Colin Allen

Is the trigger returning quickly enough when released after longer bursts in FA? I cannot think why it should do so, but... Also, try reducing the Stage 2 trigger sensitivity to see if that affects it.

It was almost the exact opposite today. The chap doing the briefings, who I had not seen before, reduced the briefings to such an extent that key parts of the briefing were left out or passed over without clarification. For example, the briefing for the fallback game took less than a minute, during which he showed where the two teams would start, which was ok, and then showed that the next stage would be in the container field with a wave of his hand and a few mumbled words that did not specify whether that would be one stage or two; given that there were a fair number of players who were new to the site, this led to some confusion when the fighting moved there.

Putting aside my ambivalence towards the site, I set out this morning for Splatoon in Essex, having made sure that my rifles were wearing their barrel socks. The site was remarkably busy, with 120 players being present, representing a wide range of ages and experience, including a fair number of rentals. Because of this, four of us ended up sharing one picnic table; I was delighted to encounter Luke, a former Airsoft Plantation and Tower Airsoft marshal who I have known for a while and who had once offered me a marshalling gig on behalf of Tower's management. After going through the morning rituals, which included setting up the MP5SD2 and listening to the safety briefing and the somewhat vague briefing for the first game, we set off to the field for a game of spinners. Each of the three zones has a spinner with two colours; each team has to try to finish the game with their colour upwards in each zone. I started off in the centre zone, where we had a great fight, eventually managing to get what we thought was our colour up and defending it. After a while, I was hit, so went back to regen, where I bumped into Luke. We decided to go into the container field with a group of other regened players; unfortunately, at this point, it became clear that there was some confusion over which colour we were supposed to get pointing up. One marshal said that we had to get one colour up while another stated the opposite. Regardless, we had a great time exchanging shots and kills with the enemy until the game ended. It turned out that we had somehow managed to get all the spinners pointing up the way we needed them. Talking to some opposing players in the safe zone, it became apparent that they had also suffered from the same confusion and conflicting instructions, so it may have been mere chance that resulted in us winning. After a mercifully short break to reload, we went out for a fallback game after another rather vague briefing which somewhat glossed over how many stages there were. As the attackers, we had infinite regens at our start point, while the defenders turned out to have one life in each of three areas. Attacking against 60 players in a very small area, our initial advance was slow and I made an awful lot of trips back to regen before we started making ground; after a long slog, we forced them out of the first area and regrouped before advancing into the first stage of the container field, where I got some excellent hits on defenders in the structures. Having eventually cleared that section, including some pesky snipers in the top woods who took ages to get rid of, we started our attack into the second part of the container field, but ran out of time before getting to the final objective. Having partaken of luncheon, during which some players left, another game rather inevitably ensued. Four large containers of water were scattered across the site; each team had to try to get them back to their regen. Firefights ensued all across the site as both sides searched for them and tried to get them back, during which a small group of us had a rather amusing private war with some opposing players in the lower zone which had nothing to do with recovering the containers. The game ended as a draw. After another break, during which more a lot more players left, mostly from our team, we played a reverse of the earlier fallback game; suffice to say that it went rather more quickly than the earlier iteration, with the remnants of our team being utterly steamrollered. I was hit almost immediately in the first section and fell back into the far corner of the first half of the container field; Luke and I decided to hide ourselves in the top woods in the hope that the enemy would declare the area clear without spotting us, thus incurring time penalties. This did not work. In the last stage, I had the pleasure of taking out several enemy players who were trying to move through the top woods and one impertinent chap who poked his head around a corner rather too often. Following this, I, along with many others, decided to leave, having had another less than excellent day at Splatoon. Luke's comment was that it seemed to be a decent site but the team did not seem to know how to use it effectively; I could not disagree. He will probably not return. Weapons used CYMA MP5SD2 Ares L1A1 Real Sword QBZ-97 ASG XP18 Commander (CO2)

"UMAREX glock 42, standard, now used by UKSF as a back up pistol for covert ops."

Well, I never knew that UKSF now used the UMAREX Glock 42 as a back up pistol for covert ops.

Good point! They pretty much have a free hand at DL, provided that it is out of sight of the hotel.

I agree that the valley is the main area of concern; the structures do not work for the reasons that you state. I think they would do better to take them down and have a number of smaller barricades and structures etc, rather like at the old site. I believe that consideration is being given to reviewing the valley, but it seems that what you are suggesting is a more likely outcome than my preferred one. The CQB area on the ridge is also a bit of an issue for me; it played well when there were a number of barricades up there. I have discussed all of this with Ray. I don't think the site is large enough to have two separate zones.

I doubt that I will be going back unless they make some fairly major changes to the site.

The service from AK2M4 is superb.

I really like sites that require barrel socks; it is a level of protection against the retards, as long as it is actually implemented.

It is always best to. The lad and I went to a couple of sites in the Midlands that have great reviews and attract large numbers of players. We left one after a boring and badly designed morning on somewhat unsuitable terrain, which threatened to get even worse in the afternoon; the second one was a great site physically, but the marshalling and game design were very poor. However, there are some sites that are just awful; Tactical Warfare Airsoft is my prime example of that.

This site has a classifieds section.

This does not seem to be related to the cost of living; it is most likely due to plans to develop the site.

Some people are incapable of learning from their own experiences.

Or someone who does not understand people and emotions.

That is a bit bloody radical! Are there actually people who wear combat gear to airsoft sites?

That does sound like a good day; I should probably give Driver Wood another try.

Thanks for that little rant; it says so much about you, none of it positive. When I write about my airsoft days, I focus on the gameplay. I am not writing a review; there is a separate section on here for that. You have either totally ignored what I wrote about being constructive or have not understood it. I talk to site owners about issues so that they can decide what, if anything, to do about them. i don’t know you so I can neither like nor dislike you.

Regarding Dragon’s Lair, this made me sad today.

A rather easy transition to an MP5SD2, apart from having to butcher the new gearbox to allow the charging handle to work. XT 6.03mm barrel Maple Leaf Macaron and Omega nub CHiLUN ETU as it was already in a spare quick change gearbox SHS High torque motor Trigger shimmed to reduce pull length

Haribos. They are the best way to make friends.

If you regard that review as being very constructive, I think you need to look up the meaning of constructive. You are sitting at the side and throwing stones. Being constructive would involve engaging with them to discuss the issues that you found and probably suggesting ways of resolving them. Doing that was what led to Ray offering me a marshaling gig at the old site. I sent him an email setting out the issues that we had encountered over a few game days and how I thought they could be overcome. His response was positive and thoughtful. Last time I went to the new site, I had a conversation with Ray about the work being done and why I didn’t see it as positive. I and others have also engaged with his team. I have done the same at other sites, not because it feeds my ego or anything like that, but because I want great sites to play at. Maybe you could engage in a similar constructive manner.