056 WWW.AI-MAG.COM WWW.AI-MAG.COM 057TIM VAN DE CAVEY
GREEN TEAM COMMANDER
I was already playing airsoft for over
10 years when we came across an
event in Ai magazine. After playing
some editions of Berget, Borderwars
and tons of local skirmishes we
decided to cross the Channel for a
weekender and headed off with 4
Flanders airsoft squad members to
the MOD training village of Rype not
really knowing what to expect.
Those two days were undoubtedly
the best days ever in airsoft and
apart from the impressive site, we
met people who became friends in
the years after and I witnessed the
highest level of sportsmanship ever
in the gentlemen’s hobby that airsoft
is. A few months after we booked our
next Ai and an addiction was born.
The third weekend of April I
headed off way too early in the
morning for my second Ai500 as
commander of the mighty Green
team, after a streak of two wins with
Scott Conall leading and a third in my
commander debut game the entire
Green team was pretty confident to
smash the Tans again. The enemy
also got a new command face after
the retirement of Andy Sawyers;
Mike Arnett took over the Tan team
1IC position. Mike or call sign AFGANI
(All F***ing Gear And No Idea) as he
was ranked on the Green target list
as the next to go down.
After the game kicked off it
soon became very clear to me this
would not be an easy weekend,
temperatures were high and the sun
was burning. The Tan team put up a
very hard fight from the beginning,
positions were taken and lost and
objectives being taken by both but
always just a bit earlier by the Tans.
On Sunday the weather was a
bit softer but the wind that was
already bothering us on Saturday
and became even harder and turned,
again to our disadvantage. Another
hard game kicked off but for the first
time in Ai history I started receiving
complaints of non hit-taking,
overshooting and verbal aggression,
the three things that make airsoft
a gentlemen’s game and three of
the reasons I like and travel to the
Ai games. Complaints were coming
in on both teams and however I
still think that the wind was mainly
causing this and there was without a
doubt non hit-taking noticed.The Ai500 is a weekend game,
with rules on ammo, respawning,
uniform choice and more. It is
physically more demanding then
a regular skirmish and seeing the
size of some of the sites it might
take more than an average walk.
Please read, understand and think
over the rules when registering
for an Ai event because playing by
the rules makes these events such
a great weekend of Airsoft and is
the reason I fell in love with it.
After lunch on Sunday numbers
became so unbalanced that Mike
without hesitation “borrowed”
some of his Tan players to me,
this only proved to me that Mike
also has the right mindset for the
Ai games, showing his extreme
sportsmanship. It also proved
that his own players went at least
as hard into their own team as
they did in the morning to us and
immediately after the start wescored points by having our Green
Tan’s putting up a decent fight and
some of the Green team members
breaking Olympic running records
for retrieving ammo cases!
This ended a short but intense
afternoon still in a close score but
with a more then earned win and
trophy for Mike and his Tan team.
Congratulations on that but don’t
get used to it.
Tim out.AFTER ACTION REPORT AI500: OPERATION NUKE TOWN 2018
050-056 Ai500.indd 56 29/05/2018 12:41