It was at around 0600H that I woke up, still early for the rest of the players though some were already getting ready. Some of the tents near us were dead still, with their occupants nursing a hangover and still trying to get an hour or two of sleep before they get up and get ready for the today's games. It's always nice to wake up ahead of the rest since you get to go to the toilet first and dump whatever you had last night. Our area relatively has one of the cleanest toilets as far as I am concerned.

Tent by tent, the rest of the camp woke up by around 0700H. Masterchief was ready to cook breakfast, as it's always was his task as I take care of cleaning up. Joe and Wayne were already up too and fixing their coffee, whilst Carl was still asleep. I think around two or three sticks of cigarettes chatting with Joe and Wayne did Carl get up and we all had breakfast together. We needed to be ready by 0930H as briefing starts at 1000H at the landing area.

The sun was out, which was a good thing, which meant that it was going to be a dry day, and that further meant that players would not worry about getting wet and muddied during the games. By 0830H were about ready to gear up with our camera equipment whilst the rest had their game kit on as they get to play early than us. A little bit past 0900H off we went to the main grounds.

Many players were already there, excited to start shooting in their full battle gear. H and the marshals having a briefing before they start marching the players to the landing area. I bumped into The Pope, though we haven't had time to have a chit chat as I was busy taking photos and videos with Masterchief, so sorry The Pope.

By 1000H the marshals beckoned the players to go to the Landing Area where the all will be briefed by The H. It took some time before all the players were assembled and with some sound equipment failure, he managed to brief all the players. On a sad note, H mentioned about one airsoft player, which we forgot to jot down his name, wasn't able to get to the Weekender as he passed away due to cancer at such a young age of 18.  His team mates were at the event on his behalf.

A highlight of H's briefing was the participation of the Mankini Guy who was there to raise money for Help for Heroes, with a target of raising £1,000 during the weekend. Give him money and he'll do whatever you asked him to do, `cept for removing his mankini. Wayne asked him to do some diversion during the game. We have some photos of him which we cannot post them here as some have to be censored. But if you're curious what photo we've gotten of him, you can just go to our Facebook Page and look for the Ground Zero 2011 Albums.

It was almost 1100H that H announced the game is on. All groups went to their starting areas, with the Deltas starting from the Burrows, the Bravos left behind at the Landing Area, and the Others proceeded to the Fire Base Charlie. All groups waited for the “artillery” barrage before rushing off into different directions to start going for the objectives such as intel envelopes, drug packets, missile components, and more. Each had a correspondent point and an accumulation of points would allow any group commander to call a missile or nuclear strike.

For me and Masterchief, our jobs just got started --- shooting players shooting other players, confused?

After milling around at Fire Base Charlie, as we're part of The Others whenever we get to play, off we went to general direction of The Nest since it's going at the centre where most of the groups will definitely encounter with each other. Just at the junction leading towards The Nest, firefights had erupted. Bravo and The Others were already battling out, with an objective of taking a foothold of the Village. I got hit at the knee pad by one Bravo player though he apologised for it.  Some Delta players were already encountering Bravos along the route.

Masterchief radio'ed in that he's near The Nest and no one's occupying it, save for some Deltans around it. Deltans who overheard me said that they had no plans of getting it as it's a “bullet magnet” being at the centrepoint of the firefights. They'd rather be ringing around it and taking out players from the other groups wanting to occupy it. With Bravos pouring in from Artillery Hill and Landing Area, the Deltans had their hands full thwarting their attempts at going uphill to take The Nest and other objectives near it. On the opposite side were The Others who were also going a full attack at them. The morning's game started right and with some ferocity.

After making our rounds near The Nest and surrounding areas, I headed back to Fire Base Charlie to check on what's happening with The Others. Found Kilo and he was directing the players to what objectives they need to take. There were some feeble attempts to attack the camp by other groups which we failed to identify as they fade out immediately.

The “assassin” feature was introduced last year and it did make make the players on alert to guard their leaders and bases. In this case, players would need to check the number of tags entering their bases and if they match. If they don't match, then an assassin gets spotted and shot or knife-killed. If they let their guard down, one can get through and wreak havoc inside the base. In this case, one assassin got through The Others base and was able to shoot Kilo and some of the base defenders before being taken out.

A few minutes after the assassin got through, a Nuke Strike was called on to the Others base, at which all players cleared the place out or else they get “killed” within the base. All players within the base for within a minute are considered hit. Only after the an “All Clear” signal was given can players can come back to their base.

By 1300H, we decided that we had to change from our camera equipment to our airsoft guns, time for us to play and experience what the rest were having. We first had lunch then loaded up with our airsoft gear and went into action. We found the Swiss Invaders at Fire Base Charlie who were preparing to go to the objective Fire Base Ladybird which was near The Burrows, the Delta Base. We joined up with them as they're one of the more disciplined teams to be with, and besides that, they're absolutely funny.

Once we got near the objective which was just beyond The Trenches, we saw some Others already slugging out with some Deltans from the Burrows. We moved to reinforced them only to be caught from behind some Deltans. A fierce firefight happened where it was to the advantage of the white tags. I was able to hit one but got hit by more fire coming from my flank. I saw more players within my group gathering at the edge of the clearing waiting until the last in our group got taken out by the Deltans and for us to proceed to the respawn area.

After respawning, we decided to check other areas to occupy. We found some Others players who were on their way to the Prison Camp and together we found it empty, but not for long. Two Deltans went in to check out and we surprised them, taking them out quickly. We hastily spread out to defend it as we noticed that more Deltans were coming our way. I saw a group of Deltans and I fired off a short burst of Bbs and hit two Deltans, then I had to fallback immediately as the rest of their team fired on my position. To my surprise, they did not follow through since we're thinning out in our position. New Others came to reinforce us right after that hasty ambush I setup. Confident that they will be able to defend the position, we moved out to the direction of The Village.

The Village was already under control of the Others but was under heavy siege by the Bravos by the time we got there. However, the Swiss Invaders moved on so I found myself with Others players defending the Village. It was virtually impregnable as a large group of Others players had positioned themselves well. I had to find my own position near the undergrowth to check if some Bravos were trying to sneak in The Village. I found one crawling and took a shot, no hit call was made so I just changed position only to be hit by my target. I radio'ed Masterchief who told me to get back to Fire Base Charlie. I passed through the Prison Camp on my way to the base, and saw Joe, Carl and Wayne already defending it well.

Upon reaching Fire Base Charlie, we set out to help out in base defence. At the path leading towards near the Safe Zone there were some Bravos criss-crossing. Some Others players were sniping them until it went quiet. Masterchief and I went down to check further only to be fired upon by a Bravo player who was well hidden and had the advantage of elevation. I had to change position and almost stumbled into a Bravo player running back towards their positions, I fired at him and was sure that I hit him since it was a very close distance but no call was hit. I just let it at that since he might not have noticed as he was like running mad. The hidden Bravo player tried firing at me, but I was able to get into hiding. I coordinated with Masterchief where his position was through radio until he was able to hit him. He gave me an all clear so I went towards his position and another Bravo player who was quiet all this time, fired and hit me. Bummer, I cursed Masterchief for not making sure was clear of Bravo players on my way to respawn.

Time was fast as I checked my watch after respawning, it was almost 1700H. I called Masterchief if he wants to call it day and that we proceed back to the Safe zone. He joined me as I walked back to the Safe Zone. Most players were already streaming back to the Safe Zone, and we just waited for Carl, Joe and Waybe to get back before we went to our tents to rest our feet first and change back to our camera equipment for the evening's raffle draw.

The raffle draw started at around 1730H with most of the players freshened up, leaving most of their airsoft equipment back at their tents. We arrived just in time to see H climbing up the APC to start the Saturday Game updates. On our way to the APC we have noticed that the main ground was really teeming with players all the way to the UKAPU area. It was not like this last year which shows how the Ground Zero has grown. It was an impressive sight.

H started with the updates on the points garnered by the Groups for Saturday. Unfortunately, we were not able to write down the points, but Delta was in the lead. H mentioned about the Others for bringing the fight to the Deltans, giving them a hell of a battle. As compared to last year, this year's Saturday was relatively orderly and most players conducted themselves well. He then announced that for this year, there were 91 prizes for the raffle draw as compared to last year's 50+. That's 91 happy Ground Zero 2011 players.

Carl was lucky to get an ICS AK-47 AEG, with two female players finally getting to own their AEGs via raffle. The queue was long as lucky players lined up to get their prizes and had their photos taken. Surprisingly, it was the quickest Saturday debriefing made by H. He himself was surprised by the speed of it. There were two long queues that were formed too, one for the bar, and another for the Burger Van while the rest went back to their tents to recap the day's events or prepare for the night game.

We decided to forego the night game as we ourselves were tired. We stayed at the main grounds chatting with GZ friends until we have made quite a crowd at our table with the Swiss Invaders joining us. It was getting chilly, and fires were made to warm the place up, with Danny trying to remove whatever plastic that were thrown into the drums as the smell was not quite pleasant. Eventually the plastic stuff were cleared and the smoke was more bearable.

I think I lost track of what was being discussed after several pints of beer. The Swiss Invaders love playing in the UK and wanted to get any opportunity as they can to play here. Most of them haven't tried a CQB game and asked us if we can arrange one. Masterchief did agree but what was left out was the date when this would happen. In the background players were forming up for the night game and plastic containers with glow sticks in them being prepped to be brought into the game area as these would be the objectives for the night.

It was already 2315H when tiredness really set in. The twins from the Swiss Invaders still had a flight to catch in the morning at Heathrow so they had to catch the train in Bournemouth going towards London, and finally to the airport. They've been in just a little bit over 24 hours at Ground Zero just to experience it again. They hope that next year it will be a longer stay.

As we all slowly made our way back to our tents, we saw players smiling while having beer cans opened and some were animated reliving the "hits" they've made during the day. The atmosphere in the camp areas was more subdued this year, but the satisfaction of players can be felt. Indeed, I have to say that this was my second best Saturday in the years playing at Ground Zero Weekender, with last year's teaming up with the Swiss Invaders being the best so far. For others, it may be their best Saturday, veteran or newbie alike.

It was a chore taking changing clothes to prepare to sleep, with beer and sore feet not helping out. After this, what happened next was my best sleep at Ground Zero.

Read Day 1 of Ground Zero NAE 2011 Report.

Read Day 3 of Ground Zero NAE 2011 Report.

More Day 2 Photos are uploaded at the Popular Airsoft Facebook Page. Try to find out if we took a photo of you.