Asomodai
AF-UK patch owner
- Jun 14, 2017
- 3,146
- 1,054
Site Name: The Mall
Contact details: 07796860685
Website Address: http://www.zedadventures.co.uk/airsoft/rules-urban/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zed-Adventures-Airsoft-the-Mall-Reading/495961147174293
Site Address: Garrard Street, Reading, RG1 1NR
After a recommendation, we decided to finally check out The Mall. It was a Thursday night which has been stated as being the better time to play. Whether you can call this the South East of England is up for debate, but we'll gloss over that one!
The Mall is in central Reading right next to the train station so easy to get to on public transport.
Previous reviews had been mixed, but have recently seen a marked improvement in the past year or so.
This a small/medium sized Urban indoor CQB environment. Short to medium range engagement distances. The site has plenty of elevation with many stairwells and vertical play.
Good:
Transport: The site as stated is right next to the main Reading train station, there is a bunch of taxis outside, buses are regular. Quite easy to get to in terms of from London. Parking is plentiful and has a marshal to guide you into and out.
Its a freakin' mall: My buddy and I agreed we have never felt more operator then when playing at the Mall, genuine CQB tactics are needed here, room clearing, rushing etc. The layout is incredibly fun, it is less about the shop front areas and more about the basement and stock room/access areas. Stairwell fights are intense, the vertical engagements are the most difficult but rewarding. Soft play area is a bonus if you need to take a time out. There are some surprisingly long engagement distances due to some huge open rooms.
Marshaling: Much like its sister site Battle Lakes, the marshaling was second to none. Fantastic briefing by a funny guy, literally covered everything in a quick and timely manner. People listened and took it in. The other marshals were very friendly and genuinely seemed to care about the players. They picked up on infringements and dealt with them accordingly.
Game modes: Were plentiful and interesting, First was infection which gave us a fantastic bit of vertical skirmish action, ending in a massive firefight in a large room. The last game was unique and my favorite of the night, acquire the photographer and get a photo taken to get points. The more people in the photo and performing depraved poses, the more points you get. Fantastic.
Safe Zone: Two large rooms to set up in, seats and actual table/stations to set up on. Unexpected in an urban CQB site and greatly welcomed. There were two male toilets and a female/staff toilet, they had an actual sink with genuine soap. Snacks and various cans and bottles of drink were available for purchase. There were various second hand RIFs available for sale as well as a rare boneyard section (Pretty much unheard of at a site in my experience).
Clientele: A much younger clientele then expected and a fair few rentals. But for the most part the players worked very well together and against one another. People for the majority took their hits well, helped eachother out and took RISKS for each other. You genuinely felt like a team.
Rentals: I did not hear one complaint about the rental guns. They looked clean and pretty new. Good rentals are important for the future of the sport.
Timely turn around: Games had a 10 minutes maximum turnaround. We felt that we got the maximum amount of game time possible for an evening.
Average:
Shop: Was quite limited due to space. Appeared to sell mostly second hand RIF's with a limited stock of BB's and gas.
Bad:
None: Apart from, why couldn't this site be closer to East London!
Conclusion:
What a real gem of a site! We enjoyed ourselves immensely. The site was run efficiently, we had fun, we felt operator and we were ridiculously knackered by the time we got home. Do NOT take this site for granted, its incredible that we have access to an abandoned mall in this country. Get yourself down there before it will inevitably lost to regeneration. My battle buddy and I could only WISH that we had a site like this in London.
We had slight annoyances with some players not taking 50/50 hits, this is not the sites fault though and is indicative of fast rush based CQB.
Zed Adventures marshals and sites are simply the best that I have encountered. You can tell that money and love are put into these skirmishes. We wouldn't hesitate to recommend this site. Go there and enjoy it whilst it exists! I should have prefaced this by saying, I am not a CQB player and generally don't enjoy short engagement distance. I think that says a lot.
BRING A TRACER UNIT, YOU WILL HAVE SO MUCH MORE FUN WITH ONE
Contact details: 07796860685
Website Address: http://www.zedadventures.co.uk/airsoft/rules-urban/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zed-Adventures-Airsoft-the-Mall-Reading/495961147174293
Site Address: Garrard Street, Reading, RG1 1NR
After a recommendation, we decided to finally check out The Mall. It was a Thursday night which has been stated as being the better time to play. Whether you can call this the South East of England is up for debate, but we'll gloss over that one!
The Mall is in central Reading right next to the train station so easy to get to on public transport.
Previous reviews had been mixed, but have recently seen a marked improvement in the past year or so.
This a small/medium sized Urban indoor CQB environment. Short to medium range engagement distances. The site has plenty of elevation with many stairwells and vertical play.
Good:
Transport: The site as stated is right next to the main Reading train station, there is a bunch of taxis outside, buses are regular. Quite easy to get to in terms of from London. Parking is plentiful and has a marshal to guide you into and out.
Its a freakin' mall: My buddy and I agreed we have never felt more operator then when playing at the Mall, genuine CQB tactics are needed here, room clearing, rushing etc. The layout is incredibly fun, it is less about the shop front areas and more about the basement and stock room/access areas. Stairwell fights are intense, the vertical engagements are the most difficult but rewarding. Soft play area is a bonus if you need to take a time out. There are some surprisingly long engagement distances due to some huge open rooms.
Marshaling: Much like its sister site Battle Lakes, the marshaling was second to none. Fantastic briefing by a funny guy, literally covered everything in a quick and timely manner. People listened and took it in. The other marshals were very friendly and genuinely seemed to care about the players. They picked up on infringements and dealt with them accordingly.
Game modes: Were plentiful and interesting, First was infection which gave us a fantastic bit of vertical skirmish action, ending in a massive firefight in a large room. The last game was unique and my favorite of the night, acquire the photographer and get a photo taken to get points. The more people in the photo and performing depraved poses, the more points you get. Fantastic.
Safe Zone: Two large rooms to set up in, seats and actual table/stations to set up on. Unexpected in an urban CQB site and greatly welcomed. There were two male toilets and a female/staff toilet, they had an actual sink with genuine soap. Snacks and various cans and bottles of drink were available for purchase. There were various second hand RIFs available for sale as well as a rare boneyard section (Pretty much unheard of at a site in my experience).
Clientele: A much younger clientele then expected and a fair few rentals. But for the most part the players worked very well together and against one another. People for the majority took their hits well, helped eachother out and took RISKS for each other. You genuinely felt like a team.
Rentals: I did not hear one complaint about the rental guns. They looked clean and pretty new. Good rentals are important for the future of the sport.
Timely turn around: Games had a 10 minutes maximum turnaround. We felt that we got the maximum amount of game time possible for an evening.
Average:
Shop: Was quite limited due to space. Appeared to sell mostly second hand RIF's with a limited stock of BB's and gas.
Bad:
None: Apart from, why couldn't this site be closer to East London!
Conclusion:
What a real gem of a site! We enjoyed ourselves immensely. The site was run efficiently, we had fun, we felt operator and we were ridiculously knackered by the time we got home. Do NOT take this site for granted, its incredible that we have access to an abandoned mall in this country. Get yourself down there before it will inevitably lost to regeneration. My battle buddy and I could only WISH that we had a site like this in London.
We had slight annoyances with some players not taking 50/50 hits, this is not the sites fault though and is indicative of fast rush based CQB.
Zed Adventures marshals and sites are simply the best that I have encountered. You can tell that money and love are put into these skirmishes. We wouldn't hesitate to recommend this site. Go there and enjoy it whilst it exists! I should have prefaced this by saying, I am not a CQB player and generally don't enjoy short engagement distance. I think that says a lot.
BRING A TRACER UNIT, YOU WILL HAVE SO MUCH MORE FUN WITH ONE
Last edited by a moderator:
God I hate walking up and down those escalators!
