Colin Allen

The question I usually ask myself when there are two conflicting reports is about who benefits from being economical with the truth. The person who wrote the review and whose identical email to the site was met with a thumbs up rather than an explanation or a rebuttal had nothing to gain from his original complaint to the site owner. On the other hand, a fan of the site might feel inclined to give a version of events that favours the site. Also note that this was not just one person; two of the group left after the pyro incident and the other six left early.

The chap has now posted a review: “Now after Messaging 501st this very review and got nothing back except a thumbs up I have decided to offer this up as an experience of our day there. We went to your site on 29/09/2024 Firstly trying to find the place was a nightmare we drove past what was a carpark twice and just happened to take the chance and stop in there, then found a wet piece of paper that said 501st this way. After walking aimlessly through some undergrowth I stumbled across someone who said where the 'safe zone' was. On getting there I met a friend who was just walking away as someone threw a Mk5 in said safe zone. When he said something he was told to shut up then chants of fight, fight, with a marshal giggling about it. Anyway we set up in the safe zone, if that’s what you could call it as people were walking around with loaded mags in their guns, to this end my wife refused to remove her eye pro at all, my 15 year old son was very dubious to do it so removed his dye but replaced them with some eye pro whilst in the safe zone. Now I had to ask twice to be chronoed, which was lack luster at best. My GBB coming in a bit hot on 0.32s, showing 286FPS said I'd adjust it but was told it was OK! Now the brief was quite good so kudos there. Now the first game, we were blues attacking. The reds just would not take their hits. I told one marshal (wearing a full-face mask), who seemed to care more about being on his phone that actually even responding to me. So, I spoke to another marshal (guy who gave the brief) that at least acknowledged what I had said. But it didn’t change anything. I repeatedly saw players taking easily 20 to 30 shots before they even bothered to call hits. Plus, the field layout was ridiculous. No cover whatsoever at our end trying to assault a cover laden side, no one could advance. We did speak to another marshal about lack of marshals (young guy with a lightsaber) he said it would be better with less players, really there were only about 20 there! I have been a marshal and run game days with 130 players with 5 marshal no problems. Anyway, it got so bad that I just gave up and went back to the safe zone during the first game. My wife went out at least and tried the 2nd game with was basically the first just with a different name, but she came back soon enough, we packed up and decided to go. I have to say it is without a doubt the worst day or game of airsoft I have played. Even at £45 for the 3 of us it wasn’t worth it, 3 hour round trip and tunnel fees without the cost of diesel thrown it, what a waste. Including my wife, son and myself I had arranged for 8 of us to come for the day, and quite frankly I was left embarrassed that I had got some of our airsoft group to try the site out due to what I have mentioned. 2 never even stayed after the grenade incident the others left the same time we did; it was that bad. There needs to be some drastic improvements to both organisation and more importantly safety as there will soon be a bad injury. I as a player and more importantly as a parent will not be coming back and cannot recommend this site at all in its current state. I only gave one star as I couldn't give any lower.”

It felt more like poor planning; people seemed to be ready to go. Very silly!

Indeed! Between 10:00 and the end of the last game I took part in at around 15:00, we played for just under two hours. The final game could not have lasted long as they had not started by 15:30 when I left the site.

Having originally intended to try Mayhem near Romford, I made a late night decision to go to Splatoon instead, partly because I needed to test two guns that had been on the work table and partly because what I have seen of Mayhem just does not appeal. 51 players were present, again well below previous numbers. The briefing for the first game was build around the site's brand new acquisition, a rather odd looking double decker bus in the container field. The defenders (us) had two lives, one within a certain distance of the bus and the other in the bus, while the attackers had infinite regens on a fixed point. They pushed hard and our outer defence was whittled away, partly because were in such a small area. I got a few hits before taking one myself; falling back into the bus, I took out a couple more attackers before being hit and making the walk of shame to the safe zone. The enemy took the bus reasonably rapidly. The game was then turned around; entering the container field, we were somewhat disconcerted to find that the defenders had been allowed to deploy much further away from the bus, providing them with better cover and us with a less target rich environment. This slowed our advance and, combined with a degree of hesitancy on the part of some of our team, prevented us taking the bus. After less than an hour's play, an early lunch was called in order to allow longer games in the afternoon, which did not really happen. After the long lunch break, we set off for a fallback game; this was played in a different direction from the usual Splatoon fallback games, starting with the barrel zone, into the barrier zone, then into the grey helicopter area of the container field and ending in the area where the bus was. Attackers regened on a marshal behind them, while the defenders had one life in each zone. It took us ages to get into the barrel zone, mainly because a fair proportion of our team were not willing to cross the beaten zone, which was awash with flying BBs. At this point, after several attempts to break in and massive BB use, my PDW, which I only finished building yesterday, decided to die. Convinced that I had killed the Perun Hybrid, I trudged disconsolately back to the safe zone, before realising that I had been using the uncharged LiFe battery that I had brought along with the intention of setting up the PDW's hop and chronoing it. Dropping a fully charged battery into the PDW revived it and I went back to the war, only to find that we still had not broken into the barrel zone. Eventually we pushed in and then made a semi-decent job of clearing the barrier zone. Breaking into the grey helicopter area was hard work and we timed out before getting near the bus. After another break, we set up to defend the barrel zone; the other team's attack was fast and aggressive and their hit taking dubious; they quickly broken into the zone and cleared it, doing the same again in the barrier zone. Once this fell, I took up a position in the grey helicopter area's rubbish dump, where I had good cover and a good line of sight on where the enemy had to enter the area. The ARX160 did its job well, taking a toll of the enemy. At one point, an enemy player ran past me at a range of about 6m; I put several rounds into him, but he just carried on regardless. Eventually, I was hit and fell back to the final zone to defend the new bus. Three of us took up positions in the old single decker bus, covering against a wide sweep around the edge of the field, only to be informed that the entire team had to be in the new bus! So, 25 of us got into the new bus, from which far fewer could actually shoot. Fortunately, I was shot fairly early on and went back to the safe zone. There was another game afterwards; along with a number of other players, I decided not to partake, so packed up my gear and left. Talking with other players, there seemed to be a general agreement that the addition of the new bus had not been entirely positive, with the same being felt about how it was used, especially the entire team having to be in it, which was ridiculous. Hopefully, game design around it will improve. It will also be interesting to see how it impacts other games that are not focussed on it. Overall, it was, at best, an average day of airsoft, with a marked lack of actual game time and too much hanging around. To end on a positive note, I shared a table with an affable chap called Kevin and bumped into the young chap who bought my Classic Army ISSC MK22 at Splatoon's bootfair in May of this year; he is very pleased with it. Guns used: Ares VZ58 Double Bell KAC PDW S&T/Umarex ARX160 ASG XP18 Commander

He should be giving it away in order to atone for that cover on the settee.

It is indeed! Still crazily overpriced.

I left a comment on it, pointing out the pricing; the ad has now disappeared.

Brilliant! £270 from Patrol Base + £400 of upgrades.

A V3 gearbox would not fit inside it.

Ask for a live video meeting with them showing you the item. That at least proves that they have it.

Small Claims Court (including the mediation service they provide). Solicitor's letter. Report him for theft.

I assume you have his address.

Nah! A bit of pipe and some bent metal will make a convincing replacement.

Information received, which it is not up to me to divulge.

I will not be going there.

Yes; that was notable. It was great to see so many youngsters and that family enjoying airsoft.

Today, I went to Airsoft Plantation in deepest Essex, near the very strange town of Billericay. Around 200 people were present, which meant that the safe zone was busy but not crowded. After the usual rituals, we set off for the first game, which was a simple attack and defend. The attackers (the dastardly blue team) had to break into the village, which we were defending, get two fuel cans to each Landrover and a large amount of money to the Town Hall. They had infinite buddy regens while we had two lives with a 30m fallback after the first life. I started at the front of the village with what was, to put it mildly, a target rich environment, taking out a number of enemies trying to break into one of the buildings before being hit. Falling back, I deployed to the right flank of the village and took out a group of the enemy who were sneaking through the woods. Redeploying, I was hit by a single shot from an unexpected angle; as I put my hand up and called the hit, the shooter apologised as he had thought I was a blue player. Eventually, the blue team achieved their objectives after what seemed a very long time. After a quick break to mag up, we set out for the reverse of the game; I took one of the fuel cans towards the left hand jeep, but was hit, so had to hand it over to the chap who buddy regened me; our assault seemed much more organised and aggressive, so it was no surprise that we completed the objective rather more rapidly than our opponents. The next game was a bit different from the usual airsoft game. Each team had three objectives to achieve across the very large playing area. The catch was that we did not initially know what they were. Regens were on on a buddy after a 30m fallback. When the game began, we were handed an ammo box which contained a map showing our first objective; it was the bus in the mortar pits. The team split into three groups and set off, the group that I was with flanking around the far right of the site; we had no idea what the blue team's objective was but we bumped into a few of them near and in the mortar pits. In the bus was another ammo box, which contained another map informing us that our next objective was the high building in the village. We pushed rapidly into the environs of the village, where a chaotic set of firefights ensued, with players from both sides moving around the same area and popping up in unexpected locations, including behind their opponents. After a while, the blue team seemed to fade away and we secured our objective where we found, guess what, another ammo box, this one telling us that our final objective was the kill house in the woods. However, the enemy had achieved their second objective well before we did and had already set off for their final objective, which was also in the woods, leaving a strong force to hold us off. In a well organised assault with great comms, which drew praise from the marshals, we fought through the border area, which is really difficult to do in that direction, and stormed into the woods, pushing forward until we ran out of time. It was a well earned victory for the blue team. After lunch, which saw the catering team serve a vast number of players, we went to play in the mortar pits. The attackers, who were the blue team in the first game, had to plant explosives in four designated vehicles; we had no idea which they were. They could attack over a wide arc and had infinite regens on a marshal, while we had two lives with a 30m fallback.. A couple of us set up in the fort, which is very near the mortar pits, from where we had great fun picking off enemy players as they moved through the woods and open areas until we were eventually swarmed and went down in a hail of BBs. Falling back, I took up a position inside the mortar pits; we fought off multiple attacks but were gradually whittled down. Rather than going back to the safe zone when I was hit, I stayed in the "dead zone" behind the mortar pits watching the fun as our few remaining defenders held on for as long as they could. One of our players used a minigun to great effect providing suppressive fire, while a handful of others fought hard. Eventually, the blue team blew up the final vehicle. This game was then reversed. Again, our attack was well organised and aggressive, pushing into the mortar pits and blowing up our four target vehicles rather more rapidly than the blue team had managed. With only a short time remaining, the last game was Last Man Standing in the village; as this did not appeal, I decided to leave after what was an excellent day of airsoft, with well designed games played in a good spirit and well marshalled. I don't like the idea of having a "home site" but, if I had one, it would be AP. The site is very large, has a wide variety of terrain, great structures and well designed and marshalled games. It also seems to attract a good group of players. Weapons used: LCT PP-19-01 (shooting a bit low so will need opening up) APS UAR ASG XP18 Commander (CO2)

Perhaps a section where they can advertise items for a fee that goes to charity.

If it is a high cap, you pour BBs into it and wind the cogged wheel at the bottom of the magazine until it kicks back. If it is a mid cap, you put the BBs in down the feed tube with a speed loader.

Bloody hell! I am going to flog the lad's one for £1500 while he is away. He won't know; he never looks at the forum ;).

Are you using the red or black rubber cylinder that fits in the top of the metal nub? If you are, trim a tiny amount (about 0.5mm) off the end of that and try it again. If you are using the left hand one of the three metal "nubs`" shown with a normal or Omega nub, you may need to do some careful filing of the top part where the arm sits on it.

The Begadi hop units tend to over hop with even a small amount of adjustment unless you trim the rubber cylinder. I run a couple with Macarons and Omega nubs; they barely need moving off zero to get perfect flight.

That is good; too many sites repeat the same games time after time, which is why I drift around different sites.

Hey there. Whereabouts in London are you?