Thought on Bunker 51 & The Mall, please?

[jeffery7466]

Hello,

I live in London, and is planning on a skirmish around here. Bunker 51 seems to be the only one nearest to central London. Though it will be a total of 55 quid and only three hours of action.

 

Another possible site is The Mall in reading, which is similar in price, and includes a full day of action. Though jay83 mentioned that it was a bit rubbish in another post, because the gameplay was start and stop, and the staff talked constantly.

 

Any thoughts on these sites?

[Lozart]

The Mall ismy regular site and I like it. Yes the games are short but tend to be a lot more intense than standard woodland stuff. By "talking constantly" I'm guessing Jay means the game briefings. When the games are short you will have more briefings - goes with the territory!

 

The Mall is only £34 for a walk on for the day by the way.

[jeffery7466]

The Mall ismy regular site and I like it. Yes the games are short but tend to be a lot more intense than standard woodland stuff. By "talking constantly" I'm guessing Jay means the game briefings. When the games are short you will have more briefings - goes with the territory!

 

The Mall is only £34 for a walk on for the day by the way.

 

Ah ok thanks! I forgot to mention I am renting kit, so the price is higher.

[deacon]

Some people love the Mall some hate it, the only way to know for yourself is to try it.

 

Personally I love the site, always have good games there and I find the marshals are good at dealing with people who are believed to be cheating if people tell them and give a good description of the player.

[Baz JJ]

Fifty five quid for three hours, jeeze.

 

Most skirmish sites charge about £25 for the day on the periphery of London, Our September milsim just off J20 M25 provides 16 hours of action for £60.

[team flex]

yeah I am going to go to the mall at some point will tell you what I think of it when I do some people have done videos on youtube of it though, you can check them out.

[M_P]

Worth doing but not regularly.

[deacon]

If you could make it to the Mall on a Thursday for their evening games they are only £35 for hirers, or a full day at the weekend for £58. I think with Bunker 51 you are paying for the look of the place, from looking at the gallery it does look quite bespoke, but that doesn't mean it makes it a better experience.

 

Have you tried looking on Airbana? (http://www.airsoftmap.net/Skirmish/) for sites closer to you, as there are a number closer to central london then The Mall. Not sure how up to date it is now but it gives you an idea.

[SuicidalBarrelRoll]

See this is what I need...me and my bro are planning a trip to the Mall

[kejot]

Could also try Ucap's the sandpit, out by bluewater, £50 for days rental, and way shorter briefings

 

http://ucap.co.uk/ucap-airsoft-venues/ucap-sandpit-venue/

[Sitting Duck]

Yup deffo gonna try the SandPit in Dartford soon - looks like a real pro place

but no 2-tone or clear guns

 

But it does look like a real serious place and about 40 mins from me

[jeffery7466]

Yea the sandpit looks cool, I'll pay them a visit when I get my UKARA. But I'm more into CQB - much more action!

 

Additional Edit: I need three skirmishes at a particular site to get the UKARA. Is the mall a good place to skirmish three consecutive times?

[M_P]

Lol not worth it for the prices they charge, find somewhere cheaper for the three games then go to the mall afterwards

[jeffery7466]

Lol not worth it for the prices they charge, find somewhere cheaper for the three games then go to the mall afterwards

 

Nothing is cheap in London haha.

At least train tickets to Reading are cheapish

[jeffery7466]

I just read this:

http://www.jaketucker.com/site-review-zed-events-the-mall-12-05-2013/

[Lozart]

I just read this:

http://www.jaketucker.com/site-review-zed-events-the-mall-12-05-2013/

I agree with some of that but certainly not all of it. I agreethat the tone of the day can be affected by the make-up of punters but that's true of anywhere. The review is also over a year old, things have changed, New games added etc. Yes the games are short but you're not creeping about in bushes, you're running up and down a lot of stairs and poking around in the dark, after a full day of it you'll feel it!

Try it out, you might just enjoy it. If you do decide to come to the mall let us know and we can meet up if I'm there.

[Guest PT247]

Consider EAG Gatwick too

[Lord_Metile]

Dorking EAG is closer I believe

[Guest PT247]

ummm, Worthing is on the south coast mate, it is about as far away from London as you can get in that direction! lol

[Lord_Metile]

I meant Dorking. Dorking is closer. I hate this dyslexia. Can't even read a book.

[dapprman]

I did The Mall in February as part of a meet up for another forum.

 

It was well marshalled, meaning it was hard for people to get away with not taking their hits (I believe two people were asked to leave in the afternoon, one of whom was given a permanent ban). The briefings were clear, well explained, but long. The games were about 20 minutes each, 3 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon, so actual game play for the day was not the greatest. Added to this there's always a fair walk back to the safe zone, so if, like me, you're using gas guns, you struggle to refill and reload in time.

 

The site itself is in very good condition, but there were too many choke points, meaning play became rather static - especially with the extra safety rules over grenades (can't throw above knee height, fine for timed grenades you can roll along, not particularly useful for impact ones).

 

As a whole, despite what I've written above, I actually enjoyed the day, and would do The Mall again, but it's the sort of place I could only do one to four times a year, no more.

 

Oh and as to food - they no longer give free lunch (they were stopped from doing it apparently) - but the price is/was not changed.

[Sitting Duck]

Shame Tactical WarFare lost Anerley urban site

 

Only got a woodland one now but think:

 

£20 day walk on

£10 half-day walk on - some places don't do half day walk ons

£20 gun hire mask etc... - they do not do half day hire though

 

so for me half day @ £10 is fine - getting too old for this $hit

and others wishing to rent etc...

 

£40 + hot dog or something for lunch - dunno I just go half day usually

 

think they pick you up from a nearby tram stop if you ask nicely & keep them informed

no mega a$$ briefings run by players for players they say

and good bunch of regulars I found too - even though they shoot my A$$ to bits

[Lozart]

I did The Mall in February as part of a meet up for another forum.

 

It was well marshalled, meaning it was hard for people to get away with not taking their hits (I believe two people were asked to leave in the afternoon, one of whom was given a permanent ban). The briefings were clear, well explained, but long. The games were about 20 minutes each, 3 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon, so actual game play for the day was not the greatest. Added to this there's always a fair walk back to the safe zone, so if, like me, you're using gas guns, you struggle to refill and reload in time.

 

The site itself is in very good condition, but there were too many choke points, meaning play became rather static - especially with the extra safety rules over grenades (can't throw above knee height, fine for timed grenades you can roll along, not particularly useful for impact ones).

 

As a whole, despite what I've written above, I actually enjoyed the day, and would do The Mall again, but it's the sort of place I could only do one to four times a year, no more.

 

Oh and as to food - they no longer give free lunch (they were stopped from doing it apparently) - but the price is/was not changed.

Food was unfortunately stopped because the insurance company stopped them cooking on site. The price did change but only by a pound!

 

I like it, but I've been a lot and I know the layout which helps a lot. It's fair to say though that the malls isn't for everyone.

[Black Death]

I've not tried bunker51 but I have visited the mall. Overall it's a good site and I can appreciate why it has won awards. It's quite large as sites go and the layout is brilliant. The guys that run it seem very nice which makes it all the harder to criticise it BUT I had one main frustration from my experience which was the lack of lighting. Yes most sites (especially cqb) will have dark areas and in some sites absolute pitch black but the mall just has too many areas like this. A little bit of this makes for exciting variance but too much of it means it encourages too many choking points and at times spray and pray type gameplay. I felt the fluidity was definitely reduced by stumbling blindly around where more running and fighting could have commenced.

On a more positive note, the terminator game mode is absolutely fucking AWESOME! If you haven't seen it before a guy dresses up as terminator and will take hundreds of bbs before he goes down for 30 seconds or so. He fights back with a fully auto support weapon which feels like being shot at by an entire team at once.

If you can get down to the site then do so. In my honest opinion it's not the best ever site but it's very far from the worst either

[jeffery7466]

I'm also looking at EAG Epsom. It looks pretty cool! Its also closer so easier to plan.

 

Also, has anyone been to airsoft sites that are abandoned buildings around London, a bit like this?

 

I know that's in France, but KhanSeb is pretty awesome.