I fully woke up around 0600H finding the ground damp caused by the light rain at 0400H. The whole Ground Zero National Airsoft Festival was starting to stir up for the second day. In fact, someone was already at the shooting range saloon aiming for the targets at the farthest distance, which basically were close to our tent.

I had to do some quick updates for Popular Airsoft and it was a good thing that mobile internet access was good at Ground Zero. Master Chief was still blissfully asleep, snoring as usual. Whilst I waited for him to wake up, I went to the food vans to find where I can grab a cup of coffee. By the time I got back to our tent, he was just getting up. After some morning rituals, we both grabbed some breakfast. It was just unfortunate that German sausages were not available that early in the morning so we had the usual eggs, bacon and bangers pushed down by coffee.

We prepared our gear, checking the batteries to ensure that they were all fully charged as there will be no chances for us to charge them for two days. By 0900H the safe zone was almost full with airsoft players eager to start the first day of major airsoft skirmishes and all armed to the teeth. Bravos, Deltas, and The Others started forming up for the morning briefing which H started by 0930H.

It was a quick one and before 1000H the factions started to going for their starting points --- The Others at the Burrows, Delta at the Landing Zone, and Bravo at Fire Base Charlie. Master Chief and I joined The Others as we have been playing for group since we started covering the event in 2008. After the final briefing by the group commanders, we waited for the controlled pyros to give loud bangs and the siren to blare to let the day’s games commence.

The immediate action that we saw was the Deltas and The Others having a seesaw battle for control of The Trenches and The Chapel. Both provide a vantage point that controlling them can prevent one group from moving to the other locations. The Deltas have already occupied The Trenches whilst The Others held The Chapel and were pushing hard to flush out The Deltas from their positions before we moved to the other areas.

Moving on, the first dead zone we already filled up with players from The Others, showing how intense the first hour of the game was. Close to that dead zone was The Prison Camp where they built another permanent two-storey structure making it a formidable place to occupy and defend. The Bravos were already there having occupied The Village as well and making a push towards The Nest and The Trenches. It looked like the first part of the day was going well for them. At The Village, they were pretty much under siege by the Deltas who wanted to control that area.

We walked towards Firebase Charlie to check on how things were going there. It was basically almost empty with the exception of the Command Team and a few players providing base security. All looked secure in this area including Checkpoint Charlie, Stag Camp, and The OP. Bravo pretty much got things covered here.

Going back to The Chapel and The Trenches, we found the Deltas have dislodged The Others and were making their way to The Burrows which was not good news for The Others. The sector all the way to the Landing Zone was pretty much under control by the Deltas though some of The Others were also moving around to harass them at the Landing Zone via Heartbreak Ridge.

Checking our watches, it was already 1230H , time for us to grab some lunch and get our game gear. Getting back to the Safe Zone, we tried the Greek Gryos which were good to last us the whole afternoon. Resting our feet a bit, we changed from cameras to airsoft guns as we finally got into the action too. Not having some trigger time at the Ground Zero National Airsoft Festival would break our hearts so off to the Burrows for us as we joined the rest of The Others in their missions.

From the Burrows, we headed off towards Camp Coursey where we encountered some Bravos, Master Chief got hit and off to the Dead Zone for him. Our sniper also got hit, but eventually the rest in our group were able to clear the area and we continued again to Camp Coursey. I tripped over some cut branches and glad someone pulled me back on my feet.  The camp was pretty much already cleared so we made our way towards Firebase Charlie and we encountered intense opposition at the road before got near to the Firebase. I got separated from my group and eventually got hit, off to the Dead Zone for me where Master Chief joined me a few minutes later.

Just outside the Dead Zone, the Others were massing up for a push towards the Prison Camp which the Bravos pretty much controlled. We made an initial push and as I went towards the bushes to move closer, I pretty much got under fire by an unknown number from the opposition and got hit. Back to the Dead Zone where the time to respawn was already shortened to 5 minutes past 1500H. That made it quicker for me to get back into the action and The Others have almost overrun the Prison Camp but the firefight was intense. A group of us were going for some flanking action when some Bravos just came out of nowhere trying to reinforce their comrades in the Prison Camp and they got our attention. After a brief firefight, we eventually made our way to some of the prison cells and calling on for more reinforcements, we finally occupied The Prison Camp past 1600H.

Resting a bit at the Prison Camp and a quick chat with Nigel of Airsoft Action Magazine and his wife, we decide to move out quickly and go for The Village. The groups should be able to occupy The Village by 1700H so over a thousand players from different groups were converging on this area and that meant a even more intense battle. Our group was able to clear a portion of The Village and immediately we waited for more from our side to secure it before we started going for more of the huts. That was when all hell broke loose as Bravo were putting up a stiff fight and trying to move to our area and reoccupy the huts we got.

By 1630H things were just really confusing, BBs were flying from all directions and you just didn’t know if you are hit or not and you had to be on guard at all times with the Bravos shouting “Bravo! Bravo” then rushing towards us. If you did not bring enough BBs with you, you will regret it soon as magazine after magazine got emptied quick with the onslaught of Bravos. I may have shot already a year’s worth of BBs in just 30 minutes and looking around we were not advancing at all and it looked like a stalemate was taking place. I fired off my last shots and got my last Bravo when the whistles blew marking the end of skirmishes for the day. Good thing our group was able to hold that portion of the village that we initially cleared.

Back to the safe zone, I found Master Chief at our tent as we got separated since The Prison Camp when he got hit. I was happy to unload my gear and changed into lighter clothing, sat down to rest my feet a bit. By 1830H, we took the cameras with us and joined the crowds as they started forming up near the big tent for the day’s announcements and main raffle draw at 1900H.

It was wee bit past 1900H when H finally got up to announce the results of the day, with Bravo winning the day, Delta coming in second, and The Others last. He also said that The Village battle was a tie, meaning that all groups got equal scores from the last battle of the day. With the assistance of Femme Fatale Airsoft and yours truly, H announced the major raffle prize winners. There were more raffle prizes but the winners were already pre-drawn or else it would take hours just to pull out the names of the raffle winners.

After the raffle draw we first went to Viper Tactical where we saw Gavin busy talking to airsoft players.  We had some chit-chat until it was already 2030H and we joined the Airsoft Action Magazine family for some beer and pizza as other players who still had the energy to play went back to the game zone for the night games.

With beer and pizza in our system we decided to call it a night by 2200 as tiredness set in. Sleep came in quicker this time and off to our next round of who made the loudest snore.

Photos of the second day available at the Popular Airsoft Facebook Page.

• Read the first day report here.
• Read the third day report here.