On Saturday, June 3rd, in Żędowice (Opolskie Voivodeship), the second edition of the 10-hour airsoft staff game took place, where the Blue and Green teams faced each other. "Drugo Zmiana 2023", organized by the experienced Hammer ASG Team - Śląsk group, attracted nearly 200 players.
The mechanics of the game drew heavily from previous staff and team games, prepared for many years by the Silesian group. It is worth noting that these are largely the same people who, under a different banner, are preparing one of the largest airsoft events planned for this year in Poland - 48-hour MARSH Revolution 2023. The tasks set before the two staffs included both those requiring constant exchange of BBs (such as capturing key locations or securing a HVA), as well as those that reward covert actions: reconnaissance, finding props or writing down codes from checkpoints, while avoiding being detected by enemy forces.
The schedule of the event was planned in such a way that the airsoft game took place also after dark. Unlike many other games, Drugo Zmiana 2023 has been prepared in the unplugged convention, which excludes the use of advanced optoelectronic devices such as night vision and thermal vision. Players could only rely on classic optics and flashlights.
Volunteers who were responsible for organizing the work of the staffs during this year's edition applied for their roles many weeks earlier. On the side of the "Green" team it was Mattpo and Worm from the Horda ASG group, and the activities of the "Blue" team were coordinated by Maaru and Mazzia from Company of Brothers - Żory group.
Up to a point, the game seemed evenly matched. Over time, however, the tactical advantage of the "Blue" became visible as they were able to complete a large part of the scored tasks, while cutting off the "Green" team from the possibility of gaining points. In the end, the former won by a large difference of points: 146 to 40.
Organization of the game was very good, which seems to be a permanent element of games prepared by Hammer ASG Team - Śląsk and MARSH - Airsoft. For an additional fee (due to the nature of the place of the game), players could come to the offgame zone on Friday and spend the night there in their own tents. In addition to the organizational infrastructure, there was also room for portable toilets. The registration and measurement of the replicas' energy were carried out efficiently, the briefing before the game was concise, all locations in the field, as well as props used in the scenario, were prepared with due diligence. There was also additional water at respawn points, which was certainly appreciated by people who were not prepared for dry and warm weather. Throughout the game, the players were also accompanied by a photographer who captured the doings of both teams. Even though the game started 30 minutes late, the organizers cannot be blamed for that: some participants arrived too late to complete the registration procedure at the originally scheduled time.
Considering that an important factor of such airsoft events is integration of players from different backgrounds, the meeting in Żędowice ended with a big bonfire, which lasted until the early hours of Sunday morning. The vast majority of participants (especially those with a blue tape on their shoulder) left the offgame zone with a smile. The organizers announce that now they will fully focus on preparing their flagship event that will be held in August.
