Photo-video of Ormoc airsoft Competition

Okay. I posted only a few pictures and there are lots of them. After a whole day of tinkering, i got a good number of the photos to work in a video file complete with music.



ENJOY!

And here is the rest of it.

Read more!

Photos: OP Friendly Fire in Ormoc City (26 May 2007)

Finally, i have the pleasure of sharing a few photos from the airsoft tournament that we joined last May 26, 2007 in Ormoc City.









GO DARK WING DUCK! Soar high! Fly proud!

Read more!

Operation: Friendly Fire

Yeah, yeah, yeah! I was so excited about the first airsoft competition i was going to attend in Ormoc. It took me a long time to post something about (it was held last Sunday 27 May 2007). I thought i'd wait for the photos and videos that my Dark Wing Duck teammates took so i could include them in my post. Alas! None have come out yet - they're still editing and stuff. Might as well post something about the competition already with the visuals to follow (soon i hope).

Well? How was the tournament? ... WE WON! WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! "Operation: Friendly Fire" was the first competition (that we know of ) after the May 14 elections. Dark Wing Duck's goal for the rest of the year is to grab first place in all competitions throughout Leyte (or at least get a podium finish).

Four teams participated: Tiger Commandos, Lycans, Omega Red, and Dark Wing Duck. We (Dark Wing Duck) were the only players invited from Tacloban to join the tournament.

From Dark Wing Duck, the following played: Omeng (Team Leader), Jason, Bambam, Lester, Patrick, Jeremiah, Heber, Arvin, Deo, Jojo, Brian, Raul, Rex

And of course our guests: Lennie, Gelyn, Lyrah, and Jojo's brother (who took all the videos)

There were three basic missions: capture the flag, hostage rescue, and retrieve the bomb. Team leaders of the opposing teams for each game picked their mission at random. So that sometimes, opposing teams had the same mission.

We played on a dirt field of about 120 square meters with a small kill house of about 8 square meters in the center. It was in the kill house that most mission items were located and, obviously, where the action is furious. The rest of the game area was strewn with obstacles mostly old road tires piled on top of one another to either shoulder or waist height.

Each game was fast and furious, especially those where we played. DWD is known for its fast moving games and, as expected the DWD games were over in two to four minutes. Our scorecard was five for six, losing only the second to the last game, which we played against the Lycans (another veteran team).

The four teams played against each other twice in a double round-robin system using alternate sides of the game site. Changing staging areas was necessary because each side of the game site presented its own pros and cons. One side was nearer the kill house but had only a few hiding places. The other side was farther from the kill house but had significantly more obstacles to hide behind. Depending on the side and the opposing force that were playing, team tactics and players were adjusted by the team leader.

While the actual games were fast, it was the waiting before the game started that took sooo looong. In fact, if not for the waiting times prior to actual games we wouldn't have been as tired as we were when we left Ormoc.

After the tournament, the Lycans invited us over for some refreshments and post-game "fellowship". And then it was another long drive back to Tacloban. The next day we had a de-briefing to assess our performance (especially the newbies) and to plan our next activities.

Read more!

410 fps? can't wait to find out!

When i got my airsoft gun from my supplier he suggested two modifications: (1) change the hop-up packing, and (2) change the air-seal nozzle. According to him, the ICS M4A1 RIS is pretty good out of the box i.e. it does not need much upgrading.

From the newbie point of view, i couldn't really understand the fuss about shimmings, and gears, and springs, etc. I chose to begin my search for an airsoft gun with several simple questions:


1. Is the gun sturdy? Will it stand up to the rigors of regular game play? Can it cope with potential mishaps like being dropped? In relation to this, i had to ask about the reputation of the manufacturer and of course the recommendation of my supplier (who happens to be my gunsmith also).

2. How strong is it out of the box? Each manufacturer will publish muzzle velocity figures, of course nothing will beat anecdotal evidence. AEG manufacturing is not automated. Materials manufacturing is automated but assembly is by humans. This means that most (if not all) AEGs have the same parts but may differ out of the box depending on who assembled the gun. So anecdotal reports are really important for finding out the qualities of any AEG.

3. What modifications or upgrades need to be carried out on the gun to bring it to a level (especially in terms of muzzle velocity) within the range of the guns of those whom you play with. I play with people who have guns that range between 350fps to 450 fps. If i were to consider getting a gun that was only rated at 250fps upgrading it would have been important ... yes! to at least balance out the firepower.

I could have bought a lower priced gun and spent tons of money to upgrade it. But then my gunsmith recommended the ICS M4A1 because of its good stock performance out of the box. Again, out of the box i only needed two modifications to ensure stable, if not better, performance.

The first modification was to change the hop-up packing. This was done two weeks after i got the gun. I gave it a good two weeks so that i could familiarize myself with my gun's stock performance. This way i would have a baseline for comparing how it performs after the new hop-up packing was installed.

There was a huge difference. Out of the box, my unit was rated at 340fps max but after the hop-up packing modification its rating increased to 355fps max. Range also increased as well as the flight characteristics of the bb.

Two days ago i decided to have the second modification carried out i.e. the air-seal nozzle. Dropped the gun off at my gunsmith's place in the morning and picked it up by nightfall. According to my gunsmith, he tested it and the rating is now at 415fps max. I can't wait to see for myself how my gun's performance has changed.

Hopefully, that's the last of the modifications that i carry out on my gun. That's important so i can move on to looking for a secondary weapon. hahaha!

I'll post photos of my gun soon ... as well as a newbie review.

P.S. note the change in the title of this blog.

Read more!

Off to Ormoc on Sunday!

My brother-in-law asked me and my son to join their team for an airsoft competition in Ormoc City this sunday. Exciting and scary! It's going to be my first time to participate in organized airsoft competition. Whatever i may feel, i am looking forward to playing.

It's also going to be the first time that will play for a specific team in an organized competition. We had a team briefing the other day (tuesday) for newbies like myself (and my son). Overall team strategy and tactics were discussed using a whiteboard since there's no time for us to practice with the team.

But the main idea is to think about the team above everything else. No lone wolf stuff during competition. Team leader/s will give us specific assignments/roles, and for as long as we do them everything will work well for the team. The one thing that's difficult about this upcoming competition is that the team has not seen me and the other newbies play yet. They don't know what roles we can play or how we will fit into the team's playing style and strategy.

we'll see soon enough. I just hope that i can carry my own weight during the games. There are so many things to consider, but we just need to be smart about it. But if we can be smart about the game, then so can others. What this all will boil down to is skill and team tactics/strategy.

Read more!

An Introduction to ...

So, for my first post, here are a few pictures. All these are personal photos relating to airsoft. A lot are photos of my son, who is most likely the youngest airsoft player in Tacloban City (he's just 10 years old).

I bought him an MP5 as a beginner gun (at about 250fps). We had to upgrade it, but it went bonkers on us. First the stock battery couldn't crank the upgraded spring. We had to get a lipoly battery for him. After getting the lipoly battery, some of the gun's contacts got fried.

I just decided to get him another gun. I couldn't bear his sad face. One time, he joined a weekend game, since he didn't have a gun ... he was our "hostage" in a hostage rescue scenario. Anyway, i got him a G36, and according to our supplier its a reliable gun and brand.



Using his Uncle Lester's M4A1.



Uncle Lester (my brother-in-law) all geared-up.

Read more!

Post-election hohum!

The elections were certainly boring for me(and maybe a lot of others too). Not as colorful as the 2001 and 2004 elections. Perhaps the lack of viable choices among candidates made it boring. I wrote about this in Tacloban Speakeasy reacting to Antonio Abaya's article: "Trillanes Tsunami".

Good (or bad?) for me, i am still registered (as a voter) in Manila. I didn't have to go through what would have been a hohum effort at voting last May 14.

Anyways, since this is about airsoft. After the hohum elections ... it's back to regular airsoft games! yahoo! Team Leyte Airsoft (TEAMLAS) made it clear in the forum that all members were supposed to observe the election gun ban. Since we use replica guns (the guns do look like the real ones), we were included in the coverage of the gun ban. While a handful chose to continue regular games, plenty chose to abide by the ban.

But, now that the elections are done. Watch out! I'm pretty sure there will be plenty of regular games and players again.

Read more!