Camelot Airsoft (Dorking, Surrey)

[Impulse]

So, I got alerted to a new site that might actually be an old site and I'm going to give it a go for their next skirmish date on the 11th October:

https://www.camelotairsoft.co.uk/

I believe this might be the old Elite Action Games Dorking site in Surrey, but I can't confirm that as I never made it to EAG Dorking back in the day, but some of the guys at Worthing Airsoft (which used to be EAG Worthing) have said it is. It's probably totally different now, as I believe the previous owner went scorched earth and now the current owners are rebuilding. They only had their first skirmish day last month, and their next date is the 11th October, so I thought I'd give it a go. They also haven't yet decided on the cadence of their skirmish days, but from the looks of it it'll be every other weekend, and they might alternate Saturdays and Sundays, but we'll see. Still very early days!

It's close to the M25 so it's easy to access (or difficult to access depending on how the M25 is feeling...), and for me living in Brighton it gives me a 3rd site within an hour's car journey. I'm really hoping it'll be good, but figured I'd post it up here as well so that more people can be aware of another woodland site down south as we do struggle for sites down here. I only heard about it on the grapevine from people who know some of the guys who run it, so I could see them going under the radar a little, hence me putting the word out.

 

[The_Lord_Poncho]

Very interesting! Let us know how you get on, I would be very tempted to give them a try at some point too. Always nice to have some options locally, and with a bit of luck, this might keep the numbers down a bit at my closest site - Driver Wood - which would be nice....

 

[JimFromHorsham]

Address does indeed look the same as where EAG used to be , head through & over the back of the campsite etc .

 

[Impulse]

Shortly after making this post I got locked out of my account, but I have now been to two of their game days (couldn't go last weekend because had to travel up north for work), and I can say it's VERY early days, but the vibe and the thinking behind the site is sound.

At present, there are two areas to play in: the trenches / killhouse area, which is a small killhouse near(ish) a set of trenches with some basic bunker / shelters scattered through them, and the ferns, which is just an area of thick ferns.

Most games have been in the killhouse / trenches area as it's the only part of the site that has any development. They're doing a lot of work to make it better and more usable, so it improves each time I go, but I won't say it's a fully developed area; there's a lot more work that needs doing there, and sometimes games don't work well. Standard new site teething problems

Then there are the ferns, which are actually my preferred area to play. There are no structures, no barricades, just a decent sized area that is incredibly thick with ferns. They're not developing that area yet because they want to see how the ferns die back in the winter and then use that knowledge to plan where to build bases and barricades and stuff. It's a long term approach and it's the right approach, and while the ferns are still thick it's still a very enjoyable area to play in.

So, would I recommend it as a site? It's complicated. I will be going there instead of Driver Wood, because the feel and the philosophy behind the site is right on. Sites can be developed and built up, marshalls can gain more experience, but changing the vibe of a site is incredibly difficult, so I can deal with the new site teething problems for what will hopefully be a fantastic site moving forward. It's the polar opposite of Driver Wood, which has a fantastic site and facilities, but the vibes are just off and the games themselves can be boring. Camelot do good work with what they have, and I think it'll only get better as time goes on. Very early days as they've only had 3 public game days so far, and numbers tend to be pretty low (which is both a blessing and a curse), but I highly rate the site myself, teething issues aside.

And one of my criticisms evaporated, but they need to update their website. DMR limit is 1.88J, not 1.48J, so I was happy to find that out as a DMR enjoyer. That said, I've played with bolt actions both game days due to issues, funnily enough (first game day my MWS nozzle had issues and needed replacing, second game day was too cold for the m14)

 

[The_Lord_Poncho]

Shortly after making this post I got locked out of my account, but I have now been to two of their game days (couldn't go last weekend because had to travel up north for work), and I can say it's VERY early days, but the vibe and the thinking behind the site is sound.

Click to shrink...

Thanks for the write up - looks like i will need to give it a try!