Aarrrggghhhh!!! It's really hard to wake up after a tiring Saturday. I wasn't alone as most people started waking up an hour later than the previous day. It's always like this during Ground Zero where the last day is more subdued than the first two days. But it doesn't mean that the thrill of playing during the event has been diminished. The younger ones had more energy to be at the appointed time to resume the game, and the not-so-young, well, they had to do some more body stretching to loosen those muscles and bones upon waking up, just like diesel engines.

The last one basically describes me and Masterchief, it was well past 0700H when we woke up and the rest of the camp was doing the same with some still trying to get a few more zzzzsss before getting up for the day. The night games produced exhausted some players who may still be dreaming about the action last night.

Upon waking up and doing the usual morning rituals, I started packing up my camping and airsoft gear. We always pack everything into the car and park at the safe zone and to continue our task of documenting the event without walking back to the camp area after. It also saves us time since we already have everything ready to go for our not-so-long ride back home. Only my camera equipment and safety gear would remain on me until we leave.

On to the game. Once we stepped into the skirmish area by 1100H we saw the French Team engaged in a fierce firefight just by The Pond. Having a perfect record of getting hit while taking photos, three bbs ran smack to my right leg. But I didn't mind, as it was really good seeing the action and we wouldn't miss it. As players crossed the trail moving on to their objectives, we heard the stacato of airsoft gunfire and shouts of hits.

It started drizzling when we got to the guard tower on our way to the Mortar Base. The Deltas were really busy as they had to protect their last year's win. Along the way, were there wild firefights near the Village and Prison Camp with all three groups converging in those areas. We wanted to cover some scenes from different angles but Masterchief's camera ran out of batteries, and forgot his spare back at the car. I had to hand him over my camera while I went on to take some videos of some of the battles with my god forsaken HD video camera.

The Others were at the Prison Camp in an intense firefight against some Deltas and it almost looked like a close quarters battle as some of the Deltas were moving in and slowly taking a good portion of the area. I had to scramble out of the way as the BBs were just too close for comfort while I trying to steady my camera. I went to the nearest tree and I can just hear the bbs hitting it, "Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!" It was a stream coming from a single direction, it must be a player who thought I was from the opposing group and I had to scamper further away.

Having enough of a shower of BBs, we moved towards the trail to catch our breath near a regen area which was surrounded by the Prison Camp, the Village and The Trenches. There was an assortment of players from the different groups coming to sit it out for 10 minutes after taking their hits from those mentioned areas.

The Others do really have a sentimental attachment to The Nest as they were still tenaciously holding this position since yesterday, this time most of the attacks were coming from Bravo. I thought I've turned into a BB magnet as I was subjected to another hail of BBs from Bravos coming from the North of The Nest. I had to shout out loud and I got an acknowledgment from the Bravos as this group were comprised of players who I am familiar with since we started covering Ground Zero in 2008. A friendly wave was all that was needed and they gave me safe passage.

Mentioning the Bravos, they surely did not lack in heroics as they've got players who did some magnificent moves when attacking positions by their lonesome and the second good play that I've seen was another Bravo who crept up the hill on the approach to The Nest. There were Others looking at his direction but never did notice him until it was too late as he let off a burst of fire that took most of them out until those who were protected in the Nest saw him and subjected him to superior firepower.

From the Nest, we walked futher down until we found ourselves at the Staging Area where The Others were now based. This was our last waypoint before heading back to the safe zone. I was able to talk to the Swisss Team who asked me if I wanted to join them on a new "Special Ops" mission from Woody which unfortunately I wouldn't be able to as it was work time for us documenting the event. We discussed our yesterday's mission as I asked them where they ended up as I found myself left alone after that firefight with the Bravos. Before we separated, I wished them luck in their "special ops" mission and I hope they get in touch with us as we had an agreement that we'll learn more about their team and Swiss Airsoft soon. I also wondered if they've got energy left for that long 15 hour drive back to Zurich.

It was 1330H went Masterchief and I got back to the safe zone, his son waiting inside the car and seemed to be in a hurry to get home. I wished that we could've stayed longer on the last day but then some family commitments need to be attended to. We said our thanks to H and the marshals for the wonderful hospitality they accorded us.

As we passed by players who were either tired as they went back to the safe zone or all smiles as they went straight into battle, we congratulate the organisers of the Ground Zero Weekender 2010 another successful event. They surely did exceed the players' expectations this year.

Final Scores

Bravo (Saturday) : 5580 points
Bravo (Sunday) : 4760 points
Bravo (Total) : 10340 points (Winner)

Delta (Saturday) : 5030 points
Delta (Sunday) : 4430 points
Delta (Total) : 9460 points

Others (Saturday) : 4100 points
Others (Sunday) : 2250 points
Others (Total) : 6350 points

Parting Words

The Ground Zero Weekender this year is the best so far in our experience and we look forward to another exciting event next year. As mentioned in our past coverage of the event, this is a "must attend" event, even for just once in your airsofting life. We have never gotten tired of covering Ground Zero and hopefully, the organisers have more tricks up their sleeves next year.

Whilst it's called a "National Airsoft Event", it is by now an international event with more players coming from different parts of Europe joining in. Whether you are a casual airsoft player or serious milsim enthusiast, the organisers have carefully thought out what you will expect and have indeed prepared scenarios and missions that will suit the needs of the type of airsoft player you are.

If you are the serious airsoft player who prefer some milsim type, then you are accommodated. It may not necessarily be an exact milsim event for you, but then there are those special ops missions that you and your team mates can grab and execute. What is good about conducting special ops missions within a large scale airsoft event is that there are many variables that you have to factor in. En route to your objective you either encounter regular airsoft players just on the look out for someone to shoot at, or other special mission teams on their way to their own objectives and you have to make on the spot decisions to engage or avoid. Any of those decisions can make or break your mission as engaging the enemy while far from your objective would bring a larger force that would jeopardize your intentions. Avoiding contact can get you nearer to your objectives, but you have lesser "hits" to tally. Only the importance of your mission objectives can give weight to any decision you make.

If you're the casual airsoft player, then you can enjoy the event too and just go rock and roll by doing the regular operations as indicated in your briefing paper and try to gather as many points as possible, or have your "quota" of hits to achieve in such a target rich environment. If you're one of the lazier players, then you can conduct static defense with your team mates either by holding a position and defend it from the other groups, or be at your group base to protect the group commanders and their 2nd in command from assassins.

I'm sure many players have wishes about more bells and whistles in the game, such as more pyros or even some simulated air support to give it a semblance of real warfare. But then safety comes first, and more bells and whistles would demand more investments. Such "luxuries" in airsoft events would surely come at a price. If the number of paying players increases and allow such investment, then you can expect more from the event organisers.

The exemplary conduct of players is one thing that we love about the Ground Zero Weekender. Save for some isolated incidents, overall, we have not heard of any grumblings among the players.

See you all next year. Below are the photos we have taken during the Weekender. Feel free to download the photos if you see yourself in those and you can use them at your team websites. You're not obligated to mention that the photos came from us but we do appreciate it much if you do. You can view the full gallery by clicking on the slide show.

For those who are Facebook addicts, they can go to our Facebook page as we have uploaded the GZ 2010 photos there too.

 

UPDATE 13/09/2010: Here's our "best effort" with the video footages we took:

• Read the Ground Zero Weekender 2010 After Action Report Part 1 
• Read the Ground Zero Weekender 2010 After Action Report Part 2