Colin Allen

Some of us are so old that we started off with airsoft arquebuses.

Which site will you use when you come out of the closet? A chap recently had a flashbang go off in his bag in the back of his car at AP; he chucked his bag in prior to leaving and there was a nice loud bang.

Only in that it is supposedly able to deal with higher loads without failing; it does not have the features of a Perun AB++ or Hybrid.

I am not sure really. I will sign up for one this year. I also have an MPiKM and an MPi-AK-74N, both with the lovely plastic furniture; both are based on CYMA RIFs. I do like sites that follow up the tough talk about the consequences of repeated non hit taking, having a hot gun and serious bad behaviour; the chap who runs Airsoft Plantation has no qualms about sending people home.

Losing a shop is a shame, but it was a rather unfriendly place. I suspect that more shops will close over the next few years; rising costs and competition from online only retailers will drive them out of the market.

No mistake; I knew what I was buying. I buy kit to play pretend war in; UTV is far more practical than the grey rubbish which I initially used, although I do still have a set of that tucked away in the dressing up cupboard. I have: Helmet with camo netting. Shirt Trousers Braces Webbing Mag pouches (7.62 and 5.45) Backpack Water bottle and cover

Moments like that are what make airsoft days memorable.

Thanks, that is very helpful. I have most of the East German kit, although my webbing is the later version.

I was undecided about playing today. The temptation to head out for a long walk instead was very strong, but I promised myself that I would do that next Saturday. Therefore, I headed off to the site where I play most, Airsoft Plantation; more than 200 other players made the same decision, making me feel very smug that I had got there early and was able to grab a good area to set up, where I was joined by a couple of friends. For the first game we went to the woods, which pleased me immensely as it is my favourite part of the site. As the defenders, we had two lives between the Border and the ditch which is spanned by the Wobbly Bridge. Our task was to prevent the dastardly reds, who started at the Border and had infinite regens on a teammate after a 30m fall back, getting three crates onto the Wobbly Bridge. Each crate had to be carried by two players. When the game started, I took up a position on our left; it soon became obvious that the main enemy attack was coming towards our right, so most of our early engagements were across the field in that direction. As the enemy slowly pushed forward, I fell back towards the Kill House, from where I continued to engage the enemy, including two who I suddenly realised were on the other side of the fence from me; as they had no idea I was there, they were very surprised to suddenly be shot in the back at close range. Eventually, I was hit and fell back towards the ditch; by this point, we were starting to be overrun; I was hit again and the enemy got their crates onto the bridge. When the game was turned around, we decided to make our main attack down our right; our initial advance was delayed by a smoke grenade setting fire to the undergrowth, which was quickly dealt with. We stormed forward, overwhelming the enemy and, after clearing the area around the Kill House, launched an attack on the Wobbly Bridge which saw our three crates deposited there in a significantly shorter time than our opponents had managed. After a quick break to reload, the next game involved our team, starting at the far end of the firebreak, getting one of our bombers, who were indicated by yellow arm bands, to the heliport on the roof of The Cock Inn in the village, where they would set off a smoke grenade which was in a case. If hit, our bombers, of whom I was one, had to return to the firebreak and find a marshal to regen; each such regen incurred a time penalty. Regular attackers had infinite regens on a 30m fall back, while the defenders again had two lives on a 30m fall back. I set off with the group who were attacking from the far end of the village; we quite rapidly fought our way through the Suburbs into the main part of the village, where one of our bombers completed the objective. As we walked back to the safe zone, I was accosted by a very upset marshal as he had lost a mighty £1 bet on me being the one who would set off the bomb. After lunch, which saw Emily and her team feed over 200 people, the bomber game was turned around. I started off in the suburbs, helping fight off an attacking group until I was hit, whereupon I fell back into the village, holding a position covering the rear path into it and taking out a lot of attackers, some of whom seemed to think they were hitting me, although their BBs were dropping a few metres in front of me of me. Eventually, I was hit when the enemy broke into the rear of the village, and trudged back to the safe zone. After reloading again, a new game was started. Starting at the Comms Shack in the village, we had to get smoke grenades to three locations in the mortar pits, which were unknown to the defenders; these were the Bedford, the Land Rover Discovery and the bus. We had infinite regens on a marshal, while the defenders had one life each. Initially pushing right across the site to attack via the Comms Truck, we made rapid progress until we ran into a layer of heavy enemy resistance, which saw a lot of us repeatedly having to find the regen marshal. Of course, the enemy defence crumbled and we were able to achieve our objectives. This game was then turned around; I took up a position in the middle of our defence, taking out a number of attackers until I had to make a rapid tactical withdrawal (which coincidentally looked like me running away!); a while after, I was hit. As there was no way of getting back to the safe zone without getting shot, dead players congregated by the tree line at the rear of the mortar pits, from where we had a grandstand view of the attackers' attempts to reach their objectives; they struggled somewhat! Halfway through this game, the bolt release catch on my SA58 disassembled itself; fortunately, I managed to find the key part and effected a repair that was better than the original assembly when I got home. That was the end of a really good, fun day of airsoft that was played in a good spirit; the games were well designed and tested the teams. Next Sunday, I am probably going to try a site that is new to me, which several people have recommended. It should be interesting. Weapons used: Classic Army MC51 JG SA58 ASG XP18 Commander (CO2)

No, he drilled it.

As the lad commented: "It does work surprisingly well in dead brush. There's been a couple of times you've been about 10m away and I haven't spotted you until you move."

The Blu-Link works with a Gate Titan or Aster, enabling you to programme it via Bluetooth from your phone.

30 is reasonable; I will look at dates and book.

Vegetato doing its thing at Splatoon.

It might be.

C'mon! You know what that is!

I had some in my youth. I have done some Gunman filmsims at Battle Lakes. The problem there is that numbers tend to be very low.

I might have to join in at some point; I have a complete set of NVA gear, an MPiKM and an MPiAK-74N. I have an SLR, but no 58 Pattern kit.

This sounds interesting. How many DDR players were there and how strict were the kit requirements?

I think I was there that day; it looked fantastic.

At Airsoft Plantation there is a reasonably deep pond on the site boundary at the edge of the village; it is not unknown for a player to mistake it for surface water.

I play all year except when there is very heavy rain. Getting covered in mud is part of the fun.

Kudos to you for asking. You'll fit in well here.

Agreed; I lost some of my hearing and developed tinnitus in service and then did more damage while managing very loud rock bands, including Hawkwind.