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My New Favorite Boots

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My Personal set of Under Armour Tactical Valsetz Boots

I have been using boots purchased at Army/Navy Surplus stores for the majority of my airsoft career. About 6 years ago I purchased some boots online on the advice of my friend and fraternity brother Matt, only to be disappointed by their craftsmanship and lack of ventilation, considering they were desert boots. This led me to refuse to order boots online because I didn’t want to spend any more money on boots until I could try them first hand to make sure I wasn’t throwing money down a hole.

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My UA Valsetz Boots at Hollywood Sports Park’s Combat Center

Little did I know, that I my girlfriend was planning on buying me something special for my birthday and asked me if there was one thing I could have for airsoft what would I buy? So, I told here “I haven’t had a comfortable set of boots in almost a decade, and that’s what I spend most of my time in, so it would have to be a new set of boots.” She asked if there were any specific ones I’d thought about and quite a number of my coworkers had just purchased Under Armour Tactical Valsetz boots from AirsoftGI.com and could not stop talking about them. These same folks would also wear them into work just about every day leading me to believe that they really were as comfy, lightweight, and breathable as everyone had claimed them to be.

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My UA Valsetz Boots at Bob’s Rebel Training Camp: Northern Resistance at Gamepod Combat Zone

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AAR Rebel Training Camp: Northern Resistance Game 3

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So, this is where the day got really crazy! Both games 3 & 4 had not only the capture rules in effect, but they also had multiple vehicles, rocket launchers, and C4 props. Overall the games were very exciting, however, because of all the extra things we decided to throw in, it certainly got to be a little bit harder to follow even for myself.

game 3

The scenarios for Games 3 & 4 were essentially the same with each team switching sides and objectives so that both teams got equal time fighting with and then against vehicles.

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AAR Rebel Training Camp: Northern Resistance Game 2


The second evolution in the Rebel Training Camp: Northern Resistance was centered on 4 newly-constructed destroyable buildings that Gamepod Combat Zone staff had just fabricated in the days leading up to the event. Essentially, they were air cannons filled with pancake mix that could be detonated using two audio cables and a detonator with a single red button. This system could actually be moved around to just about any building in the complex, making search and destroy scenarios almost endlessly variable. In addition, Gamepod staff tested which powder mixes were the easiest to wipe off of gear and found that flour is the worst/hardest to clean off of gear and pancake mix was by far the easiest.

After all, it can be very invigorating to destroy an objective but to have that followed up with powder that is hard to clean off gear can be a frustrating situation. Thankfully, with a little play testing by the Gamepod staff, disaster was averted and a ridiculous new game prop was created!

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©2014 Terrence Taylor

So, I’m sure you are wondering what the setup and force dispositions were for this game. Luckily, using MS Paint like a complete champ, I have created a diagram which you can see below that shows my forces’ starting position in orange, Josh’s forces’ starting position in green, as well as the objective buildings for each side marked with an X of the corresponding color. Each team had to destroy their objective buildings as well as prevent the enemy from destroying their own respective buildings. Overall, this was a very fun game with quite a few heart pumping moments, so let’s get into how the game went!

rtc game 2 objectives buildings

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AAR Rebel Training Camp: Northern Resistance Game 1

training camp north

So, I had planned the first game of RTC: Northern Resistance to be relatively simple with the following games adding more and more complexity to the day. For the first mission there were no capture rules and only 5 crates randomly place on the battlefield along with a nuke in the center that had to be recovered. Josh’s forces started just next to the airport and behind the clinic whereas my forces were starting at the Drive-in Movie Theater.

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[The orange box with shows Bob’s starting location and the green box shows Josh’s starting location.]

My initial plan was to have my forces hit all four main streets and push as far as they could until they encountered heavy resistance. I knew that I had to stake my claim on as much of the battlefield as I could early on to achieve success for this mission. Half of my forces went to the left and the right of the drive-in movies rushing straight down 1st and 2nd street with the rest of my forces proceeding further left then rushing down 3rd and 4th. I expected this shock assault to give my forces at least a few minutes of breathing room to find the Nuke which was, for this game, worth a fair amount of points.

rtc game 1 objectives[In the photo above, weapons-grade uranium cases are marked with a red “X” and the nuclear warhead is denoted with a red “N.” ]

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AAR Rebel Training Camp: Northern Resistance

training camp northWith the second incarnation of the Airsoft GI’s Rebel Training camp occurring at Gamepod Combat Zone in Antioch, Ca there were a myriad of fun things that we could offer new players and Veterans alike.

gamepod1©2014 Terrence Taylor

Gamepod Combat Zone is the largest indoor training facility in North America and as such they have a wide array of game styles available at their doorstep. Not only that, but the field staff are as professional as they come and are always looking for new and different ways to keep us players on our toes. One of the ways they have accomplished this for Airsoft GI’s Rebel training camp is through the advent and use of destroyable buildings. Gamepod staff rigged four different building with air cannons filled with pancake mix that were connected to audio cable jacks within each building that could then be connected to a detonator and set off. This alone made the day that much more enjoyable and cinematic as our marketing manager Daniel found out first hand when his detonator malfunction and was told by game staff that “it’s real world, so make it count.” Make it count he did, but that story will have to be saved for another day and a different blog post.

gamepod9©2014 Terrence Taylor

Another key component to the days’ events was the training staff. Through connections with Gamepod personnel, we at Airsoft GI were able to connect with SGT Brad XXXX and SSGT Eric XXXX (names withheld for security purposes). These were two first rate individuals and their training was second to none. These gentlemen were both deployed overseas in defense of our country and their desire to pass on their knowledge to the next generation was commendable. In fact, one of the most enjoyable moments for me personally was seeing many of the kids at the event, some of whom were first time players, using the training they had just received on the airsoft battlefield. Seeing young Rebels, who normally would have run screaming at the enemy, instead pie a corner was truly enthralling and very gratifying.

gamepod4©2014 Terrence Taylor

Another exciting element to this training camp was also the fact that vehicles were readily available throughout the day. Many players normally don’t have the opportunity to engage with or against armored components on the airsoft battlefield and introducing this scenario to players was an important part of making this event a success. Now, this comes with a caveat because introducing novice players to a battlefield full of vehicles is always rife with danger. However, because of the number and quality of Gamepod trained referee staff, any danger or confusion was mitigated to the point where players could concentrate on their game play and the enemy engaging them.

gamepod3©2014 Terrence Taylor

Gamepod Combat zone is one of the finest indoor facilities in the United States of America and I feel privileged to have been able to play there. More AAR’s of Bob “The Axe Man’s” Rebel Training Camp: Northern Resistance are soon to follow and will go over each game evolution in it’s entirety as well as the tactical movement made by each side.

gamepod7©2014 Terrence Taylor

Make sure to stay tuned to Airsoft GI’s Blog because you won’t want to miss out!

gamepod10Check out these Teasers for the Rebel Training Camp: Northern Resistance below!

And here are the finished game play videos!