EVENT: OP VARUNA 2

AS AIRSOFT OPENS UP FULLY AGAIN AROUND THE GLOBE AT LAST WE ARE ABLE TO START THE ROLLOUT OF THE “INTERNATIONAL” COVERAGE WE’D HOPED TO START BRINGING YOU LAST YEAR! AIRSOFT ACTION HAS A NUMBER OF HIGHLY-VALUED “LEGONNAIRES” IN PLACE IN THEIR OWN COUNTRIES AND COMMUNITIES, AND THIS TIME OUR GOOD FRIEND MIGUEL OLIVERA BRINGS US NEWS OF A GAME THAT TOOK PLACE AT THE END OF OCTOBER IN PORTUGAL, OP VARUNA 2!

At the end of October my team organized an event called OP VARUNA 2, the next instalment of a scenario we created 10 years ago now! The event follows a story of the conflict for resources on a different planet (planet Varuna), where there are no laws and mercenary companies are contracted to protect and control the most important areas. During the game, the players had to search and fight for the control of several “mines” that were scattered out across the field; a controlled mine would yield resources from time to time that had to be delivered to their faction commander to be used. There were also several one-time missions that could be bought in a market or handed out by the organization.

Now let’s go a bit deeper into the game mechanics; in the field, there were three types of mine that would yield three different types of resources (in a total of TEN mines). With these resources at hand the faction commander could spend them in a technology tree that gave them access to several game mechanics, like the ability to deploy field medics, the use of transport to droop troops in specific locations, access to a map that showed the locations of the mines and who controls them, and several others.

“THERE WERE THREE TYPES OF MINE THAT WOULD YIELD THREE DIFFERENT TYPES OF RESOURCES (IN A TOTAL OF TEN MINES). WITH THESE RESOURCES AT HAND THE FACTION COMMANDER COULD SPEND THEM IN A TECHNOLOGY TREE THAT GAVE THEM ACCESS TO SEVERAL GAME MECHANICS.”

We created several “tiers” of technology that the commanders had to go through before reaching the end game technology and in each “tier” they would choose one that could help their faction or hinder the enemy.

We also created an internal economy; the factions could buy or sell resources in a market and have access to one-time missions, and the market prices would also vary according to the quantity of minerals in stock.

GAMETIME!

So, let’s talk about the event itself. The players started arriving at 0700 and were promptly directed to their parking locations; there we also placed the check-in booth where the players would give their name, receive the armband of their faction and pick up any patch order made. We had players coming from a lot of places, some close, some far, and a few even spent the night before in the field.

Since we like to follow a schedule, we constantly reminded the players of the time remaining until the briefing; we know that everyone likes to hang around and talk, which leads

to delays in many games. At 0845 the briefing started, and I began by talking about safety procedures, dangerous points in the field, and the limits of the game area, followed by the game rules and mechanics. At 0910 the players were in their starting position (two starting mines for each faction) and the game began.

From now on I’ll use the names of the factions, the Blue team as StarWolf Industries, the Red team as Basilisk Enterprise, the organization as Omega Space Corp, and a small OpFor group as Trojan Vanguard. The StarWolf team started off better, they were able to find more mines early on and gambled on buying missions from the start with their initial money. In the meantime, the Basilisk faction struggled to find even some mines close to their starting point! The game progressed and with the resources from their starting points both teams reached the first technology, which allowed them to extract the second type of mineral, but at this time the StarWolf faction also completed a mission, and that gave them a small boost.

Around 1100 the Basilisk faction was toe-to-toe with their rivals, after completing some missions and taking advantage of a couple of mistakes from some enemy players that benefited them. At this time both groups were able to mine all the resource types and also researched the first tier of technology; the only difference was that the StarWolf faction had access to medics (an optional technology). As we reached the two-thirds point of the game both factions were pretty close,

although StarWolf always had more money due to completing more missions and selling more minerals. The Trojan Vanguard groups kept on doing errands for the organization, like defending undiscovered mines and protecting mission sites, always giving the two main factions more conflict and something to be aware of.

As we reached the end of the game we prepared the last technology, called “EMP Blast”, a device created by a team member with its own programming. After recognizing a “key” that the player received when developing the last “tier”, a program would start running, with different sounds, warnings, and counting

down for 15 minutes. We organized everything so that both factions had access to the mission at the same time and both departed to the mission location with only two minutes of difference. Of course, our goal was to have the area of the last mission as one big conflict!

The Basilisk faction was the first to arrive at the scene, but with few numbers, since the bulk of their force diverged from the mission area and was slow to support those protecting the now active objective. There was no time for a breathing space since the StarWolf troops started a pincer attack against the objective, trying to remove the now installed Basilisk key and inserting their own. But airsofters being airsofters, not many of them focused against the troops that were guarding the objective and engaged enemies that were somewhere else, even as the device started making louder sounds, warning them of the countdown reaching the end. With respawns disabled and few troops in the field the Basilisk team was able to hold the objective until the end, even with the StarWolf faction pressing them hard.

DOWNTIME

Game time over, it was time for the BBQ and giveaways! At the start of the last mission, some members of the organization started cooking the meat and getting the drinks ready, so as players returned from their cars (after dropping off their guns and gear) they were greeted with steak, pork chops, and of course cold beer and soft drinks. In the meantime, we placed the Specna Arms tent close to the BBQ area to start the giveaways. In the end the feedback from players was great and a lot of them left with some sort of goodie.

We want to thank everyone present at the game; even with the threat of rain the players showed a strong will to show up. We also want to give a huge

THANK YOU to the brands who sponsored the event, Gunfire, Viper Tactical, and Specna Arms; with their support we handed out a lot of gear and made a lot of players happy! And big AA Legion thanks go to Miguel for bringing us

what we hope will be the first of many game and event reports from Portugal, (do check out the team Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/GhostOpsPortugal/) and we look forward to him joining us in person one day when we can all get our game on together! The AA Legion continues to grow, so if you have a story from your own community, wherever it may be in the great, wide world of airsoft then drop Bill a mail (bill@airsoft-action.co.uk) or contact us via our social media… we’d LOVE to hear and share your story! AA “WE ORGANIZED EVERYTHING SO THAT BOTH FACTIONS HAD ACCESS TO THE MISSION AT THE SAME TIME AND BOTH DEPARTED TO THE MISSION LOCATION WITH ONLY TWO MINUTES OF DIFFERENCE. OF COURSE, OUR GOAL WAS TO HAVE THE AREA OF THE LAST MISSION AS ONE BIG CONFLICT!”