Close Quarters Battle

This thread is for coming up with buildings that would be interesting for your characters to have to clear of enemy forces in GSG or other fanfics.

The Japanese Highschool (according to anime anyway): A Japanese highschool as seen in many a slice of life anime could be a nightmare to clear if filled with enemies (It's official, my mind works in strange ways). I actually have used a structure similar to this, for a similar purpose in a Halo fanfic I wrote. The following things I have noticed in the animes Azumanga Daioh, Haruhi Suzamiya, Kanon, School Days, and the manga Highschool of the Dead that could make a seemingly innocent building into a close quarters hell:

Heavily Fenestrated (many windows) three to five story facade: Many windows make for plenty of potental places for snipers and machine gun nests , making approach from the ground difficult.

Roof Access: The schools in School Days and Highschool of the Dead feature this, and it could be a blessing and a curse to someone wishing to clear a Japanese school seized by terrorists (or other hostiles, i.e. aliens in my Halo fic). It could be useful for a rooftop landing via helicopter so as to allow a top-down clearing, however, a rooftop could be defended with man-portable SAMs, snipers, an machine guns.

Stairwells, Classrooms, restrooms and storage closets: Like any school there are many class rooms, restrooms, and closets, where enemies can hide to ambush anyone who attempts to make an entry. The halls also seem to have more blind corners than where I went to school. Also, with the multiple stories, there are likely to be many stairwells, these have height differences and blind corners that can make it difficult for anyone going up them.

Courtyards: As seen in Death Note, Kanon, School Days and HS of the Dead, Japanese highschools seem to have courtyards surrounded by building on all sides. Place a few snipers and machine gunners on the roof or in the windows and you have a death trap.

The Foyer and the Balcony: A good example of an entry way that would be a pain in the ass to clear with a ground entry can be seen in Kanon and HS of the Dead: Row upon rows of lockers in the entry foyer, meaning loads of blind corners. In the school in Kanon, this would be exaccerbated by the balconies overlooking the foyer from the 2nd and 3rd floor, yet more places to put MG and snipers.

An Unlikely But Potentially Serious Problem: While my only evidence for this comes from a multitude of anime, (Azu, Haruhi, School Days etc.), it seems that the Japanese have a major festival at some point in the year at their highschools, which involves converting classrooms into haunted houses and cafes. Now as unlikely as it is that terrorist would hold up a Japanese high school during a festival, lets just play "what if" for a moment here. In one series, I think it was Azu (or was it SD oh never mind), it was suggested that they turn a classroom into a maze-like haunted house with a bunch of plywood (YAY!, more blind corners). Now replace the students with sheets out over their heads with a bunch of Uzi-toting nutjobs, and you'll experience the true horror if close range combat. Also, In School Days, their was a tradition at the school of a "lounge": a bunch of cloth-veiled stalls with a small cot inside where couples go in and....well you can guess what happens next (The education system facilitating teenage sex FTW/L). Now, if said school were taken over by terrorist during the festival, these stalls would go from facilitating teenage sexuality to facilitating the natural companion of sex (in anime anyway): violence, by creating a convenient ambush point.


In later: I'll go through the CQB challenges of a Brazilian favela (shantytown), a skyscraper, a ship, and more.
Also, feel free to discuss my ideas and add your own, that's what this thread is for!

It doesn't really need to specifically be a Japanese high school; virtually any high school fits the bill.

Some time back, Sheo outlined a shipboard combat scenario that has to be the finest action sequence I've ever read in any GSG fanfic.

i've always imagined my old high school as an ideal battlefield, aside from the structure similar to Japanese high school, we had a mini forests for Vietnam war like scenarios. a 3 level foot ball field for a waterloo like skrimish and of course the swimming pool that inspired me to fabricate a Sophia (oc) vs. anybody battle.

Nachtsider wrote:It doesn't really need to specifically be a Japanese high school; virtually any high school fits the bill.

I know, I just thought it would be at least slightly more challenging to clear than a western high school due to the courtyards and the balconies. My highschool was mostly one story, but it would present it's own challenges, such a long central hallway with an office with a window to the hall on the end- sniper or machine gun nest. I'm planning to do a review of the CQB challenges of my HS later.

SPARTAN 119 wrote:

Nachtsider wrote:It doesn't really need to specifically be a Japanese high school; virtually any high school fits the bill.

I know, I just thought it would be at least slightly more challenging to clear than a western high school due to the courtyards and the balconies. My highschool was mostly one story, but it would present it's own challenges, such a long central hallway with an office with a window to the hall on the end- sniper or machine gun nest. I'm planning to do a review of the CQB challenges of my HS later.

You have not been to Brooklyn Tech. 38ft ceilings, square figure 8 maze on every floor, secret rooms, secret halls, 12 floors (8 above ground accessable- 4 not, since they closed down the radio station), 6 basements, rifle range (closed since 1964), etc, etc, etc...
I had a many CQBs there in my time.

ElfenMagix wrote:

SPARTAN 119 wrote:

Nachtsider wrote:It doesn't really need to specifically be a Japanese high school; virtually any high school fits the bill.

I know, I just thought it would be at least slightly more challenging to clear than a western high school due to the courtyards and the balconies. My highschool was mostly one story, but it would present it's own challenges, such a long central hallway with an office with a window to the hall on the end- sniper or machine gun nest. I'm planning to do a review of the CQB challenges of my HS later.

You have not been to Brooklyn Tech. 38ft ceilings, square figure 8 maze on every floor, secret rooms, secret halls, 12 floors (8 above ground accessable- 4 not, since they closed down the radio station), 6 basements, rifle range (closed since 1964), etc, etc, etc...
I had a many CQBs there in my time.

Damn! SWAT had better hope they never have to clear that building, especially if the people holding it up know their way around it. Now that I think about it, some of the buildings in my university (University of Oklahoma, don't ask how someone born in Canada ended up there, it's a long story) has some places that would be pretty nasty for CQB.

such as: Sarkeys Energy Center, Norman, OK, a 15-story brick tower home to the geology, geography, and petroleum engineering departments:

Heavily Fenestrated (many windows) 15 story tower: Many windows make for plenty of potental places for snipers and machine gun nests , making approach from the ground difficult. Not to mention there's probably roof access.

Stairwells, Offices, Classrooms, restrooms and storage closets: Like any university building there are many class rooms, restrooms, and closets, where enemies can hide to ambush anyone who attempts to make an entry. The halls in the office areas (3rd-15th floors) also have lots of blind corners, while the classroom levels have many ambush points in classrooms and lecture halls . Also, with the multiple stories, there are many stairwells, these have height differences and blind corners that can make it difficult for anyone going up them. Not to mention, walking up 15 stories is tiring, although special forces are likely to be in better shape than I am.


Balconies and basement: Sarkeys has a sitting area in the lower basement, with a skylight and a balcony on the upper basement and a window looking down from the 3rd floor, plenty places for snipers and MG nests. Add to that, the hallways in the basement are like a maze, with loads of shortcuts, both through halls and through lab rooms and computer labs with a door on both sides (1 room opens to two hallways, all of these could be potential ambush points.

The Library: The Energy Center has a small library for the geology and geography department. While it's a nice place to go study, adding a few AK-toting terrorists would make it a CQB hell, with bookshelves and map cases creating plenty of blind corners.

Perhaps I should also do one for the library at OU home of the stacks, a claustrophobic area of bookshelves and 6-foot ceilings.

The problem with CQB is that one must have exceptional hand/eye coordination. You must have your arm and weapon as one and be able to register where it is aimed at even without looking through its sites AND be able to hit the target when fired.

Most military training fails in this. To them, "This is my rifle, this is my gun. This one is for shooting, this one is for fun..." is an attitude that the bare minimum in firearms training is enough for training. Even cops believe that shooting a couple 1000 rounds at the range think its enough. It is not. Paint ball training gives more of an accurate training for CQB, because it is with live targets.

One has to be able to think on their feet, move fast, point to hit without aiming and execute all the able before the enemy can think that they are being attacked. This is something that the Gunslinger Girls have...