EVENT REPORT
SPEEDSOFT - -TAIWAN
TAIWAN
against such things, however, I will leave the finer
details of that to a later article.
In an attempt to soften the image of airsoft
in Taiwanese society the “Camo Show” has
been operating over recent years and most
recently incorporated the aforementioned original
outdoor 5v5 speedsoft event. This was was
organised largely in conjunction with the TWAAA
(Taiwanese Airgun and Airsoft Association), which
oversees manufacturers and related activities
and concerns within the local industry. With all
this behind the scenes progress and hopefully an
improved public image or even greater interest
as a result, the future of airsoft in Taiwan will be
bright and thus the rest of the world’s related
industries can continue to follow suit. Ideally we
can all work towards finding a greater player
base, with a place for everyone to find what
they want from the hobby. As the old Viking
saying goes “build a longer table, not a higher
fence” and we should be able to find a seat for
everyone!
GAME FACES ON
So, with all of that lengthy preamble regarding
the international and local scenes dealt with, how
did the event actually go? “Brilliantly”, would be
the first thought that comes to mind! Thanks to
everyone’s efforts behind the scenes and support
from throughout the community and industry, the
whole day went off largely without a hitch.
Eight teams of five players eventually
participated, with the potential for that to have
reached eleven if it wasn’t for the unfortunate
arrival of the COVID-19 coronavirus, which
has caused much more widespread disruption
even postponing IWA 2020 to everyone’s
disappointment but with good reason.
One of the local teams from slightly further
afield withdrew as a result, to try and minimise
their risk of travelling and potentially contracting
or transmitting the infection any further,
although Taiwan has thus far fared very well by
comparison. Similarly, there were even teams in
Macau and Hong Kong who were wholeheartedly
interested in coming to participate, however,
were similarly prevented from doing so given the
situation.
The forty players were also augmented by
reserves as well as a reasonable number of
supporters and spectators who turned out to
help photograph and film the event from various
angles – or just to cheer on their partners or
friends. The atmosphere was very enjoyable
with a great camaraderie among the teams and
excellent sportsmanship dominating the vast
majority of gameplay. This has been an issue in
previous game days, where MilSim and speedsoft
players have had to be lumped in together due
to practicalities, causing obvious friction in terms
of disagreeable gameplay styles and equipment
usage or underlying rules.
With this specialised event, however, these
typical problems were averted, with everyone
34
APRIL 2020
signing up for the same game style and
understanding the formalised rules, as well as
there being less potential for new players being
put off by the intensity of the gameplay given
the existing teams all being well established
and equipped. This being most evident in the
photos and videos from the day, with the ever
synonymous “DYE” full face masks being the
more dominant war face of choice, in conjunction
with shorts, jerseys and tactical gear either
sporting the SpeedQB logo or otherwise inspired
by their offerings. With each of the eight teams
initially playing off against four other teams,
following a blind draw which assigned each
team a number for use in conjunction with the
prefabricated competition board, individual
rounds lasted a maximum of three minutes
each, with both teams then switching ends to
ensure fairness within each face-off, given the
asymmetric nature of the game area’s standard
unaltered arrangement.
Following rules fairly allegorical to the standard
Speedsoft/SpeedQB setup used elsewhere, the
first team to get hands on the single flag left
around the midpoint immediately gained twenty-
five points for their team, regardless of whether
the flag was retained. A further fifty points was
awarded for getting the flag to the opponent’s
starting barrel, with a final fifteen points bonus
being awarded if this was all accomplished while
one or more of the opposing team was still in
play. Finally, elimination of an opposing player
chalked up an additional five points, meaning
the maximum available in a “perfect” round a
potential one hundred and fifteen points to the
winning team.
Following the initial twin round contests
between two teams at a time, the four teams
with the highest points accumulated would then
play off in the finals, with the first and second
scores going to teams OPS and KSJV respectively,
with teams FGMT and Speedsoft Schoolers
duking it out over the runner up position.
When the dust settled and the tracer rounds
finally ceased ricocheting brightly and noisily off
every surface in sight, OPS stood victorious by
a slim margin of a single five point elimination
against KSJV, with both teams playing out of their
skins and providing some excellent photo and
videoing opportunities for me in the final rounds.
Similarly, Speedsoft Schoolers, arguably one of
the younger teams, won the day for third place
against their finalist competitors FGMT, who are
a more established but traditionally more MilSim
oriented team. Clearly there’s a lot to be said for
it being a “young player’s” game. Us old guys on
TWAT team managed to fight off coming last at
least but it’s certainly a faster-paced game than
even we are used to, with most of us playing
alongside the OPS guys who usually form part of
our larger team! Nonetheless it was all a great
experience and we are already planning the
second event for six months time. AA