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

[Felix]

He was thinking driving 85 all the way, which you go near Charlotte to get to. From Cola they have you taking 95, which cuts about an hour off.

[Romba]

Ah, thank you. Didn't catch that.


Sent from my underground bunker using Tapatalk

[mives]

Ballahack is about six and a half hours from Columbia, we found a fairly priced hotel only 30 mins from the field, and it is well worth your while. All told, I believe we each spent about $100 for two nights, and two days of airsoft. That includes gas, hotel, and field fees. Not too shabby.

Yes, they do enforce barrel blocking devices and full seal eyepro.

Way cheaper than Faded Giant, but with similar CQC. Unlike the cheaper Fulda, where it is wide open field combat.

[Mr. Marauder]

GTI brings something to the table almost no other field can, at the added benefit of it being in our backyard. Fully appreciating the demographics of AOSC/SC players, I still expected more to show.

[Star_folder]

GTI brings something to the table almost no other field can, at the added benefit of it being in our backyard. Fully appreciating the demographics of AOSC/SC players, I still expected more to show.

South Carolinians are broke, yo.

[SteevoLS]

Broke and cheap. Mostly cheap with no budgeting skills.

[Skywalker]

And they love M4s.

[Bishop]

Or, and this is just a wild guess, but the playerbase is young, and doesn't want to spend the same on a game as they do on a gun. The majority of the aosc playerbase is young, and despite what the forums would tell you, interested in paintsoft not milsim. Spending 100+ on a awesome milsim game, while something most of us here wouldn't have a problem with is something that looks ridiculous to the larger playerbase.

[Mr. Marauder]

Broke and cheap. Mostly cheap with no budgeting skills.

+1

[TokenTech89]

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)

/rant

I third this. I play with this fps and 360 is not really bad. and it does eliminate the middle med, hard to remember 5 meds in a heat of battle.

ANd Ballack is like the disney land of Airsoft, so expensive, but definitely worth a go around. or twice or 3 times.

[ibeezthecapn]

5.5hrs from charleston....

i have some friends 45 mins away in RVA that have already said the field behind the house is open for the campssssssssss

[Dominum]

In addition to being young, broke/cheap, and very few players who prefer MilSim/RealMil, you also have to remember that this is SC, not VA. In other words: about one fourth of the total population within easy driving distance of fields versus this field in VA (pulling in Maryland and D.C., etc.) AND the per capita income disparity: Maryland is 5th, Virginia is 8th, and SC is 48th. We can have grandiose dreams all day long, but the fact is that we are where we are, and unless we move we need to work on improving airsoft in SC based on the reality we are presented with (which is very different from most states in the region).

[marpat96]

Things such as college sponsored airsoft clubs/teams, like USC has, can help it grow. VMI had its own paintball team for awhile, and they were a big name back in the day at Fulda Gap Paintball, when it was the big shiz on the East Coast.

I tried starting a team in my school, but due to the ignorant morons in my school filled with preppy spoiled kids and rednecks, that died before my junior year. One member of our team now goes to USC, the other to Clemsux, so we lost ground on that.

USC getting sponsored for airsoft was a great stepping stone for this state in airsoft, and if other places could replicate that, it would be awesome.

Clemson/Anderson: Greenville and Charlotte/Columbia fields proximity.
USC/Midlands Tech area schools: Columbia/Aiken/Augusta areas proximity.
Coastal Carolina/Hory Georgetown: Adventure Beach Paintball/North Carolina fields.
CSU/The Citadel/CoC: BOA/Savannah fields.

Thats what I came up with, which colleges are close or doable driving distance to airsoft fields or communities.