Subterranean Slaughter! - Kingston, NY - Aug. 5th

[SEAL]

What:
Quite possibly the most extreme water war the community has ever seen! Subterranean Slaughter is the only war ever to be held underground. (Mother Nature can't participate this time! ) We have fought in the woods, we have fought in abandoned buildings, but we have never fought in a cave. This is not a war for wussies, or those with a phobia of dark/enclosed places. My friend has played airsoft in there before, so a water war is definitely possible.

When:
Wednesday, August 5th, 2015

Where:
This war will take place in a massive abandoned mine located in Kingston, NY (exact location will be given out to all participants). Most of it is open space, with many large columns. There are old structures, including small brick buildings and an HVAC system, and underground lakes to refill from, though we should also fill up ahead of time. It is truly an epic location, and this may be the only time you will get to fight there.

What to bring:
-One primary of medium class or lower to bring in (you can have spares in the car)
-Loaner blasters
-Water bottles
-FLASHLIGHTS (every combatant must have at least one)
-Glow sticks (I will buy some, but the more the better)
-Dust masks (again, I will supply them, but it doesn't hurt to bring your own; lots of dust gets kicked up)
-Durable, warm-ish clothing (it's like 40-50 degrees in there)
-Food
-A hardcore attitude (remember, this is not a war for wimps)
-Guests with hardcore 'tudes

Schedule:
12:00 - Arrival time. I will be there early to set things up. Please try to get there as close to 12 as possible, because we all need to go into the cave at the same time. If you arrive way late, there will be no way to contact us because there is no cell phone service underground.
12:30 to 15:00 - First battle; team 1HS
15:00 (3PM) - End battle to pick up those who cannot make it at 12, and switch up teams. Again, please be there on time, so that we can get back to fighting as soon as possible.
15:30 to 18:00 - Second battle; team 1HS
18:00 (6PM) - End of war; clean up and move out

Rules:
-Standard WWn hit rules apply (must be a direct hit to count)
-Each time a player is hit, the team who hit him/her gets a point, and the team with the most points wins
-If you are hit, you must put your hands up and stand away from the action behind your team for 1 minute (count to 60) before you are able to fight again. Call out "clear" once your time is up
-Keep track of how many times you get hit; at the end we'll add up the deaths to determine which team won
-Stay within the battlefield limits, which means no going out of the cave during the battle
-Hunting rule applies here; don't just sit in a corner for two hours
-Medium blasters or lower only (nothing more powerful than a 1000/1200/2100)
-No WBLs allowed, and water balloons are discouraged unless you want to fill some ahead of time
-Every player must carry a working flashlight
-Don't be a douche canoe, and don't get into big arguments over hits

Attendance (8):
SEAL (hosting)
Bailey
Area51*
AMBUSH
Duxburian*
HBWW
scottthewaterwarrior
Snoop Doggy Doge

*2nd round only

Are you up for the challenge? This is a smaller war, but it would still be nice to get at least six participants. Let me know what dates work for you.

[Snoop Doggy Doge]

I needs a ride lel, I'll try to be the hardcore plus one but if I go I need loaner blaster lol

[DX]

I need to make sure that I don't have to drive my neighbors' kids to camp on whatever day it is. If I do, I can't get to Kingston until 3 PM.

[Alfatrooper]

Put me down as a maybe. I can attend depending on my parent's schedule and how far away it is from my house and if they let me fight underground. I am interested in the hardcore aspect of the war.

[SEAL]

Snoop: I'd ask your uncle about that. :p

Duxburian: Do you know exactly which days you have to do that? 'Cause we can do this war on any day from the 2nd to the 6th (or even 7th, then drive over to your place in the evening, but I'd rather not do that).

Alfatrooper: Sounds good. I'd say it's about two hours from where you live. If your parents can't take you, maybe someone else can. Actually I don't know how that would work if your parents brought you. Unless they want to come into the cave and fight with us, there'd be nothing for them to do.

[HBWW]

I think it'd be good if we can run this during or adjacent to the Apoc weekend. Then snoop could stay with DX and I on the weekend of Apoc, then again on the weekend of Pandemonium. Saves all the driving back and forth to NYC. Alternatively, he can take the MTA to somewhere easier to pick him up.

The good part is that we no longer have to drive across the Bronx, which is pretty clusterfucked at most times of the day. Good plan would be for him to go to and stay at DX's the night before Apoc, provide slave labor for learn some dartsmithing, and then carpool with is to NJ and back. To do this, I could pick him up early in the morning, or he could take the trains and I could pick him up at the train station. There are periods during the day where driving from DX's to the Bronx area isn't so bad.

[SEAL]

Sunday the 2nd would probably work the best, except that it's right after APOC and I assume most people will be tired. I dunno, what do you all think?

This week I'm planning to go into the cave again to map it out and figure out the best places to put glow sticks. I would like to get two colors, so I could place say, red ones near potentially dangerous areas, and green ones just for providing extra light.

[HBWW]

Would Monday work?

[SEAL]

Monday works for me, but I don't know about anyone else.

I went in today and got a good idea of the layout. I bought a new LED Mag-Lite flashlight that lights the place up better than all the flashlights we used last time combined. I also got like 20 glow sticks, but unfortunately they only had one color (green). Most of the sketchy areas are around the perimeter of the cavern, where the ground sharply slopes downward before hitting the wall. I will probably place the sticks along there. Then if we can get some big lanterns we can stick them in the middle among the columns. I have some old gas lanterns, but they haven't been used in like forever and I don't know if it's a good idea to use them in there. There was already some smoke in there, evidently left over from a 4th of July party. I could still smell cigarette smoke. Don't want to be filling the place with fumes.

So the cave is basically shaped kind of like a horseshoe (or maybe more like a banana). If the horseshoe is pointed in the good-luck position (with each end facing up), then the main entrance is at the bottom. On the right end is the other fenced-off entrance, and on the left end it appears to keep going, but we couldn't go any farther due to water. There are the remains of a mining cart railway, and the old mine face. Then if you go straight right after going in, you'll arrive at a DEEP body of water that people apparently swim in. I could not see the bottom; it was crazy. I'll see if I can whip up a map sometime, though I might need to go in again.

[SSCBen]

This one sounds really interesting. Good job organizing this, SEAL.

While I'd like to attend, I'm not really able to make this one. Hope everyone enjoys this. Quite a unique venue.

[Snoop Doggy Doge]

I think I'm gonna be up there with my "dad" and "uncle" if I'm staying at Robs place, also ayo for using 24 hour clock system

[SEAL]

Okay, I added you to the list. Unfortunately it seems DX can't make it until later in the afternoon during the week. Unless we can do it the day after APOC, which probably won't work well, we'll have to split the fighting into two rounds and switch teams. Hopefully we'll have enough people. Monday seems to be the best option so far, so we'll likely go with that.

In case things somehow go wrong, the backup location as of now is the cement plant/brickyard, though this is one case where the backup field is worse (in terms of chances of being kicked out) than the primary. I might have to find a third option, but we shouldn't have any trouble.

[scottthewaterwarrior]

OK I know I'm crazy, but... I want to come to this!

Sure I seam to have a phobia of caves, but what better way to solve that than to keep going into them? Especially since it is for an awesome water war! Personally though I'd like to do it later in the week if we can, Monday would be difficult for me since my LEGO con goes until Sunday night, meaning I would have to leave at 6am to get there and than fight right after getting out of the car. If Monday is what works best for others I am willing to leave the LEGO con early on Sunday, but I'd rather not.

[SEAL]

Cool. I'm sure once you start fighting you'll be fine. As for the date, it really depends on others. I don't have anything going on that week as far as I know, so it doesn't matter to me. I think the main reason Monday seemed to be the best was so that Snoop could stay at DX's after APOC, and drive up here.

Anyone else interested? It's not every day when you get to fight in a cave. Just one more person would be great. Actually more like two if DX is only able to make half of it.

[scottthewaterwarrior]

Actually if we had it on a Monday than Bela could probably come as he gets off work around 3pm on Sunday and Monday and Tuesday are his days off. Nuts, looks like I am going to miss Sunday at the LEGO con, SIGH!

[SEAL]

So shall I set Monday as the official date? Speak now or forever hold your peace. :p

[scottthewaterwarrior]

Actually what is the plan for during the week? If later in the week would work for everyone else, I'd much rather have it than as I'd prefer not to miss any days at the LEGO con as some of my friends I only see once per year at the event. I would much rather Tuesday as than I could still make Sunday at the LEGO con. I would also like to be able to stay with someone until after Pandomonium so I don't have to be driving all up and down the east coast multiple times. If having me around for a week would be too much than I would definitely want it even later in the week so I don't have to make the drive more than once. I wouldn't mind the driving, but I don't want to put more wear and tare on my dads car than I have to.

Edit:
OK in case I wasn't clear enough, I really, really, really, really, really, really really, really, really, really don't want to miss Sunday at the LEGO con.
And for extra emphasis, I actually typed all those really's and didn't copy and paste.

[HBWW]

We could run this on Friday as part of a Pandemonium extended weekend special.

[SEAL]

If we did Friday, I would have to leave directly from the cave to CT, which means I'd have to pack all my stuff. I guess it's not too big a deal, though a rest in between both events would be nice. But I'll do whatever if it means more people can show up.

[HBWW]

Of course, I'm available all week, so we should figure out what works for Scott and Van James.