Colin Allen

I completely agree with your comments about AP; it is a very well run site. The only parts of the site that we did not use were the woods, which was probably because they still need some work to make them safe, and the far end of the field at Swaziland, which is a bit of a dead area. Regarding the incident you describe, as John always says in the briefing, it is up to dead players to get out of the way. Accidents happen and vision is limited when you are looking through a scope. Calling out someone in that way is never appropriate.

I had considered going to Mayhem in Essex today, but what I have learned about the site just does not excite me, so I set off for Airsoft Plantation yet again. About 120 were present on a bright and sunny day. As usual, it was good to see a decent number of new rental players on site. The mud had dried out considerably in the last week; it was no longer slippery, now being just slightly sticky in some of the worst areas, particularly the infamous puddle on the main track across the village. As last week, my first task was to check the setup of a weapon; in this case, my recently overhauled and upgraded SR47. This isn't one of the more recent airsoft iterations of this gun, being a rather ancient Hurricane kit with full Knight's Armaments trades. It shot very nicely at 1.06J with its new gearbox and Perun Hybrid. The first game involved us as the red team defending the village with two lives each, while the blue team, with infinite marshal regens, had to attack from the border, capture the yellow armbands of three HVTs and get them back to their marshal. This was a tough game for both sides; I started off behind the fishing hut, where a group of us held up the enemy's attack down that flank for a considerable time. Eventually being hit, I fell back to the fuel dump, from where plastic death was dealt to the attackers until one of them dealt it to me. This game was then turned around; a few of us decided to attack along the flank that I had helped to defend in the first game. After a very stiff fight, we took the fishing hut and pushed into the village, helping to eventually clear it. However, as a team we were only able to find two HVTs. When time was called, the remaining HVT crawled out from the basement of one of the huts, which was annoying as I always make a point of putting a few shots or a pyro in there in games of this sort if I am passing it, which I did not on this occasion. The next game had two phases. Attacking from the DEA base with infinite buddy regens after a 30m fall back, we had to break into the mortar pits and capture two suicide vests located in the horse box. We then had to get each of the suicide bombers to the buildings named in the pockets of the suicide vests. This did lead me to wonder why suicide vests would have pockets; they seem somewhat superfluous as you don't really need to take anything else with you when you set off to blow yourself up. The defenders had two lives in the mortar pits and two in the general area of the village. We fought our way into the mortar pits against very determined resistance and eventually grabbed the suicide vests, which the future martyrs for our cause then donned. Most of us set off for the village, with the larger group containing the bombers swinging around to attack it from the direction of the border while some of us took the more direct route, attacking through the suburbs. However, a fair number of our players had become fixated on dealing with the two enemy players still on the upper deck of the bus, which was pointless as it only required a couple of people to cover the two doors. Having cleared the suburbs, we were pressing the defenders back across the village when the two bombers achieved the martyrdom that they sought. During the fighting in the village I realised that I had lost one of my pistol mags; being pretty sure where I had lost it while slithering head first over a berm in the mortar pits, I went to look for it, but it was not there . A break for luncheon was then taken, during which a player handed my mag in at the office ; I was very pleased to be reunited with it as they are not cheap ones. After lunch, the suicide bomber game was reversed. As usual, I took up a position on the far side of the mortar pits where we had a brilliant battle against the attackers, who repeatedly charged forwards like WWII Japanese infantry and were shot down in vast numbers. At one point a gas grenade landed very near my advanced position; as last week in almost exactly the same position, I carried out a well planned and executed tactical withdrawal, which again was honestly not me running away, although I was running and heading in a direction that was away from the enemy. Joining my colleagues, we continued to mow down the enemy until we were slowly whittled down and overrun. After falling back to the village, I was hit in the suburbs (which isn't a euphemism for something else) and fell back to the town hall, which turned out to be one of the attackers' objectives; it became rather hectic and we held the building for a considerable time until they eventually managed to storm it. After a short break, during which many of our team departed, we then returned to the mortar pits. As defenders we had two lives, one near the front of the area and one further back; the attackers, with infinite regens on a marshal, had to get five players through the mortar pits to the boundary rope beyond it. Along with a few colleagues, I started off defending the hill fort area; we were eventually pushed back and, having been hit, I fell back to one of the berms near the bus, from where I fought until I received my final hit. The enemy got their five players to the boundary rope. When the game was reversed, we were only required to get three players to the boundary rope due to our depleted numbers. The group that I was with assaulted the hill fort area and pushed along the side of the mortar pits, slowly taking out the defenders and frequently regening on our marshal. As we were approaching the far side, I witnessed the only unpleasant incident that I have seen at AP in a long time. An enemy player, who was shot at reasonably close range by one of our players, called the hit, put his hand up to acknowledge it and began to walk way before turning around and shooting at a couple of our players who were running for the boundary rope. The chap who had shot him, who happened to be a player marshal, challenged him on this, whereupon he became very salty, repeatedly swearing at the player marshal. A non-player marshal took him aside and was overheard giving him what could be called a stiff bollocking, pointing out that he was in the wrong and that getting so irate and foul mouthed over a game of pretend war was rather ridiculous and utterly inappropriate, especially as there were children in the vicinity; I am not sure what the final outcome was as I was out of earshot after that. We got the required number of players to the boundary rope. It was yet another really good day of airsoft at AP, with the only negative for me being the not entirely unexpected death of one of my 1600mAh LiFe batteries, which are now almost impossible to replace. I am unable to play again until the end of the month due to rehearsals and recording sessions, but will probably play somewhere on 30th March. Weapons used: APS UAR LCT PP-19-01 ASG XP18 Commander (CO2)

Having exchanged messages with him on Thursday, I got the impression that his Euro shoe size might be a higher number than his IQ.

That is nice; I am going for a more minimalist look.

The MP5 that he mentions is a JG MC51; it was the one I was going to buy until I suspected that it had been painted as well. He got rather upset when I asked about that.

Octagon used to sell them with the spacers, but they aren't on their site now :(.

I was hoping to buy another gun he was selling which, on closer inspection of the pictures, looked like it might have been painted. When I asked him about it and mentioned that the G&G one was being discussed, he denied that it was painted and asked why it would matter if it was originally two-toned. At that point, I ended the conversation.

A skinny handguard is next on the list.

It transitioned!

Yes, that is probably my favourite.

Looking at what he has listed, he does seem to specialise in trying to sell shonky stuff for more than it is worth.

That is sad; it seems to be going downhill.

This weekend I had a choice between Splatoon and Airsoft Plantation; given my recent experiences at both, Airsoft Plantation was the only sensible decision. As usual, around 125 players were present, a good mixture of experienced and newer airsofters with a high number of young new rentals. My first act was to go out to the village's main path to set up the JG sort-of-Fleming 51K, as this provides a long line of sight with trees at the far end, making it easy to see the BBs' flight. This also gave me the opportunity to study the development of the mud on the path to the mortars pits, which had transformed from its previous glutinous state into a more slippery entity, with the clay layer becoming more dominant as it wore down. A few people conducted action research to measure its coefficient of friction during the day, with at least two ending up horizontal. After the usual ritual of the safety brief, we set out for the first game; this involved us, the blue team, defending the village with two lives, while the attackers, starting at the Border and with infinite buddy regens after a 30m fallback, had to get three bombs to the missile that lives in a rear corner of the village. Starting off at the front of the village, we had a target rich environment as the enemy tried to push straight into the village; after sending a lot of attackers back to regen, I was eventually hit and fell back towards the missile as it seemed that some of the enemy were moving in that direction. Another really good set of firefights ensued; my involvement ended when a single shot from a sniper rifle or DMR took me out. Once the attackers had completed their mission and everyone had reloaded, the game was turned around. A group of us went on a wide flanking manoeuvre through the mortar pits and the DEA Base to attack the village from the rear. This worked well; defenders were drawn off to face us, allowing our bombers to get to the missile far more rapidly than the enemy had managed. After another trip to the safe zone, we set off with the bombs again; this time, we started at the village and had to get the three bombs onto the lower deck of the bus in the mortar pits. The mortar pits are very difficult to attack, having multiple berms and other defensive positions in a relatively small area. Our little group set out on another wide flank march, passing through the Boathouse to attack the far side of the mortar pits; however, the enemy were ready for this and we took heavy casualties, which sent us back to our marshal to regen with monotonous regularity . Finding this route too difficult, we shifted to the centre, where we had more success, gradually whittling down the enemy, who only had two lives. Eventually, the three bombers delivered their bombs to the bus. The game was immediately turned around; I started off at the berms on the far side, getting many hits on the attackers and sharing my mags with a friend as he did not have enough. After emptying all my mags, I fell back to reload, after which I rejoined the battle, eventually being hit. Dropping back 30m to regen on a team mate, I joined in the fight around the bus until I was hit again, which ended my involvement. Lunch followed, during which around 100 players were fed with the usual level of efficiency; after this we played a long fallback game starting in the woods. As the attackers, we had infinite buddy regens after a 30m fallback, while the defenders had a limited number of lives in each phase. Our objectives were to get a bomb on each of three bridges in order, these being the Wobbly Bridge (Guess what? It is wobbly!), the large and rather splendid bridge at the border, and the bridge in the mortars pits. Initially setting out on the left flank, we fought our way forward, gradually pushing back the enemy and reaching the ditch that the Wobbly Bridge crosses. To our right, we could see our colleagues on that flank, who had progressed more rapidly and were already across the ditch. We very quickly got a bomb onto the bridge and set off for the border, fighting our way through the rest of the woods and engaging the easily defensible positions there. After a bit of a delay, we pushed over that ditch, with a bomb being left on the aforesaid large and rather splendid bridge. We crashed through the village, with our group swinging right to attack the mortar pits from the flank. After a hard fight, we secured the bridge and called for the final bomb. The bomb and its attendant bomber did not appear, so we called for it again and again. Sadly, it never arrived and the game timed out. The site owner then informed us that the third bomb had been left by its guardian on the other small and insignificant bridge at the border. When the game was reversed, the objective was changed so that the enemy had to get a live player onto the mortar pits bridge, which we had done within the time limit. In the first stage, I took up a position by the left hand boundary ditch, from where I could hit anyone attacking along the ditch and could also shoot across to the Wobbly Bridge; a young lad was to my immediate right. A couple of minutes after the game started, I was shot in the back; as I called the hit and turned around to try to work out how the enemy had got behind us, the young lad was also hit from behind. The shooter was one of our team mates about 5m behind us, who had thought that we were the enemy. Apparently, wearing blue armbands and shooting at the attackers wasn't enough of a hint that we might be on his side; I suggested that he take the hit, but he refused, so I fell back towards the border and again took up a favourite position in the boundary ditch, from where I took out several of the enemy before I was hit. Climbing out of the ditch, one of our players apologised for shooting me as he had thought I was the enemy; apparently, wearing a blue armband and shooting the enemy wasn't enough of a hint that I might be on his side either. Falling back towards the village, I took up a position behind the fishing hut, which already had a couple of our players in it. After a great set of fights, I was hit; mirabile dictu, this time it was by the enemy! Having run back to the mortars pits, a group of us lurked behind a berm to attempt to stop any flanking attacks, which soon appeared. While we held them off, the enemy forced their way onto the bridge, ending the game and the day. It was another typical AP day, with well designed games that were well organised and marshalled and played in a good spirit. It was really good to see so many keen youngsters there. Weapons used: JG kind-of-Fleming 51K Cyma MPiKM Golden Eagle AMD65 ASG XP18 Commander (CO2)

Nothing special, but this is my eldest son's old SRC MP5 that he gave me when he gave up airsoft several years ago. It had a "Navy" style lower and selector, which I really disliked. This morning, I decided to install a Perun Hybrid; having done that, I started wondering if I could fettle one of my spare Classic Army lowers to fit. I could; after some minor surgery, everything aligns well and it functions perfectly. A well spent morning.

Thank you. I can hear one of them calling out to me to buy it.

Is this the Arcturus or the Well version?

People who have had a bad experience are far more likely to leave a review than those who have had a positive one.

That looks much better!

It looks like a bit of heatshrink; I wonder if someone put it on the cylindrical part of the slider to try to make it a little less prone to moving.

Ah! NfN.

I am intrigued as to what barley was used for.

Indeed; mine works happily with STANAG mags, although it looks much cooler with the 6x35 style mags. I have the battery in a pouch on the stock.

The rule is unworkable. Whoever came up with it needs to give their head a shake, ideally after covering their ears so that their brain does not fall out.

Today, I went to the rather chilly and extremely muddy Airsoft Plantation. Airsoft Plantation's winter mud is fascinating and intriguing; its surface area, depth, varying consistency and slippery essence would delight the most jaded connoisseur of pedological science, a subject about which the Lad knows rather a lot. Having set up the latest addition to the HK family, which JG call a G3 SAS, I readied the HK33 and HK53 for the day's action. Around 120-130 players were present, a decent number which resulted in the safe zone being a little less busy than it sometimes is. The first game was a shortish warm up, which involved us, the red team, attacking from the village into the mortar pits with the aim of getting 20 players on the top deck of the bus that is parked in the middle of it. On reflection I do wonder why someone would park a bus in the middle of some mortar pits; it seems an odd thing to do. We had infinite regens on one of two marshals, while the defenders had two lives in the mortar pits. The defenders could have players on the bottom deck of the bus, but not the top. A group of us cut across the site, forming the right flank of the overall assault and swinging down towards the comms truck, from where we dislodged the enemy rather handily, although I did have to take several trips to the nearest regen marshal. Eventually, of course, the enemy were overwhelmed, although it was interesting to witness how long it takes for 20 airsofters to get onto the top floor of a bus and back down again. After a very short break to mag up, we set out for a game which involved getting a crate into the enemy's HQ. We started at the DEA base, with the plane as our HQ, while the blues started in the village with the town hall as theirs. Each side had unlimited regens on six medics; if a medic was hit, they had to find another medic to regen on. A couple of us medics stayed with the group defending the plane, where we soon became very busy shooting the attacking enemy and reviving our colleagues. A strong enemy attack from the direction of the mortar pits was repulsed after an epic fight, as were several probing attacks. Eventually, the enemy increased the pressure on us and managed to get their crate into the plane, winning the game. I am unable to report on our colleagues who were trying to get our crate into the town hall as I have no idea what happened to them. After another very short break, our team went to the village where ten high value targets, of which I was one, had to be defended by the rest of the team. As HVTs, pairs of us had to occupy a building, so five buildings were occupied by HVTs; once hit, we had to drop our yellow armbands where we were and the go to the border to get new instructions from a marshal. Other defenders had two lives, while the attackers, whose aim was to collect all ten armbands and get them to the marshal, had infinite regens on a teammate. After several good exchanges, a wafty BB at the very end of its flight drifted through the window and gently tapped me on the shoulder. When I reached the marshal at the border, he offered me three choices: 1. Remain there with him looking bored and glum. 2. Go back to the safe zone for an early lunch. 3. Betray my teammates by swapping sides and joining the attackers. Being a true gentleman and a man of honour, I immediately chose the latter, rejoicing in shooting my former colleagues. After lunch, we set out for the mortar pits for a reversal of the first game of the day. I started off at the comms truck, holding back an enemy attack for a while until discretion became the better part of valour and I decided to fall back towards my colleagues; unfortunately, while carrying out a tactical withdrawal (honestly not running away!) I was shot in the back and had to regen at the berm, where I fought until I was hit again, ending my involvement in the game. Following this, we reversed the game with the high value targets; attacking into the village was hard, but we gradually wore down the defenders and captured all of the armbands. As the game with the crates had gone so well, it was reprised with different start points and targets; we started at the tower in the village and had to get our crate onto the bus in the mortar pits, while the enemy started at the bus and had to get their crate into the tower. This was not our finest moment; after holding off the enemy's attack for a while, a group of them swung right around the site, entering the village from the far end and eventually getting their crate to its destination. The day finished with a rather fun game of infection; I lasted quite a while, combining shooting the ever growing number of attackers with successfully avoiding being shot until quite near the end. Of course, I was eventually hit and, by the time I had regened at the hill fort and returned as an attacker, the game was essentially over. When all clear was called, one surviving defender popped up. It was a typical AP day; well organised and well run with well designed games and a good mix of players from the very experienced to first time rentals. No airsoft for me next weekend as our guitarist and I are going to see the utterly bonkers Laibach on the Saturday evening and then have a rehearsal on the Sunday. Weapons used: Classic Army HK33 Classic Army HK53 JG G3 "SAS" (not for very long as I only had one mag with me) ASG XP18 Commander (CO2)