Arms Survival Camp in Summer (ASCS) 2001
18^th and 19^th August 2001.
by Darren-Jon Ashmore (d_j_ashmore@hotmail.com)

Run every year by the “Arms” Real Steel / Model Gun / Airsoft Magazine, this weekend is widely regarded as Japan’s premiere airsoft game event[1] and is annually attended by over 500 players, dealers, sponsors and observers.

ASCS004: The British contingent (with random Ozzie thrown in)

This year the Arnie’s Airsoft “Abarenbou Softer”[2] was part of a combined local and Gaijin squad led very ably by a member of the great (though lamentably late[3] ) Gun Shop Evan from Tokyo and mustered 32 souls when all heads were counted on the Saturday Morning of the event[4] .

ASCS06: The Evan Camp

The venue for this year’s bash was Naeba, near Yuzawa in Niigata Prefecture (The Prince Hotel to be exact) and it proved to be an excellent choice with the 6 play fields being situated on the wooded lowers slopes of the runs in the main – usually meaning that the environments had a good mixture of open and tight terrain[5] . The hotel itself is the largest in the region, with over 2,000 rooms apparently, and all the ASCS players were easily dropped into a relatively small area in the place so as not to upset the rest of the guests[6] .

At 9am on the Saturday morning the teams checked in, received their badges and chronoed their guns. As 100 mps was the fixed limit[7] it did not surprise me to find that even some stock guns were being declared “hot” (“pity da fool” who tried to slip a Marushin M1 carbine past the chrono ^_^) – though my own SR16 came very close to a ban at 99.?? mps. (The velocity limit was under 100m/s firm, with .20g BBs. This is becoming standard at many events open to the airsoft public in Japan. Individual teams have varying velocity rules, and the ASCS velocity rules have been in effect for at least two years).

According to Arms Magazine Staff, this limit was in force because in the past there had been a rather nasty incident with an unnamed party waving around an APS II which was so pumped up that it was putting 5 mm dents in hardwood and rather larger ones in the punters[8] .

Once all guns were chronoed, the team captains collected the ammunition for the team, which amounted to a total of 1,500 rounds per person for the whole weekend – with the exception of the 500 man games which had their own supply – and the first round was underway. Six games provided the points (6 for a win, 2 for a draw, 0 for a loss) for the final rankings for the medals of honour and were divided into a number of scenario types to test the skills of the players[9] .

ASCS002: The kill total after just over 5min on the deadly field one.

Field One was known as the “Flag Push”, and involved the players attempting to plant 10 flags (5 for each tem initially) as deeply into enemy territory as possible – with the number of flags over the center line determining the winner. The field itself was a murder zone, being only about 13 metres wide and dominated by a 3 metre wide road about which the flags were placed. Games here tended to be short with high rates of attrition.

ASCS001: Ash Nichols (centre) and two of the team take a rest in the safe zone of field 2

Field Two was a traditional CtF field in fairly closed woodland, with the exception of one path running the middle line. Low cover abounded, but the trees, though numerous, were too thin to provide real protection. Games here tended to bog down very early and degenerate into bush hosing.

Field Three was yet another CtF field, but with the added benefit of a 2 hit system (involving a hospital to which players retreated once hit for the first time). The field was wide and uneven, with a large ridge running across the centre of it and the teams which positioned themselves on the top of that generally won[10] .

Field Four, was played across a wide open slope (dotted with inflatable Speedball targets) and the surrounding woodland. The scenario was scored by recovering a number of “black boxes” – 5 litres water carriers – which had been scattered on the field. The most popular and exciting scenario of the event, games here never got bogged down and always remained tense, right down to the wire[11] .

Field Five was another CtF game, but this time played around a wood. The flags were situated in the open ground on either side, but no team as far as I am aware made the mistake of trying to get to the things that way, preferring to push up slowly through the under brush.

Field Six was the pistol only field and involved scoring by flipping signs over to reveal the colour of the scoring team. A much tighter field than the others, combined with the limited range of the weapons involved, made for very fierce engagements and high casualty rates.

The only other games of the weekend were the two huge grand melees, in which we all lined up and charged at each other across open ground, hosing fire all over the place. Totally dippy, totally pointless and totally enjoyable.

ASCS003: Sieg Zion! The Mobile Suit Gundam Zion Special Force Team Cyclops.

The Teams:

Including the Evan team, there were eleven squads of between 30 and 35 players competing at ASCS with most being made up smaller squads being combined. Along with the usual finds – such as SEAL Team 6, Bravo 2-0, the ever-present Wermacht[12] , any number of SWAT snipers and the like – there were some very unusual squads in presence. For example, the SF realm was represented by Mobile Suit Gundam’s Zion Special Force Team Cyclops, while on a more “historical” note the chanbara film scene was represented by a very well turned out 18^th century rônin character.

The Dealers:

ASCS008: Smokey’s Gun Factory

While Marui were present as sponsors[13] they were not actually selling anything – though they did give us a look at both the new Abrams RC Tank and the EBB Delta .45. Smokey’s Gun Factory were also present, Smokey’s having brought along the prototypes of their upcoming GBB M1 Garand and next year’s most anticipated release in Japan, the Barratt Light 50[14] . They also had on sale such lovely items as their M629 revolver upgrade kits, the already legendary Sten MkV AEG, the ultra short AK47 (including the new big battery box for it), a range of wonderfully accurate dummy grenades and a big box of cold beer. Better than that, they seemed to be selling everything at trade prices. Bonzer people all round. Next we Had Milforce, selling their usual excellent range of webbing, pouches and the like. We also had a marvelous cammo supplier from Tokyo who specialized in modding available milspec gear into hard to find uniform trimmings[15] .

 

ASCS010: Ash and Nauty’s ASCS loadout. From the top:Caw M79, Maruzen GBB KG9, WA 92F Centurion x2, MGC 45 hicap, Marui Famas, Tanaka Works Performance Center 44, Marui/Z-Shot-Systema/KTW/Right/Freedom-Arts/Den-Trinity/Milforce/First-Factory/Beamford/Mosquito-Mould SR16 Masterkey (this replica eventually won the ASCS custom gun competition)

Aftermath:

There were several competitons run after the main event had closed. The sponsors of the weekend (Tokyo Marui, Hobby Japan, Milforce and Smokey’s Gun Factory[16] ) provided a wedgeload of equipment for all the teams who played [17] as well as more extravagant prizes such as AEGs and GI Joe FAVs for the top placed squads[18] . In addition, there was a cosplay competition – attracting some very impressive entries such as a Pacific War support weapons contignet (a BAR gunner and a Japanese infantryman) – and the famous ARMS magazine custom gun competiton[19] , which was won this year by yours truly with an SR16 Masterkey (with System High speed box, C-mag, Trigicon, Laser, Sebone and Sniper stock).

All in all a top weekend.The play was fair, and despite a warning about George Romero Syndrome, there were no real incidents of zombie players reported. The scenarios were not of the more advanced sort we tend to see in the UK or US, but then again they seemed to suit the nature of the event – and indeed, I found the short, punchy games perfect in the heat of a Japanese summer.

The event will be held around the same time next year and probably at the same place, so why not come on down and lets see if we can get a Gaijin squad into the top 3 next time out.