Tactical Pith Helmet

What I always do. I've 7 year old batteries that work 100% fine still. In former times, one would wire a small bulb inline with the lead acid car/bike battery as it charged to create a basic trickle charger.

I've drunk a gallon during a game day and I'm a lot less mass to hydrate. Another player gave me some hydration tablets, they really work or at least feel like they do.

A lorry load of ballroom dancing equipment has been spilled all over the M3. Police are advising drivers to go slow, slow, quick, quick, slow.

https://www.flecktarn.co.uk/odtmb2nx.html Recommended by several people. * I use a Chicom rig. Cheap as dirt if your using an AK. Reinforcing the stitching and using an M16 bandolier is about as light as you can go, if your mags fit. You can get these from TGs UK partner: https://www.taiwangun.com/chest-rig/hybrid-chest-rig-olive-8fields TBH your spoiled for choice just with the cheapo 8 Fields gear. The skeleton rig is ultra lightweight and like the the micro rig is ultra customisable. Not Bulle quality though. * Just realised it's already been mentioned!

Ermmm... that's what catches us dinner. It's my lurcher! Don't ever go for your FAC Dan. You'll end up with a freezer full of cats. 😉🤣

I've just bought a young Eastern European frog. He's a bit Bulgarian, a bit Russian and a tad Pole.

I expect that you know it far better than us. It was a first visit for us, and since we can get to Glencoe in the same time, I think we'll be heading north again if we bother what with all the pewing and biking this year. My wife likes to return to The Old Country in summer too. We did find solitude beside the Dart though.

Male bees die after mating. That's it. Their whole life. Honey Nut Cheerio...

The 045s are particularly sturdy. That said, my battered brace of 028s is still going strong, if creaking a lot. The VFC clones feel so much more solid though.

Gunman Eversley 10-11/6/23 Namsoft Another great weekend at the Eversley site, in glorious weather. The summer has bought the rhododendrons into bloom, and prompted a furious work party regime in Wild West (the ‘village’ in the gamezone). First impressions as we arrived on Friday were of seriously low numbers, the usual number of campers was well down, and we choose a spot easily. This was deceptive however; as work on buildings has seen many more water tight and habitable. That seems a decent guess that accounts for all those sleeping under hand cut shingles rather than canvass. What it meant was a much more spread out arrangement that allowed for a bit of quiet if you wanted it, or the ability to make a bit of noise if you felt the need. The Worthing Massive were camped next door in a palatial bell tent type affair, complete with gazebo and some serious cookware. @Impulse had a fondle of the Snow Wolf K98 and I drooled over his mate’s Tanaka Woodstock version with the stamped markings. Friends in the 173rd stayed in their newly constructed shack in the firebase. Their task this weekend besides playing, was building up the sandbags to a decent height and deepening the dugouts so that tired old knees wouldn’t ache so much in game. Saturday started with Josh giving an ultra-high energy safety and game brief. Seriously, we were all laughing at the same bloody stuff we’ve all heard before, but the game was as always different to the previous with some new themes written in, and the delivery is brilliant. This time we had dog tags issued with different colours for different players, and different colours for different values e.g. gold tags were worth five times the plain white tags issued to the Vietnamese team. There were several new faces and quite a few missing faces. I think the game was even-ish at about 15 players each. This was quite a way down on last years I seem to recall. That said, about eight people booked and couldn’t make game day. First game was about setting the atmosphere and getting into the mindset. The VC and PAVN had to transport loads across the site passed three US strongholds with patrols between each. Helped by the low US numbers, we managed to really ace this, avoiding the other team and setting up our cache in the bottom corner of the site. Repairs bridges and a drained swamp made this a little easier too. As Mrs TPH had forgotten her magazine and had to go back to camp for it, we were last to arrive at the start point. We were tasked with harassing the strongpoints along with another Worthing straggler and a son and Dad duo we often team up with. This was exactly what we wanted to hear. Using the radio, we managed to locate and attack the US team all morning. Unfortunately, the SF squad were patrolling between each stronghold and we attacked just as they arrived three bloody times! Once we were pincered, once we fled as they reinforced from the other side of the position, and once we watched them arrive just as we were in position. The same US player managed to shoot me three attacks in a row, much to our mutual amusement. The third time I swore revenge and crept back to the stronghold to revive the others in my squad. I was too late, not being able to call loudly enough to them to wait for me to crawl up to them. I decided to stay on alone. This played off as believing us neutralised, they spotted a VC team in the distance and formed up to attack. I opened up with the RPK, and they were forced to medic players and then winkle me out again. I had however saved the carrying party, so job done. Afternoon was similar. We hunted, our team split up and Mrs TPH and I formed our usual seek and destroy squad of two. We enjoyed hunting larger squads and carrying out fast hit and runs. We enjoyed in particular attacking the improved fort and moving between shots to emulate a bigger squad. By days end, we were extremely hot, we’d drunk all of our spawn point (1G) water and some that a VC carried round to all players in a damn great Jerry can. We were down to the canteens on our belts and had still not really drunk enough despite a good fill before heading out. Saturday night was a very chilled affair. Going for a piss at 1:30 it was eerily quiet. I seemed to be the only one awake, at least on the main camping part. We’d had a drink and multiple hotdogs with a site member/good mate, and a wandering VC. Missed the drunken singing of Jefferson Airplane but awoke without the usual hangover the next morning as a result. Sunday was brutally hot. This time the US was on the move and we had to intercept them in mobile groups. Group Baboon (VC) was the largest and had an uncanny ability to sniff out imperialists, our team of two moved around a sight less noisily tbh, and we managed to get on the tail of one US squad in particular. I revenged myself on the player from the previous day twice and shot the same tail end Charlie about thrice myself, twice whilst being medic’d leaving both players KIA. My favourite attack on Sunday was on the bulk of the US team moving multiple items. I hit the back, CYMA chugging away as usual, Mrs TPH hit the flank. We managed to split the squad, leaving the carried items vulnerable to the rest of the VC who heard the firefight and zoomed in like sharks on a blood trail. A memorable moment was finding the back of a group of players in contact with Baboon VC group. I could see a US player crouching behind a tree and shot him neatly in the back, moved to new cover and waited for more targets. I could vaguely make out more players in green around him, and when a similarly dressed player sneaked up I shot him too. It was revealed then that the US guy was part of a squad who had been hit by the VC and moved out leaving him behind among a bunch of dead PAVN (in green PAVN uniforms). I’d hit a PAVN player moving up to survey the damage. I also manged the perfect support gun shot at last. One slow chug from left to right and I hit an entire squad in one burst. I have never before had such a perfectly presented target and all five or six fell to the single sweep of the barrel. Shows why it’s worth lugging the damn great thing around. Sunday ended early. Too many US players had dropped out through heat exhaustion to carry on, and nearly everyone was wilting. At close, the scores were US 13 dogtags, VC 11. Completed objectives were about even. We applauded the US team as a late VC player turned up festooned with tags and the Vietnamese team were victorious again. This was seriously funny, and very good natured. I shook hands with the chap who killed me thrice, and was told that I was a pain in the arse by the laughing tail end US player. Hurrahs: Great gameplay, great social, great ruleset, great scenario, great site, great laugh, great to see mates from the airsoft scene and of course from the forum. I even loved the weather, working in North Africa desert was something I enjoyed too though, so no criticism of those that dropped out. The lack of sexist patches and ‘banter’ makes taking my wife a good thing too and our daughter has become jealous of the fun so she’ll be making her airsoft debut at some point this summer. Moans: Bleed out time was possibly too short. We were caught cold on Saturday at the end of the day. Caution on the part of the US players saw us dead and on our way back to spawn before they should really have got our tags. Then again they knew the rules and saw us time ourselves by looking at our watches. Fucking contact lenses! Can’t play without them, can’t see my BBs to walk them in until I actually hit something. This weekend seemed particularly bad, and I got frustrated at the speed at which I could hit at distances over 20 yards. Gunman rules state all support guns fire either deployed or from the hip. I do deploy mine on a knee when I can (easy with a real RPK) but despite my years of hip shooting, it is never as accurate as shooting from the shoulder. I nearly got an AK out tbh. It is also harder to spot incoming BBs with the contacts. I know that testing in the garden with specs, that I can spot BBs easily, and have even seen lead shot at 1300fps in some conditions, when a shoot is on over the road. I’m booked on the next one, likewise the next post –apocalypse game. In fact we’ll do a few bike rallies and airsoft games this year and ditch fucking about with holidays as such. We like sticking to the UK and Covid seems to have made our favourite out if the way places too popular. Dartmoor was like a theme park this April. Du ban GI!

Nothing is safe, not even the Mosin...

Yep, that's about right I reckon.

Z patches may genuinely upset someone and spoil their day. It's an arsehole thing to do. If we're worried about dressing up as a force that has taken part in illegal wars of aggression, we'll have to start using Irish Rangers or Swiss reservist loadouts... A few years ago, I got an ear full from a chap from SA. He was angered by my wearing 'SWAPO' camo. It was East German strichtarn as donated to said terrorists/liberation forces/communist baddies/peoples freedom army. Most kit has the potential to piss someone off. Intentionally offending people trying to enjoy a fun day out is not on though.

Not sure to be honest, although I imagine that the petro industry qualifies it. I know that South Africa is the only 'first world ' nation in Africa. In 2019 I think that I remember that about 10% more people died from criminality in SA than died from the Syrian civil war. 22k v 20k. Worth checking anyhow. It's a very open question.

Honduras has a terrible murder rate and zero legal civilian gun ownership. Anyhow, whatever we discuss, be it cars, drugs, guns, or anything else; the simplist thing is that responsible nonviolent people pose no problem with them. I don't dick about with my controlled meds, wave rifs around where unsuitable or drive pissed. Same for the rest of us on here I'm sure. We collectively, through govts, regulate things because socialy regulating ourselves is impossible whilst the instrumental logic of our social relations and the resulting adherence to functionalism trumps the objective study of actual material conditions. Alienation is the result. Alienated people act in alienated ways. How it seems around the campfire two scotchs in anyhow. It also strikes me that concern with producing socialy healthy citizens is at least 2400 years old and we're not there yet by some measure. Not sure we'll solve it in this thread anyhow. 'Behave in a socialy responsible way, chin the cunts that don't.' Ghandi

At risk of seeming pedantic, the logic of the saying is apparent when one remembers that 'prove' and 'test' are synonyms e.g. proving ground/test ground meaning the same thing.

Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Give a man a poisonous fish, and he eats for a lifetime!

Now that would have bloody funny!

Jeans and shirt were clever. I expect that a lot of Tet Offensive VC dressed similar. Black cargoes and hoody are definitely not 70s though.

The first iteration of canvas Nam boot was canvas plus shaped leather toe and heel for rigidity. The leather eyelets, leather foot box, and thick heel to bridge strap was added for ankle support and to avoid foot fatigue. In modern boots the 'canvas' is polyester or similar and quick dry and wicking. The leather adds strength and shape. I succumbed to a pair of German jungle boots after finding a pair in my weird size. They are crap on a bike though. Your feet would be eaten by the road in a spill.

I think that the best load out was the civilian in jeans and plain blue shirt. I expect that is how millions of urban Vietnamese dressed in the 1970s! See you the weekend (until the game starts and you disappear...)

Sierra Bravo Airsoft - Op Yarra 3-4/6/23 Ultimate Wargames Kent Another in the Namsoft series of games, this one has a difference in that the game revolves around Australian involvement in Vietnam. Teams were therefore Australian SAS, Australian Infantry and a pair of New Zealanders versus the usual array of VC and PAVN players. A few civilians hung around the village too, and play an increasingly important role in the games too. The site is a woodland site with some well-constructed buildings, and a CQB area that comprises of steel fencing dumped old crap cars etc. The safe zone is central and splits the site in two. The main half is very pleasant, the CQB side less so, but a good game space none the less. We arrived to the first shock, which was that bugger all people were there. Our usual group of lunatics number about a dozen or so, only three of us made the trip this time. Mrs TPH was ill, so it would have been four. I think that this was due to the game next week at Gunman being so close. Personally, I’ll keep the gear in the car and just charge the batteries up again. The teams were fifteen a side booked on, slightly less in attendance. Friday night was a good laugh, very laid back and I ended up reading for half an hour before bed. Mao on rural warfare was a good primer for the morning I thought. Briefing was brief, informal and stuck to the basics. Each rif chronoed was recorded. Any late changes and I doubt that you’d be covered by site insurance. Quite right to. With regular players in attendance, only the basics needed saying. Most players were on first name terms. Saturday started with a simple game setting out boxes to respawn with. These had to be hidden well and intelligently. We manged to set out five or so out of a minimum of eleven, avoiding the enemy all of the time. Each had to be guarded for ten minutes after placement and this was achieved, the coordinates marked and relayed to control. After years of playing together we're finally getting our basic act together re: comms and maps - hurrah. Next up, we fancied some trigger time. We set off in what we guessed was the location of the enemy only to blunder into them. They got the drop, we ran away like schoolgirls, except myself, who manfully hid in a holly bush after a strategic retreat of thirty yards (I wasn’t awake enough to run…) I waited to cover the retreating VC only to hear them blunder into another patrol that must have been following us! I sat tight and the pursuing SAS team made straight along the main track in a huddle. Ho ho ho Chi Minh… I let rip with the RPK and sent them legging it in turn. By this time, someone had the presence of mind to order us all back into the centre of the site out of the Australian pincer. Final score two VC wounded for several Aus dead according to our radio. Next up we set up two boxes of high value in the CQB zone and waited. And waited. For almost an hour nothing happened. I then decided that the only part of the site not covered must hold the other team, so I set off, collecting someone with the same vague intention as myself. We soon bumped the Aus squad, and exchanged fire, radioing in our position. We were told to pull out and so did, firing as we went. The time was up for the Aus to attack and so we legged it with both boxes intact and a second leg won. Third game was an attack on the Vietnamese village that we had to repulse. This went well, we decided to defend a few small strong points rather than randomly defend a few. I set up in the upstairs of the corner building along with three other players. One covered the stairs. After a while we heard someone enter downstairs. They could have easily shot a sentry so our plan was a good one. Then things got strange. Our comrade fired a shot that followed by a blood curdling scream and a loud series of thuds. Someone shouted ‘cease fire.’ A civilian player ran over with a chair, fearing a broken lower limb from the stair fally noises. We looked over the banisters to see someone holding their head and shaking. They suddenly exploded into a series of shouts that they had been badly hosed with BBs and that they were in great pain. FFS, they’d been hit with a single BB… With much effort we didn’t laugh but consoled the person that they had been hit with a single BB and advised that they go and lay down which they and the rest of the SAS squad did. The ASAS reenactors are a decent bunch, but they do miss the point sometimes. The next minute, the police station exploded with noise as a mammoth pyro battle ensued. I ran out of bangs and feared that I’d run out of BBs for the first time ever. It was one intense set to, and to be honest, I was glad that I was watching the noise from another building. One of the civvies had a blank firing MP40 and was adding to the noise and confusion with 9mm blanks. The ‘nade throwing was pretty accurate and we out threw the Aus team in the end. Much ear rubbing ensued. We then all sat down and swapped fags, drank water, and did a post-mortem on the stairs incident in case any of us were dreaming. We rebalanced sides with a couple of ‘picked volunteers.’ Next up was an attack on the main Aus base. This was important as it was the last game of a hot and long days airsofting. Luckily, our spawn boxes were all unfound at that end of the site, so we had little distance to run, although we still had the five minute bleed out time. We really threw ourselves at the fort. I set up in decent cover and really did suppress the oppo side. A pal with a DMR set up to my left, swearing that I drew too much attention with my timed bursts. They shot really well tbh. I did keep a few heads down. A few brave souls charged as we suppressed and did very well, getting into a few feet of range before engaging. We rolled the position up after a hell of a time though. It was really back and forth. I was about dry when we finally took the position. Sunday dawned warm and clear and we started late. The SAS team went home. We were down to six ANZACs versus eight VC. Three VC had to leave early so we left it at that. This was a fall back game with the Vietnamese chasing the Aus team from the fort. I can honestly say that this was some of my most memorable airsoft ever. We blundered into the Aus side at first, in a repeat of Saturday. Third game in a row that I’ve fucked up Sunday morning! I’ll change my brand of isotonic sports scotch I think… Next attempt we really tightened things up. I set up a spot to suppress from, the DMR guy held an overview at 45 degrees and we sent our rifleman in to draw fire, respawn and try again. Third attempt we got the two groups of two as they tried to do their fall back in rushes bit. Shot our son for the second time that weekend. Well satisfied. The next fall back was an attack on two blockhouses. This was classic airsoft too. I sneaked around the back and got to within feet of the window before being spotted and shot. The next attempt I took two others and we aced it. I was the only one un-hit , and managed to slide into blockhouse one through a window. I set up and listed as the second blockhouse put up a good fight. I laid down fire to have it returned well passed my position. They had not realised that the first blockhouse was in our possession. In time my BBs found their mark. The whole fight had taken so long that we decided to wrap up with one last scrap over the main base. I’ll leave it there (before we got beat) to say that it was truly classic airsoft, and one of my favourite days ever. Why drive four plus hours and camp just to play games that are not 100% different from normal if themed? Well… the gameplay was excellent. No cheat calling, no arguing (bizarre bollox on this occasion excepted), good hit taking, great atmosphere, fun social in the evening, nice food and company and a meet up with old friends. I much prefer doing a couple or one of these games a month March to November than skirmish silliness every couple of weeks, much as I loved my last skirmish game. I came home after little sleep and a lot of booze and exercise feeling refreshed and very mellow. The lad agreed that this was a very good game indeed. Mrs TPH well pissed off at missing things. No worries as next week we will roast the lick-spittle running dogs of the comprador capitalist class all over again on a different site. Cheers: just about everything. Best airsoft games ever AFAIK. Moans: getting a bit too loose on the loadout front. Get yourself some proper black PJs people. I’ve had mine for 17 years and trained kung fu in them thrice a week for twelve. They’re in a state tbh but they do look authentic. Likewise, leave the scrim wrapped M4 at home and borrow a gun if need be. A non-tactical AK74 will pass, we’re not stitch counters but make an effort. Du ban GI!

I spent the whole morning building a time machine – that’s four hours of my life I’m definitely getting back.

With your weird feet being the opposite in width to length scale to my weird feet, I'd go German in xx-wide.