Why Don't Reenactors Use Airsoft? How Do We Know If We're Hit?
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- Опубліковано 29 лют 2024
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~~Video Description~~
Reenactment is a weird hobby! It's also very unique, and I often get questions about the mechanics behind it all. Chief among those questions being: How do you know when you've been hit? And why don't we use a system like airsoft, paintballs, or even lasers to keep it more 'fair'?
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This video was edited pretty hastily and I forgot to provide screenshots of where you can find some of the footage that was not my own. Apologies for that, and here are the links:
The airsoft footage: ua-cam.com/video/tOql0aIOR5k/v-deo.htmlsi=bIIgjFZAenJ-TGea
Some of the Napoleonic footage: www.youtube.com/@magyarhuszar1991
you should do airsoft for grins dude lol
Could you also share the Soviet / Eastern Front reenactment videos? They look extremely intense!
Sure! The Stalingrad videos are actually here on my main channel, just search "Brandon F Stalingrad" and they should appear. The others are currently up on a not-often-used second channel ua-cam.com/channels/UMJZzqaqx0D4B5hf5vCwIw.html @@Materialist39
@@BrandonF awesome, thanks for the quick response, I’ll check them out.
@@BrandonFhey just a quick question were are some places near the us Canada border that do war of 1812 reenactment
"Why didn't you take your hit when you walked into that MG42?"
"'Cause I'm built different"
"Built stupid"
Meanwhile I was thinking about how I could fall in the most realistic way in the hopes I might briefly convince the machine gun team that they accidentally used live rounds and really killed me.
@@sethmiller2532At the ranges normally encountered at re-enactor tactical events, in front of that buzzsaw you might have to figure a way to come partially apart...
@@lieninger 🤔
@@sethmiller2532 Just go limp
Man, if ghosts are real, you guys are probably confusing the shit out of them 😂
One of these days I want to read a news story about an archaeologist who thinks they've stumbled on a massive encampment, when in reality it was just a reenactment held a few years back. I've certainly lost enough buttons over the years for people to 'discover'!
@@BrandonFI remember hearing stories about people who would go to visit civil war sights and see people runnin around in uniforms and inspecting/ loading cannons and thinkin they were watchin a reenactment. Only thing was no reenactment was goin on at all that day let alone that week.
@@BrandonF I read once that a whole hubbub arose in the 1990s when they discovered Ancient Egyptian temples and palaces in a part of Rural California. All sorts of experts were consulted on what this could mean. Turned out it was just a set location for filming The Ten Commandments (1956 film) and nothing more.
@@BrandonF ah Yes, ive lost a few already too
@@BrandonF wouldnt that implie that a whole reenactment platoon died😂
The easy quick answer is that it’s a reenactment. You’re generally copying the historical movements of past armies. Now this is an intriguing idea for playing war games and things of that nature.
it should've had been a thing. we already had that kind of wargaming made possible on Roblox with full blown conquest, it's not the best but im always up for innovations
ua-cam.com/video/YydUv-XuT9U/v-deo.html
We have a lot of the Airsoft Milsims in the Midwest hugely for WWII
Milsims are a thing
@@SobaYataithere are far better milsims on steam
@@SobaYataiYes, but that’s roblox. You’re better off using holdfast.
I don’t think reenactors would want to wear 21st century goggles for their costumes. Either that or severe eye injury.
A laser TAG system should be much more appropriate then
Otherwise just pretending to shoot at each other is honestly frustrating when you need to count on the guy to take a hit.
What about their century’s glasses?
@@ChangeNameEdits Glasses of the 18th and 19th centuries were not intended for vigorous activity. Even modern frames will break during physical activity and getting hit by an airsoft pellet will shatter most spectacles. Only modern googles could take that impact and hence would break the immersion since the goal of reenacting is to portray the period being represented as accurately as possible.
It’s all fun & games until someone loses an eye 😂
On top of what Celston51 said, the majority of soldiers in the 18th C. would not have afforded or even needed to wear eyeglasses. So even if they were 'period' looking, they would still be inaccurate. @@RazorsharpLT
The key word is in "ACT".
You have a script, it tells you when to "drop dead".
That is like asking how do actors know when they are shot in movies.
Reasonably often, you know you've been shot when the squib goes off. Which would be a real bummer if you had a $500 authentically recreated tunic.
@@f0rth3l0v30fchr15t it can't be any cheaper for the film studios, but they probably have a larger budget.
@@Marinealver It depends on the production, and how you do the accounting. They probably won't be ordering single handmade tunics, even for the main cast (especially if they're planning on puttting squibs underneath), so they could be made in-house or in relative bulk, which might result in disocunted rates.
But it wouldn't be an out-of-pocket expense for non-speaking extras of the minimum union daily rate, either.
that sounds really dumb
People acting like it’s a real game with a point system instead of reenacting historical events 😂
I reenacted Civil War for 20 years: I was at one event that requested we take “hits” at certain parts of the field, according to the month of our birth. Those born in January fall here & those born in February fall here & so on. 🙂
thats actually a pretty smart way! very cool!
Simple, and easy to remember.
My company did that once, though instead of an area the commander would call out a month at appropriate times. January one guy died, February 2 guys died, March 3/4s of the company died. We didn't do that again.
at an event at waterloo we did kind of the same thing
@@mickaleneduczech8373 Lol, I suppose y'all'd better just assign numbers.
My ww1 group were doing a public trench display in the middle of Aussie Summer. Nearing 30*C, and the event organisers wanted us to do an improv battle for the audience.
Already overheated, and not wanting a drawn out battle, our captain had the brilliant idea of showing the audience just how effective machine gun fire can be.
A drawn out speech as we all stand to, a fake bombardment, the whistle blows. As we breach over the top, two German machine guns roar to life, and, as instructed, we all take our hits right at our own trench line.
Got some nervous laughs and many gasps, and we didn't have to run about in the midday heat.
I used to do ACW, and at a small local event, my group of twenty or so guys joked about going out, taking a canister hit, have everybody drop, five minutes into a scheduled half hour battle, and call it a day. "Thanks for coming out!" LOL
For folks like me in the US who may have trouble with Celsius temperatures and aren't sure what our Aussie friend is talking about here's a simple mnemonic for you:
30's hot, 20's nice, 10 is cold and 0 is ice!
@@wayneantoniazzi2706 or roughly double the Celsius and add 30 to it.
30ºC * 2 + 30 = 90ºF roughly
Well, actually 90F is 32C, but this one is good enough!
@@wayneantoniazzi2706 haha! That's brilliant!
@@DarthPudden Thanks!
Unwritten rule-when your musket is fouled and you cant get it operating-take a hit....crawl to a cool dry place.Preferably away from animal dens.I actually fell close to a burrow and there was some angry chattering coming from that hole.A sudden last spurt of "life" got me to a safe distance.
Thats how we do it. If your musket misfires 3 times you take a hit.
-three times in succession ,yep-im a war of 1812 reenactor
Ants. Fire-Ants in the south. Terrible.
@@jmrichards5910fire ants...may be used to replicate willy pete?
Reenactment is not a "game" per-se. You reenact to feel like your in the Battlefield. And thus sometimes, you just gotta play dead.
what are you doing here 🤔
basically an art and not a sport
@@literally_ramielyoutube commenter realizes youtubers are, infact, real people and not just pixels to entertain you when you’re bored.
sometimes its fun to play dead
especially in almost a 1:1 scale play where there's no points just looking and acting realistically
as a reenactor someone told me that you "die" when you feel tired and want a quick nap
Gave me a good chuckle 😂
*Spontaneously dies*
"Take some hits, boys. We aren't superman."
"OK. I'll go next volley."
Using air soft or paintball is still really an honour system as well.
In the end you still have the same issues with people not recognizing or refusing to acknowledge hits
The gear and upgrades for stuff is also usable instead of just cosmetic for the event. Milsim west also allows blank firing guns and pyrotechnic grenades. For realistic function gas blowback guns are the way to go.
@@gabecollins5585 There are even GBBR in airsoft that eject shells
@@lucasgamezz140 Yeha they don’t perform well though.
@@gabecollins5585 The shell ejectors or GBBR in general?
Mag dumped a guy wearing a winter jacket, he refused to call his hits. Mag dumped his groin, he sudddenly realized he'd been hit and decided to limp off the field. Some people just need a little convincing.
our napoleonic reenactment group has an system that you would have 1 red cardrige under 10 white ones and if you would draw the red one you would shoot your load and then die
out of curiosity did you guy's ever change the quantity's of red's to white depending on the battle you where reenacting to help show higher causality's that one side may suffer like having 4 red's and 6 whites or something?
if you draw the red you become a bee
pause because that taken out of context sounds super wrong "if you would draw the red one you would shoot your load and then die" like that sounds so wrong
if you get a red one you what???
@kamelo2219 bust your load narancia
How Do We Know If We're Hit?
i do 15th century re-enactment
YOU KNOW WHEN YOU GET HIT lol
"Hey, man, I hit you with my Poleaxe! Fall down!"
Dude with a visible dent in his helmet: "Nah, you missed."
@@sethmiller2532I also do 15th century reenactment. One time a guy on the field wasn't taking his hits as well as he should. Well, one of the guys who also did buhurt decided to give him a hit he can't refuse... Funny how that works.
@@lemax6865love my Bohurt bros, they put the hurt in bohurt
In many ways, all reenactments are just in the honour system with extra steps. The occasional problems in Groups that prioritise fighting over historical presentation and experience, like the SCA and WW2 Airsoft, prove that the guy who wants to act invincible while yelling bang-bang in the woods is going to find a way to be invincible no matter what.
@@sethmiller2532 "Tis but a flesh wound"
Honestly, that would make reenacting a lot more fun; but we all know how it would go.
"Hey man, I hit yo- um... Ye hath been struck! Fall damn ye!"
"Nuh-uh!"
I saw a German reenactor take multiple shots (blanks of course) at 10 yards and not go down. M1 Garands shoot nerf darts apparently.
@@Lonovavir sounds like he got issued that wunderwaffe super armor that would've totally won the war for them 🤣
If only actual splittermuster smocks did that, they weigh less than body armor.
"Nay! Thine Muskets are pitiful and your aim wanting! I yet live!"
This killed me HAHAHAHHA@@sethmiller2532
We used to do line battles using bolt action airsoft replicas with my airsoft group back in the day. It was so much fun. We just used long replicas and loaded one bb at a time on command. Marching in ranks, eyes front, watching the enemy formation aiming at you... and the "FIRE" became core memories!
Were you wearing goggles?
@@ufc990 no
@@ufc990 Yes, we had our regular airsoft safety goggles. Back in the day, replicas around did hit a lot harder than what's allowed to play nowadays in most airsoft groups. Most long replicas were around 400fps or more. With light BBs (20mm) it could make serious impacts, and usually we required 25mm BBs for those in order to make less of an impact. I remember frequent blood injuries even through clothing at closer range, basically punched through the most external skin layers and caused minor bleeding. Nothing dangerous, but it was badly felt, especially when it happened on the face. Better keep your mouth shut then, and ALWAYS have your goggles on.
this will fit for an internal event without visitors or audience
@@abytemonkey Well to me, reenactment is not limited to visual reenactment: manoeuvers and tactis and so on can also be appreciated, even by an audience. I think safety goggles can be totally acceptable in that regard. I'm not talking doing this for ALL reenactments, but if the purpose of a reenactment is to dispaly the effect of a musket volley on a front rank, airsoft could do just that. You don't have to bring to notch. If anything, 100-200 people partaking in actual linear warfare using airsoft replicas, trying to actively get the better of the other group, would make much more sense than having 100% visually accurately clothed fat dudes (no offense) just walking around.
People refuse to take hits even with airsoft or paintball.
At the end of the day, these things all rely on one another's goodwill and honesty.
probably less of a problem in reenactment too because a good majority of people dont even want to win, they just want to reenact a cool battle.
We have that problem in mediaval reenaction. In particular with archery. You can't really shoot a bow without a projectile but that projective is inherently dangerous. So we're stuck using the big ass arrows (akin to larp ones) and rather weak bows (well there's also the problem that archery was then a life long endeavor and that you can't use something close a an historical warbow).
It poses a LOT of problems, like the organisation asking for the archers to aim at the armor pieces (which is already not easy, aiming in general is hard and made worse by the bad arrows) and then people claim the hit wasn't effective because it landed on armor... it seem quite unsolvable. (can't really shoot the bow empty either for it damages it)
at medieval reenactment I take part in I experienced LARp arrows and blunt arrows, both have its cons and pros
At the ranges you can use a bow suitable for combat archery, using arrows with either padding or a loop head, historical bows would most likely penetrate the majority of armor. So you can solve the problem by stating that any hitting hard enough to notice through the armor is effective, because war bows could be ridiculously high draw weight. There's still some honesty component in that, but less than arguing about if it's effective or not.
2:20 That Wehrmacht execution re-enactment is wild 😂
My jaw dropped to the floor 😂
As an airsofter, who enjoys replicating the loadouts of real soldiers (I'm currently building a Russian loadout similar to one I like to use in Tarkov built out of some Ratnik gear for instance), it needs to be clear that Airsoft is a game, you're basically playing COD irl. Reenactments, however, are just that, a reenactment, you're not playing a game, you're reenacting historical battles and the gear people in those battles would use, there are no "winners" or "losers" in the way airsoft or paintball have. While they look similar from an outside perspective, the goals of the people taking part in these hobbies are quite different when it comes down to it.
exactly. Reenactment is more akin to LARP or DND than it is to airsoft or paintball. It's more about the acting and the "fun of doing it" than it is about trying to win.
Did y’all know one of the first reenactments was in like 1820 and there were even reenactments right after the Civil War with veterans reuniting.
The ancient Romans did battle re-enactments in the coliseum
As a note as someone who was in the Army, Using death as comedic relief is generally warrior cult humor, When you face it every day, you learn to laugh at it. makes it less terrifying
Just as an FYI, fully automatic firearms are not illegal in the US, although some states do not allow full autos, but on a Federal they are legal. The caveat is that they have to have been made before 1986, and even then you have go through extra background checks, fill out all sorts of paperwork, and pay a $200 tax stamp. But they're otherwise legal, once again depending on which state you live in; so for World War reenactment you could use actual machineguns, if you could afford to buy one.
As far as MILES gear goes, you make a very good point about the sensors needed. But you don't need special guns, you'd just need an add on laser device and, I believe, are tied in with the firing of blanks on the weapon. But the add on to the weapons would alter the authentic appearance of the weapon and I'm sure that the ballistics wouldn't match a real gun since a laser wouldn't drop over distance and is not affected by wind. And, unlike a gun, any sort of solid obstacle would stop the "round" so even a bush would provide sufficient cover.
Full-auto weapons and the Class III licensing to own them? As the saying goes:
"If you have to ask, you can't afford it!"
One thing with laser MILES gear, heavy smoke will stop the laser "round." MILES gear has been thwarted by smoke grenades in more than one tactical execise. So, put out enough black powder smoke and you're safe!
The Hughes amendment is a load of horseshit. I shouldn’t have to fill out a bunch of paperwork and still be barred from owning a full auto Kalash
The thing about automatic weapons is that even if you manage to go through all the paperwork you have to spend thousands of dollars for even the shittiest gun
@@Hawky1 Mind you they were always expensive. Prior to the 1934 Firearms Act which created the restrictions on civilian automatic weapons ownership a Thompson submachine gun with all the accessories cost $300. That doesn't sound like much BUT at the same time a Winchester Model 94 30-30 rifle cost $40!
Civilian ownership of automatic weapons wasn't all that common due to the expense but the legislation came about due to the notoriety Tommy guns got from gangster usage. And even gangsters didn't use them all that much, preferring handguns and shotguns mostly.
Nowadays automatic weapons are super-expensive due to pure supply-and-demand, the ones out there are the ONLY ones out there and there will be no more. It's a millionaire's hobby now for sure.
@@wayneantoniazzi2706 Maybe Cargill vs Garland will help set more precedent for unbanning them, thank god for FRTs
The last time I "Died" at a reenactment, my musket got too hot, I was concerned that another cartridge might cook off, the barrel was too hot to touch, we'd fired so much. So I took one for the team and took a dirt nap.
This largely depends on the group, but in my group, you bet your ass we do airsoft at private tactical events.
In what manner? Class?
@@rooknado what do you mean?
I always thought it would be cool to have muzzel-loading airsoft and paintball guns, air tanks in the stock, pulling back the hammer cocks the gun. It would be a great change of pace for the games.
One shot stock paint ball is the closest you can get.
Back in my paintball days my old team used to have this scenario we called Civil War. 2 teams line up and take a single shot. Splits are eliminated and the remaining on each team take one step forward (until 10 feet apart). Repeat until 1 team has been completely eliminated.
@@Marinealver I have heard of the too. I remember one game at the field I went to fairly often the two bases assigned were no more that 20 meters from each other and in plain view. So everyone just lined up and waited for the start signal. I made the mistake of leaving my safety on during the first volley and ducked just as the balls arrived. Then I stood up behind someone and caught one that hit the seem between the goggles and the mask. There was not a speck of paint on my goggles outside of shell fragments but my face was bright pink. I put in my barrel plung raised my hands and walked off the field. When I got back to the staging area everyone kept asking why I came back until I removed my mask. 🤣🤣🤣
SCA will do rubberband flintlocks and that is pretty interesting. Just breaks Emerson when you have to wear eye protection but I guess in SCA and etc everyone's wearing helmets and fencing masks already anyway
I use a mostly accurate kit for a 1990s-era US Marine in airsoft, so I'm using real body armor (PASGT vest and Helmet). And from experience, I can confidently say there have been several times when I can't even tell I've been hit because of the armor, be it them shooting me from afar or shooting me with a low-power airsoft gun, so the idea of using airsoft isn't foolproof either. The closest I think we could get to it would be Simunition, which is expensive, requires special protective equipment, and from what I've heard, it hurts a lot to get shot with (who could have known).
1990s Marine re-enactments? My God, I'm a 1970s Marine! I feel so old...
@@wayneantoniazzi2706 Brotha the vietnam war ended in the 70s and people reenact that all the time
@@GAMER123GAMING Now I REALLY feel old! Thanks a lot! 🤣🤣🤣
unless you et hit on the plate its aout 3-5x as worst as frozen paintall inside 5 yards
@@wayneantoniazzi2706thank you for fighting the good fight 👏
I've seen airsoft battles where people get hit, and refuse to admit it. As for reenactment, it's a form of acting.
This probably my favorite video that you have done. I can’t tell you how many time I have been asked some variation of this question. The point you made about not wanting to mess up our stuff is one that I had not thought of, but you are totally right! A Union army fatigue blouse is a simpler and less expensive garment than an 18th century regimental coat, but a well made and accurate example will probably cost you north of $200. I don’t want paint getting on mine! I also know a few people who use original items from the 1860s in their impressions, including buttons and firearms. I am sure they do not want them getting hit by projectiles.
I've never reenacted, but I plan to in the future when I can afford to travel and buy the gear! I knew a guy who did civil war reenactments as an officer, and he said he would sometimes voluntarily die at a really bad time in the battle so that he could give his second in command a chance to shine. What a lovely community of living historian actors.
1:19 hey heat stroke is realistic, deadly, and historically accurate!
As for the taking casualties... I was at the Battle of Hubbardton a few years back. This battle in reality had a contingent of Brunswick troops on the British side involved. During the reenactment, this was represented by a grand total of 1 guy!! So there was no way he could take a hit. It's just the limitations of reenacting. All the battles would be over after the first volley if "Hit Points" were realistic. Your totally right on the educational points.
Yeah, a lot of times the 'narrative' has to take priority over the battle portrayal. Sometimes for better and sometimes for worse, I'd say. But that's a conversation for another day!
Nice use of your footage from Brandywine! As a camp follower I often get this question when standing to the side of the battlefield so it’s good to know I have been offering the right answers!
Thanks! And glad to be of service!
Because SS and 82nd reenactors would get pelted by 100 bbs and go "You didn't hit me! You didn't hit me!"
Maybe the SS guys are trying to simulate all the drugs they were on, lol.
Well of course, it's 82nd all the way!
Cheating to look better is 100% is character for the SS. They fudged their tank kills, why not fudge their hits?
The audio bit is a great point. And for another reason not touched on in the video: soldiers and officers don't yell during battle because they want to; they yell because they have to to be heard.
This is awesome, I have a lot of people I know both online and in real life who always ask me this question and now I can just refer to this instead of giving a sub-par explanation myself (:
Well said, Brandon! Strongly agree on all points, especially the bit about engagement distances. There have been so many times where I've been at events, and we waste so much time just standing there shooting at each other without anyone going down, that it begs the question of "what are we even doing here?" But as you said, that's a rant for another time.
I watch re-enactments for the living history, it may get confused at times but from the stands I can tell you it’s stunning to watch. Keep up the great work boys, the efforts greatly appreciated
"You didn't got hit when you walked into the MG42??"
"I dodged all the bullets 💪"
Hello Brandon. A good case / explanation for your hobby.
It reminded me again of a member of "The Sealed Knot" bemused at the lack of interest from my university wargames club. It was the expense of the metal figures that meant no-one could afford to also start buying kit to go to reenactments, plus you do not get to be the general as a beginner.
Talking of the cost of metal figures, imagine the cost of the lead for all those muskets if you had real ammunition. I was lucky to get the metal from some old broken windows to make model soldiers, when mixed with printers metal. It saved me a fortune.
If only I had turned my hand to making reenactment kit. The money from wargames was not enough to start a business.
To think of how the wargaming scene has shifted these days with the rise of 3D printing! Now I have friends churning out what would previously have been a fortune's worth of minis in a few days, for only a few dollars!
@@BrandonF You can hardly print your kit. I used to make stuff for fancy dress, my mum having sewn for a living and my dad having worked in a bag factory. However, the nearest I came to printing was for new year's eve 1999. I had a bad cold that meant I could not get on with making something for a futuristic party. I reckon I had the millennium bug. I cut a "H" out of a gold Christmas card and wound sellotape up and stuck it to my forehead. I just about made it through the event, without being a casualty. I did wake up in a chair around 2am. Someone must have had a phaser on stun?
Sounds to me like reenactment with accurate material culture and experimental archaeology with hit tracking should be two separate events, each capturing certain aspects of the real conflict.
I got a lot of feelings about this. I used to be an avid airsofter and collector of Vietnam uniforms and gear. At the time, I definitely considered myself a reenactor. I did just about all of my normal airsofting in kit and did more than my fair share of larger tactical events as well. I slept overnight in the field, stood firewatch, endured nightime VC attacks, eaten (reproduced) Crats....but watching this though, I realize now that it wasn't really reenacting as we weren't doing it for the public or spectators, just ourselves. I'm not sure the experience is all that lost by using bbs vs blanks, though a few events I've been to mixed in a few blank fire guns for added effect. Having projectiles whizz past your head...or knowing that you're on patrol and at any moment you could feel an impact and be hit...that's something I think blank fire misses out on. The one purely blank fire event I went to, I remember every time we got shot at, the group I was with would look around, almost trying to decide who was going to be the casualty. In airsoft, you just learn to hit the deck and hug mother earth for cover. I understand the point about the glasses, though they never really bothered me. I don't agree that airsoft bbs have a chance of damaging your kit though. They don't really go that fast or have that much energy. I'll also say that it's much cheaper to afford airsoft guns than the historical firearms, particularly for the era I did. I had an M-16A1, an M-14 with a wooden stock, an M-60 and a 1911 all for less than a real steel version of any of those (except the pistol).
As an immediate post-Vietnam Era Marine (1974-1981) I'm a bit flabbergasted that folks like yourself are doing 'Nam re-enactments! Remembering the era as I do and all the controversies (To put it mildly!) it's amazing to me someone woud be that interested in the subject.
BUT I have to remind myself it WAS 50 years ago! It sure is history now even if many didn't see it that way back then.
Anyway, thanks for making sure the 'Nam vets aren't forgotten. What so many went through on their return home was pretty unconsionable.
@@wayneantoniazzi2706 you know, one of the best parts of representing that era and going to public events was meeting Vietnam era veterans. Not to speak for all vets, but all of the ones I personally ran into while reenacting had very positive reactions to my impression and the fact that someone was interested in commemorating their service and telling their stories. Many of them strongly connected with seeing their old gear. I learned a lot from the stories those veterans chose to share with me and it ended up being a very powerful experience.
So to summarize, real projectiles aren't used, because for the most part its less of a competition, and more of a... well, reenactment.
the americans charging at the british redcoats while they ran away with a bunch of portapotties in the background while brandon was talking about historical accuracy mad me laugh. Nice video brandon.
I went to a Civil War re-enactment here in VA about 30 years ago and there were so many porta-potties around I called it the "Battle of Porta-John Hill!" 🤣
They needed those porta-potties though, there were over 7,000 re-enactors on the field. What a sight!
Thank you for this extremely informative video about the reenactment hobby. As an outsider, I imagined this was the reasoning, but it's great to have confirmation.
On the topic of people overacting deaths, I think it's probably a good thing. Means they probably haven't seen too many of them, and if someone can go an entire life without that, that's a win.
Jesus Christ whenever I watch your videos I get this immediate urge to get into uniform and go on a march or something, you rock man
I just found your channel. I had an uncle that died before I was born but I had heard a lot about. One of the things he was really into was civil war reenactment. So it was kinda cool to learn a little bit about the hobby.
As someone who enjoys both airsoft and reenactment (and has overlapping kits used for both), I can say that you hit the nail on the head. They are different experiences with different purposes. Would it be interesting to have some advanced laser systems that detects who might be hit in any given engagement? Sure, but the technology needed for that seems at least a little far into the future and it, of course, has little to do with the theatrical and historical aspects of reenactment. It’s all about what you want out of your experience.
Also, I would definitely watch a video talking about reenactor issues. I certainly have no lack of opinions regarding the community, negative and positive :).
An obvious problem is that if you’re re-enacting a certain battle then obviously one side has to win, which becomes difficult if the ‘losing side’ re-enactors are better shots and are clearly winning a skirmish.
They definitely should incorporate it more for sure! I have been to cold war themed reenactment events that used blank guns along side airsoft, and it definitely makes for a more realistic and trackable attrition. Great video, keep it up
Keep up the good work Mr Brandon.
Don't forget, face masks. Both paintball and airsoft can chip teeth and a responsible field/event requires a full face hard mask along with the full seal eye protection.
I have a friend who Larps a lot as a hobby (medieval and renaissance) and he did use a functioning blaster few times.
It was basically a spring powered Nerf gun built inside of a realistic flint/matchlock replica, using rivals balls and flour for smoke.
(No goggles needed)
It is certainly less realistic, but lot more “gameplay” focused because that is one of the key differences between Lara and reenactment. That one is ment to be a game for the participants, on top of an immersive experience.
Also: 14:35 Yeah, that can be bit irritating. I remember watching a recording of an ww1 battle, where a German squad stood in open terrain like 10 meters from the Russian trench getting lit up by rifles and machine guns for several minutes while blazing away themselves and taking almost no loss at all. Before retreating seemingly at random.
I don’t want to mock them because they still performed well, but not the best acting am afraid.
Never seen your videos before, never been interested in it... but loving history and hearing how you described a few of those scenes makes me really want to get into it.
Yo Brandon. I really appreciate the volume of new videos coming out. Keep it up
It's funny you should say that, because I'm afraid this is likely the last video for about a month. But normal content shall resume after that!
@@BrandonF Roger that🙏
I'm always amused when LARPers view reenacting as a game, missing the point of "Acting" in "reenACTING". In my time in the navy, our explanations for not using airsoft or paintball are similar to yours, our uniforms and kit could get damaged by BBs or paintballs, and we would have to replace this gear out of our pockets, then there's explaining to the senior NCO why your gear got damaged, and how what you would do to fix it. Even when we used MILES gear, we still used blank ammunition, in order to get a feel for combat, it's noisy, smoky, and confusing, besides, BBs and paintballs don't have the same ballistics as actual small arms, alterall, the purpose of training is not to have fun, it's to get you ready for war, it's to get you work as a unit, not show off how awesome you are, the instructors will get on your case, if you do things without orders, or breaking ranks, you are not an army of one.
That's the whole point of LARPing; it's literally "Live Action Role Play." Emphasis on "PLAY." You're playing a game, and you expect to follow rules.
reenactments is essentially a big wargame. In the marine corps we do it all the time with blanks and huge areas that go on for miles. It isnt about whether you individually got shot but if you had numbers, positioning, fire superiority, and overall tactics. That was the decider.
Reenactment is a fascinating sub genre to me, I’m not apart of it but I can understand why it exists
This was absolutely fascinating
I’ve never seen one of your videos but the passion and excitement in your voice alone really energised me
I guess I’m into historical reenactment now 🤷♂️
Without even watching the video I can already say that historical accuracy and the spectacle of the sound of gun fire. Also since you talked about it in your warcrimes video (at least i think), you either get paper telling you when you are going to be hit or you just "feel" when its best to be hit.
To be fair, some reenactments do use Airsoft. For example, there's a couple events I go to that reenact both WW2, and Vietnam, where we use airsoft weapons and the general rules around that. We also include people playing as 'medics' to make the usual respawn system in Airsoft make more sense. Take a Vietnam reenactment we did as a good example. A patrol is sent out by a commander from a FOB (spawn area) to check a local village for VC presence. Some of the people in the "village" are civilians (npc's), and mixed in with them are VC players. The villagers often aren't told if there's VC present, though sometimes they are told, and then the patrol is expected to behave using rules of engagement that happened during the war. If a firefight starts, and someone is hit, then they're not allowed to move from where they 'fall' until a medic has attended to them. The medics assess the soldier based on roughly where they were 'hit' and call out if the person is walking wounded, or KIA. If the soldier is KIA, then that soldier walks from the battle with their hands and weapons raised. They return to an assembly point a short distance away, and only return to the fight if support is called in. Simulating more troops being ferried in by helicopter, or more VC filtering in.
With WW2 engagements, we use that same system, though 'respawn' is allowed to happen after a person waits in the assembly area for a period of no less than five minutes.
Both scenarios operate under a deathmatch type system, where if every soldier from one side is KIA, then the opposing side wins the battle.
The group I routinely reenact with is actively working on the planning phases of recreating some aspects of the Pacific aspect of WW2, with the goal of being to give participants a general idea of what soldiers from both Japan, and the Allies faced in the various jungles. (We're in Florida, so there's some areas that aren't too far off from what many of the islands were like.)
That just sounds like an airsoft game.
@@MrPainisCupcake It may, but we place an emphasis on historic re-enactment more than "lone wolf joe and his team go out shooting everything." Unfortunately, Brandon's video here is an argument from authority, which unfortunately renders it invalid. He doesn't take part in airsoft reenactments, and thus he argues that no reenactor does.
As a western gunslinger reenactor, we often go down based off scripts, or my favorite method, after the revolver has been emptied 😅 typically we make as much noise, smoke, and drama as possible before taking a dive
I have no Desire to Renaact or have I been to a Reenactment yet, but I salute all Reenactors for keeping history alive, without you guys alot of historical knowlege would have been lost, you guys are both Actors and History teachers Combined.
"Maybe you're tired and you need to become a convenient casualty in a shaded part of the field"
That's great lol
I love reenactments, but I’m not going to lie, that firing squad at 02:21 felt a little too real
That one guy just fell down like a scared goat lol
I did Civil War Reenactments and at some events they would mark one of our cartridges with a black marker to indicate that after you fired, you were to become a casualty. It was a fun system and we would also limit our rounds so that we weren't burning too much powder.
Paintball or airsoft could be a handy form of cross-training with reenactment for the sake of simulating experiencing being hit as well as testing if your formations or positions are effective or accurate. In other words, it could be like HEMA with guns.
Also, can you talk about inclusivity with reenactment?
Seconded on the question
This is very interesting, because in LARP, there's a very easy way to determine hits ^^
I don't do LARP myself, mostly because I can't square deep roleplay and intricate costume design with the (in my opinion) extremely simplistic and immersion breaking combat systems I've seen.
This video actually convinced me that, given the opportunity, I would like to give this reenactment a try. Is it common to have events that rent costumes, kind of like "tryout" events? Would be a shame to invest so much and then hate it ^^
Absolutely, but it isn't on an event basis so much as a group basis. It will also vary a lot. Based on the time that you are going for, world war 1 or 2 groups could potentially have an entire outfit for you to loan for an event, whereas something like revolutionary war reenactment it is much more difficult to have a full loaner kit because of not only how expensive things are, but also how everything needs to be custom-made for you individually. Still, there are some groups that will, and for example I don't actually own any Napoleonic kit but I have done a number of events because the group I do it with has full loaner outfits for people who are not yet full members. The best thing you can do is to go to an event local to you and speak with as many people as possible to see what the groups in your area offer.
@@BrandonF oh wow thanks for the reply, I'll definitely check it out :)
As both a reenactor and an airsofter I can say I agree with you wholeheartedly on the general view on using airsoft for reenactment. Aside from the thing with BBs putting holes in the uniform, I've never experienced this personally but I've no ideas about what the energy limits may be where you live.
I help run events for a historical airsoft group and we have trialed different solutions for eye pro that would at least look aesthetically similar and found issues with misting up and also found that the insurance had issues with non regulated eye pro so we ended up dropping it.
There are aspects of both hobbies that are absolutely wonderful and, as you said, they have different aims in what they do.
You are absolutely right about the lake of weapon fire and such creating the sounds of a battlefield but there can still be times when airsofting that you'll get an image of what things would have been like. For example, at a ww1 event we had the germans launching a charge across no mans land to an Entente held trench. As expected the MG made short work of everyone, when it came time to respawn I turned round and the view of everyone who was behind me laying on the ground made me think about how horrific it must have been to have actually experienced those events in person. Damn near made me quit the hobby.
I absolutely love these reenacting videos.
Great video, really caught my attention.
i did reenactments of the war of 1812 for almost 8 years and we used cap guns, depending on the volley that was fired on you, then one of the people in charge of your company would tap you and tell you you are dead
2:34 was actually such a sick reenactment
Yeah I wonder if the full footage of that event is uploaded somewhere
My Rev War light infantry unit is small in number at most events, so we try and use terrain (skirmishing from brush and tall grass, etc) to mask numbers when possible and take hits only when it makes sense and would be obvious to the audience. Some of our opposite number appreciated a dynamic tactical demonstration where they had to deploy their own skirmishers or wheel to face a new threat, rather than a staid, sterotypical scenario of two ranks exchanging volleys.
My War of 1812 artillery unit is subject to a lot more safety rules as reenactors, so we've only taken casualties when the battery has depleted its ammunition. Being 'dead' forward of the muzzle is unsafe, minimum manning rules means not many can die and still be allowed to fire, so we all have to go down together.
I'm part of an english civivl war reeneactment society in the UK, so as someone who also does reenactment, for my lot, the simple easy answer to that question is safety... especially when you have a crowd to think about, you don't want anything flying out the barrels of those guns... for everyone's sake
I've never been to a reenactment nor am I a reenact myself but I find it so cool you guys use original firearms such as the SMLE Brandon mentions in this video. I would love to see a reenactment one day. On a different topic I would like to get my own original Mosin Nagant or M1 Carbine.
There was a mil-sim airsoft event where they had some people firing blanks for immersion, which was fun to see/hear.
"An educational event for the public."
Indeed, but Brandon, is that fire real...?
Oh boo, boo this man!
No idea why this in my feed today but good job. I will sub!
100% agree. I compare it to live theatre - going to a movie is very different, a reenactment is like a theatre performance in that way vs watching a war movie or documentary. One intended to educate even more than entertain.
Some good insights on re-enactment. "Winning" really has no place.
I've been watching reenactment videos for a long time, and I still never knew if they were using real projectiles. This sort of answered my question!
Honestly would love to see more of a blend in the future, there are sevral themed airsoft events where there are loosely historical events being recreated
As someone who has absolutely zero experience with such, I always sort of just assumed reenactments were more like scripted plays than competitions where the idea that someone did or didn't get hit would come into question.
2:22
I knew what was coming, but good lord was that brutal.
I’ve been wondering about these very questions for a long time but never found the answer then this comes in in my recommended. Heck frickin’ yeah.
At 15:02 I’ve been to this museum, it’s a fort, I personally haven’t been to this reenactment of the revolutionary war but the fort grounds are really small and have no real room for the battle
Thanks Brandon, great essay on the subject. I agree in most cases with your conclusions. I am a retired ACW re enactor, so I saw a lot of funny things in my career. In our era we called folks who would not take obvious hits as Iron Men. Not as in the famous iron brigade or super hero. We would try to get some of these stout fellows to take a hint by yelling "There stands an Iron Man". Did not work most of the time. Also another factor of why a person may not want to take a hit until they burned most of their powder was that they have driven a long distance to get to a certain event and do not want to waste all that time and effort getting there then die early.. One event that is vivid in my mind was a national CW event in the south. I was with a bunch of Blue bellies and we were assaulting a Reb earthworks. There was much skirmishing and charges that did not go through. So after about 1/2 an hour or so we hear martial music coming behind us. A Yankee band was advancing towards the enemy works. They just kept a coming, we were saying they got to stop or wheel back towards the Woodline but they keep just a coming. The boys in grey were pouring everything they had into them. They advanced to within 50 yards with not one man taking a hit. All of a sudden there was a general slacking of fire then a complete stop. Then a huge roar of laughter came from the rebel line, then it caught on to our side. I am not sure of the time, but the whole battle field was just a huge laugh fest. The Iron band in this time preceded to go their way off the field. After away when we got our wits back to us, we realized we were in a re enactment and the firing commenced again. The only wound I sustained on that day was a sore belly from laughing too hard. Too bad real battles could not end that way. keep your powder dry.
Nice video!
Those WW1 and WW2 Events look very real. Especially having a Sd.Kfz. 251 is quite crazy :)
Really nice!
You know, I went into the video thinking "of course shooting something is better" and he thoroughly convinced me otherwise
As someone who doesnt do reenactments or intend on doing it I find this entertaining
Really it comes down to the purpose of the event. Paintball/airsoft is a hobby that’s engaged in for fun, and MILES is a training tool for actual combat, where the entire point of reenacting is recreating an event. Ensuring you know who got hit and who didn’t is less important than getting as close to period accuracy as possible. The point is simulating the event, not taking out the other team in most cases.
2:23 That guy second from the left needs an oscar for that fall
Having done Revolutionary War reenactments for a couple years, there would be so many other issues with some of these alternatives. We did a reenactment in which we had to fight several skirmishes through the streets of an actual town with like, 50-100 people in total. Paintballs and BBs would have probably led to several very angry shopkeepers looking for new windows (as it was, there was already a risk with the cannon we brought) and with something like LIDAR the whole thing probably would have been over by the first engagement.
I'll see you on the field, Brandon.
I’m tryna have a few beers maybe a jib while watching a live action battle. Seems sick asf to watch!
deciding to die cause youre tired and want to lie down in the shade is the most historical reenactor thing ever