Venue choice can make or break a war. I’ve put together a checklist to help choose the right battleground to help you maximize fun and involvement:
A good battleground –
- is public, or you have permission from the property owner to play there.
- isn’t too far away from everyone. A short ride to the battlefield means more time is available to fight.
- is easy to find. You don’t want people driving around in circles looking for the battlefield. Always give out your phone number and ensure everyone has the right address prior to the day of the big fight.
- has sufficient water sources available. Water sources include artificial sources such as spigots (taps) or pools, and natural sources such as ponds and streams. Ensure that any artificial sources will be available on the day of battle, e.g. if the only place to refill is a spigot or bathroom at a pavilion make sure that the pavilion will be available to use at the war and isn’t already reserved by someone else. It is also important to remember that some game types, such as outpost, 1 flag ctf, and soakfests use up more water than others game types (VIP and 1hk). High action games will require more refilling between rounds.
- facilitates confrontation. Stalking and tracking can be lots of fun in the right game type, but even SEAL is opposed to wars that involve going 2 hours without even seeing the enemy. If your battlefield is large you may want to partition it into smaller sections to be used for different rounds. Ideally, a battlefield will have a unique blend of open areas and forest or buildings.
- has adequate cover and concealment. Cover is any object that will block a shot, such as a wall or large boulder. Concealment is anything that will hide you from site but may only slow down a shot, such as high grass or brush. Battlefields that are entirely open get boring very quickly.
Hydrowar 