I've been trying to get out more lately and attend as many games as possible outside the normal area, and since this was a charity event for a good cause at a field I'd never been to it seemed like a no-brainer.
I'll start with the good. The field itself was quite fun, it's large and varied and has a number of manmade structures that contribute to exciting gameplay. From densely wooded areas to rocky hills to clumps of small plywood buildings it was a constant challenge to outmaneuver and engage the enemy. While I'm not sure what the final attendance numbers were, I can say that it was quite a few and finding a firefight was never a problem.
Bill takes aim with his VSR-10. He's really good at reaching out and touching you. Especially if you're a boy.Representing the Blanco Boys were myself (M14), Ippolito (M14), James Kerry (M14), and Bill the Boytoucher (VSR-10). We played alongside teams TBD and Blackwater. The TBD guys seem to share the Blanco philosophy of playing honorably and for the fun of the game. They're all ex-military, however they exude none of the supersoldier/better-than-you attitude displayed by some veteran players. All-in-all a great group of guys and people I'm proud to be associated with, even if they do use M4's... The Blackwater guys are from far north Jersey, and are another group of experienced, honorable players that stick together and are a valuable asset in any situation.
(James Kerry and Ippolito with some of our TBD friends)The firefights were intense, and considering the number of people there I had very few incidents where I shot someone who didn't call hit. The varied terrain combined with the manmade structures meant you could be slinking through the woods one minute and running building to building the next. The lack of a "bang" rule meant you really had to take your time clearing buildings, and upped both the stakes and the adrenaline.
(Killed the battery in my M14, so I switched to my AK. And no, the guy on the other side of the bunker was not expecting me to do this, lol)I'm not going to harp on the negatives but it wouldn't really be fair not to mention them. Registration took something like 3 hours to complete. Game was supposed to start at 930 and didnt actually commence until around lunchtime. That's a little ridiculous in my opinion, but that was probably the only serious gripe of the day. I understand that there were a lot of people, but adding a few admins to help check people in and collect cash/waivers would not have been terribly difficult. It seemed that the organizers were changing spawns and objectives as the day went on to try to keep the action interesting. That's both good (lots of shooting) and bad (confusing), so Id say they cancel each other out. The last issue was a lack of understanding on the part of some of the players of the rules (respawn, taking objectives, medic rules, etc.) and that definitely cannot be blamed on the organizers.
All in all it was a very fun day of airsoft and I would recommend people go if it's held again. It's for a good cause on a good field and was overall quite enjoyable and worth the money and drive.
There's an article about the game posted at
http://www.popularairsoft.com/honor-brave-2-scorchs-challenge-after-action-report with pictures courtesy of Moondog.
