Albiscuit

Apocalypse paintball in Cambridgeshire.
 
I think the reason it was mostly crap is the place is 80% paintball with a couple of airsoft games here and there so the focus is not on airsoft which I understand to some degree, but if your going to do something as a business, make it work, very frustrating from a paying players point of view.
Seems to be the theme for sites who run airsoft when its not their main focus, with a couple of exceptions to be fair but will certainly try to avoid sites like this in the future or do more research on them first.

Like I said elsewhere most sites cant organise a decent days skirmish with 100 players why would we expect a bunch of magazine editors to be able to run a decent game for 400 people in a site they dont run?

Rubber banana or flip flop also work.
 
I have been killed by a squeaky pig thanks @ImTriggerHappy and a rubber chicken @L3wisD ffs 

I have a little electrical screwdriver I use for about a million airsoft uses, this is on the list. 

I got my last box of mk5s from Socom tactical as they were the most reasonable who would actually deliver.
I haven’t checked their stock levels though

Nothing more to add really as usual you hit all the points.
 
I would certainly go back as the playable areas were great and I enjoyed the game types and feel there’s still half the site to explore.
I will just have to bring lunch next time haha

Thanks for the info, we’re going to be booking in for the 15th so all good to know!

Site Name: RIFT The Ridge
Contact details: 07751586781
Website Address: https://riftairsoft.com/
Facebook Page: RIFT Airsoft "The Ridge" Barton Le Clay | Facebook
Site Address: Luton Rd, Barton-le-Clay, Bedford MK45 4LG
 
I had put off going to airsoft recently despite having been packed ready to go for the past 4 weeks. A last minute dash to celebrate an anniversary resulted in me looking at Airsoft sites close to Dunstable for Easter Sunday. A second visit to Red 1 The School was on the cards but I did spot that RIFT Airsoft were playing The Ridge which was pretty darned close. A quick message to @Albiscuit and we got booked in. 
 
Despite doing these reviews for years, I had never visited a RIFT site, Always wanted to do COM 3 but never managed to get around to it. RIFT Airsoft have been going for years and have a knack for acquiring fairly unique sites.

General consensus about the site from previous reviews: "You get a work out, but it's fun". 
 
Medium sized ex Quarry turned 4x4 Trail of which the entrance is scarily located right on the onramp to the A6 (As in you are literally about to merge onto the A6 blink and you'll miss the site entrance on the left and have to come back around from the next junction).
 
The Ridge is a Sandy/Woodland site which has huge elevation changes around the North, North West and West sides of the site. Very steep hills which need careful footwork to navigate. Despite being promoted as a Quarry, it has lots of Bush style woodland vegetation which provides some cover and a challenge to walk through. 
 
Short/Medium/Long Engagement distances, though due to the stronger wind in the large open area long distance engagement was difficult. There are no man made structures at all. It's a pure site in that regard. 
 
The site has no permanent Airsoft event infrastructure. It is all brought in from outside in a van for the day. 
 
Good:
 
USP: Not many sites like this in the UK. Sandpit closed down years ago, Imperium's Quarry is quite small and the one used in Kent for the RUCKUS games is almost never used (More of a "Guest" site.) The Ridge quarry is not as good or featured as the other quarry sites, but it's open more often. There is no quarry machinery etc. Just the sand and rock left over. Very glad it exists though if you want a somewhat different game day to usual. (Roll out the desert uniform!)
 
Safety Brief: Very much a "mall" style safety brief, long, but covered everything and it was needed due to the natural dangers the site has. 
 
Shop: Pretty good shop. A large selection of low/mid tier pistols and rifles. Gear, gas and bb's. 
 
Game Modes: More complicated then your average skirmish, with multiple objectives (The pole game was quite interesting). You need to pay attention in the game brief to make sure your team win. Even if you dominate the opposing teams spawn point, they can score points if you aren't playing for the objective. 
 
Chrono: Mandatory, nothing was tagged, but everyone's rifle was noted and FPS was ticked off on a sheet. I do prefer tagging, but this is a reasonable way of doing it. (As long as people don't switch up to a different "M4". FPS limits are 350FPS for AEG, 370FPS for LMG (With MED) 450FPS for DMR and 500 FPS for BASR. Green gas pistols were not chronoed. 
 
Average: 
 
Playing Area: It's sandy, which makes it different, but with more woodland then you expect, and the woodland is where most of the play occurred. The sandy areas were "mostly" open and flat which did not encourage people to use them as anything more then a shortcut to get to the woodland. The woodland was dense, but passible to the West and North West, North was higher foliage and passable, The South East and South was more dense and mostly impassable. All woodland sections had open clay paths. throughout. Not as many brambles as you might expect for a Quarry site, but still enough to keep you looking to avoid. 
 
Value: £30 for a quarry site is perfectly fine, despite lack of features. 
 
Clientele: Appeared to be 18+, A mixture of serious and casual players. Seemed friendly enough and stayed within their friendship groups. Had a laugh with some on the way to the safe zone. Despite a zero policy on drugs there were a couple of players hotboxing in a car in carpark at lunchtime. 
 
Turn around time: Could have been shorter, but it was quite a hot day so appreciated the rest. (The walk down to the car was pretty steep as well)
 
Food: Pork Hot Dogs cooked on-site, No veggie/non pork option, when we asked if they had an alternative they said we needed to have contacted them before hand, but I couldn't find that information on the website. There was a fair selection of Sweets, Crisps and Drink. 
 
Hit taking: Mostly good, but with a few of the usual teflon Multiglam and casual players. Frustrating at times as they wont take their hits until they hit you. The determination to kill someone before admitting to being hit before is strong to those people. 
 
Marshalling: Mostly hands off. I didn't see them get too involved in the non hit taking aspect, but they were always within shouting distance to query the game objectives, directions and current points total. All had radios. 
 
Bad: 
 
Car Park/Entrance: Rough going. The Entrance to the site is right on the entrance to the A6. You need to go slow to catch it before you run out of On Ramp. The car park is split into two, an uphill dirt track where you park on the side of the road (I recommend parking as close to the top of this) Or a largish car park at the bottom of the track though whilst level, it means you have to haul yourself down and up the hill in-between games. 
 
Safe Zone: It's basically the Car Park and Entrance. People setup out of their cars. No cover. As mentioned, the site has no permanent infrastructure. All brought in on the day. 
 
Toilets: A single Portaloo for everyone to use. It was a hot day so I didn't dare use it. 
 
Conclusion: 
 
We liked the site, it's different. We can rock up here more often then other Quarry sites. But as much as you want it to be, it doesn't give you that "Quarry experience" It seems more like a Woodland site with large open sandy/rocky bits.

Going up and down the elevated areas does sap the energy and can be dangerous, but taking it nice and slow through the dense woodland bits tends to work better and require less effort. 
 
I am sure we will return as it is really quite close to London (With a car it's a doddle as it's all Motorway/A Road). 
 
Definitely a site for the more serious and experienced player. 
 
Bullpup Watch: LOADS, 2x FAMAS, L85, L86, UAR, TAVOR etc etc. 
 
Best Guess Map: 
 

A pic of the two offenders for you to reminisce over. 

 
Manufactured internet celebrity with no real substance, those that know will remember it getting dry humped by a certain tactical pig.

The MP7 😍😍

Rubber banana or flip flop also work.
 
I have been killed by a squeaky pig thanks @ImTriggerHappy and a rubber chicken @L3wisD ffs 

Rubber banana or flip flop also work.
 
I have been killed by a squeaky pig thanks @ImTriggerHappy and a rubber chicken @L3wisD ffs 

Rubber banana or flip flop also work.
 
I have been killed by a squeaky pig thanks @ImTriggerHappy and a rubber chicken @L3wisD ffs 

Rubber banana or flip flop also work.
 
I have been killed by a squeaky pig thanks @ImTriggerHappy and a rubber chicken @L3wisD ffs 

Rubber banana or flip flop also work.
 
I have been killed by a squeaky pig thanks @ImTriggerHappy and a rubber chicken @L3wisD ffs 

Rubber banana or flip flop also work.
 
I have been killed by a squeaky pig thanks @ImTriggerHappy and a rubber chicken @L3wisD ffs 

Rubber banana or flip flop also work.
 
I have been killed by a squeaky pig thanks @ImTriggerHappy and a rubber chicken @L3wisD ffs 

Bought a few bits, super friendly service, a guy called me to tell me he serviced the boneyard gun I bought and how it’s firing explaining everything in a long phone call. 
was very happy with the service and would certainly buy more

He'd give you back an upgraded CYMA and £1000

Fixed it for you

Peanut Butter Family Photo. Not all my HKs, just all my tan HKs.
 

Sod that. I’m all about minimal load outs nowadays.
still looks great, love the sci-fi look

Went here for the third time today. Have had one good day here, and one BLEH! The bleh day was marred by a lot of people not taking their hits.
Today I was going alone, last minute, and it's 15 minutes from my front door, so what the hell.
Great day, everyone called their shots and great teamwork.
So it's a bit hit and miss this site.

Despite the obvious flaws I had a great day, the rentals were easy to shoot, granted some were invincible but I felt like I was in the special forces racking up the kills 😂
 
I would prefer some more marshals if there are going to be that many rentals I prefer other sites but it’s defo not one to avoid. Would happily go back if we found other places were booked or not open

And honourable mention to the safe zone. The food and coffee shop selection was great. The shop had everything you could want or need too. Just the toilets hat let it down

Cheers, an actual working pistol would be nice for a change 🤣