It was a perfect day for airsoft. The first weekend of Fall but it felt as warm as summer. The setting for the Tantalum Contract was the fictional African nation of of Ubinda, in which a valuable tantalum deposit was discovered. Tantalum is a rare earth metal vital for the manufacture of cell phones and wireless electronics. The corrupt Ubindan government and has given mining rights to three multinational mining cartels and is willing to turn a blind eye. The three companies seek to take down their rivals and seize control of the mine for themselves.

To these ends, each has hired their own security firm to act as their proxy army, attack their rival and destroy their operations: Anglo-Sino Security (A.S.S.), Global Resource Defense enterprises (G.R.D.e.), and Kiev-Afrikaner Secure Holdings (K.A.S.H.). The players signed up to join each 'firm' as a 'contractor', which included fake recruitment ads posted on Popular Airsoft.

The flow of the game was very dynamic. The smallest team was given the most defensible HQ position and the largest team the most open. Each team was given a list of 10 possible missions to accomplish in the 4.5hr game time. The team that could earn the most mission points won.

I even got to play briefly, as the  'crazy prospector' who would aid any team who could take me out. I started the game defending the mine against all the teams. I ended up inadvertently blunting GRDe's attempt to get at the Tantalum mine by taking out out 5 of their players. GRDe was able to score some time on the mine but had too few players to defend it against KASH.

KASH was able to take control of the mine and keep it for quite some time. Their respawn was the closest to the mine but their team had their longest distance to defending their HQ which meant they had to balance their priorities. They dueled with ASS for possession of the mine most of the day (foreshadowing the dramatic end of the game.)

After about an hour ASS attacked with the bulk of their forces and took the mine from KASH. They deflected GRDe's piece-meal attempts at the mine and KASH's periodic attacks, holding the mine for nearly 2 hours. But they did this at the expense of leaving their HQ open, allowing KASH to take out their VIP and to steal their computer password.

At the end of the day after all the scores were tallied, GRDe had 75pts and both ASS and KASH were tied with 150pts. So, in true mercenary fashion, we had a pistol dual between the two team leaders to decide the winner. Headkill and Mr. Spank went head to head in a deathmath. Headkill emerged the victor.

Congratulations to Headkill and ASS. The pre-paid players got Airsplat T-shirts and we raffled off some cool airsoft designed hoodies and a gas shotgun, thanks to Airsplat.com! And thanks popularairsoft.com for the ad coverage which helped set the theme. And thanks to all the plyaers who came out. most importantly, we raised over $500 for the USO.

Additional photos and videos here.