What Was the Best Site ( or Sites ) You Have Ever Played on That No Longer Exist and What Made it/Them SO Special?

[Hatchet]

As soon as you mentioned old DV I was going to say it's one of the more hilariously dangerous places I've played because of the ability to do things like run straight into an empty swimming pool. Or how you weren't allowed to move the furniture because it had all been strategically placed to cover holes in the floor and other hazards. And then I read the bit where you injured yourself. Figures...

I think I may have been at that WASP outing. I definitely recall running around with a comedically large moustache and possibly a beret.

 

[magaz]

I seem to recall in the safety brief a statement along the lines of "If you are going to go on the roof of a building, please be careful" (cut to 2021 safety briefs "please try not to run, you might fall over")

I didn't realise the furniture was there to cover holes. That's quite amazing.

I found some photos from the event recently, I don't think there was anyone with a comedically large moustache or a beret though. 

Also, you are one post away from the perfect number of posts, which means of course, you'll have to stop posting. But it'll be a beautiful number.

 

[colinjallen]

I miss two sites.

The first is UCAP Sandpit; as others have mentioned, this site had everything: CQB, wide open spaces, areas with loads of cover, the pipeyard, vehicles etc etc.  A massive site with great gameplay.

The other is Doomsday in Kent; it was a small, scruffy and very laid back site that was superbly run by people who understood the absurdity of grown men running around shooting each other with toy guns.  Although rather small, it always felt bigger (ooer missus!) due to the layout and the varied terrain.  They also did the best veggie food in airsoft.

 

[Cannonfodder]

Tech brigade near Cuffley. A nice big size (60 acres IIRC) and well run with a chilled out atmosphere and everyone just up for a laugh shooting each other 

 

[Danno46]

I cut my teeth at Ambush Chobham (run by Charlie James) and I look back on those days so fondly. 
 

I dunno if it was the mud (omg it was muddy. In fact, I’m still finding mud years later?) the amazing marshals, or the unrelenting pace of every single game but, it just worked so well. It was the first place I ever played and where I learned everything I ever knew about Airsoft. The away days to Longmoor were always an amazing treat, especially the overnight games. I really miss those days. 
 

After a few years off, it’s time to find a new site but, in my opinion, Ambush set the bar pretty high. 

Click to shrink...

 Very first Airsoft game I went to was at Chobham when Charlie ran it back in the early 00’s and yes my god it could get muddy !!

 

[rsciw]

I miss two sites.

The first is UCAP Sandpit; as others have mentioned, this site had everything: CQB, wide open spaces, areas with loads of cover, the pipeyard, vehicles etc etc.  A massive site with great gameplay.

The other is Doomsday in Kent; it was a small, scruffy and very laid back site that was superbly run by people who understood the absurdity of grown men running around shooting each other with toy guns.  Although rather small, it always felt bigger (ooer missus!) due to the layout and the varied terrain.  They also did the best veggie food in airsoft.

Click to shrink...

Same, UCAP Sandpit was just something completely different, think the total area was around 500 acres, which gave good opportunities to change the games around to different terrains etc

Doomsday was run by a couple of friends and TL of our team. Not sure either of them are here, will let them know

 

[Defender90]

I'm going to concur with Urban Assault, it was my 2nd ever airsoft after Gunman Tuddenham and the amount of players, the kit they had and the sheer size of the place blew my mind. I wasn't the only weirdo who liked RIFS, there shedloads of us!

Moving through endless derelict corridors, rooms and halls was super atmospheric, the scale of the ruin was epic and sometimes surreal. I got lost going back to spawn quite often and in hindsight a compass would have been useful.

I think the scale of it was too great for airsoft ranges (or lack thereof) and maybe a more limited game area could have been fenced off which might have benefitted game play.

In hindsight maybe the marshalling was a bit lax?

I remember when playing against a team of Russians who turned up, being hit very hard by volleys of shots at improbable range the moment I stepped out of spawn on the parade ground, potentially tooth shatteringly hard.

The marshalls were right there but didn't seem concerned. I was a noob then (more so!) and assumed that was normal, but in hindsight it smacked of people swapping out for more powerful springs once they were out on the field.

That said it does seem to be hard to strike the right balance with marshalling, most sites veer to one extreme or another.

 

[joshcowin]

For me there’s a few that I wish I’d gone too and missed out on or ones that I played a lot of but have been shut down.

the Mall, never got to play their due to transport etc and always regret making the trip down. From what a few of you are saying it ran better when first & only had it before Z adventures.

Ucap the sandpit, I remember watching a milsim video on it once of players going across in boats and was hooked ever since, never got to play it though.

Raf upwood. Played there a couple of times and always had a lot of fun. It did seem like it was very clicky though and if you weren’t a regular you got looked down on.

Grange farm Airsoft, a good little site. It was nothing special map wise but the gameplay always ran well and the marshalling/hit taking was the best I’ve seen. When the special event ran (sort of a 2 day social) the made the extra effort to make sure everyone was having fun.

there’s one site that I find brilliant but unfortunately due to how many players go now it takes it away a bit. And that’s the national airsoft festival. I went 2011,2012,2015,2017 and the early years were so much better game play wise.

 

[Tackle]

Good thread, making me reminisce to the good old days, struggling to play these days & when I do I'm rarely impressed with the sites. 

What to choose though, combat south, the mall, raf upwood, all great sites, not just excellent layouts but also well managed, which makes a big difference to your gameday experience. 

But I'm gonna have to go back to one of my very first sites played, Fort Amherst in Chatham/Kent, not the biggest site around by any means, but some great features, & back in the day was kinda generally well managed by cage & then invicta (if you ignore the fact that one of the organisers kept knocking the land owner & embezzled the money, until they were thrown off?) 

Happy days lol, eh @Duff Beer

 

[Emergencychimps]

There were elements about urban assault that I loved.....mainly their night games. 

The buildings were just a bit to far from each other to suppress from one building to another and there was next to no cover on between buildings. Led to lots of frustration, cheat calling and generally after lunch game play was not great. Whether that was from a frustrating morning or the after lunch sugar slump I don't know. The weird cliques on site weren't fun either. 

Miss ucap the sandpit, epic site. Found the skirmishes there didn't maximize the site but my god, Stirling games with the boats etc were epic. 

 

[Speedy Sloth]

Combat South will always be missed. The village was great and the fresh cooked lunch being included and so filling for those winter days.

It's a site where the marshalls knew how to do a great job and use what they had to make game modes work. Do wish Russ and the team would open a new site, but the shop seems so busy and the express store don't think they will.

Bought my first rif from them and they threw a free game day in, just spectacular service.  Also the store is great and they have always been honest with purchase choices without the unneeded upsell.

 

[Tackle]

Combat South will always be missed. The village was great and the fresh cooked lunch bring included and do filling for those winter days.

It's a site where the marshalls knew how to do a great job and use what they had to make game modes work. Do wish Russ and the team would open a new site, but the shop seems so busy and the express store don't think they will.

Bought my first rif from them and they threw a free game day in, just spectacular service.  Also the store is great and they have always been honest with purchase choices without the unneeded upsell.

Click to shrink...

Yep, good memories of the great lunches there, even got seconds?

 

[Shamal]

Yes as said it was a great site and it left a big void when it went

My first game there and I got pulled for going up for seconds before they finished the first serving. Words such as 'Oi! You greedy fucker wait till we call seconds!" And "Didn't your muver feed you this morning?"were bandied about ??

Oh how we laughed.

P.s

No my muver didn't feed me this morning cause she had been dead for 30 years.?

 

[Rogerborg]

The Depot 1.0.

An Old Abandoned Furniture Factory with loads of dedicated parking. 180,000 square feet. Seven stairwells meant that there was always another way to push. Daylit upstairs, dark and dank downstairs. Cover absolutely everywhere. Locations full of character, including a canteen with counters and chest fridges (perfect for hiding in, or grenade-popping hilarity). Anything that ejaculated BBs, right down to a springer shotgun or pistol, was usable.

Best of all, it was (generally) superbly run with a marshal team that knew their site and what they were doing. Chrono was run efficiently and guns were tested in-game with site BBs. Shenanigans were shut down, games were rebalanced on the fly, mentals and cheaters were punted off site, including a couple of rogue marshals who got caught with hot guns and sent away in disgrace - that's the way to do it.

There's a Depot 2.0 now but it's reportedly more linear with choke points that can lock games down in ways that never happened at the OG site. I'll try it at some point, but I suspect it'll be like dating your hot ex's chubby sister.

 

[hunter511]

UCAP Virus. Disused hospital with most of the gear still in place, mri machines, labs etc. Atmospheric as hell and when it started getting dark the zombie apocalypse twitches made you run for your vehicle.