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....
GZ Weekender Prep
Prep work has begin for the Luna Wolves outing to the GZ Weekender 2010!
The weekender wouldn't be right if we didn't have some new toys though so true to form, we got ourselves some.
For starters Darkie and Bio have new Goggles. We are all for safety and you should never EVER skimp on your eye protection. Most Airsofters will spend hundreds on their gear but just a few pounds on cheap shooting glasses or purchase glasses from their local DIY store.
While these are OK for the most part, they can let BB's in round the edges which can still result in eye damage, or worse still, on some cheap glasses a round to the arms of the glasses will see them break and part company from your eyes leaving you totally exposed!
Dr. Airsoft has some great reviews of masks and goggles on Youtube and I recommend you check them out.
The one which prompted us to go for the ESS however was:
So we went on to purchase a set of ESS Profile with Cortex clip for Darkie and ESS v12 for Bio.
Although ESS do not recommend anything other than the profile with Cortex clip for Airsoft, they are a fully sealed goggle and this will be twinned with some lower face protection to lower the chance of BB's penetrating from the lower edges.
Bio, ESS V12, Mask
Although the lower face doesn't offer a full seal it should seriously minimise the probability of a BB penetrating the goggle seal.
The primary reason for purchase however would be for the sake of not loosing teeth. Unfortunately NightWolf has previously lost a half tooth, something which I don't fancy doing much, and this often leads to costly dentistry to fix. Not having particularly much in the way of spare cash, I don't want to take any changes, especially having been hit in the tooth before (which luckily didn't break but is now weakened).
Hopefully this will allow me to take a few more risks I would usually avoid this weekender.
DarkSaber with her new toy.
Darkie has also decided she wants to do a DMR type role, we we built her a customised M4.
This has a long 469mm, 6.03mm bore Prometheus barrel and clocks in at 350fps every shot +/- 0.5fps. The weekender shall be a worthy test of this one!
I have also has purchased a G36E front end in preparation for creating an MG36, however do not have the right box mag type yet, so this will be going as a backup in case the M249 fails or becomes too heavy.
Talking of the 249, upgrades!
6.03mm Tight Bore (Vanaras) and a new Madbull hop rubber had been put in. Combined, these two items have added around 40fps so it's now clocking in at a healthy 343fps +/- 3fps which shows just how bad of an air seal the default hop rubber really gives. Hopefully this will allow a greater suppression range which has always been a little lacking previously.
And finally, we now have team patches!
I've sewn the first one onto my "lightweight" Flecktarn shirt (which is slightly lighter in colour than a normal one) and have to say it looks fantastic.
Sewn on patch
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.