Themed events vs Skirmish days
By now you are beginning to work out what these blogs are all about and how to get your ideas into one of my future blogs. Here is another new one that has been nominated by Nicholas James Exley. He messaged me and asked if I could blog about themed events and standard skirmish days. Well here goes.
I have been lucky to be attending airsoft events for over 6 years here in the UK and all though I have not been to the biggest events I have been to a lot over the years. I have attended standard skirmish events and themed events. Now before I get into the meat of this blog I think we need to discuss the difference between the two.
A standard skirmish event happens mostly over the weekend in the UK. They are hosted by clubs and they are there for players to rock up and bring what they like. Now along as it passes the chrono test at the start of the event then it is allowed into the event. All through the day, the club staff will put on either as many small matches or a few longer matches or maybe one match that will last all day. There are very few restrictions outside the rules of the club that is hosting the event. You can run whatever you like and you can wear whatever uniform you want. It’s not uncommon to see people dressed up as WW2 uniforms fighting alongside people dressed up in the latest military gear from seal team 6. The main thing about the standard skirmish event is to have fun and leave players knackered by the end of the day. Now I can imagine that there is a lot of planning form the clubs as to what type of match they are going to run but once a club has become established and know what they are doing then it becomes easier to run than the other themed events.
I have played skirmish events at woodland sites, CQB buildings and a few events in an actual prison, obviously not in use anymore lol. They all put on a good event and whether they are running small fast matches or longer matches they really do put on a good show.
Now there is the opposite of a standard skirmish event and these would be the themed or MilSim events. There are less of these running at any weekend throughout the UK. These require a lot of planning. Now I will be honest and say I have not played at an actual MilSim but I have played at a few themed events over the years. I have played as a paying player and as a role player in these themed events. I have played as a member as a sniper team and a member of the Russian forces the FSB. As a paying player, I look forward to these special themed events as they off something a little different. They require a lot of planning before the actual event. It’s not uncommon to be planning for the event up to 6 months in advance. There can be limitations placed upon the players that can be anything from a limitation of ammo, weapons and a specific uniform that you have to wear to mark you out as a particular team. These events can take place at sites that skirmish event do not run on offering the player a different and sometimes difficult new side to the event. They are a true challenge.
Some of these themed events can last a lot longer than the standard single day, some of them can last up to 3 days and nights. Due to these events requiring new sites and a lot of forward planning form the players and form the staff of the club running them they can be more expensive. But you pay for what you get, a true challenge.
Now that just leaves the role players of which I have done this before and this is what I really love. To me its the best part of airsoft. For some odd reason, I have played a lot of roles involving being a member of the Russian special forces. I have been a member of a security force, I had zero sense of humour and would do anything to keep my boss safe. During those events, it was the boss of Lincolnshire Airsoft Club and was playing the role of a weapons dealer. Just recently I have been playing the role as a member of the Russian special forces the FSB. I had other players alongside me also playing their roles as members of the Russian special forces. During the last event, I was to lead an interrogation of a good friend of mine. My orders from the club boss were to make it sound like a real interrogation, obviously without the physical side. We were on a farm that was hosting the event and it was late at night and all you could hear was me with my broken Russian and my victim screaming as he was interrogated. By the time I was finished everyone was scared of the Russians as we went about our business during the event. There were other roleplayers during the event playing the role of local farmers. They approached our position and started being all jolly and funny. With a 6ft plus tall Russian staring back at them who did not think it was funny at all they very quickly stopped there games. It might have also had something to do with the three other Russian guys spreading out with there AK’s raised.
In conclusion to this blog I love most things about airsoft, I really enjoy the skirmish events that take place during the summer and for some odd reason, I really like the events during the winter as they can add a different challenge with the weather. But for me, it’s always been the themed events that give me a role and purpose. These are a brilliant challenge and when I finish the event and the other players come up to me and are talking about when they found the Russians that they were scared and that it added another level to the vent for them that I know it has been a good event.
CraftySniper.