Theme Day

[Baz JJ]

Ive started a new topic because I was dragging the vehicle thread off topic.

 

We were talking about a potential game which was a hybrid between skirmish and laid back milsim.

 

Nick M mentioned EAG Worthing as organising something alone these lines.

 

Looking at their website, I see that they allow you to rent the whole site to try out your own ideas.

 

Just floating an idea, would anybody be interested in the principle of organising an event and writing our own script and special effects ?

 

They have a minimum number of 15 people for such an event.

 

I don't know if there is somewhere that does something similar more centrally ?

 

The south coast is a bit out of the way for the majority I guess.

[Zak Da Mack]

Do you mean Film-sim type games? They are usually story driven and can last for days, but are usually more relaxed.
Anyway, if something like this was to happen, I'd love to chip in a bit

[Baz JJ]

I don't know quite what I mean yet.

 

Ive noticed that a few of us are looking for something a bit more organised and themed than the average chaotic weekend skirmish.

 

It occurs to me that it might be practical to hire a site for a day and run a themed mission for a small group of 15-30 friends.

 

To scope it out and put a cost to it, we would need to identify a site that we can all get to for a day and where they would be flexible to let us make our own plan within the limits of their safety rules and liability insurance.

 

So first stage

 

Where could we do it and who would be interested ?

 

Cost of the hire to be divided by the number attending I suppose.

[Finius]

The Grange/Gunman Airsoft Midlands do film-sim with their WarDogs series and they also allow private events etc...

[NickM]

I'm currently traveling up to an hour/hour and a half each way to find new places to skirmish, next on my list are ZED Adventures battle lakes, the mall, EAG Gatwick, possibly even Red One School.

 

In principle I'm interested as to where to do it, EAG Dorking is ok but has some issues with it being for adventure racing and having mud pits and rope swings kinda ruined it for me. Gatwick is a paintball site most of the time. There is ZED eversley but I gather Gunman do events there that might be along the right lines. He does the WW2 games and lots of Filmsim, I had been avoiding it but I may have to get on their forum and have a looksee what it is all about.

[Baz JJ]

Having a quick look around, there are a few companies who do this commercially, like IED.

What puts me off is their size. Sounds like a lot of people and you have a small part to play I would imagine.

 

If you had thirty people, you could concoct a full days scenario.

 

An ambush to snatch a VIP, a mission to attack a villa and extract the VIP from the terrorists.

Perimeter guards, special bodyguard detail, a secret tunnel entrance and blueprints to be recovered.

 

A few twists in the tail for both sides, a bit of technlogical gadgetry, some pyro action and a degree of hidden detail for both sides to allow some tactics and mental agility to gain advantage. Maps, intel, radio comms, machine gun nests and so on.

 

There are two issues to the venue - somewhere central for those who want to do it and somewhere that has the right layout and features.

 

No 20 mile tabs and we don't need mudbaths.

 

A day would be enough to start off with otherwise it all gets a bit much, both financially and in terms of energy.

[Ian_Gere]

Well you know I'm interested. TBH if I'm going to travel 100 miles for an event, whether i can get a lift some/all the way, or do it on trains/buses, i'm pretty much going to have to camp, because no matter whether we run a normal length day 10-16:30 say, or go for a bit longer, I'll be too fcuked up to face that length of journey soon after end ex. That said, me being a raspberry doesn't mean camping has to be the way to go for everyone - I'm sure I'll be able to sort something out near enough. But yeah, 20 mile tabs my arse, I'm not carrying a bergen and my guns 500m!

 

Also, if I'm going to be any more involved than just 1 of many going, then the place must have toilet facilities, or be somewhere we can rent portaloos to, because there is no way I'm putting myself in a position where I'll be obliged to deal with somebody else's 'brown litter'.

 

For where, I think most of us on here are within an area covered by London out to the commuter belt in the south east, west along the M4 to Bristol, maybe a bit further south, A303-ish & Taunton way, going north avoiding Wales as far as Lancaster and east across to Scarborough, maybe a bulge up the coast to cover Tyneside. The middle of that area is somewhere around Tamworth / Sutton Coldfield and the nearest site is Fireball Squadron.

 

Their FPS Limit is an encouraging 328FPS +10% for a hard limit of 360 with 0.2's and they allow you to bring your own pyros up to MK V's, within the usual limits - but they do have a policy on grenades - no CO2, no Dynatec / MX80 & VTG are ok for over 18s, any others contact beforehand. Age minimum 16yrs which crimps off a few of our committed members, but maybe we can get around that for a private game day.

 

One can only assume that the FPS Limit is for AEG's, but it doesn't say anything about semi-auto only, DMR's, or sniper rifles. I've emailed 'em for some clarification. We have a new-ish member who has been there recently to their July weekender Op Blue Shrew, beermonster, but he hasn't been around recently...

 

If you check the pics the site looks pretty decent, although with the lack of undergrowth and usual natural low level detritus on the manicured ground, there seems to be a fair bit of it that would be sorta like CQB outdoors. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing...

[Baz JJ]

Thanks.

 

Ive emailed EAG just to get an idea on typical costs for such low numbers. This could be a killer, so I want to exclude this potential problem before we go too far, even if we don't end up using an EAG site.

 

There will always be someone that lives in Cornwall or John O Groats but we can only plan for the majority.

 

The midlands might be the way to go. I dont mind driving a couple of hours and I suspect many will have to do similar distances to participate. Lift sharing might also be the way to go for those without their own transport.

 

Let us know what Fireball say or if there are any other suitable sites around the midlands.

 

Rules are understandable - the key is flexibility and allowing us to do our own thing.

[jcheeseright]

yeah, I'd expect the majority of the rules and FPS limits to be more dictated by insurance conditions than anything else... no getting away from that.

[Insanityx]

I'm up for something like this once I've got my own gun sorted. Shouldn't be long now. Somewhere in the South is best for me. Could probably manage London area without much drama.

[Suzuki Yamamoto]

TWA Urban in Croydon can be privately hired. It has a good variety of buildings and some small Woodland area's. It was also suit having 15 - 30 people.

[hprentice]

I would love this, it would be sweet to get a whole weekend and do an afghan style thing with ieds and patrols. It would be amazinh

[Baz JJ]

Im not seeing much interest really. This sort of day would take a lot of planning and as I would be looking to run it as an activity for a group of like minded friends rather than as a business, the organisation work would need to be shared between those looking to participate.

 

I might be able to get 3-5 people together from my end, but we would need around 30 in total.

 

Also people tend to say yes and when it comes to the crunch, they drop out due to lack of money, illness, trouble from the wife and lots of other excuses that manifest. So we would need to be oversubscribed at the outset if anything.

 

Googling around, there are plenty of Airsoft companies organising this kind of thing if you just want to join in with something pre-organised.

 

I was thinking more about doing something just for our group.

 

If there is insufficient interest for this, an alternative might be for a few of us to make up a team and participate in something existing ?

 

Thoughts ?

[Ian_Gere]

Best way to prevent "Yeah man! Ah, actually..." Syndrome is to go with not inconsiderable deposits.

 

I'd give an AF-UK Squad/team stylee thing a go, so long as it is like we have done at the last 2 NAE's, ie informal: ideas discussed and judged on merit, but without any binding resolution by anyone to submit to the tyranny of the majority

 

That said i would also like to try for some kind of voluntary cohesion and military-esque clarity of purpose and the means to achieve it. Sort of at odds with my prior statement, but what i really mean is that we need to prevent little hitlers, not a sense of esprit de corps causing someone to take on a team role in a plan which they dont believe is best.

[AirsoftTed]

I'll hopefully be driving soon and if its not too much of a ridiuclous journey from London I'd travel to play a game with an AF-UK squad. Once the m21's finished I bagsy being recon!

[Bottledtorment]

Sounds awesome sauce ! Would do it , although if it was over a long way away I think it would be better to be a two day event , with the possibility of night raids!? Or just camping . Or AF-UK con/event/weekend?

 

 

Also G36's have to be allowed otherwise I will cry .:C

[Baz JJ]

OK I might be able to sort something where we could play as a team in the home counties, about an hour North of London.

Ive found a few possible sites which wont be mud baths in the coming autumn weather and where the management is sympathetic to the cause. Camping possible.

[Bottledtorment]

Me gusta

Now to find out

How much

Where

When

No of people able to tend

[Baz JJ]

Its a day game with my kind of rules; knife kills allowed, trip wires and booby traps welcomed.

About 25 in each team. Includes Medics.

 

Example

 

 

The plan is to deliver a new experience for regular players that are looking to immerse themselves in a more tactical and slower paced form of Airsoft compared to regular Skirmishes.Nott be as detailed or realistic as Military Simulation events but somewhere in between Military Simulation and Skirmish.

Regardless of experience anyone 16 and over can take part but must maintain a sense of role play and maturity throughout the day.

The idea is to look the part so Military Spec Tactical Camouflage and equipment is required.

 

The first part of the day will require Patrol & Recon.

The second will involve defusing IEDs, knocking out enemy bases and action against the enemy.

The third part will require decoding information and holding key areas.

The fourth part is the large scale battle that (possibly) decides who wins the day!

 

Each game Scenario will change depending on the outcome of the last. The day belongs to the players and they decide how its won!

 

Cost about £30

[Baz JJ]

The information is filtering in now.

 

Bearing in mind, I am not organising this and because it us not dedicated to us because there is not enough of us, we have to comply with the existing game rules (if you want to play that is).

 

im happy that the rules are there for safety and having some sort of direction and purpose towards a milsim type event.

I dont get the impression of little hitlers or parking warden syndrome (sorry any PW out there).

 

The structure means that there will be a Team Leader and three Squad Leaders, each with 7 troops including an assigned Medic.

 

They dont allow two tone weapons Im afraid.

 

Radios and dressing the part are encouraged, but again they are not over the top. The organiser just wants a military flavour to the dress e.g. no trainers.

 

The only difficult part I can see is that the two teams dress differently rather than using armbands.

For example, in the last game, it seems one team were in camo and the others were in plain military gear like OD, tan or black.

 

It will be interesting to see if this carries through to the next semi sim as most of us have camo I guess and would want to be in the camo team ? I suspect that more Airsoft players have camo loadouts than plain, so this might unbalance the registrations, We will see.

 

No date set yet, but they have just done one, so it is an existing proven formula.

[NickM]

While I applaud your enthusiasm to start something like this Baz JJ, when it gets down to putting money down often the support disappears. I think at least for the first game or two it would be worth having a look at some of the sites that already do something closer to what we are thinking about. If they don't match up maybe its worth approaching them about giving our suggestions a go.

 

This site you have found sounds good and I've just joined the Gunman forums and expressed my feelings about airsoft suggesting on a scale of Blatfest -> Filmsim -> Milsim, I'd put myself in filmsim but edging towards Milsim. The guys there have informed me that this is definitely the way gunman leans. I hadn't really thought about them before because I'd only seen their adverts for games on a WW2 theme and while I'm keen to give that a go I don't have the time or money to build an entire period loadout including gun/s.

 

I'd be very willing to give either of your suggestions a go but perhaps the gathering of a squad of likeminded people from AFUK at an existing game is the way forward atleast for a little while. As for kit most of the filmsim/milsim go for a vague Tan vs Green format. As DPM and DDPM is dirt cheap I can't really see why it couldn't be a format for most games especially if they asked people to book in online you could book onto a specific team at the time or have a group of regulars who could turn up with both sets. I know I have both sets in my airsoft bag and wouldn't mind changing to balance numbers if it means being able to ditch the dreaded tape and make PIDing targets much easier. Most of the companies doing these style game don't mind the colour of rigs ( as having two complete sets can get pricy) as long as the uniform underneath matches the team colours, although I have seen one that the rig has to match as well.

 

Anyway definitely let me know dates when you might be thinking of going, unfortunately work can be a problem but if I can make it I'll be there!

[Airsoft-Ed]

Reading through this got me thinking about how potentially do-able it might be to organise a smaller scale airsoft weekender, with maybe around 100-300 people in attendance, if it's advertised right. Maybe more.

Pick a suitable site (or numerous, since some might not be able to take the challenge on board) ensure it's large enough to host that many people and has ample space to have a dedicated safe zone and/or camping area, then just work with the site to come up with a weekend scenario, I think a film-sim type weekend would be great, but it could be run with regular skirmish day flair. So for example, you could fall down and "die" when you get shot as well as shouting hit, everyone could be a 2 minute medic, and on your 2nd death, you bleed out on the spot for 5 minutes, before returning to the camping/safe zone. Or maybe move to the safe zone or your team base for the bleed out, then people could use that time to rearm or have a break or whatever.

Teams could be decided with arm bands, two tones could be allowed, it'd be like a smaller scale Ground Zero Weekender, except with slightly enhanced realism with regard to the game mechanics, and a lot less walking. We could put ammo limits in place or something as well, to up the level of play - no spraying 4 whole high caps into a bush until you hit something.

For anyone who's been to Skirmish before, when the entire site is open I think it could happily house 300 people, the chrono field/range area could be the camping space and safe zone, the shop area could be moved into the field for the event, then that area could be used in play as it has been once before, meaning people can get around that end of the site without needing to put people in the camping zone at risk of being shot in the eye bollocks.

One team could have the fort as a base, the other could have the village, then all the areas around and in between could be in play for special objectives and team missions. The compound and the trench fields would be behind either team's base, so the team opposite could send out small recon patrols to try and sneak into those areas to secure a bomb or something.

I think a film-sim weekender that doesn't have any kit restrictions would tick a lot of people's boxes, all the ones I've seen have tended to be for WWII or Vietnam re-enactment style groups, what do you think? Ground Zero, Free Fire Zone and Brit-Tac have all been sites I've attended that have proved 1 long scenario with set, timed objectives can work really well, but I think falling down dead when you're hit could add that fun aspect to it to help draw people in. More than just your average skirmish, but similar in a lot of ways.

It'd just take a lot of organising, not be terribly easy to reach for a lot of people down south in this discussion, but if it gets jumped on an organised properly, then it could be worth travelling that distance.

Though, in fairness, I've probably just jumped the gun on this one and got way too excited thinking up fantasies that will in all likelihood, never actually happen =[

[SgtTalbert]

I'd definitely be up for this and help with whatever (should it go ahead)

[Mike636]

I'd be up for this, as long as it wasn't a hugely long drive

[Baz JJ]

Because Ive wandered a bit since I started this discussion on another topic and the idea has evolved somewhat, I would just like to clarify the progress.

 

Ive discounted running a bespoke event because there simply isn't enough initial interest to even start to make that viable.

 

Of course, there are companies already staging prearranged events, but some existing milsim events put me off a bit because they are either too large or too hardcore (for my taste anyway).

 

My plan now is to latch on to something already scheduled and which is organised by professionals.

 

The one I have my eye on is quite small - totally fifty people and runs periodically out in the country about an hours drive North of London.

 

At the moment Im trying to pin the organisers down to the next date and Im hoping I might have some news about this in the week. My feeling is that it will be held before Christmas.

 

Irrespective of whether we get members from AFUK going, I would still like to attend the next one to give it a try.

If people from the forum want to go, then great, the more the merrier.

 

When I have the information to paint a complete picture, I will pin up the details and interested members will be able to book directly.