Ground Zero – National Weekender 2011
So as is tradition, the Luna Wolves were out to play at the Gz national weekender for another year.
This time we had a new member, Jon, and it was his first game.
Typically on the Friday it rained. And it rained a lot.
Darkie and Bio suffered tent leaking via the seams and had to buy emergency seam sealant and waterproofing agents to ease the leaks. Nightwolf ended up with a puddle in the middle of their sewn in ground sheet due to the sudden down pour while putting the tent up and having an open door.
Eventually the rain eased and around 7pm Jon arrived to join the festivities. By this time the roads to the site had turned into a mud slurry which made getting into the site a little difficult in his RWD auto car. Some other friendly airsofters lent a hand and he was soon free.
We had BBQ, booked Jon in then cracked open the beers.
As Jon's birthday was coming up we had a little surprise pre-planned for him by way of cakes.
We however had pictures of him printed into the cakes for a laugh which went down well.
Later in the evening we headed over to the Jersey/Guernsey/Manx camp for drinks. Typically we head to the Jersey guys for a laugh and a few beers, but this evening was epic.
They had a rule that any beer started in their camp had to be finished there and added to the pile of empty cans.
I have no idea how many empty cans were in the pile by the end of the night, but it was a lot.
The Saturday saw many hung over players struggling to rise for the game, us included.
Eventually getting ready and straggling down to the briefing area it was nearly time for game on.
At game start we began to attack and I suffered a box mag malfunction. The mag simply refused to feed which is not useful for a support gun! I returned to camp to fix it, then headed back out (about a 30 minute round trip).
About 15 minutes later I found that while it was feeding on semi auto, it was intermittent at best on full.
Back I went again to grab some hi-caps and change boots.
By this time it was getting on for lunch. Upon heading out the other Luna Wolves were heading back much to my annoyance.
I took the opportunity to run a couple of gun tests on the range, mine fed perfectly on hi-caps and got out to around 60 meters as did Jon's, which was surprising considering the size an design of the G36C.
We also tested Darkies M4 DMR and revealed a horrible hop up issue. It wasn't shooting more than about 20 meters. Adjusting the hop resulted in rounds falling short still and any over adjustment resulted in jams.
The M4 was put away for the day and the P90 was brought out.
The rest of the day was fraught with disappointment and dead end fights, winding up in the village for an attack and hold.
We barely drank on the Saturday preferring to just socialise so we could have a better game on the Sunday.
Sunday indeed worked out to be a better game with us running off at the start to meet one of the early objectives. Sadly there was next to no combat or contact with enemies during that time.
We again ended up fighting over the areas for long periods of time as we did on Saturday making both days pretty stagnant on play.
Jon did nearly get rubber knived by a guy in a rabbit suit. Luckily I spotted the assailant (he obviously didn't see me) and the poor bloke in the suit got lit up. Kudos for having the balls to try though.
Packing up was again wet but we got home quickly to relax.
In all, more disappointing than last year but made all the better by good friends.
National Weekender 2011
It's nearly upon us (really, this seems to be about the only time of year that I post due to the weekender, but whatever.. )!
The Luna Wolves will naturally be out to play with Darkie, Bio, NightWolf, Valkyrie and Kaiser Von Scheizer.
This year we will have a special guest of Jonski from www.easy-company.co.uk of which we are also members.
Here's to hoping that this year is as good as the last 
GroundZero Weekender 2010 – Aftermath Day 2 – Pre Lunch
After the crazy that was Day 1 we awoke to a very different attitude on the Saturday.
By the time Darksaber and I had decided it was time to wake up, Psycho and co had already started getting gear ready in the same way that everyone else on the site had decided to do.
We cooked a good old tinned breakfast of beans and meatballs before getting our gear sorted and ready for the days events.
Luckily we had hired a portable toilet of our own for the team so we didn't have to go too far for the morning necessaries. I also don't think the public loos would have been too much fun after the drunken escapades taking place all over the site on the night before.
After sauntering down to the LZ with what appeared to be pretty much everyone else on the site we were treated to a briefing covering off the major safety points of Airsoft. Though we have all heard it a million times before everyone remained quiet so players new to the sport would be able to hear.
After the brief all the teams headed off to their respective starting points for the day. The Horns sounded for a game on and all was a go.
We decided it would be an excellent idea to head to the other end of the site for one of the early objectives, with it being the longest trek from the start point it was highly likely we would be first to get there for a small fight then objective capture.
Following our trusty map from the pack we set out in search of our objective and a couple of other players decided to take along with us. Apparently it looked like we knew what we were doing or something..
Well, as it turns out the map was wrong. Horribly horribly wrong.
We turned up at what should have been the objective about 30-40 minutes after the game start having seen no other players during the time, only to find out it wasn't there.
After about 20 minutes of searching and scouting the area we were unable to find the objective area entirely, so decided to start back-tracking and headed for another objective.
Only later did we find out that the map was indeed off course by about a quarter mile, which is why we got lost. And we thought it was just the fault of our navigator..
Having tracked back we heard gun shots in the distance and decided to investigate the noises.
In doing so we entered an area perched on the side of a small hill covered in trees pointing to what we assumed to be an objective. We took up positions in anticipation of a fight.
The rustle of leaves sent us silent with Kaiser hitting the deck and crawling forward to investigate.
Kaiser opened up and clocked a player on an opposing team scoring the first Luna Wolves kill of the day. Remarking that the player was French (the weekender really attracts people from all over Europe) Nightwolf offered to buy Kaiser a beer for his efforts.
Kaiser eventually got taken out along with pretty much everyone else leaving me (Bio), Valkyrie and Darksaber to fend for ourselves.
Nightwolf remembered he was an intel carrier and stood yelling this fact so that an opposing player may take the intel from him within the allotted 5 minute time period.
Another rustle in the bushes got my attention. The flash of an opposing tag was cause enough to open up with the M249 in the relative direction of the tag. Through the clattering of the gun on full auto I was unable to hear the yells of "HIT!" coming from our French friend from earlier that had come back to hunt us. Nightwolf called over that he was hit and that I was to stop firing to let him out of the combat zone.
We sat crouched until the allotted time was up and Nightwolf able to respawn, alert for any players that may try and take our precious intel.
Nobody did.
Our French friend from earlier appeared again in roughly the same spot as before and was met with yet another torrent of plastic doom.
We sat alert, waiting for the return of our team mates.
About 5 minutes later, our French friend returned, AGAIN. Either this guy was a glutton for punishment or very silly.
I was taken out very rapidly.
Upon my return to the nearest dead zone it was apparent what had been happening. The deadzone was not 200 meters from where we were fighting, if that!
Our French friend had been scouting out our positions at each death, returning to the dead zone, then exiting via the back in an attempt to pick us off! Dirty cheat!
Though to say this is cheating is not strictly true, but is certainly not in the spirit of Airsoft.
After being wiped out and trundling around the site some more, we stopped for lunch and headed back to camp. BBQ was again order of the day..
GroundZero Weekender 2010 – Aftermath Day 1
Well the weekender has come and gone, and again, I've taken far too long to write about it!
I'll just start by saying: Awesome.
If I had to describe it in one word, awesome would be the one I use.
The weekend started out with pretty much the norm for a weekender now, putting up tents and having a few beers. The nice thing this year however, is that we were actually able to be there much earlier on the Friday than last year.
You'd think that this meant that we got to camp nice and close to the main game area. Sadly not. We ended up in the furthest field right up next to the fences.
The advantage however is that it wasn't too loud at night and we were able to sleep pretty well.
A nice new thing that was added this year was the car boot sale area, where everyone could bring down their old or un-wanted stuff.
I decided to try my hand at second hand sales but it turns out I wasn't so great, I didn't manage to sell the FAMAS but did manage to sell my set of boots (Random!). Darksaber also found herself a bargain pistol which shoots really well for £75.
Nightwolf also managed to purchase one of Rampage's ban hammers, and picked himself up a new rifle (furthest from the camera) which looks like a clone of Darksaber's custom M4.
After browsing the second hand gear, setting up tents, and having a few beers, we tied up the first evening with a BBQ and a visit to the Jersey lads, which is always a good laugh.
One of the lads decided that using the earlier purchased ban hammer, he would smack himself in the nuts with it.
And that was all on the first day....
Red Dawn – Island Recon – Game write-up
Sadly the first version of this article was lost so I am writing from memory several months on, at which points things have started to get a little hazy so this article in no way represents a completeness of events at the weekender, just some personal accounts.
Everyone ready for battle
'FFing hot is how I would describe the Island Recon Red Dawn Weekend.
I would also describe it as fun, tiring, and well played by all.
On Saturday players started arriving for around 10am for a game on at mid-day.
Everyone paid up and was given their player pack, as well as taking an "Island Recon ration pack" which consisted of some regular biscuits, boiled sweets, some chocolate, and some savoury biscuits.
Once everyone was ready to go it was game on. NATO (our team) and Russians moved out to their respective bases for game start. As "NATO" we had to defend our land from the incoming Russian invasion. Our orders were to hold the compound and surrounding area until lunch at 2pm or 50 deaths to our team, which ever came first.
A large fight ensued with both teams fighting hard and plenty of ammo being expended. Eventually the NATO team managed to complete their defence and win that round.
The day pushed on and the heat rose, but what a weekend to play Airsoft. No rain drowning us or our gear here.
As the day pushed on more objectives were completed with the NATO team racking up yet more points.
We stopped for a put-noodle lunch which took longer than expected due to a failure of the generator and tea urn for the NATO team but after lunch games resumed.
Generally most missions consisted of the Alpha Dogs going out and mullering the Russian guys bringing us back more points and objective items. Those guys really do know how to push forward and mount an offence, in fact rolling with them on occasion was a big highlight of the weekend. Great guys that know how to play but also how to just mess around and enjoy them selves.
At events like this the social I find, is more important than the game play and good spirits in the team really helps everyone play better an enjoy themselves more.
The day pushed on we kept generating more points working towards what was looking to be a crushing defeat of the Russian invaders.
The whistle was blown and dinner was called. We had by this time received a new Generator back at the NATO base so we could cook some dinner. Chilli was order of the day but took what felt like an age to cook, the generator tripped a couple of times stopping our cooking dead in the water but a quick fuse reset later we were going again.
As the light dimmed the night game was prepared. DarkSaber and I retired back to the Safe Zone at this point as neither of us do particularly well in the dark leaving the game to everyone else.
On our retreat the game began, we were sufficiently far away from the main game area to observe as everything kicked off.
Fireworks were used to simulate artillery and explosions to great effect. The dim illumination provided by them bathed the game field with dancing shadows and eerie light. I can only imagine what it must have been like for the boys actually playing.
Back at the safe zone we listened to the general radio chatter and drank some more of our alcohol then retired to sleep for the night.
We woke up around breakfast and cooked some food. Turns out the Russians had also suffered a failure of cooking equipment so where having food at the safe zone.
Once all was said and done we packed up our gear and committed to the long walk back to the NATO HQ. Game on and we started mounting our final defences and offences of the weekend.
Alpha Dogs at the missile base
Alpha Dogs were sent to mount an attack on the Caravan and I joined them leaving NightWolf to continue with his NATO command and DarkSaber to continue to act bodyguard.
As we marched toward the Caravan it became obvious that the Russians had already mounted a sizeable attack with the NATO team being pushed slowly backwards. We picked up the pace and spread out to ensure we effectively cleared the field beside.
As we descended upon the caravan everyone took up positions, I covered one of the Alphas while he tried to advance down one of the flanks but got hit pretty quickly. I ducked for cover behind one of the hay bales, adrenaline pumping.
The fire on my location stopped and moved towards my team mates.
The window of opportunity was open, I had been forgotten about by the enemy.
I sprinted towards their line, as much as you can when crouched with an M249 and saw movement in a 2 inch wide gap between the bales of hay. I opened fire the box mag feeding like crazy and a stream of BB's flying away from me, return fire commenced almost instantly.
Luckily for me my target's hopup was not correctly configured resulting in their shots landing about 6" short of my position. The ongoing stream of ammo eventually landed on target and knocked him out. I pushed up to the set of bales watching the woods to my right in case of flanking from the enemy.
I will still unnoticed by the remainder of the enemy team.
Pushing further down the flank another two enemies parallel to my left were suppressing my team mates. I opened fire the 249 roaring into life with another stream of plastic death knocking them out. My team mates followed up the gap I had just created pushing towards the front line of the enemy.
I checked my right flank again and the brief flicker of a red arm band. I opened fire with a short sharp burst to the cry of "HIT". Another Russian out.
Adrenaline firmly fuelling my every action at this point, I stood and sprinted further down range towards the enemy position. The final man stood 40-50 meters from me now, the clatter of his AK present and clear, pinning my remaining team mates and stopping them from collecting the objective, a final burst cleared him out with the enemy now pushed down to the tree-line in front of me, my heart still pumping from the adrenaline I had fallen foul of tunnel vision and concentrating too hard on my targets.
I was out-flanked from the woods to my right, some Russians I had thought I had removed from the game plastered me. "HIT".
My run had come to an end though I went away with the memory of the epicness of the situation, learning that next time I should cover my flanks better.
I returned to base camp to re spawn and fight out the remainder of the day. A few more missions ensued but the score board said it all. We were winning by an un-closable margin.
A very tired NightWolf and his alter-ego, Mini NightWolf
Time was called and gaming stopped. We returned to the safe zone and everyone packed up, including a very tired NightWolf. We put away our tent and loaded the car ready for the return journey and headed home after a fantastic weekend.
The purpose of the weekend was not just to have fun, but also raise money for Help for Heroes. By the end of the event we raised about £700 which isn't bad for such a small group of people.
We even got into the Isle of Wight County press with our efforts
I can't wait for our next large event game, hopefully the Luna Wolves will be out in full force with the entire team able to play as sadly IR game days mean that most of us have to actually run the site (NW, Kaiser, Valkyrie).
Our next game is the Ground Zero National Airsoft Weekender.