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Prior mission details...

Mission 16: March 15, 2009

Recently James Clement (a film instructor at local Full Sail University) reached out to me to play tag. Unfortunately there were no scheduled games for the Central Florida Lazer Tag Group. However I had told James that if by any chance he and his friends were planning to play, I would be honored to attend. The first game date, I was unable to attend but when James set up another game for March 15, 2009, my itchy trigger finger and lack of tagging got the better of me and I got some people together to play some LT.

James picked a local park (Red Bug Lake Park, Casselberry, Florida) to play. Actually it is a nice park to spend with family and friends, but a little limited for a large group to play tag. There is a wooded area but very thick, dense and part is swampy and close to a lake. Only a small narrow path had been blazed for hiking, however there were a few areas to move around in and a boardwalk to move quickly on. As I have often said to people visiting Central Florida; if there is a glass of water outside, there's a good chance there's a gator in it.

We made a plan to meet at the park on Sunday at 3PM and pretty much we all arrived on time. From my side my wife Evelyn and I came with our daughter Jolynn (whom could not play due to a lingering surgery that has not healed completely). She was accompanied by her boyfriend Kris, his friends Thomas and Luis and their girlfriends, as well as my nephew Adam. Another one of Kris's friends showed up later but I am lousy with names (sorry dude!). The tagger of choice for this day was the TMB and the LTX!

James was accompanied by his wife Elizabeth, and his friends Corey and Jen B. Also Amber and Nelson were on hand but left early as Amber had lost her glasses and could not see.

James, looking cool and hot.


His wife Elizabeth.

We split up into two groups Able Company and Baker Company and our first game would be simple team elimination. One team (A) would go into the brush and lay in wait. Baker Company would move in when the game on signal was given and try to eliminate the first team. I was on A Company and we trudged into the thick brush and found places of concealment. When game on was called I noticed a group of B Company players using the boardwalk and pasted our location. I figured that they had splintered their group and would have one part flank us. It was a good idea but the heavy brush was an advantaged to the dug in A Company and B Company was forced to move slowly and was tagged out.

Me taking a shot.

Taking position.


Since I had brought along a large water jug for refreshment, for the second game, we used it as a prop. The premise of the game was that A Company was transporting a "nuclear package" (the water jug) on the boardwalk, towards an evac point. B Company would try to ambush them somewhere on route and would need to tag out A company to take possession of the prize. A Company could not run with the package and had to have two people carrying it at all times. If a carrier was tagged out, another player would need to step in. I took one of the handles, and James wife, Elizabeth is left handed so she took the other end and we started down the boardwalk. Somewhere mid point we started to take hits from both sides of the boardwalk. Our team that started out at six dwindled down to 4 and I noticed that we were not taking hits anymore so I told Elizabeth to quick march to the evac point for a win.

Beginning the gauntlet.

The firefight begins.


The third game was a retrieval game. I made up a quick story that LINUX had come up with a super open ended operating system that was being transported to Seattle. While in transit, the transport was destroyed and the case carrying the master hard drives with the code survived the crash and was located somewhere in the woods. Microsoft and Apple, eager to get their hands on the case send in their own mercenary groups to retrieve that package and eliminate the opposition. Prior to the game I carried my footlocker in to the woods and concealed it behind a tree and covered it with ferns. Since B Company was down some players, I moved over to B Company. Even though I knew the location of the prize, I was not telling nor would I be the person that found it. A Company went to the far end of the trail, while B Company would start from the Dead Zone, when game on was called. From what I was told, James had tagged out a player from B Company that was standing right next to the prize. I don't know who that player was, nor if the player even knew that they had the prize at arm’s length. All I really got to see was James running down the boardwalk to their evac zone, to win the game. Good job A Company.

Since it was getting a little late for us, I asked of we could just play one last game that I called "the liberation of Stalag 13". Close to the wooded area the park department had a storage area for their trucks and equipment. The game here was that A Company needed to defend this area. To win, B Company had to enter the area and take a large white PVC pipe to claim the area. I had told James, that although they could physically block an opponent, they could not touch an opponent (no melee encounters). B Company walked up the boardwalk into the wooded area to get ready. When game on was called I advised our fastest runners to use the boardwalk as cover and go back to the beginning and work their way around the back of the building to flank A Company and get the pole. The rest of B Company would hit A Company from the front to distract them. As we approached I saw one of the A Company players under a truck and was able to score some tags on that player and another near by before I was tagged out. However by the time I was tagged out, the B Company runners had gotten their prize and first win of the day. Hoorah!!!

Taking position in the last game.

End Game!

Mission 15:

Sunday, April 13, 2008, was the latest mission of the Central Florida Lazer Tag Group, and we were honored with the presence of Mike Tunez and 13 other players from the Southern Florida LT Group. All in all, I believe that we had about 35 players in the field that afternoon. It took me about an hour just getting everyone set up and we had a late start because it had started raining around noon. Between my daughters boyfriend and my brother in law, and myself, we set up the tent and base camp in the rain, in anticipation of the rain letting up.

The premise of the game was that a Dept. of the Treasury Transport plane was carrying the special ink and a special plate for printing up US currency. That plane had been sabotaged and crash landed in the woods of Davenport, Florida. A mercenary group was on site trying to recover the loot, and special agents from the Treasury Department were brought in to stop that from happening.

After everyone had been set up and teams chosen by random, each team went to its own base to start the first two games which are simple elimination games. The first two games are meant to warm up the players and to allow the new players to get used to the terrain, the equipment and each other. The game was a mix of ESS, Starlyte Pro’s and LTTO TMB’s in WOW mode. Both games were won by the mercenaries.

The third game was the beginning of the scenario games. I used 4 flashing auto SOS beacons which would serve as the “ink” control rods that the teams were looking for. I scattered these throughout the field. Nearby each “ink control rod” I placed a WOW StarBase, to act as bobby trap or automated defense mechanism. The premise of the game was that the two teams had to go and find the “ink control rods”. If a player found one and was tagged out, it could be taken by another player. The winning team was the team that had the most “ink control rods” at the end of thirty minutes.

The Treasury agents decided that if they found any rods, they would bring it back to their base while the game was going on. Four players were left behind then to guard the base. The Treasury agents found one rod quickly and brought it back to base, but the mercenaries found the other three and kept them in play up to the end of the game. The mercenaries had won round three.

The fourth game was that both teams had to find a safe that contained the printing plate. For this I use the SpyGear electronic safe, which I placed 3 Rice Krispy treats in. I like the safe because it has three mini games built in that need to be won, in order to open the safe. In this game, I hid the safe (with it’s own booby trap) closer to the mercenary side. In this game, if the agents found the safe first they had to hold that position till the game clock ended (30 minutes) to win. The Mercs, if they found that safe, had to defend and crack the safe in the same amount of time. From what I am told, the agents were able to get to the safe first and defended the position until the end of the game.

When the safe and props were brought back to home base, it was cracked and the treats were grabbed at very quickly.

I have to commend the South Florida players (unfortunately it was so chaotic I couldn’t get everyone’s names). I noticed that many times they broke into small groups or squads and played well as a team. One player in particular, Thomas had a very commanding presence. Also, it was funny that with so many players on the field, there were times that I and several other players couldn’t find anyone!?!

This was the first time we had played a game on a Sunday, which allowed the South Florida Group to attend. It did cause some problems for some of our players including me, but I am going to see if we could have more Sunday games for the turnout.

Mission 14:

On Sat., Jan. 12, 2008 the Central Florida Lazer Tag Group had it's 14th mission since it's first game on 11/2005. The weather was a great, holding in the mid 70's with just a light sporadic cloud cover. Although we had 17 RSVP's, last minute events brought us down to 9 players. Two players returned from the last game, Tony and Yvi, and we had a new player come on board, Luis. Luis promised to bring some of his old army buddies next game - should be interesting.

The premise of this game was that an unknown group was siphoning off massive amounts of electricity from feeder cables of Progress Energy (one of our local electricity companies). Progress Energy, in an effort to stop the loss of possibly millions of dollars of revenue sent in a small security force to dismantle the energy theft operation.

After the teams were selected (off balance as one team had 5 and the other had only 4) we started our games. The first two games are always simple elimination games to warm up the players and to allow new players to get the hang of the game and the terrain. The first two games went to the energy pirates hands down, with that team only losing one player (shamefully - me) both times. Two commendations I would like to give is the first to Tony and Adam. Adam is my nephew and has played before, but this was Tony's second time out but they played together like a well oiled machine. For some reason, in both games, I ended up between them feeling like an Oreo cookie. In the second game, I ended up with absolutely no cover, on a sandy road with each one on either side of my. I just let them have a go of me, as I could not do much else. Also, I would like to commend Yvi considering this was also only her second time out. She developed a great strategy for the area. Florida trees tend to be very thin and don't block for much. Well, Yvi would get behind a tree and hug it, bringing both hands around the tree so that the tagger was in front of the tree and her sensor was completely hidden - BRAVO!

The third game was a search and destroy mission. I had set out four LED "flares" in the field that were energy conduits the energy pirates were using. The goal of the game was that the Progress Energy Security force had to disable them simply be taking them. The pirates needed to stop that from happening. Although no physical contact is ever allowed, an energy pirate, upon finding one of the "flares" could simply stand over it to protect it, unless tagged out. I set out the "flares" within eye sight of one another if you really looked, and as close to the center between the two groups starting points.

When Game On was called the Progress Energy Security group was able to disable (by grabbing) three of the four "flares" but "died" in the process. Therefore although none of the team "survived", their primary goal was achieved so they won game three.

Game four was a game of domination. With 25% of the energy theft operation still working the Progress Energy group would need to destroy the command module. The prop that I used for this was an old "Computer Perfection" game. This is a "Simon" type of game, housed in a futuristic globe. The premise of this game was that the Security Group would be given a 25 count head start to find the prop and begin the "auto destruct routine" (press all the buttons repeatedly until all the lights flashed "end game"). The prop again was placed more or less center field where there is a certain amount of cover. I am sure that the Security Group probably saw where I had hidden it, while they were walking from our start base to the group staring point. Kris, from our group (the energy pirates) also saw it at this time and called it out (even though I was on the pirates group and knew where it was, I never divulge information and tend to hold back a little as to not reveal anything).

In any case when game on was called, the pirate group held back for the count of 25 at which Kris took off like a flash with the rest of the pirates following. The Security Group had already found the prop and made a defensive circle around it while trying to do the button sequence. Kris had come out of the tree cover and was firing practically point blank when the rest of the pirates entered the fray. All the Security Group was taken out before they could complete their task. What no one knew was that I had set up a bobby trap in the tree near the prop. A "tagger in a box" that emitted a silent IR shot on a regular basis. The Security Group was taking hits even before the pirates got there. The funny thing was that the Security Group, not knowing where the hits were coming from, were firing blindly all around them.

In any case, the fourth game went to the energy pirates which meant that we would all see a price hike in out electricity bills in the near future.

Since, we were able to start early it was decided to play one last game of elimination of three on three. Luis, Adam and myself went back to the start tent to start from their. Tony, Yvi and Oscar went to their base and my daughter Jolynn, Kris (her boyfriend) and Thomas went to their base to start. My daughter, trying to be funny decided to play WITHOUT her tagger and would use the booby trap from the last game. Since the emitter on the bobby trap was un-lensed she would have to get close to her target, but the trap could be "terminated" as it has a sensor (it's actually an Electronic Survivor Shot in a box, put together by John H., aka Lazerbait from the Seattle group).

When game on was called, my group decided to hold back a bit and let the other two groups engage each other first. We walked far around trying to come up behind one of the groups. After a while, we had not heard anything and continued to walk deeper into the woods when I spotted my daughter walking towards us holding the bobby trap out. Since she would have to get close to us before we would be hit, we separated and started to back paddle a bit while shooting at her, to turn off the tagger. Unfortunately, the bobby trap doesn't have a speaker so we didn't know whether it was still working or not, unless my daughter said something. When I called out to her to check the indicator light she then realized she had forgotten to turn it on in the first place.

My group re-assembled and we started hunting the other groups again since we still hadn't heard anything. As we proceeded I noticed Yvi behind a tree, using her "tree hugging" technique. I called out her position and ended up taking a hit. I noticed Oscar to my right in a four o'clock position, Yvi was at my 12 and I am not sure were Tony was, but it looked like we had walked into a trap. We were able to move around enough that Oscar, Yvi and Tony were tagged out, but we lost Luis. That left only Adam and myself against Kris and Thomas, who are both fast players, utilizing hit and run tactics. At 49, overweight, out of shape and with arthritis, I am not one for very much running. Both Adam and myself retreated back a bit from the last firefight to spot both Thomas and Kris together, since their backs were towards us, we were able to land a few tags on them before they ran into the brush. I motioned Adam to go left while I would go right. When we caught up to the other group again, Thomas and Adam traded shots, with Adam being taken out, but I also took Thomas out, leaving Kris and myself as the last two players - oy vey!

There is an area in our play area that has a line of palmetto bushed going almost completely around a high grass field. Kris was on one side, hiding somewhere out of IR range in the trees as I was. Every now and again, I would spot him and I think I was able to score one hit. To see if I could make him make a move, I found a broken tree limb and threw it towards my left to land in the brush, hoping the noise and movement would make Kris make a move, but I didn't see anything. I started to back away from my position for a better vantage point when a group of ATV'ers roared by. I used the noise of their engines to see if I could go around and flank Kris, unfortunately he had the same idea and we ended up on opposite sides of the field again. This time, Kris tried a more direct approach and made a running break for the tree line. I didn't see it, but he made a running leap to get to cover and was tripped up by a vine. I heard a crash and a thump so I called out to see if he was okay - he was and we continued.

Actually I was ready to call it quits as I was tired and this was turning into a Mexican Standoff, however every now and then Kris would pop his head up and I was able to score a hit. I finally tagged him out with three tags left on my self. Finally time to pack up and go home.

Click here to view mission brochure

Mission 13:

Hostage Rescue

On Sat., Dec. 8, 2007 the Central Florida Lazer Tag Group had it's 13th game since 11/2005. The weather was great, in the low 80's and clear. Although most of the regulars couldn't attend, we had 7 veterans and 7 new players for a game total of 14.

The premise of the game was as follows: The Presidential Party has been ambushed with the help of renegade Secret Service personal. The Mercenary group or Black Ops that ambushed the Presidential tour are well equipped and funded by a powerful corporate group (the same group that ensured the President and VP's safety). The President has been killed and the VP has been taken hostage. The nuclear launch codes are in safe hands. The Black Ops mission is to get the VP to an extraction point. The Federal Agents or Commandos have been sent in to rescue the VP and get the VP to its own extraction point for retrieval.

After passing out the taggers (ESS) everyone was assigned a team by random card selection and the game was on. The first two games are always simple team elimination games as this allows the new players to get a hang of the taggers, the game mechanics and the terrain.

The first two games went quickly with both games going to the Mercenary group. Although by chance each time had about an equal amount of veteran players, the Mercenary group had many more younger-faster players who would employ shoot and run tactics.

The third game was where the real scenario began.

The Commandos had to find and liberate the VP from the Mercenaries. The Mercenary group was given a head start to go into the woods and find a spot to defend the VP. The VP was given a neon green vest to wear to identify the player (purchased from Home Depot). The rules were that even though the VP was supposed to be a good guy, had been brain washed and would be fighting the rescuers. The VP, once positioned could not move from that position other than a few feet one way or another. Also as least one other Mercenary had to protect the VP hostage. For the Commandos to liberate the VP, all we had to do was touch her (the VP was played by my daughter, Jolynn).

The Mercenaries were given a head start to find a place and when ready, would call game on. I had this game timed at 45 minutes.

When game on was called, the Commandos fanned out in a search pattern to find the Mercenary location. A few minutes into the game, we started to get hits from the Mercenaries. They had sent out some of their faster players to engage and lead away from the real hiding location. After a good fire fight, the Commandos set out to locate the real hiding location again.

After beating through the woods for a few minutes more, we again started to get hits and I spotted three Mercenaries as well as the VP. Unfortunately in the ensuing firefight I lost track of the VP and was tagged out myself. Oscar, an old player was hiding in a Palmetto bush and was hitting the Commandos. After a two way firefight, Oscar was tagged out and our people were ready to move on when one of our younger (and first time) players, Tyler, spotted the VP sitting in the bush and touched her, thus ending the game at 22 minutes.

When we got back to the base camp, everyone agreed that this was a well played game. Although I did not see it, Conner (another younger, first time player and Tyler’s brother) was trying to get away from an attacker. He stumbled on some vines or roots and fell but as he fell onto his back, he kept on firing and was able to scramble away.

The fourth game was to be the last formal game. Now that the Commandos had the VP in their possession they needed to get the VP to an extraction point for a helicopter pickup. However the VP, while in the captor’s possession was injected with nano-bots that could trigger a small nuclear explosion. Before the Commandos could take off, the nano-bots needed to be neutralized.

For the helicopter I use a small flying disc launcher that when you trigger it, makes a launch sound effect before releasing the flying disc. To neutralize the nano-bots, I purchased a new portable “Operation” game that comes in a medic case. The helicopter was positioned near the Commandos base and were to be given a head start of a count to 20 once the game was called (the reason for this was that the “Operation” game had to be set up before it could be used). A scout was chosen for the game, and a medic that would perform the procedure to neutralize the nano-bots. When game on was called we moved towards the helicopter and were almost there when the Mercenaries came charging towards us, yelling lines from the movie “300”. It then turned into a fire fight out in the open to try to protect the VP and the medic. If either of those two were tagged out the game would be over as our mission would have failed. At one point as I was trading tags with the Mercenaries, I saw Oscar (a Mercenary) take a shot from a kneeling position, but I noticed something odd. He had taken a Sierra Mist into combat with him, and was drinking from the can while fighting (such arrogance).

Well, the VP and the Medic were tagged out which ended the game in favor of the Mercenaries. The Medic didn’t even have time to set up the game (I have to rethink this for the future).

Again at the end of this game, everyone was saying how much fun it was, but Conner and Tyler wanted to continue playing. Since no one else was willing to play (us old-timers were pooped), I set up a simple game for them. They were to start out back to back and start walking away up to the count of ten, whereupon they would then begin to battle each other. Being young (10 and 13 I believe), they had a lot of energy and were running back and forth in the woods, trading tags but even at their young age, running through the woods, and the sugar sand we have here in Florida, they both soon tired. The game went to Tyler and we headed back to break camp, and head home.

Until the next game, on Jan. 13, 2008.

Click to view Mission Brochure foressblaster.gif game of Dec. 8, 2007

Mission 12:

The game of Nov. 17 was held in fantastic weather. The temperature hovered in the low to mid 70's and the sun was warm, with a cooling breeze every now and then. Many of our regular players could not attend because of other commitments, but we had 5 old and 5 new players for a total of ten players (2 teams of 5 players each).

This game was a little different as it was being run by my nephew Adam Rivera, who was using outdoor lazertag as a school project. So it was his job to do the mission brochure, a flyer, the game play and to be the game master (well, I actually still did a lot of it). In any case, the mission was set in the year 3010 in a tolitarian society. A prison transport en route to a maximum security facility crash landed for reason unknown. The surviving inmates were able to overpower the surviving guards, secure weapons and escape into the woods. The government had on board as well, a security safe, containing a detonator control for a weapon of mass destruction. In order to keep things quiet and to retrieve the device, while also rounding up the escapees as quickly as possible, bounty hunters were brought in, rather that use standard military.

A total of four games were played.

The first two games are always basic elimination games, to warm up the players and get them used to the area and the equipment. Both of these games went to the criminals.

The third game was a search and recover mission. Both teams were told that the safe was somewhere in the field. It had to be found, opened and the retrieved device had to be taken back to the base for end game. The safe I used was a lazer safe I purchased from the Discovery store. Once the safe had been found, I random four digit code had to be entered to open the safe and retrieve it's contents. To add some spice to the game, I also set up three STARBASE units as mines within thirty feet of the safe so that as a player approached the safe they would be taking hits.

This game went quickly to the bounty hunters. In fact I do not believe any one was even completely tagged out.

The final game was that the team that had the prize had to return to their helicopter and take off. The prop for the helicopter was an item I picked up from Wal-Mart that when you press a button on a green base, you hear a digitized voice saying pre-launch commands and a spinning propeller then takes off. The premise of this game was that the bounty hunters had to get to the helicopter and activate it, which would signal end game. The criminals were given a minute head start to see if they could find the helicopter and defend it. In the process of defending the copter they may have a chance to retrieve the prize and take off them selves.

This was also a fast game as the bounty hunters found the copter and activated it before the criminals got to it.

Since it was still early, some of the players decided to play an every man for himself game (well almost every man for himself). Eight players were divided in two groups (3 and 5) and were placed back to back, facing opposite directions. At a signal, they all scattered while I counted to 10, whereupon they could then engage the enemy. The three players that stayed together were eliminated after a couple of good IR exchanges, then the remaining 5 decided to go after each other. I lost track of who the final winner was on this one.

All in all, a good day for tagging and looking forward to the next game of 12/8. I met a family that was actually camping in the area that we were playing. I offered if they wanted to play, and I believe that if it wasn't that they had two very young children with them, they would have joined in. They have my web address so I am hoping to see them again in the near future.

Mission 11:

Sorry for the late review on the game but I was waiting for a list of names of new players and a photo (since my video malfunctioned) that never came.

In any case, although many of the regulars could not attend, we had some new players and had a total of 14 players ( 2 7 player teams - woo hoo!). That Saturday was very hot, in the nineties but we got the games going at about 1:30PM.

The theme was based on HALO, the UNSC vs. a non-mutated group of FLOOD warriors. The first two games are basic skirmish or elimination games, to allow players to get the field of the game, the equipment, the play area and each other.

The first two games went to the FLOOD group. In the second game, almost all the UNSC were tagged out except for one. The FLOOD team thought they had finished when they realized there was still a player out there.

Jorge Cardona, a new LT player had been laying flat on the ground behind some bushes, in a perfect sniping position. I believe he was able to score some hits before the opposing team spotted him and literally gave chase. It was so intense that Jorge tore his shirt on a branch, got scratched up and tore the tether cord from the ESS unit.

The third, and what became the final game was a variation of CAPTURE THE FLAG. I had set up a "flag" somewhere mid-field with two bobby traps. The premise of the game was that the group that found it would need to carry it to the opposing team base to win (as opposed to bringing it back to your own). The FLOOD team found it quickly and the UNSC, instead of falling back, decided to duke it out with whomever they could find. Eventually the FLOOD won this one also.

By the end of the third game, a good chunk of our players decided to call it quits, and we just followed along. Oh well... we'll FINISH THE FIGHT later!

Mission 10: The day for the mission on May 19, 2007 was great, Although sunny and in the upper 80's, there was a cooling breeze throughout the day and plenty of shade in most play areas (we play in the woods). From the original 15 that had said they would attend, I got a call from a new player saying that last minute company would not allow her, or her friends to attend. This brought us down to 12 players.

As usual, I had each player pick a random mission card that would identify what team they were on, and who would be the team captain. Once teams were chosen and separated, each team went to it's start point to await the game on signal.

The premise of this mission was that a local militia had formed which was opposed to the current income tax system and was hoarding weapons, and producing moonshine and fireworks. A tactical team of federal agents from the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Dept. of the Treasury was called in to stop the militia using extreme prejudice.

The first two games are always warm up games and to acquaint new players (two this game) with the style of play and the terrain. These games are simple two team elimination. The first game, of Federals vs. Militia went fast and to the Federals. The second game took longer and was definitely better.

The Federals had decided to repeat the same game tactic that had won them the first round. The party of six was divided into two squads. Each squad would go in a different direction to form a pincher attack on the opposition. The two fastest players were placed at the lead of each squad with the slowest or newest player taking up the rear. Again the idea was to circle the opposition and catch them in a cross fire.

I was player two on the left pincher squad and we moved in and found no opposition for a while. We kept closing into the center of the field only to find that the opposing force has gone in a group towards our right pincher squad. At one point I was involved in a firestorm with 4 opponents. Two were pinned down behind brush and didn't move from their positions, and the other two tried to flank me, and somehow lost my position although I could still see them and was tagging them off and on.

Almost at the end of this round, I could hear firing coming from some bushes. I and two team mates flanked the foliage to uncover my wife in hiding trying to snipe us, but getting eliminated her self. The federals won this round as well.

The next game, we fell more into the mission scenario. The premise of this round was that the weapons/booze and fireworks cache was left unguarded. The first team that could get to it and hold it until the end of a twenty minute time would be the winner, no matter how many players were still on the opposition. I set up the target base somewhere in the middle of the play field and also set up a bobby trap. Since I was on the federal side and knew where it was, I let my team mates go in first and I held up the rear.

We encountered two of the militia within 50 feet of the base, but I do not believe that they saw it. The goal was that the first player to find the base had to yell out "BASE" as a rally cry to bring all teams together in one glorious firefight. In any case, here I am looking right at the base and seeing my own team mates run right past it to engage the opposition. After trading off a few rounds I got the attention of two of my team mates and reminded them of our goal and they took position on the base and I yelled "base".

This brought more players to the location and we got our firefight. Two of the opposition didn't notice that I had gone wide and come up behind them. I was able to tag them both a few times, before they notice me and broke their concentration. AT that point, two of my team mates charged in and finished off what we believed to be the last of the opposition. Since. there was only one minute to the end I called the game only to find out that there was still one more militia player, my wife. At that point it really didn't matter.

We were going to play one more game, but four of the players had to leave for a prior commitment and due to a mix-up in communications, a player that was supposed to come back didn't. Since we had been just sitting around waiting, we decided to call it a day of tagging until the next game.

Tag you there.

Mission 9: On Saturday, the 24th of March, the Central Florida Lazer Tag group met to do infra red battle in the woods of Davenport. Many of our regulars were unable to attend for a variety of reasons but we also got some new talent that attended their first game and hopefully not their last.

Since I was unsure until the last moment who would attend, I did not put together a mission structured around a story or scenario. Instead we played some simple games for fun.

We started the afternoon off by having the individual players choosing random mission cards to see what team they would be on. We just had two team, green and black and had a total of 12 players.

The first game (and second, were simple games of team elimination for the new comers to get used to the taggers, the terrain and each other. The first game went to the green team, but the black team made us work hard for that win. Most of the black team was taken out fairly quickly but for one member, Gabe Cruz, who is a young and seasoned player. Towards the end, it was Tuck (his second game) and myself hunting down Gabe. Every time we would score a tag, Gabe would run deeper into the woods, and Tuck and myself would go after him.

At one point we had lost sight of him and I went long and left to see if I could come around Gabe's rear, and it was at this point that I realized that we must have been a mile away from base camp.

We were finally able to hook up with the Gabe target again. Tuck and Gabe got in a shoot out and Tuck was taken out, but I was able to land the last two tags on Gabe to take him out of the game. This game lasted for us about 45 minutes which is the longest we have played one set. I was ready to call the game, when we had spotted Gabe the Last time.

This was the first and last win for Green Team. The next game, again elimination went fast and the Black team played as a cohesive team. At one point I was playing alone and was able to land a few tags on the Black team as they were clustered together. But Oscar spotted me and set his Dogs Of War on me. Gabe being the fastest tried to flank me and I was able to land a few tags until I was caught in a four way, infra red bloodbath. I was taken out, and the rest of my team also were taken out soon after.

The third game, I put out some Star Bases as sentry guns and we were going to play Capture The Flag. Since I knew that they would send Gabe (the fastest) after it, I advised our team captain to set up three levels of protection around our base flag. Unfortunately lack of communication and experience led to Gabe running off (even though he got momentarily lost) with it. He had to get the flag back to his base to win so I took up chase running right thru the brush and grass in the open to see if I could flank him, since he had taken the long way around.

I was able to land at least one more tag on him, but it was too late as he was almost back to their base. Black team won again and decided to keep shooting (they were in a blood frenzy) before heading back to camp.

I had another game planned out but most of the newcomers were tired and we decided to call it a day. Until the next game of April 21st, 2007.

Tag you there!

Mission 8: On Saturday the 20th of Jan., 2007 the Central Florida Lazer Tag Group met again (every third Saturday of the month), to do battle. Present was John Falto, his wife Evelyn, daughter Jolynn and her boyfriend Gabe. Also on hand were Thomas R and his son Adam. Oscar and his wife Maritza. Brian B and his son Adam both of whom which drive up from the Tampa area each game (thanks guys) and Angel a local. We had a total of 11 players, using the ESS system.

The premise of the game was that an air transport carrying stolen equipment had exploded mid-flight for reasons unknown. Part of its cargo was three nuclear power packs that could be a source of great energy or turned into a weapon of mass destruction (the nuclear power packs were in reality Ray-o-Vac battery powered camp lanterns). A group of federal agents was sent in to recover whatever they could find, but also found that they were up against a group of pirates looking for the same booty.

To keep the teams mixed up, prior to the games I make mission cards and then let players choose an envelop at random that contains their team designation as well as special instructions. Since we had an odd number of players, I had taken this into account and introduced a wild card. Whoever got the wild card had special powers:

1) The wild card player would be using ESS and had the same number of tags as everyone else, but he would also play with an additional tagger. A WOW Starlyte that was modified to fire machine gun bursts, non-stop and unlimited. The ESS on D mode, can fire a 16 shot burst, but then you need to release and pull the trigger again. Also in D mode, an ESS only has 300 rounds. I have found that the ESS rate of fire is much slower than the modified Starlyte. Also this tagger had the speaker disabled. In other words the perfect stealth weapon.

2) The wild card player could choose to play alone, as a sniper but with the same mission objectives.

3) The wild card player could choose to play on a team, then be a traitor and go to another team mid-game, or go solo.

Every one got their mission cards and the teams were split up. Adam R got the wild card and decided to play the first game solo. Since everyone present had played in the past we only played one game of elimination as a warm up. The federals took to one side of the field while the pirates went to another and Adam went off on his own, to whatever spot he choose. This was a fast game with the pirates defeating both the feds and Adam R.

The second game, I introduced one of the nuclear power units into the game (okay - lantern). I placed the unit somewhere in the middle of the field while the group rested and chatted. When I got back, I explained this mission.

In the second game, the teams would go to opposite sides of the field (we alternate sides). When game on was called each team needed to look for the unit while doing battle with the other team. When a team member found the unit, that team member must carry it until the end of the game, or could pass it off to another team member. In the event that the person carrying the unit was tagged out, that player must stand still in the spot tagged out, holding up the unit in plain sight. Whoever could get to the player could then continue to carry the unit until the end of the game. In this game, Oscar (a pirate) found the unit rather quickly and the pirates were able to hold onto it and eliminate the other team as well.

In the third game, I introduced two more units into the game. I informed the group that in the end, the group that had the most units would be the winner. I lied, - sort of. The game started with the pirates already in possession of one unit, and a pirate soon found a second unit. At this point I was handed one of the units. At this point I made a strategic mistake. Since I was carrying a unit, I should have hunkered down. Instead I went hunting. At one point I saw Gabe (a fed) in a fire fight with Angel (a pirate) and I joined the fray just as Angel was tagged out. Gabe was in a position that I couldn't land a tag, but I was vulnerable and was taking tags. As I turned to evade Gabe he got me with a final tag. Since I was holding the unit I stayed in place and did not head back to the dead zone. Gabe apparently did not notice that I had a unit and kept on going, so here I am standing out in the open, holding the unit up in the air. After several minutes my arm got tired and I just put the unit balanced on my head and stood there until the end of the game. At some point, Adam R. (who was a freelance) was given a unit to hold (mistake). During a firefight the last unit was dropped and while some pirates just stood around, Adam R. swooped down and took the third unit (meanwhile here I am on the side with a unit on my head, in plain sight). When Adam had the two units he decided to jump off our team and freelance, but the feds had been all tagged out.

At this point it became Adam R against the surviving pirates. Rather that prolong the game, I put a time limit on it and at the end of the time I called game over. Since the game ended with Adam R (as a freelance) in possession of two units and the pirates still in possession of one, since no one took it off of my "dead" cadaver. I threw a loop into the game.

The fourth game was to be a game of domination that the team in possession of the units had to pick an area on the field and defend it. The opposing team's objective was to try to get control of the units, and/or eliminate the opposition. Since Adam R. was alone, he would be a one man defending army, so I gave him an option. I asked the two captains to talk to him privately and see which team he wanted to go on. He chose to go onto the pirates side meaning that we had possession of the three units and the feds needed to take as many away from us as possible.

The pirates placed the three units close to one another on the field and set to defend it. I spotted Gabe trying to flank us and was able to tag him twice before he came up on Oscar who I believe finished him off. After an exchange of IR I heard that there were still two feds out in the field. Oscar had only two tags left and I was still on full tags so I volunteered to go out. I wan able to come up on Adam B from the side and tagged him, when I was tagged myself by my daughter Jolynn that was hiding in a bush. I didn't have too much cover and had Adam B on one side and Jolynn to another so I did something rather foolish. I stepped out into the open and engaged in a firefight with the two of them. I know I was able to tag both of them as I heard their sensors scoring hits, but I soon "died". This left Oscar alone, with the three units. Since Oscar was in heavy brush and trees he was able to score a few hits on both Adam B and Jolynn. After taking several hits, they both decided to go after and flank Oscar. This tagged Oscar out completely but he had set down the units and Jolynn and Adam B neglected to go after them. So although the feds defeated the pirates, they failed their primary mission.

From what I heard after the game, Adam R who had chosen to be on the pirate team, decided to jump ship onto the feds, but was eventually tagged out by both teams.

The fifth and last game was to be another game of domination with a twist. I set up two plant stands on the field. Far apart but within eyesight of one another. The pirates were still in possession of the units, so as the story goes, the pirates sold they units to a terrorist group. The terrorist group was going to try to destroy a federal underground installation. To do so, the terrorists would need to place two units into one of the stands which I called vents. The feds job was to defend the vents, while the terrorist had to place two units in one of them. Since the feds were only five, I had Adam R become a fed so that there would be 6 defending against 5 attackers. I had put a trap on one of the vents that no one knew about.

I recently purchased an ESS in a box from John aka Lazerbait (this is a stripped down ESS tagger placed in a project box, set to auto fire, with a sensor from a starcap - the ESS in a box fires silently so it is a stealth device). I had placed the ESS in a box on a tree facing the stand so anyone approaching it would be tagged.

I did make a mistake however in placing one of the vents. Although it was deep in the field, it was easily seen from the terrorists starting position. Oscar, the team captain split our group to make a beeline for the right side of the field as a diversion while he and Brian made their way towards the vent they could see, although they wanted to mix it up a bit with the opposition.

I went to the right flank and broke cover to find Gabe to my right. As we exchanged fire, Thomas started firing on my rear so I was tagged out quickly. My wife, Evelyn was the next victim. It was Thomas, Jolynn, Adam B and Adam R against her. When she tried to make a run for it, she lost her footing in the sugar sand and fell, whereupon Adam B pounced on her, finishing off the rest of her tags while she struggle to get her footing. I believe that all the terrorists were tagged out but they had accomplished their mission objective. The terrorists had placed two nuclear units in a vent, meaning the underground base was destroyed. They just didn't announce it.

Although there was some grumbling from the feds that the last game was unfair, everyone agreed that it was a great day of tagging. Until next month.

Link to video footage of mission 01202207

Mission 7: Saturday, Nov. 25, 2006 the Central Florida Lazer Tag Group had it's monthly tag game (we use ESS). Because of the holiday season several of our regular players were unable to attend, however we had a guest - John Pope from the Macon Georgia Tag group was in town and able to attend. Also Chris Morgan and his friend Josh came up from Port St. Lucie, Florida. As regulars in attendance there was Oscar Muriel and his wife Mary, myself and wife Evelyn with my eldest daughter Jolynn and her boyfriend Gabe, as well as Brian and his son Adam. So we had a total of eleven players and the day was great for tagging.

The premise of the game was that a prison transport aircraft crash-landed for reasons unknown in a wooded, remote region. On board was a powerful warlord from an ex-Soviet block country that had strong connections in Europe and had very deep pockets. Intel showed that none of the security personnel had survived and that the surviving inmates were loose and armed. A Federal Security Marshal team was sent in to secure the crash site with extreme prejudice.

I am not big on role playing but I like to add a little flavor to the game play as to me, it makes a more interesting game. Before we started, I had each player take a random envelope, which had their mission profile (see the image). Some cards were for inmates and some were for security officers. To me this random picking of teams makes for a more even balanced game as not all the same people will be playing together. I also let chance pick the team captains as well. On one of the convict cards I had written in "You are Rasputin" (the evil warlord) who turned out to be John Pope, and for the security people there was a card that read "You are the senior security officer", which turned out to be Gabe. To throw a wild card into the mix, I also set up Brian to be a traitor for the last game, however I left it up to him how he wanted to play his card, if at all. Also I let John Pope (Rasputin) know what the situation was, in the event that Brian wanted to switch sides at the end.

Since we had eleven people, unfortunately the sides were not even, 6 inmates (I was one) and 5 security officers (in the future I will jump from team to team to even it out a bit).

The first and second games are warm up games to loosen up and learn the terrain for new comers. They are basically elimination games, where the last team standing is the winner. What I do is that the teams alternate starting position to keep it balanced. The first and second games were both good long games but the security people lost both times.

The third game, I pulled out some props. The premise of this game was that the convicts knew that the security personnel came in a chopper and were low on manpower so if they found the chopper, they would be able to escape. I used a new LASER ALARM SAFE purchased from the Discovery Store (this "safe" has a light sensitive front panel and a numeric keypad to enter a code to open the door). The idea was that the LAZER ALARM SAFE was the choppers auto pilot, and that if it could be overwritten, the convicts could use the aircraft to escape. However the auto pilot had an automatic sentry system (an ESS shoot back interactive target). The security guards were supposed to hide this somewhere in our neck of the woods and give the inmates a head start to it. When the game was called on, we all made a beeline towards the sound of the sentry system. John Pope was the first on the scene and was able to open the safe.

In opening the safe, he extracted a whistle which he was to blow to signal that the objective had been reached and that the game was over. Since he had found it so quickly he decided to not blow the whistle and engage a bit of a firefight none the less. After a while though, he did blow the whistle to mark the game over and at that point, the inmates were still ahead in survivors.

On the last game, Chris Morgan decided to sit it out which would have left the security guards at 4 against 6. At this point I moved over to the guards side to even the ranks. Although Chris decided to "sit it out" he was gracious enough to volunteer and take some video for us (thanks Chris!).

The premise of this game was a simple domination game. The chopper, which was now in the hands of the inmates would take several minutes to warm up before they could leave. They would need to stay together and hold their ground for 20 minutes while the guards made a last ditch effort to get them. The guards had twenty minutes to get every last one of the inmates, or the inmates would be able to "fly" away and win. Since we (the guards) knew where the chopper was the game plan was to surround it and have a firefight. I put our two youngest players to be the opposite ends of an enclosing circle while I and Brian came up the center within a 100 feet of each other (it wasn't until we started moving that I remembered that Brian could turn traitor on us at any moment so I kept the corner of my eye on him as much as possible).

By this time, I was tired and in pain so I was moving slowly so I was taken out fairly quickly. At the dead zone I learned from John Pope that the inmates had planted two players that would do nothing to call attention to themselves or be found. The idea being that once the clock ran out, since they were still alive, the inmates would win. Josh and Oscar were the players chosen to do this and from what I heard in the after game talks, one of the security people practically ran over Josh, and never realized he was there. Oscar at another point was found out and was surrounded by four security guards before he decided to make a break from his hiding place. Using blind fire as he ran, he was able to peg a few shots, one of which took my daughter Jolynn out. With just a few seconds before I called GAME OVER, Josh was found and taken out (the last of the inmates) so even though the security people had lost each battle, they were in the end able to take out the last surviving inmates and stop their escape - so basically the won their final objective. Congradulations to the security team made up of Jolynn, Evelyn, Brian (he decided not to betray his team at the end), Gabe, and Chris (I can't count myself as I only played with the guards in the last game). I believe that fun was had by all.

We are taking a vacation in December as I know that most people will be busy with holiday preparations and family visits. I and my family will be going to Puerto Rico to spend the holidays on 12/18. Both Brian and Chris are expecting for the month of December ( congrats gentlemen!!!) so our next game will be in January 2007.

More updates as they happen and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

John Falto

Central Florida Lazer Tag Group

See a video clip of the game: CLICK HERE

Mission 6: The September game had to be scrubbed because too many people were unable to take the time off and our Oct game almost went the same route as several people who had said they would come, could not make it at the last moment. However we still had a good group to have fun with. The following is the review that appeared in the lazer tactical action game message board.

The Central Florida Lazer Tag Group had it's game on the afternoon of Saturday, Oct. 21, 2006 at it's normal tagging area (a wooded area in Davenport, FL).

Present was John Falto, his wife Evelyn, their daughter Jolynn and her boyfriend Gabe. Also along was Oscar and his wife Mari (a first time outdoor LT player) and their friend Manny (also a newbie). Brian and his son Adam, drove up from the Tampa area and Edwin and his son Edwin Jr. drove down from Oviedo (also two new players). So we had a total of 11 players for a couple of games on a hot (it was 91 degrees) afternoon with a blistering sun.

Since we had a small group and several new players the first two games were simple elimination games, with each team approaching from alternating sides. I had prepared mission profile cards earlier as a way to randomly select teams. There was a group of military specialist sent in to retrieve the package (an animated head in a globe) and a group of corporate mercenaries with the same mission. To throw a wrench into the mix, I had set up one of the players to go berserk in the last game.

Brian picked the berserker card and his mission in the last game was to start normally but then break away from his team mates, ditch his ESS gear and take an IRT2X drone set as a Starlyte Pro with 66 hits (six for each player). He was to walk among all the players and indiscriminately fire away at everyone. This aspect of the game, I did not relate to anyone except to Brian. The teams were 6 against 5 but the larger team had three newbies on it, so in my mind, it was compatible.

The first two games again were seek and destroy games and the mercenaries won the two games. The third game was a Capture The Flag variation. The purpose of the mission was to find the disembodied head of maniacal cult leader. The prop that we used was a head in a crystal ball that I had purchased from Target's for Halloween. It is battery powered and voice activated, which I did not inform any of the players of this capability.

I hid the head on a stand somewhere in the woods, at a midway point between both starting points. The premise of that game was that the first group that found the head would need to carry it as a two man team back to the dead zone to win. If one of the players that was carrying the orb would be tagged out, then the remaining player could carry it the rest of the way by themselves. If they were tagged out then whomever would get their hands on it and got the orb back to the dead zone would be the winner.

When Game On was called, both teams set out to capture the prize. The mercenaries however had a plan. We left two players behind close to the dead zone to either intercept the military specialists if they found the orb first, or act as last line back up, in case our group found it. After about ten minutes of hearing laughter and fire fights in the woods, I heard rustling coming towards me and I spotted about four of the military specialists carrying the orb. I called my backup and engaged the group and tagged out one of the players carrying the orb. The remaining player then took it and tried to make a run for it but was soon tagged out. While this was happening the military specialists were engaged in a close quarters fire fight. Edwin Sr., a first time player actually got into a dance of death tag shoot out with another player. When the orb was dropped by the military specialists, it was picked up again by Brian (on that team) but he didn't get more than 20 feet before he was tagged out with no one remaining on his team. Mercenaries won again.

BTW, I had not informed the players that the head was animated and voice activated. As they got to it and made noise it started to move and talk (loudly) even as they were carrying it. My daughter decided to turn him off to quiet him down (that girl takes the fun out of some things).

After a rest period, we entered the last game of the day. The mercenaries were to take the orb into the woods to an evac point and await pickup. The military specialists needed to find the mercenaries and try to recover the orb. During the game set up, as we went to our start points, the mercenaries found a place to set up (the orb had to be always placed in a visible position otherwise we would never end the game), and set up a defensive perimeter. After a few minutes I spotted Oscar and Adam in the distance. I tried two shots, but was too far away to connect and they didn't hear me and kept on their merry way. Since we were to protect the orb, I did not want to get too far from it, nor reveal our position. At this time, since I was crouching behind a tree I felt something fall on my back. Since the wooded area is known for spiders (big ones), snakes and other critters, I wasn't too keen on having a freeloader but at the same time, could not reveal my position so I tried to shake whatever it was off gently but never saw anything hit the ground. It was a little while later that Gab came into view and I asked him to check my back. At first he didn't understand but confirmed that I was clean, whew!!!

Now in this game, Brian was supposed to go berserk. It was after the back check that I noticed him casually walking with the IRT2X held straight out in front of him. He was shooting at anything that moved and since I had not informed the group of this, they could not understand why he did not go down. We had at least five players around him shooting at him and he took three of us out before he was completely tagged out.

I was "dead" but I did a radio check to see if the game was over, but Oscar and Adam were still in the game. I walked back to the dead zone to await the results and about ten minutes later I heard that it was all over. Apparently Oscar had found the orb undefended and was trying to take it. Gab started to tag him from behind. Since Oscar was exhausted at this point, he didn't even turn around to face his opponent but simply put the tagger over his shoulder and was firing blind. He was soon tagged out as was Adam. The mercs won again.

It was a hot and sunny day, but with just four games, we left exhausted but happy. Itching for next month's game.

Although I had my digital recorder with me, I did not get any images or video since my adapter had come loose earlier on. Will do better next time.

---

Mission 5: The Central Florida Lazer Tag Group had it's fifth outing today (5/13/06), and will be hanging up it's taggers until September, most
likely, when the weather gets better. For the game, the day was clear, sunny and with an occasional cooling breeze. It was up in the high eighties, but because of the breeze and the shade from the trees, it wasn't noticeable. Although my wife started to complain that it was getting hot towards the end of the day (my wife, lord bless her, complains that the house is too cold when the thermostat is at 77 degrees F, so for her to complain it was hot, it must have been hot). The premise of today's game was based loosely on AREA51. Something had happened in one of the research labs of A51 and a government containment unit has been air dropped in to cleanse the area.

Phil, Brian and his son Adam drove up from the Tampa area (they were alien infected humans). We also had some first timers Alex, William
Sr. and his son's Joseph and William Jr. (Joseph and William Jr. went to the alien side while Alex and William Sr. joined the cleansing
crew).

My wife Evelyn, my daughter Jolynn and her boyfriend Gabriel were also on the cleansing crew. We had a total of 11 players as several of our regulars were unable to make it because of other commitments. Just before starting the games, my daughter decided not to play making it two teams of five members each.

The cleansing crew were using standard Electronic Survivor Shot taggers while the aliens were using LTTO Tag Master Blasters in WOW Starlyte Pro mode with 6 tags. The LTTO TMB's have an advantage of greater distance over the ESS, but having the sensor on the barrel
means that it must be visible while they are firing.

We ended up playing five games in total:

Game 1: Elimination – both teams start at opposite sides of the wooded area and then search for one another. This is the way we start all our game days as a form of warm up and basic training for the newbies. In this game the Humans won.

Game 2: Defeat the Device – The Human crew had to find and defeat an alien device placed somewhere in the woods, while the Aliens either
defended it, or trapped the Humans. The device was actually a SIMON TWISTED, which looks a bit like a Frisbee. One of the Aliens hid it and the game was called on. From what I could tell it looked like the Aliens left it alone to hunt for us. Gabriel found the device with little or no opposition and the Humans defeated the Aliens and their wicked Device.

Game 3: Escort – The Aliens had to escort their supreme leader back to base. The leader was actually a 3 foot plush, stuffed alien doll my younger daughter purchased last year and was ready to throw out. I purchased a Power Ranger SPD costume (children's size) and put it on
him (gave him muscles and bulked him up). The idea was for the Alien group to go to their starting point whereas the Humans would go to an
intermediate point. Although there was a sandy road going directly from the Alien start point back to our camp (the end point) I did not think that they would have used it since it was soft, uneven sand which was difficult to run through and there was no cover. However that is exactly what they did. They got their strongest runner to make a run for it while the other Aliens held back to give support fire.

When I noticed what they were doing I called my people to intercept but William Jr. was fast. When he got to the camp his LTTO tagger was
tagged out, but we do not know at what point it happened so the Aliens won this round.

Game 4: Destroy the Base- emboldened by their last victory; the Aliens would try to destroy our aircraft waiting at our drop zone. The Humans would need to defend it and wipe out the Aliens. In this case, our aircraft has intermittent shields and can fire back to some extent. Our aircraft was in actuality an old ESS interactive shoot back target. It was set up so it could be tagged when both lights would turn on. If a person fired at it at any other time, or if they missed when both lights were on, the unit would then fire back. The ESS target has limited firing range and can only be hit from a more narrow area, which meant that the Aliens would need to be almost directly in front of it.

I had called that our people set a perimeter around the unit, but not to close as we could get tagged by it's blasts as well (almost forgot – since the second game, I had set out four WOW Starbase units as auto sentry guns to limit movement). After waiting a while and not seeing any movement Gabriel and I moved out to find the Aliens. After a while I thought that we had committed a mistake and that we had been lured away from our post in order to flank us and go after the target. I was thankfully wrong. We encountered opposition and between all the Humans, were able to destroy the Aliens.

Game 5: Last Stand – The last pocket of Aliens would need to stay together and defend themselves from the Humans that were searching for them. When the game was called on, the Humans spread out to seek out the last Alien pocket. The idea was to stay in sight of one another and to call out on contact for reinforcements. The area that we play in is pretty big and we soon lost sight of each other. I spotted two Aliens in the brush and set myself to do some damage. I flagged Gabriel and told him to flank on the right while I gave him cover fire. I was tagging and getting tagged from an unknown source and was soon tagged out. I found out the Joseph had gone up a tree and was sniping at us (good move, I have to make a rule against that). In the end however, the Aliens were finally cleansed from good old planet Earth.

My daughter was able to get some footage on one of my video cam's after my gun cam failed for the third and last time. When I get a chance I will go through them and put together a good clip.

Mission 05132006 brochure

Mission 4: Saturday, April 1, 2006 the Central Florida Lazer Tag Group had it's fourth game, which was rescheduled from March 25. The weather has started to get hotter here in Central Florida. We had a total of twelve players turn out, three of which were new players. Brian and his son drove up from the Tampa area with Phil (a second time player). Bill (another second timer) came up with a newbie Ron. Steve
(another first timer) also joined us with his young son, Keith. Although this was the first time Steve has played with us, he has some skills because on the last game, he came out with his mint green gun disguised with grass and weeds. The premise of the game was that the President's plane had been forced down in neutral territory. The President with his Secret Service entourage had survived and the President had in his possession "the football" (a briefcase carrying nuclear launch codes). A group of mercenaries were after the codes to launch a
nuclear strike.

I put teams together on a random basis. I had each player choose an unmarked envelop that had their identity on it. I had a card for the
President, 4 Secret Service, and 1 Secret Service member that would be a traitor. Also had 5 Mercenaries and 1 deep cover CIA operative
on the mercenary side.

When teams were divided up, we played a simple elimination game as warm up and as training for the new players (I still favor and use Electronic Survivor Shot, although I also have 16 LTTO's), The first game lasted about 30 minutes and the mercenaries won that round by
completely wiping out the Secret Service group (in this game the President was actually an agent).

The second game was Escort the VIP. The Secret Services job was to protect their President, and if not that, then protect the launch codes. The mercenaries of course were after the codes. The Secret Service team decided to send out 4 of their team as decoys while Ron
(the President) and his friend Bill hunkered down. This game lasted almost an hour and I had to call it because we couldn't find the President or his escort, after we had wiped out the other team members. The funny thing is that either Ron, or bill were taunting me on the radio, so I knew that they could see me, but were well hidden. It turned out they had found a hole on the other side of the road (were we don't play) and hid there. One of our members even walked by within a few yards of them and didn't see them. Bill and Ron (I believe) are veteran role players and participate in military reenactments so they were the perfect choice for this. Funny thing also is that there were two traitors (one on each side) but there was no treachery that I know of.

Next time I have to set area limits, a time or a better goal so that this doesn't happen again. However personally I had fun.

Since the President and the launch codes were saved, I changed the last game a bit (a basic domination game). The premise was that the
mercenaries had purchased a low yield nuclear missile on the Russian eBay and were planning to use it once they learned how to program
it's navigation system. In this game the mercenaries had to defend the launch site while the Secret Service (now they became military)
would have to over run the base and launch the missile to win the game. When game on was called, the mercenaries (I was one) set up a
defensive perimeter. After a while three of our group decided to go deeper into the field while Oscar, Angel and myself stayed at the base. We heard firing around us when we saw Phil trying to flank in on us. He had not seen the missile yet and was engaging Oscar in a dance of death around a large shrub. At one point he was about thirty feet from the missile, but he got tagged out between Oscar, myself and Angel.

At one point, I heard a single shot behind me but my sensor had not gone off. I turned around and spotted Bill and we started trading shots before he got tagged out. In this game the mercenaries won.

All in all, the day was great and the three games were well paced and fun. I do not know how long we will be playing as it is starting to get hot here in Central Florida, then we enter our hurricane season. May or June may be our last game as I have talked to several people and they all agree that the weather may get too hot to play unless it is very early, or late in the afternoon (then we have to deal with bugs). Maybe the next game will be an AREA 51 theme.

Unfortunately, the so called action/extreme video camera I purchased, failed for the second time and I have not footage.

Mission 03252006 brochure

Mission 3: The Central Florida Lazer Tag Group had it's third outing this past Saturday, 2/25/06. The theme was a terminator vs human resistance set of games. Had a late start because of traffic problems delaying the arrival of some players but at a time we had 18 players going toe to toe.

To start I split the group into 3 teams of 6 each. One terminator group of 6 with LTTO Drones and TMB's set at WOW mode with 15 hits. The first game was an elimination game where one human resistance team was going after the other human resistance team with the Terminators in the middle going after everyone else.

The second game was similar to the first but Capture the Flag.

The third game was the two human resistance teams together going after the terminators base.

Everyone had a great time and I will but together a more comprehensive review later. I had two video cameras going, but the first one froze and I haven't seen the footage on the second one yet.

Mission 02252006 brochure

Mission 2: On Jan. 7, 2006 the Central Florida LazerTag Group had it's second game. It was played in the same area as the first, a wooded area in Davenport, FL frequented by ATV riders, although none were present.

The day was great for tagging. Clear, sunny with no wind and the temperature hovering in the upper 50 to low 60's.

Brian and his son Adam traveled up from Tampa with their friend Phil. Bill, also a new member came in from Kissimmee. Tom and his son Adam also drove up from Kissimmee and Angel made his first appearance (actually Angel was the one that suggested the area). Oscar from game one, also was on hand, as was I. Unfortunately my wife and daughter were both ill so I had no one to take pics or video (going to mount the video camera on my gun). There were a few others that had shown interest but were unable to attend.

Once we had the group together we split up into two teams of 5 and 4 for a simple elimination game. The method that I use to chose teams to make it random is similar to drawing straws. I have toothpicks (some colored, some natural) that a player takes sight unseen. Which ever one they pick is the team that they will be on. To designate the two teams I had picked up some bandanas from David Roman several months ago (a set of black and a set of jungle cammo).

With the teams chosen, we walked to opposite sides of a wooded area, roughly 300 feet apart and called GAME ON. I was on the black team, which had 4 players and we were hunting the cammo team which had 5 players. Black team won.

After all payers were back at the base camp and had dicussed (bragged) about the last game. I set out the props for the next game. I have four WOW StarBases set up on plant holders so they are about 36 inches off the ground. The Starbases were set up with FIRE BACK, SHIELD ON and TAGS = 1. The Starbase has an effective range of about 40 feet and can tag out an ESS sensor. An ESS tagger can under the right conditions tag out a Starbase (right conditions meaning well within the 40 foot range and multiple shots hitting dead on). Ilook at the Starbases like mines, or better yet as sentry guns, that must be either defeated or avoided.

The next game that we had was another elimination game with the added twist of the sentry guns. You had to be careful of not only getting tagged out by an opponent (or a team mate) but by the sentry gun as well. The Starbase has a strong speaker so you could tell where it was and when ever the Shields came up, you had an opportunity to move. This game lasted longer and was more fun than the first.

One of our group (Tom) had to leave after this game as he works at night so we were then evenly matched at 4 vs 4. However during the next game my cell phone went off as Tom had gotten stuck in the sand while leaving. I had to tow him out, while the rest of the group played an "every man for himself" game.

By the time I got back we then set up for our last game(s). I have a SPYGEAR Safe that we would use as a prop. The premise of the game was that a group of radicals had left a tactical nuclear device to go off. A group was sent in with a specialist to hold the area and disarm the device. The radical group would then re-enter the area in order to stop the process of disarming the device. Basically a game of domination.

Oh, almost forgot - the sentry guns were also used.

The first game, my team would need to get to the device to defend it and disarm it. Since I knew how to do it, I disqualified myself as the specialist.

When Game On was called we entered the area looking for the device while protecting our specialist. We found it and set up a perimeter while Oscar (the specialist) set about to disarm the unit. At first I thought that the other team had not heard the Game On signal as we did not see or hear our opponents but they slowly came into view. We were able to defend our position and wipe out the radical group and at the same time disarming the device (although I later found out that Oscar had reset the device three times as he kept running out of time).

After that game, we played it again but switched sides. We left the SpyGear safe and the sentries in the same place, but changed team positions. The group that had disarmed the device last time, would now seek it out to stop the other group from getting to it. We took an opposite side of the area and when Game On was called, made our way towards the device.

We found it, but the group that had to disarm it never showed up. They couldn't find it, so it then became a game of elimination.

Before breaking camp we had one last game of elimination. Since we had 8 people, we broke up into 4 teams of two. Since I was exhausted and in pain at this time, I was the first to be eliminated.

Well, after 4 hours of games and some great moments (Bill and Brian doing the dance of death as the last warriors on the field), everyone agreed that they had a great time and we are looking now for a game next month.

Stay tuned.

Mission 01072006 brochure

Mission 1: Saturday, Nov. 19, 2005 was the first official game of the Central Florida Lazer Tag Group. Conflicts in schedules, and last minute problems that life typically brings cut the attendance down to less that half. Those present were Sean with his fiancée Jill, Oscar Muriel, my wife Evelyn, and myself. My oldest daughter Jolynn also accompanied us, but was reluctant to play and instead did a bit of camera work for me. She has shown interest and promises to play the next game.

I chose a wooded area in Davenport, Florida, off Route 27 which is frequented by ATV riders. Although there is a large area of organized (planted) trees, for the most part, the area is wild. The weather was great, in the upper 70's to low 80's with a gentle breeze. Had a couple of quick showers, but nothing that would dampen the game.

Since the group was small, and had not played outdoor LT (except for my wife and myself). I limited the play area and what we would be doing.

We played two games of elimination of Sean, Jill, and Oscar against myself and my wife. We were using stock ESS gear, and I lent out FRS radios to all players in case of mishap or someone getting lost in the woods. Oscar, Jill and Sean quickly learned the ropes and were great players. The first 2 games, Jill decided to stay back and snipe, however in the last game she really went out for "blood".

The last game was my own version of capture the flag (retrieve the downed satellite) however since we didn't have enough people, we could not play it the way I had originally planned. I had set up two bases opposite a central point where I had the satellite. I did not space out the bases evenly as the area was so dissimilar. Our base was in an area where the trees were actually lined up and we could move quickly, so I put our base about 160 feet in. The second base, as it was in a dense, wild wooded area I only put in about 100 feet. The whole idea was to get to the satellite, and physically carry it back to your base without being completely tagged out.

When we got to our bases and were ready I called GAME ON and we started. My plan of action was for my wife and I to get to the satellite as quickly as possible, past it and wait for the others to snipe at them. When I called GAME ON, I made a dash for the satellite, running as fast as I could, jumping over tree limps and dead branches. The satellite had been placed by the side of a sandy trail and as soon as I cleared the tree line I saw Sean standing by the satellite. I started firing as I ran, and know that I had hit him at least once. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Oscar to the left of me, in my rear (they had the same plan I had), so I took a dive into the ground for cover. I was spitting up sand as I was shooting both left and right. Unfortunately I ended up as monkey in the middle, as I had Sean on one side, Oscar on the other and Jill somewhere that I couldn't find. I "died" a quick but noble "death" (hey not bad considering Sean is 26, slim and fit, and I am a 46 year old, overweight financial planner with arthritis from his C6 vertebrate to his ankles).

While this old man was pushing his heart to the limit, his wife was taking a casual stroll through the trees and was able to peg off a couple of hits before she herself was done in.

I am hoping that we can do this on a regular monthly basis. December may not be a good month because of the holidays, but I am hoping to get another game going in January of the new year. Hopefully we can get more participants as we go along.

BTW, couldn't sleep Saturday night because of the pain, but it was worth it. My wife said at 2AM that I shouldn't play tag anymore. As long as they have pain killers, I don't think so!!! LOL!

Mission 1: Saturday, Nov. 19, 2005 was the first official game of the Central Florida Lazer Tag Group. Conflicts in schedules, and last minute
problems that life typically brings cut the attendance down to less that half. Those present were Sean with his fiancée Jill, Oscar Muriel, my wife Evelyn, and myself. My oldest daughter Jolynn also accompanied us, but was reluctant to play and instead did a bit of camera work for me. She has shown interest and promises to play the next game.

I chose a wooded area in Davenport, Florida, off Route 27 which is frequented by ATV riders. Although there is a large area of organized (planted) trees, for the most part, the area is wild. The weather was great, in the upper 70's to low 80's with a gentle breeze. Had a couple of quick showers, but nothing that would dampen the game.

Since the group was small, and had not played outdoor LT (except for my wife and myself). I limited the play area and what we would be doing.

We played two games of elimination of Sean, Jill, and Oscar against myself and my wife. We were using stock ESS gear, and I lent out FRS radios to all players in case of mishap or someone getting lost in the woods. Oscar, Jill and Sean quickly learned the ropes and were great players. The first 2 games, Jill decided to stay back and snipe, however in the last game she really went out for "blood". The last game was my own version of capture the flag (retrieve the downed satellite) however since we didn't have enough people, we could not play it the way I had originally planned. I had set up two bases opposite a central point where I had the satellite. I did not space out the bases evenly as the area was so dissimilar. Our base was in an area where the trees were actually lined up and we could move quickly, so I put our base about 160 feet in. The second base, as it was in a dense, wild wooded area I only put in about 100 feet. The whole idea was to get to the satellite, and physically carry it back to your base without being completely tagged out.

When we got to our bases and were ready I called GAME ON and we started. My plan of action was for my wife and I to get to the satellite as quickly as possible, past it and wait for the others to snipe at them. When I called GAME ON, I made a dash for the satellite, running as fast as I could, jumping over tree limps and dead branches. The satellite had been placed by the side of a sandy trail and as soon as I cleared the tree line I saw Sean standing by the satellite. I started firing as I ran, and know that I had hit him at least once. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Oscar to the left of me, in my rear (they had the same plan I had), so I took a dive into the ground for cover. I was spitting up sand as I was shooting both left and right. Unfortunately I ended up as monkey in the middle, as I had Sean on one side, Oscar on the other and Jill somewhere that I couldn't find. I "died" a quick but noble "death" (hey not bad considering Sean is 26, slim and fit, and I am a 46 year old, overweight financial planner with arthritis from his C6 vertebrate to his ankles).

While this old man was pushing his heart to the limit, his wife was taking a casual stroll through the trees and was able to peg off a couple of hits before she herself was done in.

I am hoping that we can do this on a regular monthly basis. December may not be a good month because of the holidays, but I am hoping to
get another game going in January of the new year. Hopefully we can get more participants as we go along.

Mission 11192005 brochure