English
In September, the Big Game (SBG) scenario was the last real big game of the 2022 season. The Battleground Crew around SBG event organizer Bertl Wollowitz had called for a fight against the undead this time and celebrated a shrill, shrill spectacle with SBG: UNDEAD with lots of highlights and exciting color battles. Of course we were there for you and brought you a detailed event report. Let's go…
We are on the way to Brozek in Poland. Directly behind the German border is the Battleground playing field, where major events such as the Euro Super Game, the Helldays, or in our case, the Big Game scenario, take place several times a year. The anticipation is huge, because as old "The Walking Dead" fans, this year's motto of the SBG meets our taste. UNDEAD is emblazoned in big words on the event banner at the entrance. This fall's storyline is based on the said series and for three days revolves around zombies, the undead and a bit of horror.
In order to get the SBG participants in the right mood right from the start and to create the right mood for the motto, a real zombie outbreak took place on the site with the official starting signal on Thursday evening. Suddenly (staged) panic was felt in the trade show and on the campsite. The sirens wailed and dire warnings rang out from the loudspeakers. A factory explosion near the event camp was simulated for the stage-ready interlude. As a result, almost two dozen undead zombies broke out of the factory premises and swarmed into the surrounding forests. The game could begin…
Of course, there were no real zombies in SBG, but the crew really went out of their way to make it feel as real as possible. A total of 20 (!) members of the Battleground Crew were elaborately dressed up as zombies to scare the SBG visitors. In the following two days, the zombie actors were used again and again in a wide variety of missions and were an integral part of the storyline. 20 men, that's quite a number and something you really don't see every day. An absolute highlight that once again gave the event its very own, incomparably cool character. Also around it was once again not stingy with decoration and a suitable presentation. The entire facility, including paint output, office and parts of the trade show, were transformed into a kind of zombie land. The special attention to detail and the decoration that is perfectly tailored to the respective event are one of the points that make every SBG unique and special. That alone was worth the trip for us as zombie fans.
As with almost all SBG events, the playing fields were well filled throughout the day and lots of color was scattered in the air. "We've hit 1000 again." Bertl tells us proudly. In the end, despite all the current circumstances, 1007 tickets were sold to the guests. That is once again a remarkable number of participants. One reason could be the renewed expansion of the playing field. The SBG28 Undead took place on the brand new MagFed site in addition to the normal Big Game site. The MagFed event site, with the huge, five-story boiler house as the core building, was expanded and converted in May especially for the big Euro Super Game MagFed event and was extremely popular with the players. In total, this new section of the site offers a total of 30 new buildings that can now be used as part of the event field. There was also a large side event area that was illuminated. Specially organized night games and the so-called zombie night took place here.
The digital game control from the Ares Alpha model, which was newly introduced this year, has also been integrated more and more into the gameplay of the SBG28. It finally makes it possible to track event vehicles and tanks in active gameplay. Anyone who switches off a vehicle gets points for their own team thanks to digital game evaluation, which can ultimately be decisive for overall victory. A cool innovation and a further step towards more details and game depth and that in the middle of live game events.
The organizers had come up with numerous missions tailored to the event motto. Once the skeletons of victims of the zombie attacks had to be evacuated from the area of operations in order to then bury them appropriately. – Keyword “No one is left behind!”. Another time it was about finding important resources such as food in the form of cans or vehicles relevant to logistics and then bringing them to our own warehouse or to one of the car workshops distributed on the site. As always, valuable points were added to the team account for each mission goal achieved. The players were constantly challenged. Be it through the mission objectives, the opposing team or the suddenly attacking zombie hordes, which repeatedly launched raids on the last survivors. As with the other events of this season, the paint came once again from the premium manufacturer ProShar and, in our opinion, was completely convincing. Choosing the right paintballs is always a tightrope act for the organizers, but the feedback we were able to get from the players was consistently positive on this point as well. Another quality feature that speaks for the event, because only if the paint flies, breaks and works well will the players really have fun on the field.
The SBG has also improved again in terms of logistics and processes. The new parts of the site and buildings have made it possible to simplify some processes and improve the service for guests extensively in many respects. "The campsite plots that were introduced earlier in the season have now proven themselves and are very well received." Bertl explains to us at this point. Now we come to one of the most important areas of the event, the festival camp. The focal point of the event area offers, in addition to the catering and the shows that take place every evening, the trade show with the various dealer stands. This year again numerous suppliers from the paintball scene were represented. On our walk through the trade show we meet colleagues from WSS Berlin, Paint Xtreme and MagFed.de, Jimmys Paintballshop, Paint Supply, Tones Paintballstore from Austria and the brands BALLERN., PBMERCH4FUN, Dye Europe , Patchwerk and not to forget the in-house Battleground Shop of the organizer. So there was really a lot going on at the stands and many of the local dealers had great event offers with them. On Saturday evening there was still the big stage program with lots of action. Among other things, a Ramstein Tribute Band, which heated up the visitors with a fire show and loud music. All in all, this SBG once again convinced us to the fullest. Just the amount of people and material that is brought up here to offer the players a unique and unforgettable paintball event weekend is impressive.
Our final conclusion on the event is once again positive at this point. The SBG28 Undead was again just as big, cool and exciting as expected, maybe even a bit more than that. We asked Bertl for final feedback and he presented us with impressive numbers and also a few nice, personal words for his team directed: "A total of 107 crew members worked on the SBG28 and played a variety of roles. By the way, a large part of the crew does this free of charge and purely in their free time to support our event. I would like to take this opportunity to express my special praise and my personal thanks to these people.” But that was by no means all. This time, too, numerous vehicles were in action. Among other things, two chain mail, three wheeled armor and a total of 8 other event vehicles that have repeatedly intervened in the game in one way or another. Last but not least, the winner remains to be mentioned. The Guerillos United team won the main game and the SOC the MagFed Big Game. We congratulate the winners!
With that we say goodbye to the SBG28. We had a lot of fun and are already looking forward to next year's events. The organizer has already published the first information and named the titles for the coming year, which, by the way, will be the 15th anniversary of the SBG. The SBG30 with the title PURGE is particularly in focus and should once again set new standards. “We are planning something that has never happened before to celebrate the anniversary in a worthy way!” promises Bertl. So you can be curious. See you next year for the Big Game scenario. We look forward to it!
