Spent Sunday morning at RIFTs new Blackstone CQB site in Huntingdon. First impressions are that it's really good. They've obviously put a lot of time, money and effort into it. The set-up area is massive, with plenty of space for everyone. The permanent White Sphere Tactical shop is full of nice shiney things for you to buy. The vending machines were a bit of a ballache, but there's free tea and coffee-making facilies on site should you wish to partake. Organisation is up to the usual standard at RIFT. The long and thorough briefing made sure everyone knows the score. Costas and the rest of the marshall team are always on hand and friendly.
Games were short, about 20 minutes a round, two rounds a game, with teams swapping spawn points each round. What you lose in time, you gain in intensity. There's lots of corners to hide around but you're mostly able to flank the campers, so you're rarely safe and have to keep moving, keep pushing. Game modes are the usual mix of CTF, bank raids and bomb defusal, and are fast-paced. Most of the games had limited spawning/lives, which makes play more deliberate and suits the smaller nature of the site.
As for how I did... Ups and downs. The first game was a mare, as I was learning the lay of the land, the pace of the games, and struggling with a shotgun run on duster gas because it was too spicy on green at chrono. For the following games I was more confident navigating the maze of killrooms and alleyways, switched to an MP7 and had great fun sneaking up on the unsuspecting. The only game that let the session down was towards the end and was was a CTF variant with VIPs and infinite respawns. The opposing team dominated early on and it turned into a meatgrinder, with a 30 second play loop of spawn, try to push out, get shot and move back to spawn. No whinging about the other team as they absolutely nailed it; more that the rules didn't work that time around.
The only other complaint was the use of pyro. It's an indoor site and you need something to clear corners and rooms, but having a flashbang go off at your feet gets your bell rung. My ears are still ringing 24 hours after. Some poor sod had one go off near his face. All an accident, the marshalls were on it, and no one was being a dickhead, but it if you're going to allow flashbangs and grenades at an indoor site, you should really make earpro mandatory, even if it's just foam earplugs. Every little helps. If I'd known, I would have sorted myself out.
Anyway, new site. All these gripes will get ironed out and refined as they go. But the foundations are there, and they're solid. It's a really good site, My pals and I had a great morning and I think it's going to be our go-to over the winter.