The Airsoft Experience
The Airsoft Experience
Phone conversation with Matt Cappon from Cappon airsoft productions
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Airsoft gets a lot more interesting the moment you stop treating every target like a must-shoot. We’re joined by Ontario airsoft player and event host Matt Cappon to talk about what “tactical” really means: patience, positioning, and the psychology of choosing the right moment instead of the fastest trigger pull.
Matt breaks down the indoor formats he’s built at Action Air, including low light mission games with medic rules and his Advanced Tactical Games inspired by Ready Or Not. Think civilians mixed with combatants, contraband searches, loud commands, arrests, and scenarios that feel closer to problem-solving than pure force-on-force. We also get into why simple rules beat complicated ones, how to design objectives that keep players moving with purpose, and what makes a private event feel totally different from a crowded public day.
From there we zoom out to Ontario airsoft fields and event culture, including travel plans, niche games, and the reality of hosting. Matt shares the most common pain point game hosts face: getting registrations early enough to plan staffing, budgets, and missions. We talk about smarter communication too, like video rule briefs and why Discord and shared calendars are becoming the best tools for keeping communities organized when Facebook and Instagram fall short.
If you care about airsoft milsim, real cap gameplay, better event design, or you just want to play smarter and longer, you’ll take a lot from this conversation. Subscribe for more community stories, share this with your squad, and leave a review. What kind of airsoft event would you actually sign up early for?
Northern Mission
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And we're back. This is Magic with the Airsoft Experience podcast. And today we've got a guest that I've been trying to get on the show for a couple years now. And finally we aligned, and he is on the show. I'd like to introduce Matt Kapan. How are you doing, Matt?
SPEAKER_01Um, not too bad, yeah. Um just uh just was at action air earlier today, so um, you know, get my airsoft fixed for the for the winter, looking forward to the summer season for sure. Awesome.
SPEAKER_00How was action today?
SPEAKER_01Uh it was really good. I did one of my MTG events, which is like a low light tactical game. It's a real cap game. Uh medic rules, you know, you're not like respawning like you would at most skirmish games when you go to an indoor um like day game. It's it's more like uh tactical, similar to that raid thing that um you know uh Ryan Tan did. Um it's it's similar to that. So it's it's a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_00Um it went really well today. That sounds awesome. That sounds right in my ballpark, but unfortunately these days I cannot do concrete floors. I can't do running around or any of that stuff because uh the discs in my back are are in a bad way. So unfortunately, indoor airsoft is is no more for me.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, I uh I can empathize with that because after four hours, even just running the event like I am that's one of my issues too, is my back. Yeah, it's a limiting factor for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the concrete floor. I can tell you one thing though, action is a is a great field, and I know they're building more stuff, and everybody has a good time there. So it's it's good to hear that you're you're putting some more serious-ish type uh Milsom events out there. Is it like uh like a mission-based kind of thing that you set up?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so they're all like they're round-based typically. So like I'll do two rounds, one will be attack and defend. They're all kind of different variations typically of attack and defend. There's a couple that are a little different. Um, but you know, attackers, they get the medic rule defenders as like one and done. Um, they're mission-based in the sense of like, yeah, you'll have like a bomb that like a certain uh, you know, VIP is the only one who can carry it. What do we do today? We did uh I normally kick off these events by doing a game I like to call hide and seek, where the defenders have to go and pick a spot and like basically once you've set there, you can't move other than like pivoting or moving a couple steps. And the idea is so when the uh attacking team comes in on the field, they have to actually check every corner because the defenders are encouraged to just be like posted up in the corner and hiding in a room. And so yeah, that was one of them. But uh once once we get into that, um, they're all low light games, by the way. Um it's low light and then it goes to darkness. Nice. But uh yeah, they're all mission-based with uh you know bombs or um different things like that, collection items, so you have to like take a VIP and go collecting. Sometimes it'll be like a high value target you have to kidnap stuff like that.
Matt’s Airsoft Origin Story
SPEAKER_00That's really cool. That's uh that's awesome. I I really wish I could uh could partake in one of those. Maybe I will try. Um well, there's gonna be some stuff on the outdoor games I do too for that for sure. Awesome, awesome, good to hear. Let's rewind it a little bit and let's get back to like where did Airsoft all start for you? Like when did you become a member of the community and uh what started you in airsoft?
SPEAKER_01So um yeah, I think I started in 2015, pretty much out of uh Clarington Woods was like my home field, my kickoff field. Um back then it was run by a team called Special Operations Group Durham Region or SOG. Um there's another SOG, so sometimes people get them confused. We but we were called SOG uh Durham Region. Uh and yeah, we we uh hosted events there. We were the ones that like started off Maple Storm. Um and I was pretty involved with a lot of the events there, but that was my first team, and I quickly got introduced to like Delta MIL SIMS. Uh I think the first MIL SIM I ever did was at PRZ and it was like no nods 2015 or 2014 that Delta ran. Um so I've been to a lot of like Delta games. I've been to tons of fields like across Ontario, pretty much been to all the major ones that you could think of. Like I was at Finch, I played at uh the college before it was it uh got burned down or whatever. I played at PRZ. Um I still haven't been really out the Ottawa way, but uh I want to make my way out there. Um yeah, I mean that's that's when I started off, I think 2014 or 2015. So I started hosting games in 2017 at Siege Airsoft. Um and yeah, we're at 2026. It's crazy.
SPEAKER_00It's been almost 10 years. That is crazy. Did you did you start by going to walk-on days, or did you like jump right into uh big game and scenario and mill some games?
SPEAKER_01Um I'm pretty sure I started out just like doing some skirmish games at Clarington. Uh I remember, I don't know if anyone will remember Foxtrot 17, I think was his name. Or I I didn't know it was Foxtrot. I just remember that was his like call sign, people called him Foxtrot. He did an event at Clarington where we were dropped off in a Unimog, and that was like probably like the second or third game I did. And it was like a it wasn't quite a MIL SIM because it wasn't like overnight, but it was a heavily uh event-based day, and it was a lot of fun, and I think that's like kind of when I really started to take into Airsoft. But no, I I basically started with skirmishes, I think, and then evolved quickly into MILSIMS.
SPEAKER_00Nice, nice. And then you went into pretty rapidly into hosting games at Siege on the uh on the indoor field there within two years. So how did that kind of transition and and start from you just doing a play, becoming a player, doing uh like mill scrims and some bigger events, and then going straight into hosting events in indoors?
SPEAKER_01Um, yeah, so I uh played a couple times at Siege because obviously I had my fill at Clarington for outdoor and PRZ and everything, and I wanted to give indoor shot, and I went to some public days, and I realized they're really crowded, and you can't really pick what crowd shows up. Uh you can't dictate what games there are. And so I decided you know, they allow for private hosting, and I said, Well, I'll just step up and do this. You know, I I know people who would like to do this, so I just kind of started doing that. And I rented the field in the morning before the public days, had my teammates or my friends come out because at that point I developed somewhat of community already. They weren't like they're not like followers of mine, but I was just like, hey guys, what if I do this? And then people were like, Yeah, we'll come, and that's kind of how it started. And then I built off of uh off of that.
SPEAKER_00Nice, nice. So were you involved in the uh the skirmish games at Clarington Woods when you were with Sog?
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, I was. I like uh I kind of uh kicked off the Maple Storm series, I'm pretty sure, because I started there right after that field opened up because those all those guys used to play at Whitby Field, and then that closed down and Clarington started, I think, a year after, and I jumped in somewhere around that transition period. So that whole Maple Storm series I actually helped uh produce, I guess, right? Like I was very involved with it. Um the s the skirmish days every weekend, I would be I was like a a ref, but most of the time I was the young guy who just got into the sport, so I wanted to play all the time. All the other guys were like, Yeah, we'll do the administrative stuff. They were kind of they were in their retirement phase at that point already, which was frustrating for me because you know that that team didn't really last long when I joined, it was like on its way out. Nobody in the team was still really playing that much, and I was all gung-ho to play all the time. So um to answer your question, yeah, I was I was involved in the the skirmish days and events at Clarington.
SPEAKER_00Nice. I I think I jumped into the Clarington scene r right after Sog. Um because when I was going to skirmishes there, it was Brady that was running the games, I believe. Right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think Brady had a bit of uh of uh you know time there. I don't I don't remember exactly what happened after SOG left. I know Anthony Zakari was involved for a bit. I don't really know what happened there because I wasn't it was right around COVID too, and once COVID happened, everything got all messed up from uh time. You know, I don't remember who was doing what at that point in time.
Fields Worth Traveling For
SPEAKER_00For sure. Yeah, COVID was crazy, absolutely crazy. So and Bill C-21, right? So yeah, Bill C-21 was just we don't ever want that to happen again, and the way things are going, it very well could happen again, unfortunately. Right. So it's definitely something that you gotta be prepared for and uh you gotta be willing to fight for the community and uh be strong. So from the Clarington end, um are you still an avid player at Clarington Woods?
SPEAKER_01Um, I mean, I wasn't last year. Uh I was there a handful of times. This year it's probably gonna be kind of the same thing because there's a lot of events. The great thing about this sport is it's it's evolved to a point where there's like a big event almost every single month. Yeah, some of them are a bit smaller too. Like there's niche ones like the Sunrise After that Jeremy hosts, that's at like Ottawa Way, and it's it's not like a big name popular one, but that's what I really want to go to. Uh there's one called Iron Extract up in North Bay that's happening in September that I want to go to. Um there's everything at the compound, I feel like, is the mainstream stuff. Like we've got No Flag, you've got Nightfall, you've got um Gunrunner, obviously. Uh those are all like those mainstream things, but there's so many events happening. So I'm gonna try to get out to Clarington as much as I can. I really want to go to Niagara Quartermaster this year and do some stuff there. Um I've never been to that field, and it seems like a really great field.
SPEAKER_00I uh I play at NQ as often as I possibly can when I'm I'm home because I moved about 20 minutes away from that field. Yeah. So yeah, it's a it's a great vibe there. Um honestly, numbers are great. Hundred players on a weekend. Um it's a good time for sure. You should definitely check it out. They got it built up pretty good. Um, they got like a little town, lots, lots of cool stuff and really cool stuff. I I love going there. Every time I go there, I have a good time for sure.
A Tour Of Duty Mini-Series Idea
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's just definitely on my list. Um, you know, I want to do that. Captain's tour of duty is what I want to do this year, where I want to hit up every single field in Ontario. I want to conduct interviews with the players, you know, the field owners, the business owners, staff, whatever. I want to ask people, you know, how is it how has Airsoft changed your life? How has it affected you? Because for me, there's been a lot of personal growth through Airsoft, and I'm sure that's uh the case with other people. And I just want to kind of document that and kind of put together a mini-series. I'm not a professional videographer or anything like that. It's just like a little passion project I want to do and share with the community. And as we discussed with C21, I feel like if something like that came around again, it would be good to have that evidence of like, hey, there's this field in North Bay, this field in Ottawa, this place in uh uh Niagara, this place in Clarington. Like we're all a community. It's it's quite big and it's connected, and if anything happened, it would affect a lot of these people.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, 100%, man. That's that's it sounds like a great idea, and it's it's something that I would actually love to see when you got it completed. It's uh it's really cool. I know earlier in the show you said that you want to make it out to Ottawa. I got to go to uh FPS Airsoft last year for the first time, and I'll tell you, I had such a good time. That community in Ottawa is just really, really fun. Um really fast paced, and that field is incredible. Um, if you have a chance to make it out to Ottawa, I would say definitely go out to Ottawa and play an event at FPS for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I've been out to uh Petawa for one of their events, their their noob day, and that field is awesome. Uh I didn't get to do the Ottawa stuff, like it wasn't at FPS or Commando, but Gota's doing their events out there. Again, those aren't those I wouldn't say they're like mainstream events, they're kind of those like niche ones, but I want to get out to those. I want to go to uh Gota versus the World, which is I think the one at Commando, and then they're doing uh the other Gota event that Teddy's commanding. I think that one's at FPS. That one's May 2nd. I might have them mixed up. One's May 2nd and one's in September. And I want to try to go out to uh to both of them because that would be a great chance for me to go to those fields and get in there with the community and do the uh the interviews and stuff.
The Psychology Of Slow Sniping
SPEAKER_00100%. So May 2nd is at Commando, that's the uh takeover series and then take over, right. September 26th is Gota versus the world. That event is incredible. I've been to everyone ever, and it started at PRZ. It was at the compound FPS last year. It's gonna be at FPS this year because that that field just plays so well. And uh Gota does a great job doing that big event. And um Brian McKay from the tourist brings out uh uh military vehicles like half tracks and uh troop carriers, and it gets pretty intense. And then obviously, you know that Dennis brings the helicopter to uh Gota versus the world. So it's it's something that I would suggest you definitely check out this year. It is never let me down. It was phenomenal, phenomenal, phenomenal event. Lou does some good stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm gonna really make an effort to get out to both of those ones because uh great, great chance to check out both of those fields and and support a good event.
SPEAKER_00For sure. You would love FPS um with your gilly. It's just like it's a perfect sniping field, like absolutely perfectly set up for that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's yeah, that's what I want to do more of this year, is just take it slower paced and kind of get back to my roots of sniping. Because I guess we could talk about that a little bit. Like, that's pretty much my primary play style is I like to be very true to the recce rule where I'll be in the bushes and not even take the shot. My thrill of the game, my favorite thing to do with Airsoft is to see how close you can get to me without you not even knowing that I'm there.
SPEAKER_00That's amazing. We we actually did uh we actually brought up your video in our team chat the other day um from disarmed when you were hiding in the bushes. We love watching that all the time. Like that that was definitely uh a really cool moment watching that uh that video and how sneaky you can actually get is is pretty cool to see.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that one was that was wild. That was definitely one of the uh the most memorable moments. Unfortunately, too, with my camera, I had it looping on like a five-minute uh loop. So I didn't I lost a lot of footage where I was in that spot and there was this guy posted up behind the vehicle, like looking down the roadway for like five minutes, and I just got my handgun pointed at his back, and I don't want to take the shot because I can hear all these voices around me, and I'm enveloped around with enemies, so it's like if I take him out, I'm done. So these are the kinds of things that psychology is what I like, and I developed that through Airsoft. It's like, you know, year to me, I'm like, oh, there's a guy, I'm gonna shoot him. Now I've developed that kind of hesitation to be like, if I take this shot, I'm gonna compromise myself. And uh to me, that's like the thrill of the game. Like I said, it's that hide and seek, and it's that psychological development of like knowing when to take the shot and when you're better off just observing. Um that's that's the thrill of the game for me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's that's that's exactly it to a T. Like you explained it to a T, and that's that's literally literally what we're trying to do with the disarmed series is is make you think and and make you you know take that shot only when you know it's worth taking that shot. So that's definitely a great play style, and it's uh uh it's a lot different than you know, I would say a majority of the the players have. Um but it's cool to see that you know you're you're uh you're standing by your values and you you've picked up and learned what you've learned to uh to snipe in the community. It's pretty awesome.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'd say one of the one of the most important things for people in the community to do is is like when you're in certain situations, try to think about how you could approach those better the next time, right? Because that's that's kind of what I have done. Is you're like I said, you're one me, I would have taken a shot as soon as I had it on the on the guy whose backs to me, but then when you get slaughtered by the the ten or you know, whatever guys around you, you're just like, okay, like maybe I shouldn't have done that, and like the next time you just get better. So I try not to get frustrated about the situations. I try to just get every day just get better when when I play.
Inside ATG And MTG Game Formats
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. That's uh definitely good advice for uh up-and-coming players and players that want to transition into that sniping role. Let's uh let's kind of curve ball back and give the community some information on the type of games that you host indoors. So primarily now it's uh Action Air, where you you uh host it and it's two different types of events.
SPEAKER_01Uh I actually was doing three. I've dropped down to two for this year. Um, this is my last year doing this too. I've I'm kind of retiring. Um, but uh I have one more, what I call the ATG series, which is Advanced Tactical Games, that's coming up in April. Uh those games were uh they're modeled after Ready or Not, the video game, if anyone's familiar with that out there. If you're not familiar with that, it's like uh SWAT teams coming in and assessing the situation. When they get enter the field, there's gonna be civilians, there's gonna be combatants. Combatants are typically armed. They might not have a rifle slung, they might have like a pistol tucked in their waistband, and the task force has to come in and assess the situation. If they're there for like drug seizure, they're looking for contraband, you know, there's a lot of LARPing and yelling, so they'll come in on the field and they'll see a guy, maybe he's just like leaning against the building and they're just gonna yell, get on the ground, get on the ground, you know, like show me your hands, and you go up and arrest them. Once they're arrested, they're they're out of play. Um, I won't get into like the full rule set, but that's kind of the vibe for that game. It's it's very different, it's not just like force on force, military, it's uh a lot more role play. Nice. Um, so I do that one. We already kind of discussed the MTG that I do, which is moderate tactical games. Those are the ones low light, they are force on force, it's medic-based, uh, so you're you know, it's low life kind of games, so you're not just respawning, respawning, running around, respawning. Uh, I kind of stepped away from those this year because that's kind of what you get when you go to a normal day game. But when I started, that's actually what I what I did is I just ran basic skirmish style games, but with smaller groups of people, people that I knew, um and uh with with my rule set, so like I could come up with different games. Sometimes I sometimes you'll go to a game, and depending on who's running the game, you're just like this game mode kind of sucks. Like we we could do better, right? So I kind of took it upon myself to create game modes that I thought were better. Um and that's how it evolved into those other two uh game styles, right? Like at first it was let's do respawn games, and then it was like, How can we make this more tactical and slow paced? And I've done everything from like zombie games to uh you know, capture point games to hostage games, VIP games, and then it evolved into the LARPing uh game too, right? So nice.
Why Event Promotion Is Hard
SPEAKER_00How how often do you host these events? Uh typically I try to do it once a month.
SPEAKER_01Uh I I picked up the I went to once a month about two years ago, I think. I was trying for twice a month last year, it was too much. Uh I couldn't get enough players to come out to all of the events, so I dropped it back. Down to once a month uh this year. Um but because I had those three game modes I wanted to try and do uh twice twice a month so I could get like the variation of different games. But I found the biggest struggle as a game host for me is generating interest. It's if I could tell people if you really want to make game hosts happy, like sign up for their games early. If you're if you want to play, just throw the money in there, you know, just sign up because I can't tell you how frustrating it is to have these great ideas, create the event, and then you're just waiting for people to sign up, questioning like, hey, is this idea like is it not good? I thought people would like this. So that's the that's my biggest two cents to people. Like when you post a game like Gunrunner, as soon as that registration's open, it's like you're gonna get my money.
SPEAKER_00Right? For sure. I understand completely as a game host. Um I feel like a lot of people don't see a lot of the the information out there just because a lot of people actually aren't on Facebook, a lot of people are on Instagram, and then some people are only on Facebook. It's it's kind of a difficult thing to get the word out. Um you you don't want to spam like continuously put post after post after post to where people start ignoring them. So it's it's it's it's a it's a tough balance for sure. So I I understand the struggle 100%. Um and yeah, like as a game host, there's a lot of stuff that goes in behind the scenes to an event. And uh I can speak from experience. There's a like it takes for for a bigger event, like it takes like a year to plan stuff like that for it to actually go smoothly and not having you know people sign up. Um it definitely limits to what you can do budget-wise, and it limits to what you can do mission-wise if you just don't have the bodies signing up for it.
Better Briefings With Short Videos
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for sure, for sure. Like players are the most important aspect of any event. It doesn't like the game host, it they're not as important, definitely. The game, the game, the players of the game are the most important factor in any event. If if you get good players, you'll have a good event, and you obviously need like the more players you have, the better. Because if one team decides to go home, well now the other team has no one to play against. That's I've always said that. So players are the ones that really make up the events.
SPEAKER_00100%. It's it's literally the only thing that we put these events on for. Right. For the players. That's that's all that matters is you sit back and you say this is what I'm going to do because I like to do it, and so do other people. Uh so I'm going to cater to what those other people do. And I think I'm sorry, I think community feedback after an event is very, very important for a game host because it helps them adapt to you know bring more people into the next one.
SPEAKER_01Definitely. Yeah, I agree. And you nailed it. Like though I'm just a guy that's like too obsessed with this hobby. And I've always said that to people. It's anybody can do what I what I did. It's not like I'm the most popular, well-known person in the community. I just had a group of friends who wanted to play private games indoor, and then I just stepped it up a little bit more and more from that. And I just I was like, what about this idea for an outdoor event, right? Would I like to play in this kind of game? Hell yeah. So why don't I create it for other people? I wish somebody else came up with the ATG um format that I have that models ready or not, because I want to play that. I want to, you know, storm in and yell at people and tell me get on the ground, show me your hands and seize drugs and stop, you know, mass shootings and stuff like that. Like those are the scenarios we do. I want to participate in those. For sure. So I just created it. Same thing with the tactical games, right? Or all the outdoor games. I I think that I have a good mind for how can I make games uh challenging but also simple because we know uh if you host games, you know you can't make things too complicated for general public. It just doesn't work. I one thing I've learned doing this is the average adult sucks at following directions or reading rules. It's just it's just one thing I've learned is like some people are just terrible with it. Myself included, like, I'm not I'm not the exception to the rule. I think everyone has different communication styles. And uh one thing I've started doing and experimenting is I do video briefs for a lot of my events where you know instead of just throwing out a big PDF or whatever for people to read the rules, I'll go through it in a video and try to like condense it and also throw in like visual images so that way people who and then it'll be uh subtitled too, so like people can read it, they can listen to it, and they they're like stimulated by visual images. So I'm I've only done a few of them and my events aren't like mainstream, but I feel like if more people maybe put did that, it's it's a lot of work though, because like writing up a text document is one thing, and then recording a video for it is is a whole other thing.
New Outdoor Event At TFS
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. It's definitely a lot of work, but it's definitely a great idea, and it's something that um a lot of people do appreciate. I can like an example is what I what I do for a living is I build backyards. So customers um some are very visual and they need to physically see what the backyard is gonna look like. So you've got to show them a 3D wise or a video. Others they can understand just by reading. Um so what you're doing is you're catering to those visual people and it gives them uh something, even if they miss uh something you said, all they gotta do is rewind it and listen to it again. So that's a great idea. Um it's definitely something that I want to get into. Um you know, doing a rule set video is not a bad idea at all. I really actually like that.
SPEAKER_01Especially sorry, I was gonna say, especially for like series-based games that don't change that much. If the rules don't change that much, the the foundational rules, it's like this is how this game works, and you don't have to change it every single year necessarily. Um especially for games like Gunrunner, where there's vehicle vehicle rules. Like I did a video brief for vehicle rules if I ever did a vehicle game. Um, and it's just like indicating what the sides count for and like what the front counts for, how many hits you need to do, and throwing in all those visuals. I feel like it helps add some clarity because it's with the vehicle games we do. Some of them are there's different variations. You'll get hit in the turret and you'll be like, oh, is does that mean the turret's down, or is the vehicle down, or you know, there's always that this uh discrepancy.
SPEAKER_00For sure. For sure. It's it's definitely a great idea, and it's uh it's it's uh something that uh you know more game hosts definitely should do, in my uh in my opinion. All right, so let's move on to the outdoor season, and it looks like you've got you know a couple events coming up. Let's talk about the one at TFS this year.
Real Cap Plans And Role Play Debate
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I'm actually moving the date to that one to likely sometime in July, just because nightfall is the week before in June, um, the original date I set, and I know a lot of people want to go to nightfall. Uh, I'm actually counting on uh Hagen is gonna help me uh with staffing this event, and he's not available on June 6th when the original date was, so I'm gonna move it to July 11th. Nice is when it's looking. Uh just so far there's really nothing in the calendar in July, so that's why I'm doing it on that date. Um but uh yeah, so I'm gonna I really wanted to do this event down at TFS because all of those Southern Ontario guys, you know, Niagara to London to uh Windsor, they don't they have to always come up to the compound, and it's quite a trek for them to come all the way up there. So I wanted to try and give back to that community because Jody's retired. He used to do the icebreaker. Um I miss Jody. I I love playing with him, he's he's a great guy. For sure. Um but but now there's nothing, there's a void down there. So I'm trying to like I'm just stepping up like I did from the beginning, and just why don't I create something down there? And the uh style of event I plan on doing is uh it's gonna follow my codebreaker series, which is essentially there's three control points on the map, um, and you have to unlock them by finding these codes uh that are hidden in other like mainstream locations on the map. Problem is with TFS, I'm not as familiar as I was at Clarington. All my events I did at Clarington is because I I know that field very well. Trying to do it at another field, there's gonna be challenges because I don't know what that spot is. I'm looking at it on a map, I don't know what it looks like in real life. So I'm gonna do my best. Um but it's the code breaker series is basically like a mix of a scavenger hunt and a control point game. Because you know where you know where the three main objectives are, um, but you need a code to unlock them. So you've got to kind of search these areas, find the code, bring them back. Only your commanders can decode them. Once you get the code, you can go and unlock the uh the lock, bring it back. Once you get all three, um, you know, the it the stages progress at that point, right?
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. TFS actually is a great field, and for what you're trying to do, it would work well. Like I know that field very, very well from the icebreaker series. Um it's it's it's a phenomenal field, it's super fun. Um, I can tell you just off the top of my head, I've there's at least six good points where you could set up your game real proper there with that type of premise for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I've been there for I think two or maybe three icebreakers. I'd have to look at my patchwall. Um, I know I was at the last one they did, and I think I was at icebreaker three as well. Um, but uh I also played Delta Dida No Knots there at one point. Um, and that was that was a lot of fun. But yeah, the field is great. The field is absolutely great. It's just I don't know it as a game host, I don't know it like as well as I do with Clarington. So I'm gonna I'm gonna try my best. Based on the map I've looked at, I'm like, yeah, I I think I have a good plan on how to approach it. Um but regardless, you know, I just want to put an event down there for people uh so they don't have to drive you know five hours or six hours just to play some Milsome kind of airsoft.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. Yeah, it's awesome. The more fields that open up and the more places for people to play, the better it is for the community. Yeah, definitely. Absolutely. Like I love traveling to play airsoft, and with my uh back and limitations, I gotta try to get as much in as I possibly can before I won't be able to play it anymore, period. But that's why uh same with me. Yeah, it's it's you can only push so much and I gotta watch it because you know my my work that pays all the bills is is something that you know I I gotta watch. So if I go out and do an event and and blow my back out and then I can't work for two, three weeks after, that's just it's just not gonna work.
Health Limits And Stepping Back
SPEAKER_01Not worth it. Yeah, yeah, it's not worth it. Definitely not. That's where I'm at too. That's why I'm taking a big step back after this year. Uh, I want to play out this year and then next year um I want to take a big step back. I'll help out from an administrative point if anyone needs you know some ideas for games or something, or they want to take me on board as like staff, or they want to you know looking for NPCs, like I would absolutely love to do a lot of NPC roles next year. Sweet. Uh, but this year I want to get in a lot of uh trigger time and playing and stuff as much as I can. But like you said, I have certain limitations too. Between uh my back, I get really bad migraines. Almost every game I play, like I end up getting a wicked migraine, and I it like it forces me to stop. So and that's true, I struggle with that because like I want to be out there and and play like an actual MILSIM, but you know, when my brain feels like it's gonna explode, I kind of have to stop. Yeah, for sure. So yeah, it's it's a struggle. You know, I I mentioned in my little uh brief video where I you know a lot of people knew I was kind of retiring this year, more or less, and especially from at least the event standpoint. And I just said in that video, I was like, Don't take your health for granted, guys, because you're you're only so young for so long, um, and health challenges can pop up whenever, and then all of a sudden you're limited. So definitely don't take your health for granted, it's for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, get out there and play uh while you can and when you can, but uh do it safely, that's for sure. Exactly. Yeah. So the event at TFS, when do you think information's gonna kind of start trickling out for that?
Discord Calendar And Community Tools
SPEAKER_01Uh well, I just within the past couple days firmed up the date, moving it to July. So I'm gonna start pumping out information probably around April 1st. Nice. Um, I'm I'm probably gonna adjust my registration thing. I don't think I'm gonna do the typically I'll do send the e-transfer within the month so I can cancel it if you can't show up. I think this time I'm just gonna, for simplicity, I'm gonna just set up auto deposit and you you make the payment. If you can't come, find somebody else to buy your ticket, right? Way easier. A lot of people do it that way, and it's it's way easier for me. I I I try to favor the player base by saying, um, you know, you can refund it if you need to. I don't think it's really that valued. If people aren't really taking advantage of it that much, so um I'm just gonna kind of scrap it, I think. There's a couple different changes I'm gonna make, but um yeah, basically I think I'm gonna start releasing stuff uh in around April. Nice uh if anyone if anyone wants to stay up to date on my activities for Airsoft, I've created the Discord. When you were mentioning like people don't use Facebook, people sometimes use Instagram, whatever. I totally agree with you on that. I used to run everything through Facebook groups and stuff, and now Facebook is so like limited, and Instagram you can't really put out details, you can put out like media. And then the other thing too is those people that use Instagram, if you make a video uh briefing, you can apply that to Instagram, whereas you can't really put out text documents on Instagram. So that's another reason why those video briefs are a good idea for sure because it it it fits that platform well. But uh Discord is like the best way to keep in touch with communities, I think. I'm a little biased because I'm I'm accustomed to Discord. Some people are they still don't understand how it works, but once you figure it out, it's a great tool for stuff like we're trying to do. It's way less limited and everything. So I created this server a couple of years ago. It's a community-based server too. Like it's it's not just what I uh what I am doing, it's what other event hosts are doing. I I created a shared Google Calendar which has like every event in there. I post that thing in the Facebook group tons of times because people keep asking, like, does anyone know like all the events? It's like, yeah, right here. This is this has them all. Um so yeah, Discord's the best place. If you want to keep up to date with what I'm doing, uh my Discord server is the best place.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's what I'm hearing. It's everybody's switching to Discord. Um, a lot of the the game uh command chats and stuff like that are through Discord now, too. So it's definitely something worth worth doing because everybody's using it, so it's definitely a good way to get out because you can post uh video and text on Discord, and you don't have the limitations uh that Facebook and Instagram have, so it's an awesome idea.
SPEAKER_01There's there's so much you can do with Discord, like you can do voice chats and you can create little little separate groups and everything. It's it's so there's so many opportunities and and um options and tools that you can do with Discord. So honestly, it's the best place. I just I know some people struggle to take on new technology, some people call it social media. I don't even consider Discord social media, I think it's very different, but uh you know it's more like Teams or stuff that you are like almost like Zoom kind of, but like a little different. Um but you know, I even made some videos on like how to use my Discord for people that don't know when they when they're in there and they're like, I don't know how to use this. And I'm like, here's a detailed version, here's a short version of how to use it. Um but yeah, when I retire too, I'm not closing out my server because like I said, it's uh community-based. Like I have all the chats for like public games if you want to go to a Action Air on a public day. It says every event that I'm going to like Gunrunner's on there, narco's on there. I'm like, this is the team I'm signing up for, and like this is the information about these events, all that stuff.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I've seen I'm I'm on your server and I definitely uh I definitely follow it and I see the uh the positive impact it has on the community. So it's it's definitely cool because it's just a one-stop shop. So if you need to know where you're going, you just click the the calendar link and you can figure out what weekend you want to go where and it's it's uh it's awesome that you do that. Yeah, yeah.
Closing Thanks And Command Ambitions
SPEAKER_01For me, it I I suck at time management with things like that. So if it's not written down, I'll forget. So having that mass calendar on there, I can just pick and choose. I'm like, okay, uh, like I don't feel like going to TFS for this uh night game that's like four hours because I'm in uh GTA. So I won't go to that, but I'll post it there so other people know if they want to they want to go and do it. So all the information in one place is the best, right? Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00So let's fast forward uh through the summer and get into the fall, and you have a real cap event planned uh at the compound. So let's talk about that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so in October, I'm hoping to do a uh real cap event. I haven't put a lot of uh thought into exactly the style of game I want to do. I mean, I'd love to uh incorporate a more LARP-based game, but it the it depends on the player base. You know, sometimes people hear the word LARP and they're they're just like, oh, I don't want to go. Um or that's at least that's what I feel like people think. I don't know, that's my interpretation of it. Um if it's not really just simple like force on force in vehicles, that seems to be the format people gravitate to, but I want to create something a little different, and uh I'm not quite sure yet. I think I'm gonna as I travel around this summer, I'm gonna probe some people about how would you feel about a game like this or what what kind of game would you like to see? Because I want to create something that's a little different. Um so yeah, I know it's gonna be a real cap game. I don't really have any other details beyond that. I just want it to be slightly different. Um it might just divulge into being uh like a basic force on force game because it's for simplicity. But uh I'm really hoping I can develop something that's more intricate. I don't know if you were at uh I don't think you were at Delta's dead end game he did at the compound a couple years ago, but that was one of the best Ontario games I think I've ever played. Really, eh? Yeah, because it was uh it was like insurgents and um I guess like NATO or whatever, like uh the military force. And I was a shopkeeper, and the the goal for us was to like smuggle in weapons, and there was like a checkpoint, and it was very uh role role play based. I got arrested, they were gonna they did some assassin assassinations, and uh yeah, there was like a there's a lawyer, like everyone had these roles, and that's a big thing they do in the States at a lot of Mills and West is they do these insurgency games, which is very role play based, and people love it, but it's not something that's really taken off here in Ontario. But Delta brought it and I had a really great time doing it.
SPEAKER_00Nice. Yeah, uh it sucks that Delta's uh recovering from another uh another surgery. Um because you definitely miss his events for sure. He uh he has some different out-of-the-box stuff. That's that's uh that's for sure.
SPEAKER_01Definitely. And I really miss Green Mile. That's one of my favorite events. I like that venue too. I've tried to book the venue. I I think he's the only one who can really get that venue, and I love I love Burnt River. It's one of my favorite fields.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I had a great time for Green Mile one and two. Um I didn't make it to three, can't remember what happened. But um yeah, one and two is awesome. Uh that field is definitely a nightmare for the insurgents. Um yeah, that's a great convoy game. Um it's too bad that it's it's not gonna be around this year. Um but hopefully next year, maybe we can get back out to Burnt River and do it again.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm hoping. Uh it's one of my favorite like sniping fields because you know you've got those long roadways and you can just gilly up and sit at the end of a roadway, and you know, it's optimal place for sniping.
SPEAKER_00For sure. It's a big, really up and down field too, and it's got some good distance to it, so I really enjoy playing there. Yeah. Alright. Well, let's end the show with uh just let everybody know really what, why, and uh how you're gonna end your career.
SPEAKER_01Well, I I don't know about I don't want to like hard end it. It's not kind of I I kind of say I'm retiring or stepping back, but I feel like next year I love this community way too much to just be like, yeah, I'm done with it. Um you know, I am trying to focus on other things in my life. Like I gotta I'm working on job stuff and you know, I'm trying to move to a different location where Airsoft won't be as accessible. Um, but uh I I still want to participate in some way, shape, or form. I'm always gonna be like, how are how are you doing? Like you specifically magical be like, how's the event going? Or like if if you have an idea for an event, maybe we can collab on something, or same thing with like Andrew Mitchell. Um, you know, I want to participate in the community as much as I can, but yeah, I'm definitely gonna take a step back from as much activity. Um so you know, this year I've got those two outdoor events. I have that one last uh ATG event in April at the Action Air, and then that's it. And I I really want to just enjoy playing. Like I said, I got the tour of duty I want to do. Um but I I want to get as much trigger time in this year as I can, especially um if I can I really want to get in a ghillie suit and just get back to that because I that's my thing, is just a hide and seek aspect and overhearing people's personal conversations. My favorite thing is when you don't think anyone's around, because you know it's you and 20 of your guys, and you're just like all shooting the shit, and you're just like, Oh yeah, whatever. Like you have no idea that I'm sitting there listening to like what you ate for dinner last night or something like that. And I it's I even have uh I have pictures of you and Patricia at one of those uh uh strategic adventures. Jeff did a game at PRZ and I was in the tree line. I'm like snapping pictures of you and Patricia talking on my phone and stuff.
SPEAKER_00Like that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01It's a great, it's absolutely great. Um, that's my favorite thing. So I really want to get back into that this year if I can.
SPEAKER_00Sweet. I hope to see you on the field for sure. I'm gonna get out and play probably a lot less than I have in the past years just because of the amount of events that we're hosting this year. Um but I definitely have a spot for you to come out and help with events next year. You're more than welcome to always be an MPC, and you can definitely come on board and uh you know help us out with some disarmed or some other events that we have coming up next year. So for sure reach out and don't be a stranger. And uh we really appreciate what you've done for the community and what you still continue to do for the community with the indoor and and the outdoor stuff and and getting organized online um with Discord and doing the uh the calendar every year. Everybody definitely appreciates you and appreciates the stuff you do for the community. So from the community, I just want to say thank you, man.
SPEAKER_01Hey man, thank you, and thanks to everybody who contributes and you know defends this community. When we went through C21, if you made those calls to your MPs and we all kind of banded together to push them back. But like to me, the the biggest uh pillars of the community are like yourself, Monty, uh Delta, Andrew Mitchell, Jeff Griggs, uh, you know, Lucas, anyone who takes on managing a field or uh you know a business, like everyone who owns a business shop, you guys taking a huge risk by you know putting in effort into this like very niche sport at this point, because there's not that man much of us that play it across Canada, right? So, you know, I I appreciate you guys. You guys inspired me. Um and yeah, I mean, I like I said, I love this community. I wanna I wanted to contribute as much as I could to it and create things that don't already exist, and I'm glad I got to do that. Like it's been it's been a great ride. I cannot believe it's been ten years, and uh I'm really proud of myself because again, there's a lot of personal growth with this. I used to be terrified of public speaking. You ten years ago, if you were like, Oh, we got a podcast, I'd be like sitting here quaking in my boots, sweating, all nervous, and none of that's a factor anymore. It's I feel like it's given me such uh confidence and stuff, and and that that's a really good transferable skill for a lot of you know other things, right?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, man. I've learned so much and met the most amazing people through Airsoft. Um, it was actually one of the big reasons for my sobriety and my continued sobriety, and I've learned so much in running events, hosting events, building a field, multiple fields, uh, traveling, creating a team. It's just uh it's an all-around great community, and I can't uh support it enough. And yeah, it's just it's just a part of my huge part of my life, and it's gonna continue to be uh going forward. And it's good to have people like you in the community. So thank you so much for coming on the show, and I really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I really appreciate you having me on the show. The one other thing I wanted to mention too is on my bucket list for either this year or like next year, is uh I forgot to mention that doing a command role like at a mainstream game has been something that I've wanted to get out there. So even in the next year, like if I'm taking a step back from being from playing, like command staff is kind of administrative in a way, and I would love to do that too. So if anyone's looking for a commander for next year's events, you know, keep me in mind for it.
SPEAKER_00Definitely, man. That's that's something uh good to know because not a lot of people step up to to command, especially a big event when you've got you know four or five hundred players on the field and you're trying to wrangle half of them. So it's it's good to know, and I'm definitely gonna keep that in my uh my playbook and I might reach out to you for sure.
SPEAKER_01Sounds good.
SPEAKER_00Awesome, man. Thank you so much for coming on the show. I really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Take care.
unknownTake care.
