Jacob Wright

New gat arrived courtesy of the forums, already looking at it and starting to consider a L119A1 project 🙄 Lord save me from spending more money 😂

Aye you missed a good one!

So… the write up! Initially there were potentially going to be 3-4 of the team at this event but a couple dropped out last minute and we only had 2 in the end. We were on the BEARS team throughout, and overall it was an enjoyable well thought out event. A quick overview - Op Grimsky II is a follow up from Op Grimsky I held at Reforger Airsoft near Watford. I guess it would be classed as a filmsim, based around ‘Escape from Tarkov’ (which I’ve never played). It was a 2 day game, with 3 teams (Scavs, Bears, USEC), with rolling objectives played across the whole site. Pre-event plenty of information was available on the website, on a Facebook Live video, and in the fortnight leading up to the game we had team chats on Facebook Messenger. Questions were answered quickly and efficiently by Luke. We quickly came to understand that we would be the smallest team present, with only 17 players booked on; which wasn’t an issue and nor do I feel it detracted from the experience. On arrival I think there were actually 14 of us, and by Sunday AM this dropped to 10, and then 7 by the end of the game. I’ve come to understand this as par for the course at weekenders; for various reasons people will always leave early, what can I say apart for I like to get my moneys worth! 😂 We arrived Saturday AM, paid our dues and our kit was moved to our designated camping area by 4x4 while we walked over. On arrival we decided to re-site ourselves in a wooded area so that we could set up a basha. Luke had no issue with this and we were left to set ourselves up. Chrono happened at this location shortly after. Following this we were given a succinct game brief as rules and a longer brief had been sent out beforehand. I really liked this way of doing it, there wasn’t much messing around and we were able to get almost straight into the game within an hour/90 minutes of arriving. As far as team dynamics went, we had 4 snipers in ghillies, and then 3 distinct teams of friends within the BEARS team. We were left to come up with our own plan for the event, and had agreed a comms plan in the week previous. Luke was also on this net to feed us objectives and intel. Again this worked really well, and allowed us to take ownership of the tactics and operate with pretty much total freedom. Throughout the event our snipers would spot, track and ambush targets, and the squads would carry out coordinated attacks and ambushes. By the Sunday we’d got very good at this and it showed in the speed with which we were able to wipe out enemy squads. I can take or leave roleplaying at airsoft events, but with an almost dedicated team for this (Scavs) we were able to interact as much or as little as necessary. As a newcomer to ‘Tarkov’ the concept of ‘loot’ was new to me, but not difficult to understand or introduce into play. I will admit that we got quite frustrated after hiding a load of top tier loot under a pallet in the woods, only to find it had been stolen about 2 hours later 😬😂 after this we were much more inventive with our hiding techniques, and it paid off in the end! The loot we acquired could be stashed or traded with the in game trader; it was a nice dynamic which I think worked well although didn’t really have much to do with. It ranged from different coloured bottle caps, to 30mm rounds, keycards, bitcoin and ammunition crates. The only ongoing complaint which we had as a team was that at times we felt as though objectives and intel were coming through a bit slowly. We would find ourselves having to create tasks for a few hours (at one point we set up an OP and sat in a bush for an hour, but it was a nice break to be fair 😂) before an objective would happen, but having managed events in the past I appreciate the burden of having to provide objectives and intel for 3 separate teams. When the objectives did come they were mostly good fun and straightforward to achieve. The only other slight criticism would be team colours. It was an odd mix which wasn’t in line with the normal milsim Woodland vs Tan, which did lead to some confusion sometimes; although mostly in our favour because we were wearing green and USEC kept thinking we were Scavs and not firing on us immediately! We did miss the message about the night game on the Saturday evening and whilst on our own little patrol stumbled upon what we thought was an attack, but turned out to be an organised night game … sorry for shooting those people involved who obviously weren’t expecting us to appear outside their night game boundaries! Through gaining information from the Scavs we (eventually) learned that in order to escape Tarkov we needed to keep and not trade away our keycards. Luckily we had one ‘stashed’ at our FOB, and were able to retrieve this in the last hour to facilitate our extraction! I could bash on about every small detail of the event but I don’t think it necessary. To sum up, it was well planned, organised and delivered. Perhaps in future a few more objectives and little bit more intel could be added in, but I certainly wouldn’t be out off attending again and look forward to what Luke has planned for the future!

I’ve got a write up written up, just need to get it down on here 👍🏼

Every time my TM stops I have a tiny little panic that it’s broken and then I realise that it’s just the empty magazine 😂

Key point to take away is; water. Stay hydrated and you’d be surprised how much of a difference it makes. Take as much as you can carry, but I’d be looking to drink probably at least a litre an hour, possibly more. Frequent breaks somewhere out of the sun if possible, be mindful that even shaded areas can get hot. We’re all guilty of carrying ‘extras’ on our kit which in all reality we probably won’t need. Have a good look at what you’d normally take and then cut it down. Do you need those spare 6 magazines or can you manage with 3? Are you really going to need that sidearm? As others have said, suncream and top it up regularly. Personally I don’t think there’s anything worse than waking up the next day and finding that I’m burnt.

‘Painters radio’ certainly springs to mind 😂

Prepping my kit for next weekend; toying with the idea of just running a belt, with a grab bag carrying water etc. I might swap it for my NI chest rig as it gives a little bit more capacity in terms of comms and water without having to carry a bag too.

As you’ve rightly said, it’s a divisive subject! I also run an NGRS MK18 and the only ‘mod’ done to it is I’ve changed the mini tamiya to a deans connector. Yes my fps isn’t that high, but I easily outrange most other AEGs with 0.29’s; and more importantly the shot placement is consistent. If you’re dead set on more range I appreciate you’re already using heavier BB’s so the only things to change are internals like you’ve said. A stronger spring may give you a bit more range but it also brings the risk of damaging the internals as they’re simply not designed to handle any more power. Not saying it won’t work, but from friends who have upgraded theirs, I’d take it to someone like Daves Custom Airsoft or Camoraids as they are the experts and know what can and can’t be upgraded. Just my 10p worth.. I’m sure someone else has had a completely different experience! Happy pewing!

Has it got parking?

Pretty sure I bought mine new for £110? 😬

I was going to say, great for sites that provide it and I am impressed when I turn up and see there is free water. However, I completely understand why sites wouldn’t for the reasons above. Maybe we’ll see more sites starting to offer water with regard to the ongoing and forthcoming high temperatures!?

You can’t quite see it from my face, but I’d just spent half a day running up and down the hills at RIFT The Ridge. I think the atmosphere would be sweaty with a hint of dehydration?

Oh 100%, Ofcom have yet to catch up with a neighbour who hasn’t bought a tv licence for years, so I can’t see them staking out many safezones any time soon. However I appreciate that people should be made aware that by transmitting with one without a licence then they are committing an offence.

So if one was to simply listen, they wouldn’t be committing any offence? 🤔😂

I’ve heard that Camp Sparta is closing down next month!! A shame as the site reminded me a lot of Urban Assault which was also an RAF base, and also closed down!

@Sneaky Black Hawk Down got me into airsofting too! A mate at army cadets had replicas of the M733 and an M16 of the Bravo Two Zero variety. Went round their house to have a blat with them in the garden and next thing I was running about the woods at the local skirmish site.. haven’t looked back since!

Not been to AWA for years, a mate of mine is a marshal there and I keep meaning to get back!

Combat Airsoft has a paintball site on the grounds, and a much larger dedicated airsoft area. The only time you’ll bump into paintballers is in the car park or getting lunch!

I don’t think it was that long ago that he was still operating, with very much the same reputation!

Definitely recommend Combat Airsoft in Thetford if you don’t mind a drive!