SE Tour Review: Driver Wood Paintball and Airsoft (West Sussex)

[Asomodai]

Site Name: Driver Wood Paintball and Airsoft

Contact details: 01293 882806

Website Address: https://driverwoodpaintball.co.uk

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/DriverWoodAirsoft/

Site Address: Leyhouse Old Hollow, Worth Matravers, Crawley RH10 4TA

 

My battle buddy and I popped along to Driver Wood Paintball and Airsoft a few days ago (11/05/2019) for a Saturday skirmish. My Battle Buddy had been before when it was run as a one off by Storm Tactical and was far less developed at the time and was indifferent about the site. Since then Driver Woods owners themselves started running airsoft days alongside the paintballers. Online reviews have been quite polarising, many people praising it and a number been quite critical. It ended up being a very interesting day! 

 

This is a small/medium site based in woodland. 2/3rds of the site was flat where the rest was on a relatively gentle slope. The playing area is separated into distinct zones and players are rotated throughout the day to separate the paintballers, airsofters and private parties. There are many different features such as trenches, small open crossings, villages and a fort along with typical paintball style cover based zones. Sometimes more then one zone is opened up to the same group of players for larger games. The site is hemmed in by a road and train tracks. Short and medium engagement distances are order of the day here. 

 

The woodland cover is mostly trees with little in the way of low hanging bushes or grassland to hide in. So fairly open. 

 

There are two separate generators providing electricity to the site, there is a large PA and music everywhere. It is a really well built and run site. There was clearly capital invested at the inception of this place, purpose built. 

 

Good:

 

Marshalling: Marshalling was of a high standard, constantly on the radios. The most amount of hit checking I have ever experienced (Maybe a bit too much in some cases!). They listened to everyone's concerns and interjected if things got too one sided. Good guys to talk to about all things airsoft as well. Not a word of complaint from me, they would really push the team that they were looking after and give advice on how to play the zones. 

 

Safe Zone(s): The Safe zone was quite large clearing, walled off, rectangular, mostly undercover, a mixture of corrugated sheets and canvas. Everything in easy reach. It is shared between the paintballers and airsofters. I imagine this could get quite crowded in the summer, but on this particular day it was fine. 

 

Good Value: £20 for the day and a burger at lunch is great value. They also do half days for just £10, which is ridiculously cheap. 

Saturday!: Some skirmishes are all held on a Saturday for those Sunday challenged, always good to see. 

 

Chrono: A mandatory chrono was in play. Guns were marked as to whether they were allowed in or not. Slightly lower FPS rules apply then usual. 350 FPS for Full auto capable rifles, 420 FPS for DMRs and 500 for Bolt action. There is a no full auto rule under 10 metre MED, DMRs have a 20 metre MED, Bolty is 30 Metre MED. 

 

Quick Turn-around time: We got to the site at 8:00AM opening time, we were up and running the first game at 9:00AM on the dot. They really hurry people to get ready, chronoed and go from the off. 

 

Mission Briefs: As the zones are fairly small it was quite easy to see objectives, although the mission briefs were short, they didn't need to be any longer. 

Playing Area: So varied for a woodland site! It is quite obviously man made for the majority of the area, some airsofters might not like that, but it does create a varied day with some surprises. I really loved the trench area/capture the flag game. Lots of manmade cover with a good muddy trench system. The village section made for some great running battles. There were other sections we didn't visit as our numbers were quite low, but they also looked pretty interesting! 

 

Shop: 308 Sniper are here, as you know from a previous review we are big fans of their stall at Battle Lakes and the one at Driver Wood is no exception. I felt a bit sorry for the lass on the stall as there was quite low numbers for the skirmish and didn't sell much. Pistols, 10+ rifles, mags, all the gas, gear and bbs that you need. 

 

Food: Food was available at breakfast and lunch, free water, a plain burger was included with the price of the skirmish, but they also had nice looking chips, coffee maker, vegetarian AND vegan options, (Let yourselves be known at the beginning of the day). All the burger sauces available including the much overlooked burger relish. 

 

Toilets: Restaurant quality toilets, HEATED FLOORS, three cubicles and three urinals in the Mens. Some of the best waste facilities we have seen. 

 

Future potential: The guy who runs the place also owns the land. There are bits that haven't been worked and opened up yet. So plenty of scope for the future! 

 

Parking: Excellent parking a short distance away from the safe zone. Well Gravelled and marked out. 

 

Average: 

 

Hit taking: Was a mixed bag, there were a few competitive players who I think struggled to register hits. But good hit taking from the vast majority. No worse then most sites we visit. 

 

Clientele: Mostly a friendly bunch of people, appeared to be mostly regulars with very few first timers like ourselves. In the safe zone most people kept to themselves, though on the field everyone worked together. The paintballers were mostly young children and were curious with our gear, but they were a well behaved bunch. 

 

Bad: 

 

Music: A struggle to work a bad point into this review. This is a personal preference, but music is pumped into some of the zones, probably because of the paintballers, ruins the immersion a bit, but considering it is clearly a non-natural site, I don't think you can complain that much! 

 

Conclusion: 

 

We really enjoyed the day. The numbers got very low near the end, I was sad to leave a little early as we were going to a second Skirmish in the evening. This is not for people who aren't a fan of purpose built sites and cleared woodland. We have never been to a site like this and we thought it was a blast. The zones were small which meant we were only a maximum of a couple of minutes from the respawn point so you were always in the actions. It was pretty fast paced action with little downtime. They do run weekend Milsims as well where they utilise the whole site. Generally I do not play for the objective in reviews as I don't know the sites well enough, but happy to report today was the exception! Had a real blast winning objectives for our team. I'd like to think I played quite well that day. 

 

Basically, its a very well run site, that's not expensive, a large variety of areas to play in, great safe zone and facilities. Top notch! Will come back again! 

 

Bullpup Watch: Just mine. My L85. 

[Mad Rag]

Have to say @Asomodai I really do like reading your reviews. 

[Asomodai]

On 14/07/2019 at 11:39, Mad Rag said:

Have to say @Asomodai I really do like reading your reviews. 

 

Thanks mate. I have been struggling to get out to new sites recently so things have slowed down. I doubt I'll be doing as many as time goes on. It's a shame as i love going to new sites. I might be doing a new one by the end of the month though.