Airsoft Action - January 2021

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THE FUTURE OF AIRSOFT
AA: Scenario-driven games, I know you like this
format. How do you feel this adds to the game day?
Jim: “We run a “ladder system” of events, these
are: Skirmish, Ground War, BattleSim and Milsim.
Skirmish is what you’d expect, ideal for new players or
people who just to want to get stuck in, shorter sub
1-hour games with breaks between. We still make use
of our vehicles but tend to play certain areas of the
site, it’s intense and action orientated. Next is Ground
War, this is typically full site conquest or roll back,
often with dynamic events and missions that need to
happen in addition to the main objective. In Ground
War we introduce ammo limits and restrict full-auto
fire to 2-second bursts for assault, 4-second burst on
true support weapons and we also loosely organise
players into callsigns and provide radios so they can
work together to achieve objectives. They get massive
freedom of movement so can play “their way”. We
also make extensive use of vehicles during Ground
War events and we only stop once, for an hour at
lunch. With BattleSim, it’s the next step from Ground
War and we run 6, 8 and 12-hour events, much more
organised on the callsigns, lots of taskings, lots of
role play, plenty of surprises and lots of Mechanised
Vehicular Action.
“We’ve run some great events this with our
friends from SEO Milsim and a fantastic volunteer
crew leading each team. MilSim is something we
are yet to do, the last planned one was cancelled
due to lockdown but this is going to be 24 hours,
Saturday 10am till Sunday 10am. Even the MilSims
and BattleSims have internal difficulty ladders. For
example, newer players/people who want to have
less structure and more fun, would be on a team like
Civ pop or local gang - just there to cause trouble
and have a laugh! Then another team would be a
slightly more organised Opposing force/Cartel with
straightforward but serious taskings and such, then
you get the very organised, immersive Special Forces/
Task Force teams for the guys that want to go that
way! All teams have roleplay elements at their heart
and its tongue in cheek, fun, with no big egos!”
AA: What should a really good site be offering the
player for their “game day buck”, in addition to the
above?
Jim: “The best things in life are free, right? So,
you don’t need tanks and trucks to run a great day of
airsoft - although it does really help - but you do need
your site team to be player-centric; players should feel
welcome and valued at any site they visit. As a team
we always make an effort to learn people’s names,
talk to them, find out a bit about them and help them
any way we can. We are also very lucky to have the
amazing Darwin Hamilton, of Atdarzphotography, on
our team, taking some amazing shots of all the action
at Imperium! You may not have a “Darwin” but sites
should be taking photos and providing them to their
players as a value add!”
AA: Do you have plans for the future to extend
what you offer even further?
Jim: “As demand increases we will likely run more
events, possibly evenings during the week for outdoor
CQB and a firing range but we are very keen to launch
our “Tank and Truck Driving Experience”, where you
can come and drive our machines at Imperium as a
private driving experience! As this grows, it will mean
more toys for the airsofters to enjoy as well when we
reinvest, so do checkout www.tanksntrucks.com”
Many thanks to Jim for answering my questions
and putting up with my pestering! The challenges
we’ve all been faced with when it comes to airsoft
this year really have put a lot of things in perspective
for me and from what I’ve heard, seen first-hand and
what Jim has told me, it seems to me that the best
sites are really stepping up now to give us, the players,
a better and more immersive gameday experience
than ever before!
I have run games large and small and even run a
site myself, so I know how much commitment and
dedication it takes to make a truly memorable day,
not just once but time after time, after time. I believe
that it is important for all players to realise just HOW
MUCH effort (and no little money!) goes into creating
“the best day”, one that pleases all and sets the tone
for the future.
And if what Jim has described IS the future of what
we can expect from our gamedays next year and
beyond, then I’m as excited as you are to take get
back out and you can rest assured that I’ll be returning
to Imperium Airsoft just as soon as they reopen!
Additional thanks go to Darwin Atdarzairsoft
(official site photographer at Imperium) for allowing
us to use some of his superb images in support of this
article. Please keep an eye on https://imperiumairsoft.
com for information on upcoming games and events
and take a moment to check out their social media
pages to see what they’ve been up to recently in
preparation for 2021! AA
www.airsoftaction.net 67