I've been meaning to jump in here for a while, but was a bit too lazy too.
I've heard nothing but bad things about Vanguard since I've started playing. Mostly it was about the kids. Being as hard headed as I am, I decided to head off to find out myself and signed up for one of the lock ins.
It didn't start well. I brought the average age up by at least 2 years. Some of the parents dropping off their lil
s***heads bundles of joy gave me dirty looks and mumbled under their breath about me hanging out front, smoking a cigarette.
When I did go inside, I was able to jump in front of said mumblers in line, since their kid wanted to gawk at the overpriced airsoft guns before getting in line. I took this time to go over all the fine print (just to be an a****** about everything). I asked the young lady working the counter point blank twice about their policy about searching bags. She said that I would have to be present and that it only applied if I had something like a real gun, non house bb's, ect.
I ended up buying a few things before going to the staging area. The girl I checked in with helped me with the first buy. I ended up looking at a bunch of pouches and settled on just buying a shamal. She was helpful and friendly the whole time, but obviously didn't know the first thing about anything she was showing me. The second time, I got an older guy that was either the general manager or the owner (not sure). I knew what I wanted this time and got a Thunder B starter kit that was marked up a bit. Oh well, saved me shipping. He was decently knowledgeable and helped me put it together.
Getting in there late (and having done most of my prep in the lobby), most of the table were taken. I took a table towards the front windows which had a few things on it. There weren't many empty tables, so I figured it would be cool. They did the "safety orientation" and when I got back, there was a group of kids there, staring at me like I had knocked their stuff off and flipped them the bird. I ended up moving my stuff to a table with friendlier people.
The games were hit or miss. Team Death Match was alright, with some calling hit on their first (or 4th
) hit. Zombies was a cluster f***. The volunteer zombies were given 3-4 foot long nerf swords to hit people with. Most everyone moved in one group, making sure that only those who ran ran in the middle survived. Medic was interesting, but could have been done better. It ended up being just like zombies, with everyone being a meat shield for the medic and everyone moving in groups. By far, Attack and Defend was the best game type. It was also the one with the most cheating. When I was defending, I hit at least 4 attackers on full auto that didn't call their hits. I was too tired at that point to give a s***.
Cheating was a problem early on in the night, with kids flipping on full auto and blasting an oil barrel I was taking cover behind when they thought they had hit me. There was one kid that I personally surrendered at least 3 times in one game that didn't call it. Defenders (mostly when I was attacking) wouldn't call their hits. At the end of the night (during the last game I played), I caught a full auto burst on my left shoulder in a semi game. When I turned around to exit the arena, I caught another full auto burst in the back. This was after I had screamed "Hit" at the top of my lungs.
The safety concerns were overkill. Eye protection IN THE STAGING AREA?!!?!?!?! I could get it during chrono'ing, but all the time? The 10ft MED was also ridiculous. Most of the rooms aren't 10ft and there's relatively few angles that allow shooting at that distance. Surrendering, again, was mostly ignored and led to a ton of "I had my gun up first" arguments. With a 330 fps limit, I don't see why anything but a 3ft MED (or none at all) would be required.
The kids were terrible, most of the below 15 crowd were lil s*** heads. Period. I got dirty looks all night for no real reason. One particular lil fella kept bugging me to trade my TM SOCOM 16 for his Crossman AK. He kept going on about how it was worth $200 and that I was getting a great deal.
They group that I ended up running with most of the night were some high school kids that actually played at a decent level. They all took it seriously and called all hits. Talking with them in between games, they mentioned that they hated playing with the "squeakers" and how this was pretty much all they had as far as indoor arenas went, as they lived in Queen Creek. I feel really sorry for those that live in the far East Valley.
The staff was alright, but didn't really give two f***s as the night wore on. They would have to remind certain children before every game of the rules. When I sat out a couple of games, I would talk with either the head ref (who was manning the food counter) or the two that DJ'ed for the speaker system. What I gathered is that they didn't like a large chunk of their client base either and hated their babysitting duties. There was one group in particular that they didn't like known as the "gypsies". Seems they're the ones causing a lot of the problems with stealing.
On the stealing end of things, I didn't have any problems. I left my bag, with my WE M9 and derringer in it, along with my Thunder B stuff sitting on the table. Later in the night, I left my primary (with 4 TM low caps) and my tac vest at the table. My bag also had some medications that I needed to take in the morning, along with my contact stuff in it. Nothing was touched. I played at least 10 out of 12 total games and had about 4 smoke breaks, so I wasn't at my stuff constantly. It all seemed pretty safe.
Overall, I might go back for another lock in. The field is great and I didn't have too many problems that were kid related (other than cheating, but we all know how to fix that). I wouldn't buy from the store again unless it was something I really needed to the game. I get what a lot of people here are saying, though. I did check my bag before I left and kept a good eye out. I'm taking a luggage lock next time to put on my bag and running with all my mags in my vest or pockets next time. I'm not ready to declare Vanguard dead to me yet. Maybe they'll get a clue sooner or later.
TL;DR: Field is great. Kids under ~15 are terrible. Staff was decent. Park your stuff with kids that act their age.
P.S. Vanguard, if you have any problem with what I said here, please call me out on it. Everything I put up here is true and ALL the stuff that was said to me by your staff members that I stated here were either quotes or accurate paraphrasing.
