Operation White Tiger 2 was the second public Mjolnir Gelsim event. It took place on Saturday 15 June 24 at Buccas Outpost near Dalby.

This blog post will operate a little differently from our last wash up. It’ll cover some general points from the day, your feedback to us and how we want to improve our events in future.

First of all, we would like to thank all players, staff members, sponsors and all others that have been involved in the planning and execution of Operation White Tiger 2. This was by far an improvement in our eyes on White Tiger 1 and we want to thank all of you for putting your faith in us and supporting us so we can run these events.

Now… we need to address some proverbial elephants in the room.

ELEPHANT 1 - PLAYER ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOUR

To start this section off, I’m going to quote a couple of things:

“Golden Rule
Whenever in doubt about how to act or behave in any situation not specifically mentioned within this SOP, always use your best judgment to keep within the spirit of the event. Don’t “game” the event, go with the flow and enjoy the experience.
Disrespect of the staff or other participants will not be tolerated. Participants found cheating or disrespecting the staff and other participants will be ejected from the event without a refund.
Participants who attempt to steal, cause bodily harm, or break any other laws will be reported to local police.” - MJOLNIR GELSIM SOP, Page 6.

“Calling Your Hits
Gelball is a hobby of integrity. Call your own hits. Never call opposing participants hits. If you have an issue with a participant/participants, speak to Mjolnir event staff and they will sort it out.” - MJOLNIR GELSIM SOP, Page 24

“Attitude and Behaviour.
You are adults. Act like it. You may be given jobs you don’t like or don’t want to do but unfortunately this is a MILSIM, some jobs have to be done and someone has to do it. If your attitude and behavior is poor, we will not hesitate to remove you from the field and send you home without a refund. Continuing with attitude, if you get hit, call it. If you think you hit someone, don’t yell and scream and carry on telling them to call it. If you think you’re hitting someone and they aren’t calling it, take it up with your Faction Commander. They will then contact staff and monitor the situation.” - What To Expect - Operation White Tiger 2

The actions and attitudes of some players were not up to standard. There were numerous occasions on BOTH sides of players not calling their hits, either not understanding or completely disobeying the rules as per the SOP, yelling and screaming at opposing players to call hits to act by the rules and in one case, an alleged assault occurred.

This is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated moving forward.

Players not calling hits - This is simple. Call your hits. If you don’t think it would actually do any damage in real life, I don’t care. If this was real life, most of you would have died without even seeing the enemy because your ability to move through the bush and not make noise is not up to a military standard. It’s that simple. We understand that it may take two or three shots to register that you have been hit (this is still not an excuse); however, if you know you’re hit and you keep going, you will take no further part in our events moving forward.
Misunderstanding or disobeying rules - This is unacceptable. The rules for this event were released when the tickets were. There was also a safety brief that went over the rules prior to the event. Players had ample opportunity to ask questions and clarify points if they weren’t sure. This links into my next point.
Yelling and screaming at opposing players - Again, this happened on both sides and is totally unacceptable. You are adults. We all go out on the weekend and shoot hydrated gels at each other for funsies. This is not life or death. Something to note as well is that cover and concealment is one and the same when it comes to gel ball. Rounds do not penetrate thin objects and easily bounce off the natural environment, therefore the perception of hitting someone may not be reality. If you don’t like the conduct of players, shoot it through the chain of command and it will be dealt with, it is not up to you. In some cases, the rules being shouted across the field were incorrect anyway (death from mortar could not be mediced. It can, with water only). I am extremely disappointed with the sheer amount this occurred, especially from people who know better.
The alleged assault - What the fuck. Seriously? If we were made aware of this on the day and it was corroborated, the police would have been involved and life bans given. If this does ever happen to anyone, make the admin staff aware immediately. We will not tolerate this behavior. If you ever decide to touch someone in an aggressive manner at one of our events, you will never take part in a Mjolnir Gelsim event again.

It’s particularly disappointing that this has occurred during the event. These events are not about winning or losing. We want to treat everyone like an adult and allow them to operate in a MILSIM environment where they can practice their TTPs and get into some gun battles with the enemy. However it’s looking more and more like we will have to step in and further control you and the way you move around and engage on the field. That requires more people on the admin team, which then takes players away from the game. If you noticed, there was a contingent of about 10 players from 1-2 on the field playing for BLUFOR during the event. If we go down this path, none of those players get to play and enjoy the event. They have to be stuck babysitting you and making sure you do the right thing. I am sure that nobody wants that.

ELEPHANT 2 - THE FEEDBACK FORM

The feedback form is an opportunity for you, the players, to tell us how we ran our event and how we can improve it in future. It is not a vessel for you to bitch, whinge and moan about other players during the event. While the majority of the feedback was positive and constructive, there were several submissions that decided it was a better idea to whinge about other players' conduct than actually giving us meaningful feedback so we can improve and create a better product for you. Newsflash, we can’t control player behavior, we can only enforce our rules as they’re written when we receive complaints through the proper admin channels.

I’m going to be honest, the feedback that was given by the players who decided to use the form as a venting portal has been totally discarded and will not be used at all.

Alright now with that out of the way, I want to again stress that the vast majority of players operated within the rules and the spirit of the event. We thank you all for making it an enjoyable and memoral event for us host.

THE STORY

ODIN entered the Buccas region to dismantle and destroy the ESS presence and their drug making capability. They underestimated the capability and equipment that ESS had at their disposal as they soon realised that this was the main area where they stored their supply of Fentanyl.

Upon moving into the AO from the north and sending out patrols to route out ESS caches, they were quickly engaged by multiple hit and run style attacks. These attacks were designed to draw them into ambushes and decimate their strength.

Major engagements occurred at “The Outpost” and “The Petroleum Station”. At the Outpost, two ODIN elements attempted to pincer the objective. One team came from the west while the other looped around and approached from the south. While the team from the west drew out the ESS forces and brought them into a firefight, the team from the south attempted to storm the objective. They met moderate resistance and started clearing through before being engaged by an ESS element left in reserve that were out of sight just to the east of the objective. This small element completely decimated the ODIN attack and both ODIN teams were wiped out.

At the Petroleum Station, ODIN met resistance but quickly cleared through the objective and secured it for a coming arms deal. Later, a shady dealer came through the Petroleum Station checkpoint and met with some operatives from the LSF. It is unknown what was exchanged however the deal was quickly interrupted when mortar fire came raining down into the location from a nearby ESS battery. This was then followed by an ESS assault on the Petroleum station which was easily beaten back by the full might of the ODIN force. A few ODIN elements attempted to chase the ESS assaulters into the bush however they quickly split and were lost into the scrub of Buccas.

Mortar fire continued onto the Petroleum station and ODIN made the decision to abandon the area head back to their staging area. From here they hatched a plan to clear several key points and attempt to take “Ghost Gum Gully”. During this time, ESS were fortifying their strongpoints and preparing for an assault from any location. As ODIN began patrolling towards Ghost Gum with a platoon strength, a separate element moved off to exploit known ESS cache locations. ODIN quickly encountered ESS forces approximately 80 metres north of Ghost Gum and were under fire almost immediately. They attempted to push forward into fortified enemy positions, with one element taking an ESS trench, however the ESS forces in location were too strong.

After eliminating the caches to the east, the second ODIN element began an assault on Ghost Gum but met the same fate as the first. They attempted a fighting withdrawal as more ODIN elements attempted to reinforce them, buoyed with the support of the LSF operatives who were mortared during the arms deal gone wrong. However this was not enough as reinforcements didn’t arrive in time and when they did, they were destroyed by the remaining ESS forces.

After receiving intelligence that ESS were pulling out of Ghost Gum to prepare themselves for the night phase, ODIN reorganized and conducted another assault. With the support of the mobile LSF vehicle, they sent an element to assault from the north and a smaller team to be transported by the vehicle to attack from the west. This assault finally removed the ESS presence from Ghost Gum and allowed ODIN to fortify and prepare themselves for a night assault from the ESS.

Reinforced and prepared to assault, the entire ESS force made their way back to Ghost Gum and began their assault. ODIN, being decimated from the days fighting, held onto Ghost Gum for as long as they could. The ESS seemingly had a night fighting advantage which ODIN were not aware of and, after a long firefight in the dark, overrun and destroyed the ODIN forces in Buccas, save for some stragglers who escaped to report the events to their higher command.

ODIN have been routed, their plans thwarted by a mobile, dug in and prepared ESS force, but questions remain. Who was leading them with these advanced military battle tactics? Where did they get their night fighting equipment from? Who supplied them their superior weapons and ammunition? How was their training up to such a high standard? Only further investigation and intelligence will find out.

WHAT WE WANT TO SEE MOVING FORWARD

As a company, we want to enable and enhance the skills of our players to become better and more self sustainable on the field so they don’t need to take breaks throughout the day to retrieve equipment etc. Little things like spare blasters, clear eye protection and others that generally get left behind will need to be brought out. The idea of the safe zone will very quickly cease to exist.

That being said, we also want players to take equipment into the field that makes sense. We don’t want to see players lugging random duffle bags, eskys and other bits of equipment that doesn’t make sense to take into the field. We want to see more people carrying field packs that they are able to take in and take out, not rely on admin vehicles to move equipment around for them. Moving forward this will not be happening as our events progress.

We’d like to see people’s equipment refined to the essentials. Not having pouches hanging off plate carriers or chest rigs, making sure everything that is required is easily accessible and being able to quickly break down kit to be mobile in the field. We’ll bring out content on our website and our affiliate 1-2’s YouTube channel.

Some more pre-event organisation between players. We get that some players were linked in with each other and they hadn’t met before. While we try to keep people with their friends, the way these events go, people will inevitably have to end up playing with people that they don’t know. We had channels set up in the Discord specifically so teams could coordinate with each other, most of which were not used. We’d like to see players actively using these channels so everyone remains in the loop about your coordination.

We talked about “The Spirit of MILSIM” a lot during the check-in process. To us that means that not only do you act according to the brief that you’ve been given for the event, that you look the part as well. We went around and had discussions with a few people about items of clothing that they were going to take into the field and if it was appropriate or not. This also links back to kit set up and not only what you take into the field to sustain yourself but how you bring it in as well. We will be leaning into this more for future events.

Finally just some small bits and pieces relating to our rules. Things like people bringing out drum mags for their rifles, kit checks not being fully completed because people didn’t bring everything with them etc. This will be cracked down on for future events to ensure compliance with the SOP.

WHAT WE WERE IMPRESSED WITH

This skill level and organisation of most teams were a vast improvement compared to White Tiger 1. Teams reacted to contact much quicker and were far more coordinated than previously. There was instantaneous response to command from Section and Platoon Commanders and effective movement and response to contact. There is always room for improvement and we look forward to seeing it moving forward. If teams want to continue to develop their Section level tactics and personally develop their own skills, we highly recommend attending The Milsim Collective training events. The next event is being run in September this year and is a fantastic tool for training in a bush environment.

A special shoutout needs to go to TDK and Hunter from the BLUFOR side. They acted as a reconnaissance team for ODIN and provided detailed reports to BLUFOR command about ESS cache locations and troop disposition. They took photos of all the caches they found and pointed them out for ODIN to hunt and destroy. This created actionable intelligence for ODIN utilise and organic objectives that weren’t created by admin staff. So once again, awesome effort by those two, this is exactly what we want to see moving forward.

YOUR FEEDBACK TO US

As of writing, we have received 19 feedback responses. We first want to thank all those who took time to fill out the form and give us specific and constructive feedback. We value this greatly as you are the ones who participate in these events so we want to present the best possible product for you to enjoy.

Regarding pre-event, here are our main takeaways:

Everyone was provided with an adequate amount of information prior to arriving
The vast majority found the check in process to be smooth and professional
The vast majority found the campsite atmosphere and access to facilities to be positive
Breakfast call in the morning was not heard for some
Consider having portable showers for the campsite
Requesting admins to walk around and conduct kit checks rather than having a central location

We are looking at investing in a megaphone or loudspeaker to ensure that all calls are heard by all participants. Camp showers are something we will consider depending on the cost to the event. The check in area is designed so that participants could go straight from being checked in, to their kit check, to the chronograph station all in one smooth motion, we are still looking at refining it further to make it as smooth as possible.

During the event, our main takeaways are:

You are happy for GREENFOR/NPCs are able to change their appearance and role play as different characters throughout the event.
The 17+ age cut off is appropriate given the themes of the event
There was adequate rest throughout the event
Would like to see more balance between the teams
The drug caches and objectives weren’t really encountered by the majority of either side
Would like to see more LARP elements related to the story
Most would have enjoyed if there were more vehicles involved
All enjoy the medic rules but would like to see more clarity around them
Would like to see events extended to incorporate a more meaningful night phase
Would like to see more elements such as pyro, UAS, props, noisemakers etc.
The vast majority believed this event was run in “The Spirit of MILSIM”

Regarding LARP/GREENFOR/NPCs, we’re currently looking into how to better implement these in future. Whether or not we even have a GREENFOR faction for future events is still up for debate. We’re trying to simulate two forces going head to head with each other on the battlefield and some decisions need to be made on how we do that moving forward.

Balance and the way GREENFOR was implemented was done for very specific reasons. Early on we identified that BLUFOR had greater numbers (about 15 more participants) however, the groups that had registered and bought tickets for REDFOR were far more experienced in terms of working together and for MILSIM as a whole. There were several discussions around the best way to move forward with the numbers imbalance. Once we were on the ground and the day started, it was identified that what we expected to happen was happening. REDFOR was more experienced and were defeating BLUFOR in several engagements throughout the morning, this is why the decision was made to affiliate GREENFOR with BLUFOR. Again, as above, we are looking at how best to implement this all in future events and discussions are being had about how we balance these events as well.

We put our hands up and admit our communication to the REDFOR commanders was not the best regarding our intentions for the caches and drug stashes. We have identified where we went wrong and are working to fix this for future events.
The medic rules were a big point of contention on the day (see further up in this very long blog post). Our issue is the fact these rules have not changed since White Tiger 1 and therefore have been available for over 12 months. These rules were also covered in the safety brief, however key definitions were missed when giving the brief which may have led to some confusion. If in doubt, check the SOP as that covers every aspect of the medic rules.
We are actively working with our partners to incorporate more meaningful asset use for our events. This includes pyro, UAS used as a supporting ISR and offensive asset and more. We want to continue to enhance these events for your enjoyment. This includes making changes to our rules and events to add a more meaningful night phase.

HOW WE WANT TO IMPROVE

A couple of things that we’re doing behind the scenes to help improve the overall experience are:

Moving our ticketing system in house and making the process of buying tickets easier with more clarity
Working to create sponsorship agreements with our partners to provide more funding for us and more resources for you
Changing up the way we do orders pre-event to bring it more in line with current military standards
Investing in our check in process to make it easy and smooth, allocating parking areas so people who participate together in sections get to park and camp together
Making sure we look the part, more branding, cam nets and other items to make sure the atmosphere matches the vibe
Looking at addressing the radio frequencies to attempt to prevent comms bleeding
Exploring different game start times to incorporate night phases and more immersive environments
We are going to further expand our website to include more clarity on our mission as a company is and how we are trying to achieve it
Exploring locations closer to Brisbane to create a unique and new game area
Bring out more content to help participants set up their gear, organise their equipment and command their sections

On a personal note, I’d quickly like to again thank everyone who made this possible. I put a lot of time and effort into the planning and execution of this event. For context, I deployed overseas twice during the planning process and I also have significant other commitments outside of the Gel Ball and Mjolnir Gelsim. So I’d like to thank Braydon, Dan, Josh, Lachie, Matt, Marauders Milsim (Ryan and Rhodesy), Urban Gelball, Blacksite Gelball, Buccas Outpost (Marty and Sam) and all those that volunteered to help (Tim, Emma, Steve, Anthony, Dylan and Ethan). This event could not have happened without your support and help. I also want to thank all the participants who came to the event and supported us, plus all those who are in our Discord and are actively building this community. We want to make this something great, and it doesn’t start unless you are involved.

But for now, I’m going to sit back, take a break and not think about Gel Ball for a month and a half while I recover before we start planning for…

OPERATION WHITE TIGER III - THE FINAL CONFLICT

COMING 2025

- Ben

The Wash Up - Operation White Tiger 2