Se Tour Review: Dogtag Airsoft (West Sussex)

[Asomodai]

Site Name: Dogtag Airsoft

Contact details: 01293 852131

Website Address: https://www.dogtagairsoft.co.uk/

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

Site Address: Holmbush Events, Faygate, West Sussex, RH12 4SE

 

@Albiscuit and I decided to do two weekends in a row! So on the hottest skirmish day of the year (09/08/2020) we trundled on down to Dogtag Airsoft in West Sussex. 

 

Dogtag Airsoft is a well established Airsoft site, based within a large section of beautiful Sussex Woodland surrounded by farmland. Its a mixed-use area in that they also host paintball and 4x4 experiences. The online reviews I found ahead of time were almost universally positive and looking at the website I was quite excited by what I saw. My expectations unlike many sites were quite high. Did it live up to the hype? Read on...

 

This is a Large woodland site, split into smaller sections. On occasion they will play whole site games, but today was a standard skirmish. The site has quite varied woodland terrain, lots of ground level ferns/bushes and tall trees giving excellent shade from the burning sun. There are pits, lots of good quality wooden structures and some more open areas. Short/Medium and some Long distance engagement here. 

 

Good:

 

Playing Area: As varied as you can get in woodland. There are multiple "Zones" (Though they weren't fenced off from each other like many paintball esq sites.) Started out in a small village going down a wooded hill with a dark high foliaged wood on one side and an area of thick bushes on the other with a road running through it. This then went into a large earth worked area with battlements, more buildings, pits and ended up in a heavily ferned open area with a large helicopter. This was just the morning. I did wish these sections early on was a bit wider in places as I found it difficult to get around the rear of the enemy without getting spotted. 

In the afternoon we headed out to the CQB area, which myself and Al can say with some certainty is the best bit out outdoor CQB we have seen in quite some time. Plenty of really good quality buildings, interesting sight lines. Lots of ferns inside the area and bushes around the outside to sneak in. It was very good fun. We ended the day in a fairly open area, low ferns, with high trees. More of a sniping field, but it also had a fort under construction and well vegetated tree cover at the sides.

 

What's more, we barely saw half the site, There were many more areas including an urban raid area, a castle area and they even open up the 4X4 track with ditches etc on whole site days. For the first time since sites started re-opening I didn't get stung or ripped to shred by nettles. It was remarkably clear of them. I would have liked to see are buildings with more then one level, sniper towers would be fantastic and I imagine they would be in the works at some point.

 

Professional: Everything was slathered in a professional run sheen, from the playing areas, safe zone, marshalling, social media and the website. 

 

Safe Zone(s): The Safe zone was quite big, All of the setup areas were covered and separated by "Pods". Each pod was for the most part walled off and were full of high tables. Not only was it good for shade it was also great for social distancing in the Covid 19 times. There was seating outside of the cover for most people to sit. The buildings were of good quality, chrono and a range were just a few steps away. There was an onsite tech who let me borrow some tools to fix my malfunctioning SRS.  A quality Safe Zone. 

 

Chrono: A mandatory chrono was in play. Guns were marked as to whether they were allowed in or not. AEGS (350fps) and DMRs (420fps) were checked with the sites own .2's The Marshals checked the guns themselves. BASRs were measured by joule ratings on .43's (2.3J). Very good chrono procedure and nice to see Joule checks on sniper rifles to prevent joule creep. Excellent.

 

Shop: 308 Sniper are here, They also supply Driver Wood and Battle Lakes. It was a reasonably stocked stall with lots of pistols and rifles. BBs, gas, tac gear. Good selection. We felt that things were a tad over priced, but the selection gives this a good rating.

 

Food: A hog roast and beef burgers were cooked fresh here. The Hog Roast was brought in by an outside company and smelt delicious (I miss eating pork). There was a selection of drinks and confectionary. AN ICE CREAM VAN SHOWED UP AT LUNCH TIME - An Airsoft first for me. I didn't see any vegetarian options sadly, but its worth enquiring ahead of time. Food was clearly quality, so gets a good. Water was provided free as it was such a hot day.

 

Safety Brief: Excellent. Covered everything in a not-too-long a time. No questions needed. Really well delivered.

 

Good Value: £25 for the day, whilst the price didn't include food, we felt that you got a lot of positives for your money. Well worth the money.

 

Game Modes: Were pretty good. There was one failed game which didn't quite work, but they did warn us ahead of time it was a new game. It was short and didn't impact a huge amount on the day. The fullback game at the beginning was really well run and difficult. The CQB game mode was really well done (Flags in Warehouse).

 

Average: 

 

Parking: Perfectly fine. Gravel/dirt based. Might get a bit muddy on the track leading up to parking. A bit worried that cars might be blocked in on busier days. Safe zone was right next to the parking area. 

 

Toilets: 3 Portaloos. A bit messy come the end of the day as you can imagine. At least you have two spare if one is blocked!

 

Turn around time: Was reasonable 10-15 minutes. I imagine it would be faster on a non hot day. We felt understandably knackered by the end.

 

Marshalling: Marshalling was reasonable and mostly hands off. Which is perfectly fine. Not so much in the way of walkie talkies like other sites. There was always a marshal around if needed. 

 

Hit taking: Was a mixed bag, I had very few issues with it, though the other side claimed we had a number of people not taking it on our side. I believe it got much better in the afternoon. 

 

Clientele: More casual players then I would have guessed. A fair few rentals and younger players. I felt a little long in the tooth in my mid 30's. There were quite a few loudmouths complaining in the morning, and a number of players left during lunch, but the ones that were left were friendly and much less grumbling overall. Had a number of chats with keen players in the playing area and safe zone which keeps this category out of the "Bad" rating. I imagine the heat was a contributing factor.

 

Bad: 

 

Nothing!

 

 

Conclusion: 

 

This day was amazing considering how hot it was. I am more of a woodland player and not a fan of CQB, @Albiscuit is the complete opposite, we both loved the site. It reminds me of a much larger Driver Wood. So if you have been there, you'll get a good idea of this site. There is no Unique Selling point to the site, but its more then made up by the overall experience and quality.

 

The pure woodland section was brilliant, well paced and well varied. I got few kills and had to work quite hard to get places but had plenty of fun. The CQB section was the crown jewel. It had loads of buildings on different levels of elevation. I remember Al and I both exclaimed how fun it looked when we set eyes on it, and it didn't disappoint. It could only be more fun if it was expanded more which we certainly hope the site owners do! I don't even like CQB and it was great. I racked up a huge amount of kills protecting the "Warehouse". The more open section at the end was nice for a bit of relaxing long range play to end a hot day. 

 

Talking to the organiser at the end of the day, there is more to come in terms of playing are investment. 

 

The ancillary parts of the site were very complete, everything oozed "Investment". This is a proper site, run by professional, passionate people. If it weren't too far away we would definitely make this a regular visit. Sadly its not quite Public transportable from London. 

 

To end. Best site I have visited for a very long time and can possibly knock off Airsoft Plantation from my end of year Awards. We will 100% be coming back to this on a more open day where the entire site is opened up. Ideal Mil Sim/Battle Sim territory. 

 

Bullpup Watch: SRS, T97 (Both mine) An L85 with no handguard and a non hunter scopes F2000. (Lovely to see)

 

[Smiling-Dutchman]

Bit longer drive for me (a whole 60 min.), but this review made me want to go here sometime.

You mention lunch was not included in the price, was it expensive?

[Asomodai]

1 minute ago, Smiling-Dutchman said:

Bit longer drive for me (a whole 60 min.), but this review made me want to go here sometime.

You mention lunch was not included in the price, was it expensive?

 

 I didnt get too close to clearly see prices, I think a burger was either £2.50 or £3.50. No idea on the hog roast sorry. I sadly brought my own sandwiches. 

[Albiscuit]

Agreed, was a great day and I can’t think of anything I didn’t like except maybe the distance from home. It’s just far enough away to be a pain but not so far to be a proper mission to get too.

if that makes sense.

 

The hit calling That “I” saw was fair, the main point was the cheat calling from the other team, they had 2 players which seem to feel they could hit anything the looked at. I was even called out myself bu some guy who was shredding the ferns above be effin and jeffing at me to call my hits whilst I’m lying on the ground putting shots into his chest (I had clear view of him but the mound I was behind stopped his view of me). He didn’t take the shots I got on him as he thought shredding the bushes was a guarantee of hitting me, it wasn’t! 
fair play to the site marshals they mentioned the hit taking after lunch, but strangely not the cheat calling.

The structures were the best I have seen for a woodland site. Wooden,  or a lot of gaps and well built, even the small barricades were well kept and all get safe, I have been to too many sites with pallets as walls, rotten logs and rotten wood, makeshift rubbish buildings. This place was WELL kept. You wouldn’t have known it has not been used in a few months either.

 

also the only site we have visited so far which was properly Covid ready and had things in place. 

 

Still a truly professionally run site and it showed and such a good day.

 

[Smiling-Dutchman]

1 hour ago, Asomodai said:

 

 I didnt get too close to clearly see prices, I think a burger was either £2.50 or £3.50. No idea on the hog roast sorry. I sadly brought my own sandwiches. 

Not too bad then.

 

I'll add this on the list of sites to visit

[Albiscuit]

25 minutes ago, Smiling-Dutchman said:

Not too bad then.

 

I'll add this on the list of sites to visit

I certainly would go again, it wouldn’t be a regular place as it’s just over the 90mins drive limit I tend to go with but we couldn’t fault the place at all.

 

food seemed reasonable, 2.50 or 3.00 for burger/cheeseburger plus drinks n sweets at the typical prices.

 

[RMDavis]

Myself and a few mates made the hour or so drive to try this site out for the first time a few weeks ago.

 

I think @Asomodai has hit the nail on the head with this review, and I agree with what he's said.

 

a very well run site with some excellent buildings. Sounds like we both had a similar day of scenarios, and the CQB area with the warehouse / flag capture was also a highlight for me.

 

I'm a veggie, so didn't partake in the hog roast, but was stunned they had that as an option! Then the ice cream van turned up! Never seen choices like that at a skirmish site.

 

I also felt my age (33) I couldn't believe how childish and 'silly' some of the younger kids were like there, both in game and in the safe zone. Kept muttering STFU already... at many points throughout the day! 😂

[Davegolf]

Cheers @Asomodai for your service to us! Will be checking this one out for sure!

 

@RMDavis getting old and cantankerous 😂

[Albiscuit]

@Davegolf do you work for the site? Were you there?

[Guest PT247]

Although I have pretty much given up airsoft now, I may do an odd skirmish if a bunch of mates are going, DogTag is a fantastic site, is awesome to hear it is improving on what was already an amazing site! 🙂