Thanks chaps.

Pete, you played a blinder and the event was all the better for your involvement.

Yes, this was an incredibly hard event, both physically and organisationally. But I think, judging from players comments so far it went down well with them, so that's the main thing.

Some really play on all sides - some factors here:
a. The darkness might have had something to do with it, players thinking they can get away with it
b. Some noobs attending - not only new to CiA events but first time airsofters too
c. As the day went on players go more tired and were more inclined to perhaps take a second hit rather than try and find a regen
d. Frustration
e. Some players not on interweb and had no prior knowledge of full rules and perhaps didn't grasp what was expected of them.

Last night as I lay in agony in bed I thought 'That's it, the last one. No more" Honestly chaps, I'm ten years or more your senior and trust me it makes a difference. Year by year this gets more and more difficult for me and there will come a point when I'll think bugger it, its not worth the pain or hassle. Anyway, its done now and while I'm hobbling about today my feelings have tempered somewhat, so I'll be up for Jegburgh 100% as usual. (But I'll insist on being transported everywhere. )

Last night as I lay in agony in bed I thought 'That's it, the last one. No more"

I thought the same yesterday, but not because of pain, in fact I felt fine once I'd emptied about three tons of dust from my nostrils.

The main reason for my frustration was deviation from the agreed plan.

Now, I shouldn't have gotten as frustrated as I did, and certainly shouldn't have told Jay and Guy to fuck off......humble apologies....but in a site like that we REALLY have to stick to the pre-arranged plan. Statements like "Fuck the plan, just roll with it" don't help.

Still it's all a bit academic as people seemed to really enjoy it. But for the sake of my OCD please can we just all read the plan and stick to it in future?

Also playing to win is and pointless. No-one cared about who 'won' yesterday it was about the experience.

Dave, I do think you're being a bit generous with reasons for in-game transgression from the players. Every time I encountered a problem or received a complaint yesterday it was one of the Blaggers. Blind firing, cheat calling, non-hit taking. Like Pete and I said, we tested them as organisers with BBs and pyro with one bang falling with feet of three of them and none of them took any hits whatsoever. A bit of a return to previous habits for them.

At one point in the morning I had to remind them about blind firing and they shouted back saying I was doing the same, even though I was stood in the middle of the tunnel with my gun slung. Very frustrating.

Anyway, rant over.

Thanks to you all, especially Dave for writing a really successful plan and for all that carting around of props! Would a lock-up storage somewhere central be on the cards for all the stuff we're amassing and van hire for everything?

In the end I'm taking away very fond memories of the day and has some classic moments and was impressed by the tenacity of the Russian players, even though they needed firm encouragement constantly, becoming unmotivated when neither Pete nor I was organising them directly. They weren't very tactically minded, which made me realise how hard a Jedburgh game will be to command!

Sorry I was a bit quiet at the end of the day, I've had a sore throat for a week and it was fiercely painful at the end of the day yesterday.

Well, I'm not being over generous with player problems. Please, please, please not more stomping about bellowing NO BLIND FIRING!!! Stephen. If there is a problem then have the guts to sort it directly with the player/s or ignore it. If someone doesn't know what blind firing is then shouting at them won't help - it just sounds like an open day Martin who was with the Blaggers at his first airsoft event complained to me the Russians were blind firing because they were firing into darkness/smoke and couldn't see the enemy. See? He hadn't ever heard of blind firing until your rants!

Another new boy, Mick on the Russian side (another reenactor) towards the end of the game. As he was moving down the lit corridor (under noisy conditions with a lot going on) I burst him in the side from my position 15ft away in a dark side tunnel. Cringing and wincing but no hand up. I shot him again, this time with my finger held on the trigger until he could take the pain no more and he put his hand up. Did I remonstrate with him? Nope, little point at that stage of the game. But I did hurt him. Poacher at the beginning of the day (unmistakable in large cape) was 'difficult' to kill.

Frankly, I don't much listen to player complaints about poor gamesmanship - Yith seems to be a big complainer, yet people have complained to me about him. Neill Blume's name comes up again and again. Half the time it was impossible to tell who was involved or whether it was valid or not. I couldn't even see any BBs coming out of my gun, let alone be sure I was pointing at a player, until a shout of hit went up. I witnessed Oddball complaining he hadn't killed anyone (and he hadn't) after he wildly sprayed out of a void trying to hit an arc of men closing in on him. He had convinced himself he MUST have hit someone (instead of taking out enemy one by one and accepting he was cornered and shortly to die anyway).

Strange you mention Neilblume. I had a couple of people single him out for criticism and he was one of the few Germans I saw do any freelancing. Early on in the day, he didn't know I was behind him and a group of other Germans, watching them, when a grenade came their way. As they were cornered, the other Germans put their hands up and walked before the grenade even went off, whereas Neil needed a bit of "prompting" from me, even though the grenade was 2 metres away!

To be fair and with the benefit of hindsight, it's always going to happen with some people. I haven't been to a single airsoft event in over 10 years where it hasn't gone on. All we can do is try to minimise it, perhaps by tasking the idiots with long walks to objectives that don't mean anything, thus keeping them away from everyone else. I specifically said at the briefing to try to think and act like soldiers, not airsofters but, some people never listen!

Is it worth perhaps, printing some player handouts for future events? Just a single sheet, with basic rules on them, like medic rules and ammo limits. That way, people who don't frequent the forum, or can't hear the briefing, can have the information to hand which we take for granted they know but often don't. It could also mention about using short bursts, grenade blast radius, etc. Just a thought.

Well, what can I say?

You're all a bunch of cunts

But in a likable way

Pete and Steve - you guys played a blinder, really kept the Germans on their toes - be it due to the recce patrols or all out wave assaults. David - excellent game plan. You made the most of what could have been a tricky site to play. Guy - usual skills 'n drills of shouting at people to get them to go in the right direction.

Yes, there were some incidences of people not taking their hits - it always happens. Neill Blumes name came up yet again, as did the blaggers - some of the ruskies were pointed out as well. The numerous times I had to shout at people to use their cyalumes when dead started to annoy me somewhat.

Anyhoo, some points for consideration:

1: Guy made a very valid point about the state of the German HQ in the morning. We go to all the bother of putting up flags and dropping period props around the site, only for some tossers to dump plastic bags filled with shit all over the place. I propose some rule. Rule 1: No fucking gun bags to be brought into the game area - END OF STORY. Anyone who does, gets told to take it out again. Rule 2: Any kit brought into the game zone must be in either ammo boxes or period looking rucks - placcy bags from Morrisons (c'mon, who shops at Morrisons - oh yeah, pikeys) are a bad joke.

2: Good idea on the flyers. A5 printed with the standard rules (and any event specific ones!)

3: When i've sourced some more D10, i'll have enough on reels that we can put in a "hotline" between the two CP's so we can talk to each other. Would have made life a lot easier this weekend.

4: We didnt mention anything about killzones for grenades and thermobarics in the morning briefing - we should have done.

Oh, Steve, no probs with telling me to fuck off (hey, i'm used to it by now ), but you were 20 mins early!

Finally, I should like to say that for me this has been the most immersive event that CiA has yet done. I will be brutally honest when I say that over the xmas period I was seriously considering binning it - this has re-energised me.

4: We didnt mention anything about killzones for grenades and thermobarics in the morning briefing - we should have done.

Shit, you're right. We didn't.

Printed sheets, excellent idea. We could even ask for new player's addresses so that we can send out, prior to the event, a 'pack' with rules and what we expect from CiA players. No excuses then...

And that reminds me, we need to publicise to new players that they can sign up for a CiA card.

In total agreement with you Jay, re plastic bags and gun bags, they look shit. I think it's a problem exacerbated by "indoor" sites. A canvas rucksack costs bugger all and is reusable as well.

If a grenade goes off next to you (or under you!), it should be patently obvious you're dead, even if we didn't mention it in the briefing. Whenever I used to brief punters at a site, I always used the line "if in doubt, call yourself out". Particularly in regen games, as you're only "out" for 10 minutes, tops.

As for comm's, I think we did alright. A couple of times I saw one of the German commanders and had a quick conflab about the state of play, which seemed to work and address any immediate problems. If we'd been on a woodland site, using radios would have made it easier. In "urban" sites, it's much more difficult.

As well as player handouts, I also think it's worth mentioning that players should clean up their own crap. All they need is a binbag to put the empties in and take them home, for orderly disposal. I don't mind collecting props up but I downright resent having to clean up after some lazy git because they've fecked off home.

Very much agree about players clearing up their own shit!

Urrggh, don't mention shit. I literally had to clear it up.
BTW, I fetched the water from the bore hole pump room (the red door near the front entrance) which Jamie said was the most haunted part of the complex. The dog followed us in but wouldn't budge from the door and had the most feared expression - flat ears, eyes downcast, mouth down-turned. Yikes, thankfully the room was very brightly lit and not at all spooky!

Or perhaps the dog knew what Jamie was likely to do to you once he got you on your own....

Christ, he did say he was taking me to the 'arse hole pumping room'. I thought I misheard him!

Sounds like you had a narrow escape there!

Printed sheets, excellent idea. We could even ask for new player's addresses so that we can send out, prior to the event, a 'pack' with rules and what we expect from CiA players. No excuses then...

And that reminds me, we need to publicise to new players that they can sign up for a CiA card.

I'll write this up. I meant to do it ages ago but then got sidetracked.

As for packs to send out. I did this on two of the games I organised at Fireball and included specific orders for each side. Only about two people bothered to read it. Most didn't even realise it'd been sent. They just opened it and put it to one side without going through it. I think it's be a waste of time and paper.

I think it's be a waste of time....

As is telling people at pre-game briefings. Regardless, we must do everything we can to get the message across, particularly those who are new or don't use the forum or log on rarely.

Well, how about a "player pack", to be handed over when they book in on game day? Then, they've effectively "signed" for it and it means the information will be fresh in their heads and no excuses for not knowing.

Suggested contents....

General play information (ammo limits, medic rule, etc)
CiA membership scheme.
Event specific information (this can include a map if appropriate).
Housekeeping (ie, clean up your own shite!).

Well, how about a "player pack", to be handed over when they book in on game day? Then, they've effectively "signed" for it and it means the information will be fresh in their heads and no excuses for not knowing.

That would work better I think.

Sending stuff out is a PITA and costly and people aren't 'in the zone' like they are when they're actually at the event, hence they might actually read it when there...perhaps!

If necessary, I'm happy to go round and make them read the information!

I think Pete may be taking his NKVD persona a little too far. Oh, wait a sec, if it's Oddball you have to force to read the info, then go ahead