The 'How Did Your Airsoft Day Go? Thread

[Shamal]

Haha dad's army comes to mind ?

 

[MrTea]

Another session at District 23 last night.

A great night by all accounts. Around 15 or so players all of who were friendly and chatty asking about guns/gear etc. Marshalls were good but briefing could have been a bit more clear on some rules and some were missed out but no real issues at all. This was also the first time i'd got to field my project gun since 'finishing' the build.

The first game was just a warmup of Team Deathmatch on the ground floor only. The level of play was great and all players involved were fantastic. The project gun was unbelievable. This thing had RANGE and accuracy i've not seen out of any of my other guns. I could shoot 0.25G tracers the length of the field and they'd only start to dip towards the absolute maximum. Deadly accurate too. During the first game I managed to consistently snipe people off a corner that looked onto 'main street' when they were barely peeking it, but the fun didn't last, the gun developed an interesting issue during the 2nd and 3rd game which i'll detail at the end of the post.

Towards the end of the night some people left leaving 8 of us. With an hour left the marshalls decided we're playing 'main street madness' which is essentially one long corridor in the middle of the arena and you must touch the opposing teams wall to win. If you get hit, you take a knee and can be tagged in whenever by a teammate. If you all die, gameover. Format was BO3 and my team won two rounds in a row and with my project gun malfunctioning, I had to rely on my Shadow 2. A particular highlight was being on the opposite side of a piece of cover to an enemy, I moved out, double tapped him, then his buddy who jumped up to get a trade. I quickly flanked a large box piece of cover to shoot another enemy only to get killed by the 2nd guy who had been tagged back in. A teammate quickly traded the kill and won the 2nd and last round for us.

The last game of the night was with the main lights off and only the UV lamps left on. The game was called 'Michael' which was essentially one of the marshalls in a bright orange boiler suit who moved around the arena attempting to melle kill you who gets progressively faster as the game goes on. At one point the marshall launcher himself over some waist high cover to land a hit on another player. How he didn't break something i've no idea causing he was zooming around the place like crazy. The dark was interesting as it made weapon lights useful but a huge giveaway for Michael to find you.

Only niggle of the night was inconsistency of marshall rules across visits. When I played there two weeks ago, marshalls said multibangs are okay and even have a message from the site on Facebook confirming it. However, last night one marshall (without it being mentioned in the briefing) decided that multibangs are a no-go. Speaking to the marshalls on the field at the time, they say it's only this one guy who has a real issue with them and noone else can understand why he doesn't like them being used as there's no difference to throwing multiple single-bang pyro but it's his rules so that's how it is. Annoyingly, I couldn't use these pyro but couldn't stock up on any others as they were completely out of MK5s and EG67s... Also i'm pretty sure the marshall who doesn't want them used was also playing two weeks ago when I was using them and they said nothing then.

Project gun woes; After the first game, the gun started doing something strange. Every 3rd or 4th shot it would skew a BB to the right and high massively as if it was applying loads of hop randomly then it would be fine for a few shots then do it again. Needless to say this was annoying. I took the gun back to the safe zone and stripped it down. I checked the outer barrel and it appears straight, checked the inner barrel and it appears straight. Checked the hop wasn't sticking. I unscrewed the suppressor/tracer unit to find that there's a load of white shavings (not shards or chips (see pics)) on the spring that tensions the tracer unit inside the suppressor sleve but no visible damage. I cleaned it off and reassembled the tracer unit and the gun and went back to playing. The gun lasted another round before it began doing the same thing again.

I suspect the BBs are just nicking the end of the suppressor as they leave. Looking at the end-cap of the unit, it's got plenty of white residue on one side of it, this is likely where the BBs are striking it and skewing off. It just doesn't make sense why it's doing it after running perfectly for one game. I could just return it to Amazon for a refund and then get a tracer that has no empty space. Never had this issue with my B&T tracer which was a full length deal. I suspect that the empty space is allowing the BBs to rise/move ever so slightly before the reach the end of the suppressor sleeve causing them to skew off when they just catch it ever so slightly. Inner barrel is clear/clean as is the hop unit so the cause isn't further back and i've used these same BBs in my MP5 and they were perfect.

Tracer unit is an Acetech AT2000 with the predator S suppressor sleeve.

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[JustMark]

Just having a beer after a good day's play at Combat Airsoft Thetford which was really busy.  Nice big play fields meant that it didn't feel too congested.  My first time using my own rifle so that felt good, she's a big heavy lump though.  Gives the old wrists a workout I guess.

My new gloves had to come off because I couldn't wind the magazines with them and I need to figure out shoulder transitions with the sling but I worked around it in the tighter areas OK.

Highlights;  a hilarious "assault" on our position to retrieve the objective.  We're dug in, probably fifteen of us.  Smoke goes in from the enemy and only three dudes attack and get absolutely hosed with bb's.  Poor souls  

Tried out being a bit sneakier and working with one of our teams bolt action guys to hold down a flank to great success.  Normally i charge about a lot more so it was interesting to see how tense the sniping type game is

Trying to be a bit steadier in general instead of just racing about was good too, I think helped by the extra range and accuracy.  Still had a couple of suicide charges though, including one where I got the last defender but he got me too so I couldn't claim the objective!

Gonna go back in a few weeks for their battle-sim event and try being out all day non-stop, sounds a bit intimidating but if you don't try you never know eh!

 

[BigStew]

1st time at the new Depot in Glasgow on Saturday. Have to say brilliant day. Blues seemed to have home team advantage (I got lost a lot), but brilliant play all round, Marshalls did a great job. I foolishly took off a top layer and my chest is covered welts. Remembered why I love airsoft.

 

[Dan Robinson]

A great day was had at AWA on Sunday.  Red team dominated the day by winning every game by significant margins, but I'd put that down to a bias of rentals doing rental shit.  One of whom was a rather cocky young lad that managed to piss a few of the regulars off; but instead of it being a bad thing, he kind of became a target of opportunity throughout the day.

I took a corker of a shot to the bridge of my nose during the village domination game, which was claimed by two of the green team and it refused to stop bleeding for a good while; but the blood splatters added a bit more authenticity to my loadout.  There was a small sub-group of us on each team that were actively going for each other which was good fun as we were camped together in the safe zone.

Marshalls were on form as usual with the new gender neutral, standing rule of  "don't be a genital" working well.  One Marshall needs a bit of nature training as we lost a few minutes of a game due to an enforced ceasefire when a suspected dog was spotted in the game area.... Turned out to be a small dear... But to be fair a few idiots have been caught recently strolling through the game area not realising where they were; and there's nothing like a bit of piss taking to teach a lesson and have a laugh at the same time.

I was duel wielding for most of the afternoon, with either the Honey Badger or Specna as a secondary to my SVU.  Which is fine, but I need to come up with a sling configuration that allows me to stow the SVU without leaving it somewhere in the game zone.  Currently I just hand carry the SVU with the secondary on a single point sling.  Got more feeding issues with the two M4s, but I'm thinking it's more down to the mags than the guns.  I have two flash mags that work perfectly with both, and that's enough really.

The Auto 9 is still being unusable with it either just venting gas, or the mags not locking in place.  Good job it looks awesome otherwise I might be upset at the cost LOL.  Will see what happens when the ambient temperature reaches double figures, as the Glocks are still not great, but are improving with the temperatures.  Will add the official pics when they upload them to Faceache.

The site is fairly simple, but the regulars there, along with the Marshalls and owners make it a good chilled day with plenty of challenges.  Touching Cloth is still my favourite game, but I prefer it when the objective is on top of The Bunker rather than in The Farm - it's the climbing of the hill to reach the objective with the defenders holding the lower ground on the other side that makes the challenge more satisfying (and painful).  Shooting out of the bunker door at the enemy trying to flank you is a fun one (as long as they take their hits).  We've had some epic battles there when the mist/light rain has been coming down and people were liberal with smoke grenades.  It's close to something you'd see in Platoon or Apocalypse Now.  I've found a hidey hole that gives great line of sight to the entrance, but it's next to impossible for someone there to spot you - although those manning the edges of the bunker can see you if they're paying attention.  The Farm is more suited to the zombie infection style of games.

Anyway...

Got home at the end of the day only for SWMBO to declare the grass needed cutting again, so even after 7 miles worth of running around (according to my watch) I had more outside shit to do; but it was a lovely evening, and the boy was in a good mood after a fun day's pewing so it could have been worse, especially as we're trying to keep the true cost of this hobby on the downlow LOL.

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[Colin Allen]

The lad and I wandered over to Airsoft Plantation on Sunday although, unbeknownst to each other, neither of us really felt up for it when we set off.

However, it turned out to be a cracking day; about 120 people were present and a good variety of games were played, covering most of the rather large site throughout the day;  the fallback/bomber game was particularly good fun, both when played as the attackers and as the defenders.  The level of play was very good overall, with only a few hit taking issues, which were dealt with very robustly by the marshals, which was good to see.

It also gave me an opportunity to test the latest iteration of the hand crafted steel COL for my Ares SLR; after a few issues last time out, the very subtle modifications that I had made to its profile paid off and it ran flawlessly.

It was only on the journey home that we discovered that neither of us had felt like going in the morning; however, we were both very glad that we had.

The next day out will be Tower Airsoft later this month; no game for us this coming weekend as we will be walking and wild-camping on Dartmoor.

Guns used:
Me:
Ares L1A1 
Hurricane Kit/G&P SR47
DBoys AKMS

Milbro Classic M1911 CO2 (It really is crap!)

The lad:
E&L/CYMA AK74
CYMA AKS74U
ASG Commander XP18 CO2

 

[Dan Robinson]

Defo going to try those fields in the coming weeks.  The size of the sites is my only thought as long truggages to respawn can be annoying. 

The lad and I wandered over to Airsoft Plantation on Sunday

 

[Colin Allen]

Defo going to try those fields in the coming weeks.  The size of the sites is my only thought as long truggages to respawn can be annoying. 

Respawn at AP is usually ok as they usually use a rolling respawn.

Tower is small enough for it not to be an issue.

 

[Skullchewer]

Last Sunday was my first day back, after a hiatus of several months, partly due to lack of funds but also issues with an old back injury.
Eased mysely back in with a DMR day, so a nice gentle pace, no running around. A mild jog at most.
4 knife kills in the first game of the morning! Ohh, it's good to be back!
A few tag round kills, and some lucky long range DMR shots, resulted in a massive grin plastered across my face.
Played one game after lunch and tyhen my back said "I'm gonna ruin your day if you don';t stop now", so I called it and took photos the rest of the day.
It was FANFUCKINGTASTIC to be back, and I'm playing again tomorrow, a squad of 8 of us in fact, all with comms. Should be a giggle.
Hopefully my back will hold up better now I'm exercising again.
 

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[Cannonfodder]

I paid a visit to Camo CQB in Canvey Island last night and overall it was a great evening. If found the site well laid out, considering the size, and the staff and players were friendly.

My only gripes were the late start (however this was made up for by finishing later too) and that in the last game some of the hit taking was questionable.

All in all I think I'll be going back at some point

 

[Beorn]

Back down to Red1 Chislehurst today. It’s a trek for me from Islington, but one of the only sites I can get to using public transport, so hey ho.

Beautiful weather once the fog burned off. Unfortunately the day didn’t really go off like my first visit here. Good turnout, maybe 40/50 people ish.

First two games were decent, but things took a bad turn around halfway through the day.

I’ve worked out by now that I fucking hate ‘fallback’ game modes in general. Imo they’re lazy lead to a lot of unfocused skirmishes at the edge of the map and don’t direct players into dynamic gameplay. On the defence it gets boring as shit quite often too.

They then tried to set up what felt like a game mode they’d never ran before, or at least hadn’t worked the kinks out of. 
 

They split one of the teams into two smaller groups and gave them two spawns/regen areas.

Our team only had one. Our job was to get out and search the whole site for certain objects and collect them. 
 

Initially we had some success and pushed to a strong area where we cut them off into some trenches. But the Marshalls told us we were too close to their spawn and so sent us back a good way, even though we weren’t able to see or engage them coming from spawn. But sure, we moved back, no dramas. 
 

Until they occupy those areas we left, and push our whole team back to our spawn. The shit show really starts here. They were so close to our spawn you couldn’t lower your hand without getting lit up again instantly. About half our team got spawn camped for about half an hour or so, and the Marshalls basically ignored it despite some vigorous protests. (This after they had just pushed us back just for being a bit close to enemy spawn previously without actually engaging it.)
 

A bunch of people simply downed tools and started having a smoke, chatting and stopped playing because it was so stupid. Probably about 3/4 of our team we’re just standing at the regen chatting at one point doing fuck all because our area was so exposed/surrounded. It was a massive waste of time and even worse it really seemed to kill the sense of fun for the rest of the day.
 

Eventually the Marshalls realised that shouting at us to do ‘something’ was futile and that morale and fun had been utterly strangled to death, so they called the game to a close and acknowledged it hadn’t gone well.
 

We broke for lunch, and a good few people were already packing up to leave. I tried one more game after food but similar story, poor game modes, inconsistent marshalling and some god awful hit taking, which went on across the entire day to be honest. 

I packed up before the last game and called it which I sort of hate for how much you pay to play.

Defo one to forget unfortunately which is a massive bummer as the weather was mint. I’ve 
 

One more go down here and I’ll have my UKARA finally. Shall be exploring pastures new I reckon

 

[MrTea]

I’ve worked out by now that I fucking hate ‘fallback’ game modes in general.

Never played one I liked. I utterly despise them. It's worse when paired with inconsistent and lazy marshalling.

 

[Tackle]

Back down to Red1 Chislehurst today. It’s a trek for me from Islington, but one of the only sites I can get to using public transport, so hey ho.

Beautiful weather once the fog burned off. Unfortunately the day didn’t really go off like my first visit here. Good turnout, maybe 40/50 people ish.

First two games were decent, but things took a bad turn around halfway through the day.

I’ve worked out by now that I fucking hate ‘fallback’ game modes in general. Imo they’re lazy lead to a lot of unfocused skirmishes at the edge of the map and don’t direct players into dynamic gameplay. On the defence it gets boring as shit quite often too.

They then tried to set up what felt like a game mode they’d never ran before, or at least hadn’t worked the kinks out of. 
 

They split one of the teams into two smaller groups and gave them two spawns/regen areas.

Our team only had one. Our job was to get out and search the whole site for certain objects and collect them. 
 

Initially we had some success and pushed to a strong area where we cut them off into some trenches. But the Marshalls told us we were too close to their spawn and so sent us back a good way, even though we weren’t able to see or engage them coming from spawn. But sure, we moved back, no dramas. 
 

Until they occupy those areas we left, and push our whole team back to our spawn. The shit show really starts here. They were so close to our spawn you couldn’t lower your hand without getting lit up again instantly. About half our team got spawn camped for about half an hour or so, and the Marshalls basically ignored it despite some vigorous protests. (This after they had just pushed us back just for being a bit close to enemy spawn previously without actually engaging it.)
 

A bunch of people simply downed tools and started having a smoke, chatting and stopped playing because it was so stupid. Probably about 3/4 of our team we’re just standing at the regen chatting at one point doing fuck all because our area was so exposed/surrounded. It was a massive waste of time and even worse it really seemed to kill the sense of fun for the rest of the day.
 

Eventually the Marshalls realised that shouting at us to do ‘something’ was futile and that morale and fun had been utterly strangled to death, so they called the game to a close and acknowledged it hadn’t gone well.
 

We broke for lunch, and a good few people were already packing up to leave. I tried one more game after food but similar story, poor game modes, inconsistent marshalling and some god awful hit taking, which went on across the entire day to be honest. 

I packed up before the last game and called it which I sort of hate for how much you pay to play.

Defo one to forget unfortunately which is a massive bummer as the weather was mint. I’ve 
 

One more go down here and I’ll have my UKARA finally. Shall be exploring pastures new I reckon

I'm born & bred islington, & many years ago there was a great site at torrens St, side of the old angel station, cqb site called elektowerkz, long gone unfortunately, not many options now for central London non drivers.

One option you could consider now spring is almost sprung, some sites allow camping the night before a game, imperium at Faversham immediately springs to mind & I'm sure a few others do the same, might be an option if you want to hit some sites further afield, maybe rope in a mate or two make a jolly of it ? 

 

[Colin Allen]

Back down to Red1 Chislehurst today. It’s a trek for me from Islington, but one of the only sites I can get to using public transport, so hey ho.

Beautiful weather once the fog burned off. Unfortunately the day didn’t really go off like my first visit here. Good turnout, maybe 40/50 people ish.

First two games were decent, but things took a bad turn around halfway through the day.

I’ve worked out by now that I fucking hate ‘fallback’ game modes in general. Imo they’re lazy lead to a lot of unfocused skirmishes at the edge of the map and don’t direct players into dynamic gameplay. On the defence it gets boring as shit quite often too.

They then tried to set up what felt like a game mode they’d never ran before, or at least hadn’t worked the kinks out of. 
 

They split one of the teams into two smaller groups and gave them two spawns/regen areas.

Our team only had one. Our job was to get out and search the whole site for certain objects and collect them. 
 

Initially we had some success and pushed to a strong area where we cut them off into some trenches. But the Marshalls told us we were too close to their spawn and so sent us back a good way, even though we weren’t able to see or engage them coming from spawn. But sure, we moved back, no dramas. 
 

Until they occupy those areas we left, and push our whole team back to our spawn. The shit show really starts here. They were so close to our spawn you couldn’t lower your hand without getting lit up again instantly. About half our team got spawn camped for about half an hour or so, and the Marshalls basically ignored it despite some vigorous protests. (This after they had just pushed us back just for being a bit close to enemy spawn previously without actually engaging it.)
 

A bunch of people simply downed tools and started having a smoke, chatting and stopped playing because it was so stupid. Probably about 3/4 of our team we’re just standing at the regen chatting at one point doing fuck all because our area was so exposed/surrounded. It was a massive waste of time and even worse it really seemed to kill the sense of fun for the rest of the day.
 

Eventually the Marshalls realised that shouting at us to do ‘something’ was futile and that morale and fun had been utterly strangled to death, so they called the game to a close and acknowledged it hadn’t gone well.
 

We broke for lunch, and a good few people were already packing up to leave. I tried one more game after food but similar story, poor game modes, inconsistent marshalling and some god awful hit taking, which went on across the entire day to be honest. 

I packed up before the last game and called it which I sort of hate for how much you pay to play.

Defo one to forget unfortunately which is a massive bummer as the weather was mint. I’ve 
 

One more go down here and I’ll have my UKARA finally. Shall be exploring pastures new I reckon

It seems that nothing has changed; a potentially great little site run by complete idiots.

 

[Cannonfodder]

run by complete idiots.

The same guy who runs the school site and red1 in st albans? That's a more polite way than I would've put it

 

[Beorn]

I'm born & bred islington, & many years ago there was a great site at torrens St, side of the old angel station, cqb site called elektowerkz, long gone unfortunately, not many options now for central London non drivers.

One option you could consider now spring is almost sprung, some sites allow camping the night before a game, imperium at Faversham immediately springs to mind & I'm sure a few others do the same, might be an option if you want to hit some sites further afield, maybe rope in a mate or two make a jolly of it ? 

Imperium looks super cool I've seen that they have vehicles and stuff, its defo one I've considered making the effort for.

I'm thinking I'll give Reforger a go, maybe D&A Dropzone and whatever else I can get to within about 90 ish mins of me

 

[Speedbird_666]

Went to Ambush Activites (Botley - near southampton) for the first time yesterday.

The good:

- The staff were very helpful and friendly

- Safezone/Toilets were decent

- PA system to do the safety brief which meant everyone could hear

- Super5ives have a shop on site that was pretty good

- The Chrono station checks were super slick - 3 Marshals/Chronos who were using joules and recording players guns on an app.

- Snipers/DMRs were evenly split between the teams at the beginning of the day

- I did not hear a single complaint about hit taking (see below)

The mmm..k:

- Random hit checks by marshals - they were all carrying pistols and a operating a one-warning rule. Once exceeded - you are banned.

- LOTs of HPA guns (Ambush was a Paintball site, air refills are readily available) but there were no problems with the HPA players at all.

- One dude had a frigging pyro mortar - sent to rounds into our own team when they fell short. That was fun...?

The bad:

- It's a Paintball site which isn't really optimal for airsoft gameplay in it's current guise.

- ...which leads to primarily fall-back style games to cycle the game through the 'arenas'.

- ...which also leads to some weird rules being used - 'you can shoot here but not here' etc.

- One game went so badly because no one understood the rules - including some of the staff - that they decided not to reverse the game and acknowledge it was a shit show.

Chatting with the site manager - she told me that they have just stopped paintball altogether as Airsoft brings in far greater numbers. Hopefully this means that they do some work to make the gamezone work better for airsoft.

 

[Beorn]

The bad:

- It's a Paintball site which isn't really optimal for airsoft gameplay in it's current guise.

- ...which leads to primarily fall-back style games to cycle the game through the 'arenas'.

- ...which also leads to some weird rules being used - 'you can shoot here but not here' etc.

- One game went so badly because no one understood the rules - including some of the staff - that they decided not to reverse the game and acknowledge it was a shit show.

I feel your pain, very similar issue at a diff site this weekend. 
 

I do like the sound of the rest though; and random hit checks does seem like a pretty good policy/way to enforce hit taking 

 

[TheFull9]

Airsoft Plantation yesterday, first time I think I've been back to a site twice within a year for.. many years.  The fact it's big, big safe zone, loads of parking and no need to book; just so darn simple.  It's rare that I'll know I'm 100% not working a given weekend until right before it happens.

They really, really need to do a little fixing of their track and the lunch options are still very 'meh' indeed, but that's all my negatives frankly and they're not all that negative.  The dozens of other things that make or break are place are all thumbs up really which explains why it gets so many people in week after week, year after year.  I've encountered way too many marshals in the past with this inexplicable shouty fat-kevin-did-2-years-in-the-TA demeanor, but they have a team of just, you know.. normal nice blokes far as I could tell, when you ask about the layout etc they just politely answer like a normal human being.  Props to the owner in particular, just a really solid bloke, happy and enthusiastic.

Sadly had one super salty sailor that was upset I'd setup in a good n' hidden flanking defensive spot and was holding his lot back for a bit in the last game, whinged I wasn't supposed to be there after I'd been told by the owner 3 minutes earlier that place was in very much fully play, but there we go.  'Winning' your sunday skirmish really matters right?

 

[Fatboy40]

Went to Ambush Activites (Botley - near southampton) for the first time yesterday.

Be interested if you've ever been to Camouflage Airsoft up the road in Alton, I've been there quite a few times, and how it compares.