On Saturday, November 5, near Niemodlin in the Opolskie Voivodeship, the fourth edition of the well-known and renowned "Black Perseus" team game took place, organized by Radziej and his Deadline Wrocław group.
The event owes its popularity to good preparation of props, careful approach to organization and well-thought-out mechanics of the game. Although the competition lasts only about 8 hours, the game attracts players from many different communities. Groups from the Dolnośląskie, Opolskie, Śląskie, Małopolskie, Łódzkie and even Lubelskie voivodships appear regularly.
In the south of Poland, team games are becoming more and more popular. Instead of classic games involving two (or sometimes more) sides of the conflict, in "team games" usually all participating groups compete against each other in an area filled with various tasks. This organization of the game gives each of the participating teams the opportunity to test themselves internally, without joining into larger structures, in various aspects of airsoft activities: from fitness preparation, through planning and navigation, to the fighting itself. The immersion in the competition is enhanced by the interweaving of semi-military elements, such as the division of replicas into classes, limited ammunition, medics and wound cards, and a limited number of "lives".
This year's Black Perseus manoeuvres was the largest edition yet eith 17 teams competing in the field. In an area of several square kilometers, the organizers prepared over 20 locations, from which participants had to write down special codes or solve special tasks, often puzzles. The locations of all points were given in three ways. Most of them had fixed coordinates that players received in a starting envelope during pre-game briefing. The location of some points was only approximate and limited to the indicated sector on the map. For several tasks, the organizer has prepared mobile locators that sent their location in real time.
The tasks set by the teams and the scores for them varied. Groups preferring contact avoidance could earn points for visiting subsequent locations and solving less point rewarding tasks in which the risk of making contact with an enemy was relatively low (e.g. finding fragments of a cipher for opening a chest, listening to a message recorded on an audio tape, or taking photos in the field). On the other hand, those who were willing to compete with other teams could also score points for collecting the "souls" of opponents after their elimination, or for completing high-risk tasks. The latter included, for example, collecting resources at certain times from a special zone, completing tasks for NPCs, or taking over and escorting a black box from a helicopter wreck, the location of which was updated on a public website. Tasks using the tracking mechanism (there were three in total) rewarded both the fastest groups and those that can act under pressure for a long time, repelling attacks and avoiding pre-prepared ambushes. Various flavors related to some tasks were also added by dedicated story groups composed of players who did not participate in this proper part of the competition.
Teams that finished their struggle, either by making it to the end of the game or by being eliminated earlier, were obliged to return a completed task card to the organizers, which allowed to estimate their scenario progress.
In terms of organization, the game was very good. The only thing we think could be improved is the issue of player briefing and the distribution of teams to different starting locations in the field. The current concept meant that participants arriving at the meeting point on time (at 6:30 am) were forced to wait up to three hours for the start. In the case of larger games, this would not be noticeable, but here the fun itself lasts only 8 hours. The organizers also scored a slightly smaller faux pas related to the inaccuracy of the replicas' energy limits: the game was advertised as compliant with the recently adopted "nationwide" limits, while the graphics in the regulations mentioned the outdated energy limit of 2.8J for DMR replicas (currently it is 2.6J).
Both from conversations with the organizers and after reading reports immediately after the fourth edition of Black Perseus, we know that the organizers are aware of the problems whic players had to face and already have a plan on how to avoid them in future editions.
A summary of the game made by the organizers and the results of individual teams were published on the event page on the Facebook platform, a few days after the end of the competition. Based on the opinions of various teams, it is safe to say that Black Perseus 2022 was a success and appealed to the vast majority of participants.
Photos: RQS Team (2021 and 2022 editions)
