Albiscuit

Went the wknd after xmas... I am glad I had not read these reviews though as I had the best skirmish so far!! Fair enough I have not got the greatest experience of Airsoft sites, only visiting Mall and Bunker 51 a few times each but Epsom Tunnels was something else. It was PURE close quarters. The atmosphere down there was great, it was eerie and tense as you never knew who was coming down the tunnels. Often I managed to creep around corners and appear behind the enemy. I used my pistol more times in this one day of skirmishing than I have in the past 6 skirmishes I think. It was great. The players were friendly, there seemed to be a lot of regulars who were welcoming and offered advice. One guy in particular who was a player/marshal was proper sound and I ended up shadowing him for a lot of the early games and he gave me squad leader and defender leader duties for some of the afternoons harder games too which was cool. The game types were structured well, the first game was a roaming 3 or 4 man team game to give people a feel for the layout, the next few were objective games which were great fun and the last few were fun games, Zombies and balloon game (think MarioKart battle, you have a balloon strapped to your backside and that is your life, pistols only). The games suited the zone completely. some of the games at Mall and Bunker I have played tend to turn into team death match despite there being a clear objective, however here people worked together to complete the objectives. That being said there are a few minors, the site is very basic, no toilet was not an issue, but lack of basic facilities will put a lot of people off. Team games could certainly use a bit more identification. A few times I ended up having a conversation with the enemy at a junction as we assumed we were on the same team. We both called hit and went back to or spawns as the atmosphere was very gentlemanly. the lack of marshals was a different experience, granted there were player/marshals who kept things moving and there was no actual need for a marshal I could see, but a bit of clarification when a game was over could be useful, I got shouted at for full autoing a group heading towards me as the game was over and I never realised The atmosphere and game types for me were spot on and I am hoping this was not a one off, as I have just booked to go again at the end of Jan Could see this being a regular haunt of ours, (beats bunker 51 for sure)

My combat raider was playing up a lil bit last skirmish, seemed to be missfiring quite a bit. Someone suggested I should pt some oil into the magazine which will then feed into the hop up and barrell and help out this problem, does this sound like good advice?? as another person suggested it was the magazines as there were cheaper ones I bought.... I will probably look to getting new magazines anyway now. But should I be lubricating the barrel and hop up at all?

Not in the same game lol... one of the games there are a blue and red hanky placed in doorways usually. The objective is to finish the time with your colour hanky on top of the enemies.. Sounds ok, but in reality you have 15 people bottlenecked in at doorways swapping the hankys over using the barrel of their guns or at worse pulling the cloths into their teams doorway more so there is no chance of it being swapped back. Cant remember what the nuts and bolts are for. Think you have to take the nuts one at a time back to your base, but the site is so small the objectives are pretty pointless. Epsom tunnels used flashing strobe lights, a little like the skips lights but in red as an objective last week, teams had to defend the lights and had to fall back to next objective when shot, attackers had to take strobes back to safe zone, game ended when all three strobes returned. Was very good fun.

Its a shame your first was such a negative experience. Stick with it and try other venues though. I have currently only been to three different sites and the one we went too last Sunday was by far the best experience I have had at a skirmish. We went to Epsom tunnels and it was such a great day. I shall put a short review in the relevant forum later....

Also looking to build some sort of carrying system for my gear too and so far this thread has been useful

The Mall uses a few for some of their tactical games, laptop bags and ammo boxes. I tend to ignore the tactics and objectives there and concentrate on hunting the enemy as its what I prefer, However I think woodland skirmishes would be better suited for tactical objective games like this. Bunker 51 uses hankerchiefs and a bucket of nuts and bolts for their props....... So much wasted potential...

B&T tracer unit, hopefully more powerful than the crap I have been using.....

Actually, am turning my loadout from black to green anyway now as a olive/green loadout will work for CQB and woodland for me and help me keep my spending on kit down if I have 1 loadout suitable for both at the moment. So green 3 please

The thing is a lot of places would use this space as extra retail space. Floor space is vital is stores. If its not on display people might not ask for it.When I first started out in Retail (in a Plumbing/Builders Merchants) we had a counter with EVERYTHING hidden behind. After a few months we had a revamp and had almost all the stock on the shop floor and all of a sudden everything people didnt know we stocked was flying out the door. HOWEVER.. I love your idea... When I used to DJ, I became friendly with the guys in my local niche record shops and got to the point where I would spend all day on a saturday in there talking to staff, playing about on their decks and mixing and just hanging out with the staff and other regulars. It became a ritual for a few of us, we even used to meet up midweek and go raving etc. I would like to see that in a Airsoft store, IT would be a good place to start a team, meet like minded people etc. Especially as its quite a niche hobby and we might not have a massive group of mates who are into it as well. On another note: Getting your store to supply a local skirmish site would be a good way to increase sales and marketing. Its not uncommon for skirmish sites to have a table or two set up from a local store showcasing some stuff.

God yeah.... I HATE wolf armouries for this very reason. Looks TERRIBLE in there, dark and stuff everywhere, even the staff cant find things??, Pro airsoft however is bright and clean and looks pleasing..

Love the blinged up rifle!!

Cheers Loz, will bag the B&T one then.

Thanks guys, has anyone got one they use and am impressed with? Edit: Very few, well none really, people have actually reviewed the ones I have looked at

Hmm.. tempted... currently fill a mp5 pouch with flashbangs and its not idea in the dark fecking about trying to get em out... Did I see you had some available in black?

But an arrow with a rubber ball on the end could knock off eye pro and a BB could then get blasted in your face. A re enactment or LARP would not have BBs flying about as a hazard so a lack of eye pro would be normal.

Pretty pointless arguing about gun controls or governing bodies for RIFs as how they kid got it is a moot point. He got it.. He used it badly and without care and paid the price. There were clearly mistakes made by all, the police it seemed could have made a different call but the officer on the ground (despite possibly being trigger happy, having a bad day WHATEVER) took the call. He was presented with a kid in a park who had been purposely scaring people with a realistic looking weapon, who he thought was going to draw it. So he shot. Police cannot shoot to wound, a leg/arm shot may not stop someone from returning fire and can cause more harm than good. So he followed his training and killed the kid. Its tragic. But the fault lies with the kid. He should not have taken it outside, should not have scared people with it and SHOULD have followed the instructions from the cops to put his hands on head etc... Such a shame and waste of life, I feel for his family and the cop who took the shot.

As mentioned previously, eye pro could easily get knocked off so I doubt many places would allow it. At lease whilst LARPing people are not firing BBs around so arrows would be in use as they wont take an eye out. I do like the idea for a merc / badlands type of set up but I would try to keep your hobbies separate this time.

Me neither, Only saw one boot.... Shouldave Gome to Specsavers...

Can anyone recommend me a Tracer Unit? Currently using a spare from one of my mates but its really not very good. If I fire with my torch on its not too bad as I can see the glowing BB, but even in the dark its pretty hit and miss. When I look down the barrel the light inside is not very bright at all even with fresh batteries. I was speaking to someone at The Mall on Sunday and his was pretty awesome, even in the light you could see his BBs were glowing as they left the gun and in the dark they looked great. He said it was from ebay at around £30 but I don't really know what I am looking for, the one I am using was almost £30 from Pro Airsoft so I don't want to buy one online which is just as bad as my current one. I would rather spend a lot more in store on the recommendation of the shop. Has anyone got one they would recommend or at the least help me out with what to look out for, models, makes etc... Thanks

Very nice Cav...

As a noob with a half a dozen skirmishes under my belt this is the BEST advise you could receive. Build your kit to suit your style of play and the places you play. Having played 6 or 7 games I have realised my face protection is not upto scratch as I keep getting blasted in the forehead and having to explain the bruises and marks all the time. Plus my glasses and lower mask combo do not work together very well so need to sort that. Could never have been warned about this before I started as its personal preference. Also I am fed up of body shots stinging like hell (I play in a long sleeve T shirt) so also want to add a jacket or vest for extra protection despite saying from the start I do not like vests..... I have only played CQB indoors so my loadout is basic and black to suit the dark rooms we play in but as I want to start playing outdoors I appreciate I need a separate loadout for outdoors (taking into account the great English weather).

The law is soo vague on lots of things. I used to work in a hardware store and could not sell knives, bladed items or axes to under 18s, however I could sell an under 18 year old a Balaclava, sledgehammer, pliers and a crowbar without blinking. I had saws, hole punches, hammers, picks all of which were waaay more dangerous than a Stanley knife and all available to a 16 year old on a apprenticeship or a 17 year old thug..

Moar

Like I said it depends what works and where you want to go in the future..... My main set up is a tactical belt (el cheapo from the Bay) with MP5 mag pouches on the left and a drop leg holster for my side arm on the right. BUT Then I bought a M4 so needed different mags pouches so have MP5 and M4 pouches now, then I realised I needed more space for grenades and a dump pouch for quick stashing of empty mags and a smaller pouch as I couldnt get to my pockets with all these new pouches so another was added, all of a sudden I need a vest So it kind of just progresses, my advise would be to not buy anything too expensive whilst starting until you know what you want and where you want to go with it. Borrow a vest or buy a cheap tactical belt and pouches before comiting to more expensive gear and build it up as you go along.

Fair play!! thx