But scattered around the field were floaties and scuba tanks with tethers attached that could be used to occupy the lakes.
Sugar and the Blue team leveraged that element to utilize their First Strike players effectively as snipers and create pinch points in the field.
“ It was a truly spectacular game,” Sugar said.“ The Cypher Scenario crew always knows how to keep both commanders and players on their toes.”
The constant battle on the field is not the only space where Commanders have quick decisions to make. Aside from battle strategy and effectively managing their armies, commanders had to manage resources and prioritize one mission over another. More than 700 interactive props were distributed around the field to be gathered by players amidst the fight. They then had to be returned to the Control Post and sorted. Among them were vials that contained the dreaded Cyrolite samples.
Cryolite is an element of this game that has taken on a life and story all its own. As players and commanders complain about how annoying it is, the producers have repeatedly responded by making the fictitious contaminant smaller and more difficult to sort. Beginning in Season 1, players had to pull beads of one specific color out of an assortment of beads the size of Nerds candies. The following year, they were the size of cupcake sprinkles. Last year, the substance was in a combination of colored liquids. This year, propmaster Ryan Galvin had iron filings mixed in with sand that had to be sorted out with a magnet and then jarred to be weighed at the end of the game. Points were awarded based on weight.
According to Sugar, the collaborative effort of the entire Blue Homeguard to secure the final bunker and bring all the props back to CP was the best part of the game because it demonstrated how effective the Blue team has become.
They started the Bunker assault by identifying its location early in the game. There, they saw that it was secured by six locks: Five were letter combinations, and one was a timed lock. The timer started with the beginning of the final mission, and the mission had to be completed within that time period, or it would restart.
Players then had to utilize currency found on field,“ alcohol” bottles, or“ elicit drugs” to negotiate with the interactive role players- a cannibal, a journalist, a Cow Cult leader, and a gangster- to get the letter combinations, and then trade with the legendary Daniel“ Barney” Alamo at Barney’ s Bazaar for the final combination.
Breach of the bunker sounded an alarm to alert the opposing team that the cache was actively being raided, and started a massive firefight. Amidst this fight, the Blue team managed to move a series of crates, weighted with supplies. The majority of them were two-man carries and required an escort to remove them from the field.
“ The teamwork was phenomenal, and everyone throughout the day really looked like they were having fun,” Sugar said.“ I really enjoyed hearing all the stories the player had with role players. The role players bring a fun and interesting dynamic to the game and often bring a good story or chuckle for people to share during and after the game.”
0150 paintball. media magazine