Post by Psychosis on Aug 10, 2008 22:25:29 GMT -5
These were some of the things that stuck out to me about Northern Wind 5 which was in Ransomville, NY (a little North of Niagara Falls on the NY side.) This can almost be read as how it's better than Michigan games, LC Vets will probably know what I'm talking about but hey, it was my first LC game!
- No kids under 18. Sure, there was still a few problems with calling hits and whatnot, but for the most part it was pretty good. Hell, people called hits within the 10ft engagement limits of "rockets" and some Fox players came over to apologize to Echo and clear up misgivings after an incident around a bunker.
- Actual milsim.
- Strict uniform requirements makes it easier to tell who is who, especially since you're not allowed to take your BDU top off.
- The woodland team was actually competitive, and the score was pretty close.
- Longgrear and Mullen - both are great men and true patriots. Get killed by them in an airsoft game (Mullen personally captured my point card during the second game before disappearing back into the bush,) or at least meet them if you get a chance.
- Actual organization & structure - squads split up to take/defend objectives, instead of a general melee between two teams. This ties into:
- Objectives, instead of simply killing the other team.
- Three snipers per team max makes for better gameplay instead of every other kid, though there was only one true sniper at the game (skypilot!)
- Rolling out in humvees was neat, whether inserting right into the frontlines or pulling back to defend a bunker.
- Cooperation of the NY Army National Guard made a big difference, even if it was "only" driving us to and from the AO.
- Grenadiers were actually good for something besides bb showers! Watching people blow up humvees and/or kill people with a rocket was really cool, and possibly something I'll have to try in the future.
- Chilling with other players from Michigan, whether Team RAGE when with the Echo squad, hanging out with Task Force Iris betwen games, or carpooling/chilling with Skypilot.
Not so good:
- Quite a bit of miscommunication, particularly about objectives and rules. For example, in the last game on Sunday, part of the objective was to capture supply/ammo crates. We on Echo were told there were six crates total, and we ended up with four crates - command thought it would be a good idea to fall back to a defensive position around company HQ to defend them. However, John Lu later announced that Echo and Fox had captured four each, with Fox capturing more KIA cards off of "dead" soldiers, leading to an overall victory for them.
In the Blackhawk Down scenario towards the end of the day (both sides have pilots down behind enemy lines, first to rescue wins) we were told there were no respawns. I die early trying to secure the enemy crash site, and walk back to the main pavilion. A little while later, after I'm about done dropping off all my gear, Reaper comes back and informs some of us who were done on Echo that in fact there were respawns. By that late in the day, I was in no condition to head back out to the field
- Echo's command... seemed somewhat lacking. Just an example, 2-1's squad sergeant (ours) left after the first game, and didn't return for anything save the closing ceremonies, so our squad (me, Blindshot, Reaper, Tex, and some other non-Michigan people) of split off and did our own thing at the beginning of the second game after being unable to locate the Platoon LT or SGT.
- Radio comm. was kind of terrible the first day, so I just turned mine off - continuous VOX and pressing of the call button is not pleasant to listen to.
Was it everything I was hoping it to be? Probably not, I may have had unrealistic expectations. All in all though, in spite of NW5's flaws it was a good time, and it's like John Lu said (or something along these lines): "no airsoft game is ever perfect, and anyone who says otherwise is lying." I believe that he tried his best to organize a good game, and overall it was fun for me. I now have a better understanding of why GK hasn't really played at an event in MI since Blood Dynasty, when out of state games blow anything we have out of the water no matter what hassles there are.
I think NW6 would be worth checking out for anyone over 18 next August, though I think it would be great if everyone in Michigan could sign up together as a squad or two.
- No kids under 18. Sure, there was still a few problems with calling hits and whatnot, but for the most part it was pretty good. Hell, people called hits within the 10ft engagement limits of "rockets" and some Fox players came over to apologize to Echo and clear up misgivings after an incident around a bunker.
- Actual milsim.
- Strict uniform requirements makes it easier to tell who is who, especially since you're not allowed to take your BDU top off.
- The woodland team was actually competitive, and the score was pretty close.
- Longgrear and Mullen - both are great men and true patriots. Get killed by them in an airsoft game (Mullen personally captured my point card during the second game before disappearing back into the bush,) or at least meet them if you get a chance.
- Actual organization & structure - squads split up to take/defend objectives, instead of a general melee between two teams. This ties into:
- Objectives, instead of simply killing the other team.
- Three snipers per team max makes for better gameplay instead of every other kid, though there was only one true sniper at the game (skypilot!)
- Rolling out in humvees was neat, whether inserting right into the frontlines or pulling back to defend a bunker.
- Cooperation of the NY Army National Guard made a big difference, even if it was "only" driving us to and from the AO.
- Grenadiers were actually good for something besides bb showers! Watching people blow up humvees and/or kill people with a rocket was really cool, and possibly something I'll have to try in the future.
- Chilling with other players from Michigan, whether Team RAGE when with the Echo squad, hanging out with Task Force Iris betwen games, or carpooling/chilling with Skypilot.
Not so good:
- Quite a bit of miscommunication, particularly about objectives and rules. For example, in the last game on Sunday, part of the objective was to capture supply/ammo crates. We on Echo were told there were six crates total, and we ended up with four crates - command thought it would be a good idea to fall back to a defensive position around company HQ to defend them. However, John Lu later announced that Echo and Fox had captured four each, with Fox capturing more KIA cards off of "dead" soldiers, leading to an overall victory for them.
In the Blackhawk Down scenario towards the end of the day (both sides have pilots down behind enemy lines, first to rescue wins) we were told there were no respawns. I die early trying to secure the enemy crash site, and walk back to the main pavilion. A little while later, after I'm about done dropping off all my gear, Reaper comes back and informs some of us who were done on Echo that in fact there were respawns. By that late in the day, I was in no condition to head back out to the field
- Echo's command... seemed somewhat lacking. Just an example, 2-1's squad sergeant (ours) left after the first game, and didn't return for anything save the closing ceremonies, so our squad (me, Blindshot, Reaper, Tex, and some other non-Michigan people) of split off and did our own thing at the beginning of the second game after being unable to locate the Platoon LT or SGT.
- Radio comm. was kind of terrible the first day, so I just turned mine off - continuous VOX and pressing of the call button is not pleasant to listen to.
Was it everything I was hoping it to be? Probably not, I may have had unrealistic expectations. All in all though, in spite of NW5's flaws it was a good time, and it's like John Lu said (or something along these lines): "no airsoft game is ever perfect, and anyone who says otherwise is lying." I believe that he tried his best to organize a good game, and overall it was fun for me. I now have a better understanding of why GK hasn't really played at an event in MI since Blood Dynasty, when out of state games blow anything we have out of the water no matter what hassles there are.
I think NW6 would be worth checking out for anyone over 18 next August, though I think it would be great if everyone in Michigan could sign up together as a squad or two.
