Gaston OR, Skirmish

[Allen]

EPIC FAIL. so try i try to make it to the game by 10:30 and if it wasn't for google maps i would have made it, however i got shitty directions that led me to a road that didn't exist. luckily i had a map in my car and found the place. it was marked by a piece of paper taped to a stick in the ground. the road up to the parking area was over grown with grass as tall as my car(thanks for the off road warning).

I get there around 11 and there are 2 parked cars and no one around. so i go for a walk up a path that looks recently traveled yelling at intervals and listening for a fire fight. After about a half mile i stop and turn around. go back to my car a wait another 5 minutes yelling and what not. Never found anyone so i came home.

Epic fail, bleeding waste of time.

[Sasquatch Soldier]

I just wanted to say I had a great time. Thanks to the Matt, Bobby, Evan, Brian and Schyuler.

I have learned a couple things about hosting a game. We need to create a real sign. And I need to get the word out earlier, and not to plan during an OP.

Allen. I specifically stated that we would start at 10:30. We waited for people to show until 11:15. We had people by the road waiting because the location wasn't marked. It's not my fault that you didn't allow time for f**k ups. I hadn't been there in 6 months so I didn't know the conditions of the road. I am sorry I did not let you know there would be off roading involved but I figured even a small car could handle gravel...but what do I know. When we came back to the cars I saw a nasty little message written through the dust of my back window of my car. You couldn't even spell epic right "epoch". You said you came there at 11:40. I waited for 45 minutes for any stragglers, but next time I will know I will have to wait another extra hour and a half.

This was my first time hosting a game. I thought it went well but I know I made some mistakes, there are things I can work on.

You know Allen, if you don't expect much you can never be dissapointed. What did you expect this to be like, an Operation?

[Easley]

So this was my brother's first game that he hosted and it went well. It was fun and enjoyable. What I did not enjoy was nasty messages left on our cars by a late player. We made an effort to make sure players could find the location where we were playing at with the materials we had. We waited by the road and hastily made a sign. Yes we were ill prepared to host a game but we were planning on heading out to our friend's farm anyway and wanted to see if any AP people would like to join up. It was a last minute decision to host a game. I enjoyed it though.

And Allen, even a 15 year old kid in driver's ed knows to plan extra time to drive to an unknown and new location. We waited around 45 minutes after "game start" and no one showed. We didn't want to waste any more time so we started playing at 11:15. No one forced you to show up Allen.

[Tombstone]

For future reference, Allen, writing on people's cars, even with your fingers in dust, is a form of vadalism, and there will be repercussion for it in this community.
although its plain to see this was not a very well organized event, you yourself are guilty of not being on time, and therefore can hardly act the victim.

[Sasquatch Soldier]

Oh and thanks to Moose Chopper!

[Allen]

Sorry about the messages on the cars i was frustrated with getting there late and then not being able to find you, because of the directions i used. I had thought that the 10:30 time advertised was the time people would be showing up rather than when you were starting the game. I was there at 11 and walked up the road a ways hoping to find you but being unfamiliar with the area gave up i left at 11:25.

It was of course my epic fail

[VogonFord]

So the lessons we learn are thus:

1. Post directions.
2. Leave radio info. (There's no cell reception, but we had several radios on)
3. Leave some sort of clue as to where to go if showing up late.

Overall, though, I think it deserves another day on the weekend. It was fun.

And moose chopper was hilarious.

[Allen]

I would be up for coming out again. if you guys want to forgive me for writing on your car windows.

How far from the cars were you guys playing? i went up the path/overgrown road to the left of the barn looking for you.

[Sasquatch Soldier]

That's fine. I was this close to writing our radio channel on a piece of paper, but everyone just wanted to take off.

The area we played at was about a mile away, so there was no way we could have heard you. Sorry about that man.

But I will be sure to make a VISIBLE sign and make it clear to when we start and when we meet. It was the first time I hosted, so I have a lot to learn.

[blart]

First off, fun games guys. The farm really has a lot of potential to be an excellent set of fields.

Reading these posts, I have a few more ideas. Of course, a good sign by the road would save headaches but we could also post a satellite image of the area in our cars and highlight the road that went through it. That way, if anyone showed up late they could get all their gear together and hike the road until they found us, since all the areas we played in were along the road. This would also help with the radio, since I don't think anyone in the parking area would be able to reach us with their radio anyway.

Also, you might want to consider posting a map on the boards with the roads to the parking area highlighted, especially if google maps is giving false directions as in Allen's case