What Was the Best Site ( or Sites ) You Have Ever Played on That No Longer Exist and What Made it/Them SO Special?

[Reed20v]

Urban Assault was my first site, i went loads of times. Great site, terrible marshalling and SUPER cliquey/boys club shit but the building to building firefights made up for all of it. 

 

Second place goes to the mall, terrible for airsoft in reality but it was so different and the people running it really put the effort in with the different game modes, always appreciated a silly one after a day of serious games (supermarket sweep!). 

 

Now it's just woodland, can't find an indoor site anyway. im bored of the woods

[Jaylordofwaargh]

1 hour ago, Reed20v said:

 

Now it's just woodland, can't find an indoor site anyway. im bored of the woods

So I am lead to believe that z-adventures ran the Mall? They have set up another site 'Z-Mart' down in Newbury, an ole department store, it is on my 2021 list.

[Albiscuit]

@Reed20vwhy was the mall terrible for Airsoft in your opinion?

[Danger_MouseUK]

+1 for the Lightfighter site at the old Union Carbide factory in Sheffield, I still love that site even after welding a live bb grenade to my hand after accidentally bumping the striker umping out the back of an APC at a Sterling weekender. 

[concretesnail]

The lab run by first and only. Old dairy plant; lots of dark, lots of corners, twisted routes and a mix of floors and split levels.

[Cannonfodder]

Fort Amherst in Chatham. A mix of woodland and a some cqb in an 18th century fort

[SheriffHD]

First place I went airaofting was an old power station. Richmond power station that was in sandwich, Kent. 

Was also host to a beloved channel 4 TV show.

Was fun to watch the cooling towers getting demolished though.

[Cannonfodder]

10 hours ago, Da_sheriff said:

First place I went airaofting was an old power station. Richmond power station that was in sandwich, Kent. 

Was also host to a beloved channel 4 TV show.

Was fun to watch the cooling towers getting demolished though.

Was that the show where teams would race home made cars round an obstacle course etc? 

[SammieSurrey]

I cut my teeth at Ambush Chobham (run by Charlie James) and I look back on those days so fondly. 
 

I dunno if it was the mud (omg it was muddy. In fact, I’m still finding mud years later🤣) the amazing marshals, or the unrelenting pace of every single game but, it just worked so well. It was the first place I ever played and where I learned everything I ever knew about Airsoft. The away days to Longmoor were always an amazing treat, especially the overnight games. I really miss those days. 
 

After a few years off, it’s time to find a new site but, in my opinion, Ambush set the bar pretty high. 

[PureSilver]

Without a doubt it has to be Erebor. It was a purpose-built (with what had to have been hundreds of thousands of pounds behind it) FIBUA site. It was in a huge warehouse with adjustable day-night cycles, the (multi-storey!) buildings were all individually lit with light switches and stuff, there was a modicum of furniture, the safe zone was brand-spanking new and the marshalling was top-notch. Not to mention it was reachable by Underground... Closure was an incalculable loss for London airsofters in particular and airsoft in general. 😢

 

On 10/11/2020 at 16:11, Cannonfodder said:

I found Blitz CQB in Whitechapel was always a good laugh. I only played there a handful of times though, had it been my regular site it may have got a little repetitive due to the small size of the place

 

Man, I loathed this site. I only played it once and that was more than enough to make it repetitive. I found it so confined that we were barely able to get out of our spawns before getting absolutely annihilated, and the 0.5:1 scale meant I smashed my head on just about every lintel in the site.

[Venomous]

Combat South - even after we moved back to Derbyshire - I still used to go - 360 mile / 6 hours round trip. There's dedication 🙂

[Stodgy]

Wiltshire war zone for me. Steep, unrelenting and impeccable players that were always honest as the day is long. But we are going back to around 2003. 
 

Plus they pretty much set up Namsoft that Combat South (epic site RiP) continued and took on the baton for. 

[joshcowin]

For me the embassy in Leicester was the best site I’ve played at. 3 story warehouse with a pitch black basement open main floor with man made structures then a top floor of offices. Marshals were great along with the gameplay. Unfortunately wasn’t around for long and has now been converted into flats.

[Jaylordofwaargh]

On 02/05/2021 at 23:06, joshcowin said:

Unfortunately wasn’t around for long and has now been converted into flats.

This site sounds amazing. These sites are very much a play as often as possible while you can. It is the woe of urban cqb sites that the landlord will often use us (or rather game organisers/companies) as a stop gap whilst the sale/ planning goes though.

I mean unless it is owned land (like i believe Mayhem, Essex is) then almost all sites are under near threat of 'we sold the land/planning came through'. 

Edited June 13, 2021 by Jaylordofwaargh

[magaz]

The top of my list is Dragon Valley. (I know, I can hear someone in the back shouting "But they are still open!") I'm talking the old school Boys village site in West Aberthaw. By todays standards, it is a fairly tiny site. But back around 2000-2002 when you saw photos of players walking through what looked like streets playing airsoft, when all you had was a woodland site that was predominantly paintball, so all of the wooden structures where constantly covered in orange and green goop. It seemed like airsoft heaven. At the time, on the "Ol' blue" forums it was the site that everyone talked about. I made two trips down there, once for a normal walk on game (A good few of the #airsoft mIRC crew where present) and once for a weekender event which was dominated by the WASP team (It was the event where for some reason Silvafox wanted his boot prints on the ceiling of the safe zone above the stair well, so some guys lifted him up and stuck his feet to the ceiling.) I was between 17 and 18 when we went down and it felt like the wild West. Super laid back, the general consensus was "don't be a dick" and "take your hits and everything will be fine" and the atmosphere was amazing. Part of me thinks it's just nostalgia that makes it seem so amazing, but it was a great little site and it stood out in the community. On a side note. The first time I was there, I knocked myself out in the empty swimming pool, the second time I broke my kneecap. Bloody good times!

 

A site that gave me a similar vibe to DV was SWAT Saighton camp. "Ol Satan" was a site that a lot of us sort of took for granted. We didn't really know what we had until it was gone. Massive site, with huge indoor areas, lots of buildings and roads. Plenty of weird spots to hide and a great community. The filmsim games they used to run where loads of fun. The Terminator game stands out, I was on the Skynet team and relived the police station scene from the first movie by just casually AF walking into the resistance CP with a SAW and wiping the whole place clean. 

 

If time travel holidays ever become a thing, or if somebody makes total immersion video games that are indistinguishable from reality. I'm re living the super happy fun times at those two sites. 

 

 

other sites that are gone but not forgotten:
Ambush Strines (where I lost my virginity, not "that" virginity... The one with the balls being fired at you)
SWAT Area 51

SWAT Fortress
Wentworth CQB

Labyrinth CQB (I know F&O have it now, but it's just not the same)

The Stan was always a good laugh

 

[Hatchet]

As soon as you mentioned old DV I was going to say it's one of the more hilariously dangerous places I've played because of the ability to do things like run straight into an empty swimming pool. Or how you weren't allowed to move the furniture because it had all been strategically placed to cover holes in the floor and other hazards. And then I read the bit where you injured yourself. Figures...

I think I may have been at that WASP outing. I definitely recall running around with a comedically large moustache and possibly a beret.

[magaz]

I seem to recall in the safety brief a statement along the lines of "If you are going to go on the roof of a building, please be careful" (cut to 2021 safety briefs "please try not to run, you might fall over")

 

I didn't realise the furniture was there to cover holes. That's quite amazing.

I found some photos from the event recently, I don't think there was anyone with a comedically large moustache or a beret though. 

 

Also, you are one post away from the perfect number of posts, which means of course, you'll have to stop posting. But it'll be a beautiful number.

Edited September 3, 2021 by magaz

[colinjallen]

I miss two sites.

The first is UCAP Sandpit; as others have mentioned, this site had everything: CQB, wide open spaces, areas with loads of cover, the pipeyard, vehicles etc etc.  A massive site with great gameplay.

The other is Doomsday in Kent; it was a small, scruffy and very laid back site that was superbly run by people who understood the absurdity of grown men running around shooting each other with toy guns.  Although rather small, it always felt bigger (ooer missus!) due to the layout and the varied terrain.  They also did the best veggie food in airsoft.

[Cannonfodder]

Tech brigade near Cuffley. A nice big size (60 acres IIRC) and well run with a chilled out atmosphere and everyone just up for a laugh shooting each other 

[Danno46]

On 10/01/2021 at 20:43, SammieSurrey said:

I cut my teeth at Ambush Chobham (run by Charlie James) and I look back on those days so fondly. 
 

I dunno if it was the mud (omg it was muddy. In fact, I’m still finding mud years later🤣) the amazing marshals, or the unrelenting pace of every single game but, it just worked so well. It was the first place I ever played and where I learned everything I ever knew about Airsoft. The away days to Longmoor were always an amazing treat, especially the overnight games. I really miss those days. 
 

After a few years off, it’s time to find a new site but, in my opinion, Ambush set the bar pretty high. 

 Very first Airsoft game I went to was at Chobham when Charlie ran it back in the early 00’s and yes my god it could get muddy !!

[rsciw]

On 04/09/2021 at 17:09, colinjallen said:

I miss two sites.

The first is UCAP Sandpit; as others have mentioned, this site had everything: CQB, wide open spaces, areas with loads of cover, the pipeyard, vehicles etc etc.  A massive site with great gameplay.

The other is Doomsday in Kent; it was a small, scruffy and very laid back site that was superbly run by people who understood the absurdity of grown men running around shooting each other with toy guns.  Although rather small, it always felt bigger (ooer missus!) due to the layout and the varied terrain.  They also did the best veggie food in airsoft.

 

Same, UCAP Sandpit was just something completely different, think the total area was around 500 acres, which gave good opportunities to change the games around to different terrains etc

 

Doomsday was run by a couple of friends and TL of our team. Not sure either of them are here, will let them know

[Defender90]

I'm going to concur with Urban Assault, it was my 2nd ever airsoft after Gunman Tuddenham and the amount of players, the kit they had and the sheer size of the place blew my mind. I wasn't the only weirdo who liked RIFS, there shedloads of us!

Moving through endless derelict corridors, rooms and halls was super atmospheric, the scale of the ruin was epic and sometimes surreal. I got lost going back to spawn quite often and in hindsight a compass would have been useful.

I think the scale of it was too great for airsoft ranges (or lack thereof) and maybe a more limited game area could have been fenced off which might have benefitted game play.

In hindsight maybe the marshalling was a bit lax?

I remember when playing against a team of Russians who turned up, being hit very hard by volleys of shots at improbable range the moment I stepped out of spawn on the parade ground, potentially tooth shatteringly hard.

The marshalls were right there but didn't seem concerned. I was a noob then (more so!) and assumed that was normal, but in hindsight it smacked of people swapping out for more powerful springs once they were out on the field.

That said it does seem to be hard to strike the right balance with marshalling, most sites veer to one extreme or another.

Edited September 3, 2023 by Defender90

[joshcowin]

For me there’s a few that I wish I’d gone too and missed out on or ones that I played a lot of but have been shut down.

 

the Mall, never got to play their due to transport etc and always regret making the trip down. From what a few of you are saying it ran better when first & only had it before Z adventures.

 

Ucap the sandpit, I remember watching a milsim video on it once of players going across in boats and was hooked ever since, never got to play it though.

 

Raf upwood. Played there a couple of times and always had a lot of fun. It did seem like it was very clicky though and if you weren’t a regular you got looked down on.

 

Grange farm Airsoft, a good little site. It was nothing special map wise but the gameplay always ran well and the marshalling/hit taking was the best I’ve seen. When the special event ran (sort of a 2 day social) the made the extra effort to make sure everyone was having fun.

 

there’s one site that I find brilliant but unfortunately due to how many players go now it takes it away a bit. And that’s the national airsoft festival. I went 2011,2012,2015,2017 and the early years were so much better game play wise.

[Tackle]

Good thread, making me reminisce to the good old days, struggling to play these days & when I do I'm rarely impressed with the sites. 

What to choose though, combat south, the mall, raf upwood, all great sites, not just excellent layouts but also well managed, which makes a big difference to your gameday experience. 

But I'm gonna have to go back to one of my very first sites played, Fort Amherst in Chatham/Kent, not the biggest site around by any means, but some great features, & back in the day was kinda generally well managed by cage & then invicta (if you ignore the fact that one of the organisers kept knocking the land owner & embezzled the money, until they were thrown off😢) 

Happy days lol, eh @Duff Beer

[Emergencychimps]

There were elements about urban assault that I loved.....mainly their night games. 

 

The buildings were just a bit to far from each other to suppress from one building to another and there was next to no cover on between buildings. Led to lots of frustration, cheat calling and generally after lunch game play was not great. Whether that was from a frustrating morning or the after lunch sugar slump I don't know. The weird cliques on site weren't fun either. 

 

Miss ucap the sandpit, epic site. Found the skirmishes there didn't maximize the site but my god, Stirling games with the boats etc were epic.