Today, I took another trip to Airsoft Plantation. Unfortunately, their other site, Tower Airsoft, is now only open on the last Sunday of the month; I miss the Saturday games there.
Numbers were a bit lower than usual, which resulted in more open play.
I took my newly built MPi-AK74N to set the hop and test the power; it came in at 1.24J, which isn't bad on an M100 spring!
This was very much "smoke grenade day" at AP; every game involved designated "bomb runners" having to get smoke grenades somewhere and set them off.
The first game of the day involved the Blue Team (that was us) having to transport two smoke grenades to the Town Hall in the village and set them off in it. We had infinite respawns on a marshal while the defenders had two lives, one of which had to be taken in a village structure, while the other had too be taken outside a structure.
As a team, we decided to spread our attack across the front and left flank of the village. Initially, I went straight up the middle but it soon became obvious that the enemy had that area well covered. Having been hit, I regened and went up the right flank before cutting left into the village along with a number of other players. We pushed hard, supported by another group on our right flank, and got both smoke grenades into the Town Hall.
This game was then turned around and it was our turn to defend; along with several others, I took up a position in the village suburbs, intending to hold up any flanking move by the Red Team. This went well for quite a while as, despite losses, we prevented the enemy pushing into the suburbs, picking them off as they tried to get close. However, some of our group had to redeploy further down the flank as we became aware that enemy players were flanking wide in attempt to attack the village from the rear, leaving us weakened. The enemy attacked again and I was hit, having to leave my structure and fight in the open. Noticing two enemy players who had flanked us and were behind a building, I moved up to it, peeked round a corner and took the first of them out with a couple of close range shots, followed by another enemy player who was in a bush just behind him. I ducked back behind the corner to try to work out what the other player behind the hut was doing; peeking around the corner again, I saw him and put three shots into his chest. He ducked back round the corner and, as I advanced, shot me in the face at point blank range, leaving a deep gouge and a lot of blood. Wanker!
The Red Team failed to get either smoke grenade into the Town Hall.
After a break to mag up (and clear up the blood), we started a new game. The Red Team started behind the Mortar Pits and had to get a smoke bomb into each of the Town Hall (village), the High Tower and the Boathouse. We started on the firebreak and had a 10 second head start to try to get into defensive positions. A group of us headed to the Boathouse and secured it; after a while, it became obvious that the enemy were not putting us under any real pressure so half of us decided to go on the offensive, attacking the Mortar Pits and moving up on the enemy's rear as they attacked the village and the High Tower, although we feared that the latter might have fallen as it is very close to the enemy's start point. After a stiff fight around the Comms Truck, we swept through the Mortar Pits and were buoyed up by waves and cheers from the remaining defenders of the High Tower, who had withstood many enemy assaults. We ended up attacking the enemy as they attacked the village: it was a very messy Red Team sandwich.
After lunch, during which the player marshals were switched to the Red Team to try to get them going, our team took up a position at the DEA Base, with a mission to get a smoke bomb into the Town Hall. The Red Team started in the village and were tasked to get a smoke bomb into the cockpit of the plane at the DEA base. I stayed with the group defending the DEA base; after quite a while when not much happened, we noticed movement indicating that the enemy had flanked around the site and were attacking from our rear. Redeploying, we had a really good firefight with them, with lots of buddy regens on either side. After a long fight, I was hit and had to fall back 30 metres and and find an unengaged teammate to regen on. This proved impossible as everyone was in combat, so I set off to find our attacking team and regen on one of them. Just as I found them, our smoke bomb was set off in the Town Hall. Game over!
This game was then turned around and a group of us went on a long flanking manoeuvre to do exactly what the enemy had tried to do to us in the previous game. Fighting through various ambushes and a poison gas attack and taking casualties, we approached the DEA base, only to be attacked by a lone enemy player who had crept up behind us. Most of us had to go back to find a friend to regen on. When we had regrouped, we pushed on again, only for the same player to do the same thing again. More regening and off we went again, this time keeping a good eye on our tactical rear. After a stiff fight, our smoke grenade was thrown into the cockpit, signalling the end of the game.
It was a really good day, despite the incident with the wanker, which was dealt with really well by the marshals.
Guns used:
APS UAR
LCT PP-19-01
Milbro M1911 Classic (CO2)
So after months of life getting in the way, today I managed to get to South Herts Airsoft just south of Hemel Hempstead. Despite getting royally buggered by the gods of public transport it was a really good day. The site is well run with a relaxed atmosphere and an emphasis on making sure you got a decent amount of game time but without feeling like you're being rushed. The games themselves were well thought out and worked well with both the layout of the site and the numbers (they were fully booked but had a number of last minute cancellations, total was 23 iirc). Hit taking was also really good with no "wtf?" moments.
On site facilities weren't great (portaloos and tables under gazebos) but they're still a new site and are planning on making changes so I can't really fault them there. They also had a selection of drinks for sale and Combat UK were there with bbs, gas and pyros for sale.
All in all I think I've found my new regular site
Sounds good; it will be interesting to see how it develops.
