Asomodai Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 Only a couple of months after getting access to the Heathfield site; Zoological warfare/Battle Paintball and Airsoft will no longer run airsoft or paintball. No idea why at this time. Though I intimate the landlord has lost the appetite for it. Shame as I really liked the site! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DopeYourScope Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 10 minutes ago, Asomodai said: Only a months after getting access to the Heathfield site; Zoological warfare/Battle Paintball and Airsoft will no longer run airsoft or paintball. No idea why at this time. Though I intimate the landlord has lost the appetite for it. Shame as I really liked the site! Saw the Facebook post from Luke this morning, it’s a shame especially as the landlord hasn’t really given them much notice. I doubt they’ll lose use of battle lakes but I suppose they’ve got to keep their partnership with gunman going for Acid Drop otherwise they’ll be back down to one site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meades93 Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 saw this on facebook this morning. its a shame, after losing the mall and now this i hope they still manage to pull something different off from your countless woodland sites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asomodai Posted January 8, 2020 Author Share Posted January 8, 2020 48 minutes ago, DopeYourScope said: Saw the Facebook post from Luke this morning, it’s a shame especially as the landlord hasn’t really given them much notice. I doubt they’ll lose use of battle lakes but I suppose they’ve got to keep their partnership with gunman going for Acid Drop otherwise they’ll be back down to one site. 10 minutes ago, Meades93 said: saw this on facebook this morning. its a shame, after losing the mall and now this i hope they still manage to pull something different off from your countless woodland sites I think they need to look at completely new sites rather then taking over existing ones. Echelon seem to manage it (Though that remains to be seen). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DopeYourScope Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 31 minutes ago, Asomodai said: I think they need to look at completely new sites rather then taking over existing ones. Echelon seem to manage it (Though that remains to be seen). Not be too much of a skeptic but so far we have had a 3 week hiatus of absolutely no info past “dates soon” in regard to Echelon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meades93 Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 id quite like to see more indoor sites, like what evike are doing in the US. surely gotta be easier than getting these 'difficult' sites like a zoo/ship etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DopeYourScope Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 6 minutes ago, Meades93 said: id quite like to see more indoor sites, like what evike are doing in the US. surely gotta be easier than getting these 'difficult' sites like a zoo/ship etc I’ve always found them referring to it as previously a zoo a bit false advertising. If no one made any mention of it you would never assume that’s what it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meades93 Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 2 minutes ago, DopeYourScope said: I’ve always found them referring to it as previously a zoo a bit false advertising. If no one made any mention of it you would never assume that’s what it was. True, its definitley a publicity stunt, it sounds cool so must be cool right? id rather someone buy land cheap and build a dedicated airsoft site from the ground up, actually catering to what makes good airsoft games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DopeYourScope Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 Just now, Meades93 said: True, its definitley a publicity stunt, it sounds cool so must be cool right? id rather someone buy land cheap and build a dedicated airsoft site from the ground up, actually catering to what makes good airsoft games. Luke is very much against “kill house style” set ups made of ply in warehouses. Which is a shame as if they made the investment you could purpose build something similar to the Erebor black ops setup, which went down incredibly well, however you need the space which there are a fair few in the south and then you need to invest in fitting it out properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporters Rogerborg Posted January 8, 2020 Supporters Share Posted January 8, 2020 4 hours ago, Meades93 said: buy land cheap Not much of that around in the UK. And airsoft seems to be a tenant-of-last-resort for land owners that will get dropped the instant they get a sniff of anything a bit less shooty-bangy. My local outdoor organisers have been yeeted off two sites in two years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ak2m4 Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 5 hours ago, DopeYourScope said: Not be too much of a skeptic but so far we have had a 3 week hiatus of absolutely no info past “dates soon” in regard to Echelon. very quiet indeed, I hope they manage to pull it off. I think the key at these early stages is not to make any announcements until the site is 100% ready with confirmed dates, that way no one knows any better. If I was operating the site the big kid in me would be so excited and want to let the word out, not good at keeping secrets 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitmanNo2 Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 I think realistically, you need farm type land that at least for the moment, has little other use. Then whack up a few temporary agricultural warehouses and build what you want inside. Due to the temporary nature, hopefully planning wouldn't be a total nightmare seeing as it could all be reversed. When you get kicked off the land, no big deal, just dismantle and move. You can hire them too so if it all goes tits up, you're not out a load of £. Admittedly I don't know the full costs but still. I used to know someone with a farm and he had a yuuuuge warehouse he stored cars in. It would be perfect for airsoft. The way I see it is there are few other options (in the south at least) seeing as any land owner would be mad to dedicate their ideal CQB building for airsoft when it could be making them more money renting it to so many other people. https://www.spaciotempo.co.uk/experience/countrywide-farmers/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ak2m4 Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 4 minutes ago, hitmanNo2 said: https://www.spaciotempo.co.uk/experience/countrywide-farmers/ Not a bad idea but I dread to think of the cost to rent one of those temporary warehouses.. Does give a decent size though (1800m2 ??) From what I've seen over the years most site startups have little initial funds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitmanNo2 Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 12 minutes ago, ak2m4 said: Not a bad idea but I dread to think of the cost to rent one of those temporary warehouses.. Does give a decent size though (1800m2 ??) From what I've seen over the years most site startups have little initial funds Yeah. I picked a particularly Gucci one for the link ha. I've seen used ones sell for pretty good prices though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DopeYourScope Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 31 minutes ago, hitmanNo2 said: I think realistically, you need farm type land that at least for the moment, has little other use. Then whack up a few temporary agricultural warehouses and build what you want inside. Due to the temporary nature, hopefully planning wouldn't be a total nightmare seeing as it could all be reversed. When you get kicked off the land, no big deal, just dismantle and move. You can hire them too so if it all goes tits up, you're not out a load of £. Admittedly I don't know the full costs but still. I used to know someone with a farm and he had a yuuuuge warehouse he stored cars in. It would be perfect for airsoft. The way I see it is there are few other options (in the south at least) seeing as any land owner would be mad to dedicate their ideal CQB building for airsoft when it could be making them more money renting it to so many other people. https://www.spaciotempo.co.uk/experience/countrywide-farmers/ the issue with that is you would need to change the use of the land, if you were trying to use arable fields then the “official” land use must be changed from agricultural to recreational, it’s the same situation when you say put horses for pleasure into a field which was previously used for a herd of cows or sheep. You would be surprised the amount of places which are currently disused that with a bit of work would make great sites but you’re effectively giving the land owner income until they’ve either sold the land or completed planning permission and contracts for development. as previously mentioned airsoft doesn’t really make mega money so it’s too expensive to outright pay a lease on a big ex-distribution warehouse on an industrial estate. There are a few sites which have made it work but they’re usually charging top end of the market which seems to put people off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PureSilver Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 On 08/01/2020 at 10:17, Meades93 said: id quite like to see more indoor sites, like what evike are doing in the US. Indeed. We aren't in dire need of more scrub woodland sites, we've got those coming out of our ears. Massive open fields? Passchendaele wasn't fun the first time around. Woodland doesn't play to airsoft's strengths, it plays to its weaknesses - unrealistically short range and an inability to punch through foliage. What we need is more urban/indoor sites. It doesn't have to be bleeding welts CQB, but engagement ranges topping out at 40-50m and averaging 20-30 would be ideal. On 08/01/2020 at 10:36, DopeYourScope said: if they made the investment you could purpose build something similar to the Erebor black ops setup, which went down incredibly well, however you need the space which there are a fair few in the south and then you need to invest in fitting it out properly. Nobody's expecting a landlord to spend £500k reconstructing Longmoor; shipping containers aren't that expensive. Container yards are outdoors (obviating the massive expense of renting warehouses for plywood kill houses) and can be put up on the cheapest, crappiest woodland airsoft sites already use. Multistorey is as simple as stacking them on top of each other, you can cut windows and doors in them easily, you can easily bolt internal structures in, and they can be reconfigured and moved easily when the site or the landlord decides it's time for a change. There is a reason that real military training facilities (including in the UK) and a lot of paintball and airsoft sites abroad are built like this. Most importantly, putting up temporary structures like these don't require "change of use" planning permission. These can go up on land coded for grazing, which is usually a lot cheaper than hardstandings (although those would be much better). I find it baffling that we have so few of these, and they're so small, when they're downright common in the US. I count only 35 containers in the site below, they haven't even put stairs and railings up to use the roofs and and it's still far bigger than the average airsoft site needs to be. It's especially useful in the South because they have a far smaller footprint for the same number of distinct spaces than a few barrels and pallets nailed together across a big flat area. Something half the size of a football pitch (when I'd guess the average woodland site is ten or twenty times that) would be perfectly acceptable if it had two storeys of containers on it. Dirty Dog Airsoft - never been, no idea what it's like - has a pretty minimal yard (looks to be 23 absolutely wrecked containers), and that looks far more interesting than the muddy field it was previously. 10 seconds online - not hunting for the cheapest, most damaged, crappiest containers which would still be more than adequate for sitting in a muddy field on jacks - puts a 40' container at £1,500, which is £3.75/ft2 (half that if you use the roof too) for something you own in perpetuity. For reference, for a warehouse in King's Langley (the same area as Red1's The School) you'll be paying ~£13.00/ft2 per annum for something that you can't take with you when you leave. I'd really like to see someone take the £50k it costs to rent a 4,000ft2 warehouse for a year in the South and instead rent a field half the size of a football pitch and put up 30 absolutely rock-bottom containers for a total of 32,800ft2 of one- and two-storey containers with internal rooms, windows, doors, roofs, alleys, courtyards... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keldon Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 You know what I would like to see as a site is a full on trench warfare site. A maze of trenches all interconnected from one side to the other. You can either play the trenches or try your luck going over the top I think that would be a blast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asomodai Posted January 9, 2020 Author Share Posted January 9, 2020 2 hours ago, Keldon said: You know what I would like to see as a site is a full on trench warfare site. A maze of trenches all interconnected from one side to the other. You can either play the trenches or try your luck going over the top I think that would be a blast. Driver Wood has a whole zone like that. Great fun! Apocalypse also has a small section which is reasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keldon Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Want to visit Driver Wood, but how cool to have a site the size of a football pitch just full of trenches. Would be so much fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DopeYourScope Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 38 minutes ago, Keldon said: Want to visit Driver Wood, but how cool to have a site the size of a football pitch just full of trenches. Would be so much fun. Apocalypse have about that size trench system, it is fun when it's not deep water. Especially as they've let the ferns grow around and within it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asomodai Posted January 10, 2020 Author Share Posted January 10, 2020 10 hours ago, DopeYourScope said: Apocalypse have about that size trench system, it is fun when it's not deep water. Especially as they've let the ferns grow around and within it. Wow, they really have worked on that! When I last went, it was a trench system around a fort style thing which was fairly new at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporters Rogerborg Posted January 10, 2020 Supporters Share Posted January 10, 2020 On 08/01/2020 at 15:40, ak2m4 said: I think the key at these early stages is not to make any announcements until the site is 100% ready with confirmed dates The only thing that premature announcements generates is cynicism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.