If your idea of a good weekend involves a simulated Ebola crisis, inter-faction warfare somewhere in a fictional Congo, and a raffle ticket, then congratulations! Your calendar just filled itself. Operation Bad Blood 2026 is back, running June 26–28 at EMR Event Park in New Milford, Pennsylvania, and Evike.com is making the trip east once again for what has become one of the most anticipated milsim events on the East Coast. Co-produced with Anchor & Star Airsoft and NYC Airsoft, this is the kind of event that gets players dusting off gear that has been sitting in a closet since last summer and arguing on Discord about camo compliance.

The scenario is, to put it charitably, grim in an incredibly fun way. A third of the Congo's population has been wiped out by an Ebola outbreak. The country has fractured into warring factions, and the CDC, which is apparently having issued some kind of viral Craigslist ad, is paying a bounty for fresh samples of the new strain. Three factions of armed medical teams are now competing to retrieve the most virus samples from a hot zone that has been converted, for the weekend, into the forests and fields of rural Pennsylvania. It is not exactly a relaxing premise, but it does give the game a sense of purpose beyond "shoot that person."

Those three factions are the Black and Tans (British Africa Taskforce, black shirts with tan or desert camo pants), Greens Army (Congo Defense Forces, OD green and woodland patterns), and Deus X (a Congolese Christian militia restricted to MultiCam/OCP, Kryptek Mandrake, or ATACS-FG). There is also an invite-only NPC Tribal Militia team in civilian Hawaiian shirts, which is either the best or most stressful role depending on your tolerance for standing out. Uniform requirements are enforced, and the organizers mean it: wrong camo equals no play and no refund, so sort this out before you leave home.

Tickets are priced at $50 per person through Evike.com and they are not sold at the gate, so online purchase is the only route in. The organizers describe the admission as deliberately below cost, framing the whole event as a fan appreciation effort made possible by sponsors. That $50 gets you field entry and a raffle ticket, which is a reasonable deal for a weekend of structured milsim on a property with multiple distinct play environments. The event is open to players aged 13 and up, with a cap of 250 players per faction, so there is scale here without becoming a logistical mess. A portion of proceeds goes to Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF), a nonprofit which was founded in 1970 by affected families dedicated to curing type 1 diabetes by driving innovation in treatments, policy, and care access. Supporting the organization’s activities is a worthwhile reason to show up even if the apocalypse scenario weren't already doing the heavy lifting.

The schedule runs across all three days with something for everyone. Friday evening opens with early chronograph and registration, followed by a night game from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. which is always an underrated part of any milsim event and a good way to shake off the drive. Saturday is the main event: chronograph and sign-in from 7:00 a.m., a full briefing and group photo at 9:00, and Operation Bad Blood running from 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., capped off with a raffle. Sunday adds bonus games including OP: Dead Blood (check the player packet for its special weapon restrictions) and open skirmish games running until 2:00 p.m. Guns with a Saturday chrono tag don't need re-chrono for Sunday skirmish, which is a small but appreciated logistical kindness.

Weapon velocity limits are 1.55 joules for assault rifles, DMRs, SAWs, SMGs, and sidearms, and 2.80 joules for bolt-action sniper rifles — standard enough that most players won't need to make any changes. Bio-BBs are mandatory, as is an FRS/GMRS two-way radio and face and ear protection. One item to note for 2026 specifically: due to dry field conditions, all smoke markers, including SPORT SMOKE and any pyrotechnic device, are banned this year. The EMR site does sell their own ELEV-8 smoke grenades in red and blue at $10 online (or $15 at the event), so that's the only smoke option on the table if your scenario calls for it. Read the player packet for the full equipment checklist before you pack.

EMR Event Park offers overnight accommodations ranging from shared bunkhouses at $30 per person (reserved in advance) to campsites at $20 per site and RV spots at $50, with the standard warning that camping spots don't include your event ticket and vice versa. The property has showers, water stations, and a communal bonfire pit; the nearest hot showers are at a Flying J truck stop one exit down on Route 81. Alcohol is allowed within specific hours for adult players with the rules are spelled out in detail on the EMR event page and worth reading, since violations mean immediate removal. Dogs are allowed on leash with muzzles. There is a lot going on here for a weekend in northeastern Pennsylvania, and most of it involves plastic BBs and tactical decision-making, which is exactly the point. Tickets and faction selection are available at Evike.com and camping reservations at emreventpark.com. Get your camo right.