Ground Zero National Airsoft Event 2011 Day 3: The Final Battles

OptimusPrime

02 Sep 2011

It was already 0800H when I woke up. I never realised that I slept for 8 hours sleep at a camp site. Never had that long sleep in my own bed in recent days, much more inside a tent that long ways off than a warm nice bed at home. My camp mates were still asleep, perhaps they were still in dreamland.

I started packing my gear inside the tent, just to make sure that they were ready to be put in the car once we take down the tent. Save for the camera equipment, it took me longer than expect to put all the things in the bags as we had created such a mess inside the tent, mixed up with either Masterchief's or Carl's gear. I was done by the time both woke up, and Wayne and Joe were about to take a trip to the toilet.

Masterchief and I decided to pack up the tent and all the stuff into his car and let the rest proceed to the game area by 1000H. We brought this huge Quechua family pop-up tent, unlike in the previous years where we had smaller separate pop-up tents. We expect it to be such a hassle to take down the tent as compared to the smaller ones, but we were surprised how easy it was to put it back in the bag. We always pulled our hairs with the smaller ones. The next was to see if we can fit everything into the small car, which was not easy task too. We were able to squeeze everything by 15 past 1100H and we drove to the main grounds. We parked there and took out our camera equipment only to be met by a sudden pouring of rain. After over 10 minutes of rain did a break open and we dashed into the game area and hoped that the trees and foliage would keep us dry.

Just one step into the game area and we found ourselves in the midst of a huge firefight between the Bravos and Deltans. The Deltans were pushing their way towards Fire Base Charlie, which was the base for Bravo for Day 3. It looked like an exercise in futility as the Bravos were strong in numbers and had responded with bigger groups to counter the Deltans who were attacking with smaller teams.

The Bravos were pretty much in control of the areas around their base, but they were harassed from the north by the Others who made attempts at attacking the Bravo base but the Bravos were fast to respond and in the south by the Deltans who were slowly making their way to the Stag Camp. The Bravos were surely kept busy by both teams as a big bulk of the Bravos were around their base and nearby occupied areas.

We went to the Stag Camp as it was one area that we failed to cover yesterday. The Bravos were a little bit secure on the eastern side here as the rains created a pond that made it an approach from the east to be hard, especially for players who did not want to get wet, but would make a great approach as it's an unguarded area. Another pour of rain again and we had to find some cover and thankfully we didn't have to run far.

Passing through Fire Base Charlie again on our way to the western side of the game area, the Bravos were mightily busy defending the base as they had another attack by the roadside. One chap just went Rambo and wielding two assault rifles to ward off the attackers, which have may have had scared them looking at the photo below:

The Others were just pouring in as the Burrows, where they were now staging from was near. From the distance another group of Others were going for Artillery Hill. It was a tough morning for the Others, but they were not letting up. By 1230H we saw the Others scattering, running away from the Burrows, another Nuclear attack was called on their base. At the road below, Deltans were trying to outflank the Others attacking the Nest, but then they were also being outflanked by Others players coming down from Artillery Hill.

At the Landing Area, the base of operations for the Deltans, there were few people milling around. Obviously, most of the players for the group were out gathering more points at various objectives and trying to pad their lead even further to ensure that they win this year again. It was relatively calm at the Landing Area as most of the firefights were in the other objective areas.

We want back the Safe Zone as I needed to leave early for a personal commitment that I made back in London. We just waited for Carl to get back and whilst doing that, I gave my thanks and congratulations to H and for the rest of the Ground Zero NAE 2011 staff for a job well done.

My take on this year's event is still similar to last year's. The Ground Zero Weekender offers something unique to players of different levels of experience. It's not exactly a milsim event for the hardcore players, nor is it just a easy going game for those who just got introduced to airsoft. But the Ground Zero has something to offer for different types of players, and always succeeds in giving this. Apart from that, the event is not about airsoft skirmishes per se, it's about the fellowship amongst airsoft players from all over the UK and Europe, and perhaps those players who may had attended the event from outside the continent.

What else can be improved with the Weekender? There are a lot, we would say, and most of these have been covered by suggestions by players at the Zeroin forums. There will always be gripes in large scale airsoft events, and not everyone will be satisfied. The overall conduct of players has always been remarkable and I have had my share of big events that get ruined by players who disregard the rules, and these big events did not go beyond their second iteration. Ground Zero was able to avoid this and met expectations of players. The growth of the event over the years is a testament of this. Even for us at Popular Airsoft, we keep on going back each year for the sheer enjoyment of this event.

As we drove past by the Landing Area on our way back home, we saw the Others making siege of the Deltans and on the next day, we learned about that they denied the base to the Deltans and launched a big assault on the Nest that concluded the game on a big note. Now that's how you bring the fight to the enemy. Our salute to them.

Final Scores: