Memorial Day 2023

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.
Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it... it flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it.
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did.
The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.
To the veterans like myself, I want to tell you this: You are not alone, and you having nothing to be ashamed of.
Today is the day we should reminisce for those who fought valiantly for the pride, honor, and freedom of our country.
We don't know them all, but we owe them all.

Birthday Bash 2023

In honor of Black Widow Company's 20th anniversary, we will be hosting our annual Birthday Bash the weekend of April 1st. This is a full weekend long event spanning from Friday afternoon till Sunday crammed full of gaming fun spanning several genres. Whether you are a longtime member of our community or a potential recruit, we welcome everyone to this weekend of fun and competitive comradery.

Kicking off the weekend we're taking it back to our roots with some intense Planetside 2 gameplay. Name of the game: Death Race. Your mission? Pair up and cross the finish line using whatever means necessary. Yes- any means. So get out there and get crazy! Teams will use the Harasser vehicles with an additional point system based not only off of enemy player kills but also for kill streaks. Planetside 2 was one of BWC's original operational games back when we had multiple platoons with hundreds of players teaming up for operations. This operation is a great way to promote our roots as well as help introduce our other players to the fun this FPS game can be.

Next quest in our arsenal is the Mechwarrior Online "The Trial of BloodRight". This weekend-long event starts out with one-on-one brawls to see who is the top of the top in each of the game's mech classes: Assault, Light, Medium, and Heavy. Wrapping the event up in a final free for all in the Grand Melee where players can fight to determine the new Kerensky BloodName holder. Mechwarrior Online is a free to play tank game that offers pleasantly straightward mechanisms as well as an amazing community for new players to be introduced to.

Moving to our Saturday games is Destiny 2 with a Prophecy dungeon Speedrun competition. The Prophecy dungeon is not only a classic for longtime Destiny fans, but also a great introductory dungeon. Additionally, it is available without the need for additional expansions to the game as well as having a low bar of entry as well. To spice up the game play a bit, however, we will be adding the "Wheel of Handicap" for our D2 mains. For our Destiny Savants- you will be forced to spin the wheel to see what sort of restrictions you'll play with to add some difficulty for yourselves as well as level the playing field to our new players. The game itself will have an hour long time limit to see which team can make it the furthest.

Our next stop is the Award Winning Final Fantasy XIV in our Deep Dungeon Divers. This is one of the game's alternative gameplays where players are set to level one and have to climb the Palace of the Dead with teammates to see who can make it the furthest in the race. While the game is free to play up to level 60 (more than far enough for this game mode) there is a bar of level 17 in order to unlock the Palace of the Dead so please if you are interested in this event (and we hope you are) reach out to your fellow FFXIV gang so they can help get you geared and ready for the event.

The final major gaming event of the weekend is hosted by Star Citizen in their event "Race to the Stars". This is a scavenger hunt style race in which players team up with a pilot and navigator while solving riddles in the Stanton System to complete their race. Screenshots proving that you have arrived at each location are required. The only other requirements are having access to a PU and a ship. Even if you don't have the game itself this is a must-see event for the streaming pleasure as well.

To wrap up the event in its entirety is the 1st Sergeant Association's Social Operation. Not only will we be playing a fun free to play game as an entire group but we will also be going over announcements for promotions and future cross-company pollination events. We hope to see you all there.

The Daymar Rally 2023: Star Citizen

The Daymar Rally is a customary race amongst Star Citizen players. Taking place on Daymar, one of the three moons of the planet Crusader in the Stanton System, this 500+ km vehicle race tests players speed and fast-paced decision making skills. Teams of four choose between three divisions of vehicle types: BUGGIES, TRUCKS, and BIKES as they take part in a five-stage relay with the chances for the winners to come home with in-game spaceship sets.

Two hours prior to the start of the race is when the event really starts though. There are team briefings, setting up server units and getting Comms channels up and running. Being able to see so many people get together for such a high profile event is really inspiring to the gaming community and for Star Citizen itself.

The race itself is a major real-life time commitment too with each roughly 100km section stage potentially taking racers a couple of hours each. Not to mention the "clankly" moving mechanics of the vehicles themselves making maneuvering on the orange- desolate moon a difficult task.

Despite this however, our fellow BWC members: Fluffulupigas, Puma101, Samurai, Firefly and Nightstalker were able to put in a good effort for the showing. Maintaining 7th place until the last 99km of the race when their final Cyclone was unfortunately rendered inoperable and competing against over 700 other players worldwide- they have made us proud as a gaming company.

So, what was it like participating in the race itself?

Fluffulupigas (SC S-2 Analyst):

(As a co-pilot) "I enjoyed the race. Something I always enjoyed and am good at is reading and piloting routes. And since we, more or less, were in this race blind; it was a challenge trying to find the routes. For the first 30-40 minutes my heart was racing as we had the lead with the guys that took overall 1st about 300 meters behind us."

Nightstalker (Task Force Ranger OIC):

(Captain/Driver) "Being sat on the start line with 20+ other teams, my heart rate did start to climb. Once we got the green light it was a relief- we were away and all I had to do was focus on getting us to the first checkpoint. Having the rest of the team there for support, giving directions, and keeping track of our position to them was great- it's a real sense of teamwork. It's why we play these team games."

What can we do moving forward as a team?

Firefly (Company Executive Officer):

(As a co-pilot) "Everyone on the team should be prepared to drive the race buggy. Everyone on the team then needs to practice driving en route. The race buggy has different handling and gravity mechanics and it also has a boost feature that we need to know how to finesse and micromanage."

Security During the Race:

However, the Star Citizen gang is more than just a race team. We boost members specializing in virtually all aspects of game place SC has to offer as well as a constant flow of group operations to keep the game exciting and social. This includes another critical feature to this rally as well as what makes Star Citizen such an immersive and enthralled game.

Since the race takes place in an open world system- there is always the possibility of uninvited guests trying to join the fry. And this couldn't be more true as literal space pirates were a serious concern for the races. BWC members G-LOK and ItsUhMeUhMario joined in on the TRUCK server for security tag teaming with other gaming companies such as Fleet of the Faithful Knights (FFK) and AvengerOne.

ItsUhMeUhMario:

"Trucks would be the longest racers in the rally because the vehicles are just slower than the buggies or the bikes. So for us, we had people coming in to attack right when we started. We had constant attacks against us for probably the first 2.5 hours of the race. It was non-stop dogfighting, it was great."

After the success and feedback from the previous race, our crew at BWC is already making preparations for more races in the future. Additionally, they intend to do more practice matches prior to races in order to hone their skills and teamwork and be able to come back to the Daymar Rally 2024 stronger than ever.

Final Fantasy 6.3 Patch

Players rejoice- the next patch to Final Fantasy XIV drops January 10, 2023. Following the previous patch, Patch 6.3 offers a continuation to the previous storyline of Endwalker. With this, there are additional raids, trials, and dungeons as well as an additional map for PVP. Not to mention, there will be various quality of life adjustments such as a reworking of the paladin class, more trust style duty support for Heavensward, and expansions to housing among many other changes coming.

New players or prospects? Final Fantasy XIV is free-to-play through the Heavensward expansion (level 60). This is literally dozens (if not hundreds) of hours of gameplay free to test out the waters for the game. With various classes, jobs, character customizations, and mounts/ minions, to name a few, there is endless content to enjoy. Not only that, but BWC boasts numerous player mentors and a strong community base to help you with any Q/A as well as help to guide you throughout the campaign. Come join us today.

SALUTE TO VETERANS!

Brothers and Sisters of BWC, please join us in our celebration and remembrance of Veteran's Day, November 11th. On this day, we honor those who have risked their lives in order to protect their countries. Your sacrifices help to maintain the peace and order that we are able to enjoy today. Wherever you serve- we salute you.

Since our start in 2003, BWC has been rooted by military structure and organization stemming from our founders' own military veteran backgrounds. We take pride in our roots and what we have achieved in respect to each other and our service to our communities. In honor of this event, BWC will be hosting "Salute to Veterans Celebration 2022" starting 11/11 at 1100 all weekend long. Please join us in this celebration and of course to our fellow veterans: Thank you for your service.