The 'How Did Your Airsoft Day Go? Thread

[A_Stoat]

Back at Skirmish Budby yesterday, testing my mid-00s RusFor kit (okay, making sure I still fit in my Gorka and my new E&L Krink runs nicely).

Kinda a weird player group, a lot of the marshals and what I'd call 'permanent features' of the site were playing as it was someone's birthday - and that meant a lot of seriously tasty HPA setups. Sorting for the first game literally ended up as HPA vs AEG and... yeah, that went down exactly how you'd expect it to. Ended up despawning and chilling out about halfway through as BBs started to clean up the area immediately outside our spawn - guys were literally taking one step and getting hit, nothing we could do to try and counter. Fair play to the marshals, they rebalanced the teams straight after and that sorted the gameplay balance out, but a tough first round to start the day!

Rest of the day was a pretty solid one - the site recently got some light beacons, so those were getting some heavy use in a bunch of domination-style games. Played the absolute classic attack and defend with medics on the Village map, which I always enjoy, and the last game we got in before I had to leave at about 3.30 as I was going out in the evening was a variation on the three-stage pushback, utilising a lot more of the site and with more respawns for defenders. Enjoyed the defending round, but was a bit sad we had to go before getting to attack.

Gun ran fine all day, apart from some issues with the mag springs in some new CYMA midcaps. Had it hopping .28s without much issue, and considering it's completely stock internal it felt pretty nice. Definitely a far cry performance wise from my usual PDW, but definitely gameable - and hey, it's an E&L, it's all about the external look and feel, which of course rocked.

Even with the proliferation of HPA gats, I didn't really see any aggro or stupidity. Got absolutely BELTED in the last game at long range - right on the cheekbone, instant welt, big ol' lump and broken skin - and immediately thought "that felt a bit spicy out of an HPA'd AR" but he was probably just running .32s right on the line, and I didn't feel like I needed to complain. Vibes generally quite chilled out and excellent.

Overall 7/10, it was a fun day of airsoft without anything exceptionally good or bad. A nice baseline.

 

[Colin Allen]

As is often the case on a Sunday, this morning saw me at Airsoft Plantation, along with approximately 100 other airsoft aficionados.

Having secured my usual place, my first task was to set up and chrono the Lad’s AK47M that I have been upgrading. No, you did not read that incorrectly; it is a weird hybrid between an AK47 and an AKM, for which I have developed that designation. With the hop set for a lovely long flight with a little skip at the end, it was producing 1.06J, which was very pleasing as I really did not want to open it up again. I was also able to catch up with various people who I had not seen for a while. I was wearing my Swedish kit, complete with its Swedish Chef “Vert Der Ferk?” patch, and was surprised to find another player wearing the same rather unusual camo.

The first game of day the required the attackers, the vile and evil Blues, starting from the far end of the village woods, to collect an ammo tin containing two bombs from the comms shack in the village suburbs and transport it to the Cock Inn and the town hall, which both had to be blown up. We, the noble and virtuous Reds, had to delay them for as long as possible; we had two lives and they had infinite buddy regens after a 30m fallback. A group of us started by defending the area around the Jurassic Park jeep as it seemed likely that some at least of them would come that way, which they did. We held them up for a considerable time; eventually, I was hit and fell back to a building across the Main Street from the Cock Inn, from where I took out many more attackers before being hit, which led to me trudging back through the extremely glutinous mud to the safe zone.

Once they had blown up both objectives, the game was turned around. I was with a group who fought our way up the left hand side of the woods towards the town hall, while the rest of the team went to get the ammo tin and attack the Cock Inn. We had a long and difficult fight against enemies defending the town hall and the various buildings and structures around it. I would like to thank the enemy player who had a flash simulator on his rifle; it made identifying his position and aiming at him so much easier. We eventually grabbed the town hall and waited and waited; it seemed quite a while before we heard the boom as the Cock Inn was destroyed. A few minutes later the second bomb arrived at the town hall, which was promptly blown to pieces yet again in a time that was eight minutes faster than the enemy had managed! Hurrah!

After a break to reload and drink coffee, we set off into the woods for a fallback game. Starting at the wobbly bridge, the enemy had to fight their way through the woods, gather two detonators from the casino on the edge of the village and transport them to the Bedford in the mortar pits, where they would be attached to a missile which then had to be taken to the plane at the DEA base. They had infinite regens on either of two marshals, while we had one life in each of the woods, the village, the mortar pits and the DEA base. Taking up a favourite location on the left, I was able to ambush various groups of attackers until it became a bit too hot and I fell back behind the kill house, where the T-91 dealt out more plastic death on its enemies until I was eventually hit. We put up an epic fight to prevent the blues getting the detonators and transporting them out of the village, during which I was was eventually hit and made my way back to the mortar pits, where we again fought hard to prevent them getting to the missile. A very bold flanking attack almost got through to the Bedford, but was repulsed as we were able to use our interior lines to transfer people to stop them. I was hit during this and moved back to the DEA base, where I was immediately hit by a number of BBs from enemy players who had concealed themselves in the woods around it. That ended my involvement and I went back to the safe zone for lunch. The missile eventually made its way to the plane.

After lunch, the game was reversed; a group of us crossed the wobbly bridge ditch, which had turned into quite a stream, on the right and pushed down that flank in the woods, eventually overcoming a very determined enemy defence of the border and pushing into the village, where we worked really well as a team to grab the detonators and clear the enemy out. Once this was done, another player and I decided to go on a long flank march in order to sneak up on the DEA base from the rear, eliminate any blues who had been hit in the mortar pits and had fallen back to there, and then harass any others who tried to fall back there. Sneaking up on the group of them who were there, a grenade was lobbed over some bushes, landing next to them and, in our opinion, wiping them out; however, they refused to take the hit as they believed that we could not attack them as they “had not regened yet” and we had not completed the mortar pits phase of our attack. We approached them for a discussion, during which I pointed out that we were only doing what some of their players had done before lunch. Eventually, one of them fetched the site owner, claiming that we were camping on the objective, which we were not; when the grenade was thrown, we were further away from it than their players had been before lunch. He decided that, as there were now around 25-30 enemy players there, the situation could not be reset to where it was when we lobbed the grenade. Eventually, we agreed to move away unmolested in order to keep the game going. After a long fight, the missile and its attached detonators were shoved into the plane in a time that was a mere two minutes faster than the enemy had managed, which was remarkably close for a game that lasted for an hour. Hurrah!

When we returned to the safe zone, the site owner confirmed to the two of us that our actions had been correct and appropriate and explained why he had taken the decision that he had. He also thanked us for how we dealt with the situation.

As the light was beginning to fade, a fair number of people left after this game, but there was just time for one last adventure; our now outnumbered team and the enemy set out for the mortar pits. With us starting at the far end and the enemy at the near end, the aim was to get five players to the other team’s start point; as everyone only had two lives, this could become impossible, so if a team was down to fewer than five players, they had to get all of them to the other team’s start point to win. With massive amounts of smoke swirling around and blowing straight towards us, this was a confusing fight; eventually, we were whittled down and the remaining enemy players made it to our start point.

Despite the issue in the penultimate game, it was another good, fun day at AP, with some great play from both sides.

Weapons used:
G&G T-91
Double Bell Colt 607
ASG XP18 Commander (CO2)

 

[Impulse]

Because I am terminally single, and with the weather tomorrow looking rough, I went to Driver Wood today for a sunny, but chilly Saturday game. It was sunny all day, but the temperatures maxed out at 5 celcius, so I ended up leaving the m14 at home (5 celcius is just asking too much of it...), taking my mk12 MWS and Tanaka m24, with my TM p226 and AAP-01 as sidearms. I chronoed everything, but the MWS was struggling a bit. With the NPAS all the way open it was capping out at 1.7J and the shots weren't as consistent as I would've liked, so I ended up using the Tanaka m24 instead as that wasn't skipping a beat. Went with the AAP for pistol because the p226 was only 0.7J even on red gas, while the AAP was a bit snappier and closer to 1J.

Numbers were pretty low today, so games tended to be smaller and localised. First game the green team had to capture and hold for 10 mins a few areas in succession, pushing our respawn back with each area captured. I took a spot in one of the shipping containers with a cheeky angle down the path and got a lot of kills from my spot. They eventually got a grenade in, so I quickly scurried out and then held the door with a pistol. My team were really confused and asked me what I was aiming at... as I shot an enemy player coming through that very door. There was some really questionable hit taking, one instance where I hit someone on the goggles, they recoiled from the hit and then simply ducked back behind cover. Hit another guy as he was crossing the road and he just kept shooting. Hit a third guy as he peeked out from another shipping container and he just ducked back inside. Heard other people moaning about poor hit taking too.

Second game was a king of the hill near the centre of the gameplay area, with spawns fairly close in. I pushed in with a group to take one of the bases that overlooked the area and started to snipe from upstairs, which went pretty well until someone threw a green smoke (count as toxic) right in front of the building and we had to get out. Spent the rest of the game calling out flankers, and even taking a bunch of them out as they tried to push around behind us. Though another instance of a player just... not taking their hits. Hit him twice in the plate carrier as he sprayed at a bunch of players who were in our spawn, and it took about 5 seconds of the marshall shouting at him to stop for him to finally stop and go back to respawn.

After lunch, numbers took a nose dive. We went down to about 10 per side, so more small games were played. First was a warm up team deathmatch along the street we played in the first game and I took the exact same position with the exact same effect, though this time they didn't push up to me so I was ok to just plink away. Second game was the same king of the hill as we played in the morning, but only 30 mins. This time I flanked all the way around and got into a spot where I could shoot them in the back as they tried to approach the objective.

And final game of the day was on one of the smaller fields. We started on defense and the enemy team had to get into a church structure and hold it for 20 mins. I took up a position on a flank and went to town; nobody could even get close to me and I was picking them off with impunity. This game really showed me that only having 5x 10rd magazines is... a limiting factor, as I did almost get taken out while reloading magazines. We then flipped ends and... got spawncamped for a bit as the enemy team decided to push way past the base and start shooting us at our spawn. Marshalls did move them off, and once they did that we actually managed to capture the church. I don't think we held it for 20 mins, but we held it for a good 10 - 15 mins, and again I got onto a flank and was picking people off without them having a clue where it was coming from. Even without a suppressor on it, people don't hear the snap.

All in all, I'm glad I went today rather than tomorrow. I hate playing in the rain, especially at Driver Wood which turns into a bit of a swamp in places. Hit taking in the morning was awful, but the afternoon games were really good. Also, today must've been the day of the dead car; someone's engine blew a few cars in front of me coming back into town, then later down that same road was another car with hazards on on the side of the road. Then this evening, a bus broke down just across the street from my house and needed to be towed in a massive tow truck.

Also, can winter go away already? I'm kinda sick of playing in the wet and the cold...

 

[tside]

Made a trip out to the local site (dirty dog) today. The latest batch of bad weather left the site looking like a mix of a swamp and the battle of the somme and honestly it was bloody AWESOME! One of the rare days where absolutely everything goes right.

Had a lot of trouble getting used to Airsoft again after shattering my hand and today was the first time I really felt up to strength at had only a small bit of lingering pain even using my heavier replica. Picked up a 4x elcan clone off one of the other regulars and it was absolutely fantastic and really helped picking up targets over the field. The cyma AK 105 performed, well like a cyma, chugged along happily all day throwing .28s rather well and causing absolutely zero issues. And best of all I personally encountered absolutely no trouble with hit taking. With the absolute filth of the day as soon as people realised there was no avoiding a coating and let loose. Tobogganing down hills on arses, pushing through what had become bogs, absolute carnage and the only part of me not coated in grime was my eyes under the goggles.

Standard game modes at the field, swapping between attack and defence, game on full site then game in the village before the same in the afternoon. My team lost absolutely every game but it was so fun just being back on the field that didn't matter. Last game of the day me and another 6 lads launched an absolutely spectacular push round the extreme left of the enemy and we're able to break what had become a really hard slog to gain ground. Alas it just was a bit late and we timed out but it was a rush launching a really effective push and getting some cracking kills.

Not everything survived the day though my chinesium EMR combat trousers ripped and my hiking boots lost a sole but they were worthy sacrifices to get back into the swing of things. Absolutely knackered now. Time for a brew and diagnosis murder.

 

[Cannonfodder]

Thanks to ongoing work on the railway near me the trains were running a replacement bus all weekend. I didn't fancy doubling my journey time so I went to the tunnels in Epsom for a mid week game.

It wasn't the best day I've had as there seemed to be a select few who were hesitant to call hits, although a tri shot tends to be quite persuasive. Along with the spawn camping and pre firing at almost every corner games quickly become bloody boring. What also doesn't help was that the staff seemed to spend the entire time in the safe zone until several people complained about the above problems. The long wait between games was also a bit of a piss take as I was able to reload mags, roll and smoke a couple of roll ups and still had time left standing around waiting. I've paid to play not stand around

All in all I give the evening 5/10 as while I did have a good time the negatives did take the shine off which is annoying as I've had some cracking days there in the past, but this inconsistentcy really makes me question whether it's worth my while going again

 

[The_Lord_Poncho]

Thanks to ongoing work on the railway near me the trains were running a replacement bus all weekend. I didn't fancy doubling my journey time so I went to the tunnels in Epsom for a mid week game.

It wasn't the best day I've had as there seemed to be a select few who were hesitant to call hits, although a tri shot tends to be quite persuasive. Along with the spawn camping and pre firing at almost every corner games quickly become bloody boring. What also doesn't help was that the staff seemed to spend the entire time in the safe zone until several people complained about the above problems. The long wait between games was also a bit of a piss take as I was able to reload mags, roll and smoke a couple of roll ups and still had time left standing around waiting. I've paid to play not stand around

All in all I give the evening 5/10 as while I did have a good time the negatives did take the shine off which is annoying as I've had some cracking days there in the past, but this inconsistentcy really makes me question whether it's worth my while going again

Click to shrink...

That seems to sum up my experiences there too. I haven’t been for ages, but when I used to go (maybe once every few months), the experience was very changeable. Some really awesome evenings, others that were distinctly mediocre - the whole experience seemed to wildly swing between the extremes of slightly dodgy hit taking, salty players, game modes that were either frustrating or purely attritional, and the complete opposite. I suppose that’s what engaging staff are for - to ensure a balanced experience every time. But as you say, they usually just sit it out in the safe zone....

Its' a great and very different playing area though, so I probably ought to get there and try it out again some time.

 

[Gwen]

Went to UCAP Bunker for the second time last night.
I almost maybe sort of had an idea of where things were this time which made things more fun and less scary than my first trip!
There was still a bit of cowering in the dark jumping at shadows though!
Had some excellent times sneaking through the corridors and mouse holes. And grenades are even more fun than out in the woods.

Unfortunately some of the games ran on a bit long for my taste but still a very fun night out. Foolishly my team forgot to take the objectives with us for one game and so we spent 20min playin an impromptu TDM rather than actually taking the objectives from spawn to the delivery point. Whoops!!

Also... My Scar L decided it wanted to be in several pieces Thankfully one of the marshals was able to lend me some pieces from a rental to hold it together for the rest of the night, and now she's booked in for a service to get back into fighting shape.

 

[Bwian_eh?]

I went to Precinct 13 tonight for an evening game.
Nice well run cqb site over a single floor in an old shopping centre.
Decent safe zone, well marshalled, good timekeeping, quick turnarounds.
Would go again, definitely will improve when I've learned the site a bit more.

 

[Reidfc]

I honestly over call my hits. Nothing worse than putting a few nice shots away and clearly hitting someone for them to carry on.

For me it is literally the only thing that ruins game days.

Had someone the other day who I shot and they turn and call their hit then proceed to shoot 1 bb out their pistol right at me. Honestly never held back rage so hard in my life!

 

[Lyndication]

Tbh it's not worth getting worked up over.

IME, at least playing outdoors, I often wasn't hitting when I was certain I was. Putting magnified optics on some of my guns was quite eye opening.

 

[Impulse]

Tbh it's not worth getting worked up over.

IME, at least playing outdoors, I often wasn't hitting when I was certain I was. Putting magnified optics on some of my guns was quite eye opening.

Click to shrink...

I had this in reverse a few game days ago. I pretty much always use medium powered magnified optics (anywhere from 3x up to 24x) so I can always see when I hit people with my bolt actions and DMRs so I never have this issue. However I used my URGI with an LPVO and was shooting at people under 1x zoom and wondering why they weren't calling their hits. A quick bump up to 6x and I could see my BBs landing just short by like... 2m, maybe less. A little increase in angle and they soon started calling them

 

[Colin Allen]

Following an unusually long absence, despite the predicted rain I was up bright and early this morning, ready to take too many guns to Airsoft Plantation

On arriving, I set out to complete my first task, which was to chrono the Lad’s AK105, which I had recently upgraded; as suspected, it was rather underpowered, but that was soon remedied with a quick spring change.

Having done this, I repeated the process with my new AK12, which also needed a different spring. The spring change on the AK12 is incredibly easy and does not even need additional tools as the gas plug doubles as the wrench for it.

It was good to catch up with some of the regulars, who I had not seen for a while, before setting out for the first game. This involved us, the red team, setting off from the border to obtain a missile which was in the back of the Jurassic Park jeep in the village. We had infinite regens after a 30m fallback, while the blue team, with two lives in the village, had to delay us for as long as possible. Our group decided to attack down the right flank, where we were successful in clearing out the two huts in that area, pushing into the village and clearing out the fuel dump. After this, I switched to the left flank as that was closer to the jeep and seemed to offer more opportunities to shoot people, which it did; I got some nice kills in the scrubland around the comms shack. Inevitably, the team’s attack wore down the enemy and a group of our colleagues charged the jeep, with one of them getting their hand on the missile.

In the reverse of this game I set up in that same scrubland, where a group of us were able to delay our opponents’ attack for quite a while; having been hit, I fell back to a position by the jeep just in time to help repulse a major enemy attack, which we wiped out, before being hit again. While trudging back to the safe zone through the wonderfully slimy mud, I heard the call of game over; the blue team had taken significantly longer than we did.

These two games had given the AK12 a good test, which it passed with flying colours, so I switched to the first of the two guns that I had intended to use, this being my MP5SD2.

For the next game, we went to the mortar pits, where we had to prevent the attackers getting their hands on five traffic cones, which they had to transport one at a time on a stretcher back to the DEA base, where they started the game. They had infinite regens on a marshal while our regen process was more complicated. When we were hit, we had to go to the comms shack; once twenty of us were there we would be released back into the wild; after the first release, only 15 players were required before release could take place. Three of us started off in the hill fort, where we had a great fight with the enemy as they tried to attack down their left flank; we sent loads of them back to find a marshal, but I was hit and went off to the comms shack, which became a recurring feature of this game for me! After this regen, I pushed back towards the hill fort and was delighted to find that my two colleagues were still there. The rest of the game consisted of me shooting various enemies, getting shot, going to the comms shack, going back into play, shooting more enemies, getting shot and going back to the comms shack again. I think I did this five times before the enemy got the last cone back to the DEA base.

Lunch followed, during which the somewhat under strength catering team did a fantastic job of feeding everyone who wanted it. The rain really started to come in over lunch, resulting in a number of departures.

The cone game was the reversed; during this, I think I was involved in attacking the mortar pits from every possible direction, ending up on the right and pushing up past the bus at the back of the mortar pits. Our final cone made it back to the DEA base in a shorter time than our opponents.

For the next game I switched to the KA PDW; starting at the border, the blue team, with infinite regens after a 30m fallback, had to get two bombs onto the Land Rover by the kill house, followed by another two onto the wobbly bridge. We had two lives, which we could take anywhere between the kill house area and the far bank of the wobbly bridge. Setting up on the left of our line, I had great fun potting blue players around the kill house while moving between various bits of cover. After being hit, I fell back across the stream, from where I continued the process; as the enemy attack was not pushed hard, some of our players moved back up to occupy positions just behind the kill house and the enemy attack eventually timed out.

As I had things I needed to do, I had to leave after this game, so missed the reverse of it.

Despite the weather, it was a very good day of airsoft with some great play and plenty of fun. I intend to be back next Sunday.

Weapons used:
Arcturus AK12
CYMA MP5SD2
King Arms PDW
ASG XP18 Commander (CO2)

 

[Colin Allen]

It was a misty, chilly morning at Airsoft Plantation; however, this did not deter the hardy band of players who arrived for a day of shooting each other with little plastic balls and blowing each other up.

Having changed the hop rubber and nub and fitted an M110 spring in the AKM4 monstrosity, my first priority was to set the hop and check the power before I rip the gearbox apart and upgrade it. Using my usual 75m measured range, the gun was putting out a rather high 1.25J, which was at least a reduction on the 1.58J it was producing out of the box.

Unusually for AP, the first game was a simple domination; two flags were in the Bedford in the mortar pits and the team whose flag was displayed for longest would win. We started at the boathouse, which no longer has a boat, while the vile Blues started at the comms shack. Both sides regened on their start point, being released back into the game in batches of five. At the start of the game, we charged towards the mortar pits and very quickly took control of the Bedford. I moved towards the bus to help hold that area and was soon involved in a sprawling exchange of BBs and grenades; the blue team put us under considerable pressure, but we held out, with many players having to be recycled via the boathouse. I was hit and, after regening, went to help stop a group of the Blues who were trying to move through the scrubland to attack us from the left flank or rear. This turned into a long and tricky fight with limited visibility in and around the many large bushes and paths; the venerable A&K Masada did its job well, sending many Blues back to regen, as did a couple of nicely placed grenades. Suddenly, we were attacked by a large number of Blues; they had decided that, rather than having each group of five regened players come straight back into the game, they would gather a force of 25 and attack with them en masse. They stormed through the mortar pits, taking out our chaps on and around the Bedford, but their attack stalled before they could reach it. By the end of the game, our flag was still on the lorry.

Having reloaded and drunk tea, we set out to play the puzzle game, which was last played at the Christmas event. Starting at the far end of the firebreak, the Blues had to attack the village and find eleven pieces of a very large jigsaw puzzle, which they then had to assemble on an easel on the roof of the Cock Inn; once they had the eleven pieces, they had to attack into the woods and find the final piece, which was near the kill house, and take it back to finish the puzzle. They had infinite buddy regens, while we had two lives in the village and one in the woods. I started off at the Jurassic Park jeep, but our defence there came under intense pressure and, after taking out a few of the enemy, I was hit and took up a new position on the far side of the village where the enemy were also pressing hard. We had a fun little battle with the attackers as they came through the light woods in that area, with the Masada again scoring many kills at range. However, the fun eventually ended and I was hit as the Blues finally broke through at the Jurassic Park jeep. I wandered back to the woods and found a nice position on our left flank; when the Blues started to arrive, we slowed their attack down rather significantly, with the Masada again playing its part until I was hit. As there was no way of getting through the firefight to return to the safe zone, I fell back across the wobbly bridge to watch the fun; the Blues struggled to locate and get the last part of the puzzle and, when they did get it, showed no urgency in getting it back to the Cock Inn.

Following this, we partook of luncheon before a reverse of the domination game. At the start of this, a couple of us headed for the hill fort, from where we could enfilade enemy players moving down that flank to the mortar pits; obviously, they did not want us to do this, so tried tried to prevent us doing so. We came under huge pressure, but sent loads of them back to regen using BBs and grenades. When I was eventually hit and regened, I went straight back there and a larger group of us pinned down that corner of the mortar pits until the end of the game, shooting or blowing up any enemy players who tried to use it to get to the Bedford; at the end of the game, we had again controlled the Bedford for the duration. The A&K LR300 had proved to be just as effective as the Masada.

We then reversed the jigsaw game; while most of our team pushed up along the firebreak to the Jurassic Park jeep, a few of us took the long route through the light woods, where we cleared out a couple of snipers and a fair number of other players and pushed into the back of the village. After a tough fight in the village itself, the eleven jigsaw pieces were found, although the last one took a while to locate, and taken to the roof of the Cock Inn. We pursued the Blues into the woods, pushing them back until they halted us with the last piece of the puzzle in sight; several players made attempts to run and grab it, but they were all hit. However, our firepower started to reduce their numbers, as part of which I hit several; finally, a player managed to grab the missing piece and ran back to the Cock Inn with it. We completed the objective in a shorter time than the Blues.

For the final game the Blues, who started at the comms shack, had to locate a bomb hidden in the mortar pits, transport it to the plane at the DEA base and blow it up within a set time. They had infinite buddy regens while we had one life in each of the mortar pits and the DEA base. I set up on our left, close to the bomb, which was in the Jeep Grand Cherokee, where we held off a strong flanking attack for quite a while; many hits were scored on attacking players until I was eventually hit and fell back to the DEA base. Before long the Blues started to attack us there; just after that attack started, more of them appeared in our rear. A group of us went out to try to stop them; I was hit in the firefight, ending my part in the game and the day. The Blues achieved their objective, but it took marginally longer than the allocated time.

It was another really good day of airsoft, which was played hard but in a good sprit.

The consistency of the fascinating AP mud had changed again; it was much wetter and looser than last week, resulting in boots sinking more deeply into it. I should regret that I was highly amused watching a rental player in very low trainers try to navigate her way through it while it seeped over the top of them, but I don't. As so often both on Dartmoor and at AP, I was pleased I had my Iturri Cold Wet Weather boots.

Weapons used:
A&K Masada
A&K LR300
ASG XP18 Commander (CO2)

 

[Impulse]

I headed out to Worthing Airsoft yesterday and was determined to play the full day, since I skipped the previous weekend because I'm just... tired of the wet and the cold. This weekend wasn't raining, though I wouldn't call it dry since the woodland was still pretty boggy in places, but was a lot better than it has been recently. There weren't a huge number of familiar faces this weekend, but it was fully booked so there were a lot of people. I think there were 90 players booked on, which at Worthing Airsoft is a lot because the site can be quite narrow in places (there's a lot of acreage, but it's basically a big U shape).

With my first 24h event coming up at the start of April (a Black Hawk Down themed milsim where I'll be playing as Somali militia), I decided to get started early on using the gear I want to bring to that, so that kit and guns are what I decided to bring with me this weekend. I wanted to make sure everything was shooting well and everything fitted, as well as decide between my m56 webbing or a chicom + minimal pistol belt combo. At Worthing I decided to use my m56 webbing, but next weekend at Driver Wood I'll try my chicom + belt setup and see what I prefer; leaning towards the chicom + belt because of severe magazine limitations and frequent resupply (lots of hit and run engagements) versus the long range recon and sustainment style that I'm used to and the webbing fits better for.

For guns, I used my PPS Kar98k and it shot wonderfully all day. Bell 1911 as a sidearm since my m56 webbing can only really take a 1911 due to the holster and pistol mag pouch sizes. I also brought my WE m14, but that needs a bit more tuning, and my TM AKM, which also shot flawlessly well but I'm only bringing that as a just in case gun to the milsim, as sniping at night can be crap, especially without any NVG or thermal optics; I think at night the AKM might just be the better play.

Anyway, first game was a three base domination in which we got utterly destroyed in the first one. I resolved to play aggressively for the day and try and get away with more than usual, which actually worked really well as I managed to crawl along the edge of the site and then snipe inwards from an angle they weren't expecting. However, our team were... not pushing up at all. When we flipped it, I believe we won the next time, as it was a bit easier to push from that side. I tucked into a bush with a nasty angle going down the path that comes out of their respawn. It's the main path out, but not so close to be spawn camping, and not the only path out but was still a great time to cut off respawns. However, 5x 10rd magazines was... not much to work with with this many players in attendance, but I managed to make my ammo last. Playing with limited ammo is a great way to get better, and the milsim I'm going to will only allow me to use 4x 10rd mags, so I definitely need to be used to it!

Second game took us to the bottom of the site, which sucks for sniping, but I wholly endorse because we need to use that part of the site more. The objective were a bunch of barrels with one marshall guarding them. The marshall was "blind" (not literally), so he could only shoot at players he could hear, so the idea was you needed to sneak in quietly to get the barrels without getting shot by the marshall or the other team. I headed off to try and push through a flank that I didn't think people would be using, but by the time I fought my way through the thick brambles and stinging nettles (regretted it in the evening / today!), there were people there and so I set up to simply watch it. I had someone try and shoot at me, but with there being an opening and a bit of a wind tunnel right in front of me his shots were veering off wildly to the side, while my shots pushed through the windy bit early and had a bit more stability later on. We ended up winning this one pretty handily, I think? We did pretty well at least, as I saw how many barrels we had.

After lunch we played a game where both teams had to get gold bars from one of the bases, however we had a case and could only carry 1 gold bar in that case, so you had to go back and forward. We got... destroyed here. I think we got like... 9 gold bars and the other team got 24. It wasn't even close. However, I was happy with my own performance, once again crawling along the side of the site and getting a line on a point that the enemy team was using to push in, and managed to go completely undetected while taking loads of them out without any ghillie. I simply lay very still, scrim net draped over my head and rifle, even with them actively looking for me. Almost ran out of ammo too, was on my last mag when the game ended!

And the final game was a sort of king of the hill over one of the bases I don't often go to, but decided to play around it this time. We ended up dominating this one, as I think a lot of people (on both sides) had decided to call it a day there. I didn't do too much here, getting a few long shots and one that was through a bush at a long distance which I was quite proud of, but we ended up controlling the point for something like 12 minutes while the other team literally got 0 seconds on the clock.

Got a few more game days before the milsim, so still got some time to tweak the m14 some more, and also try the chicom + belt setup, but at the moment I think I'm erring on the side of using the Kar98k + 1911 as my main setup, with a chicom for the Kar98k mags, and pistol belt for the 1911 + mags. I also still need to try out my Novritsch antifog setup, so I'll do that at Driver Wood next weekend too.

 

[Galvatron]

On Sunday I went to the Gaol as its closure is looming, just weeks away according to Justin. Signing in and paying my second half of the fee was straightforward. Chrono testing was done both on your main weapon and sidearm, both are tagged.

Those who've been before will know the safety briefing... takes a while so taking a wearing a jacket for the briefing was a good idea as it was on the chilly side. The fog was a bigger issue as it reduced the hop on a few people's weapons so some of us lost range though this improved as it cleared toward lunch time. The rainfall over the past couple of days had left the grassy/muddy areas very boggy so your boots would go a good couple of inches deeper than you expected. I'm glad my boots have a water-resistant inner. The banked areas were slipping and falling hazards and the host warned us about them. There were 2 players with LMGs and 2 players with DMRs so one of each was put on Orange Team and Blue Team. EG Flash 1.0 and Flash Bang Smoke MK4 (no EG Flash 3.0 or FBS MK5) along with reusable BFGs were permitted pyro. Smoke grenades were permitted but strictly for outdoor use only. DMRs had a 20m MED and could only be used outdoors. LMGs could be used on full auto for outdoors only.

Orange Team the first started off and respawned by the Dog Pens end of G Wing while Blue Team started off and respawned by the southwest of E Wing. The objective was to move a case - 1) it must be carried only so it became a 2 person job and it had to be done over concrete or the team found dragging the case or carrying it over grass/mud it would be penalised and 2) one of the players carrying must have the team colour vest - from the NW corner (entry to the game area/exit to the safe zone) toward the opposition's respawn so Orange had to move the case down the Long Drag toward the Roundabout and Blue had to move it on the path along G Wing. The coloured vest had to be found within the buildings first before each team could move the case. The vest could be swapped between players until they hit. Hit players with the vest had to return to respawn and return to the game with the vests so it was to your advantage to protect those carrying the vest on your team and target the player on the opposing team with the vest. Orange was at a small advantage as they had a more direct path to picking up the case and they took advantage of that when they found their vest early on by moving the flag partly down the Long Drag and it staying there until the whistly blew so Orange Team won the first game.

Next game, both Orange and Blue Teams started at the bottom of E Wing and had to venture out for a Team Deathmatch with a couple of twists. Orange Team started from the SE end of E Wing and Blue Team started from the SW end. The ground doors on the west and SW ends of E Wing were out of play to Orange while those on the east and NE ends of E Wing were out of play for Blue Team to prevent spawn camping. Each hit would count as a kill which would be tallied up by the host when he counted you back in play. Across the site were team coloured cases that beneficial to retrieve and bring to the collection point as they gave bonus kills per returned case. If a player was hit while carrying a case, they had to put it down where they were hit before returning to respawn. Each team could defend the opposing team's cases from being retrieved but they were not allowed to move them. The host said past games showed the cases to be decisive and that proved to be the case, pardon the pun, again. Orange Team were beaten on hit-based kills by Blue Team but Orange Team returned more cases and won on the bonus kills.

Lunch was the usual but always nice meatballs in marinara sauce in a bun and cheese on top, included in the ticket price. Drinks and snacks were available at additional cost.

After lunch, There were flashing lights of each team's colour across the site where each team was told the number of lights to find in E, F and G Wings they had to retrieve while defending the opposing team's colour light from being retrieved as they would not move those lights. The retrieved light had to be brought to a collection point to score. Orange Team won with more orange lights being brought to the collection point. Blue Team retrieved several blue lights but only brought one to the collection point.

The last game had pairs of cases across the site: one orange and one blue. They started in a neutral position and the objective was for Orange Team to put the orange case on top the blue case and vice versa for Blue Team. The team with the most of its colour on top of the opposing team colour would win. I didn't recall who won. Some players on both sides had called it a day before this game started.

Another good day of airsoft even if knowing it will close soon stings. I fielded a DE Noveske N4 GBBR (it's still cold enough for black gas to be needed over red to cycle mroe consistently) with one of the V2 D Mags and they're much better with gas volume. My sidearm was my trusty WE Baby Hi-Capa.