On the 6th of April of 2019, the Dunedin Airsoft Club (DAC) hosted a major MILSOFT game called Operation Quadrant II. Several teams from different cities in New Zealand as far as Nelson, Christchurch and Invercargil participated in this day-long event.

The first Op Quadrant I was held in 2016 which attracted some 36 players from all over the South Island. This year’s second installment, according to Matt Davidson of DAC and an organizer of the event, aims to continue what OQ started. “The goal of Quadrant is simply just to get together with other clubs and have a good social game together”.

AIRSOFT IN THE SOUTH ISLAND

Matt further shares his insights of the sport and the kind of people it attracts and DAC’s relationship with other Airsoft Clubs and I quote:

“Airsoft in the South Island from my experience has always seemed to attract the same (for the most part) kind of people that are looking to get into an active sport that involves teamwork and strategy with like minded people. The majority of people we get coming along and renting gear for games and joining our club are usually from early 20s to mid 30s, although we do get older players trying it out which is great to see”.

“We get players with a huge variety in occupations - from tradies to students, to IT guys - which makes it good because everyone likes to help each other out and having all different skills it works out very well”.

“DAC I feel has good relationships with other clubs in the South Island plus a few in the North Island. We try to play a large number of inter-club events which gets us playing along side other teams from all over the country. We have teams from Invercargill often come up and join us for a game day every so often, a group of us travel to Nelson every year to attend the NAC (Nelson Airsoft Corps) inter-club event which usually gets roughly 80 players from all over the country attending, and we also just got back from Hokitika from an annual event up there where we play in an abandoned mental asylum for 5 days, that also usually gets 60-80 players yearly”.

GAME SYNOPSIS, RULES AND ROE

There will be four teams of 11-12 players all fighting for domination in a points based game as there will be objectives each team will have to fight over and fight to keep, gaining team points for each objective it collects.

Each team has 2 assigned medics with “punchers” and each team member is assigned a laminated game card. Every time a player is hit, the medic “revives” him by punching a hole on his game card which is attached on his person. As each team battle one another in a task based objective, (e.g. blowing up opponent’s bases, retrieving VIP, money, bombs, supplies etc.) the team garners corresponding points.

All teams can also “loot” an opposing team’s money they may have acquired during the duration of the game. At the end of the event, all these are tabulated by the organizers as tasks achieved and cards are collected, frags are tallied and deducted against the overall points each team acquired. Based on their official page, the ROE is as follows:

FPS Limits:

• A weapon firing 350 FPS (1.13 Joules) or under has no M.E.D
• A weapon firing from 351 FPS up to 420 FPS (1.63 Joules) has a 10m M.E.D
• A weapon firing from 420 FPS up to 600 FPS (3.34 Joules) has a 20m M.E.D
• No weapon may fire over 3.34 joules.
• Guns firing 1.13 Joules or under may use full auto with a 10m M.E.D.

GAME PROPER

The game kicked off around past 1000 hours and ended around past 1600 hours. There is an hour long lunch break in between with free burgers and sausages with bread and soda.

My team’s (#2) AOR was in the forested section of COMBAT ZONE-PAINTBALL DUNEDIN. The site offered thick undergrowth with loose, damp earth in the low areas contrasted by large and tall pine trees on steep ridges and hills making movement slow, laborious yet offered a lot of defilades for exciting firefights when opposing teams collide.

My ad hoc team pretty much achieved a lot except for one instance when we were decimated defending a small fort. The other teams also fielded ghillied snipers of which I fell victim to. By 1700 hours, the results were announced by the organizers with team 1 bagging the highest score while team 4 taking the bottom rank.

Weather cooperated given the fact that it rained the night before making the game site damp and wet in some areas and the temperature ranged from 6 degrees at its lowest to 13 at its peak.

As a foreigner and new to NZAirsoft, my observation (during this game day) is that the Kiwis are basically organized and cohesive when playing as team. More often than not, fire discipline and safety is observed. They are also task oriented and autonomous (only 3 marshalls, two of which play multiple roles such as VIPs and coordinators and the game info are only shared to the 4 elected team leaders so as try get each team actually working as a proper unit and having their respective leader to brief his team on their objectives and decide their strategies.).

The best for me was how cold, bug, critter and snake free the forest is in contrast to the ones I am normally accustomed to in Asia making it a tad bearable. The Kiwis sure know how to have fun with their pew pews and let’s all hope and pray that airsoft in New Zealand will never change and is here to stay.

Kia Kaha Airsoft Aotearoa.

About Sax Concepcion Isip

The contributor is a 20 year Maybe-Seal and False-Recon airsoft veteran who turned 50 by the time this article is published. He made his living selling militaria and airsoft stuff, went to real estate, retired and moved his family to NZ in 2018. He now enjoys tramping, camping and kayaking and lost 2 kilos working part time as a motel cleaner.

Photos by DM Photography

Daniel Mazur works in the IT (not the psycho clown) industry. His hobby is airsoft and does professional photography.