The Airsoft Experience
The Airsoft Experience
Northern Airsoft Talk With Andrew Mitchell and Ashley Grace Leblanc
What drives a young paintball enthusiast to become a leading figure in the airsoft community, and how does one navigate the challenges of growing a business from a basement shop to a thriving field? Join Andrew, affectionately known as Chef, and Ashley, owner of Select Paintball and Airsoft North Bay, as they share their captivating journeys. Discover Ashley's transition from her passion for paintball to establishing a significant presence in the airsoft world, and learn from Andrew's experiences with Nipissing Airsoft and the unforgettable Under No Flag event that marked a turning point for both enthusiasts and the community.
Community empowerment is at the heart of this episode, where we discuss transformative efforts to create inclusive spaces for women in paintball and airsoft. Ashley's dedication to fostering a welcoming environment is reflected in her initiatives, from organizing ladies' nights to tackling the logistics of gear fitting for female players. The conversation delves into how Ashley and Andrew confront the challenges of event planning, prioritizing safety, player accountability, and the need for continuous adaptation to ensure an unforgettable experience for all participants.
We wrap up with insights into the intricacies of hosting successful airsoft events, spotlighting the lessons learned and the commitment to maintaining high safety standards. From the thrill of sniper hunts and innovative gameplay additions like thermal devices and NPCs, to the inspiring community efforts achieving remarkable food donations, this episode offers a comprehensive look at what makes airsoft such a dynamic and engaging sport. Whether you're a seasoned player or new to the field, this episode promises to enlighten and inspire with stories of growth, resilience, and community spirit.
Select Paintball & Airsoft
northbaypaintball.com
nippissingairsoft.com
Action Airsoft Club
www.actionairsoft.ca 905-615-7757
Ballistic Prints
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089181244866
SlingX
www.slingx.ca
Lightfighter Milsim Airsoft Team www.facebook.com/lightfightersmilsim
Nsceibelab Laser Designs
www,facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089285134479
Army Issue Surplus Inc.
www.armyissue.com 905-271-1665
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4, 3, 2, 6, 1, we have contact left, side 70, coming to you. Contact left, contact left, we're flanking left side.
Speaker 2:suppress, push, push, push, we're moving. We're moving right side, right side got him, right side, right side Got him.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to the Airsoft Experience. I'm your host, michael Mascott, also known as Magic in Ontario Airsoft, and today we are really lucky with two awesome guests that have driven quite a distance to come all the way to our studios in Action Airsoft Club. Welcome, andrew and Ashley. How are you guys doing?
Speaker 2:Good, Good yeah.
Speaker 1:It's been a weekend. It's been a weekend, all right. Well, let's get you guys to actually introduce yourself and what you're here to represent.
Speaker 3:My name is Ashley. I own and operate Select Paintball and Airsoft North Bay.
Speaker 1:Awesome, and you, andrew.
Speaker 2:I'm Andrew On the field, people call me Chef. I own Nipissing Airsoft with my business partner Keegan, who's not here, but he is here in spirit.
Speaker 1:Awesome.
Speaker 2:And then worst case, ontario Airsoft, which is again. I have two business partners with that, keegan and Paul. They are also not here.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, I've known you guys for quite a bit now. We've uh played a lot of airsoft together and you guys have just recently held a big, major event at our new field, the compound. Yep, it was uh under no flag and it was fucking amazing. We had a great time. But before we get into stuff like that, I I want to have the listeners learn a little bit of background about you guys and your careers and how airsoft and and paintball and and everything started with you guys. So how about we go through that?
Speaker 3:sure you go first okay, um, I started playing paintball when I was 15. I ran three renegade fields before ended up buying what used to be m&b paintball in north bay. I played with the northern gunmen out of london for quite a few years traveled a lot with them, got into the milsim game more.
Speaker 3:We did a lot of the sppl the time and then, when that phased out, we moved into more scenario games. So we were scenario ballers but we used speedball guns and we did a lot of travel. I just loved it. It was always a thing. And then I had an opportunity when I was on maternity leave with my daughter to start a store.
Speaker 3:So I bought into the franchise select through Paul Council who had four other stores and I was the farthest, but anyways, I opened a store and then, within that year, ended up off on mat leave with my second and my inheritance was just sitting there and the field owner was old and grumpy and he didn't want to do it anymore. I was like I've always wanted to do this, so I bought the field and I've had it for 10 years.
Speaker 1:Was it a field that you actively played before?
Speaker 3:No, I had only lived in North Bay a couple of years. I had played. I had been there once. I had never played it. I bought it not knowing much about it, which luckily he came into my life later and gave me a lot of history on it and it was just kind of one of those. He had a lot of land. It was a good size field. I was excited about doing my thing with it, so I bought it.
Speaker 1:Awesome. And when did Airsoft start for you?
Speaker 3:So I didn't know anything about Airsoft before the store. I had Adam Collier help me out a lot, tier 1, matt Mav, maverick, gunman, friends, guys I've known forever. I just had no idea and I'm like I need to know what I'm doing to sell this stuff.
Speaker 3:I can't bullshit it, it's just not who I am, yep, so they taught me a lot. I hadn't played at any events and I started running events. So I started select series and scenarios before I owned a field and I ran airsoft events before I had played them. Um, and then I just kind of got more involved in it as the years went with the field and then I've I hadn't traveled until Keegan and Andrew became business partners and kind of started the WCO movement and it's, yeah, a lot more in the last four years than ever.
Speaker 1:Less paintball now, more airsoft I hear that and unfortunately well, fortunately for airsoft, but unfortunately for paintball that seems to be some sort of a trend. I guess we're noticing and believe it or not. Last year we opened up the compound for one mag fed event and, and you know what? It opened my eyes to a cool other whole community that I didn't even know really existed because, personally for me, I used to play paintball. I had my own marker, I played at a soldiers of fortune in Hamilton and uh, first time I went had a great time. Second time I went, I bought all this what I thought was cool gear and fuck, I couldn't see a thing. I fogged out like shit, the owner of the field, I forget his name. He gave me his mask to finish the game and that showed me, you know, uh, how good the community was in that end.
Speaker 1:But then when I got back to the safe area, someone stole all my paintballs. Like, I bought two boxes and I didn't know better. I left them on the table. I came back and they were gone. So that was the end of my day, right then and there. So since that day I have not played paintball. Oh no, and uh yeah. So hopefully I'm, I'm thinking about, uh, trying it again this year. We actually opted to three magGFED events this year and you know it's a cool scene and I'm glad to be around other people in it. And on that note, andrew, why don't you tell us about your experience and how it all started for you?
Speaker 2:So I started with paintball also, but back in like the late nineties, early two thousands, so I was like 17 at the time. So I played up at M and B paintball, which then turned into select. I was into like more of the speedball side of it because I was a fat kid. So being the back player and not having to move anywhere and just throw paint all day was a lot of fun. I get some really cool experiences, like we got to play in skyball, which was a major paintball speedball event that they actually held in the skydome on the floor, like right down. Cool that was. Yeah, it was really cool.
Speaker 2:So we did that. We got our like we're like, if we're driving four and a half hours to go play paintball in a major tournament, we're not going to do like the bottom level division, we're just going to go to whatever the top tier division is and just and we just got our asses kicked. I think we shot out like we played, I think, eight games and we only shot like three people. We just got our asses kicked. But it was you know what. I got to play against the stone assassins, which the Cypress Hill team, so I got shot by like be real, that was pretty fantastic.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:May or may not have hung out with him later on and had some drinks and smoked with them, but yeah, and then I got out of it for a bunch of years. And then five years ago I was just working all the time and my partner at the time was like you need a hobby and I'm like why they're like you're just working all the time. So a friend of mine had an airsoft gun for sale and I was like, okay, cool, I'll try this. I was into paintball, this is more realistic. So I purchased a used gun from mom and then I went up the one day I took a cab up to the field because I didn't know anybody. And then it know anybody and and it was like, hey, I like this. And then that's when I met ashley for the first time, met keegan, my business partner, for the first time. We got along really well and he pitched me his idea of nipissing airsoft, which was like at first it was just like a community based group. And then we opened up the store.
Speaker 2:The very next year we started off. We tried to open up our store in like this basement, this basement shop in downtown North Bay, which just was like massive red flags and the disaster right away, like we were like a month from opening, like, and we had a flood. But it wasn't just a flood, it was a sewage flood. Yes, we didn't have much product in the store, thank god, at the time. But our landlord was like oh, that sounds like a you problem. We're like well, actually it sounds like a you problem, so consider us finished. And then we just we bought a c container and we posted it up at the field and we turned the C container into the store and then, a year after, that's when Worst Case came into reality. So we started with the Big Igloo events, which has just kind of been like.
Speaker 2:Our whole concept behind Big Igloo was, like we took away from Black Cells Narco. I think everyone knows that Narco is a party game. It's the game that you can bring your friends that have never played Airsoft before and you know that they're going to have a good time. So we wanted to have something like that up north. So we did that and it's just grown every year, like our first Igloo we had 35 people. Last year I think our count was 147, 150. So it just it seems to be growing more and more every year. Awesome. And then we're like well, these seem to be going. Well, we should probably run an event at another field. And then, yeah, that's where no Flag came into. And we kind of just like you know, with that, we took bits and pieces from things we liked and things we didn't like from other games and bam, under no Flag.
Speaker 1:So do you think, going back a little bit, do you think that like was Airsoft ever offered at Select before? So it was, let's say, multi-use field at the time? Yep, okay, cool, but there was never a store there, no, and then that's where you came in.
Speaker 3:So I had the pro shop in North Bay. It was Select Paintball and Airsoft. I had both. But then after I bought the field field, I ended up closing the store. I couldn't manage both and teach full-time and I had two little kids and single mom things. It was a lot, um, but it was one of those things.
Speaker 3:They were like why don't you have bb's, why don't you have this? Why don't you have that? I'm like, dude, I can it all. Like, if you want to carry stuff, sure. And then when they had the little store downtown, they were like they called me and they were like meet us for coffee. And I got there and they had like a store. I'm like, what are you doing? Like can I show you how I lost? So like, don't do it. Like this is not a good plan. I like you both and I don't want to see this thing. So I just was like here's my books, here's what flopped, here's what. Like we don't have the demographic, you're not going to be able to do it. You have an overhead, it's going to sink you and then it just kind of worked out with their idea with the sea container.
Speaker 3:I have one at the field for storage and then it just worked out with that and I was able to with. When I bought the field, paintball was busy and I had like maybe six to ten air softers every weekend and now it's just hard shifted.
Speaker 1:If I have bookings for paintball I'm solid, but I don't have walk-ons, like I have no regulars do you, so you don't do any big, uh, big game paintball or scenario paintball, as I'm learning, they're calling it now.
Speaker 2:So she has the worst luck when it comes to running events. Any event that she runs, whether it be airsoft or paintball, it always rains.
Speaker 1:Oh, I know how you feel.
Speaker 3:Like hard rain, like can't see the rain. Oh, I know how you feel. So for years everybody always teased me because I had select series and scenarios and I ran events before I owned a field, and so I would book the field, I would plan this whole, but so much time and you know, and then it just, it pours, nobody shows up.
Speaker 3:And so it was just after a few years of having like 30 people at an event that I had worked on for months. Like I don't have the numbers, we'll just go down to a Sega. I want to get my big game fix. Yeah, so yeah, I haven't run a big paintball game in three years.
Speaker 2:Last year.
Speaker 3:Well, the apocalypse. I run Northern Apocalypse. It's like a zombie game but like max 40 people. Like it's not a big game. Game on the paintball side.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah so are you guys open every weekend or?
Speaker 3:yeah, so I open in May and I'm open every weekend until the end of October and then I kind of get a break with teaching full-time and I was doing my master's I just finished in June last year so it was insane like doing everything, but having a business partner who ended up being a partner helped a lot because then I was like I can't do all this. He's like go work on your paper. Go, take care of this.
Speaker 2:So basically it's paintball on Saturday and then airsoft on Sunday. We don't really have the crowd to be able to do both days, so we've just kind of sectioned it off and it works out pretty well. We get the occasional paintball group. That's like no, we want to play on Sunday. It's the only way that we can do this. So we'll split the field. I'll keep the airsofters in our CQB area, which is right in the parking lot, and then the paintballers will go out in the woods and then we'll just flip-flop back and forth just because we don't have barriers, or like Wasega has the big hill that goes through it, which you can have airsofters and paintballers playing at the same time and not worry about an airsofter getting shot in the face with a paintball right.
Speaker 3:The other big switch for our area. There used to be three other fields so we had. There was a field in Mattawa, there was one in Corbeil and one in Bonfield and they've all closed. So at the time when airsoft was bigger, before Andrew and Keith, the guys would go to Ivan's field one weekend and then come to my field the next weekend, and then they switched back and forth and we supported each other Like Ivan came out and helped me build a bunch of shit. It was his field was amazing. But once they all closed it was like okay, now I have everybody all the time Right. So and it just grew with Andrew and Keegan monumentally.
Speaker 1:What, uh? What size is the field?
Speaker 3:So keegan monumentally, what, uh, what size is the field?
Speaker 2:so I have 140 acres, um, I think there's like 60 built up. We have it's about 40 to 50 built up and we're just slowly starting to push back um. Last year, with all the wind that came through, it locked, knocked a lot of deadfall over, so we had a lot of trees come down and so we're just slowly cleaning that up, taking down a lot of the trees that are kind of like widow makers literally just did that last weekend.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what a fuck ton of work that is holy um, that's the thing too.
Speaker 3:It's always been like I have these ideas of like what I want to do, or like I have a scar on my thumb from almost taking it off with a mini chainsaw.
Speaker 1:Like.
Speaker 3:I'm not technically inclined, so I can be like let's build something here, and then the guys are all like that's a bog, we can't build something there, I'm like, fuck, hey, what if we put a facade there?
Speaker 3:And then what if we so a lot of it like for us is figuring out like with my ideas and then what we can actually do? Like the planes worked. Yeah, I was able to get two of the planes from one of the other fields. I always wanted planes and then our buddy had a skid steer and drove them in. And then the other one we literally just grabbed like a ton of guys at the end of the day and we're like, hey, we're going to pick up and walk this plane up that hill and drop it, and then the wing's going 20 feet that way.
Speaker 3:So it's just, it's really a community-based field. I always have build days throughout the year and players can come out and it's wild to see kids that are like 16 be like what do you mean? I can build a bunker, like they get so excited. I'm like I'm a player at heart. I want you to feel involved in the field, not looking for free labor, but if you want to come and help out, this can be your field too, right? Yeah, so I hated going to fields when it was like I get in a game. You can't move bunkers and you can't do stuff right, but they would never listen or have any input from players, and that sucked so I feel like that comes a lot from the owner of the field not being a player itself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're a business oriented owner and they're not a player or community. And yeah, like, first thing we could do is, when we opened, is implement. You know certain missions in in the game where you're filling sandbags and building bunkers and you know we acquired movable bunkers and, and you know, you, you have stuff like the, the bridges, uh, the gates that go up and down and stuff like that, and it's a it's a good idea to incorporate things like that. It it makes people, you know, more attuned to come to the field and and be a part of the game.
Speaker 1:So I like that idea. So any major like uh renovation plans or additions planned for this summer at the field so the last two years we worked on staging.
Speaker 3:We bought two 20 foot galvanized steel shelters nice because up until then I fought with those fucking white canopy. Waste of money and every year I knew I'm like I might as well flush this $200 down the drain but I needed something and I didn't have the money to.
Speaker 3:So that's what. With igloo we were able to purchase those steel shelters. So that was huge. This year will be tables. Yeah, this year we're going to work on tables and just upgrading that part of the staging area and then every year he's kind of reinvigorated my let's expand, because for so long it was like I'm just doing what I can and now it's like I can do what I want because I have the support and it's that idea that we can make it happen. We have community again and I had a team with the gunmen 30 guys literally came up from London, helped me clear bush trails, build a field that didn't exist like amazing teammates.
Speaker 1:Nice.
Speaker 3:A lot of friends I'm still close with.
Speaker 3:We had Mojo come up this summer and I mean I've traveled with these guys. We went to Georgia, we went to Chicago, we went to Florida. We did big events. We went to Vegas for a charity event for the UFC with Randy Couture hosts a big charity event every year. We got invited to go to that. So, like a lot of different things, and when you travel with people like that, you get to know them really well and it just became my family. And then, after that petered out, it was really like, well, I'm just gonna run the field and do my thing. And then these guys came along and I'm like I have community again and they're like are you sure you want to go to an event? There's gonna be like 12 guys that we're camping with. I'm like that's all I've done, like I'm used'm used to that, that's fine. Like let's go.
Speaker 2:So we'll focus on tables this year, yeah, and then probably the left side, like, if you know the field, when you come in the left side we call it big wet. That side of the field hasn't been grown as much, so we're trying to slowly build it up on that side and then start farther pushing back.
Speaker 3:Nice Main road so we can drive a vehicle in and loop around for, like our technical but like in terms of like full size truck, I can drive all the way out Sweet.
Speaker 1:Do you have room for?
Speaker 2:camping. So that's kind of when we've been growing with because of igloos numbers growing every year.
Speaker 1:And some assholes have giant trailers.
Speaker 2:So we have. We have some spots for. We have like one or two spots for giant trailers Camping wise. Last year we just the CQB field, which is like as soon as you get into the property it's right on the left. We use that for camping. We haven't had like a crazy amount of people camping but we have some like flat, flat ground on the right when you're first driving. That will kind of expand for camping and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:We're kind of making it work as we go every year nice uh yeah, and the cqb field's all sand, so it's nice for camping. Yeah, um, we would just have to clear cut areas some areas and fill it, which is what I did when I bought it. And what's now? The parking lot used to be the staging area, so I know how to do it.
Speaker 1:So in I'm going to say, mostly a male dominated industry, you being pretty much, I would say, the sole woman owner of a field is pretty empowering for a new engagement in women in the sport. So how strongly do you believe in that, and is it something that you advocate for on the regular?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's always been. I've been one of the guys. I've always been one female on a team of 30. So I'm used to that. I still am surprised. Every year. There's always at least one person that comes up to the field and they're like hey, I want to talk to the manager. I'm like at least one person that comes up to the field and they're like hey, I want to talk to the manager. I'm like yep, that's me. They're like no the owner like yep, that's me. They're like no, like who runs the field? I'm like so, because I have boobs, it's not me like seriously it just.
Speaker 3:They're like well, you don't actually play like I do actually for years can confirm she plays. Ladies and gentlemen, it's annoying as fuck. I think the biggest thing I used to run like ladies paintball days or like women's nights or we talked about. At one point we did like we're gonna do yoga and paintball or yoga and airsoft, or like just trying to get that female spirit in there connection yeah, I I don't know how to do it.
Speaker 3:I have not figured it out yet. The biggest thing I would recommend for players is bring your girlfriends and your wives up with you. You know, like we have a really family-friendly environment. We have people whose kids come up. They've come up since they were babies. They love me like. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:So and then their partners come out and they're like oh, she's good with our kids and she's not a bitch and, oh, this is fun and we can shoot things and it's that whole like the guys are always. Anytime they get something new, they're like do you want to shoot it?
Speaker 1:I want to shoot it.
Speaker 3:That's fucking awesome. I want to shoot it, but it's like my. I know my friends would like it. They just don't come out and do it.
Speaker 1:So what's your advice to a new female player that's a bit sketched out or a bit nervous, because, like it is fairly dominated by a bunch of gun toting to testosterone filled dudes? You know what I mean. So what would you say to, let's say, like my wife has zero interest in getting shot with any sort of BB or media in any way? I've tried, uh, it'll never happen. It just will never happen. So what would you say to her? To get her out onto the field? Or, you know, anybody aspiring to try the sport for the first time?
Speaker 3:I think the the idea that it's scary is what helps you grow. So if it's a fear thing, just try it. I have generalized anxiety disorder and PTSD, so there's things that I do that make accommodations for my needs. My team knows, for playing a night game, I need someone with me because I don't want to have a panic attack on the field.
Speaker 3:I don't wear night vision, I don't have a thermal. So for me, like, just communicate right and tell your people what you need, go with people you trust and they call me field mom. At our field all the time I have one girl, sarah, who she started playing a couple years ago and she'll be like what do I do? Like what do I? You know, just ask the questions, be confident in it, you're just as good as them. It only takes one bb or paintball, like it doesn't matter, just own it and have fun with it and enjoy it, like girls love being outside too.
Speaker 2:It's not all you know.
Speaker 2:I think it helps when like to get like those girlfriends and wives, to try to get them out when you have another female on the field that they can tag along with right 100 and it's funny because, like in all the paintball bookings I've done, like rental parties or even just an airsoft, when we have like new players come up that rent guns the girl players as soon as they get over like their fear, they're rock solid, like the best, like they're the most accurate, they're the most aggressive. It's always fun to watch them get out of their like oh, this isn't as scary as I thought it was, and then they just own the field 100%.
Speaker 1:I can attest to that. I surround myself, we have a couple of female players. We have one on Life Fighters, cassandra. She is an amazing player, zero fear and whenever you hear screaming in German, that's fucking her and that means it's time to run because she has fucking gone nuts. But great medic, great attitude and I'm really happy to see more of a slow.
Speaker 1:It's a trickle, but seeing the trickle of women starting to come into the sport is huge and it's empowering because they're so capable of doing what we do. It's not even funny and it's just. They need to see more women on the field to be comfortable with it, be comfortable with it. So we really want to push that agenda and we want to maybe start hosting the odd game where we can start bringing the age down for a little bit of a longer event to maybe get fathers and daughters out to the field for a weekend. You know what I mean. Get that bond going and then instilling it early.
Speaker 1:We're talking like maybe 16 years old, where you do a smaller, you know, family friendly event and try to get them out, because I think it's just a hobby that's starting to explode exponentially, I would say now, and the level and everything's just elevating. And it's just one thing that I think we need to work on as a community is just to get more women in, and I give you a lot of respect for being able to own and run a facility in a community that is really men driven for sure. So a lot of kudos for that. I respect you for that big time.
Speaker 3:I love going to other fields and playing and having players that don't know that I have a fucking clue what I'm doing. And they'll be like, oh, you dropped your mag, do you want me to put it in for you? And I'm like, oh my God, it was so refreshing meeting Bree.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Having time with Bree and I'm just like, oh my fucking God, how do you find pants that fit? They're not built for women, they're curvy. How do we do this Like and just having those conversations that build that camaraderie? That's different than I mean. I steal his pants and I wear his gear, but it's not the same right, it's just.
Speaker 2:I mean you were supposed to gun run or whether this year, but life, life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's always June 28th this year.
Speaker 2:Shameless plug yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, playing events together as a couple. How is that for you guys?
Speaker 2:It's fun. I am very notorious for just running off and doing my own shit, though, and leaving her really bad. I'm like, oh, we spent all this time together. I'm going to go that way and do this shit, and then I get shit about it later. But lovingly and shit, it's fun. It's a lot of fun because we both have like the paintball mentality of why are we standing here, why are we not pushing forward, like this isn't real life, we're not going to die, our spawn is just back there. Let's just go there, die and then go back and spawn and get back in. So it's a lot of fun. So mom voice comes out with her on the field when there's big pushes that need to happen.
Speaker 3:I can move people.
Speaker 1:I've heard it, I've seen it firsthand. It's quite empowering.
Speaker 3:I had 20 of our guys and they're like what do you mean? We're going to make a push? I'm like, just get behind me. And they're like, no, no, but. And they're like what do you mean? We're going to make a push? I'm like, just get behind me. And they're like no, no, but, nobody's moving.
Speaker 2:I'm like they're going to Just come with me, but it's a lot of fun. We've done a couple night things together Snowman last year, the Narco, we did Narco the year before. We have a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:We always end up with a big group of people, so it's always nice to have that extra level of uh like back home support. Uh like it's a long fucking drive for you guys. Like it's crazy. Believe it or not, my dad lives in north bay, right, so I haven't seen him in a bit, but he is driving down next weekend actually from there and uh, I know I've been saying I've been trying to get to your fucking game every year, but obviously every year something comes up. But you're in the calendar because we're traveling.
Speaker 1:This year like, uh, life fighters is actually going to be going specifically your event, ottawa, uh, a lot of the other fields this year, instead of just sticking around the compound because we are doing some building and some expanding, but we're only expanding one part of the field this year. We've decided, hey look, we fucking killed ourselves last year. Yeah, we're gonna do what I promised and we're gonna expand those two elements and then that's gonna be it. We're gonna focus on playing the game that we love instead of running the field where we play the game that we love it's you know what though it it's good to do that, though, like because then you just you'll burn yourself out big time and that that was definitely happening.
Speaker 1:Um, like, I had a scare at at a force recon event where I went down heavy and could have died and it was a scary situation and it's because I pushed myself too far and it was just bad and it can happen and you've got to watch what you do and burnout's a real thing and I didn't want to ever not enjoy airsoft and I won't ever let that happen to me or the community. So if I find something's getting stale or aggravation is taking over that part of the sport, then I'm going to do whatever I fucking can to change that, because it's just no room for that here. We're never going to grow if we're going to do that.
Speaker 3:So I've had so many people caution me on making a business out of what I love and they're like you're going to hate it, don't do it, ash, don't do it. Blah, blah, blah. And then same mentality as you. I'm a player first right, and so it's always been that I have to get out to games. I have to be involved. Yes, I'm going to close the field a few weekends a year. It's part of who I am. As a player right, I need to do that, to be invested, and having Andrew and Keegan help with as much as they do, it's that idea that I'm not in it alone and I can take a break when I need to.
Speaker 1:I feel that if you don't have your pulse or your finger on the pulse of the community, it's hard for you to steer your field in the right direction, because things are ever-changing. I noticed, uh, like back in my earlier days at prz playing amazing, awesome times, great field, love the enthusiasm, love everything.
Speaker 1:It just got to the point where everything was the same absolutely because there's so many limitations to a field like that and when we created the compound we didn't want to lose that feel, but we wanted to create more of a you can do anything kind of kind of deal and um, that kind of circles back to, yeah, having your pulse on the community and kind of doing what they want to keep the field fresh and successful and thinking about the community first and it's just. Some other places are just it's all about the dollar and not the community and it's just sad to see.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately, Well, that's why, with like sunday pub play walk on day, I always like I don't have like a set schedule on what fields we're going to play or what kind of game style we're going to have for that day it's. It's always I see who shows up what they're interested in. Like we always start off with like some fast games on our cqb field, but I know not everyone loves like the speed soft side of it. So you know, I, we. It's it's all about gauging our community and seeing what they want to play we have a bunch of this year Some of our new players really got into like the sniper class. I have one gentleman, his name's Andrew, he's from Scotland, he been playing airsoft for like 15 years and he was always a sniper in over in scotland and he has like the whole ghillie suit like phenomenal sniper and what we'll do is we'll do sniper hunts. So I'll stick him with like one or two other beginner snipers.
Speaker 2:Like you guys have 20 minutes to go hide and then I got 15 guys that are gonna to come hunting you and I'm like you're okay with getting shot a bunch, and they're like absolutely, and then it's just you know they love that stuff and it's just making sure that you like get the feedback from the community, like so important it's, it's important and that's like when we with worst case, after under no flag, even the igloos.
Speaker 2:we were always like we want your feedback. I don't want you to sugarcoat it. I want to hear pros and the cons of how an event or scenario went, because the only way we're going to grow is by listening to what the community has to say, because then it's just going to. If we don't and we just keep cookie cutter, running the same events over and over, it just becomes mundane. So that was like feedback was a huge thing. Like I reached out to I think after no flag, I reached out to any any person that posted a video. If I didn't know them, it was message dropping hey, thanks for coming to our event. What did you hate about it? I want the truth. Like let me know Cause we want to, because we want to fix it for next year, if we can.
Speaker 1:It's going to be hard to fix an event that was as badass as it was. I'm not going to lie, that was fucking dope. We had a few issues.
Speaker 2:I mean, it is what it is. Every event has their issues, right. So we made the mistake of I think it was our second no-duff resetting the field that we made the mistake of. I think it was our second no-duff resetting the field that angered a lot of people on the field at the time. We probably shouldn't have done that. It was a decision that was made in the heat of the moment and I can tell you that's not going to happen next year if a no-duff happens Was it a no-duff, or was it the idiot?
Speaker 2:It was a no-duff.
Speaker 1:Oh, it was a no-duff.
Speaker 2:We had the first two no duffs with the 67s.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:The one where Arnold took it right in the face.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And then the ear incident of that person who threw the grenade.
Speaker 1:Oh, that person.
Speaker 2:That person that threw the grenade and charred that guy's ear.
Speaker 1:I may know who that person is. He may be sitting here right now.
Speaker 3:Yeah so. That was one of the highlights for me that game. I'm like magic. I just want you to know what happened. You're like, yeah, that was me. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Harley, I'm sorry. We're good buddies. We've talked and played and trained since he is completely fine.
Speaker 2:How does his ear look anyways?
Speaker 1:Like cauliflower-ish. It's got a touch of cauliflower, but we did end up baning 67, so yeah, that didn't. Somebody wasn't there, another, or maybe that's a different?
Speaker 3:game.
Speaker 2:All the smoke there was uh I called a black out yeah, there was a blackout, not a no duff, right yeah but and even that people were like why are you calling like?
Speaker 3:because I'm treating it like my field yeah I. I'm certain there's a fire here. I don't want trees burning down 100%.
Speaker 1:The bear banger. That's what it was the bear banger, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:That was when we thought well, that's originally when everyone thought homemade pyros were on the field.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it wasn't. And then, at the end of the game, we found the flare gun with the modified bear banger in it.
Speaker 1:Yep, and just to touch on that, that player did not return to the field and he was banned and we re, we look at everything every spring to see if that person you know will be allowed back, just because that's how we run things at the compound. Yeah, and right now it's just going to be a stand banning.
Speaker 2:So and like we, we were just like. For us it's. It doesn't matter what other fields say, he's just not welcome at our events. And we, we, we learned. We learned from that. That was also our mistake too, Right Cause that was the group of players that likes to show up very late into the event. Yeah, so we're 100. Registration is going to have a hard cutoff time and unless you're going to be like running late and you send me a message, but if you don't send me a message telling me that you're going to be running late to an event like mackenzie bruce. He was supposed to be late to no flag and he messaged me like two days before he ended up not being able to come anyways, but like it's that kind of thing a lot of organization and there's so much fucking involved.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Especially like your guys, level of organization like the discord, the fucking crony shit, like all of that stuff is next level shit and I commend you guys big time for that. You've set the bar in the community for safety on that end and that's just super smart. And Luke Keegan and Luke.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's just super smart. And Luke and Luke, yeah, for that. It was the accountability. We wanted players to be accountable, like there's nothing stopping, like with chronoing, because, let's just be honest, chrono is a disaster at every event oh yeah. There's always massive lineups and it's not even just in Ontario, like there was that event at six flags in uh, new orleans a month ago.
Speaker 2:Apparently their chrono line was two and a half hours long holy shit chrono is a disaster, so we wanted to try to get the accountability for players, like because there's also nothing stopping a player from not going to Crono. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:There's also too, like we learned last year, the those people that showed up late like hard gave me a hard time about chronoing. Their gun was hot. They didn't want to do anything about it. I'm like, well, you're not taking it on the field. They start yelling at me and so I walked away. Right, and it was the first event I'm helping. It's your field. You know what I mean. There's all these factors. Next time I'd be like bye, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, like You're gone. It's also with the chrono. It's the GBBR right, the chronos that you get. Everyone has them. They're not really made for GBBRs.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:It's the gas that comes out. We actually just reached out to um ace tech and asked them about that. We're still like pulling some of the information that they sent us. So also not my department, that's keegan's wheelhouse. I'm not going to comment too much on that. But like we want to figure out a way to chrono gas rifles faster and more efficient so that you know when Joe Blow 1 comes over and their gun's shooting like two joules. But at the last game they were at it was shooting 1.49 joules 10 degrees cooler than it was there.
Speaker 2:We want to expand with that, I think, even just trying like a paintball chronograph just to see, like do some testing with that.
Speaker 1:They have the little ones, like the. I know Adam Collier from tier tier one. He has the little one and we're thinking about because we are we're we're all on the same page. Like we're on the same page about safety, especially at the field. This field too, like you look how close you are to shooting somebody. So chrono is nothing we we uh take lightly, but yeah, that's cool that you guys are looking into that. It's something that we definitely uh. That and taggins, yeah, are two things that we need to to button up this year, uh, going into next year. Now there's five fields that have permanently banned tagging products and you're not allowed to use them at all. Uh, including you guys, we're in the process of possibly being another field where they're not allowed.
Speaker 2:Really, even the AFG6s.
Speaker 1:Right now we're not going to say anything on the air. We're working closely with Tagan and our insurance companies and we want to go from there. So we're not saying yes or no right now. Right now, as it stands, af6s and AF4s are still a go at our field and MK5s. It's just that we have a new product coming to the market that's supposed to be out in the spring. That's from Enola Gay. It's their Pyro.
Speaker 2:Theirs is much safer from everything I hear.
Speaker 1:And it's made of cardboard. Yeah, it's way less anything. So we might just go that route and then abolish tagging altogether. That's fair, just because, like you guys, safety is number fucking one. Yeah, everything's so cool, I love the explosions, I love all of that stuff. You guys know me, I'm real into the realism.
Speaker 2:But when I see a close friend of mine get their knee blown off, I will not allow that and that's why, like at no flag, like after after the it turned out to be the bear banger but like after that third no duff that involved an explosive, we're like fuck it, that's it. No more pyro on the field and people were pissed at us. But after the game, when they were like talk, like when people were talking to me about I'm like you need to understand, it's a not only it's a safety thing, it's it's also like a fucking anxiety thing for us. Right, like every time a no duff's called as a game runner, it's the worst feeling because you don't know what's going on if you're not right there. So just having that, that safety, like taking them off the game, was just, it was relieving.
Speaker 3:And I've been fighting that for years in the paintball world with first strikes. So years ago I had a teammate at an event that got shot in the top of the head with one and it literally like flapped. He had to go to the hospital and so at that point I'm like no more, like at all, not allowed. And then when I bought the field field, I hard banned it from the beginning and people would ask me why, and I was like it's my field, my rules. Like honestly, I can't even have a conversation with you if you don't know what it does to somebody's body. We're here to have fun. The end of the day we want to go home whole to our family oh yeah I can't rightfully send someone home knowing he has a hole in his head.
Speaker 3:That's's a massive injury Like I. Just I'm hard on that. I'm hard on safety.
Speaker 2:Well for our field specifically too. It's like we have such an age difference of players Like that's why we're just like no tags, just like. And AFC sixes aren't that bad, but if it falls in the lap of like a 16-year-old kid third time up playing, like that's a bad day and we don't want a bad day. So I'm just like. I'm like no tag grenades ever on Sundays, like that's a thing.
Speaker 2:And when people fight me on it, I go grab one off my kit and I throw it in the CQB field and they see how, what happens when it explodes, and they're like, oh okay, I'm like yeah.
Speaker 1:What I noticed too, under no flag after the pyro stopped being thrown I don't want to say aggression in a negative way, but the good aggression and the actual tactic play started to increase incredibly. It was so cool to see we're all wearing white fucking shirts in the woods. You know what I mean. So the only thing that we had was tactics. That's it, because you're not fucking hiding, which I loved. That was such a cool aspect of the game, that was so awesome.
Speaker 1:And I found that once all the constant explosions stopped, gameplay like guys and girls and players in general, they just relaxed a bit. You know what I mean that that little bit of anxiety dropped and then just the coolest gunfights were happening and I just felt like you know what? There's a place for them, there's a time and place and a group, but I feel that it was being abused and too many were being thrown and it was. It was. It was ruining people's days and I was told by a group of players because I have the ability to talk to both, like all genres of airsoft because of the indoor here and there and they're like yeah, we're, we won't play at your field.
Speaker 1:And I go what do you mean? He's like I'm not getting blown up by a grenade. He's like, fucked out, I, I won't do it. And I'm like, so, you're not going to come try to play because of that. And it's like, okay. So that resonated with me and then, uh, john and myself went to tacom and a couple of the light fighters and we went up to a certain company. I heard, yeah, and we just asked for answers because, like it's important, as you know, not only a field owner but as a fucking community member, about safety and what you guys are going to do it. Because if you're just doing this to just jam money down your throat, then I'm not going to, I'm not going to support it anymore.
Speaker 2:Even the company that was originally responsible for bringing them into Canada. They want nothing to do with that tag anymore. Yeah, it's just a.
Speaker 1:It's a, I'll tell you insurance. Six different insurance companies, you know what I mean Because of the level of pyro, like fuck, we just had a helicopter drop human beings out of at our field, right. So there's certain things like that took seven months of planning to be able to pull that off. It's crazy and the city still fucking hates us for it.
Speaker 2:It's so bad, so funny story. I actually learned that you can request flybys from the Canadian air force.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yes. So, needless to say, I'm going to be putting in a request for no Flag and Igloo to do some flybys. I very much doubt they'll get approved, but I'm going to try. So if a CF-18 Hercules flies real low by the compound under no Flag too, yes, that would be insane.
Speaker 3:That would be awesome.
Speaker 1:Which kind of goes to our next point. So do you have any little tidbits or future plans about both your games?
Speaker 2:next year. So I'll start off with Igloo. So this year we gave away Night Vision Nice. Thank you, zimming, for hooking me up with a really good price for night solutions. So Big Igloo 6. Yeah, it's going to stay the same. I'm probably not going to command this year. I'm going to hand it off to somebody else, just so I can focus more on the behind the scenes and help out. We're going to keep it. Food bank again Nice. This year we were able to get 4,537 pounds of food to donate.
Speaker 1:That is amazing. That's a metric ton.
Speaker 2:It was insane, crazy, and it didn't last long, because there's such a demand for food bank support that that large amount only lasted I think, the North Bay Food Bank like a week and a half, wow, so the food bank aspect isn't going away. We're going to give away two thermal devices blue six, so that'll be fun that's amazing, that the game's not going to change that one as much as I say.
Speaker 2:You know we want to hear feedback and not keep things cookie cutter. It's very much going to be a cookie cutter game of just two forces mashing at each other for flags. It's an introduction to our field for people who've never been there before and an introduction to like mill scrims for for newer players. So it's a four hour with a one hour break and then another four hours. So it works out. It works out good for new players. Um, no, flag two.
Speaker 2:So we're bringing both commanders back. Nice we had originally talked about If you lose as a commander, you can't come back the next year. With how close the score was At the end of the game, we were like there's no way that we can't bring Ryan Tan back. He was so close to winning that if his team hadn't have got penalized they would have won. We're going to keep the same structure with contracts. It was interesting watching both commanders and how they handled the contracts that we had put out, hoping to have more NPCs this year. So I'm thinking 20 plus, I think, is what we're going to have. That's, I'm handing the NPC aspect off to one of my team guys odin. He's him and his other guys on our team who came with him were all are all former larpers, like the medieval, like larping stuff. So they, those guys, know how to like npc at games.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:So I'm like I'm giving you X amount of money, you're just going to handle NPCs for no flag too, and I just want, I want that town filled with stuff to annoy players. I love it yeah.
Speaker 3:I love it. He also started a zombie crew for me, cause I would run my Northern apocalypse game and I had Sean who would like one guy, who was like the zombie king, and and then odin was like do you want zombies? I can bring zombies like from ottawa and I'm like what?
Speaker 2:that's awesome. Yeah, he's amazing. Yeah, so we're hoping to have a bunch of npcs for that interaction, because I felt like one. The one of the positive feedbacks was was just the interactions that players had with the NPCs in town, and then it was the same with your game. I heard like everyone had the fun interactions with the NPCs.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, so there's that. We're currently working on a tow missile system. We're not sure exactly how we're going to incorporate that into a contract, but it's probably going to be there and then, yeah, I think that's pretty much the little things.
Speaker 1:Vehicles Is there going to be vehicles?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's going to be vehicles.
Speaker 1:Is there something that you could apply for?
Speaker 2:So we're we want to, we're keeping it to one vehicle per side. Okay, so I already have my two vehicles picked out. I've noticed, with the vehicle games that we've been to, the rules have been ever changing because it's such a new thing for the community that we we want to make sure we do it right. So we don't, we don't want to like, we don't want to overcomplicate the rules. There's going to be some like interesting, interesting things with the vehicles. Like right now the idea that we're working with is you're going to have to apply for a permit to drive your vehicle in Halliston name of our in Halliston.
Speaker 2:Nice, that's the name of our country, right? So maybe the vehicle driver is going to have to make their way into the village and go to the DMV and apply for a driving permit, whether that takes, like you know, 10 minutes. You get there to the DMV on a good day and there's no one in line and you can just get your permit. Or maybe there'll be a lineup of people and, uh, getting your driving permit will, uh, will, take a little bit of time. So, yeah, uh, that's kind of what we're toying around with, but we just want to keep it simple. For the first one there's, there's also we don't want it to be a vehicle game. Yeah, you have an amazing vehicle game, connor with red road. His game is an amazing vehicle game. I don't think there's a need for another vehicle game.
Speaker 1:So I love, yeah, I love the way, like under no flag just played so beautifully. The weather was great, it was just such a fucking great time. Yeah, you don't want to really like, like your point, like doing the small changes here there, like npcs, multiple npcs obviously adds to a game because each individual uh, you know character has their own, you know enthusiasm, right, and they have their ability to twist certain things like it's just, it's a cool aspect of the game.
Speaker 2:It really is and I think that's what what no flag with being a sandbox style game, that was really. It was really awesome to see how that worked out and that on the field that day, like the PRZ fingers, like that was nowhere in any of our contracts. And then you guys went over and saw the president and the president's like I want those fingers over at your CP. And then I find out about that like 20 minutes later. I'm like, ooh, we can work this into something.
Speaker 2:And it even just like the way I played that around too, was just a lot of fun because, like I was on because we handed out cell phones to your intelligence operators who were the ones that would initiate the contracts. So we got burner style flip phones from Amazon and slipped SIM cards into them and we're like here you go, hope this works. If you want to do a contract, you need to call us and let us know when you're going to do the contract. And Carlo, I'm sorry, but we made them also text us, so T9 texting. And it was funny watching Carlo struggle with this flip phone texting me and I'm like five feet away from him he's like can I just call you? I'm like, no, I need you to text me and he's like that was hilarious.
Speaker 3:Or walking down the road and you get a call and he answers it. He's like, yeah, I don't want to talk right now. That puts it away. I'm like what are you doing? He's like being a dick, yeah, but like the finger thing.
Speaker 2:I was like, as Kevin Mike's two IC called me, it was like I have the fingers, what do Like? Well, the president said that they need to be at the church or farm building, whatever that one building is, by this exact time and you'll get this much money out of it. What you guys didn't know was I was on speakerphone with you guys in the enemy's base so they could hear that whole conversation space, so they could hear that whole conversation. And then when I hung up with you guys, I was like if you guys can steal that while they're in transit with it, you'll get this many points for it. And they ended up grabbing it from you guys and earning points and I was. It was like having that like cause. In the real world not everything goes to plan and people turn all the time for money. So that was like one of those like. That was a fun moment to be able to just screw with everybody. That's awesome, man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. Well, I just want to end this podcast off with a couple of moments that you guys can remember from last season, some memorable moments that each of you may have had or you had separately, and we'll end the show on a positive note.
Speaker 3:I went under major surgery in June so. I didn't get out and play a lot this year, but I did get to play against him at Aglu, commanding against one another.
Speaker 2:It was really fun.
Speaker 3:Thank you to Riz tick for being to ic again and helping me run shit, because you lost again. I lost again, but my entire crew, all of our home players, go on his team. Yeah, so I'm like I don't have people that are going to listen to me. I mean Lou, yeah, lou.
Speaker 2:Lou didn't make it out. This year, though, you had TNF FPS Corey. Corey was fantastic.
Speaker 1:Corey's a good dude.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he was really nice to me. For me, no flag was so many memories from that, good and bad. It was a massive learning curve curve running an event at another field, tiring oh yeah, a lot of walking, a lot of walking.
Speaker 2:I walked that circle like I don't even know how many times, but you know what it was worth it, as seeing everyone just exhausted and tired, like at all the ones that lasted to the end it was it was. It was awesome. Seeing those faces giving away night vision and the amount of food you were able to donate was a huge thing. That was one of my like. Seeing 4 500 pounds of food, say, in the back of a truck, in a trailer, was just incredible. Like, just that was. That was my moment of the year.
Speaker 3:I think our biggest numbers to like having that many people at an event, cause they always tease me, cause they're like what's your biggest paintball game? You had 87. Yeah, we're beating, beating those numbers, but I think that's.
Speaker 1:It's just cool to see what we can do together and build those numbers and help the community like we are, and yeah it's awesome to see you guys uh in the community together as a power couple. It's awesome to see you run your field and run your events and and just be a great team and great members of the community and I really appreciate you guys and thank you so much for coming out to uh to the podcast and being a part of the community. It's awesome You're very welcome.
Speaker 2:The one thing I will add, if it's okay, I'm just going to shout this out for Keegan Uh, one of the other things that we're doing for the community is airsoftca, huge. Um. So that's. That is not me having any involvement, this is keegan kind of just doing it on his own, uh. So he had the opportunity to buy the web domain airsoftca and it's going to be a website that is just there for the community in helping whether it's new players trying to figure out what the first gun they should purchase should be or what kind of equipment they should buy, where they should buy equipment from, so like trusted stores and websites, where to go play what big events are going on when they are where they are. So the whole website is just it's going to be for airsofters in Canada as that backup for when Facebook and Instagram finally decide to be like nope, we don't want you on there anymore. Yeah, cause I feel like that's going to come soon.
Speaker 1:I have been banned more times than I've not been banned, um, and it sucks and I like I mean there was the week I was trying to answer you and I couldn't even get back to you because I was banned off messenger for seven days, all because I like to talk about airsoft.
Speaker 2:So damn, and that'll be the other thing too, is like it's we have the ability for the I think it's I'm probably going to screw these words up but the RSS feeds for like YouTube and for the podcast. So if you have a podcast, if you have a YouTube channel, hit us up with the links and it will automatically update on the website when new when new things come out.
Speaker 1:So love it. I'm definitely looking forward to getting the airsoft experience on the website Yep and I'm sure John will like his stuff. He's definitely a pivotal part of this community now and he's a super talented guy. And yeah, back to it. I really appreciate you guys taking the drive all the way down to Toronto from North Bay and I look forward to coming out and checking out your field this year. I know I've said that for two years, but fucking damn it, I'm doing it this year. I don't care, we're going down, we're going down, we're gonna come see your trailer.
Speaker 2:We'll just there's a spot. Maybe I'll bring the skid steer down with me at the same time. Make a spot for it while I'm there. We also have a c container that you can sleep into it gets really hot and smelly in there. It's better than the ground air soft, yeah, true story no problem, uh again.
Speaker 1:thanks a lot, guys. I appreciate coming out. Thanks for having us and you're welcome.
Speaker 2:Thanks for yeah. Thanks for finally having us Cheers.
