AAR: Ballahack, VA Mar. 8 & 9 '14

[mives]

Gentlemen,

TL;DR We went, we saw, we conquered: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjjU_-fE9xg (see how many times you can spot C.Taylor and Mives)

A contingent of University of South Carolina Gamecock Airsoft team packed our bags and made the pilgrimage to the East coasts hottest airsoft AO for a weekend. C.Talyor, myself, and a third member (not sure if he's on the forums). To say it was an airsoft experience of a lifetime would not do it justice. It was in insight, a blessing, and an honor, to show those Virginia boys how we do down in SC. However, our ferocity in combat was matched by the motivation and dedication of the field staff throughout the weekend. The field owner did every briefing and organized the 300+ people that showed up to play Saturday and Sunday. He had with him an entourage of 4-6 red plate carrier bearing "field marshals" that enforced his will upon the field of play. And the AO.... was magnificent. Their "MOUT town" was a true to life sized village with a balance of defensible buildings and alleyways that provided a challenge to capture and hold. (for those architects out there, it was heaven. The design and construction of these buildings left zero room for error. You could have put real bullet holes through the plywood and it would still stand. Also, no cracks to peek or shoot through!!!!)

Both days consisted of generally the same schedule.
0900 Field opens, chrono opens
~1030 Briefing for day begins
~1100 First "warm up" game begins in the town
~1200 Small break to hydrate/reload
~1240 Second game of Chaos
~1400 lunch break
~1500 briefing and game on: small scenario operation
1700 game over

The "warm up" games were held in their "MOUT town" and consisted of a fast paced, no respawn game of gaining ground in the town to knock down the other teams barrel at one end of the street. There were designated medics, so this game would end very quickly sometimes and other times would drag on in a stalemate. This is where we got to know the layout and run of the town. Lots of Close Quarters fighting, tons of fun.

During breaks, the majority of the players were quick about reloading and getting on with the business of getting back into the game to shoot each other and the marshals were verbal about getting back to the "briefing nest".

The Chaos game type was probably the most fun. It was a game in which multiple teams of 15 players would start scattered across the field. The objective is to kill other players, medic them, and bring them on to your team. Teams would absorb other teams in this fashion until the majority or all of the players are on one team. It was a long campaign where your flank could be exposed to attack from any number of teams at any time. Speed and coordination were key to coming out on top. The first day we weren't sure what to make of the game type and ended up on a different team. However, during the second day's game of Chaos, our team took the entire field and won the game. We started in the very back and worked our way up the field. We had an outstanding starting team who communicated and moved surprisingly well for our Hodge-podge group of players we had put together. We ended up with a huge contingent of players near the town, took the town by storm, and fought enemies on all sides whilst clearing out parts of the town. To summarize: It. Was. Absolute. Chaos. But we held together and won the game. With Gamecocks leading the entire way.

The two small scenario ops were a fresh change in game play that contrasted the fast paced warm up games and Chaos game with a more deliberate force on force operation. The first one unfortunately found us locked down in a kill zone trying to assault the town, and Sunday's op got us cut off from friendly forces near our spawn as our comrades raced to the other end of the field to evac three VIP's.

The entire weekend was a great experience and load of fun. The staff at the field are very professional, helpful, and encouraging before, during, and after game play. It was amazing seeing so many motivated Virginian's out to two normal, run-of-the-mill weekend days for airsoft. And surprisingly, when we talked to the Field owner, he said that the days we came to play were actually a "bad weekend" for them. They usually had a much greater turn-out and more balanced battles. It was well worth the six hour drive and two nights in a hotel... Which means.

We will be taking another trip up to Ballahack soon! If any of this sounds interesting to you and/or you actually read to this point, stay tuned! This summer may be a great opportunity to bring an even bigger group of South Carolinian's up to Ballahack to kick-butt and take names. Like i said, stay tuned, beleive the hype, and prepare yourselves.

'till next time,

~Mives

[Romba]

We should most definitely try to get a big group to go up this summer. Sounds like the place is a blast!


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[idiot88]

My nephew in VA plays there. He told me there was a place up there where they had hundreds of players. I first thought he was BS'ing me until I looked them up on the net.

I looked at their rules. Did they enforce having the barrel bags?

[SteevoLS]

Let me know when you guys are going up again. I like the sound of the MOUT town.

[Skywalker]

I am most certainly getting a crew to go sometime in the coming months.

[C Taylor]

We had an Amazing time up there. Rolando (preacher on the forums) was the one that went with us. I believe the AOSC should look into changing their FPS rules after what I saw last weekend. My proposal:

0-360 FPS- 0 foot Med
361-400 FPS- 50 foot med
401+- 100 foot med
I loved their rule of semi only if you engage in a building and/or if you engage another player within 30 feet.
This allowed for more people using semi only and a much safer environment. That means no getting lit up from a gun shooting 25 bbs per sec. from only 20 feet away.
I also believe this can promote more aggressive gameplay. That way were not having to yell "hey who has a 0 med gun to clear this trench/building."
It would also simplify our ruleset for not having a 20 foot med. Now there would only be 3 meds to worry about. 0, 50, and 100.

We also talked to the field owner and I believe for the sport to grow within the state of SC, we need to have their approach to getting new players. They have a very aggressive promotional campaign. AOSC needs to look into different ways of advertising in the state. ie. posters, billboards, pamphlets to be handed out to local businesses and such. (think of the pamphlets you see in hotels and welcome centers)

Overall I saw last weekend what the AOSC can do to grow into a more airsoft-friendly state.

Also, Lets plan an AOSC trip up there this summer. They are more than welcoming of all airsofters.

[Felix]

My proposal:

0-360 FPS- 0 foot Med
361-400 FPS- 50 foot med
401+- 100 foot med
I loved their rule of semi only if you engage in a building and/or if you engage another player within 30 feet.
This allowed for more people using semi only and a much safer environment. That means no getting lit up from a gun shooting 25 bbs per sec. from only 20 feet away.
I also believe this can promote more aggressive gameplay. That way were not having to yell "hey who has a 0 med gun to clear this trench/building."
It would also simplify our ruleset for not having a 20 foot med. Now there would only be 3 meds to worry about. 0, 50, and 100.

I second this. 360 is not that hard, and semi only up close again is a good rule to start.

We also talked to the field owner and I believe for the sport to grow within the state of SC, we need to have their approach to getting new players. They have a very aggressive promotional campaign. AOSC needs to look into different ways of advertising in the state. ie. posters, billboards, pamphlets to be handed out to local businesses and such. (think of the pamphlets you see in hotels and welcome centers)

The problem with this is that right now the AOSC is just an organization piggy back riding off of local paintball fields. Ballahack gets its revenue and business off the fact that it is built amazingly. I mean check it out: http://www.ballahackairsoft.com/the-field.html . New young airsofters see this and go crazy. Its got buildings, its got up close CoD action, its got multiple floors, etc. Older guys (who keep the sport alive just about) see a whoooole bunch of people playing together, having fun, making friends, at a pellet slinging game. So both sides give it a shot and are hooked. Hell, even veteran players get giddy seeing buildings like they have.

But compare that to our current fields. We have Redfox and PBC: paint everywhere, small pieced games, and minimal buildings that get the job done. Those are also not "our" fields and do a good job at staying afloat with just paintball. The fields that are just good woods are Airfarm and Rattlesnake Ridge, both of which are uninsured and the owners are looking to make a quick turn on an unused weekend. If we want to rep those fields like Ballahack then they need to grow and try to support the sport more.

And finally we have the best field in SC for Airsoft, and thats SQA. Compared to Ballahack, it needs a lot of work. Both are located about 30-40 minutes from a major city, SQA has Cola, Balla has Norfork. Balla gets so much extra attention for the only reason that its Norfork, Cola just isn't at that level. Field-wise it's no where up to par with Balla.... yet. The potential at SQA is amazing because it actually has a staff thats willing to put the effort into the field. The biggest problem is money (as always). To clear out some of the locations that are just about impassible due to underbrush, SQA would have to drop a weekend or two, and a couple thousand dollars. Unless business is booming, I don't see that currently happening. But we could start here and try to fix that. One idea I was thinking of was starting a fundraiser to buy simple railroad ties or a whole bunch of pallets to start constructing actual bases around the field. Its a start, and even that alone would make play amazing.

The other problem is the AOSC is non-profit, and the only thing on paper (if I remember correctly) is the website domain. How could an organization that doesn't take in money afford billboards or papers? None of the current reps do this full time (or really ever have) and don't have the money to be throwing towards this. The ones that might are trying to upgrade their own field. Plus at that there are plenty of problems with the AOSC administration. When the owner of one of SC's only Airsoft fields has nothing to say but bad things about the AOSC's rules and regulations (and apparently unfriendliness and cursing), how to we expect to grow? And what about the paintball field who is disgusted with us, and has recommended to any other to ignore us? The way the administration has handled these two events in the past couple years has been nothing short of laugh it off. That's not cool. We can't be South Carolina's premier airsoft organization if the locals with influence over our clientele hate us.

/rant

[Skywalker]

Felix.... shutup. Its easy to be a critic.

........ anyway............ Lets stay on target here.

Those of you who have school and such. When is school out and done, so we can plan the first weekend of summer to head up there? And/or, a 3 day weekend sometime before then?

[Felix]

Felix.... shutup. Its easy to be a critic.

I'd like to help and make that work though...

Those of you who have school and such. When is school out and done, so we can plan the first weekend of summer to head up there? And/or, a 3 day weekend sometime before then?

I wanna say beginning of May is when a good bit of people will be getting out. The have a "special event" planned for May 31st. Could be cool to go to that.

[Skywalker]

Yeah you're just going full derail there.

[Mr. Marauder]

Dom shared an idea he had a few weeks back about focusing and encouraging AOSC/SC players to attend local events en masse. Ex. Fulda Gap, Faded Giant 3, etc. I don't see why we can't lump in Ballahack into this as well.

[Romba]

Well, ballahack is twice as far, if not further, that Fulda and FG. I mean, just for those of us in Greenville it's almost seven hours. Those in Columbia or lower are in for an even longer drive.

May 31 sounds fun. Although any other high schoolers wanting to go would be out of luck. I just get out earlier than most.


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[Mr. Marauder]

Granted it's not as close as GTI, but it's not really that far. Carpooling cuts down on costs and allows for driving in shifts.

[Skywalker]

Well, ballahack is twice as far, if not further, that Fulda and FG. I mean, just for those of us in Greenville it's almost seven hours. Those in Columbia or lower are in for an even longer drive.

May 31 sounds fun. Although any other high schoolers wanting to go would be out of luck. I just get out earlier than most.


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I believe it's about the same drive. Columbia to Charlotte is about the same as Greenville to Charlotte.

I wouldn't really want to go with a gaggle of high schoolers. They're generally ... poor. lol.

[Romba]

Ballahack is in Virginia, not Charlotte.


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