I went to Storm Tactical's opening event at their Copthorne site on Sunday 09 July, which cost £25 for walk-on.
This woodland site is only a few minutes' drive from M23 Junction 10, with immediate access off Old Hollow. No need to drive off road to access the site. It would only be a 12 minute taxi ride from Gatwick, Crawley or Three Bridges railway stations. There is a good sized car park with a short walk through some trees to the main entrance and safe zone.
Paintball is also played at this site, in fact the small white markers prior to arriving are signed "Paintball" and the currently the site only refers to Driver Wood Paintball (shown on Google maps). Although sharing a site with paintball is not ideal, I did not have any issues with my kit getting covered in paint. And we all know that airsoft allows paintball players to have heroes.
The safe zone is a large rectangular compound with purpose made buildings around the sides. The players have a comfortable open fronted shelter with overhead cover to keep sun/rain off, with plenty of picnic bench tables to put their kit on and sit down. There were about 36-40 players on the day.
Next to the player shelter are the most impressive airsoft toilets that I have seen: a large block (3 stalls and 3 urinals), clean, well lit, toilet paper, door locks, working hot and cold water, and soap. They score 10 out of 10. Assume that the female and disabled toilets are the same high standard.
The on-site catering was good, mouth watering smells all morning serving hot food for breakfast and lunch at reasonable prices. I enjoyed a decent sized cheese burger washed down with a cold Coke. There was free tea and coffee all day.
Platoon Stores set up their stall in the morning and they had a range of various products. I had a quick browse and ended up buying a cheap single point sling.
On exiting the safe zone was chronograph and a short range. The staff put their own BBs into the player's magazine to ensure everyone fired the same weight. However, there was no marking of what guns had passed testing which needs addressing because with more players attending they need to ensure that no one slips through with a hot gun. The small range was useful for a quick check of gun functions and basic hop-up. It would be great if they could extend it and the distances marked.
@RussAFOand the Storm Marshals were all friendly and approachable. I liked their corporate uniform use of grey clothing, it looked professional and smart, and made them stand out from all the players in camouflage/black/civvies. Because they did not wear hi-visibility vests in the woods there were times when they were accidently targeted. They were generous on the use of pyro and smokes, which added to the fun.
The initial safety brief was short but covered the main points. There was time wasted between games waiting for players to attend the game briefing (yes, I know that getting an airsofter to be on time is like herding kittens) and the marshals do need to be more forceful to get everyone there on time. I pay to play, not hang around. Some large scale maps would be very helpful to give players and idea of the site layout with key features, and they could be used for team briefings.
The site is all woodland and fairly flat. Because it is used for paintball there are tall mesh nets everywhere, zoning off some of the site. Had an issue with the boundary net not being clearly marked (passed through so many nets prior to going out of bounds), so some signs and maybe white mine-tape would help make it more obvious. The amount of netting was a pain, and not conducive to good airsoft skirmish and made a small site feel more restrictive to play. Also you thought you were shooting directly at players only to find they were stood behind netting and all BBs had bounced off. It gave cover which was exploited by some players just poking guns through small holes or shooting under it, akin to blind firing.
I really liked the area of trenches, it gave some great cover and made defending and attacking much more fun. Personally I would like to see the 5 small wooden huts (the village) clearly numbered which would help with orientation and make it easier for players to find objectives and respawn. Did not get to use the Fort area for any defence or attack, would be good for some short skirmish games.
All sites have pros and cons; overall I had a good day and if some of the minus points are addressed then it has potential to be a great site to play. I will no doubt return there, not frequently because it is a 180 mile round trip, to see how it has improved.