WW2 airsoft for dummies

[Russe11]

What is WW2 Airsoft?:

 

WW2 airsoft comes in 2 varieties. There are airsofters who turn up for normal airsoft skirmishes in WW2 gear. We shall ignore this for the purposes of this guide.

-Basic WW2 games. These are the best games to start with. Gear needed will be down to personal choice but basically avoid modern camo and if you don't have a ww2 era gun or wood stocked rifle you should wrap it in hessian. The more effort you put into your gear the more you will get out of the event, but no-one will expect you to spend a fortune if you cannot afford to.

-Niche WW2 games. The equipment requirements for these are bit more specific. There may be a specific era that gear should be based on. As an example, I have a game coming up set in 1940 with only rifles allowed. This means that uniforms must be correct for this time as far as is possible.

All WW2 games will require you to act as part of a squad. Running around as a lone wolf is frowned upon. In fact many games have a rule that if you are the last member of your squad alive, you cannot advance.

Usually the game will have some sort of story-line built into it so you have to achieve certain objectives.

The Uniforms, teamwork and story-line add together to produce games very different and more immersive than a normal airsoft game.

 

What gear should I get?

 

Choose a side. American, British or German will be usable for most games. Russian will get you 1 or maybe 2 games a year, Japanese have never been done in a game yet.

Get a hat. The helmet shapes for each side are very different so headwear is important in identifying teams, if you cannot afford the rest of the uniform, a helmet is a good start. Plastic replicas will do the job just fine.

Start with basic infantry uniform. Your bog standard infantry are the guys who do all the work and are at every battle but don't get the glory. The fact that they are at every battle means that once you have this look sorted, you are ready for most games. You can then adapt your gear to be a commando/airborne/SAS etc.

Guns!!!: Any WW2 era gun is fine for any side. You may feel you want the right one for your uniform though. Start with a SMG. The ASG Sten is very good, the ASG MP40 is quite good and there are several different Thompsons. There are also some SRC MP40's and MP41's which have a poor reputation.

Webbing: Each side has their own webbing and it can be a bit confusing working out what bits you need and how to attach them to each other. British webbing is probably the most confusing but is by far the best webbing of the period.

Boots, gaiters, anklets and puttees. Boots for most are low ankle combat boots with either anklets, gaiters or puttees. This means that you can get away with more modern cheaper boots if you can hide the tops with the anklets, gaiters or puttees.

 

How do you find the gear?

Ebay is good, Whatpriceglory.com is good for uniforms, Soldier of fortune http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/ is good for most stuff but tends to be expensive, http://www.epicmilitaria.com/ have a lot of stuff and if they have it, are probably cheaper that SOF.

Other army surplus shops, web sites or re-enactment events may also be worth a look.

 

Time to find a game!

The place to find a WW2 airsoft game or get more detailed info about anything WW2 airsoft related is ww2airsoft.org.uk

Before you go there, some words of advice: The forums there are not as friendly seeming as they are here. Try not to take offence when on the ww2 airsoft forums, people are trying to help by telling you how to be more correct in your gear etc. Unfortunately often this comes across as unfriendly, nit picking etc. Until the internet allows tone of voice in forums, just assume people are trying to be helpful.

 

British Gear

Starting with basic infantry, you will need a helmet, battledress, pattern37 webbing, anklets, boots.

The helmet you will need is a brodie mk2 helmet. There are cheap plastic versions which will do the job just fine.

These cost about £10 on ebay

Steel versions consist of a steel shell with a liner bolted to the top of the helmet and a chinstrap. The liners come in different sizes and are sized by your head circumference in inches. You can cover the helmet with hessian or net and add hessian scrim. Ideally it should be brown but it was not unknown for them to get repainted with whatever paint was available (ie. whatever colour vehicles were being painted).

Battledress comes in several varieties. I use denim battledress mainly due to a wool allergy. Denim battledress was used everywhere as overalls so you didn't get your wool uniform dirty. It was also used in warmer weather so is very well suited to battles in Italy, greece, crete etc. The important thing though is it is better for staying cool and is usually cheaper although you will rarely find any original stuff. Soldier of fortune sell it in a green colour and What price glory sell it in brown.

Then there is P37 wool battledress, this is the most popular choice. It is usually some shade of brown but as it was made all over the commonwealth to different specs it varies from pale brown to dark brown and even green. P37 battledress has pleated pockets and concealed buttons. P40 Battledress is similar but pockets are not pleated and buttons are exposed so that it can be made faster and cheaper (basically after Dunkirk, the priority was to re-equip as fast as possible). Reproduction wool battledress is quite expensive and it is often cheaper to buy an original jacket. Unfortunately original trousers are very rare. You can get away with post war P49 battledress but it varies in having an open collar with lapels.

Pattern 37 webbing is complicated so heres a diagram:

 

 

 

 

The bits you need most are a belt, a pair of cross braces and a pair of ammo pouches. Try to get Mk3 pouches with popper fastening. Pouches with the quick release will do the job but are really post war versions. MK1 and MK2 pouches are slightly smaller and will not fit the Sten or MP40 mags. The best way to buy webbing is to watch ebay for a full set, expect to pay £40-50. Webbing should have brass buckles not steel ideally.

If the colour of your webbing bits doesn't match, don't worry. You should ideally use Blanco, think of it as paint for webbing. Get modern liquid blanco and brush it on your webbing. Soldier of fortune sell it in different shades, mid ww2 is probably best. Brush it onto the webbing making sure to get it into the texture of the webbing. Only use it on the sides of the webbing that show. Original blanco would rub off so it was not used on the bits of webbing that are against uniforms. Anklets should also be blanco'd but gun slings and gas mask bags should not.

When you want to add to your webbing, get a water bottle. These are enamelled steel covered in felt. If you are lucky the inside will be in perfect condition, otherwise you may need to insert a plastic bag and secure it with an elastic band. The stopper is a wine cork on a screw. There are skeleton water bottle carriers (as in the diagram) or envelope versions. You will need to get the carrier damp, put the water bottle in it and then pack cardboard between the bottle and carrier to stretch it while it dries. This makes it a less tight fit so you can actually remove the bottle and put it back in more easily.

Packs. There are 2 sizes of pack (large and small). Large packs were used to carry everything in when on the move. Small packs are what you would carry supplies and equipment in during battle. For either pack you will need a pair of L straps, these attach to the top of the pack and go over your shoulders and hook onto the ammo pouches, the narrow webbing then goes under your arms and to the bottom of the pack. On the small pack the L straps then attach to buckles on the bottom of the pack. On the large pack, there are loops instead of buckles, the L strap goes through the loop and then you attach blanket straps to the L strap. The blanket straps basically extend the L strap so it can go over the front of the pack crossing over and attaching to buckles at the top of the pack. This allows additional items to be strapped to the outside of the pack (a blanket perhaps).

If you have both packs, you can use an additional cross brace as a shoulder strap for the small pack and wear it as a shoulder bag (I often do this when travelling to games for extra carrying capacity.

 

Anklets or gaiters

They look so simple don't they? Just wait until you have a pair and try to work out which way they go. Basically they go over the top of your boots adding ankle support and preventing anything getting into the top of your boots. The buckles should be on the outside of your legs with the straps facing backwards. So the top one in the pic is the left one and the dip in the middle would be on the inside of your leg facing downwards. They come in different sizes 3 and 4 are most common and it depends how big your legs are.

 

Boots should ideally be ammo boots

They look similar to modern ammo boots but DO NOT buy modern ammo boots. Modern ammo boots have been redesigned so they do not flex. You can get repro ammo boots, but they are expensive. Next best is DMS boots these are effectively correct but with a rubber sole. Remember though that you are wearing anklets so the top of the boots is hidden, you can therefore get away with higher leg boots such as S95 boots. Avoid boots with padding around the ankles as this will make it hard to wear anklets. If you want to go all out on boot correctness, leather laces are preferred.

 

Additional accessories you may be tempted by:

Gas mask bags come in 2 main types; Early war versions are the big bag mounted on your front, These are excellent as dump pouches and if you keep speedloaders and bb's in them you always have everything to hand to refill mags when things are quiet. Lightweight gas mask bags can be used as a shoulder bag for you lunch, or they can attach to the belt.

Entrenching tool or E-tool comes in 2 parts, the helve has a bayonet fitting so you can attach the spike bayonet from a No.4 Lee Enfield to probe for mines or cook sausages. The head fits inside the carrier and the helve goes on the outside and the carrier attaches to the tails of your cross braces. It adds a lot of weight, get one for show but don't wear it during the game.

Bayonet frog for holding a bayonet

Pistol Holsters, don't bother. Only officers had pistols so if you need a pistol keep it in a pocket, gas mask bag etc.

 

 

Okay so thats pretty much everything an infantryman could possibly want or need. Now you want to be something more elite? Airborne loadouts are quite common. All you need in addition to the above is a denison smock and an airborne helmet. The smock will cost about £100+ but you can save a bit of money by getting a belgian denison smock, which is similar. The helmet will cost about £80 but the same shell was used in tankers helmets until the 80's. If you buy a tankers helmet is is possible to modify it at a later date, with a new liner, chinstrap etc but it will cost just as much in total. Once you have the Denison you can do commandos by switching to a wooly hat, green beret or normal helmet. Similarly SAS is just a different beret.

 

If anyone wants to do an American or German guide, just post it in this thread and PM me so I can add it here

[two_zero]

Excellent guide!! Thanks!

[Del Monty]

Awesome guide .. being a ww2 player myself its always nice to have a guide to give to people curious about the hobby .. nice one Russell.

[DEDSEC]

Love this guide, should be helpful to those starting a WW2 loadout before they make the biggest historical error.

 

Typically, I see this a lot on YouTube (usually Americans playing the Nazi Germany role). A player says "righto, WW2 Nazi Germany infantry loadout". They get all the gear right, look like proper true to the real deal, then ruin it by using an MP-40..

 

Unlike the movies when everybody and their mothers are using an MP-40 that's not historically accurate as it was only issued to high ranking officers and paratroopers. Most Germans had the Karabiner 98 and would forum a nine man rifle squad one of which would be using an MG-34.

 

So a very good guide. I hope people will follow this if they're thinking about the WW2 road. Well done.

[two_zero]

I was thinking that myself as a matter in fact how it's a bit of a paradox. It seems majority of all guns in WW2 airsoft are SMGs, while they would be minority in the war. As well as them being the intro guns.

 

Thou this of course is not a flaw in the guide

[Russe11]

Generally the AEG's are the sub machine guns, so it's best to start with a sub machine gun. Rifles are harder to get. Things are getting better with AEG M1 garands and various K98's and Mosin Nagants. Lee Enfield's are harder as theres either the shoot and scoot No.4 or the Ironairsoft No.1 MkIII I have. But they are more expensive, can be unreliable and getting hold of them can be tough.

[two_zero]

guess you'd be excused for using a Mosin Nagant for brit outfit?

[Russe11]

No-one really cares what gun you use as long as its correct period. It's accepted that guns are expensive so if you play British and German and use a sten for both thats fine. In fact Germans had a copy of the Sten that was issued to their equivalent of the home guard and the Sten was copied off a German sub machine gun anyway. Just don't turn up to a WW2 game with a Systema

If all you have is a 2 tone M4, just wrap hessian around it and take off any red dots, lasers etc. It's accepted that it takes time to get everything together for WW2 airsoft and generally it's preferred that people go to the games rather than sit at home until they have all the gear.

[ikarma70]

I tried to attend a ww2 rifle only game and I had a thompson and an svd, asked if they were suitable and was told no end of story, can I hessian wrap my svd ... No you can't but as it happens I couldn't get to the games that weekend so it really wasn't an issue.

 

A good forum with helpful guys!

 

However I was told I could use an m14 which I bought anyway as I like them.

[JamesAirsofterAgent]

Great guide!

[Chock]

Unlike the movies when everybody and their mothers are using an MP-40 that's not historically accurate as it was only issued to high ranking officers and paratroopers. Most Germans had the Karabiner 98 and would forum a nine man rifle squad one of which would be using an MG-34.

 

Whilst that is generally true, later in the war (i.e. after 1943) the MP-40 was actually issued more widely to regular troops. That was a direct response to encountering the Russian army using sub machine guns in larger numbers than most other WW2 forces. Ironically enough, this led the Germans to develop the StG44, which the Russians then used as the inspiration for the AK47 after WW2. However, in spite of the German's desire to hand out the MP40 in larger numbers, unlike the PPSh41 and 43, of which over eight million were produced, the MP40 wasn't produced in the truly massive numbers necessary to make that possible (i.e. only a fraction over a million units according to most records), so whilst it is true that there weren't enough of them to hand over to everyone in the Wehrmacht, the Germans did actually want to do that, particularly in light of their experience against the Russians, who of course had the Germans retreating because of that much better weight of firepower. Thus the Germans did so as much as they could, and there are certainly quite a few instances where entire units were equipped with the MP40 in the closing stages of the war, it's just that it was not the norm for most army units.

 

If you want a truly ridiculous example of MP40 usage however, nothing beats Mary Ure, Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood's MP40s in Where Eagles Dare, which aside from appearing to be loaded with armour-piercing incendiary ammunition, judging by the amount of damage they can do, also seem to be fitted with special high capacity magazines capable of holding hundreds of rounds.

[Albiscuit]

 

 

If you want a truly ridiculous example of MP40 usage however, nothing beats Mary Ure, Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood's MP40s in Where Eagles Dare, which aside from appearing to be loaded with armour-piercing incendiary ammunition, judging by the amount of damage they can do, also seem to be fitted with special high capacity magazines capable of holding hundreds of rounds.

 

The day an american movie is historically accurate will be the day they actually win a war

[Ignitor]

Any one know about Polish or Russian WW2 gear?

[Russe11]

Polish gear is complicated. The Polish army starts with it's own gear, then after the fall of Poland, they were re-equipped by the French, then by the British. Other Polish units were equipped by the Russians and during the Warsaw uprising there is a mix of civilian gear and captured German gear.

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/20-images-wwii-uniforms.html This may help

 

 

Russian is a bit easier http://www.ww2airsoft.org.uk/ussr-rkka-summer/

If you ask around on ww2airsoft.org.uk, there are people who do Russian and even Polish gear.

[n1ckh]

 

The day an american movie is historically accurate will be the day they actually win a war

The dept of defence never release a war film unless there made to shine or kicking ass from the begining, anyone one would think they won WW1 & WW2 by themselves