Oh boy where do I start with this? This was my first event in two years and it was a blast. I don't even know how to properly format an After Action Report anymore.
Anyways lets get into it.
The Good - The objectives were great and really lent themselves to the 3 team system nicely. At no point did I feel any team had an inherent advantage. Although Green and Tan had to work together to exchange drugs for cash at various times in the game, there was still plenty of fighting between us. I was expecting an early truce to push in the DEA and was worried that the game would basically just be Green and Tan spawn camping the DEA, while a truce did happen at one point because the DEA had gained a lot of ground, it was quickly broken because the Objectives required us to betray each-other to win.
There were also plenty of side objectives other than making the exchanges, your standard run of the mill capture control points and each side had the option to raid the others stash for extra cash or product, with the DEA being immune to this, any cash or product captured by them was out of the game. The Cartel made most of our points by raiding Tan. Props to The Wombats for using field knowledge to navigate their though the forest and constantly hitting Tan.
- The playerbase seemed to be a mix of experienced and newer players. The experienced ones took up the mantel of leading newer players willingly and led to a positive learning experience for all the younger kids and teenagers on the field. I can expect each and every one of them will be out to the field again at some point. I'm glad they have a positive first experience into airsoft; it really helps foster the growth of the sport.
- Radio communication was decent. Those who had radios utilized them. While my squad was mostly pulling security in the rear of the field by the Re Education Center and Roadblocks, a massive firefight broke out in the town around The Depot, Hatfield and McCoy and based on the radio chatter, they were able to effectively take those positions due to communication. Map for referance
- The weather was calling for rain but it didn't happen until Saturday night after the game was concluded. Not that the event host had anything to do with that but I am pleased with how the weather turned out.
- The field. TC Paintball in Copemish is roughly 55 acres however with how thick the woods are, it can feel a lot smaller or bigger depending on where you are at. All and All I love this field and can say it now ranks in my favorite fields I have played at. It has something for everyone, especially when you are using the whole field.
- The field was completely reserved for airsoft. No shuffling us between areas because some paintballers decided to show up for some open play or had reservations. This was nice because I have seen so many fields put paintballers above airsofters and it really ruins the game when a critical area of the field is cut off for play. This, along with a back injury, is one of the main reasons I quit airsoft. I've been to too many events I've paid good money for just to have a 1/3rd of the field cut off and combat be bogged down just because the only way to advance is either straight up a cliff or through an open field surrounded by hills. No thanks. So round of applause to the owner treating us with respect. Very few paintball fields let us have the entire field unmolested for the entire weekend.
- Turnout was good, 89 players. Plenty of attendees from down state. A couple of the guys who run Kalamazoo Airsoft were on the DEA. Was cool to see familiar faces after not playing for two years.
- Free HPA fills! Cheap Tank rentals. I rented a HPA tank for my Tippmann M4. 6 bucks for the day, topped my 2 Co2 tanks off before I left was well for free. Not sure if 6 bucks for renting an HPA tank is normal at most fields but if it is, I'm not going to buy my own anytime soon.
- Semi Only event. Honestly I prefer this. It makes support weapons so much more valuable
- The revive system was pretty straight forward, everyone gets one tourniquet, once its used you can't use it again until you return to a spawn.
Now for the bad- Chrono. This wasn't a big issue but they are moving over to a system that allows players to chrono with there own BB's. A lot of events are doing that now because joule creep, however they are using paintball chrono's that just measure FPS, not BB weight or joules. I was shooting .30's out of my Tippmann at 310 fps and was cleared for Arms length. That's roughly 380fps with .20's. I obviously should have had a 20ft engagement distance. Now this isn't a big deal since its a semi only event but all it takes is that one player to break the rules and light someone up full auto at 400fps from three feet away. At that point you just kick said player out. This is something I brought up to the event host and is something that should be worked out. All it takes is just ordering a couple chrono's on evike that allow you to dial in BB weight that comp for it. Next game hopefully they will be full converted to chronoing by Joules and not FPS.
- Fogging goggles. Michigan has been hit pretty hard with rainstorms the past couple weeks. Because of that it was pretty humid which we all know causes massive fogging. Once you got moving it wasn't and issue but I did find myself breaking field rules and wiping away the fog with my thumb quite often.
All in all, a great event and one I would gladly go to again.
Porn pic of Tan firing rockets into Cartel's positions (Not my image, just sharing because its cool)
