OP: THUNDER STRIKE

[Hard_Drive]

Single pattern-per-side was a nice change of pace.
Midcap-only games are always more enjoyable than those without this restriction.

+1

[Matt]

That said:

I'm not really sure what I paid $30 for.

Gameplay was comparable to most of the free skirmishes I've played since 2006. Game mechanics were lacking, spawn points relative to major objectives were poorly laid out. Aside from a couple of PVC launchers, there were no props, or anything that really justified the price. Hell, even lunch was extra. I didn't see any real value in the game.

120 players at $30 a head works out to $3600 in gross income. Less field fees and insurance, that's still a couple thousand dollars in net profit, and I didn't see anywhere close to that amount invested into making the game anything special. I have no problems with game hosts making fair gains off of hosting an event, but OP: Thunder Strike seemed like nothing more than a cash cow to me.

Well Justin, I'm sorry you feel that way but, as I wrote:

OP Thunder Strike focuses on squad tactics and combat - there will be no simulated aircraft, no admin kills, no elite special forces, no complicated rule sets to remember, no codes to crack or boxes to carry across the field - just you and your company against another company of highly motivated and organized infantry.

Honestly I'm really not impressed with the games that have random objectives strewn about the field with nothing but an objective to move a 200lb object from point A to point B. It seems, well, pointLESS. It's busywork. That is why I said my OP would not have those, and several people had a great time and personally thanked me at the end - apparently they agree with me.

OP: THUNDER STRIKE was advertised as squad based combat, nothing else. No simulated weapons of mass destruction, no simulated IEDs, no admin kills. Special rules like invulnerability and simulated helicopters only seem to confuse people and cause arguments. They also cost little to nothing, I can tell you that from what I've observed at other people's events I have been to lately. If you want to pass off any of the "props" I've seen at recent events as a significant cost, then I'm calling bullshit.

Beside that point - your numbers are wrong. I spent more than $2500 on field fees, camping fees and props. The mortars, which unfortunately didn't work as well as I hoped due to those pumps, will be available at the next game. We had 105 people in attendance.

[chapped]

The game was exactly what was advertised.

I don't know what free skirms you've been attending, but the ones I've been to haven't had multiple administrative staff, a defined command structure, or a developed playfield with bunkers and structures.

I enjoyed this game as much or more than I have any other OP I've attended.

Hell, even lunch was extra.

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

[Switch]

Thanks to all of you in making it a great game, it was cool to be an Admin. And see airsoft from another view point. Thanks Matt! and sorry for calling lunch early

[Matt]

It's ok dude! Thanks a lot for helping. Like I said, I was pissed because I thought some random player decided to call it. Luckily we jumped on comms quick and got everyone back to playing, Rick wouldn't have been ready for us.

[Jester316]

What a game, what a game...

The good:

First, I want to thank all the Bravo members for fighting hard, and really pushing themselves with this game. I want to thank you all for listening to me phony pony and yell at almost everyone throughout the day. I also want to thank you all for sticking to the squad/platoon based structure of this event; I really think it worked out for us very well. I'm not going to call out either platoon, because I honestly feel I got the very best from both of you.

Alpha- You made one hell of an adversary. In the first round, you had us pushed back to our spawn point numerous times. It was a constant struggle, just to move. In the second round, your waves upon waves of reinforcements to Sector 10 slowed our advance to a crawl. I can see that you were very structured, and followed your game plan the whole day.

Matt- It was a pleasure being opposite of you. I could see that you had developed a cohesive game plan, and that it worked very well for you and your team. Congrats.



The Bad:

LZ Bravo- I feel that this "spawn" point, is the shittiest thing any event promoter could do to a team. To move anywhere, you have to move through thick underbrush, or up and over a massive hill. Compared to LZ Alpha that has established trails, and gradual hills to everywhere on the field, I feel that it severely lopsided the game. For future events, I would like to see a better spawn point, that more evenly distributes the terrain of Splat Action.

Admins- They need to be aware of the game rules before the game, not informed of them during. This was evident from the Phase 2 cowbunker incident.

Overall- The information about game mechanics needs to be disseminated better. In phase 1, I had no idea what time we were breaking for lunch, and had multiple differing reports. In phase 2, we really had no idea when it was over. I had been told it was both 4 and 5, and it very much confused our side.



Don't get me wrong, I had a great time. I just think that (like any event) there are areas of improvement. There is no perfect event. Hopefully for the next one, we can fix some of the things that went wrong. Overall, I had a good time, and I hope that I'm not seen as some yelling SOB on a power trip when I'm commanding.

[Tactical.Monkey]

I agree with the shitter problem. Only having one shitter that is not properly maintained is pretty bad.

[Nocte]

LZ Bravo- I feel that this "spawn" point, is the shittiest thing any event promoter could do to a team. To move anywhere, you have to move through thick underbrush, or up and over a massive hill. Compared to LZ Alpha that has established trails, and gradual hills to everywhere on the field, I feel that it severely lopsided the game. For future events, I would like to see a better spawn point, that more evenly distributes the terrain of Splat Action.

Not to declare a "winner of airsoft" or anything, but Alpha spawned in this exact same location after lunch, and still managed to capture more sectors then Bravo, who had "the good" spawnpoint.

[Jester316]

LZ Bravo- I feel that this "spawn" point, is the shittiest thing any event promoter could do to a team. To move anywhere, you have to move through thick underbrush, or up and over a massive hill. Compared to LZ Alpha that has established trails, and gradual hills to everywhere on the field, I feel that it severely lopsided the game. For future events, I would like to see a better spawn point, that more evenly distributes the terrain of Splat Action.

Not to declare a "winner of airsoft" or anything, but Alpha spawned in this exact same location after lunch, and still managed to capture more sectors then Bravo, who had "the good" spawnpoint.

Nic, for nearly half of round 2, Alpha was spawning at Sector 10. It wasn't till after that that you were forced to spawn at LZ Bravo, and it was very evident that it was hurting you guys. No Alpha member made it into Sector 10 after we controlled it.

Also, I sent maybe 15 people to secure the other sectors, while everyone else went after 10. Bad judgment on my part? Probably.

[ogrejager]

Overall, I had a good time, and I hope that I'm not seen as some yelling SOB on a power trip when I'm commanding.

Yeah, this for me, too. Except I am a yelling SOB.

I sincerely hope no Bravo players got annoyed with me during the push on the cow bunker during round 2. It was amusing to stand in the front lines, in the open, and yell, though...with no gun.

[vamps]

To everyone on Alpha that ran the Suicde run right before lunch. Awesome run! Thanks for not leaving me running the pistol on my own, as that would have been a lot less epic.

Thanks Matt great game. It was a ton of fun.

[Matt]

I agree with the shitter problem. Only having one shitter that is not properly maintained is pretty bad.

This is a problem Splat Action seems to always have. I don't really know what their logic is behind how they book the toilets. They know how many folks to expect well in advance. Unfortunately this time I failed to nag them about it - and they didn't bring in another one.

[Rico]

I am not sure why you did not know about the game times. I knew when were breaking and when the game indexed. Those were both important times to know as part of the overall strategy.

After you took sector 10 no body made it there because there was no strategic reason to do so. 80% of your troops were there and there were only 30 minutes left of the game. We assessed the risk and went on to capture sector 4 , hold the hill, and harass sector 7 so that you could not advance beyond the line we had drawn on our map at the beginning of the round which indicated what we were going to let you have, and what we were going to take. Granted, losing sector 10 was not part of our plan, but taking sector 5 and 4 were not either, that was just bonus.

Also, all of 1st Platoon was respawning at the bridge during the second half of the game. Only 2nd platoon was spawning at sector 10, didn't seem to be a problem...

[Matt]

LZ ALPHA is actually way back in the boonies on foot paths, you can only run people single file out of there... They all kind of bottleneck up and slowly trudge their way out of there at the beginning of the game. Still, ALPHA pushed out of there like an angry herd of elephants. It always seems like a hassle compared to being in that nice open logging road. The logging road gives you a fast-track to anywhere on the lower portion of the field, we used that advantage in phase 2. The approach from the logging road to khe-san is also fast, although a tiny bit slower this time due to a downed tree. Apparently a bunch of trees fell over there, probably those windstorms a few weeks back.

IMO both spawn points have their advantages and disadvantages. I've played in, hosted, or video taped probably more than a dozen games at Splat Action - these spawn points have always been balanced. The North spawn is a bit closer, but people get bogged down on the narrow path. The south spawn is farther away, but people can book it down that logging road to 3 different encampments or over that bridge right into khe-san.

Not sure why the timeline was confusing. The lunch break and the game end has been on the schedule which is posted in the first page of this thread since the day it was announced.

[Matt]

Also, all of 1st Platoon was respawning at the bridge during the second half of the game. Only 2nd platoon was spawning at sector 10, didn't seem to be a problem...

2nd Platoon also had 2 squads and only made up 1/3 of our entire force. The remaining 2/3rds started on the logging road spawn point.