Night games

[kirvesuk]

Hi all.

 

I'm looking for some inspiration from you legends when it comes to outdoor night games. I'm talking about 4 hours or so of gameplay at a site that has roughly alternate floodlit and pitch black areas. I'm. Thinking about an ambush and patrol scenario, or maybe an attack the floodlit base from the darkness game. Any good ones you have played?

 

Also, the logistics escape me a bit. Is single shot only good to minimise close range accidents in the dark? Should teams wear glowsticks for id? Or do you purely rely on torches to make a game work out?

 

cheers all!

[jcheeseright]

Last time we did a night game at adrenaline we went single only, makes more sense really in the dark since overkill is really difficult to avoid when you can't clearly see who you're shooting at.

 

Arm bands work fine at night, most people are gonna shine a torch at their target to ID before they fire anyway, glowsticks remove all potential for stealth.

 

As for game types, not sure I can help really, last time we went we did variations on the standard day games, just with lower numbers and less light.

[kirvesuk]

Ideal, thank you for that. Any game ideas appreciated :-)

[Lowlander]

Last night game i plauyed in we used tiny little 1.5" fishing lure glowsticks for team marking, when positioned well they dident give away a position but gave a fairly clear team ID at closer ranges. as for game types what cheese said.

[NickM]

My suggestions for successful night games.

 

If you've never played one, make sure you go to a few before you organise your own.

 

Single shot is a good idea, or very short bursts at most (3 shots eg) as jcheeseright says overkill is way too easy.

 

Simple colour designations (tape is too small) go for the simple Black and Green vs Tan format. It makes positive ID'ing targets much easier. Rigs don't matter its the colour of the base camo. If people whinge about it a set of DPM or DDPM shouldn't cost more than about £20 at an army surplus shop.

 

Have dead players mark themselves with something luminous. In this case glow sticks can be used. Have them stored in a pouch (where they can't be seen), when hit pull them out. This means medics will be able to locate them easier and the opposition will know where they are so they don't light them up repeatedly. Green for the green team, yellow or orange for the tans.

 

Give plenty of warning so that players can get used to the layout of the site in one case I know a site that we had to navigate in the dark using the feel and sound of the ground under foot. Known paths didn't crunch, off the path the leaves crackled in different ways depending on what plants were in the area. Or super spongy meant you were in the conifers.

 

Encourage players not to use their torches all the time.

 

Provide intel via text to the person incharge of each team, it would be good if the person is chosen by the organiser for their experience and knowledge of the site. They don't have to boss people about but they are the most useful information point.

 

Game ideas,

 

Most normal skirmish games work well as long as they don't rely on speed. better to be safe than sorry. At night stealth is the key advantage you gain so give objectives with plenty of time, allow teams to pick when and how they will achieve them. So perhaps multiple objectives with different length times they are open for.

 

One site used strobe beacons of the type used for Search and rescue you either had to get them to a base and switch them on, or switch them off at certain locations.

 

Limited ammo E&E work well, hunter team vs opposition who have to get around the site without being captured. Hunters get full kit, E&E players have to work in ones or twos, they are allowed a pistol and a single mag and a small (think waterbottle pouch) that can contain water, snacks, and can have some bits of survival kit. They move around the site in an orienteering style challenge either collecting intel, or items trying to make the final extraction point. Routes can be made more difficult as you see fit.

 

Intel gathering, get into position around a base with patrols out. Gather specific pieces of intel for use in other games.

 

Base infiltration, get in and out without being caught. Place a post box in the oppositions HQ, you can drop in a slip of paper if you aren't seen getting in, slips of paper = points.

 

Ambush games are quite good.

[NickM]

Just realised with the strobes, make sure you either don't have anyone with photosensitive epilepsy or they are of a frequency that wont trigger photosensitive epilepsy.

 

You could place boxes with dim LED's around the site with different colour lights and a switch, turn them to your colour. If you have someone with the skillz you can wire up stopwatches to each light which means at the end of the game you round them up and add up the times. Winners are the ones with the greatest time.

[Guest PT247]

our site allows full auto if you are using a tracer. I was anti the use of tracers to start with but actually it works well as encourages people to shoot then move rather than stay static so game progression is maintained. Our site is lit up with lights pointing up to the canopies so is dark but has ambient light. Torches are a must, but as someone said earlier they should not be used excessively (over use of torches is my biggest bugbear of night games and if on a side which thinks they should have them on constantly I'll go lone wolf to stay away from them as they destroy any natural night vision and people behind you using their torches silhouette anyone in front which really don't help the stealthy approach)

[joshcowin]

I have played a few games in the dark now and we didn't use glow sticks camo colours or arm bands just you had a blue and a red team and one attacked from one end and one another if you spotted someone you asked what colour they are hardly any confusion at all,one thing I would say is mark the game area with glow sticks so people don't get lost.they did that at the bar and worked really well

[Ian_Gere]

@Skirmish Mansfield we have played night games with mixed semi only and full auto allowed zones - when the home base area is in play, it is semi only to minimise the risk of damage to the video surveillance system. I don't believe it's necessary to pander to people worrying about overkill. It's quite rare anyway and I mean, so what? If people get all diddums about it, they shouldn't be airsofting full stop, let alone at night. The increased risk of accidents makes more sense, but people ought to be wearing airsoft eyepro, not shooting glasses, so it shouldn't make any difference.