How to run a milsim group

This guide is aimed to help new and experienced players with starting up their own milsim group. It's not always easy, but it can be a lot of fun and requires a fair amount of dedication.

Introduction

Milsim isn't going to be easy. It may not be free either. And it won't always turn out as you'd hope.

But I can promise you this; it's a hell of a lot of fun, especially if you stick with it.

I'm going to try my best to guide you through the process of creating and managing a military simulation group, using my own experience that I gained through trial and error, and through military veterans.

Getting Started

To begin with, you're going to need a name. Or more importantly, a military force to focus on. The point of a milsim group is that it replicates a real life army (US Rangers, Royal Marines, Norwegian Paratroopers, etc.) There are no requirements or rules on who you choose and how you run it, but it's best to do your research.

Let's say for instance, I choose to run my group after the British Army. Well, we need to narrow that down, because you'll never get enough members to replicate the entire Army. So we'll go on to their (website [www.army.mod.uk]) and have a look at some of the divisions.
It will take a bit of digging, but eventually you should find one that you like, e.g. 7th Infantry Brigade.

It's also a good idea to check if there are other Arma 3 communities with that name, because you want your group to stand out against the crowd.

Once you've got your unit decided, it's a good idea to check wikipedia for how it's structured. For instance if I check the 7th Infantry Brtigade's wiki page, I can see that it is made up of several Battallions that all have their own structure.

Keep this structure in mind because it will help make your group/unit much more authentic.

Nice, you've got your unit name and structure sorted, let's move on to the more expensive part.

Acquiring and managing Servers

You're going to need two different servers to get your unit going. An Arma 3 server (for obvious reasons), and a Teamspeak server (for communication). It's best to look around for good deals, as this can cost anywhere from $10 a month to $100 a month, so be careful. There are a couple of sites which will do free Teamspeak servers, and you can host your Arma server from home, however this limits certain features and is not recommended.

Once you have your servers, you'll want to setup the channels in Teamspeak. There are various YouTube videos and written guides online that can assist you with this. I'd suggest having a few general rooms, an operation room, and maybe a private room for yourself.

For now leave the Arma server as it is, we'll come back to it later.

Ranks and Roles

Now is the time to figure out what kind of ranks you'll be needing. These will be different with all military forces so you will have to do your own research. However, it will mostly consist of ranks such as Private, Corporal, Sergeant, etc.

Depending on the size of your unit, you probably want to start small with ranks. What I mean by this is so that you don't have massive gaps, set yourself at the bare minimum. I.e. A Corporal or a Sergeant. If you find yourself giving promotions and needing more leading roles, bump them up a bit and make yourself a Lieutenant for instance.

It's a good idea to use something like google sheets and make an ORBAT (order of battle), which is essentially a big graph outlining your unit structure. Divide your unit down into Squads and Fireteams and sort out things like callsigns.
Once you have all that sorted out, create the ranks on your teamspeak server. There is a handy icon pack here[forum.teamspeak.com] if you are a US Military.

Assign yourself the rank you chose earlier on and move on to the next section.

Mods

Almost all milsim groups use mods, some use too many (20gb download sometimes ._.) It's entirely your choice on what mods you use, however here are a few core ones I'd recommend for a realistic experience:

ACE 3 - Adds a high level of realism to the game, including medical, ballistics, etc.

TFAR (Task force arrowhead radio) - Realistic communications with radios, frequencies, voice positioning, etc.

CUP Vehicles, Weapons, and Units - Adds vehicles, weapons, and equipment

CUP Terrains - If Altis bores you, CUP Terrains will bring back the fun

Once you've chosen your mods, put them on the Arma server (help online)

Mission File

Your mission file is the mission you'll run on the server. It will have your base, your spawn points, and everything else you need ingame. However, you need to make it first.

So jump into Eden Editor with your mods loaded and get creating.

Find a nice area and setup a base the way you want it. Make sure to include plenty of playable units and some vehicles.

Place down any modules you want (ACE has various medical and ballistic modules).

Sort out spawning.

Add anything else you think you'll need

Save it and put it on the server!

More info on all this is available online and on youtube, I'm going quickly because I'd be here forever if I instructed you on every part of the eden editor.

Recruitment

After all this hard work, you're going to need some people!

The best way to recruit is to speak as an actual person. Posting a wall of copy and pasted text everywhere isn't going to make you look friendly.

Have a look around on the forums and when you find someone who looks like they'd suit your unit, send them a friend request. Don't be all business, be polite and professional, and if you're lucky enough you'll get a recruit.

Keep doing this until you think you have a stable enough group to move on.

Training

Obviously people of all shapes, sizes, and experiences play Arma, so not everybody will be as perfect as you when they join.

Assign all your guys a recruit rank and plan out a training program. This doesn't have to be super strict or intense, it's mainly just to keep your entire unit at the same level. You don't want rambo in a squad with Paul Blart when you're on the frontline.

Your training should include general target practice, formations, using the radio, and other basic combat principles.

Once they've 'passed' you can give them the appropriate rank and you'll be safe in knowing that you can trust them in battle.

Operations, Exercises, and Home Rotation

Once you've got your unit going, there's three main types of missions you should go with. The first one is deployment. This means putting your unit into actual organised battles and operations. During this time it's not recommended to recruit more people.

The second type is Home Rotation. This is for when you're recruiting and training people. It's basically sitting around at a safish base doing patrols and not a lot else.

The last one is Exercises. These tend to be combined practice missions with other units to give members from both units experience and time to practice in a realistic situation without you yelling at them if they mess it up.

Obviously these aren't set in stone and you can do whatever the heck you like with your unit, but these are just my recommendations.

Afternote

Firsty, thank you for reading this guide. It would mean an awful lot if you could leave some feedback or a rating, I did spend 4 hours of christmas day writing it (that's my fault I literally have no life.)

Secondly, I am aware that I've only scratched the surface of milsim in this guide. This is meant to be a general reference on running a milsim.

On that note, if you have any questions whatsoever feel free to comment or send me a friend request and I'll be more than happy to talk to you and give you any advice I'm able to.

Thanks again,
Alex

[Sigh-Ops]

larp

[Dominus]

Why does your US Army Ranger Bn have USMC rank structure? ><

[Digital Enigma]

LazyShogun, you do not need to run a real force, this is somewhat going over a general milsim so you can make it whatever you want.

[LazyShogun]

This may be old but, do you have to run an actual military force or can you make up your own? As in if I were to not want say the Marines 75th Regiment could I make my own military system and force? Thanks in advance.

[Darkest Walnut]

@Pyth3rEx

I know the feeling bud

[Pyth3rEx]

Recruiting is the hard part for us. I am very good at modding/scripting and mapping so I end up making amaysing missions, but I suck at talking to people so we always end up being 2 or 3 guys per missions tops.

[Darkest Walnut]

Hi Alex
love the guide, really helped me get the basics together
i was wondering if there is a downloadable version of the order of battle picture?

it would really help when i create my own

many thanks

[PokerGuh]

Thanks

[i fucking love great northerns]

Thanks, was really helpful, implementing some of this into my own

[Kang]

@Carr I'm practicing a bit with the Eden editor to set up a milsim. Unfortunately, the part that you glanced over is the part I need help with the most. Would you happen to know of any videos on how to set up zeus permissions for a mission?