A Wars Newsletter?

Topics about water war tactics, water war planning, and past water war stories.
Belisaurius
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Post by Belisaurius » Sun Sep 19, 2004 4:58 pm

Would you guys be interested in a warfare newsletter? There would be one a month, I guess, maybe 1 every 2 months in the off season. each issue could highlight tactics or points about running or maintaining a squad, and weapons suggestions and like a scenario of the month. We could put warstories from different teams in and links to good resources. Would anyone be interested in working on/subscribing to something like this?

My email in nick[at]mayr.com, if you would like to email me about this. my AIM is yhrght359

If there is enough interest, the first newsletter could go out sometime in October. At first it would probably be just like a regular email only full of articles and ideas from other soakists, but perhaps after a few isses we could make actual like word documents or something of the sort.

If you would like to submit materials for a newsletter please email them to me. Full credit will be given. Spelling may be edited but otherwise it's going to stay the way you wrote it. we'd probably need another person to help edit, but this doesn't need to be massive right now.

What do you all think?
Victory to Unit 1!

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RacerSoaker445
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Post by RacerSoaker445 » Sun Sep 19, 2004 4:59 pm

Any need for Tech articles? I'm in if there was a need for it, and I think Doom would bite this idea too.
I don't check this forum anymore.

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Crashdummy
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Post by Crashdummy » Sun Sep 19, 2004 5:12 pm

Seems like a good idea. I guess I could add something every now and then. ^_^

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SSCBen
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Post by SSCBen » Sun Sep 19, 2004 5:52 pm

Yeah, I could probably submit a thing or two every once and a while. I've got lots of ideas that could go into a newsletter.

War Admiral
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Post by War Admiral » Mon Sep 20, 2004 12:28 am

Id submit some tactical scenarios and equipment stuff(like making flashlights or something)
It is the old who declare war but it is the youth who die for it.
-Herbert Hoover

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SSCBen
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Post by SSCBen » Mon Sep 20, 2004 9:57 am

Beli, if you need any help or anything, catch me on AIM. I'd be glad to help you get something set up. I'm pinning this topic for now, if you make a new one with links to a site/ect., I'll unpin this and pin that.

Belisaurius
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Post by Belisaurius » Tue Sep 21, 2004 2:17 am

I've been think about the layout of the first newsletter, and I think it would probably have:

1) Introduction - what we're trying to do, contact onformation, that kind of stuff.
2) A tactical scenario, which people could then respond to via email and their responses plus a critique perhaps could be incorporated into the next issue
3) Article
4) Article
5) Whats new in the saoakge community/tech article
6) Website to feature
7) Water war Squads and contact info
8) Links resource

the contact information and links resource would be standard. everything else would vary.
If you would be willing to submit team contact data, or if you think your website should be considered for the featured website section, or would like to have a link posted, please post or email or pm or IM!

As standard links I'd like to put up ssc, isc, and my site. ssc and isc are the biggest communites, and I'm making the newsletter so mine is default. none of these sites can be featured, and once a site is featured it cannot be featured until I've featured all the other websites.

thank you all for your offers for help: I can definately use them. all credit will go to whoever wrote the article. let me know if you have a problem with other people using the article (so long as you get credit, of course) and I will make sure that that is added into the newsletter. I have some stuff worked out for the first edition but don't expect anything fancy (yet)

thanks everyone for the offers to help: pm me or email me anything you want to add (so there isn't any early exposure hehehe)

**edit** Any name suggestions? And scenarios would have a drawing of the area being discussed, to help you develop solutions
Victory to Unit 1!

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SSCBen
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Post by SSCBen » Tue Sep 21, 2004 10:01 am

I'll PM you an article later today, I'll write one up.

Belisaurius
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Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2004 1:00 pm

Post by Belisaurius » Wed Sep 22, 2004 3:02 am

awesome! I'm going to begin to write some of the parts to the newsletter, and I think I have the featured site in mind.... considering no one has suggested anything, I hope this person will let us highlight their site! I don't think they will have objections.

I still need a name for the newsletter. maybe like, the hydrolic times or something like that. sounds fine to me. I'm working on an article about mobility with some tech suggestions. based off the recent cfm-waterbridge war, I have some new ideas and useful things to add that will hopefully be useful to other teams.

thanks so much for the support, and thanks in advance for the article doom!
Victory to Unit 1!

Belisaurius
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Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2004 1:00 pm

Post by Belisaurius » Sat Oct 16, 2004 4:21 am

The Hydrolic Times
October Edition


Contents:

I. Introduction
II. Soakology.net – A Critique by Belisaurius
III. The Benefits of a Mobile HQ – By Veteran
IV: Guerrila Free For All: Caches – By Veteran
V. Combat Calls and Battle Scenarios – By Belisaurius
VI. The Importance of Lacrosse-Wielding Grenadiers – By Belisaurius
VII. Part 1 of the 4th War of Waterbridge – By Guderian
VIII. Links Network
IX. Squad Contact Information

I. Introduction:

Hey! This is the first edition of what will (hopefully) become a rather successful inter-community water war newsletter. In this first issue, there really isn’t too much that is new. No flashy layout (yet). Still, there are some scenarios and things like that which I hope will be helpful and fun to read!

This issue is the first in what will hopefully be 1 every 2 months until March, when I’ll hopefully start making one a month for the 05’ season. I initially wanted to email this newsletter, but because no one has contacted me about emails I figured maybe this one should be posted, to give people an idea of what the follow up newsletters will be like.
One of the things that excited me about this newsletter is the Combat Calls and Battle Scenarios section. I really think that some of the stuff I put together there will be really helpful and fun for everyone. These involve multiple choice command decisions and planning battle scenarios. Hopefully people will reply to me about the scenarios over email, so that everyone can compare solutions in the following newsletter and see what our fellow soakists would do. Unfortunately I am rather untalented when It comes to narratives, so at least until I manage to get the style down, they may not be the most amazing scenarios in the universe.

Thanks to Veteran, there are some cool ideas in this edition, although everyone else has been rather bad about submitting stuff… (Hey, that's funny. it’s not that big a deal, I know you are all busy people…) Depending on the level of interest, we may actually attempt to create hardcopies, but I want to have a lot more information available before I go ahead with that idea, proposed by BlueSmudge. Until then, we have a lot of work to do. This is the first issue, after all. Please, send me submissions and suggestions! Support the network!

Well, enough babble. Have fun, and PLEASE EMAIL ME: nick[at]mayr.com. All material in this newsletter is property of the author for that item. DO NOT USE MATERIAL WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION.

II. Featured Website: http://www.soakology.net/
By Belisaurius

Note: Each edition I will attempt to focus on a new website or community out there on the network. Ideally, this will help connect the smaller websites to more people, and help get information around the network about new sites or good resources. SSC, ISC, and my own website, Hydrotactics, cannot be highlighted. The goal of this newsletter isn’t to increase the popularity of already well-established communities, but rather to encourage the growth and diversification of the more recent developments. I personally have been to a number of communities who have recently failed, and I know from past experience that webmasters often loose interest after their community fails to get the exposure it desires. Hopefully this newsletter will be a useful resource for getting the word out there.

Soakology.net is a work in progress by Soakologist. Nevertheless, its easy to use layout and simple design make it very easy to get around. Sometime this fall, the complete website will be launched, an event I know I will be looking forward to. The layout vaguely reminds me of folder tabs. The website has an exceedingly easy to use reviews section. I usually don’t read reviews, but the basic setup of the review page encouraged me to take a look.

Although less packed with reviews than SSC or ISC might be, all you need to do is look at the pages to see that there is a lot of great information on the way. Guns are accessible both by pressure and by name, an innovative feature that helps make the reviews more accessible. Comprehensive stats, color pictures, and an analysis of the pros and cons for each soaker make reviews very easy to use.

Of primary interest to me was the advanced section. Considering my almost singular involvement in the wars sections of a community, I am constantly reading on strategies and looking for more information to use in combat. Currently, the Advanced section is mostly empty, but considering the large amount of work going into reviews I am not surprised. Contained in the Advanced section is a glossary of terms, which is a really good idea in my opinion. I remember when I first went to a water war website, some parts were almost incomprehensible (mostly tech), and I still don’t know a lot of the terms used. (Seriously, I’m not kidding.) Some of them are from ISC, but a lot of them are specific to this site.

Overall, I feel that Soakology.net has a very bright future ahead of it, and knowing that Soakologist will be adding more content later this fall, I would like to revisit the site in February or March perhaps to see how things have developed.

- - If you would like to have your site featured, email me (Belisaurius) at nick[at]mayr.com


III. The Benefits of a Mobile HQ
By Veteran

Once one has experienced multiple wars using a stationary base or headquarters, one finds not only that your possibilities and strategies are limited, but also that it creates the potential for being pinned down. One of the best ways to keep your enemies guessing is to have a mobile HQ.

There are many ways to go about making a portable HQ. The easiest would be to just carry your team’s water supply and armory with you to a new location. This however does not allow for the cover of a fortified base. Another type of portable HQ would be a tarp "tipi" type structure. All you would have to do is go to your local hardware store and find some poles 5-10 feet high, plus a large tarp. If you don’t want to expend materials on a portable base but still want cover, find some old chairs or tables and turn them over sideways for bunkers.

Remember; always have one or more people at your base at all times. The enemy, because it is so easily disassembled, can take down a mobile HQ, quickly if left unmanned.


IV. Guerrilla Free for All: Caches
By Veteran

Number of People: Any

Duration: Any amount but have a designated end time

Area Required: Urban area with non-busy streets, forested area.

Special Equipment: 10-30 2-liter soda bottles or suitable water holding containers.

Overview:

Before the battle begins, a person who will not be playing fills and hides the bottles in different places on the battlefield.

This type of water war follows normal FFA rules (every man for himself) but has an interesting twist. Except for the water inside player’s guns, no one is given water. To refill players must find the hidden caches of soda bottles. Players will receive 5 minutes to move into the battlefield after which a shout will signal the battle’s beginning.


V. Combat Calls and Battle Scenarios

1. Water Supplies:

After initial success against the opposition, you decided to move deeper into their park. You arrived at a small clearing, with a low ridge to your right and a stream to your left. The path continues along the stream bank and re-enters the forest about 100 ft. ahead of you. Dense brush lines the path on both sides of the clearing, and the entire visible rim is densely vegetated. You can reasonably assume that there is no other access point to this area. The ridge is about 100 ft. to the right of the path. The stream is about 15 feet to the left. For most of it’s length it has step banks, but in this spot the bank slopes down gently enough o allow for easy refilling and quick escape across the stream, which is about 15 feet wide and no more than 3 feet deep in this spot. The far bank has a similar opening a little downstream. Because of brush it is not possible to flank the ridge, although enemy troops could attack along the path.

You move your men forward, a pointman in front, followed by a diamond shaped formation of 6 with a supply cart in the center, followed by 2 rearguards. The pointman and two of the soldiers in your main formation are outfitted like grenadiers, with a lacrosse stick, two waterballoon holders with about 20 water balloons each; your rearguards both have a CPS2100; You personally have a XP270, a liter of extra water, and a water balloon holder with about 20 water balloons; one of the 3 remaining soldiers has a Monster X and the other two have CPS 4100’s. The lacrosse sticks increase range by about 10 feet, but is inaccurate unless the user has experience and is most effective as a terror weapon, which from personal experience I can say that it really manages to do. All 3 of your grenadiers are accustomed to using this weapon as scouts and as suppressing fire in combat. They have a 3 out of 4 chance of accurately hitting a target. Your supply wagon floats, contains around 100 extra water balloons, 2 extra XP270’s, camouflage cloth for caching, 200 feet of rope, scissors, a first aid kit, spare clothing in plastic bags to keep them dry, and 3 liters of extra water. You remember that you are playing 1 hit kills with 3 “lives,” based on dry shirts, and that after a hit the person must change their shirt to re-enter combat. Only DIRECT HITS count. No one on your team has lost a life so far.

Suddenly, when you are about 50 feet across the clearing, a number of water balloons fly up from behind the ridge. They all fall clear of your formation. 7 enemy troops appear on the top of the ridge, and one of them blows a whistle. They have 2 Monster XL’s in position on the flanks of the ridge, with an opponent for each. Along the crest of the ridge, the 5 remaining opponents have arrayed themselves. They are lying belly-down on the ground, using the ridge to protect as much of their bodies from return fire as possible. They have a 4100 in the center, with a 2100 to the right and left. 2 opponents have advanced down the path in front of your formation, one with a XP270 and one with a CPS 2100.

What do you do? Tell me how you will distribute your men to face the attack and whether you would stay and fight or flee, and where you would go if you chose to run. I will write an ending for each solution I receive, reflecting how I think it would turn out and any major issues I think there are with your strategy. I’m also going to write up my own response to the assault and put them all in the next newsletter.

2. Your men have been pursuing the retreating forces of your opponent. Finally, they fall back across a stream about 15 feet across, with steep banks at both sides except in a few well-known fording locations. Although the stream isn’t more than 3 feet deep, the steep banks prevent crossing at any point. You regroup at the ford your opponent has just used, and review the situation. Should you…
a) Send light troops across to secure a foothold on the other bank, and then reinforce the position with your heavier troops. Each group can provide cover fire while the other is crossing.
B) Split into two groups, and send them across two nearby fords. One of them is bound to get across, and then that group can reinforce the other group.
c) Put the majorities of your forces across at another ford, and then use that to catch any enemy waiting in ambush in the rear.
d) Other. Your own brilliant strategy!

Tell me the choice you would make, and why

3. You stand on the top of a low hill and consider the situation. The pathway ahead of you leads into the opponent’s territory. The green foliage on either side provides cover for any enemy troops that may be lying in ambush. Another path enters the park a few feet away from your current position, and is less heavily vegetated, but you do no have any further intelligence on that area. Which path would you choose and how would you deploy your men to enter the enemy territory?

VI. An Analysis of Lacrosse-Wielding Grenadiers

In the 2 battles between Waterbridge and the CFM, we began employing lightly armed Grenadiers. Equipped only with water balloon carriers and lacrosse sticks, these light troops managed to frighten off heavier enemy troops and provide suppression fire for formations and assaults on entrenched enemies. Lacrosse sticks increase the range of water balloons, but they are highly inaccurate without some practice. Their greatest strength is in their capacity to frighten heavier troops into retreating or leaving a formation without causing conflict. I myself faced a CFM grenadier in our wars this past season. At first, even though I knew it was highly inaccurate and that the grenadier was without supporting fire or a sidearm, I was afraid to engage the grenadier. It was only by forcing myself to proceed with an attack that I managed to counter the greatest asset – fear. In addition, they make excellent scouts and rearguards, providing enough of a threat to enemy troops to allow time for heavier units to move into position. The suppression fire they can provide is a great asset when attacking an entrenched position. When the enemy is busy trying to avoid missiles falling from above, he cannot adequately manage to counter the forward momentum of an attack. I strongly suggest including at least one of these type troops in your next war or skirmish, and creating some means for them to carry extra water balloons on their person. With these additions, a grenadier can keep enemy troops on the run while your forces regroup and reposition.

VII. 4th War of Waterbridge

Note: This is from the Waterbridge team forum, and will eventually be put up on my website along with other war stories. I would like to feature 1 war story per edition, so if you would be willing to share your experience with the fellow soakers on the network, please email it to me or PM me on one of the forums!

The teams were:

Jeremy and I (Guderian)
Belisaurius, Duxburian, Nibordude

Jeremy and I were chosen to be the defending team. I.e. we sit up on the bluff and wait to be attacked. Luckily we got most of the water balloons and a Monster, so things weren’t that hopeless. I decided we would set up in the old bunker of logs, as mentioned in the 1st War report. We left most of the balloons in the bucket, but we put about half, along with one of my guns, in a small cart and placed it about five yards behind our MLR. I had found that this was extremely useful when retreat was expected.

After setting up Jeremy and I started making patrols along the bluff to see where the opposing team would show up. My second patrol I caught sight of Belisaurius and Co. advancing in what they must have thought a stealthy manner up the far edge of the bluff I ran back to the MLR and told Jeremy to grab a few water balloons. We headed down the bluff to meet them and about 20-30 yards in front of the MLR we started bombarding them. They had very little effect except to slow them down and maybe splatter their legs with a little water, but that was what I had expected. I tried to time it so that there was always one of us out front throwing balloons, but the distance to go back and forth between was too great and every time we headed back to rearm they moved forward. At last we ran out of water balloons (except for the ones in the cart) and we ran for our guns. I took the Monster while Jeremy was armed with an old XP 175 I had let him borrow. Even with the Monster we were completely outgunned, and I knew we couldn’t hold here for long.

By now Belisaurius and Co. (as I have decided I shall refer to them as) had advanced to with 8 yards of our MLR, and we opened fire. Jeremy did very well with the 175, I am pleased to report, and along with my work with the Monster we succeeded in holding them at bay for a few minutes. However, numbers began to tell, and I ran out of water. This was now the time to run. I abandoned the Monster and grabbed one of my twin XP something or others (its brother was in the cart) and told Jeremy to cover me while I fell back with the cart. By some unknown providence Belisaurius and Co. decided not to pursue us. So we retreated along the path without being harassed. We were making for the Spring Road bridge that marks one edge of the park. There we would have concrete walls behind which we could open fire with impunity.

And that was what happened when Belisaurius and Co. attempted to assault our new MLR. I had decided that I didn’t want to drag the cart around anymore, so we unleashed a furious barrage of water balloons at them. They tried to advance in spite of the fusillade, only to get caught in our crossfire. Belisaurius was hit and had to withdraw, followed by his teammates. They retreated 30 yards down the path to refill, a moment we decided was excellent to attack. However, the charge down the path took long enough so that they had finished refilling by the time we reached them. We were forced to flee across the river, hotly pursued by Belisaurius and Co.

What followed for the next few hours was a bizarre guerilla action, with an equal amount of mileage wracked up by both teams. We must have circumnavigated the park at least three times, not including the jumps back and forth across the river to throw off the opposition. Occasionally when our two forces met there would be a brief skirmish, usually ending in a draw or minor victory for ourselves (usually due to poor communication), but each time we had to fall back.

The one major defeat for my team was when we attempted to hold the bridge a second time. This time Belisaurius and Co. had gotten considerably wiser, and so sent Nibordude across the river. We were caught in a lethal pincer. I narrowly escaped, but Jeremy was not so lucky. But the war continued for another long period of time, until at last we were both killed up to our waists in the river.

On the whole, the argument can be made that Belisaurius and Co. won the battle. This can certainly be backed up by the conclusion of the battle and by the number of kills per team.

However if you look at the odds against us:
- We were outgunned
- Outnumbered
And the results, including the damage we caused and the tactics we used, I would say we did rather well considering.
-Matt (Guderian) Leader of the Ares Legion

VIII. Links Resource
http://www.isoaker.com/ - The largest website of the soakage network. Plenty of excellent information, and easy to navigate. Be sure to check out the growing forum!
http://www.sscentral.net/ - The largest forum and attached website. Good information and easy to navigate. Specializes in water warfare tech.
http://waterbridge.4t.com/ - Hydrotactics, which is designed specifically to cater to teams and commanders.
http://www.soakology.net/ - While still in development, this website will be a great resource upon completion, something already evident in the planning stages.

Squad Contact Data:

Waterbridge:
http://waterbridge.4t.com/
Ridgewood, NJ
In existence since June 2002
yhrght359 on AIM or nick[at]mayr.com
Victory to Unit 1!

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RacerSoaker445
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Post by RacerSoaker445 » Sat Oct 16, 2004 12:45 pm

Bravo!
I don't check this forum anymore.

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DX
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Post by DX » Sun Oct 17, 2004 2:43 am

Great job with the newsletter! Maybe I'll submit something for the December issue when I get some free time.
Mess With the Best, Get Soaked Like the Rest!

2004 Red Sox - World Series Champions
2007 Red Sox - World Series Champions!

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SSCBen
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Post by SSCBen » Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:13 pm

I've already submitted something for the next issue. I missed this one working on SSCentral.

If I forget to submit something, please email me and I'll write whatever I can up. I've noticed that there is an abundance of topics to write on, my only limit is time.

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NiborDude
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Post by NiborDude » Sun Oct 17, 2004 5:57 pm

The "Lacrosse-Wielding Grenadier" was me. :P
Image

<span style='color:EEF2F7'>Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes! -Leonardo Da Vinci

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RacerSoaker445
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Post by RacerSoaker445 » Sun Oct 17, 2004 6:27 pm

You guys need a "Letters To The Editor" section, where people would email their questions about tactics, wars, squads ect and you guys would anwser them! Like so:

Letters To The Editor

From RacerSoaker445

Dear Hydrolic Times,

Blah Blah Blah.

Thanks
-The Fo Fo Fi
-------------------

Response To RacerSoaker445's Question

Dear RacerSoaker,

Blah Blah Blah. Hope that anwsers your question!

-Beli
I don't check this forum anymore.

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