Spartan09

Hi guys, As the title says, I am looking for recommendations for skirmish sites for this Sunday. I realise I'm leaving it to the last minute, but I was meant to be working all weekend due to contractors working on our new workshop, but work has just told me I am not working now due to the contractors cancelling I just looked at my regular sites, and they either aren't running this weekend, or are running themed events that are fully booked. So, having not been airsoft for a couple of months now, I am looking to get back out, and am looking for new sites to try out, ideally within a 2 hour drive of Northampton, not fussed over CQB, woodland or mixed, ideally looking for skirmish over battle sim type games, and if any other forum members are attending, then it would be nice to put some faces to names Any recommendations will be appreciated. Thanks in advance

Without looking at the car myself and checking components/listening for abnormal noises etc... it could just need a regas, especially if it hasn't been done in a while. There is a chance that there may be a leak though. If you have a UV torch (and UV resistant glasses for safety) shine the torch around the compressor, pipes and condenser (small radiator for the AC) If there is a leak it will glow under UV light. Failing that, book it in to any garage that offers an AC regas service and ask them to regas the system. Part of the checks they have to do is a quick UV light check, then put the system under vacuum and check that it holds. Average cost of a regas should be about £50-75 depending on the garage and should fix the issue most of the time

carefully

I thought the citadel was being turned into a computer/data centre. Or at least that's what I heard Having played the site at the AI500 a couple of years back, I can say that the site itself is a good mix of CQB in the cell blocks, (with one block spread over 3 landings,) and open lines between blocks and the notorious (at least in AI500 terms) sports field. Only issue though, as we found out at AI, is that when the wind picks up and the rain gets into the tiled doorways of the cell blocks, it gets very dicey. (I don't know if anything has been put in place since AI500 to mitigate those factors though) Playing at AI500, the wind was so strong between the cell blocks that it was impossible to shoot between buildings as the wind would just blow any weight of BB wildly off target, and several people slipped on the tiled floors just inside the doorways as they ran between cell blocks. The biggest issue that AI500 had was trying to cram nearly 500 players onto the site, as there became a few bottlenecks in he cell blocks, but I reckon with a lower player count the site will flow a lot more freely. And if there are some barricades set up on the sports field, that will help give more options to fight across the land, rather than trying to cross one large open area or the paths either side with minimal cover. Overall i thought it was a decent site, and one I would like to revisit if it wasn't so far away from where I live.

greetings fellow northampton airsofter, i got most of my guns and my starter kit from only airsoft in stevenage (about 1hr drive from northampton) and they have a store in norfolk (1.5hr drive) i havent been to the norfolk store, and the stevenage store is only a small shop, especially in comparison to the likes of patrolbase, (its only a standard high street size unit, but well stocked for its size) but the guys there are knowledgeable and easy to get on with, so i would definately recommend them. if you have a question or want some information, then you can message them through the chat on their website www.onlyairsoft.com and they are usually pretty quick to respond (during opening hours of course) i should also like to stress that im not sponsored or affiliated with them in any way, just a very happy repeat customer

That's one hell of a transcript, and gives an insight into the home front during both wars. Thank you for sharing

my great grandfather served as a petty officer on board submarine HMS Triumph. i know the most about his story as i was fascinated by hearing about him from my grandfather as a child. he had a picture of the submarine on the wall in his cottage. i was studying WW2 in my history lessons at the time, and i got to hear the story of how his submarine was lost without trace, and i was even shown a christmas card he sent home in 1941 shortly before the sub departed for its final patrol. i even emailed the submarine museum and royal navy themselves to get copies of his records, but it wasnt until a few years ago that i found out far more about the subs history Triumph was actually supposed to be coming back to the UK for maintenance and crew leave, but had to undertake one last patrol after another submarine developed a fault. the submarine was to take a couple of SOE and MI9 operatives to an island called Antiparos, where they would then be taken to greece by fishermen, and then at the end of the patrol, the sub would swing by the island again to pick up a number of escaped allied POWs that had been dropped off by the greek fishermen (german and italian forces monitored all fishing boats, and imposed a 3 day curfew on all crews, otherwise the crew of a fishing boat would be arrested as allied collaborators) the sub radioed that the commandos had been dropped off and was heading to their patrol area, listed in records as being near Piraeus, and was never heard from again. while the sub was gone, the Antiparos operation was compromised (actually an interesting story in its own right) and theres a file in Kew where MI9 and SOE argue about who was to blame, as one operative captured was moonlighting for both agencies. i also found out that my great grandfather recieved a kings commendation for bravery. while the sub was berthed in Malta, a supply convoy came in and was promptly attacked by the germans. one ship was set on fire and my great grandfather, along with several other shipmates and others on the quayside all ran up the gangplank to assist in fighting the fires, saving the ship and the supplies on board. the wreck of the submarine was discovered earlier this week in deep water off the coast of Sunion definately encourage him to ask those questions. and if possible recored the conversations to preserve the information for the future. my biggest regrets are that i didnt ask more questions, ask them earlier, or record the conversations

chat created... and everyone else is welcome to join as well if they wish

@Dan Robinson creating a seperate chat here to avoid derailing the questionable politics chat

agreed. but as long as you dont go all walter mitty, then i dont see an issue with accurate patches i have got replica unit insignia on my WW1 loadout simply to make it a bit different than a plain tunic and trousers, and my regular modern UBACS has royal marine patches on the sleeve (they were on the shirt when i bought it) but i would never dare claim to be part of those units. and while i have no issue with anyone else wearing ww2 german kit of any flavour, i personally would never wear such kit myself sounds good, though maybe we should create a seperate chat to discuss, so as not to derail this chat too much

also @Ebeneezer Goode its good to know your family history. i am still trying to research my family history beyond WW2, and i regret not beginning my research earlier, before my grandfather began to suffer from dementia. my great uncle was one of the troops who came across Belsen at the end of the war, and my great grandfather was on submarines in the Mediterranean. in fact the wreck of his submarine was just discovered this week off the coast of greece, so i would have a valid reason to be offended by ww2 german uniforms, but as long as you arent spouting lines, i have no issue with them

i take the same view. nowadays everything has the potential to offend everyone, its honestly tiring im not offended if someone wants to wear rusfor kit or SS kit, just as long as you arent spouting off that you were in ukraine or are out to hunt the jews... if you do that, then you can fuck off. fortunately i havent seen anyone take things that far, but i have seen many rusfor kits, one SS loadout, 2 regular german ww2 army loadouts and one modern PLA loadout, none of which offended me as none of the wearers took things too far. the one SS kit i saw was at one of my regular sites and the head marshall began the briefing by bringing the loadout to everyones attention and asking if anyone had any objections, and if they did then the wearer would be asked to change loadout. no one had any objections and the games ran smoothly. all that being said, if i see anyone in those uniforms, then i set myself a challenge to hunt them down as priority targets. i have yet to see anyone brave stupid enough to wear a wagner or Z patch yet though

Not the most recent purchase, as I bought it at the AI500 in wales. Picked up a Maxtact derringer as a second humiliation gun. (My first is a TM LCPII bought at last years AI500 in Rochdale) Didn't get a chance to use it in game though

i was also at AI500, but unlike @Impulse, i was on tan team (not sure what team @Badgerlicious or @wicksy101 were on) after Rochdale, this event was much better, and i can also confirm that myself and other tans i spoke with didnt encounter any suspected hot guns, unlike at Rochdale where BB hits were sending brick dust everywhere when they hit the walls, and obvious ricochets were still hitting with the power of direct hits. the accusations of blind firing impulse mentioned were not unique to tan team, as i and another tan player had several greens moan that we were blind firing over the fence between the road and service yard. we were definately aiming down the sights though, my teammate running a full length rifle, while i was running my KWA Skorpion. after explaining this to the marshal that popped his head over the fence to address the complaints, he was satisfied that we were within the rules and advised the greens accordingly. there was also an issue that occurred regarding the sliding gates into the service yard on Sunday. all through Saturday i saw greens firing through the gap at tan team as we tried to advance (and naturally we returned fire through the gap) but on Sunday we were told we couldn't fire through that gap, nor could the greens. despite being told multiple times by marshals that the gap was to be considered hard cover, we were still being shot through the gap, then accused of not taking hits despite us and the marshals reiterating again and again that it was hard cover, which is why we weren't returning fire through the gap, despite having several clear shots on greens. got to site Friday afternoon, and despite bringing everything but the kitchen sink (literally) i discovered i had made one massive balls up, by leaving the remote line for my Tippmann at home after filling the bottles, so i was forced to use my backup AEG. with a limited round count allowed in games, i decided to mainly stick to semi auto, even in the full-auto zones, but also switch to my Skorpion as well. also discovered that all my APS shells were leaking from the fill valves, so i was unable to run my striker12, which i was incredibly annoyed about Saturday was a pleasant day weather wise, and things seemed to run well. though i did spend most of the day fine tuning the hop unit on my m4 as it has mostly seen use in CQB sites that didn't require much hop, so long range shots were hit and miss (mostly miss) until near the end of the day where i was semi-satisfied i had things dialled in. i also brought out my galaxy G31 (Barratt m82) having finally obtained a new CO2 bolt for it after breaking the old one during lockdowns where i was trying to get it setup ready for the end of restrictions, but i found that the rifle needs a lot more tuning before its remotely useable =( went to get ready for the night games, but when i knelt down to get some supplies out of my bag, i felt a pop, followed by pain in my hamstring, so i was forced to sit out the night game and rest in hopes i could play for the full day Sunday. thankfully my legs held out enough for me to muscle through Sunday, though i certainly wasn't running around much that day. spent a pleasant evening with other team mates chatting shit and drinking whiskey Sunday definitely had a lot of people getting wound up, and there were definite non hit takers. i personally saw multiple greens not taking hits, and heard many more people complaining about others, especially on the road and in service yard. one guy i shot as he was stood behind a barricade, but exposed half his body to my position. shot him once centre mass, once in the arm, watching him flinch before moving back but not far enough, so i shot him 3 more times, watching his shirt flutter each time, only for him to step back behind the barricade. second guy was casually walking backwards between two barricades, and i shot him 10 times, myself and a team mate both confiming that BBs were hitting him centre mass, but he carried on walking and then took up position behind a barricade and directing his team despite clearly having been shot. tempers were definately flaring towards the end of the day, and i was forced to break up an argument before it became a fight, all because of a misunderstanding. tan team assaulted a shop through the open service doors. i had looked through the gap between the door and doorframe and had spotted a green hiding in a cupboard just inside the service doors with the cupboard door pulled closed so he could fire through the gap. as we breached, my focus was the green hiding in the cupboard, and we ended up trading. green exited cupboard and we fist bumped as he went to respawn. i was about to go to respawn myself when i heard a commotion behind me, with another green that was at the other end of the shop f ing and jeffing at the tans, firstly shouting "were greens you morons" to be told that we knew, and we were tans, then he started accusing us of closing one of the service doors to gain cover. this green and one of my teammates got into a very heated argument and i was forced to step in and separate them just as the marshals ran in. after the marshals arrived and spoke to everyone, it became clear that he had mistaken his teammate coming out of the closet (not in that way you perverts) for the service door being closed (which was still firmly wedged open). apologies were made and everyone went separate ways. despite the issues, i still enjoyed being able to meet with friends, have a laugh and a drink, and i was glad to have been able to get out of the house and be active for the bank holiday weekend. I was also bloody glad to have had today off to recover and rest my aching body, as well as begin making the phone calls i never thought i would have to make, and cancel all my bank cards. as i was breaking camp i realised my wallet was missing, and after going through all my kit after unpacking i confirmed that it is not just tucked in a pouch or down the side of my car seat. tomorrow i need to try and contact the DVLA to get new drivers licence issued as well =/

We're you on blue team? I was also at comms site 3 on the Saturday. I was running my tippmann for the first time in several months, and I had a few issues, so I think it will need some TLC. By the afternoon, I was getting tired, so I dropped down to running my AAP-01 and KWA skorpion. Found the Skorpion to be super accurate and had a surprising range, so I will be using it more often (just need to find some mag pouches to hold the larger 40 round mags) It is such a shame that HS2 have renaged on their previous commitment to build a new access road to the site when they take the current access road, but RIFT are able to get in to maintain and improve the site, so heres hoping that when the site is finally able to reopen, it will be even better than it is currently On Sunday, I headed up to Lincoln for a private event being held next door to the Farm CQB, a dedicated ww1 themed event run by 1st Battalion Boys Overall it was a fun day, very different from a regular skirmish, complete with an awesome trench system that has been dug. I was in british WW1 uniform and webbing and running my S&T Lee Enfield, and my Webley as a sidearm (though didn't use it in game) There were many charges across no man's land with fixed (rubber) bayonets, and the sides seemed well balanced, with the machine gun team on each side laying down effective fire into no man's land, though the entente forces were definately on the offensive more, and forces were able to break through into the enemies trenches. Add to he mix players from all sides doing their best amateur dramatics when hit, and the game took on a much grittier atmosphere than at a normal weekend skirmish One major issue that I (and many others) faced was contamination in our weapons. The entente trenches were dug in sandy soil, and it got absolutely everywhere. At one point I had to step out to the car park and spend half an hour stripping the Lee enfield to pieces after it jammed several BBs in the barrel (I had been doing a "mad minute" to fend off a central powers charge) and clean the sand out of the workings as well as unjam and clean the barrel. Definately going to need to replace the barrel and upgrade the hop, but I have just bought a replica "flanders flap" to cover the barrel in future games where I run the Lee Enfield (not just the 1BB ww1 games) I had a great time, and would definately wish to return in the future, though I definately need to make sure I have the following Monday booked off work to recover. (Not a problem this time round due to the bank holiday) but i definately had sore feet from the running. I spent bank holiday Monday stripping the LE to pieces and giving everything a thorough clean to remove every last trace of sand.

I always take several backup guns whenever I go to any site, as well as spare MTP shirt/trousers . My main rifle is my Tippmann m4 (HPA) and I always have my hicapa as backup (CO2 and gas mags), but lately I have been running my WW1 loadout as well, (S&T spring lee enfield and CO2 Webley revolver) But I always have a case full of spare guns.. my Nuprol pioneer defender AEG M4, G&G SMC9, Northeast GBB STEN, TM P90 and my AAP-01 (though I may substitute the STEN for my KWA GBB Skorpion) You can never have too many spare guns.. and it's always good to have a selection to choose from if you do need a backup. I have only needed to use my backup guns twice... once when I ran low on air and the tippmann was messing about, and the other when the HPA line blew an o ring

Depending on dates, I might be able to get my brother to come along as well. Any more news?

Updated my ww1 uniform end of last month. Using information supplied to me by my local museum, I have made and added unit identifier patches to signify A company, 7th service battalion Northamptonshire regiment of the 24th infantry division, to make the uniform look less plain, though I may need to trim the yellow saltire down a little.. I even have a pair of original brass "Northapton" shoulder titles on the shoulder tabs and an original Northamptonshire regiment cap badge on my cap (though it may need relocating slightly to sit flush on my cap) 1908 webbing needs minor adjustments to fit better, and I have had to make a concession and add a 37 pattern webley holster so I can carry a sidearm, as my Lee enfield has been upgraded and now has a MED.

Will give their site a browse. I need a few bits for some new loadout ideas I had

I would be coming as an individual. I can ask friends if they would be interested, but cant guarantee.

please add my name to the list of interested players. as i live in northampton, it will not be far for me to travel

My wallet hates me right now... Went to onlyairsoft in Stevenage yesterday to get a few items... Bought a case big enough to fit the Striker12, a pistol case for my Webley revolver and some BBs... Then I saw a KWA GBB Skorpion in one of the display cases. After handling the Skorpion and test firing it on the range, I was walking out the shop with it and 3 extra 40 round mags