OWNING THE NIGHT

JUST LIKE LAST YEAR, THE NIGHT OPS EVENT IN PORTUGAL WAS ALREADY ON MIGUEL’S CALENDAR, AND, LIKE THE NAME GIVEAWAY, IT’S A GAME FOCUSED ON NIGHT GAMEPLAY, WITH SOME COMPONENTS DESIGNED FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SOME EXPENSIVE TOYS! BUT, DON’T BE FOOLED, EVEN IF YOU HAVE JUST A FLASHLIGHT YOU CAN HAVE A BLAST, SINCE THE GAME IS MEANT FOR ALL KIND OF PLAYERS. MIGUEL TELLS MORE…

As always, we were looking forward to being part of another Night Ops event. Last year’s event was great (you can check out ISSUE 154 for my report on that game), and we are used to seeing the staff behind these events improving year after year, with better missions, better add-ons, and better engagement. But, plans for the GHOST’s and I didn’t go as we wanted, instead we got contacted by ANA (the association behind Night Ops) to be the host of this year’s event. What does this mean? That the game would take place in one of our fields, and that we would part of the organization. We knew that it was a big burden, we know the tribulations of organizing and managing an event, but we also know the people behind ANA, and they deserve our help, so our answer was easy.

“PLANS FOR THE GHOST’S AND I DIDN’T GO AS WE WANTED, INSTEAD WE GOT CONTACTED BY ANA (THE ASSOCIATION BEHIND NIGHT OPS) TO BE THE HOST OF THIS YEAR’S EVENT. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? THAT THE GAME WOULD TAKE PLACE IN ONE OF OUR FIELDS, AND THAT WE WOULD PART OF THE ORGANIZATION” our plans got turned upside down, the weekly game preparation (gear, replicas, etc.) became meetings and game planning, designing missions and building everything that a nationwide game needs. Even while Night Ops is not the biggest event that ANA organizes, the undertaking is still quite big, and of course we wanted everything to go well.

Let’s fast-forward to the game day, no point in bothering the readers with pre-game meeting and such. Saturday, game day, we hit the field after lunch as planned and started working. Although the game itself is not that complex, at least comparing to other ANA games, there was still plenty to do, and everything had to be completed in time. We had to set up the village, a safe zone with food, drinks, red lights, flags, the checking areas, chrono stands, the three mission briefing zones, the different mission sectors, the Conquest area, and even touch up the parking area since the number of players was bigger than what was initially planned, due to a lapse with the online registrations. Everything went well; the ANA staff is more than used to this kind of work, and fortunately I also had eight members of my team present, who are no strangers to organizing events. So both groups

“WE HAD TO SET UP THE VILLAGE, A SAFE ZONE WITH FOOD, DRINKS, RED LIGHTS, FLAGS, THE CHECKING AREAS, CHRONO STANDS, THE THREE MISSION BRIEFING ZONES, THE DIFFERENT MISSION SECTORS, THE CONQUEST AREA, AND EVEN TOUCH UP THE PARKING AREA SINCE THE NUMBER OF PLAYERS WAS BIGGER THAN WHAT WAS INITIALLY PLANNED” went to work.

With everything ready, it was time to open the gates, there were plenty of cars already outside and at 1800h, as scheduled, we started letting them in. As always, it was great to see so many known faces from all over Portugal, and even some that never visited our field. I had the chance to interact with many teams, welcome them to the event and have some laughs. Everything was going smoothly; we had people in the parking area hurrying those who were ready toward the check in, to avoid pileups. The check in and chrono were “processing” players with ease, and we reached the briefing time with only a five minute delay, which is great for these types of events. The briefing was kept simple, since it’s already costume for ANA to have an online briefing with all the important detail.

Conquest).

As a player/team, you would be part of a faction which was composed of several sections, all with almost the same number of players. Each section would go through every specific mission (the three sectors), once on the defending side, and once on the attacking side, at specific hours. Each mission would restart after ~50 minutes, and two other sections would take to the field. The section that won the sector mission, would contribute with points that were controlled via Ares Alpha.

Gametime

But now let’s focus on the game itself; unfortunately, since I was part of the staff, this article won’t focus on my team’s gameplay, but instead on the game mode and some specific details.

As was mentioned at the start, the Night Ops event is a night only game, with some in-game aspects for those who run NVGs or thermals. Like last year, the field was broken in four parts, three for specific missions (called Sectors) and one for a domination game (called

The Conquest area was a non-stop gaming area, where the players who were on waiting time for their next mission could go out and fight for the control of thre Ares Alpha ATB. Each minute an ATB was under a faction’s control, it would contribute to the overall score. And you could check all that live on Ares Alpha, so if your faction was behind and your section had free time, you could see what ATB was under enemy control, and try your luck.

Now let’s break down the sector missions, since each one was completely different from the other, to give the players different experiences.

Sector One was a standard attack; one section

OPS EVENT IS A NIGHT ONLY GAME, WITH SOME IN-GAME ASPECTS FOR THOSE WHO RUN NVGS OR THERMALS. LIKE LAST YEAR, THE FIELD WAS BROKEN IN FOUR PARTS, THREE FOR SPECIFIC MISSIONS (CALLED SECTORS) AND ONE FOR A DOMINATION GAME (CALLED CONQUEST)” had to defend a “transmission device”, while the other had to attack and disable it. Of course, there was more to it, the attacking team first had to get in contact with two “infiltrated members” and collect two electronic keys that would be needed to deactivate the device! At the moment of contact, they would also get new intel regarding a power generator that could be turned off, in order to take out the lights around the objective. So, if you had a thermal sight, it would make things easier, since you would be able to find the power generator easier. On the other side, the defending section would first be transported in a vehicle and dropped off close to the objective. Then they would need to coordinate defensive positions to defend the transmission device until the clock ran out.

Sector Two was a V.I.P. escort mission, where the defending section would need to rendezvous with a politician and his driver and then escort his vehicle to the area of the village (the safezone). In this mission I really need to point out the amazing work of my teammate Maximus, who decided to role-play as many players wanted to have a selfie with him!

The attacking section had orders to first meet with a special contact, who would help them immobilize the vehicle. For this, they would need to select two players and move fast while following said contact, in order to reach the vehicle before the defending section. If successful, they could place a “remote charge” in the vehicle, in order to immobilize it at a time of their choosing and force the crew to leave the jeep.

Sector Three was a bit different, since there was only one attacking section, but they didn’t know this. The mission was to find and eliminate a famous terrorist; unfortunately there was a lot more to the mission that the players were made aware of. Finding the target and taking him out was the easy part, since there was no defending section and he was only armed with a pistol. Only after that did things get turned upside down, as after securing the area they would find a hostage handcuffed to a bomb that had a countdown, now they had to find the code to deactivate it. To find the code they had to use their brains, search the paper and another device close by, but, if they had NVGs they could find more clues that were written in UV ink. The code was spread around in devices similar to the one found in the terrorist’s shack, but the clock was ticking... so they had to move fast!

Meanwhile, the village wasn’t only a safezone, it was the meeting point for all players in between missions, where everyone could get something to eat or drink in the

BifAnas trailer, rest a bit or just socialize. They could also try their luck in the new “Estou na Gana”, a small shooting range (for pistols only) and the two best scores won two tickets for ANA’s upcoming event, Dystopia 2!

To finish with surprise, all the sections who had completed all the missions would get to do “Mission Z”, a special mission where they would come face to face with Techmerc, the main antagonist from the Dystopia series, and be forced to carry an urgent task, reach a device before the clock ran out. But to complicate things, they couldn’t carry replicas, and the area had zombies around. This was all a planned teaser for the Dystopia game, one that we won’t miss for anything!

Debrief

The event went well, the player’s feedback after it was great, at the start we had some “fires” to put out, but when things got on track, it was smooth sailing. It was a great experience to be able to work together with ANA’s staff, who have tons of experience organizing games of this dimension.

Now, to finish the article, here AS USUAL are some words from ANA.

“Every summer, ANA hosts its Night Ops. Driven based missions, night match. Seems complicated? Let’s break it down: a) ‘driven’ because the rhythm is intense! Players are required to be at the mission control center at specific times. And missions are timed at 40’ max. Beat it or lose points to the other team... ; b) ‘based Mission’ because the game dynamic is Quick, Rapid fire Missions! One after another. Tailored with high-tech props and role players, the missions are developed in order to fully optimize the night environment; c) and it’s’night match’, because... Well. No explanation needed.

This year’s Night Ops was played at Carentan, a mythic field in Portugal, host of the Ghost Ops. All kudos for this team and members for the effort they’ve put in, in this joint venture with ANA! From the very first approach they’ve been tireless working to make sure all details were spot on. From the maintenance of the field, to the role-play, to the supervision of all, Ghost Ops are truly an example of an Airsoft Team. Hands down. Thank you for the opportunity to create in Carentan!

This Night Ops ended with amazing giveaways from our sponsor partners: Combate Virtual, Hangar 18, RyotAirsoft and Wiley X. We are grateful for the support. It was well noticed and celebrated by the players. The Night Ops Formula works. Everyone loves it, it’s fresh, and it’s building its own legacy. We have some ideas to make it bigger and improve it, but we will keep those in secret to next summer.

If you want to check how this game was, check our socials or YouTube channel and check our cool three minute recap video produced by Drone Crew!

Love, from Portugal!” AA