost 20 bucks. By Fulda I plan on having a tent for myself and my gear as well as the big pup-tent used at tailgating just so that we can have a covered area that we can stand in. I can't stress enough having your own sleeping bag, pillow and possibly even your own tent.

I used a walmart sleeping bag worked great

Well, call me a pansy if you must, I really really really loathe camping. I wouldn't get the room just to charge batteries, haha.

I'm going to run my M249, and if I haven't sold it, the SCAR as a backup. I imagine I'll be called upon to supress fire a lot, or I'll be trigger happy and unload bags. May need to bring moar ammos. o_0 And I'll bring a funnel to keep feeding my box mags.

Kk, hydro pack is a must. And it seems my Interceptor is overkill. I'll look into lighter rigs or vests. The interceptor's girth to fit good old Max was far too large for my build anyways.

Got my tan combat boots. Comfortable for all day. Socks socks socks, got it.

One does not simply expect guns to work...

This is airsoft, we know how this works. I would absolutely 100% plan to bring a backup...or two. 13 hours of play, anything could happen. I plan on bringing probably 3 or 4 guns in case the proverbial feces hits the proverbial spinning metal blades.

Maaaaaaybe I'll keep my SCAR for a few more months, haha.

I couldn't find this information for sure on NCairsoft. ACU does count as tan, right? I saw only one post on NCairsoft that said tan includes ACU but as expected, they said it's crap camo.

Yes it counts

This may be a stupid question...are there rocks and gravel on the field I can hidez in?

No gravel. Get Multicam for goodness sake. I don't want to be embarrassed with an ACU guy following our high speed crew around...

Anachro12 wrote:No gravel. Get Multicam for goodness sake. I don't want to be embarrassed with an ACU guy following our high speed crew around...

^This. Except I am serious. Dude... ITS ACU! Even the army doesn't want it.

After my internship this summer I'm planning to put my ACU gear on sale on ASF to see if it will help my transition. My main apprehension is switching my entire loadout to multicam and killing my wallet. I know I should though lol

You come talk to me ill get you right for cheap

DCU's are cheap as well. If you have to get a full multicam setup get the rig and such first. You can always just get a cheap set of dCUs last minute. (I mean I got mine the week before...seriously). I will probably run 1 day (most likely saturday) in multicam and then switch on sunday to DCU.

Point being wear ANYTHING that isnt ACU. OK?

If you wear ACUs you'll be designated cannon fodder decoy distraction unit...

Also, you can get full Multicam for $100...maybe cheaper if you go eBay. I just bought a USGI official multicam combat shirt for $40. And you're replacing the interceptor rig now, might as well tan-up like the rest of us!

I second the lots of food, socks, warm clothing for evening, and light rig. I suggest packing relatively light (not chem sticks, plastic cuffs, tools, uber legit but functionless kit items, etc.) at least two batteries, ammo, water, food, and ammo.

and yes, even realtree would be better than the acu. sorry bro.

Another suggestion:

Bring two different bags/packs. One bag/pack for helping to hump all your assorted gear and supplies to the staging area, and then a second smaller, more manageable pack for carrying things you need in battle, i.e. water, spare BB's, snacks, green gas/propane, etc.

You don't want to be torn between carrying no backpack and a giant ass "too big" backpack.

While that is an excellent suggestion slice, Im not entirely sure two packs are necessary. Personally, last year I was quite capable of carrying all necessary stuff to play on my person. Which included 4 speed loaders (that was overkill), a 3.1 liter camelbak, 3 extra batteries, a small first aid kit, MRE, a bag of 5k bbs, and all my mags. While it was a little heavy since i was running a simple kit (chicom and simple belt rig) it didn realy seem like the gear was all that heavy nor was it necessary to have a second bag of stuff at respawn.

Then again after carrying all that stuff for two days I was dead tired for the next three days.

Like I said earlier, I was fine all game with everything in my CIRAS. I'll probably be carrying more since I'll need grenades with my M203. IE propane tank, and over9000 grenades.

I think I wasn't 100% clear. The other bigger bag is for transporting shit from car to staging area, and basically to keep all your gear in one easy location that isn't for playing; i.e. this will hold change of clothes, sleeping bag, etc.